Supernova Mage - new deck for scammers

Multiplayer Discussion
1

To anyone who managed to somehow miss this, Mage has a new deck on the ladder, and it’s BRUTAL.

Your typical turn 5 scams along the lines of:

Skyla + Supernova for 0 + Sunset Volley for 1 + Firelands Portal for 1, most likely followed by a concede

That’s when you curve out with Greedy Partner into Weapon and get a few coins.

It also has the same old Norgannon into Reverb scam which can steal easy games if your opponent had an unlucky draw.

I’m enjoying the deck thoroughly and it’s probably tier 2 or something, so if you’re interested, here’s the list:

AAECAf0EBv3EBYf1BfGABrrOBqfTBvXiBgyQgwaQngaBvwaGvwbpyQbmygaM1gaF5gaG5gaY6gbk6gbX8wYAAQPxgAb9xAW6pwb9xAXx5gb9xAUAAA==

I haven’t played enough games on it yet to know what the matchups look like, I’m still learning the deck, 6-2 at the moment.

EDIT: I just played a pure value dumpster legend game!

https://replays.firestoneapp.com/?reviewId=82c4b765-5055-4fa8-962f-9bf25fc0119e&turn=0&action=0

I decided to post it to show in what way I meant when I said it was a “fun” deck. When I say it’s “fun”, I mean it’s fun for the majority of the playerbase, who love playing longer, value-filled games with lots of interesting combos.

And that’s exactly what this replay is all about. A 12:42 min long game against control DK with lots of high-cost spells played for 1 mana, including 2x trial by fire, 2x ragnaros and a whole lot of other interesting stuff.

EDIT 2: Next one is even better! 3x trial by fire! And a useful trick how to play around control Hunter OTK → just play mixologist and give your minions health!

https://replays.firestoneapp.com/?reviewId=2dc96977-e8ef-4bfe-809e-ad928f9ec7d5&turn=0&action=0

I hope you enjoy!

2 Likes
2

Yes it appeared in my ~60 samples hsguru scans, which is is why I always say people underrate sample sizes of less than 1,000 (or even more) way too much (100 are already enough to get a rough taste give or take 2%).

It has currently (last day) fallen off to 50% win rate though (it was probably much higher yesterday) at the top 1K.

Maybe worse players got wind of it and they play it badly.

It seems either clanky or high skill cap at a glace of cards.

3

i tried playing supernova mage before balance patches, i never get to win a single game. all of my mage decks has negative winrates, arkwing, elemental and supernova. i never liked mage class save for freeze mage and secret mage

2 Likes
4

They’ve been too predictable lately, and frankly clunky (sensitive to bad draws). The basic elemental deck two months ago was very robust but it had a low skill cap.

My first experience with mage was seeing it as an opponent being good/high win rate with Sif. That was also low skill cap since it mainly spammed random spells.

5

I’ve only seen this deck while watching streamers, never once on ladder. But I’m fine with it existing, mage has nothing playable after they killed BSM.

1 Like
6

Tough luck, you haven’t played enough, I guess :smiley:

But yeah, it happens to me sometimes. I try to learn a deck but I start like 0-11 on it, and I lose my appetite for learning it. It’s what happened to me with Elly mage, but that deck IS viable (although, not much consistent, nothing special, just fun to some people).

And I’ve tried everything possible for mage this expansion: Big spell, doesn’t work; 3 different versions of Lightshow mage, don’t work (from terrible to just bad xD), Ark/Draenei doesn’t work, Rainbow (4 different versions, 2 are promising and probably can get optimized and enter Tier 2), and now this.

This is the only one I’ve been having consistent luck streaks with. It’s pretty scammy, so if you hit a good curve, it’s literally impossible to lose, and it has a ton of value built in, so you should be fine in lower ranks where people don’t know how to play early.

Depends on how you define “playable”, I guess xD

I’ll give it a try on NA where my MMR is top 200 in the coming days, but at least in Dumpster Legend on EU, it works like a charm, and the games are literally what an average player wants out of this game.

1 Like
7

Elemental mage has higher winrate than the deck Altair posted in all rank brackets. Also there’s a weird “Mage” archetype in the stats which means decks that d0nkey hasn’t even categorized yet (i.e. homebrew(s) that I don’t have the code of). Also “Spell Mage” appears to have a slightly better win rate (“deck started with no minions” mage).

