magikman's Monopoly Mage

Last updated 5 years, 1 month ago by
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INTRODUCTION

Hello! I go by the username “magikman” and I have repeatedly climbed to legend using mainly or exclusively Reno Mage.

What follows is the decklist that I've been using for climbing for the past few months as well as a mulligan/strategy guide. 

OVERVIEW

This latest version of the deck is dubbed "Monopoly Mage" because...

Basically it's the greediest list I've made for Reno Mage yet, taking advantage of Luna's Pocket Galaxy plus cards that create extra copies and provide discounts to make some truly disgusting value plays. 

Barista Lynchen Card Image Leyline Manipulator Card Image Zola the Gorgon Card Image

Brann Bronzebeard Card Image Hex Lord Malacrass Card Image

However the deck also keeps the fun little OTK potential from my previous iteration of Reno Mage, with the added twist of using Barista Lynchen for added redundancy. 

THE (PSEUDO) OTK

Step 1: play Luna's Pocket Galaxy and hit any 3 of the following 4 cards (Brann BronzebeardCloud PrinceZola the GorgonLeyline Manipulator) or alternatively just the two most expensive cards of Cloud Prince and Leyline Manipulator

Step 2: set up a Secret. Obviously Ice Block is ideal. Or keep a 0 mana secret you get off of Ancient Mysteries.

Step 3: play the following combo: 

Brann Bronzebeard + Cloud Prince (dealing 12 damage to the face) + Zola (adding x2 Cloud Prince to hand) + Leyline Manipulator (reducing the cost of x2 Cloud Prince to 1 mana each) + Cloud Prince copy #1 (dealing 12 damage to the face) + Cloud Prince copy #2 (dealing 12 damage to the face)

If successful, this combo deals 36 damage to the face in a single turn, potentially for as little as 6 mana if you hit all 4 pieces with Galaxy. However even a partial combo can still deal 24 damage from hand.

Of course there's lots of ways you can spin this combo. If she gets discounted, a 1-mana Barista is the same as a 1-mana Zola the Gorgon. If you can't draw Galaxy in time, you can generate a bunch of copies of Cloud Prince with Baleful Banker and shuffle them into the deck and THEN play Galaxy. Or you can combine Brann with Cloud Prince and Coldlight Oracle to add a ton of fatigue damage to the 12 damage battlecry. 

There's lots of fun ways you can go about it, so be sure to experiment and keep an open mind!

CARD CHOICES

Below is a breakdown of all 30 cards in the deck. To make things flow a bit more logically, I've organized them into "packages". Please note that many of these card descriptions are copy-pasted from my previous Reno Mage guide since the the reasoning for their inclusion remains the same. 

The Highlander Package (5 cards)

Zephrys the Great: Really lives up to his reputation. An incredibly versatile card that provides a lot of value and utility or to look for that final bit of damage for lethal. Zephrys and more or less eliminated the need for tech cards, freeing up precious space for other cards.

Kazakus: Not as punchy as Zephrys since his effect is RNG-dependent but still a fantastic card nonetheless. The combination of effects you get off Kazakus is still unique in Hearthstone and can still win games you otherwise couldn't. Still a powerful card well worth running.

Reno Jackson: The man, the myth, the legend. He gives the entire archetype his name and his uniquely powerful healing is still very much appreciated in a reactive deck such as this one.

Reno the Relicologist: His battlecry is fantastic for addressing diverse board states, especially while ignoring effects like Counterspell or Loatheb that might jam up spell-based removal. Reno can mop up a board AND remains as a 4/6 to continue fighting for board. And unlike cards like Volcanic Potion or Twilight Flamecaller that see their value drop dramatically once bigger things start hitting the board (Thing from BelowLoathebFungalmancer buffs, etc) Reno's deadeye aim on minions-only means as long as there is 10 health or less on board, he can kill them no matter how the stats are distributed. 

Inkmaster Solia: Helps bypass Loatheb, makes 10-mana Kazakus potions playable 3 turns earlier or play a Kazakus potion for 7 mana and still have 3 left over for a Dirty Rat, Banker, Zola, Secret, Doomsayer, Frost Lich Jaina hero power, et cetera. Fringe benefit of being played with a spell simply to help empty your hand before a Brann+Coldlight play or a Malacrass refill.

