Theo “Felkeine” Dumont recently had an amazing run during Hearthstone Masters Tour Seoul to win the entire event.
Felkeine used a new version of one of Hearthstone’s current most popular archetypes, Highlander Mage. But the Highlander tag in Hearthstone has nothing to do with Duncan MacLeod. Highlander decks use cards that have benefits that require your deck to have zero duplicates. This means most Highlander decks only have one copy of each card.
Since Saviors of Uldum was launched, Highlander Mage has been one of the most popular decks on the competitive ladder. Felkeine’s Highlander Mage list is quite possibly the most refined version of the deck to exist thus far.
The two primary cards that encourage the Highlander Mage archetype are Reno the Relicologist and Zephrys the Great. If your deck has no duplicates, Reno will deal 10 damage randomly split among all enemy minions. This allows you to use Reno as a board clear, taking the place of what would usually be a second Blizzard or Flamestrike.
The second card that forces you into the Highlander archetype is Zephrys the Great. This card looks at the game as a whole based on the moment it enters the field and tries to generate the perfect card. Zephrys will give you three cards from the Basic and Classic sets that it believes will benefit your current position in the game. This is by far one of the coolest cards that Blizzard has designed and its current popularity proves that.
The deck also has a number of powerful packages that will be receiving changes very soon. One of the strongest cards in the game right now is Luna’s Pocket Galaxy. In its current form, Luna’s Pocket Galaxy costs five mana and changes the cost of all the minions in your deck to one. Playing Luna’s Pocket Galaxy on curve is one of the best possible moves in Hearthstone right now. And the game developers have taken notice.
Today, it was revealed that Luna’s Pocket Galaxy is going up to seven mana instead of five next week. Blizzard said this decision was made based on how powerless a turn-five Luna’s could make your opponent feel. It’s unclear if the card will still have a place in the meta after the new mana cost goes into effect.
Another card included in this deck that’s about to feel the wrath of the nerf bat is Conjurer’s Calling. This card is regularly used on Mountain Giant in order to spawn more 8/8 minions or a few 7/8 creatures with Taunt. Blizzard has decided to increase the mana cost of Conjurer’s Calling from three to four. The team said its decision was based on the fact that it’s too easy to use Conjurer’s Calling twice in one turn.
While these nerfs will certainly affect this version of Highlander Mage, you can still expect the deck to be pretty solid. Since this deck has so many synergies and packages, nerfing one or two of them isn’t going to make it useless. Luna’s Pocket Galaxy can still be a solid turn-seven play as long as you set up for it properly. You can also expect Conjurer’s Calling to still net you victories as long as you play it at the right moment.
If you’re interested in trying this deck, copy and paste this code into your Hearthstone library: AAECAf0EHk2KAckDqwTFBMsElgWKB+EH7AeNCLgIvuwCt/EC7vYCxvgCoIADg5YDn5sDoJsD/50Dip4DoaEDpaEDwqED/KMDi6QDkqQDhKcDn7cDAAA=
