Team IHearthU Deck Guide: DTwo Freeze Mage

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Introduction

This is the most standard variant of the current version of Freeze Mage. Though extremely weak to both Warrior and Hunter, Freeze Mage is capable of beating any other deck. It even has a favorable win rate against strong decks like Handlock and Miracle Rogue. The deck operates mostly the same in every matchup: stall by freezing the opponent’s minions, then burst the opponent down through a combination of Alexstrasza and spells while Ice Block keeps you alive.

Iconic Cards

The cards in Freeze Mage can be split into three categories: cards that stall, cards that burn, and cards that draw cards. Let’s take a look at them:

Stall Cards include Doomsayer, Frost Nova, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, Cone of Cold, Blizzard, Flamestrike, and occasionally Ice Lance, Frostbolt, and Alexstrasza. Because you’re mostly looking to not die in the early- to mid-game, these cards are necessary for freezing and/or killing your opponents’ minions. In extremely aggressive decks, Ice Lance and Frostbolt are often used for stalling rather than burning, while Alexstrasza is used to heal your own hero in matchups where the opponent has a limited amount of damage (ie Miracle Rogue).

The burn cards in Freeze Mage are Frost Bolt, Ice Lance, Fireball, Archmage Antonidas, Alexstrasza, Pyroblast, and sometimes Bloodmage Thalnos. These cards are literally the only way this iteration of Freeze Mage can apply damage apart from the five dinky card-draw minions in the deck. Therefore, unless you’re playing against Warlock or something like Miracle Rogue where you can simply outlast your opponent, it is almost always necessary to be able to either Alexstrasza your opponent or get multiple fireballs from Archmage Antonidas. It should be said that Fireball can be used as stall as well, but only in desperate situations.

The card draw cards in Freeze Mage are Bloodmage Thalnos, Loot Hoarder, Mad Scientist, Acolyte of Pain, and Arcane Intellect. The ability to get through your deck quickly is very important, as you’ll need most of your tools to win a given matchup. Mad Scientist technically doesn’t put cards in your hand, but it thins out the deck and plays one of your stall cards for you, for very cheap.

How to Play

As briefly outlined earlier, the goal of the deck is to stall as long as possible until you can play your Alexstrasza and kill your opponent in two turns while your Ice Block is in play. There are a lot of complex decisions to be made up until that point, but in general you want to mulligan for as many card-draw cards as you can. The reason for this is threefold: you can as many options as possible heading into the mid- and late-game, your card draw cards are the cheapest in your deck, and the card-draw minions can act as their own stall mechanics as your opponent usually has to deal with them somehow.

One note: Frost Nova is only three mana, but don’t mistake it for an early-game card. Being able to freeze an entire board is extremely valuable, and doing so while making 2-3 other plays in a turn is crucial in the late game. Unless you’re desperate, you’ll almost never use Frost Nova on turn 3.

How to Play Versus:

Zoolock: The Doomsayer + Frost Nova combination is invaluable in this matchup, as your opponent will likely be filling the board very quickly. Alexstrasza is usually not able to be used, unless there are no other plays to be made. However, between Flame Imps and Life Taps, your opponent will usually be at low enough life to kill if you can make it to the late game. Finally, be extremely wary of Loatheb putting a wrench in your plans to clear the board. He can often single-handedly turn the tide in the Zoolock player’s favor.

Miracle Rogue: This is a matchup where your opponent usually has a limited amount of damage in the deck, so it’s crucial to prevent any repetitive damage by immediately removing and/or freezing any minion that hits the field. Other than the standard ending, a win for the Freeze Mage in this matchup often involves the Rogue conceding after the Mage heals back up to 15 via Alextrasza.

Warrior: This is a very bad matchup, but it’s not completely unwinnable. Mulligan for your card-draw minions, and keep your opponent busy while you set up your later turns. Prevent as much armor from accumulating as possible and burn your opponent down with the usual tools. An unchecked Archmage Antonidas or Frostbolt-Ice Lance combinations with Thalnos are usually necessary to win.

Shaman: As running two copies of Doomhammer has become more common, this matchup has started to tilt in the Shaman’s favor. Don’t be afraid to freeze the opponent’s face to prevent damage, knowing that it doesn’t take much to kill your non-healing foe. Also, because of the amount of direct damage in Shaman decks, it is sometimes correct to let your opponent hit you while you have an Ice Barrier up so that you receive the benefits of its “healing.”

Combos

Doomsayer plus any freeze, particularly Frost Nova, can wipe your opponent’s board. Using Cold of Cold, then Blizzard, then Flamestrike in consecutive turns can keep you at high health for a long time. Frostbolt + Ice Lance is a lot of damage, particularly when paired with Bloodmage Thalnos. Archmage Antonidas with Frost Nova or Ice Block is pretty nice as well. Finally, using Alexstrasza with Ice Block in play can often seal you the game.

Budget Legendary Replacement Guide

A second Pyroblast is usually the replacement for Alexstrasza, though it’s much weaker. The replacement for Archmage Antonidas is usually more card draw or more stall.