The Secrets Package (6 cards)

Ancient Mysteries & Mad Scientist: Still good for the same reasons since Naxxramas released. A decent enough body that draws a card and puts it into play for free is just a really good deal. In the past I favored Arcanologist but with SN1P-SN4P Warlock and Secrets Mage about, the value of the better body is a lot lower. Ancient Mysteries is included instead, since like Arcanologist it has the advantage of letting you control when to play a secret and This is especially valuable since between Zephrys discovering SI:7 Infiltrator and people teching in Kezan Mystic/Eater of Secrets to target Secrets Mage, being able to hold on to a 0-mana Secret until an opportune moment can be helpful. 

Flame Ward: Can be a real lifesaver against a lot of aggro/tempo boards. Being able to hit 3 damage is great and the fact that it can be set up in advance or put into play for free by Mad Scientist or discovered by Arcane Keysmith is great for keeping pace with a faster adversary. Much in the same way a Doomsayer forces a fast opponent to reevaluate their plays, Flame Ward forces suboptimal choices and gives you breathing room to find more solutions. 

Ice Block: The enabler of mega comebacks, messes with OTK combos, too good not to include.

Potion of Polymorph: Interferes with combos, helps block resurrection effects, silences deathrattles.

Arcane Keysmith: Secrets are one of the only ways to interact with your opponent’s turns and having more of them is fantastic. Effect is even stronger now that Flame Ward is part of the pool. 

The Removal Package (5 cards)

Polymorph: Boar: Helps prevent resurrection effects from Big Priest, N'zoth and Gul'dan, otherwise playing double-duty as a pseudo-Silence to remove buffs. In a pinch helps deal with sticky Mechs from SN1P-SN4P Warlock (taking 4 damage is better than taking 30). Also has added versatility as a source of 4 Charge damage to make sneaky lethals happen.

Polymorph: Denies resurrections, silences buffs or deathrattles, provides ping targets for Frost Lich Jaina. Still a very powerful card.

Cloud Prince: Originally just added to this deck on a whim, this card has been very good to me. It fills a lot of niches that were previously empty. First and most obvious is that it acts as removal for midgame threats, helping kill Emperor Thaurissan and Thing from Below outright while also dealing potentially crippling damage to Flamewreathed Faceless or any of the myriad 8/8s in the game (Sea GiantMountain GiantThe Lich King). Second is that it puts something into the deck that Reno Mage typically lacks, which is a way to deal damage to face. I've surprised opponents who thought they were safe at 13 health or less, only to play Brann+Cloud Prince and hero power to burn them to 0. Third is the fantastic fact this is an elemental so the battlecry and any subsequent attacks with the decent 4/4 body afterwards will provide more lifesteal.

Meteor: Kill a big guy and his neighbors. Enough said.

Siamat: Another card whose performance has surprised me. I've seen people disparage him as "neutral Firelands Portal, and Firelands Portal doesn't see any play" which I think is a faulty comparison. Firelands Portal only ever dealt 5 damage and only to one target. Depending on which buffs you choose for Siamat, he can deal 6 to a single target, deal 6 to two separate targets, deal 12 to a single target, and often stick around to attack again the following turn. That's a lot more flexible than Firelands Portal. And Portal has the risk of serious low-rolls on the 5-cost minion it summoned (Fel Reaver or Former Champ anyone?). Top it all off with the fact that he's an elemental for some added late-game sustain and Siamat is an unspectacular yet thoroughly useful card. Not flashy, but handy to have around. Maybe I'll remove him one day, but for now he's sticking around.

The Utility Package (6 cards)

Book of Specters: With Zephrys and Flame Ward and Reno the Relicologist providing super-flexible removal, the need for AoE is mitigated greatly, meaning we can actually cut Dragon's Fury. That in turns eliminates the restriction regarding keeping only relatively high-cost spells in the deck, so Book becomes an extremely powerful form of draw. Especially since so many minions are very high impact. 

Dirty Rat: Combo-disrupter, value-denier, battlecry-blocker, what more needs to be said about our filthy friend?

Arcane Intellect: Still don’t like this card but its one of the few good options for card draw these days. 

Eater of Secrets: Tech card for Secrets Mage with some fringe use against other decks that pop up on occasion such as Hunter or mirrors against other Reno Mages. 

Witchwood Piper: Swapped in for Eater of Secrets after a particularly brutal chain of SN1P-SN4P Warlocks. Trying to get a little extra draw to find Zephrys.

