Avalon's 12 Wins Questline Mage

Last updated 2 years, 6 months ago by
  • Casual
4
Deck Source
This deck was sourced from Avalon.

Hearthstone Duels Choices

Mozaki, Master Duelist Card Image
Hero
Frost Shards Card Image
Hero Power
Embercaster Card Image
Treasure

After so many bad runs with niche archetypes I really wanted to have success with, I decided to was time to raise my self-esteem and play something that could stand a chance with the other top tier decks of the format.

After getting a rather unlucky 10-3 (first loss was in the first match against Mind Tether Priest and in the other two all my Arcane spells were at the very bottom of the deck, making my Quest completion literally impossible), I gave it another try and managed to demolish every opponent all the way to 12-0. Let's go baby!


Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Open the Doorways

Second pool - Khadgar's Scrying Orb

Frost Shards Card Image Embercaster Card Image


Deck Overview

Sorcerer's Gambit Quest Mage's play pattern doesn't change that much from what you have to do in Standard: complete your steps, always plan ahead and then blast your opponents with Arcanist Dawngrasp's Spell Damage bonus.

Duels is a pretty aggressive game mode, so always prioritize defending yourself over racing your opponent down: after all, the more the game takes to end, the more chances you have to win.

Ashes of Outland's Incanter's Flow isn't in the current Duels rotation pools, so you cannot include it in your starting deck (but you can always pick it in the buckets), but there are some Treasures (both Active and Passive) that can do as much or even better! Scroll down for more information.

The list you see runs as little minions as possible, in order to raise the chances of drawing the Spells you need for Sorcerer's Gambit: if you want, you can cut Wand Thief as well, but I still felt like including it; Ras Frostwhisper, on the other hand, is just too good with a +3 Spell Damage aura effect. Consider this when building your own starting deck and choosing your buckets.


Mulligan Tips

With one hand slot taken by Sorcerer's Gambit, you want to optimize your other card choices: always keep/mulligan aways cards thinking about both your Quest progression and your opponent. Keeping cards that generate other cards is often times a smart choice, since they can give you a great hand towards Arcanist Dawngrasp.

Always Keep - Brain Freeze, First Flame (insane card), Wand Thief, Runed Orb.

Possible Keeps - Primordial Studies, Cram Session (only if you already have Primordial Studies: you don't want a 2 mana draw 1) Shooting Star (based on what class you're against), Frostbolt, Ignite.

Reminder: ALWAYS plan ahead. You don't want dead turns or waste tools that will become useful in the following turns.


Playstyle Tips

Wand Thief - You know, you are not forced to play Sorcerer's Gambit on turn 1. If you have Wand Thief in your opening hand, consider playing the Quest on turn 2 just so you have something to trigger the Combo effect with.

Frost - You have very few Frost spells (just 3: Brain Freeze, Frostbolt and Frost Nova): always try to keep one in the mulligan, so that thethe first step's completion won't take long; for the same reason, keep an eye on Frost spells when you Discover.

Shooting Star - Cheap AoE spell, very effective against aggressive decks, counts towards your Quest completion and becomes a 1 mana Arcane Flamestrike after Arcanist Dawngrasp hits the board (courtesy of the last VS Meta Report).

Plan Ahead - I'll never get tired of repeating it: you don't want to lose because you incorrectly sequenced your spells.


Hero Power, Signature Treasures and Passives

Frost Shards Card Image

Hero Power - I previously tried the Secret variant with Secret Studies, but I ended up preferring having a ping for Hero Power rather than a card draw engine (after all, Mage already has plenty of drawing tools). Ice Shards were by far better when they were 1 mana 1/1s, but my personal opinion is that a 1 mana ping is better than a 2 mana one, even if it can generate Mana Wyrms: you want to spend mana on your spells, and you don't want to lose ground to aggro decks - 2 mana for 1 damage is not optimal.

Embercaster Card Image Infinite Arcane Card Image

Signature Treasure - Even though it's not a Spell and can interfere with your Refreshing Spring Water, Embercaster offers you too much value to not pick it: while I usually paired it with post-Quest Ignite for surprise lethals, there were runs in which I multiplied Frostbolt (face damage + Freeze effect, which is very relevant in some matchups like Quest Warrior) and Mage Armor (insane recovery tools when you need some breathing room to seal the game).

