Update: Brian Kibler’s Grand Tournament Dragon Mage

Class: Mage - Format: wild - Type: control - Season: season-18 - Style: ladder

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Deck Import

Here’s an updated Dragon Mage deck list for The Grand Tournament by Brian Kibler. This deck has gone through another revamp after the first changes during The Grand Tournament. The deck removed Ice Block, so Illuminator saw its way out of the deck. The deck added a couple of Effigy to get extra value from the larger minions in the deck. Chromaggus has also returned to the deck to generate more value from your card draw.

Update 2: -2 Arcane Intellect, -1 Duplicate, -1 Ice Block, -2 Illuminator, -1 Sludge Belcher, -1 Emperor Thaurissan, -1 Rend Blackhand, -1 Alexstrasza, +1 Effigy, +1 Explosive Sheep, +1 Blackwing Technician, +1 Big Game Hunter, +1 Antique Healbot, +2 Azure Drake, +1 Flamestrike, +1 Chromaggus

Update for The Grand Tournament: +1 Effigy, +1 Blackwing Technician, +2 Twilight Guardian, +1 Chillmaw, -1 Explosive Sheep, -1 Fireball, -1 Azure Drake, -1 Sludge Belcher, -1 Flamestrike

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64 Comments

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  1. Mach17
    January 17, 2016 at 9:34 PM

    What about Rend for Chillmaw just to take out Tirion or weaker legendaries

  2. KB9
    January 6, 2016 at 11:24 AM

    CAN CHILLMAW BE REPLACE WITH ALEXSTRAZAS?!

  3. Balesz
    December 7, 2015 at 4:49 AM

    And if I want to add a 6 drop, what should it be? I’m thinking about cards like Sylvanas, Emperor, or maybe another dragon.

  4. Balesz
    December 7, 2015 at 4:44 AM

    If I dont have Chillmaw, can it be replaced by Rend Blackhand?

    • Evident - Author
      December 7, 2015 at 8:07 AM

      I think that could work, but you might miss having the extra Dragon.

  5. Johnny
    November 14, 2015 at 9:08 PM

    I don’t see how this has any chance against control warrior, its slow and then the dragons get executed.
    might be okay vs mid range or aggro, but is it worth the instant lose to C warrior?

    • Evident - Author
      November 15, 2015 at 7:30 AM

      Freeze Mage doesn’t have a chance against Control Warrior either, but it still gets played. It just matters how frequently you are queuing into it.

  6. Clapp924
    October 29, 2015 at 5:21 AM

    I love this deck, i just replaced nefarian with Ysera and Chillmaw simply because i dont have it for another dupe. If you understand control decks this deck is extremely powerful, The only thing that seems to pull me down in ranked is a malygos type shaman. If you manage to get a duplicate the twilight guardian it will set you up for a easy game with the amount of damage you can pull off.

  7. Jayson
    October 28, 2015 at 2:23 PM

    This deck is amazing. Just went from unranked (after a long lay off) to rank 11 in a couple hours. I hadn’t played ranked (or even HS) for a long time, and was just curious what a good control deck would be for the current meta, so I gave this a shot and love it.

    If you’re doing bad against aggro, you probably just don’t have enough experience with control decks. This deck deals amazingly with aggro if you pilot it correctly. I even removed one of the explosive sheep because I simply don’t use them alot. I usually sit on the sheep for most of the game, because you have so many other ways to deal with aggro with this deck.

    The only changes I made to the current list were replace Nefarian with Ysera. and replace explosive sheep with another duplicate. Getting an early duplicate on your 4 mana dragon with taunt will completely destroy any aggro deck out there. A late game druid deck is pretty mean though, but that’s the only tough match up I have with this deck (so far).

  8. Vinestyhp
    October 25, 2015 at 5:00 AM

    This is the worst deck I’ve played with yet. The only thing happening is you laddering down

  9. Paravoid
    October 14, 2015 at 12:53 AM

    Only change I made on this deck was to take oıt Chromaggus and replace it with Dr. Balanced. It seemed like it worked pretty well because Chromaggus doesn’t always live for the next round anyways, you opponent always kills it which makes the card really bad. It just becomes 8 mana 6/8 creature which is pretty bad compared to its mana. Beause of Dr. Boom always gives you the control for the bord, I would rather run him than Chromaggus.

  10. Babuym
    October 7, 2015 at 2:48 PM

    Not for the meta,weak against aggro weak against patron

    • Drizzt
      October 13, 2015 at 11:50 PM

      I agree, its weak against aggro, couldn’t get pass rank 15

  11. Bokor
    September 28, 2015 at 10:07 AM

    I keep getting stuck between ranks 15-13. Always try to obtain frost bolts first hand but other than that It’s very hit or miss.