Coldlight Oracle: Can force a mill, ramp up fatigue damage, dig deep into your deck. A great card all around, but must be played with care.

Skulking Geist: Pretty much the only way to beat Jade Druid by destroying idols, helps against Odd Warrior by eating Shield Slams and Omega Assembly, destroys half of a Quest Mage deck if you can get it out in time, fringe benefit of killing Inner Fire, Power Word: Shield and Potion of Madness in Inner Fire Priest. A tech card for sure, but a worthy one.

The Value/Sustain Package (8 cards)

Baleful Banker: This is a close contender with Manic Soulcaster. In general, I like Soulcaster better because of its great statline, but the current list uses Banker because:

  1. it is slightly cheaper and thus easier to weave into a turn (e.g. shuffle in an extra Kazakus on turn 6 as opposed to turn 7)
  2. the fact that it costs 2 mana means you can shuffle in Ragnaros the Firelord or Hex Lord Malacrass on the same turn you play them and those 2 are both really big value bombs
  3. having this in the opening in the opening hand lets you form a cute 2-card, 10-mana infinite shuffle combo with Hex Lord Malacrass; usually not necessary but sometimes relevant in the occasional hyper-fatigue game

Brann Bronzebeard: He’s made 1 mana 5/6 and 2 mana 4/5 crabs, drawn or discovered extra secrets, brewed massive potions, milled cards and fatigued enemies to death, healed me for 10 while destroying enemy weapons, yanked out combo pieces, infinitely staved off fatigue with his partners Banker and Zola. Fantastic card for our deck and pairs well with the bevy of battlecries we have.

Zola the Gorgon: Sort of like Brann in that it helps squeeze extra value out of the numerous powerful Battlecries we have

Leyline Manipulator: Between Zola, Banker, Malacrass, Zephrys, and Kazakus potions there's plenty of generated cards that benefit from getting such a huge cost reduction. Combo this with Brann and watch the madness ensue. 

Barista Lynchen: Most of the deck consists of battlecry minions, so it's not too difficult to get good value. Basically if your opponent leaves any 1 to 2 battlecry minions alive, Barista will pay for herself once you play her, especially if you get some help from Pocket Galaxy.

Luna's Pocket Galaxy: This deck is very minion heavy so it's not difficult to get some serious value out of setting things to 1-mana. Even if you hit something relatively small like Brann or Kazakus, you'd be surprised by the sheer amount of things you can squeeze into a single turn with Galaxy smoothing things out. Plus there's the hilarity of the OTK combo to look forward to! (see below)

Hex Lord Malacrass: Generates additional Polymorphs, copies of Reno or Kazakus, or even smaller things like another Voodoo Doll or Brann that can help squeeze out wins that shouldn't happen. 

Frost Lich Jaina: Presents the threat of a ceaseless tide of Water Elementals, can sustain hugely in fatigue with Geddon and Ragnaros, looks AMAZING with the golden animations.

Notable removals

Doomsayer: Still handy against Secret Mage since it tests for about half the Mage secrets in the game at once (Mirror Entity, Potion of Polymorph, Explosive Runes). Removed because of its relative lack of utility against other meta decks. 

Voodoo Doll: Removed because of its ineffectiveness against the current meta, being useless against Handbuff Paladin, SN1P-SN4P Warlock and often blocked by Counterspell in Secrets Mage.

Dragon's Fury: Removed because of its ineffectiveness against the current meta, being useless against Handbuff Paladin, SN1P-SN4P Warlock and often blocked by Counterspell in Secrets Mage.

MULLIGAN GUIDE & GENERAL STRATEGY

Because we have relatively limited card draw, only run 1 copy of each card, and because Malacrass will duplicate our opening hand, the mulligan is very important to consider.

Listed below are cards I would keep if they showed up in the opening mulligan versus a particular class. I will usually toss back anything that is not included on the list unless I have some extra knowledge, e.g. I know for certain what deck my opponent is playing (which is very possible because Wild is crazy small and you're likely to run into the same players).

Always Keep 

These cards should pretty much always be kept in the opening hand if they show up unless otherwise noted. 

Mad Scientist, Ancient Mysteries, Zephrys the Great, Kazakus 

Druid

Jade Druid

Pretty much the only Druid deck that sees significant representation on the ladder right now.

