Abar’s Rank #1 Legend Reno Mage Decklist Guide (Standard, May 2016, Season 26)

The Reno Jackson Mage deck has been a bit of a fringe deck losing out to Warlock as the Reno class of choice. With the Standard format and the new Whispers of the Old Gods expansion the deck might finally find its place in the meta!

Abar was nice enough to allow us to re-host his exceptionally detailed guide on the deck. Be sure to check out his stream right here: http://twitch.tv/abarhs

I’m in love with this Reno Mage deck and could ramble on about it, but I understand some people are just here to learn how to play the deck themselves, so I’ll hold off on too much commentary and look to answer any questions on the post. I will, however, say this: I laddered from 14 to legend with this deck with a 72% win rate before I went on a 20-6 run in legend to hit rank 1, so I’m confident it isn’t just a flash in the pan.

Card Choices (lots of them)

Forbidden Flame — The versatility of this card really shines through in Reno Mage. It’s not as good as Frostbolt. It’s not as good as Fireball. But when you can only play one copy of each of those cards, this is a nice backup option. Against aggressive decks, always keep this. It will fill the whole in your curve. Against control decks, it’s just a second Fireball, as you (typically) cast it for zero after dropping Archmage Antonidas.

Arcane Blast — Another bread-and-butter removal spell. Nothing spectacular, just fills a need, getting you into the mid-game without falling behind. Also becomes a zero mana spell (after Emperor Thaurissan) to turn into a Fireball for free.

Frostbolt — A premium removal spell, plus reach when you need it to be. Keep this every time.

Acidic Swamp Ooze — The three most played classes on high ladder right now are Warrior, Shaman and Rogue, and Hunters also exist. This has targets against most matchups. Even hits a Lord Jaraxxus weapon sometimes. Note: I actually don’t keep this most of the time against Rogue. It’s not as good as it used to be, as the deck isn’t about oils any more.

Bloodmage Thalnos — In most matchups, this card exist mostly to dig you deeper into your deck. When you’re playing a Reno deck, you want a critical mass of card draw. It’s great with Arcane Blast in the early game (though that doesn’t necessarily mean you keep it). You can usually find utility for its spell damage buff. Most importantly, against Patron Warrior, it gives you a second “Flamestrike” in tandem with Blizzard. Thalnos and Blizzard are often partners in this deck.

Doomsayer — This card is so great in standard right now, people are playing Crazed Alchemist in aggro decks. I would say that speaks for itself. You do have the Doomsayer plus Frost Nova combo in the deck, but mostly, you drop this on two or three for tempo.

Loot Hoarder — One of the MVPs of the deck. Another auto-keep. Digs you deeper to your essential cards, provides a bump in the road for aggressive decks. You’re never not happy with this on two.

Arcane Intellect — Gives you something to do with your mana early in control mirrors, digs you deeper into your deck. Keep it against control classes. Card draw is important.

Forgotten Torch — A reasonable removal spell in the early game, a great removal spell or burn spell in the late game. Control mirrors with this deck aren’t actually decided by fatigue, so adding one extra card to your deck isn’t super relevant, but adding an insane future draw step is. If you absolutely have to find Reno Jackson, try to opt for your other removal spells when possible so you don’t add another non-Reno card into your deck to draw.

Frost Nova — Combos with Doomsayer for the tempo board clear. Sometimes you just need to stall a turn to get to Blizzard or Flamestrike mana or catch up on board. Somewhat strangely, this card shines against N’Zoth Paladin when you get to the point in the game when you want to stop interacting. Also protects Archmage Antonidas, and if you ever start a new turn with Antonidas on board, the game should be over. Finally, against rogue, use it in response to their conceal turn when you can’t flamestrike everything away.

Ice Block — This card is insane in standard. Miracle Rogue and Freeze Mage typically can’t beat Ice Block. Obviously, the synergy with Reno is one of the primary reasons to play this deck. You can also use ice block to get aggressive knowing you can’t die and forcing your opponent to make the trades and play on defense. It might seem counter-intuitive, but keep this against control classes. Your hand fills up, and you want it to. Playing this makes room for something else.

Acolyte of Pain — More card draw. Be very careful not to overdraw yourself, though. This deck has a lot of critical pieces, and only one copy of them. Play Acolyte of Pain with caution against Control.

Mind Control Tech — Zoo is one of the more difficult matchups for this deck. More grindy Shamans can be tricky too. MC tech helps a lot in those two matchups. Against control, a three mana 3/3 is something to do with your mana. Don’t hold it forever hoping it will be more than it is.

Fireball — Just a great card. If you’ve played Hearthstone, you’re familiar with Fireball.

