Introduction
This week, things get a little more combo-oriented! While there are a slew of decks that are still alive in the meta, I believe one of the strongest to be Quest Mage. Many people have taken different iterations of the deck to legend, and for good reason. Not only did it get new tools in KFT that allowed it to rise far above where it has previously been, but it is absolutely amazing against many of the big players in the game. In fact, any deck that does not actively try to kill you each turn is going to be a good matchup. Not only is there not a lot of good deathrattle in the game (making AOE that much better), but decks simply do not have ways to deal with freeze.
Key Cards
The Draw
We begin this week by discussing a very important part of playing this deck. Count. Your. Cards. It is extremely easy to over draw with this deck (as likely noted in the video), and if you over draw any combo piece you are going to lose. End of story. Game over. Goodbye. To make sure that doesn’t happen you need to be hyper-aware of the cards in your hand and constantly compare it against your card draw. The entire point of this deck is to draw as much as possible, and that is often going to leave you with nine or ten cards in your hand. To mitigate this you need to always look for ways to dump cards. This may not always be obvious, but sometimes you just need to run out a Doomsayer or Blizzard to make room for your Arcane Intellect next turn.
Perhaps the biggest over-draw mistake I see with this deck is when people accidentally mill the quest. Do not let this happen to you. It is easy to get caught up in a big Cabalist’s Tome or a string of Primordial Glyph‘s, but do not draw so many cards and cast so many things that your hand is suddenly full when you Open the Waygate. Beyond that, also be careful about running out Acolyte of Pain. Smart opponent’s will try to make you over draw in anyway they can, and you do not want to let them trigger the 1/3 enough to fill up your hand. Only play it when the most cards it can draw will amount to less than ten.
Simulacrum
Simulacrum is a card that really took this deck over the top. In the past, Quest Mage has not been a strong deck. There are several reasons for that, but the biggest has been consistency. Sometimes you would draw most of your deck, but you just couldn’t get all the pieces together. Then, your opponent popped your Ice Blocks and you promptly died in a big pool of sadness. Simulacrum solves that problem because, as you can make sure it hits Sorcerer’s Apprentice, it basically acts as two extra copies of Molten Reflection. That gives you more combo pieces to play with and provides you even more ways to win the game out of nowhere, which is exactly what this deck needed.
The ideal scenario for this deck is to get two Molten Reflections and one Simulacrum. That way you can get five Sorcerer’s Apprentice at a very low cost. However, do not be afraid to go all in with Simulacrum if you need to. Copying two apprentices is fantastic, but figuring out when to copy them is not going to be easy (since you have to do it before your combo turn). Most of this game is going to be spent drawing cards and stalling. As such, treat this spell like Ice Block, where you try to sneak it in around your other plays. If you know you are going to need to use it during a game, try to burn your bigger spells (play Blizzard over Frost Nova) so you can get your extra two drops and still freeze to buy time.
Frost Nova/Blizzard
Most of the time, your freeze in this deck is not going to be used with Doomsayer. Yes, there are going to be games where you blow up the board with the 0/7, but mostly you are going to use freeze alongside draw or value spells to get yourself another turn. Typically, you are going to need ten mana to get your combo off, and a lot of the time that is going to happen as soon as you hit turn ten. As a result, every extra turn you get is one step closer to your combo. When you think of it like that, you begin to see how important using your freeze is. Do not try and get fancy with these cards, just use them to stop damage wherever you can. If you see your opponent building a big board, shut it down and get more draw. You never know when you’ll be able to go off.
Blizzard costs six mana and Frost Nova costs three. An obvious statement, but it is a difference that is very important to understand. As the game goes on, Frost Nova (as a cheap freeze spell) gets more and more valuable. Know this, and always try to prioritize your Blizzards during the middle of the game and save nova for the later turns. When this deck gets near the combo, mana is going to be at a premium. Not only do you need to balance card draw and your health, but you need to make sure you can get enough spells from outside of your deck and keep your Ice Block intact. Spending six mana to freeze during that time is typically a bad idea. You want the flexibility that nova allows, and you should save them for when things get tight.