Keep if offered: Arcane Intellect, Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph

Fend off the early Jade Golems and prepare to eliminate a Vargoth from a T4 Oaken Summons using Polymorphs, Zephrys or a Kazakus potion if necessary.

Look for a 5-mana potions with combinations of polymorph/AoE/5 damage and card draw mainly. If you have card draw already, or Geist, or Solia you can consider a 10-mana potion too, with Polymorph everything being the ideal.

Prevent the Druid from developing a board using your AoEs, secrets, Polymorphs and so on while you look for Skulking Geist. Keeping the board clear is paramount; Geist won’t help you if you are dead on board. Play the Geist at an opportune moment, stabilize with Reno/Kazakus potion/Frost Lich Jaina in the late game and carefully grind your opponent out.  

Always be wary of hand size since Naturalize is fairly common in Jade Druid lists. You do not want to mill Geist, Frost Lich Jaina, removal tools, et cetera.

Combo Druid

There's still a few of these floating around, so I'm including it for completeness' sake. 

Keep if offered: Arcane Intellect, Polymorph, Potion of Polymorph, Arcane Keysmith, Dirty Rat (only if you have removal already), Brann/Zola (only if you have Dirty Rat already)

Potion of Polymorph is a real killer here. Try not to play it early on though, since Combo Druid does have at least a few other minions they can use to defuse it. Instead try to save it until the Druid is at 9 or 10 mana. The secret might well win you another turn. 

Likewise try to keep Keysmith in your back pocket and pair with Brann to get out Explosive Runes or an extra Potion of Polymorph. 

Dirty Rat is very useful as well but be sure you have removal (Poly, Kazakus potion, Cloud Prince, Zeph) for whatever gets pulled out. And of course do your best to pair with Brann to improve the chances of hitting something vital. 

Hunter

Mech Hunter

Honestly I have barely seen any Hunters these past few months. The one or two I did see were Mech Hunters.

Keep if offered: Flame Ward, Arcane Intellect, Arcane Keysmith, Polymorphs (if the rest of your hand is good)

Contest the early game using Flame Ward and or Keysmith. Look to use Zephrys or Reno the Relicologist to clean up. Unlike Paladin, aggressive Hunter decks don't have good card draw save Jeeves so surviving the initial onslaught is the toughest part. 

Keep the board clear, heal up with Reno or Jaina if you reach the lategame and you should have the win.

Mage

Secrets Mage

Keep if offered: Eater of Secrets, Arcane Keysmith, Reno Jackson (only if you have the coin and/or the rest of your hand is excellent).

Set up your own secrets where you can using Mad Scientist and Ancient Mysteries. If necessary, use the 0-cost secret from Mysteries to test for Counterspell before you play removal. Use Kazakus for a 5- or even 1-mana potion to mop up some of the minions or to test for Counterspell. 

Don't try to get super greedy with Eater of Secrets. Play it when you think it has a good chance of sticking on the board. If that means playing it into only 1 secret, then so be it. You need the tempo from Eater to contend with how fast 

As the game enters the midgame, try to keep Zephrys in your backpocket and use him to find weapon removal for Aluneth if need be. Or if they are drawing really deep into their deck with Aluneth, you might let them go until they draw every card and then use Brann and Coldlight Oracle to fatigue them to death.

Heal up with Reno when you find opportune moments, ideally avoiding Runes so that Reno can stick. Again, DON'T BE GREEDY. Healing to 30 won't matter if you just get blown up by the board anyway, so try to stick Reno and force trades. 

Quest Mage

Keep if offered: Potion of Polymorph, Arcane Keysmith, Polymorph, Skulking Geist (only if you have the coin and/or the rest of your hand is excellent).

For this matchup, look for your secrets-synergy cards and use Potion of Polymorph/Arcane Keysmith to help trip up your opponent. Potion of Polymorph or a discovered Explosive Runes can block an early Stargazer Luna or Flamewaker or Sorceror’s Apprentice which is hugely important in the first phase of the game. If you have AoE to clear out the small minions, consider using Keysmith for Vaporize/Ice Barrier/Ice Block to help survive a Giant.

Stall out your opponent in the early game and prevent them from sticking an Apprentice/Flamewaker/Luna and minimize the damage you take. 

If you can find the chance to play Skulking Geist, do so since it wipes out a significant portion of their deck and the 4/6 body can contest just about any minion.