8

Just tried this for a bit. It’s interesting but feels somewhat at the mercy of what fire spells you get. Plenty of games where I got a lot of warlock draw cards instead of burn. Still kinda fun though.

1 Like
9

LOL i completely forgot Mix Tape is a Fire spell for no reason.

This looks interesting. Gonna give it a spin.

Edit: An interesting idea but the decks that exist right now just slap it around. i went half my games never seeing a supernova. I want to see what this looks like after rotation though.

1 Like
10

It’s basically flavor text, but has a functional component here by having it in supernova.

Supernova can really low roll, which kind of sucks.

That said, it’s a deck I can use my golden Hataaru in and not feel sad, so that’s a plus.

1 Like
11

I tinkered with a couple cards and i am getting a better result. I’m just going with the burn you down from hand program while keeping the boar under control. Less minion pressure. DK is still pretty hard to beat.

Cool idea. I actually added Petty thief for more early cheap spells.

12

I have not crafted Supernova yet, But I have been wanting to test with it. This is close to the lists I was coming up with in my head.

1 Like
13

At this point, I usually give up my thread. People either don’t like me enough, or I don’t know how to keep them engaged, or whatever the reason is, but that’s how my threads usually end up - quickly forgotten, or spammed with arguments.

I’d rather for them to be quickly forgotten, normally, but this time I’d like to give it one more chance, because I think more people would enjoy playing this deck the way it was meant to be played.

With that in mind, here’s a quick tutorial on how to play it:

  1. Mulligan - hard mulligan for Supernova, Gorgonzormu, 1-cost Naga and Metal Detector. Keep Greedy partner only if you also got a 2-cost card in it, or a Gongonzormu, as that can generate a 2-cost card. Always keep Marooned Archmage against aggro, hoping to draw either frostbolt or glyph by turn 3, so if you get any of those in the mulligan with Marooned, take it (not much sense in taking those without it, though).

  2. General game plan - your main game plan is stalling the game until you can pop-off with a strong combo. First main combo, the one you win the most with, is going to be drawing Supernova + generating coins + dumping hand + playing Supernova and popping off. From there, the game is usually over that turn or the next one. Second main combo, which happens rarely, but even if it doesn’t win you the game on the spot, it will help you maintain pressure and disrupt their game plan, and that’s playing the Norgannon (use the “Your opponent’s cards cost 1 more next turn”) with a plan to Reverb it for 20 dmg to face. If both plans fail, you will most likely also fail, but miracles can happen.

  3. Playing against aggro decks = Value game - is what you wanna be doing, because you beat most of them if you survive until 6. Unfortunately, surviving with this deck is a form of art. Ideally, you wanna play threats to slow them down and keep your removals for situations when you absolutely need them (or in other words, play for value, not tempo, because you’re going to lose the tempo game against aggro sooner or later, so the goal here is outvalue them before they kill you).

  4. Playing against slower decks = Tempo game - is a nightmare, because it depends on finding the correct turns to pop-off. If you pop-off too soon, you’re gonna lack the mana to kill them and then they’ll survive and stabilize the same way you do against faster decks. If you pop-off too late, well, that means you’re already dead because they had more damage from hand than you expected. So you have to develop a feel for when it’s the correct time to pop-off based on what they could be holding or what their usual game plan is. Here, you’re playing for tempo, not value. Your deck is able to generate a ton of value if you have enough time to play value-generating cards, but you need hand space for that, and you need to be able to play those cards without dying the next turn.

And that’s what this deck is all about. Realizing what your game plan against every opponent is and sticking to it the best you got.

If nothing, this deck will teach you important lessons about tempo and value, while also providing a whole lotta RNG fun.

14

Looking at your list. Do you think dropping something like Marooned Archmage for Zephrys might be better?

1 Like
15

No, I’d rather swap something else for Zephyrs if you really like that card, but I think it’s too slow

Marooned might SEEM slow, but it’s actually tempo-gaining when played against aggro decks, because you can drop a nice body and throw a frostbolt or something to kill their threat for free

It’s not really a part of a combo piece. If you can manage to pull a combo with that included, sure, go for it, but I wouldn’t actively seek to pull that off, it’s just not what it’s meant to do.