You can consider picking Infinite Arcane if you really want to be mean against Bomb Warriors: in fact, Bombs shuffled in your deck will never be drawn, and Magnetic Mines will be hard-countered. However, this way you'll be short of resources, since you won't be able to go fill your hands with the likes of Arcane Intellect, Cram Session and Refreshing Spring Water. While I see why people could think about Infinite Arcane, I still suggest you to go for the consistency and pick Embercaster.

Open the Doorways Card Image Khadgar's Scrying Orb Card Image

Passive Treasures - as obvious as it may sound, go for Passives that have synergy with Spells: both cost reduction and resource generation are fine, as long as you get them.

Hunter's Insight Card Image Bag of Stuffing Card Image

Hunter's Insight is so good, and allows swing turns that usually bring you to complete Sorcerer's Gambit in a single turn. An interesting fact is that this Active Treasure doesn't discount just Spells, but any card, meaning that all the 2 mana Ice Shards you've accumulated in your hand during your previous turns will become much easier to play.

Bag of Stuffing is just a nice hand filling effect, especially in combination with Hunter's Insight: not that you really need it, given the amount of card draw and card generation at your disposal, but having it doesn't hurt either.

Moreover, both Hunter's Insight and Bag of Stuffing are Arcane spells, which means they'll count towards Sorcerer's Gambit's completion!

Clockwork Assistant Card Image

To be honest, I've always thought this Treasure was complete crap, but Clockwork Assistant closed a couple games for me, so I have to give it some credit. Don't get me wrong, I still think there are far better Active Treasures (Looming Presence for example), but the fact that it's not a Battlecry effect means that it will keep scaling as time goes on, which is a nutty effect in certain scenarios. I picked two during my run, and this is how I humiliated an Elemental Shaman with a pretty damn good starting (Passives: All Together Now and Battle Totem if I'm not mistaken).


Final Observations

Passives - They definitely play a big role: having your entire hand and deck discounted by 1 mana isn't irrelevant.

Priest - For the sake of precision, I didn't meet a Priest in the whole run: I have to say that queueing one in the first few matches would've probably turned this run into a 12-1 or 12-2.


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Comments

  • alphonsedelaporte's Avatar
    50 3 Posts Joined 08/21/2021
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    Just finished a 12/2 run with arcane flux and Oooops all spells ! Great guide, got my 2 looses at the beginning against priests haha

    Thanks a lot for the great content, helped me a lot in my quest of 12 wins with every classes ! Missing Paladin, shaman and druid

     

    1
    • Avalon's Avatar
      Salty Dog 1550 2105 Posts Joined 06/12/2019
      Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

      I am so happy that you appreciate our content ;)

      Shaman is pretty doable I'd say, since the class has 3 different viable archetypes in Murloc, Overload and Elemental.

      Druid is pretty one sided: other than Quest Druid (wins against Priest but terribly loses against Paladin), there's just Harvest Time! aggro builds.

      Paladin is the weak spot of mine: I can't really bring myself to perform well with the class, even if I get some good treasures.

       

      More content will come soon, so stay tuned!

      0
      • alphonsedelaporte's Avatar
        50 3 Posts Joined 08/21/2021
        Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

        I really want to create a big druid deck but it’s way too slow even with minions cost (5) ..

        And Paladin, the recruits one feels really nice to play and I am waiting for the good treasures to 12 it =)


        1
        • Avalon's Avatar
          Salty Dog 1550 2105 Posts Joined 06/12/2019
          Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

          I usually play Rise to the Occasion Paladin with Favored Racer, which is very underappreciated in my opinion.

          0
          • alphonsedelaporte's Avatar
            50 3 Posts Joined 08/21/2021
            Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

            Never tried it with Rise to the Occasion but will definitely do next run.

            But giving the +2/+2 buff to all recruits isn’t too op plus the quest ? 3/3 seems a bit low only with quest.

            Or trying to get double battle cry ?

             

            0
            • Avalon's Avatar
              Salty Dog 1550 2105 Posts Joined 06/12/2019
              Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

              Battle Totem is certainly spicy, but with Duels synergies you can consistently get Lightborn Cariel on board by turn 5.

              It's going to be even better once Miracle Priest will be nerfed.

              0

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