If you also have Dirty Rat and the mana to kill whatever gets pulled out, don’t be afraid to go for it. The deck runs relatively few minions and dragging out and killing an Arcane Giant/Vargoth is very powerful since you have Ice Block and Reno Jackson to resist the effects of Time Warp. Again, only do this if you are SURE you can deal with what gets pulled.

Paladin

Handbuff Paladin

Keep if offered: Book of Specters, Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph, Arcane Intellect, Zola (if you have Zephyrs already)

A very obnoxious deck to deal with. You are super reliant on Zephrys to find a good answer to their buffed up boards and even that might not be enough since any mech left alive (even after a Silence, Earth Shock, or Mass Dispel) can still become a huge threat once buffed. 

Play Book of Specters on curve if you have nothing else to do. Your spells are relatively few and most will not be helpful in this matchup anyway. Your priority will be to look for Zephrys assuming you do not already have him. 

If they choose to buff a single minion, especially if it is a Flying Machine, Polymorph it, even if you have to use Polymorph: Boar. Taking 4 damage is preferable to taking 20.

Set up Ice Block to help survive hits and Flame Ward to soften up the mechs for Reno the Relicologist or a Zeph AoE or Kazakus potions. Address the board as best you can and stabilize wherever possible.

Make no mistake though, this is a bad matchup.

Priest

Big Priest 

There's still a few die-hards playing this deck believe it or not. 

Keep if offered: Arcane Intellect, Polymorph: Boar, Potion of Polymorph, Polymorph, Arcane Keysmith (only if you have a good hand already).

We look for our polymorph cards or card draw so we can dig for polymorphs.

Look out for these power spikes and try to get your Polymorph effects to line up with them:

T3/T4: Vargoth

T6: Shadow Essence

T8: Lich King, Ragnaros, Catrina Muerte

With Kazakus try to save him until you can find a tool to double with, whether that is Brann or Zola or even Baleful Banker. As a general rule, go for the 10-mana Polymorph-all potion but be mindful of getting the board of sheep Psychic Scream’d into your deck, since the multiple copies of sheep will screw with Kazakus, Reno and Solia.

So try to play the Polymorph-all potion only if you are A) already Frost Lich Jaina, in which case topdecking a sheep just means a new Water Elemental B) have card draw so you can dig out the sheep faster C) are about to polymorph all of your opponent’s remaining big minions D) have exhausted all your opponent’s other resurrection effects or of course E) you have to polymorph everything or else you will die.

As a general rule, don’t bother killing or Polymorphing the Obsidian Statues since they are the least threatening minions for us. They CAN however provide setup fodder for Zephrys. Play Zephrys into a Statue and he'll likely offer you Hex as an option because of Statue's deathrattle, whereas against other big minions he'll just offer BGH or Shadow Word: Death. 

So what you can do is play Zeph into a Statue to get Hex and then keep the Hex for an actually threatening target later. 

The only other Priest I see with any regularity is Inner Fire Priest. Thankfully there is a lot of overlap in the cards we are looking for in the Big Priest matchup.

Inner Fire Priest

Keep if offered: Arcane Intellect, Polymorph: Boar, Potion of Polymorph, Polymorph, Arcane Keysmith (only if you have a good hand already).

Look to set up Potion of Polymorph to block a threatening minion (Deathlord, Drakonid Operative, et cetera) or an Ice Block to endure a big punch from a buffed minion.

Arcane Intellect helps dig for solutions.

Polymorph effects and Kazakus help deal with the buffed minions while Arcane Keysmith helps find Vaporize, extra Ice Block, Spellbender/Counterspell to block buffs, extra Potion of Polymorph or Explosive Runes to stall enemy board development.

In the midgame look to play Geist to kill off Inner Fire and Power Word Shield and sometimes Potion of Madness. Use Zeph to find silences or removal, Reno the Relicologist to clear boards of medium sized minions before they can get buffed. 

Rogue

Odd Rogue

Keep if offered: Flame Ward, Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph

We are assuming Odd Rogue. Again, the same strategy applies as always for aggro/tempo decks: stall, clear, survive.

Flame Ward is a decent keep here since most of the early game minions are quite small. 

Zeph and Polymorphs help deal with the 4/4 Hench-Clan Thug on turn 3.

For Kazakus you generally want to look for AoE of course. However, if your opponent already has a 4/4 Hench-Clan Thug on board then consider taking the deal 5 damage option first so you can kill Thug even after it gets buffed into a 5/5.