Polymorph — Another great card. It’s not quite Hex, but it’s still one of the premium removal spells in standard. It provides a relatively clean answer to a four mana 7/7. Against Warriors, save it for Sylvanas Windrunner or Cairne Bloodhoof if possible. Against N’Zoth Paladin, you really want to save Polymorph for Tirion Fordring if you have that luxury. Water Elemental — A big body to absorb a couple of creatures against aggro. With all the Weapon classes running around. Freezing the face is relevant. Against Warriors, sometimes this draws a Shield Slam or Execute. Be happy about that.

Twilight Drake — You don’t often get the full 4/10 that Handlock did, but it serves the same role. Just a massive creature for the mana you paid to make it. Priest still has no answer to this card. Like Water Elemental, if twilight drake draws a premium removal spell, that’s a small victory.

Ethereal Conjurer — Sometimes you want another Flamestrike, sometimes a fireball. Other times, a Polymorph or Ice Block. Conjurer helps mitigate the downsides of only being able to play one copy of any card. Even if you miss on the silver bullet you were looking for, it’s pretty hard for this card not be be pure value.

Flame Lance — If I had to guess, the inclusion of this card will raise the most eyebrows. I used to run Big Game Hunter in this deck. Then I added Flame Lance to hit the targets BGH was missing. Eventually, I realized I didn’t need BGH, and I really just wanted Flame Lance all along. This card usually hits creatures with seven or more power for the same cost BGH does, but being able to kill Sylvanas Windrunner, Doomguard, Savannah Highmane … It’s just a better BGH in this deck. You won’t like it until you try it.

Azure Drake — Another card that requires little explanation. Digs deeper into your deck, plenty of ways to take advantage of the spell damage buff. Just a good card.

Harrison Jones — Half of ladder is running Harrison Jones right now. I haven’t seen it in Zoo yet, but outside of that … just about everything. Doomhammer is a card. Until its not, a deck full of one-ofs wants Harrison Jones.

Stampeding Kodo — I love this card. Killing a Bloodhoof Brave with Stampeding Kodo is so brutal. Other targets: Frothing Berserker, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, Flamewaker, Carrion Grub, Mana Tide Totem, Flametongue Totem, Imp Gang Boss, the list goes on.

Blizzard — The compromise between Frost Nova and Flamestrike. I mentioned its synergy with Bloodmage Thalnos against Patron Warrior and other tokens decks. Often, against aggressive decks, you curve Blizzard on six into Flamestrike or Baron Geddon on seven, and that will pull you significantly ahead.

Emperor Thaurissan — In control matchups, hold Thaurissan until you can reduce the cost of enough cards to get at least three Fireballs on your Archmage Antonidas turn. Thaurissan demands a removal spell, which also helps Antonidas and your other big minions stick. It’s not always an essential piece of the win condition, but its your easy button.

Reno Jackson — The namesake of the deck. If you’re not playing paladin, your health restoring options in standard are terrible. Reno is the one exception. Fight for the board first, play Reno second. Then watch your opponent concede.

Archmage Antonidas — I’ve mentioned this card a few times. Antonidas has away of laughing at all the old gods. Spell ten mana on something proactive, I dare you. Most of the time, you want at least three fireballs in control mirrors, which is fairly easy to set up in one turn. Let your opponent point their removal spells at everything else first. It’s all just a setup. Hold your The Coin in these matchups when possible. Antonidas is the best trump card finisher in standard.

Flamestrike — Powerful and necessary. Crush Patron’s dreams, turn the corner against Zoo and Shamans, laugh at a concealed auctioneer and friends. Flamestrike is great.

Baron Geddon — Another card that might surprise people. If you keep up with Zoo and Shamans until turn seven, Geddon prevents them from making a comeback. Geddon is a great follow up to Reno after you have a life total to play with again. Against control, it still represents a lot of damage and helps continue to overtax opponents’ removal spells. I’m continuously impressed by this card. Just please, whatever you do, don’t kill yourself on your own turn with an ice block up.

Ragnaros the Firelord — Rag represents a lot of damage. I will admit, playing rag is probably the most frustrating part of playing this deck for me. Too many games for my liking are decided by where Rag points his fireballs. That being said, if you learn when to play it, you can maximize its upsides and minimize the repercussions of an errant decision on Rag’s part. This card is too powerful not to play.

Alexstrasza — Freeze Mage seems somewhat dead, so not everyone has gotten to experience how Alex is one of the best cards in standard. Outside of Doomhammer, this has to be my pick for most surprising card Blizzard didn’t change. Sometimes Alex can be a backup Reno after your Ice Block is popped. It can also be Reno round two against face decks if you need it to be. The best part of this card, though, is having a Pyroblast attached to your nine mana 8/8 against control decks. Against Reno decks, play it after they Reno. Against N’zoth Paladin, play it after they spend their turn healing back to 30. I’m pretty confident this deck can claim best Alexstrasza deck in standard.

