Freeze Mage Deck List Guide

Table of Contents

• ×Freeze Mage
  • 1. Aim of the Archetype
  • 2. Strengths and Weaknesses
  • 3. Key Cards and Crafting
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Freeze Mage Deck
  • 1. Card List
  • 2. Mana Curve
  • 3. Strategy
    • 3.1. Mulligan Phase
    • 3.2. Early-Game
    • 3.3. Mid-Game
    • 3.4. Late-Game
    • 3.5. Chip Damage and Armor
    • 3.6. Overdrawing
  • 4. Individual Card Strategies
    • 4.1. Arcanologist
    • 4.2. Acolyte of Pain
    • 4.3. Doomsayer
    • 4.4. Primordial Glyph
  • 5. About the Author
  • 6. ChangeLog

Freeze Mage is a Combo archetype. It aims to survive for many turns while gathering enough damage in hand to kill the opponent in one turn. Although it is no longer possible to do 30 damage in one turn in Standard, the archetype can still use Alexstrasza to reduce the opponent's Health total to 15, and deliver lethal damage on the following turn. To ensure that the Mage does not die during this time, Ice Block is used to buy an extra turn. Archmage Antonidas is often used to gain additional Fireballs, which allows some of the damage in the deck to remove minions.

The archetype has been around since the release of Hearthstone. It is very difficult to play, and has become even less forgiving since Ice Lance was moved into the Hall of Fame with the introduction of Journey to Un'Goro. The archetype did get new tools to use in with the expansion though, with Arcanologist and Primordial Glyph allowing for greater consistency of draws.

Due to the difficulty of learning the archetype, it is also one of the most rewarding archetypes to master. Most players agree that it is one of the decks with the highest skill ceiling in the game, and even the best players will argue about nuances of the deck.

Below, you will find link to our deck lists for Freeze Mage, starting with our featured deck, which we consider the most common variant.

This Freeze Mage Deck is the staple Freeze Mage list for the Journey to Un'Goro expansion. If you are new to Freeze Mage, and looking to learn the archetype, this is the best starting point.

1. Aim of the Archetype

Freeze Mage aims to repeatedly freeze the opposing board to prevent damage, while simultaneously drawing the cards to kill the opponent over two turns. Frost Nova, Doomsayer, and Blizzard are amongst the stalling options available. Ice Block is used to allow the player to survive after Alexstrasza reduces the opposing health total to 15.

2. Strengths and Weaknesses

The archetype is fundamentally very powerful. With good piloting, it is able to deal with minion threats, and also able to beat control decks in longer games. However, it is weak to healing, which can help an opponent to recover from Alexstrasza, and Armor, which is ignored by Alexstrasza. As these are often staple parts of more controlling decks, these can be big problems for Freeze Mage. Direct damage, which ignores freeze effects, is also a problem. The Hunter hero power, Steady Shot, can often provide big problems for Freeze Mage to deal with.

3. Key Cards and Crafting

Alexstrasza and Ice Block are absolutely fundamental to the deck. If you cannot use these cards, then unfortunately, you will not be able to play Freeze Mage.

Doomsayer and Primordial Glyph are incredibly important to the deck. If you do not own them, then you can probably play a few casual games to get a rough feel for how the deck plays, but you will be at an enormous disadvantage. On the upside, both cards are used in multiple decks, and even if you do not get along with the archetype after crafting, you will be able to play other decks with these cards.

Archmage Antonidas and Bloodmage Thalnos are important cards, but you can definitely make do without them. For the Bloodmage, you can substitute an additional cheap card draw (which card depends on which list you are playing). For the Archmage, you can play an additional Flamestrike or an extra Pyroblast depending on the meta you are encountering.

Pyroblast is an important card, but if you own Archmage Antonidas and two Primordial Glyph then you can make the deck function reasonably well. You will definitely miss not having the card, and if you are looking to learn Freeze Mage properly, you should craft it at your earliest opportunity as soon as you have the rest of the deck.

4. ChangeLog

• 28 Jun. 2017: Added new guide format for the Freeze Mage Archetype.