  12. JAckTR
    September 24, 2015 at 2:47 AM

    It’s just amazing to see a Mech mage mirror entities my explosive sheep

  13. StuF
    September 23, 2015 at 12:10 PM

    I play the variation with 1 exp. sheep , lost fireball, chillmaw and bgh, added 1 sunfury, rend and the dragon that makes you use your hp as many times as mana permits

    I mulligan out all secrets, keep frostbolt, mad scientist and often a 4m dragon

    Game 1: LOSS turn 6 vs an aggro flamewalker mage. Draw gave me 2 frostbolts and an explosive sheep, but too many minions and dmg to slow down enough.

    Game 2: LOSS early end game vs midrange control mage, ‘ cause I couldnt answer his own effigies played on his shredders and copying my minions, not even with 2 healbots dragging me into the lategame

    Game 3: LOSS against a handlock with more heavy taunts than I have sheep. I could clear the board finally with buffed flamestrike, but had 1 life left… could clear the board a second time and bring my own taunts, but he obviously threw mal’ganis and next turn dr boom. he did run out of cards, getting closer…

    Game 4: WIN vs aggro warlock ‘ caus his implosions sucked and I had rend just in time followed by chromaggus that survived for three turns. very lucky victory.

    Game 5: LOSS to aggro pally caus I he could get 5 minions in play before i could put anything on the board. Could throw chillmaw at turn 7 with 1 health left and lost turn 8

    Game 6: LOSS to face hunter bringing the hounds to have full board at turn 5. I ignored his minions and went for his face until he took down mine. both below 10 health, he finished it with HP and a 4/2 boar.

    Fed up with dropping rank and switched back to main

  14. Tysknaden
    September 22, 2015 at 11:14 PM

    Good against Patron Warrior.

  15. Cleanliness
    September 22, 2015 at 10:41 PM

    Anyone having trouble with aggro should know the only thing I have lost to was 1 aggro paladin and ctrl warriors. Replace 1 explosive sheep and fireball with Zombie Chow and Sunfury Protector. These simple changes made a huge difference. I haven’t lost to a single mech mage yet and faced about 5 tonight. Brian was running this deck in an earlier stream and was killing it. Hope this helps you guys.

  16. Drew11232
    September 21, 2015 at 2:10 PM

    Been playing this deck for past couple days and climbed from rank 10 to 6 with it. It’s damn good, really hard to get used to so don’t give up if you keep losing!

  17. nicklaus
    September 20, 2015 at 6:57 AM

    change effigy with ice block and ice barrier

  18. Cantikun
    September 16, 2015 at 8:39 AM

    My only suggestion would be remove 1 polymorph for a fireball. And try and fit ysera into the list bc chromaggus followed up by ysera is gg in most cases if not dealt with.

  19. norullezzz
    September 16, 2015 at 4:11 AM

    is it possible to replace chillmaw?

  20. eh
    September 2, 2015 at 7:30 AM

    i just built this deck and tried it out. lost 4/5 games, and im trying to figure out the whole strategy here. it feels so slow, and i’ve read the comments trying to discern a good starting hand from a bad one. having the majority of cards being high cost, i never seem to be able to pull out the lower cost cards, and sit with big numbers for a few turns. when i finally get something playable, it would be for example, a duplicate or efigy and a minion i probably do not want it wasted on. i’m not too knowledgeable on high tier matches, but i spend more time with my field being cleared rather than my opponents.

    • Hemot
      September 4, 2015 at 10:33 AM

      Running this deck without Alex and I have only lost to a warrior because I play on my smartphone and I accidently frost bolted my hero on turn 2 instead of the minion.

      Other than that this deck is funning great and is SO fun to control people with. I feel like I can feel their frustration coming through the screen. Might want to consider what you are throwing away in your opener in conjunction to what class you are playing against. Don’t focus on what you can play this turn, I found it easier to allow the deck to provide me with answers to their plays and I stall out until I hit an emperor or something dumb. Last game it hit and emperor with a duplicate and lets just say the best things in life are free. 😀

    • nicklaus
      September 20, 2015 at 7:34 AM

      i tried both dragon mage and the other one with ysera, alex , sludge is a lot better

  21. Farts
    August 27, 2015 at 5:02 PM

    Why no Zombie Chow?

  22. Flood
    August 27, 2015 at 4:50 PM

    We can replace chillnaw by What ?

  23. Dark Prince
    August 25, 2015 at 7:33 AM

    Great deck !!!
    I swapped Nefarian for Ysera, for me works a lot better.

  24. Nick
    August 25, 2015 at 12:12 AM

    Okay so, I have all the cards for this deck and I’m keen to try it out.

    The problem is I’m terrible at this game, does anyone have any tips on playing this deck and what sort of cards I’m trying to get at the start of the game?

