Tommy J’s Heroic Shade of Aran – F2P Cheap/Low Cost Mage

Tommy J generously allowed us to host his decks and guides using (mostly) Basic cards to take down One Night in Karazhan Heroic bosses. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel.

I found Shade of Aran to be an interesting fight, because I went into it with the goal of just playing around the secrets, but ended up just using spells and having the minions in the deck purely there for distraction. I also really liked how it was truly able to port Flamewreath into Hearthstone with that same feeling it has in wow (See this “Shade of Aran Chant” if you’re unfamiliar with the spell).

So there are two ways to go about the fight; firstly, you can kill the Shade of Aran with spells, or if you have the cards to add, can counter his secrets and kill him with a mix of spells and minions.

The biggest thing about this encounter is that you need to play smart, particularly with respect to the Secrets. The boss only has three; Counterspell, Ice Barrier and Flamewreath, so checking isn’t too difficult. If you are sure you want to set off a Flamewreath, try to have a Violet Illusionist do the attacking, since even one hitting your hero can be the end of the fight for you.

Mulligan

Babbling Book, Murloc Tidehunter and Arcane Explosion are amazing early on.

Cards to Add

Kezan Mystic and Eater of Secrets would be absolutely amazing against this boss. Secretkeeper would also be ok, and Flamewaker would have some great synergy with spell heavy decks. Also, if you are wanting a few more direct damage spells, Forgotten Torch and Dragon's Breath would be decent.

Cards to Remove

Pantry Spider, Razorfen Hunter and Dragonling Mechanic are the first things in this deck that I would replace.