Shaman

Even Shaman

Keep if offered: Flame Ward (only if you have Zephrys or Kazakus already), Polymorph: Boar, Zola the Gorgon (only if you have Zephrys or Kazakus already), Kazakus, Polymorph, Reno the Relicologist (only if you have the coin AND the rest of your hand is good)

Flame Ward is important for knocking down basic totems that are buffed by Totemic Surge or Vessina Jade Claws and Murkspark Eel, trading favorably into Dire Wolf Alphas and so on.

Polymorphs are needed to deal with the arsenal of powerful 4-cost minions in Even Shaman or can be saved for later to neutralize 6 and 8 drops.

Kazakus is once again vital. AoE is great but consider deal 5 damage if offered since that is enough to kill a Thing from Below or help enable a trade with 7/7s or 8/8s. In general don't go for any Polymorph effects since there will almost always be a totem that might randomly eat the Polymorph instead of the big guy you are scrambling to deal with.

Reno the Relicologist is a very strong midgame clear around T6 or can be saved for T8/T9 since he deals enough damage to deal with a Ragnaros or Lich King AND a single totem. So long as the board doesn't get too out of control before he can be played of course. 

Warlock

Keep if offered: Book of Specters, Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph, Arcane Intellect, Zola (if you have Zephyrs already)

Another obnoxious deck, very similar to Handbuff Paladin. (Gee I wonder if it has to do with Mechwarper being really busted these days?)

Once more you are really depending on Zephrys to find a good answer to their buffed up boards, particularly Mass Dispel).

As with Handbuff Paladin, play Book of Specters on curve if you have nothing else to do. Once more your spells will not be that helpful in this matchup anyway. Your priority will be to look for Zephrys. 

Do your best to keep the board clear of mechs, especially going into T4/T5. Use Polymorph if necessary to prevent your opponent from setting up an OTK. 

If you happen to draw Flame Ward or get it off of Mysteries, try to save it. When your opponent goes in for their SN1P-SN4P turn, play Zephrys into Mass Dispel to deal with the board and then try to set up the Flame Ward after that, so that the 3-damage AoE clears out the silenced bodies. Remember, even after a Mass Dispel you will be staring at 10-12 damage.

If you can pull it off, copy Zeph with Zola or Banker as well or use Brann to get an extra Mass Dispel. Use the second copy to help address the Glinda + Zilliax board that will come out on T8/T9. Alternatively look to Kazakus for a 10 mana potion and use Leyline Manipulator or Solia to get it discounted. 

If you make it this far, strap in for the final hurdle and prepare to deal with Mechathun. The most straightfoward way is to play Skulking Geist to deny Plague of Flames. Otherwise, wait until the Warlock is about to draw all their cards and when their hand is reasonably small, use Dirty Rat with or without Brann and whatever removal you have to kill it. If for whatever reason you can't, try to find a creative lethal using Brann/Zola and Coldlight Oracle, Brann/Coldlight plus Cloud Prince, Arcane Keysmith/Potion of Polymorph, et cetera. 

Mechathun Warlock

Keep if offered: Dirty Rat, Arcane Intellect, Brann Bronzebeard (only if Dirty Rat, Coldlight Oracle, Kazakus, or Arcane Keysmith are already in hand) Coldlight Oracle, Polymorph: Boar, Potion of Polymorph, Arcane Keysmith, Polymorph

Look for Arcane Intellect/Coldlight Oracle for card draw. Coldlight can be particularly valuable since the Warlock will lifetap and draw and you can potentially mill a card or two.

If you have Zeph in your opening hand, consider playing him on T2 and get a Wild Growth for T3. There's relatively few threats in Mechathun Warlock, so the extra mana might be more valuable in helping you reach for your key cards. 

If you get Potion of Polymorph, save it until the later turns to try and target Mechathun himself or Emperor Thaurissan.

Keep Potion of Polymorph in your hand if it shows up. Since the game will take a fairly long time, you have decent odds to find Malacrass and get a second copy of the secret.

Be prepared with Polymorphs or Zeph to deal with either Mal’ganis or Voidlord that get popped out from a Voidcaller.

Likewise, be prepared to kill Emperor Thaurissan when he comes out.

If you find Geist, play it to kill Soularium and sometimes Mortal Coil. Anything that stops card draw is useful.