Cabalist’s Tome
I do not want to discuss Cabalist’s Tome here as much as I want to discuss my choice to run two. This seems to be one of the biggest debates going on with this deck right now, but I believe this build needs two tomes to function at full capacity. I originally started with one, but the more I played, the more I found that I just didn’t have the gas to reliably trigger Open the Waygate. As I have mentioned, this is a deck that needs to be as consistent as possible. Having too many odd spells or strange tech choices is not going to pan out. You need to draw, stall, and cast a bunch of random spells. Tome helps with the last requirement, and is often going to be the way you wrap the quest up. Having one was fine for some games, but it also made you much less likely to draw the spell in the first place. That then created situations where I had all the combo pieces but no quest. Putting two tomes in really helps up your power and makes it so as soon as you can build four Sorcerer’s Apprentices you can go off. That is extremely important for the tight wins, and it also helps you build up and beat the fast decks.
The Combo
For those who don’t know, the way you win this game is by playing four Sorcerer’s Apprentices, then Open the Waygate. Once you get your free turn, you drop Archmage Antonidas, play any spell, and chuck as many free Fireballs as you can at your opponent’s head. It is a slow combo compared to some other decks, but nothing outside of Ice Block can stop it. One of the things I like most about this one is that you generate infinite damage, which means healing doesn’t affect you. Just know that you want to stall until ten mana. You are going to need the crystals, and you should not plan to go off before then (or at least turn nine). Set that as your mark, and use your spells to get there at all costs.
Also note that you can create more than four Sorcerer’s Apprentices in this build. That is not always going to matter, but some of the spells you get off of Cabalist’s Tome can be expensive. Having five or six apprentices can mitigate that and make sure you trigger your quest, even if you get a bad roll. In addition, the reliability of double Cabalist’s Tome means that you are typically going to trigger Open the Waygate on your combo turn. That is to say, you play your Sorcerer’s Apprentice before you trigger your quest. Then, you use the mana discount to play your tome and the extra spells you get from it. Do not feel pressured to have the quest done before you drop the 3/2’s, just have a way to get extra spells once they come down.
Matchups
The four decks I’ve seen the most during the early days of the meta.
Jade Druid
Druid is far and away the best reason to play Quest Mage. Most Druids these days are Jade or the go-big midrange taunt builds that hope to power out value in turns five, six, and seven. While those lists are undoubtedly good, they also start out too slow to impact your deck. Most of these games are going to go where your opponent ramps as you draw cards. Then, by the time they start to put out minions you have enough stall to get to your quest. This is a game where you need to prioritize your freeze and try to hold your opponent off during turns six, seven, and eight. You are going to give them a lot of cards, but those aren’t going to matter. Just be aware of Druid’s burn potential and see all the different ways they can do damage. This will help you know when to get defensive and when you can relax. Do not let them pop your Ice Block before you’re ready. They have damage and will you die if you relax.
The way you play this is solely based on how quickly your opponent gets out of the gates. If they start making big jades around turns five and six you need to get loose with your freeze and do what you can to slow them down. However, if they miss an early turn or spend their time drawing cards then you should ignore the board until you get to the later stages of the game. It is also important to not underestimate how strong a lone Doomsayer can be. Rather than waiting for your opponent to put out a bunch of threats, you can just use the 0/7 as a deterrent. This trick is handy in many different matchups, but it is especially good against Druid because it not only stops their minions, it stops them from making Jades as well.
Murloc Paladin
Paladin gets more and more popular as the days go by. That is to be expected (the class still has some amazing tools), and it is not great for us. Aggro has always been one of Quest Mage’s biggest problems, and that isn’t getting better anytime soon. The way you play this one is to aggressively mulligan for your early bodies/removal. Anything you can use to eat murlocs is going to be key because the fish are really the only thing that can beat you. Paladin has a few strong tools later on, but most of them are too slow to do anything against your combo. You typically lose this one between turns one and five because of how easy it is to get overrun. Do not try to keep a slow value play here, you just want to buy time and soak up as many early hits as you possibly can.
