Freeze Mage has evolved through the years as a deck that is hard to pilot and somehow manages to live through in every meta. While the deck has received significant nerfs over time and several key cards have moved out of the Standard set that were considered core components of the deck, the deck manages to function even now with slight tweaks added. While you do not have the potential to burst down opponents from 30 HP like you used to, you still have a massive amount of burn damage, stalling mechanics and a powerful draw engine – things that Freeze Mage is known for.
This take on Freeze Mage is by Zalae and it makes use of Frost Lich Jaina as well, something not commonly seen in Freeze Mage lists. You have access to a massive amount of removal in the deck to deal with any threat your opponent might throw at you until you get to your win condition. This list was used in high Legend and Zalae hit Rank 7 Legend with it, which is nothing short of an extremely difficult
Card Choices
Arcanologist: Arcanologist might be no Mad Scientist when it comes to power level but it’s the best you have for slightly better stats than its Wild alternative. The card helps you cycle through to your secrets that you want to be up as early as possible as cards like Ice Block and Ice Barrier allow you to buy time until you have your win condition ready.
Frostbolt: Frostbolt has the dual purpose of being used as a burst damage tool as well as an early game removal/stall spell.
medivhs-valet: Medivh’s Valet has very good synergy with Ice Block as the secret stays in place until you take lethal damage and with many stall mechanisms in the deck to negate damage and shut down your opponent’s board, you can keep Ice Block up for an extended period of time to get value out of Medivh’s Valet consistently.
Primordial Glyph: Primordial Glyph is very powerful in a Freeze Mage build as it allows you to draw additional burn spells and discount them as well to fit in massive amounts of burst damage in one turn after an offensive Alexstrasza.
Arcane Intellect: The deck contains a ton of removal spells and key cards that you want to control the board, this card helps you get to your removals and mid game quite easily, Arcane Intellect is one of your primary sources of draw.
Frost Nova: It is a very powerful board control tool with Doomsayer. Sometimes even if you are not able to get your Doomsayer off you can use it for stalling and forcing your opponents to over-commit for better AoE value. The Frost Nova and Doomsayer combo is exceptionally good versus a lot of board heavy decks and it is not very easy to deal with.
Ice Barrier: It is one of your primary sources of life gain in the deck and you can set it up whenever you have free mana for 8 extra health. It allows you to fish for removals and get to your powerful mid game and lategame cards to close out the game. Since Mage as a class does not have heals and neutral heal options are not the best right now, Ice Barrier needs to fit into the deck for valuable armor gain.
Ice Block: It is one of the most powerful secrets in the game and it makes sure you are able to commit more to drawing through your deck and finding removals to clear out the board. It is also very powerful when it comes to activating both copies of your Medivh’s Valet since Ice Block takes time to get activated and you have a ton of stall mechanisms to boot. The card is likely to be rotated out next year when the Standard rotation for 2018 hits.
Fireball: Fireball is a very good removal against targets with medium to large health pools, it can also be used as burst damage after playing Alexstrasza in conjunction with other spells to kill off your opponent in two turns.
Polymorph: Polymorph is a hard removal and silence effect stacked into one to deal with otherwise hard to deal with minions. It is quite strong in the current meta against a variety of decks. It can negate deathrattles and buffs very efficiently and helps you deal with big threats without much problems.
Meteor: Meteor is very good at dealing with big threats and even if you do not get the AOE effect off, it is a decent card worth spending for single target removal for minions that can cost you the game if left unchecked.
Blizzard: Blizzard is used as an AOE / stalling mechanic. While Flamestrike might be the better card when it comes to actually clearing minions, against boards that cannot be dealt with by Flamestrike, Blizzard does a much better job at mitigating damage and stalling until you are able to finish off your opponent.
Flamestrike: Flamestrike is a powerful AOE tool that is very effective against decks like Paladin, Shaman and Aggro Druid.
Frost Lich Jaina: Frost Lich Jaina is a great Death Knight card and is one of the win conditions of the deck. Being able to summon a multitude of Water Elementals each time you kill a minion with your hero power is quite good and the elementals also allow you to heal back up with the Lifesteal effect.
Doomsayer:  One of your early board control tools that allows you to stall board development on your opponent’s side as well as combo it with Frost Nova to get a better clear in the mid game. Sometimes it serves as a 2 mana heal for 7 by making your opponent force their trades into the minion instead of going face, allowing you to recuperate some health.
Bloodmage Thalnos: One of your early cycle and spell damage tools to get better value out of your cheap spells or you can simply drop on the board to cycle it when you need to get to other cards. The value of the card is often underrated by new players but with a high usage rate in a variety of decks in over the various metas the game has seen, the card is undeniably a very efficient tool to have in your deck.
Skulking Geist: Skulking Geist can hurt a lot of enemy decks despite its popularity in decks to counter Jade Druid. There are plenty of high value 1 mana spells like Evolve, Hallucination and Mortal Coil that are run in the current meta which can be dealt with by the card.
Alexstrasza: Alexstrasza is always included in Freeze Mage decks due to the flexibility of being able to use the card both offensively and defensively in the deck. It’s also a very good follow up to Archmage Antonidas as well if you manage to get enough burn in your hand and then drop Alexstrasza for a 2 turn lethal setup against decks that do not have any heal. While in other matchups you can use it as a comeback mechanism.
Deck Code
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Mulligan
- Arcanologist
- Doomsayer
- Frost Nova (with Doomsayer)
- Arcane Intellect
Conclusion
Freeze/Fatigue Mage has been working great at the highest tiers of the meta against Jade Druid and Priest decks that are extremely popular right now. The deck does well against Aggro Druid and Shaman decks as well if you draw your board clears in time and can drain their resources. The deck is extremely fun to play and has been proven to be effective in the current meta. Let us know how the deck works out for you and stay tuned for more deck guides!
