Return of the King (Yogg Grinder Mage)

Hello, everyone!

Today, we are paying tribute to the greatest card that was ever created, who recently came back from the dead: Yogg-Saron, Hope's End! How? By playing a ton of spells and feeding Him of course!

Every deck can be spell-based and have Yogg, but mage has a few tools that make it better than most at it, namely:

• Spells that generate spells
• The Amazing Reno
• Freezing effects
• Arcane Artificer, a card that grants you plenty of survivability while you cast spells

I believe, first and foremost, I should probably explain a few of my card choices, namely the neutral minions:

Elise the Trailblazer is merely meant to grant us an extra spell and postpone fatigue. Chances are we are going that far. Feel free, however, to replace her with either another Dirty Rat, Elise Starseeker, Augmented Elekk (for those Forgotten Torches) or, if you're really on a budget, any spell of your choice.

Grizzled Wizard and Sideshow Spelleater are a 2-piece tech against Death Knights, Galakrond and upgraded hero powers that can really put off your opponents. By swapping your hero power first and then copying it, you force both players to use your hero power, which can be hilarious if you already played The Amazing Reno. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you force your enemy to have The Amazing Reno's hero power, it won't proc at the start of your next turn. Your turn will start and then the hero powers will swap again. Keep this in mind in case you are hoping for a random spell to save you the following turn.

A few spells you might find odd to include too are:

Cone of Cold - I chose CoC because it is slightly more expensive than Frost Nova, meaning it can grant me more armor, and manages to pop the divine shield of several annoying cards like Zilliax. Freezing effects help you make it to turn 10, for either Yogg or Reno to save you, even if for a while longer, so it's perfectly fine to go for Frost Nova instead if it feels better to cast it.

Research Project - Perfect to punish handlocks and other players that do nothing for the first few turns. If you are against control decks, you should strive to at least burn 1 card with this.

Flamecannon - Some people prefer Frostbolt for the freezing effect, but not me. The amount of times I found myself dealing with a sole big minion on the opponent's side are definitely enough to justify running Flamecannon.

Firelands Portal - I am still teetering between this and Blizzard, but so far FP is good. Do switch to Blizzard if you are finding a lot of annoying aggro decks, but... well at that point you really should not be playing Grinder Mage.

Meteor - Two of these might seem overkill, but I have yet to be sad that I have them in my hand. Do be careful not to waste them, since it can get tempting to just remove the first big minion that pops up. On the bright side, most players rarely try to play around the second one.

AoO Possible Inclusions:

[Hearthstone Card (Invocation) Not Found] - All in all, there are many good reasons to give this card a shot, so I am prepared to make room for it.

Incanter's Flow - I am miffed about this card. It might be good, it might be great, it might be meh, but I intend to figure it out.

Apexis Smuggler and Netherwind Portal - Honestly, these two cards excite me. I don't know exactly how I'd put them in, but perhaps a reformulation of this deck would be in order.

Spellslinger - Not a new card, but definitely tempting to give him a try every time a new expansion launches. Just sayin'...

Deck of Wonders - Same logic as Spellslinger. I would hardly say this card favors me very much, but perhaps your experiences with it are better. 

With all that said, let's just go over what this deck wants to do, it's quite simple, really. We deal with our opponent's threats one at a time with spells. We occasionally protect ourselves and get a little value. We nullify the enemy's hero power and maybe even a powerful battlecry in their hands. If things truly look dire, we let the mighty Yogg-Saron take His righteous revenge against the unworthy, or we just make all minions disappear with Reno's help. After both Yogg and Reno have been played, all you can do is hope the random spells in your hero power save you.

This deck is not difficult, by any means, but it sure is fun. Who knows, maybe you can rekindle your relationship with everyone's favorite the only Old God anybody even likes.