Once your opponent is positioned to play the Mechathun combo, play Brann and Dirty Rat or Arcane Keysmith or a saved Potion of Polymorph to try and disrupt the combo. Be sure you are able to kill the Mechathun if it gets pulled out.

In fringe cases use Brann/Zola with Coldlight Oracle for force fatigue damage or Brann plus Cloud Prince for some surprise damage. If you can get them low enough, they might have to spend a turn healing with Antique Healbot or Reno Jackson before playing Mechathun. 

Warrior

Pirate Warrior

Keep if offered: Flame Ward, Polymorph, Reno the Relicologist (only if you have the coin and/or the rest of your hand is excellent), Reno Jackson (only if you have the coin and/or the rest of your hand is excellent)

Once again Flame Ward is a very powerful card, able to clear out pretty much any board Pirate Warrior can set up. Key thing to be mindful of is that you should not play a Ward if your opponent has a lot of small minions and a Frothing Berserker ready to attack (for obvious reasons).

Zeph is once again fantastic for destroying weapons or removing select minions.

Kazakus for 5-mana potions into a 4 damage AoE are fantastic.

Reno the Relicologist is also great since it will destroy pretty much any board (provided you can make it to 6 mana of course)

Odd Warrior 

Keep if offered: Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph, Baleful Banker, Skulking Geist (only if your curve is already good)

Try to land your Polymorph effects on Deathlords/Direhorn Hatchlings.

Beware of possible enemy Brann/Coldlight plays to avoid milling cards. You do not want to mill Frost Lich Jaina in particular. 

Skulking Geist is an MVP if you can find time and space to play him since he will destroy the vital Shield Slams and the value-bombs of Omega Assembly.

Play Frost Lich Jaina as soon as possible, even if it means coining her out, and slowly grind down your opponent. The game will typically drag into fatigue so their Reckless Flurry cards will be basically useless, leaving you with two Brawls to contend with and whatever mechs are produced by Assembly and Dr. Boom, Mad Genius. Don’t overcommit to board and give Brawl opportunities.

If they run Elysiana, try to set up an infinite combo with Brann, Banker and Zola to match them in fatigue. Since your infinite shuffle chain only requires one Brann and two bankers, the second Brann can be paired with Keysmith or Kazakus to get extra value.

 

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Comments

  • Iplaywhite's Avatar
    Academy Sleuth 405 143 Posts Joined 06/10/2019
    Posted 5 years ago

    Without LPG you would be less likely to need Inkmaster as well, you'd want to look at more standard reno mage lists that try to outvalue.

    Maybe a Manic soulcaster, N'zoth Build, prymordial glyph is  a great card etc., depends which direction you want to go

     

    0
    • magikman's Avatar
      285 152 Posts Joined 06/17/2019
      Posted 5 years ago

      Inkmaster is helpful beyond LPG, so I'm quite happy with her performance overall. 

      And I'm not interested in the "standard" lists built around N'zoth. 

      0
      • Iplaywhite's Avatar
        Academy Sleuth 405 143 Posts Joined 06/10/2019
        Posted 5 years ago

        was responding to Kansas

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  • KANSAS's Avatar
    Old God Fanatic 1745 2912 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 5 years ago

    This deck looks great!

    I used to dust most of my mage cards but I have recently started playing the class more and I have already crafted a bunch of epics. I have tried making some reno mage lists and none of them have been very good. I really like the look of this list but I am missing all of the mage legendarys except for reno the relicologist. 

    What would be some replacements for the legends in this list? Frostlich jaina is on the top of my crafting list, but Hexlord malacrass, luna's pocket galaxy, and inkmaster solia I would have to wait months to get.

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    • magikman's Avatar
      285 152 Posts Joined 06/17/2019
      Posted 5 years ago

      Frost Lich is pretty impossible to replace directly so she should be a priority. 

      For possible swaps on the other 3 legendaries you mention, you could try switching for these if you have them:

      Hexlord Malacrass -> Echo of Medivh 

      Luna's Pocket Galaxy -> Emperor Thaurissan 

      Inkmaster Solia - Tortollan Pilgrim

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      • KANSAS's Avatar
        Old God Fanatic 1745 2912 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
        Posted 5 years ago

        I don't have echo of medivh or tortollan pilgrim. But I do have emperor T.!

        I will probably replace inkmaster with primordial glyph, and hexlord malacrass with some other form of copying. Perhaps duplicate or maybe youthful brewmaster. 

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