Highlander Mage – #79 Legend (Zeddy) – Ashes of Outland

Reposting from CompetitiveHS reddit. Figured I’d add it here since this is where i found the deck. This list with my anti-DH techs finally took me with a 73% 11-4 streak to legend. I had played some highlander previously between D4-3 but those lists just didnt have enough early game to fend off aggro dh. I think the secret package with flame ward is essential and im surprised that many lists cut it and only kept barrier in this meta, especially when every hunter will tell you that explosive trap wrekts.

My techs may seem ridiculous but they worked surprisingly well. I got rid of Bone Wraith, Overconfident Orc, and Manasaber. All 3 of them are too passive with the DH ability to simply blast through them. In just about every case, DH could use face to easily clear these guys while keeping most of his board. One ping to the orc and every satyr, felwing, and battlefiend were left standing to run train on my face. BW was a little more effective, but i never felt it was that hard enough to play around. Manasaber would allow for the occasional ramp into a 6 mana clear, but it was too dependent on my existing hand and often would sit on the board while i took 15+ on a DH turn 5.

My subs were Ooze, Hogsteed, and the crown jewel that makes it a ds1385 original – the majestic Hippogryph. I think the latter is a total sleeper because it has similar stats to both orc and BW but it guarantees a clear on battlefiend, satyr, etc while almost always keeping a taunt on board. Compared to BW, a 2/5 taunt that spawns a 2/1 taunt while leaving a full DH board with satyr in play is never gonna be as good as a 2/6 taunt that clears a key DH dmg/value generator and leaves a 2/2 taunt in play for the same cost.

Of course this will likely be irrelevant when the nerfs hit, but figured i’d share in case this helps anyone make the final push today.