Its main purpose is to help you cause a tempo swing which is harder to plan for in the early to mid game, but it can also help you snowball a game where you get ahead early but you know you’re on a timer (like against Warriors or Druids or something).

Or at least, those are its advantages when viewed from my perspective xD There might be more, but if so, I’m not yet aware of them

EDIT: Just realized that it might be hard to know when you’re ahead while playing this deck, as it’s a bit unconventional xD Against aggro, I think, you’re ahead if the value in your hand is playable and sufficient to stabilize on time, and against control if you have the necessary pieces for a huge pop-off turn (meaning, Supernova and a few coins, or at least some cheap card draw and coin generators). So basically, if you’re ahead in tempo, you’re ahead in the game (tempo here meaning the amount of mana they have to spend to disrupt your plans rather than develop their own).

1 Like
16

Great card and the health buff it got makes it sticky. This is a card i would 100% keep in this type of deck with how good a turn 3 play it is. Keeper for sure on mulligan against Aggro. A few short years ago a card like this would be considered broken.

1 Like
17

Definitely a 100% keep against aggro, thanks for reminding me! I added it in the mulligan guide.

Yeah, I don’t know if it makes sense to keep it against every matchup on the ladder, but I definitely recommend keeping an eye open for hidden possible combos you can pull off to get ahead even in slower matchups.

I can’t say for sure that it’s a bad keep against slower decks, but we’re not running a lot of spells anyway, and the ones we could use the discount for are:

a) Supernova - generally hard to play with archmage, as you’d need 9 mana for that, and you usually have to be faster than that; aso you’re better of having an empty hand while playing Supernova, to increase chances of hitting value you need, and then you have 2 mana (at least, but usually you have a coin or two as well) to play those broken cards and often cheat 20 mana in such a turn;
b) Frostbolt - in a slower matchup, you definitely won’t need a discount to play this.
c) Glyph and whatever Glyph gives you → glyph - same logic as frostbolt + things you discover from glyph are already discounted, so again, not much use in general.

However, it has snowball effects that are hard to plan for, such as niche situations where it can help you earn a coin for free when you need it (by discounting Oh, Manager and then using the extra mana to do even more), or by discounting a potential alternative win con when your previous ones have failed. There could be more niche situations, so it’s good to keep an open eye to squeeze every % of win you can get, but in general, you’re safe to not keep it against Warrior, Druid, and other 100% control classes.

Obviously it’s a safe keep against every other class, because the advantage it gives is much higher against aggro matchups than the liability it costs you against slower ones. and you can’t be sure which deck your opponent is queuing if they play any other class.

18

I wouldn’t keep it for every match. I meant keep it in deck. I wouldn’t cut the card from the deck as it’s too good. Against pure control it’s really a toss up based on your hand and if you have Nova on 9 to play the combo i would think.

1 Like
19

Here’s the version I’ve been fooling around with today. Went full Casino on it rather than the traditional list.

### Casino Mage
# Class: Mage
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Pegasus
#
# 2x (1) Miracle Salesman
# 2x (1) Seabreeze Chalice
# 2x (1) Vicious Slitherspear
# 2x (2) Oh, Manager!
# 2x (2) Primordial Glyph
# 2x (3) Ethereal Oracle
# 1x (3) Gorgonzormu
# 1x (3) Marooned Archmage
# 2x (3) Metal Detector
# 2x (3) Watercolor Artist
# 1x (5) Exarch Hataaru
# 2x (5) Ingenious Artificer
# 2x (5) Mantle Shaper
# 1x (6) Norgannon
# 1x (6) Portalmancer Skyla
# 1x (6) Puzzlemaster Khadgar
# 2x (8) Supernova
# 2x (8) Tsunami
# 
AAECAc/6AwaH9QXmyga6zgbjzwb14gaV6gYMhY4GkJ4GtqcGxboGgb8G6ckGjNYG8uUGhuYGmOoG5OoG1/MGAAA=
# 
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
2 Likes
20

I’ve played supernova mage about 20 games, and I’ve managed to get the skyla coin + supernova mana switch one time. Needless to say I haven’t been very successful with it.

1 Like