The pacing of this game is extremely important. So important that you should not hesitate to throw out a turn two Doomsayer against a murloc or coin out an Arcanologist against an empty board. Those type of plays are not intuitive, but they help a great deal against decks like Midrange Paladin. Being one step ahead of your opponent is your goal in this match. The reason is that, if you can manage to steadily pace your opponent each turn you should be able to push into the slower part of Paladin’s curve. Tirion Fordring and Ragnaros, Lightlord are both fantastic cards, but they do not have the right amount of pressure to bring down this deck. Once Paladin hits turn seven or eight they switch to a much slower deck, and that is exactly what you want. Also note that, if you can keep their board locked down they have no burst outside of weapons and the odd Consecration.
Token Shaman
Shaman continues to get more optimized, which in turn makes it more popular. The token list is fast, lean, and has some great finishers built in. This, like Paladin and Pirate, is going to be a tough matchup for you. In fact, if you’re seeing this one a lot you should probably tech in another Frostbolt to deal with any early problematic totems. This game is going to be a matchup where you need to use resources. In many games you are going to sit back and build up in a way that optimally uses your cards. When facing a deck like Shaman that plans goes out the window. Rather than trying to think about the future, you just need to focus on staying alive. Once you get to your middle freeze turns you should be ok, but getting to that without being overrun is not easy. Use removal, and throw out any bodies you can just to eat some early damage. Anytime your opponent trades they are not attacking you.
Be aware that this is a game where you cannot rely on Doomsayer. While the 0/7 might go off on turn two or three, it is going to be completely invalidated by Devolve once you hit the middle turns. That also hits Mirror Image as well. As a result, this is a matchup where you really want your freeze to go a long way. Shaman is going to have a hard time breaking your Ice Block if you can keep them frozen, but as soon as you miss a turn they are going to hit you Bloodlust. Put up as many walls as possible, and always look for opportunities to get combo pieces into your hand. This is a matchup where you typically want to go off on turn eight or nine if you can afford it. Also make sure to always take removal from your glyphs if at all possible.
Kazakus Priest
Another free win, Priest (like Warlock and Control Paladin) is a deck that just cannot beat you without some truly insane things happening. Priest is a strong deck, but they also are a deck that wants to take its time. Honestly, this game is nearly impossible to lose. You would have to have some of the worst draws for that to happen. Just check the game in the video for evidence. The strategy in this one is the same for every slow deck you face with this deck. Aggressively draw cards in this game. If you do come under pressure, it won’t happen until turns five or six. Before that, you just need to stick to your plan and largely ignore the board. Then, once your opponent begins to build up their minions you lock them down. Your Ice Block should never be popped except for the turn before you go off. Also, do not be too worried about letting your opponent get some attacks in. Priest has very little burst, and most of the time your block will be fine if you sit at nine or so life.
Mulligan Guide
To mulligan with this deck you just want to look for the two and three drops. You are always keeping the quest, but beyond that you also always want to look for Arcanologist, Doomsayer, Primordial Glyph and at least one draw card. That number goes to two draw cards if you’re against a slower class.
Acolyte of Pain, Arcane Intellect and Coldlight Oracle are great with the coin or a curve, while Frostbolt is good against aggro. Frost Nova is a good keep with Doomsayer if you’re playing against any midrange or aggressive list, while Ghastly Conjurer should be kept if you have a good curve against aggro. Do not try to keep any combo pieces. You’d much draw into those cards naturally and it is not worth diluting your early draw potential for them.
Conclusion
I have always loved a good combo deck, and this feels like a really good combo deck. This deck just carves up a significant portion of the meta, and it is is always good to get some free wins under your belt during the climb. Quest Mage really has improved with KFT, and it should see play well into the future. In fact, you can even beat aggro with the new tools. The versatility and consistency here is exactly what the deck needed, and it is all the better for it. Until next time, may you always Fireball for a million damage.
Published: Aug 28, 2017 10:12 am