Matchups and Mulligans (In order of how often I see the class on legend ladder)

(Face Shaman: Favorable, Midrange: Marginally favorable)

Reno mage is very well positioned against the more aggressive Face Shaman builds. Having both Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones alongside the Ice Block/Reno Jackson “win condition.” You can still win this matchup without drawing Reno, however. Don’t just assume you’ll find it and it will bail you out. On the flip side, they can still overrun you with the nut Shaman draw. It isn’t an auto-win.

Unless you have two or three of the other best cards for the matchup already, mulligan Harrison Jones and Acidic Swamp Ooze away when you face a Shaman. Sometimes they don’t even find a weapon or are playing a midrange list with only one copy of Doomhammer. You can find yourself with a weapon destroyer rotting in your hand wishing you just had any way to interact if you’re not careful. That being said, when you have the Harrison Jones for a Doomhammer and get to tear through half your deck for Reno on turn 5, it usually draws a concession within a turn or two.

Against midrange, do your best to kill everything you see without wasting premium removal spells on cards that aren’t Thunder Bluff Valiant. If you have the choice between killing Totem Golem or Flametongue Totem with your only removal spell, it’s almost always correct to opt for the Flametongue. Reno is still important in this matchup, but you have to win board more than anything. Curve spot removal spells into AOE, and don’t get buried in card advantage by a mana tide totem. Mind Control Tech is always at least fine and can randomly steal games in this matchup. Throughout the game, be counting Bloodlust math in your head to make sure you’re not dead or your Ice Block isn’t getting popped before you’re ready for it.

Always keep: Forbidden Flame, Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Doomsayer, Loot Hoarder, Forgotten Torch, Ice Block, Reno Jackson.

You might be tempted to keep it, but don’t: Harrison Jones, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Water Elemental, Bloodmage Thalnos

(Tempo Warrior: Even, Patron: Favorable, C’thun Warrior: Even, monkey fatigue Warrior: Unlosable?)

If you queue into a warrior, be happy. The worst case scenario is you have an even matchup. At best, you have smooth sailing against a Fatigue Warrior. Warrior has a wide array of archetypes and specific card choices available to it in standard. A big key to success against Warriors is identifying what archetype they’re playing as soon as possible. If it’s Tempo Warrior, you’re free to use your coin in the early game to keep up on tempo. You won’t need it as a post-Antonidas Fireball. Against C'Thun and fatigue warriors, hold on to the coin if at all possible. Against Patron Warrior, don’t ever play your Bloodmage Thalnos in the early game. You’ll want it to combo with Blizzard as a second patron clear alongside Flamestrike.

In general, if your opponent doesn’t put armor up first, don’t ping his or her face on turn two. The one point of damage won’t matter. The extra card off a battle rage could. Against C’thun Warrior, don’t ever let your Ice Block pop or play your Reno before the C'Thun comes down. In general, against all forms of warriors, keep a mental count in your head of what threats you know you have to deal with before the game ends and what answers you know you have left. Your decisions should not be based solely on the cards you see in your hand. Every cheap burn spell you use to finish off a creature is a fireball lost. Choose wisely.

I can’t stress enough how much the Fatigue Warrior matchup is a delight. They have two Execute and two Shield Slam. You have a lot more game-ending threats than four. Once all four premium removal spells are used up, then play the Archmage Antonidas. Don’t get blown out by Brawl, and don’t use both your weapon destroyers before you deal with Gorehowl. You don’t need to play more than two of your good creatures at any given time. With Ragnaros the Firelord and Antonidas, even just the one is usually fine. I’m sure you COULD still lose this matchup from a turn six Justicar Trueheart or maybe a Sylvanas Windrunner blowout, but I haven’t yet.

Oh, and you still keep Reno against a Warrior. You know what happens the one time you don’t? You walk the plank…

Always keep: Acidic Swamp Ooze, Doomsayer, Frostbolt, Loot Hoarder, Arcane Intellect, Forgotten Torch, Ice Block, Water Elemental, Twilight Drake, Reno Jackson, Harrison Jones

You might be tempted to keep it, but don’t: Archmage Antonidas, Mind Control Tech, Emperor Thaurissan, Flamestrike

(Miracle/other combo rogues: Favorable, Deathrattle Rogue: Favorable)

The matchups against combo rogues are all about Ice Block and Reno, or sometimes Alexstrasza is fine too. Regardless, you have enough time to find the key pieces more often than not. Outside of the key combo killing cards, games against combo rogues are a simple matter of “see the thing, kill the thing.” Kill everything. The deck doesn’t run that many creatures. You have enough removal to deal with them all.

