This has been an interesting matchup and there is a lot of debate on which class has the advantage.
Mage threats:
4x giant
4x conjuring
1xkhadgar
1xantonidas giving 4-5 fireballs
bunch of small stuff.
Warrior removal:
2xshield slam
2xbrawl
2xomega devastator
2xwarpath
2xmilitia
1xsuper collider or 2x wrench calibuer.
Mage plays 3x2 giants,1x4 giants with khadgar and 1x antonidas.
The most efficient way to remove the 4 giants is with brawl+shield slam or omega devastator. Warrior has to safe 1 brawl for the khadgar turn and 1 single target removal.
That leaves 1 brawl and 3xdevastator/shield slam to deal with 3x2 giants.
2x devastator can deal with 1x2 giants. brawl+shield slam can deal with the other 1x2 giants and then there is 1x2 giants+antonidas left to deal with.
For this warrior does need additional removal. Supercollider which can deal with 3x2 giants on its own in theory. Execute can give another single target for antonidas and militia in combination with mechs from boom can probably also kill a wave. Smaller things like sourceres images and cyclones should be dealth with by using warpath.
If both sides have all the time in the world then warrior should win I think if they run super collider and mage does not have weapon removal. Without collider it becomes difficult in theory,bgh is not really that efficient and will not realy bridge the gap between removal and threats.
If warrior has already used a brawl and mage still has khadgar then mage can conjure a giant twice to make 3 giants for pressure. If warrior has not used a brawl yet then mage should stick to making 2 giants i think.
If warrior uses his last brawl to kill 3 giants then he wont have an answer to the khadgar wave. Warrior should therefore maybe try kill the first 2 giants without using brawl.
But there is more to the matchup and that is timing. It is more easy for the mage to draw his threats early on then it is for warrior to draw his removal early on. The earlier mage gets the giants+conjure going the better spot he will be in. In the long run I think the warrior is favored but he does need more then 2xbrawl 2xshieldslam 2xomega. He will need to be able to use dr boom as removal and other additional removal such as execute and super collider. Boom is probably key,an early boom in combination with a slow mage start should give warrior enough tools to deal with all the mage threats I think. A fast mage start is very hard to deal with for warrior no matter how they build.
1 Like
Having only played this match-up from the side of the cyclone player, mage feels favoured. Granted, sometimes warrior will have all the answers, but given the decks and each of their abilities to draw additional cards, mage will just have the questions sooner.
Most people won’t even come close to the potential of this deck because there are a lot of nuanced decisions that can delay your plays by one or more turns or even give your opponent access to more removal, but given optimal play on both sides, I would definitely prefer to be piloting the mage.
2 Likes
Mage is definitely favored over control warrior.
Bomb warrior’s a trickier question.
2 Likes
Since he says “4 giants”, I assume he means the cyclone build.
2 Likes
yes this is about the cyclone build which runs 2x seagiant 2x mountain giant.
That is the minimum that is run,sometimes people run additional threats like power of creation or the 7 mana guy that summons a minion based on your handseize. Warrior struggles against the minimum amount of threads but could in theory deal with it if given enough time. But that’s theory and in reality the time wont be there most of the time. Devestator wont even work before t10 and boom is a must to get the additional removal. When mage runs more threats then it obviously becomes even more difficult for warrior.
Bomb warrior is tricky as they will have a threat themselves. Their early game can overrun mage if mage doesn’t get a good start but they do have less removal in the long run and mage can defuse the bombs rather easily if they have to. I have played both bomb and control and I have played the mage side as well. Personally I am not sure what I find easier,i do think mage has the advantage but I am not sure that bomb warrior is better then control in this matchup.
3x2 giants 1x4 giants and 1x anton is an abstraction. Mage will rarely play exactly that. Depending on how the game go they will drop 1 lone giant and they might also use conjuring on other minions. If you can kill a lone giant before mage uses conjuring then it should be good. Mage can still generate the same amount of giants with conjuring but they will have to use a conjuring on a giant twice to make up for the lost giant and when mage has 3 giants brawl becomes a lot more efficient (brawl also can be made better by having your own minions/crap on the field).
A lone giant is often worth the risk but losing your giant does hurt a little bit in the follow up. This is all a bit theoretical,but just to get some ideas about the underlying principles.
I think the best warrior build would be bomb warrior with 2x brawl and 1 super collider. Then you have the early pressure and minions that can potentially overrun mage,they also help fight an early giant making you need less removal.
Collider only needs 1 good hit to get good value and it does hard counter one of the most dangerous “highrolls” from mage which is double giant at t5-t6 (warrior still needs something on board if mage gets a 7/8) . Mage can play around collider sometimes but then he adds more minions which will make brawl better.
Something like this:
2xomega assembly
2xshield slam
1xtown crier
2xwarpath
1xweapons project
1xacolyte of pain
1xaugmented elekk
2xclockwork goblin
1xironbeak owl
2xshield block
2xmilitia commander
1xomega devastator
2xwrenchcalibur
2xbrawl
2xdynomatic
1xharrison jones
1supercollider
1xzilliax
1xblastmaster boom
1xdr boom mad genius
1xarchivist elysiana
Owl for mech hunter,weapons project project for murlocs,elysiana for control warriors and control shamans,colider for mage.
Only 1 devastator. Its a strong card but only after turn 10 and warrior should be doing decent then if he makes it that far and possibly have boom up.
I thought 1 devastator was standard?
Seems to be, in bomb decks at least.
With the Dragon Build I’m quite favoured against both kinds of Warriors, but you do get those games where they discover 4 extra Devastator which can be tedious. Still it’s a good match-up as long as you keep the early big threats rolling to bait the brawls and shield slams.
For bomb warrior, holding the Zilliax and Amalgam puts in a lot of work, as well as Keysmith. You can indeed burn bombs with Book of Spectre too.
1 Like
The general rule of the Control Warrior vs Mage is:
If the Warrior draws the super Collider by turn 10 and the mage doesn’t have a weapon removed in deck, the game’s done GG Warrior wins. if not, the game is still done, GG Mage wins.
There are some exceptions to this rule.
#1- If the warrior doesn’t draw both brawls ever then he/she loses
#2- If the mage runs Alexstrasza and gets good spells on his/her mana cyclone, the mage could burn the warrior down no matter what.
Other Factors:
The Mage has a higher skill cap for this matchup
If the Mage plays well, the mage is favored in this matchup
If the Mage is average, the warrior(is also average) is favored in this matchup
Time is critical in the matchup