Druid and Mage Spell-only Theorycrafts - Putting the "Spell" in "Spellcaster"
By JimmyRaynor -
The Ashes of Outland expansion is rapidly approaching, bringing new archtypes to life, along with all the other major changes. One of the new archtypes, that we also saw during the last reveal stream, is Spell (only) decks. During the reveal stream, we saw a Mage deck of that archtype, but there's also a Druid one being supported, although that one is not too strict about including only spells. Due to the nature of spells, they will be mostly slow, control decks, with Druid focusing on summoning tokens (with cards like Glowfly Swarm) and Mage on tempo (with Incanter's Flow.
This will be the second time that a spell-only deck makes an appearance in the meta, after Spell Hunter some time ago. That deck was a tempo deck with big, swingy turns. These two lists are keeping things in a similar vein, but the deck's will probably be more reactive than that. But enough with the past, let's take a closer look at how those two lists could look like, starting with Mage:
JimmyRaynor's Spell Mage – Ashes of Outland Theorycraft
Format: standardSeason: Season 72
4,760
Now let's take a look at a possible Spell Druid list:
JimmyRaynor's Spell Token Druid – Ashes of Outland Theorycraft
Format: standardSeason: Season 723,780
These are, in short, the two new spell-heavy decks that will probably make an appearance in next expansion's meta. Time will tell if they will be viable options for climbing the new ladder, but one thing's for sure; they will be lots of fun to play with!
12 Comments
hakanBeal
gloop?
Stonekeep
Sorry, wrong list :) Fixed it already!
hakanBeal
:)
KonuTech
Surprisingly cheap
Itch
I can't see how nourish fits in this deck. Aeroponics (or whatever that 5 mana spell is called) is better draw. Overgrowth is better ramp. Sure, you have flexibility. But you'd probably use it most times for the same choice, depending on the meta and overall deck dynamic. Assuming this deck works. I like it though. Thanks for the post.
Stonekeep
Yeah, I think that I would have went with Overgrowth. The deck has A LOT of value generation (Crystalsong Portal, Fungal Fortunes) and it might be better to get to high mana quickly to
If Nourish was still at 5 mana, I would easily go for it, but at 6 the added flexibility might not be enough.
We'll see, I still do think that it's an interesting concept and I can't wait to test it!
fareh
Sorry but these will not work, the mage one was already tried on twitch and wins only on amazing rng.
The druid one is just bad, you dont have resilience like old token druid... if your oppo focus on killing your 2/2 you are as good as dead as you cant generate and soul the forest on the same turn, only with glowfly, wich is the only card that can give you any win ocasionally
Stonekeep
To be honest, 90% of theorycrafts you see online won't work. But that's the beauty of it - you simply don't know what will or won't work.
But I wouldn't judge the meta by what you've seen on the early access. We've been getting those every expansion and they have never correctly predicted the meta. There's just not enough time and resources to play all the decks, all the matchups, optimize the decks etc. It takes at least a week or two with thousands of pro players to figure stuff out.
I will definitely try out both Spell Druid and Spell Mage, because I'm always a fan of "unorthodox" ways to build and play your decks. I don't think that they will be amazing, but many decks have surprised me over the years :)
PhoenyxSam
Druid list seems more consistent than Mage's. It would be interesting to try it out.
GrimD
Why no Shaman?
So many "if you cast a spell last turn" cards, i'm curious on your take on it :)
GrimD
Or rather only 1 for spell-only, but anyway i'm curious!
nikpan19
I really like the druid list. I remember a similar build was really strong in early uldum. I wonder though since no card really punishes you for having a few minions, wouldn't it be worthy to include vargoth? It has insane synergy with almost every card and if it sticks at any point it's a game over. Also it curves nicely into force of nature or glowfly swarm. The only real downside is that it may be hit by fungal fortune but that doesn't seem really likely...
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