Spiteful Mage deck list guide - The Witchwood - Hearthstone (April 2018)
Our primer guide on how to play the new Spiteful Mage archetype in The Witchwood.
Spiteful Mage is one of the new Hearthstone decks that's got the potential to see some play in the long-term meta, although it's not without its risks. It was created by master decksmith Thijs over the launch weekend, and mixes up the Even, Dragon and Elemental Mage archetypes to create something truly different for the launch window.
The risks come from the interactions that exist between cards like Book of Specters and Spiteful Summoner - an embarrassing misfire when it happens - but Thijs is claiming a pretty impressive winstreak with this one and so we wanted to highlight it on the site.
We'll just say that our usual advice on holding back on card crafts goes double on this one. Give it a go if you have the cards in your collection already, or you intend to use the crafted decks in other - potentially more stable - decks in the long run.
In this first primer edition of our Spiteful Mage guide, we're highlighting just the deck list itself, followed by a look through all of the combos you have to mess around with. If it proves popular beyond the launch window, we'll add in all of our usual Mulligan and strategy tips. In the meantime, let us know how you're getting on with this one in the comments.
Spiteful Mage deck list and strategy
Here's Thijs' Spiteful Mage deck list. Just remember that this is to be considered highly experimental at this stage, and not to be crafted lightly!
| Mage | Neutral |
|---|---|
| 1 x Archmage Arugal | 2 x Acidic Swamp Ooze |
| 2 x Book of Specters | 1 x Doomsayer |
| 1 x Pyros | 2 x Faerie Dragon |
| 1 x Toki, Time-Tinker | 2 x Plated Beetle |
| 2 x Pyroblast | 2 x Fire Plume Phoenix |
| 2 x Scaleworm | |
| 2 x Spellbreaker | |
| 2 x Twilight Drake | |
| 1 x Genn Greymane | |
| 1 x Mossy Horror | |
| 2 x Spiteful Summoner | |
| 2 x Primordial Drake | |
| 2 x Mountain Giant |
Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.
Deck Import ID: AAECAf0EBooBysECy+wCz+8CzPQCzfQCDOEE8gWKB+EHjQi/CKzCAsnHAurmAtfrAs7vAonxAgA=
More great Mage guides:
- 1. Best Budget Decks - Hearthstone: Best Budget Decks for Ashes of Outland
- 2. Tier List - Hearthstone deck tier list (Ashes of Outland)
- 3. No Minion Spell Mage - No Minion Spell Mage deck list guide (Ashes of Outland)
- 4. Highlander Mage - Highlander Mage deck list guide (Ashes of Outland)
- 5. Dragon Mage - Dragon Mage deck list guide (Ashes of Outland)
- 6. Cyclone Mage - Cyclone Mage deck list guide (Ashes of Outland)
Spiteful Mage tips, combos and synergies
- With Archmage Arugal out on the board, any subsequent minions you draw into your hand will be duplicated. There's natural synergy here between this card and Book of Specters.
- When Pyros is killed, it returns to your hand as a six Mana 6 / 6 version of itself. When that version of the creature dies, it returns to your hand one last time as a 10 Mana 10 / 10 minion.
- Put Toki, Time-Tinker into play and you'll receive a random Legendary in your hand. Note that with Toki you are always pulling a Legendary that would otherwise only be usable in the Wild format. That means no Un'Goro, Frozen Throne, Kobolds or Witchwood candidates.
- If you have a Dragon in your hand when you put it into play, Scaleworm will gain the Rush ability as well as an extra point of Attack power. Remember that Rush minions can only attack other minions right away, not the enemy hero.
- Twilight Drake's Health increases by one for each other card remaining in your hand when you put the Dragon into play.
- The cost of your Hero Power is reduced to one Mana as you have Genn Greymane in your deck. Work this cheaper ping damage into your maths as you look a turn or two ahead at all times.
- If any of your own minions are going to die to Mossy Horror, make sure they do some good work first. That might mean taking out a stubborn enemy minion or just hitting the opponent in the face!
- You hope that Spiteful Summoner will interact with Pyroblast, rather than Book of Specters. If the former happens, you get a bonus 10 Mana minion for a six Mana play. If you get the latter...well, let's not think about that too much.
- Don't forget that Primordial Drake damages your own minions when played, as well as the opponent's. As with Mossy Horror make good use of your minions first.
- Mountain Giant costs one Mana less for each card you have in your hand. Archmage Arugal and Book of Specters have a big interaction with this mighty minion.