Spell Mage Hearthstone Deck

I thought I'd take some time to go through a deck I've been playing with in Hearthstone that I've found very successful. In card games I've always preferred control decks that remove the enemy minions and then use powerful minions or spells to deal the damage. This deck is built around that and has won around 70% of games. The list is as follows:

2 x Arcane Missiles
2 x Arcane Explosion
1 x Frost Nova
1 x Amani Berserker
1 x Ironbeak Owl
1 x Kobold Geomancer
2 x Dalaran Mage
2 x Ironfur Grizzly
2 x Fireball
2 x Polymorph
2 x Chillwind Yeti
1 x Azure Drake
1 x Booty Bay Bodyguard
2 x Darkscale Healer
2 x Archmage
1 x Gelbin Mekkatorque
1 x Lord of the Arena
2 x Flamestrike
1 x Deathwing
1 x Sea Giant

There are several things that are completely optional. First is the two legendary cards in the deck. Gelbin Mekkatorque and Deathwing are the only two legendary cards I have, and I am considering taking Mekkatorque out as he can help the enemy as well as you with his random inventions. Deathwing can be swapped for another heavy hitter, but I like the removal he provides.

My basic strategy depends on the first hand I am dealt. Ideally you want either Arcane Missiles or Arcane Explosions and the Kobold Geomancer. Should you not get that however, any small minions that can be used to delay play (Ironfur Grizzlys are particularly good). Then it is simply a matter of surviving until you have enough spell damage to use Fireballs to damage the enemy hero or throw the Sea Giant or Deathwing out to swing for fatal.

As an example of just how effective this deck is at the moment, I faced a hunter who was using the Chanman style of play (small creatures being buffed by Unleash the Hounds). Fortunately I was able to use my Booty Bay Bodyguard and Lord of the Arena minions to stay alive for another turn. I top decked my Sea Giant who ended up only costing 2 mana due to all the minions on the board. Throwing him out, I then used Flamestrike to clear the board and win the game on the next turn.

Most games end up going somewhat along this path, with you holding on with less than 10 health (my craziest game I was matched up against another mage and won with 2 health), and swinging for fatal with either the Sea Giant, Deathwing or a Fireball.

Hopefully when the open beta comes around, this will help you to win some games.

As always,

GAME ON!

The Bottom Line: a Tetris life update.

Wow, it's been a crazy few months for me in my real life. I work a seasonal job in reticulation and this summer has started hard and fast for us. This has resulted in two things. First, I am working weekends. I get a day off through the week, and I use that to catch up on what I would normally do on the weekend. Second, I am extremely behind on my gaming.

Hearthstone's beta has been a godsend, allowing me to play a couple of games for sessions of ten to thirty minutes at a time as I have the chance. Minecraft has taken up the bulk of my remaining gaming time, with myself and a friend playing our creative world and building some sweet structures for some fun. Any other time has been spent playing a few games I've picked up from the Humble Bundles that recently came up - LoTR: War in the North and F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R has always been one of those games that I have wanted to play, but never got the chance. It came out around the same time as Battlefield 2 and that game dominated my gaming at the time. The game has aged well, with the gameplay holding up too. War in the North is fun, if a little flawed. There could have been so much more done with the game, but it seems like most licensed games they either ran out of time or money had to drop some features.

I haven't logged into Eve at all. Ever since the Somer fiasco I just haven't wanted to deal with the entitled idiots in game who have ruined it a little for me. WoW isn't much better, with the player base complaining about the announcement that they might delay flying for Warlords of Draenor. I wish people were less aggressive about their complaining.

Hopefully soon, I can pick up a copy of X Rebirth. There are no fancy words I can use to describe just how excited I am for that game, but I need to have a sizable chuck of time to dedicate to it, and I just don't have the time right now. I've described X to my friends as Eve Offline, with joystick controls. It's not entirely accurate, but it does convey the general idea of X as a game.

As always ladies and gents,

GAME ON! Especially when you actually can GAME ON!

Hearthstone

Wow. That's all I can say about Hearthstone. No really, this post is over, go away.

Still here hey? Ok, I suppose I should write some more about it. First of all, I would like to give a massive shout out to Garret, Dills and Jocelyn from the Angry Chicken Podcast for the beta key. Not only did they do a give away with over 100 keys (102 to be precise), they also have, in my opinion, the best Hearthstone podcast around right now. You can find it here, or if you can catch it live, here.

On to Hearthstone. I wasn't kidding when I said wow describes it perfectly. For a beta game it is insanely polished and everything just oozes quality. I did have some issues when I first installed the game, but it seems like that is a server side issue that Blizzard is aware of and working on. Once you get to start playing, the game drops you straight into a series of training matches, ending with you fighting against Illidan.

When the training is finished there are a few things that should be done immediately. First, unlock every class. That will grant you access to the arena, some gold, and much needed levels. Once you have done that, have a go at getting one class to level 10 for more gold and free cards. After that go forth and build your decks.

I have some experience with Magic The Gathering, and most people will compare the two for obvious reasons. There are those out there who have said that the game is a simplified version of MTG. I can see where they come from with that argument, but have to disagree. Hearthstone is different enough that I don't feel like I am playing MTG, but rather a completely new card game. The hero powers and mana crystals add to the game and help to streamline the experience. The lack of instant cards scare me a little bit, as I tended to play a lot of them in Magic, but those are something that could be added down the track if required (and to be clear I don't think they are at this stage).

Blizzard have done a fantastic job of making a simple enough experience that anyone could pick it up and have fun, but also making the game deep and complex enough to interest existing card game players. It's still in closed beta at this point, but at BlizzCon they announced that open beta could be expected in December (although perhaps later because Blizzard). If you do get into the closed beta, expect there to be some bugs and server issues. If you don't, fear not. You will get to play this game soon.

As always folks,

GAME ON!