As part of Hearthstone's Year of the Gryphon, classic format has brought back the original versions of cards during 2014. With this return to the past, plenty of aggro, midrange, and control-type decks are once again being used. Although new and old players are still experimenting, one deck everyone should strive to master is the classic Freeze Mage.
Many years ago, Freeze Mage emerged as one of the ultimate combo decks alongside Miracle Rogue. Combining card draw, board control, and direct damage spells, Freeze Mage became a top pick in pro tournaments because of its consistency with several years of expansions only making the deck stronger. Though it fell out of the meta thanks to key cards like the cheat death spell Ice Block being rotated out, classic Freeze Mage is now back in its original glory.
Deck List
- Ice Lance x2
- Frostbolt x2
- Bloodmage Thalnos x1
- Doomsayer x2
- Loot Hoarder x2
- Arcane Intellect x2
- Frost Nova x2
- Ice Barrier x2
- Ice Block x2
- Acolyte of Pain x2
- Cone of Cold x1
- Fireball x2
- Azure Drake x2
- Blizzard x2
- Flamestrike x2
- Alexstrasza x1
- Pyroblast x1
Depending on the types of opponents players may face, they can also consider substituting other cards like Mirror Image or Archmage Antonidas against aggro and control decks respectively.
Starting Hand
Freeze Mage players should aggressively mulligan for their card draw options early on such as Arcane Intellect and Loot Hoarder. Freeze Mage doesn't have much of an early game board presence and needs to find its combo pieces or additional card draw to keep going. However, keep removal spells like Frostbolt if the opponent likely has an aggro deck.
Win Conditions
As a Freeze Mage, matches will often draw out into the late game where several spells can one-turn KO the other player. To get to that point, early game has to be spent using card draw spells and minions that have it as a Battlecry or Deathrattle. To help out, the 1/3 Acolyte of Pain minion draws one card each time it takes damage and can get up to three this way by attacking 1/x minions or using the Mage hero power Fireblast on it.
If given the chance, one copy of the Ice Barrier and Ice Block secrets should be used early on to save mana during later turns. Ice Barrier gives 8 armor when attacked while Ice Block saves the player from lethal damage once to further drag out the game. Doomsayer + Frost Nova, Blizzard, and Flamestrike are potent AOE removal options which are saved to deal with boards full of minions or delay the opponent from setting up their own combos for another turn.
In the end, Alexstrazsa's Battlecry effect which sets a Hearthstone hero's health to 15 HP will put the opponent directly in range of being finished off next round. Unless they saved a heal for this point, combining minion damage along with direct damage like Pyroblast will be enough to win.
Hearthstone is available on PC and mobile devices.