Next Chapter of #1 Control Mage – Updated 24/09
3 Healing Potion
3 High Rock Summoner
3 Shrieking Harpy
3 Brilliant Experiment
3 Crushing Blow
3 Cunning Ally
3 Elusive Schemer
3 Hive Defender
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Ayrenn
3 Piercing Javelin
3 Pillaging Tribune
2 Fate Weaver
3 Ice Storm
2 Dawn’s Wrath
1 Nahkriin, Dragon Priest
3 Mantikora
1 Miraak, Dragonborn
1 Odahviing
Next Chapter of #1 Control Mage – Updated 24/09
3 [card]Healing Potion[/card]
3 [card]High Rock Summoner[/card]
3 [card]Shrieking Harpy[/card]
3 [card]Brilliant Experiment[/card]
3 [card]Crushing Blow[/card]
3 [card]Cunning Ally[/card]
3 [card]Elusive Schemer[/card]
3 [card]Hive Defender[/card]
3 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
1 [card]Ayrenn[/card]
3 [card]Piercing Javelin[/card]
3 [card]Pillaging Tribune[/card]
2 [card]Fate Weaver[/card]
3 [card]Ice Storm[/card]
2 [card]Dawn’s Wrath[/card]
1 [card]Nahkriin, Dragon Priest[/card]
3 [card]Mantikora[/card]
1 [card]Miraak, Dragonborn[/card]
1 [card]Odahviing[/card]
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Mage deck
Control
0 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
Myself (Entaro_thomas) and Chapterhouse have decided to make a new control mage list (original list – https://legends-decks.com/deck/507/blackfalls-rank-1-legend-mage-control), so far myself, Chapterhouse and Romanesque managed to pilot the deck into #1 on ladder this season.
What are the key additions?
– Brilliant experiment: Chapterhouse had the idea of a “miracle” draw engine based on Shimmerene Peddler + Brilliant experiment (for example on turn 7 playing peddler–>experiment–>peddler–>firebolt). As we started playing the deck we realised that brilliant experiment gave us an insane edge against traditional control mages, having 3 mantikoras, Miraak, and 3x experiment. The usage of brilliant experiment depends on the match up and situation – sometimes you hold it until turn 12 to mantikora+experiment it, sometimes you experiment a harpy/hive defender/tribune to keep yourself alive, and sometimes you just go for an infinite Ayrenn experiment.
– Shrieking Harpy: An amazing substitute for ashlanders – no rng, prophecy. The shackle usually “heals” you for 4-6 life and/or allows you to arrange good trades.
– Pillaging Tribune: One thing I kept seeing with the original deck is that most of the time it didn´t matter when I drew a healing potion – The game was either already lost or won, since the deck specialises in stabilising and locking down the board. Pillaging tribunes allow us for a large chunk of health on top of a 5/4 body, which is extremely relevant in the mirror match. I honestly think that the usage of tribunes and setting up a board for it determines how good a player is at using this deck.
How to play the deck
To sum it up – survive till turn 6, ice storm, survive till turn 10, mantikora, lock opponent out of the game, kill him in the way that is least risky.
In general the first 4 turns you just try to contest the board with early removal (firebolt, crushing blow, lightning bolt) and efficient creatures (harpy, cunning ally, schemer). Afterwards, you try to either set up guards on both sides or to keep the board clean with cards such as ice storm and piercing javelin. Once you reach turn 10 (or 9 when on potion) the board becomes your playground, as cards like mantikora, miraak, and odahviing can get you insane value advantage over your opponent.
Speaking of magicka potion – it is imporant to know how to utilise it to the best. You always want to keep at least 1 charge until turn 9 for an earlier mantikora, so generally until turn 9 you only want to use 2 charges. Against aggro and midrange you want to have 1 charge ready to ice storm on turn 5, as well as to get a creature that can contest the board early (such as turn 2 cunning ally or turn 3 hive defender)
Brief guide of mulliganing
If you are facing anything except for mage, you want to keep Firebolt, peddler, harpy, and cunning ally/crushing blow on potion. If you already have at least one of these, you can afford to keep high rock summoner, hive defender, and cunning ally/crishing blow without potion. If you already have one of those as well, you can now afford to keep elusive schemer as well (I like to keep them on potion even with just 1 of the previously mentioned cards). You are more than happy to drop a turn 2 peddler against red decks or assassin.
Mulliganing against mage is completely different – you want to keep cunning ally, elusive schemer, and hive defender, unless you think they are midrange/tempo, in that case you can keep firebolt and crushing blow as well.
Thank you for reading this guide all the way until here, I hope you will find the same success as myself and others who have tried this deck out. A giant shoutout goes to Chapterhouse, who came up with the whole brilliant experiment engine, Romanesque, who has helped me refine the deck, and s_l_w for the dank memes and card suggestions.
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22 Comments
Yeah I guess from my own exp peddlers were lacklusters for huge portion of the time. Because as control mage we kinda have to min/max the spell usage in terms of extracting the maximum value out of our cards. But if they work for you they might work for others as well.
Overall intresting deck and decent idea gz on the r1. I hope you do not understand me wrong. It’s not hating it’s “let’s discuss and improve”
I am working on adding more spells for the peddlers (into the slots of vindicators and dreughs). This isn´t a fixed list, I am always working on changing and improving it, but this is the list I got to #1 with. Both peddlers and tribunes require some planning ahead to extract the most value, which is hard to do at first.
also i love the cut of ashlander, i never liked that card in control, just unreliable and iffy, so props for that
You could also play daggerfall mages, if you find yourself facing control mage or other attrition match-ups. I am currently trying out a version with both daggerfalls and cunning ally.
I can craft 3 legendary cards at the moment:
Dawn’s Wrath
Nahkriin, Dragon Priest
Miraak, Dragonborn
Odahviing
Second, are Peddler really required?
Cheers!
If you really want to craft, definitely go for Nahkriin, Odahviing, and Miraak. You can play an additional Senche-Tiger instead of Dawn’s Wrath.
Peddlers are not required, you could play Daggerfall Mage (if you have it) or Camlorn Sentinel perhaps. The issue of not playing peddlers is that it makes healing potion strictly worse, so you might want to change some of the potions for Executes or Brutal Ashlanders, which I personally dislike due to the RNG, but they work great with tribune (heal you for 4 hp if they die).
Also, what’s the reasoning behind the absence of Abecean Navigator?
Abecean Navigator is a card we have been thinking about, but it´s not a real control card, you already have enough two drops, but feel free to play it instead of HRS if you feel it´s better.
What do you think about Fire Storm? It’s a prophecy so would complement the Fate Weavers. I don’t know what you would take out though.
Anyhow thanks for the decks and guides!