Whenever possible, don’t take damage from their minions. Save your Frost Nova and Blizzard to neutralize their conceal turns. Flamestrike is also insane against these decks. Worth noting that Acidic Swamp Ooze isn’t actually that good against Rogue. The class isn’t really about big weapons any more. Value card draw highly. You keep Harrison Jones against Rogue because it’s card draw, not because it breaks a weapon. Against Deathrattle Rogue, consider yourself a Freeze Mage deck. The only life gain Deathrattle Rogue has is two Earthen Ring Farseer. You’re never going to fight through all their creatures. When you get to the late game, stop interacting. Find Alexstrasza or Archmage Antonidas, point a bunch of burn at their faces and freeze their very resilient creatures.

Always Keep: Forbidden Flame, Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Forgotten Torch, Ice Block, Doomsayer, Loot Hoarder, Reno Jackson

You might be tempted to keep it, but don’t: Acidic Swamp Ooze, Water Elemental, Twilight Drake

(Zoo: Unfavorable, C’thun Renolock: even)

And finally, we get to a class you don’t want to queue into! Zoo is a tough draw. Still very winnable, but Reno is far from game over hear. Doomsayer is one of the best anti-aggro cards in standard, but Zoo can do a reasonable job of working around it or never giving you a turn they can’t deal with it with their pump effects. If you don’t have an immediate answer for Darkshire Councilman, you’re going to lose. Zoo doesn’t really give you a “turn off” to even develop the Ice Block in most games. If you DO make it to the late game relatively unscathed, Blizzard, Flamestrike and Baron Geddon are all great against Zoo. Again, one of our best win conditions is MC Tech stealing the game. Definitely keep that card against warlock. If Reno Mage ever become the most popular deck on ladder, I would play Zoo.

On the C’thun Renolock side, you just have to make it to the late game. Renolock digs itself to fatigue for you, and if your opponent tries to switch to Lord Jaraxxus, you should be able to burn him or her out afterward. The way you lose this matchup is by getting out-valued. Brann Bronzebeard into Twin Emperor Vek'lor is a problem. Save Alexstrasza for after they play their Reno if at all possible. Again, use your removal wisely, because you’re going to have to work with fewer resources than your opponent. I’ve only played this matchup maybe five or six times, but it feels even.

Keep: Forbidden Flame, Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Forgotten Torch, Doomsayer, Loot Hoarder, Mind Control Tech, Ice Block, Reno Jackson

You might be tempted to keep it, but don’t: Cards good against Renolock when you should be mulliganing aggressively for zoo hate.

(Nzoth Paladin: favorable, Aggro paladin: miserable)

In my head, I thought N’Zoth Paladin would be an unfavorable matchup when I built this deck due to the high density of life gain, but it’s actually quite favorable. Reno Mage has a way of putting N’Zoth Paladin on the back foot from start to finish. They can never afford to take a whole turn off to play N’Zoth unless you’ve already lost. Draw Polymorph by the time they draw Tirion Fordring. Not doing that is one way you can lose. Again, save Alexstrasza for after a turn they heal themselves back up to 30. Save The Coin to turn it into a Fireball. Don’t accidentally overdraw yourself with Acolyte of Pain. Play Reno as a threat; They’re never pressuring you. Don’t over-commit to the board. Patience, patience, patience.

Against Aggro Paladin, hope they never draw Divine Favor? All of the deck’s divine shields really overtax your burn-based removal. This almost has to be Reno Mage’s single worst matchup. You still can win these games in attrition battles, but you always have so many cards in hand, you can’t really beat a Divine Favor for five or more cards.

Keep: Frostbolt, Arcane Intellect, Forgotten Torch, Ice Block, Polymorph, Doomsayer, Loot Hoarder, Acidic Swamp Ooze

You might be tempted to keep it, but don’t: Harrison Jones, Archmage Antonidas, Emperor Thaurissan

Everything Else

(Midrange Hunter: unfavorable, Druid: even, Tempo Mage: even, Control Priest: favorable)

There are decks I haven’t gotten to in length yet that i still respect in the standard metagame, but I don’t see too many other archetypes very often. Reno Mage is teched to beat what I play against most often. The nice thing about a Reno deck, though, is that there’s a lot of wiggle room. Maybe somebody breaks the priest archetype and you find yourself really not wanting two weapon destroyers in your deck or druid is the hot new thing and you need to find room for a Big Game Hunter. Seven slots in this deck have changed since I first created it to continuously evolve with the meta. That being said, the core of this deck is very strong, and it’s fully capable of being adjusted to your heart’s content.

Finally, have fun!!! This deck is a blast, and it’s always that much sweeter to find success with something off the radar. I hope you like it too.