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Exodia Mage deck list guide - Boomsday - Hearthstone (August 2018)

How to play the Quest-less take on Exodia Mage in the early Boomsday meta.

Exodia Mage is a Hearthstone deck archetype that works by generating multiple copies of Sorcerer's Apprentice to make all spells effectively free, before creating an endless supply of free Fireballs via Archmage Antonidas. These go directly into the opponent's face, thus ending the game in one painful turn. Sounds simple, right?

What's different for Kobolds and Catacbombs though? Well, the addition of Leyline Manipulator means that you no longer require the Open the Waygate Quest in order to make this deck viable. By further reducing the cost of the Sorcerer's Apprentice cards generated by Simulacrum and Molten Reflection, you now only theoretically need one single turn to create the game-winning combo.

Our Exodia Mage guide explains exactly how to go about achieving that combo, with a solid starting deck list for the new meta. We've also got some Mulligan tips for you to chew over as well, and a breakdown of all the combos that exist in this deck - not just the show-stopping one!

UPDATE - THE BOOMSDAY PROJECT

Here’s a deck list that’s been updated for the launch of the Boomsday set, and is subject to a lot of change in the coming weeks. It was created by the Vicious Syndicate team.

MageNeutral
2 x Arcane Artificer1 x Bloodmage Thalnos
1 x Arcanologist2 x Doomsayer
2 x Research Project2 x Loot Hoarder
1 x Sorcerer's Apprentice2 x Novice Engineer
2 x Arcane Intellect1 x Acolyte of Pain
2 x Frost Nova
2 x Ice Barrier
2 x Simulacrum
1 x Stargazer Luna
2 x Cone of Cold
1 x Leyline Manipulator
1 x Molten Reflection
2 x Blizzard
1 x Archmage Antonidas

Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.

Deck Import ID: AAECAf0ECLgI2sUCzesC7vYC+wzmBO0FwcECC6sEyQOuA7nRAu0EywS0/AKc AvsBigGW5AIA

The rest of this guide will be updated once the meta has settled down and we know what the most popular decks are, and what the strongest versions of those decks are.

Exodia Mage deck list and strategy

Here's a deck list that was created by Hotform ahead of the Kobolds and Catacombs launch. There are a few alternatives in circulation but there's very little difference between them all. We will of course continue refining this deck list throughout the launch window and beyond.

MageNeutral
2 x Arcanologist2 x Doomsayer
2 x Medivh's Valet2 x Loot Hoarder
1 x Sorcerer's Apprentice2 x Novice Engineer
2 x Arcane Intellect2 x Acolyte of Pain
2 x Frost Nova
2 x Ice Barrier
2 x Ice Block
2 x Simulacrum
2 x Cone of Cold
1 x Leyline Manipulator
1 x Molten Reflection
2 x Blizzard
1 x Archmage Antonidas

Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.

Deck Import ID: AAECAf0EBOYEuAjaxQLN6wINigHAAfsBnAKuA8kDqwTLBO0E+wzXtgLBwQK50QIA

The broad strategy of this deck is actually quite simple to grasp, as it's all focused around bringing together the core ingredients of your win-condition and then executing it. In practise it's a little trickier, of course, and once the meta's settled down properly we'll be updating this section a huge amount with match-up tips.

Here's the basics of what you're trying to achieve though:

  • You want to draw a Sorcerer's Apprentice into your hand.
  • Having ensured this is the lowest-cost minion in your hand, you play two Simulacrum cards.
  • Next, put Leyline Manipulator into play so that those Apprentices now cost zero.
  • Play Archmage Antonidas, then your two free Apprentices, the original two-Mana Apprentice, a very cheap Molten Reflection to get a fourth Apprentice, and then any other zero-cost spell.
  • Hit the opponent in the face with an endless volley of free Fireballs - generated by Archmage Antonidas - until they're obliterated.

Simple, right? The tricky bit is staying alive long enough to first of all pull all these puzzle elements together, then reach Turn 10 where you can lay it all out and demolish the other player! You'll find the bulk of the information you need to achieve that in the tips and combo section towards the bottom of the page.

Exodia Mage Mulligan guide

Bagging your sole Sorcerer's Apprentice is obviously an amazing thing, but in addition to that look for anything that will help you pull the pieces of your puzzle together. Cards like Loot Hoarder, Novice Engineer and Acolyte of Pain are all part of that process.

Arcanologist neatly ensures you have a guaranteed Turn 3 play, while Doomsayer will very often shut down the fast start of the average aggro deck (it can of course also be combo'd with Frost Nova later on in the game.

That's a very broad look at the Mulligan process for Exodia Mage, but we'll expand on this with class-specific advice once the meta has settled.

More great Mage guides:

Exodia Mage tips, combos and synergies

There's the big combo which we've already outlined above, but here are the rest of the card synergies in this deck. They're an essential part of helping you live long enough to deliver your fiery justice, so take a bit of time to get on top of them all:

- Arcanologist is guaranteed to draw you a Turn 3 play as you only have two Secrets in this deck: Ice Barrier and Ice Block.

- Doomsayer combined with either Frost Nova or Blizzard will likely clear the board as opponents will often struggle to eliminate the Doomsayer with their minions taken out of the equation.

- An important note on Leyline Manipulator. This Battlecry only affects the cards that are currently in your hand, so don't play this out until you have your targets available.

- Simulacrum will copy the lowest-cost minion in your hand at the time it's cast. Make sure you don't have any bad targets for it to choose from!

- Medivh's Valet will only do his extra damage if you have a Secret in play. Given how much this helps with board control, you really want to wait until you can activate this extra effect before playing him.

- Don't forget that you can Hero Power ping your own Acolyte of Pain to start generating cards if it's the most value you can get from your current Mana reserves.

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John Bedford

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John is Metabomb's Editor in Chief and looks after the day to day running of the site when he's not writing about Hearthstone.

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