In the case of playing tempo decks, there should always be a risk: not enough refill, running out of resources, etc. When there isn’t, as was the case with Lackey Rogue, it provides a warped metagame. My questions regarding CC Mage are these:
What risks do you take in playing this deck?
What are the downsides? What can go wrong?
What is the most difficult part about piloting this deck?
I do not have the pieces to play this deck myself. There are quite a few complaint threads around here about this particular deck, as well as mana cheat. I am genuinely curious about the nature of this deck.
According to reports, it is currently sitting at T2/T3 (last I knew: I haven’t checked recently.)
Finally, do you, as a pilot of this deck, feel that it is unfair? Do you think it needs/deserves a nerf? Why or why not?
Gwyneth#11119 NA is my battletag if anyone is interested in allowing me to spectate some matches.
I don’t play Conjure Mage myself, but from what I seen I would assume it blows against hunters and any aggro decks in general
It has no early game except for Apprentice into a bunch of 0/2 taunts, a bunch of freezes and hope to god you get the right spells back with your 2 mana elemental. There is no way it can deal with constant early game tempo such as hunters and Druids, even if they do, they wouldn’t be able to play their late game cards because they would all suck without having cards in hand. Hunters and druids just beat them early and late game.
I actually think conjuring mage is one of the decks that takes the most skills to play at the moment. Your card “power level” depend on your hand size, therefore as you play cards your deck becomes weaker. You got to know when to push for tempo and when to save against all kinds of different matches
The risk is you got to know when is the best time to strike, if too early or too late you lose. (It also has no heals)
(what I assume)
A lot of my answer depends on which version you’re curious about - Dragons or Cyclones.
For Cyclones, you cannot play your giant as early as Dragons. Trying to make a Giant/CC your first play usually ends in disaster against anything aggressive since you’re doing nothing until turn 4, and even then you have to pray it doesn’t get removed so you can CC it on 5. The other hazard is that not drawing your Cyclones to go with spells early can result in your burning a lot of defensive utility (Ray of Frost, Mirror Images) to stall your opponent’s board, but not actually remove any of it. If you cannot follow this up with a big play, you generally just wind up staring down a massive board that’s continuously going ham on your face. The most difficult thing about the deck is know when to save your resources VS blowing them (which is quite easy) and trying to make the random spells you get through Cyclone/Magic Trick work towards your end goal if either making a board of big minions or blowing your opponent up with Antonidas (in some builds).
For Dragons, it’s a bit easier to curve things out since Book of Spectres is usually a good play (but can also shoot you in the foot by burning CC), Firetree Witch Doctor is great on curve and replaces her spot in your hand, and Nightmare Amalgam/Twilight Drake/Scaleworm give you reasonable bodies on the board as the early game moves toward the midgame. The deck is generally safer than the Cyclones build but is also slower IMO and unless they get a going-second turn 2 Book into turn 3 Giant, I usually win in the mirror with Cyclones. The risk inherent in it is similar to above - drawing non-synergized cards thay give you subpar plays against opponents who can set up strong boards more consistently.
Aggressive decks are generally a weak spot for them as they rely on having just the right combination of things in hand early on in order to stave them off.
This sums it up pretty well. The deck can certainly highroll a strong early play, but it’s not unique in that aspect. If it sees any balancing (which I don’t really believe it needs, given its performance both on the ladder and the utter spanking several users of it received recently in the Masters events) I would think bumping CC to 4 mana would be most appropriate.
It has Zilliax, which isn’t much. He works better in the Dragon build where you can slap him on an Amalgam for a 6/6 lifesteal divine shield taunt.
Honestly, I play both of them. I think my favorite is probably Cyclones, but they sort of trade off effectiveness depending on your local meta.
I’ll put it this way - when I’m pissed at one of them for losing X matches, I’ll swap to the other because it feels differently enough, but I get more chuckles out of Cyclones and it feels a bit more “Mage-y” to me. Dragons are hella cool though.
The minion based versions of Conjurer’s Mage struggle against aggro. Cyclone Mage doesn’t.
Cyclone Mage has a very high skill cap and doesn’t have any terrible match ups when it’s played at the highest level. While I like decks with high skill caps, I really dislike Conjurer’s Calling, and I hate Big Priest for the same reason. Cheating out a seemingly endless amount of large minions makes for terrible game play. And CC allows you to do it earlier than Big Priest.
I thought Blizzard was moving away from insane value generation, but clearly, they aren’t. I haven’t played against much CC Mage lately, but I was unlucky enough to run into three in a row this morning. All high rolled giants and stomped me. I can’t imagine being a new player and facing this.
Since Wardrum already replied with a rather lengthy and complete wall of text, I’ll simply add my thoughts on the questions.
1 and 2) - Dragons: lacks explosive turns, is predictable but more consistent.
Miracle: bad mulligans are a thing, they really are. This deck is not consistent in the traditional sense - you either massacre, or slip away like a ghost.
Neither deck is really good at dealing with large boards. They can both stall, but they can’t efficiently clear out enemy minions. Hence, the druid and murloc popularity spike.
Mulliganing wrong or outright drawing i.e. 3 giants at the start will likely result in you getting steamrolled by a faster deck.
Many plays can unintentionally end up fueling opposing Sea Giants, Unleash the Hounds and Hyenas.
Understanding matchups (you need to understand mana pools and options each turn). Balancing greed, tempo vs value, often transparent in when you throw down the Cyclone and/or Apprentice.
You have to understand when you can hold onto the Conjurer’s Calling vs using it on smaller minions, or even earlier than intended.
Like all miracle decks, it punishes piloting mistakes very fondly.
Choosing when to drop Tony in some matchups is not a simple thing, as demonstrated in HCT last week.
You misunderstood me. In this context, I meant destroying enemy board. Which you would’ve caught if you actually finished reading all the points instead of catching whichever suits your agenda.
Teching in Doomsayers and an extra Frost Nova has certainly improved my Aggro matchups, but I would say “not terrible” is a pretty good assessment of how it goes. All depends on how well you can stall early on.
Dragon Mage definitely struggles hard against Murlocs and Zoolock though, since they’re always behind on tempo in the early turns and can’t afford to run spells that let them hold out long enough to turn things around. Not easy matchups.
At least quote the phrase within context. I said that because a lot of people go “They just open with a Giant into CC and auto-win!!”. Well, no, they don’t. Not against anything aggressive at least, they need to use their other tools.
Sorry, nothing constructive to add here, but you guys are really making me wish I had the skills to make a HS Gambler Parody song. Actually had to put the song on this time to get it out of my head.
And in his final emote I found a spell that I could play…