    • pheno
      August 26, 2015 at 1:00 AM

      It is a Control Deck which means your primary goal is to keep the opponent’s board as clear as possible while building towards the late game where your big ass minions shine. Use the various sources of healing this deck provides (like Healbot, Illuminator etc.) to delay any kind of face pressure and use your secrets (as long as they did not pop out randomly because of Scientist) to your advantage – like duplicate for taunt minions against aggressive decks for example.

  25. Roza
    August 23, 2015 at 8:02 AM

    any replacements for alex, only card i don’t have

    • Evident - Author
      August 23, 2015 at 8:32 AM

      Second Antique Healbot, or Chromaggus to fill the big Dragon spot.

  26. Pietro
    August 23, 2015 at 6:57 AM

    can’t beat priest. he just take control over my alex or nefarian.

  27. Dis
    August 21, 2015 at 12:56 PM

    This deck is horribly week for a regular Arena climb. Too slow.

  28. Los
    August 21, 2015 at 6:25 AM

    Are there any replacements for echo only card i dont have?

    • Evident - Author
      August 21, 2015 at 6:36 AM

      Yes, he recently took out Echo of Medivh for one Fireball.

  29. Zzz
    August 20, 2015 at 12:59 PM

    Can you do an update for this list after tgt comes out?

  30. Thomas
    August 20, 2015 at 7:56 AM

    Didn’t he replace Echo of Medivh later on in his stream?

    • Evident - Author
      August 21, 2015 at 6:37 AM

      Yeah, he replaced it with Fireball. I updated the list, thanks.

  31. chris
    August 18, 2015 at 11:01 PM

    Illuminater is being accepted now?
    Well, healing cards are all the rage right now.

  32. Mike
    August 17, 2015 at 11:57 AM

    This deck is NOT good against aggro. I don’t care what you say will help (Sludge belcher is not a an aggro stopping card). I’ve played 5 aggro decks in a row and lost to all on turn 6 because this deck doesn’t have **** for aggro counter.

    • Evident - Author
      August 17, 2015 at 1:01 PM

      Frost Bolt and Explosive Sheep are the cards that get you to turn 5, and then Sludge Belcher carries you the rest of the way. You recover with Antique Healbot and Illuminator after that.

      • Azaloth
        August 17, 2015 at 10:40 PM

        You have a draw like that maybe in 1 out of 5 times!?
        And even then it’s not enough sometimes.
        This deck is too slow!!

        • Evident - Author
          August 18, 2015 at 7:49 AM

          That’s just one example. Kibler has gotten to Rank 3 with this deck, so while it is probably not the BEST against aggro, it can still win games against it.

          Edit: I’m also not claiming this is a top tier deck. It’s a quality deck, that can be likely played to legend.

    • Nashdiesel
      August 18, 2015 at 6:04 PM

      – 1 Polymorph
      – 1 Echo of Medivh

      + 2 Zombie Chow

    • Rank 25 Guy
      August 20, 2015 at 7:12 PM

      Play illuminators when you have duplicate, it will force opponent to kill the illuminaotors, and then you get even more. Plus healbots also help. Also, belchers do help, its pretty much two taunts, and a 3/5 will kill any aggro minion that attacks it

    • DragonTooth
      August 31, 2015 at 3:36 AM

      If you are having troubles against the Aggro Decks, try do following: Take out 1 illuminator for another explosive sheep. try get Frostbolts and explosive sheeps on your start hand if you are against aggro decks like face hunter or Zoo paladin/warlocks.

      Rend Blackhand?? Just take out that card for a BGH. BGH = low cost, most used legendaries are boom, rag, alexstraza, all are 7 attack+. Rend costs you 7 vs BGH’s 3. 9 out of 10 times they have same effect 😉 = BGH wins that battle. IF that wont help your aggro problem you are playing it wrong, thats for sure 🙂

  33. Lightbird
    August 15, 2015 at 7:18 PM

    replaced 1 Illuminator for Big Game Hunter and Alexstrasza for Ysera (don’t have the Cards) also i replaced Rend for Dr. Boom. Testing it now :).

  34. Abel
    August 14, 2015 at 6:39 PM

    Awesome deck! really good job!

  35. Deepthroat85
    August 9, 2015 at 4:42 AM

    I ve replaced rend for a fireball for more board ctrl but a BGH could fit well too. I ve replaced nefarian for ysera due to the presence of BGH in the meta. Ans with that this deck is really solid , you can come back from anywhere !!!

  36. kilominata
    August 8, 2015 at 1:48 PM

    As long as I see this deck is amazing! funny and good control mage, but as long as I played, zoolock is the worst match up, can’t win any :/

  37. Brotein
    August 6, 2015 at 7:48 PM

    I have been playing this deck exclusively for about 2 days now, and it is a very solid deck. It takes a lot of getting used to, and you should play it much like a grinder mage. The only issues I have encountered so far are azure drakes seeming relatively weak (because of the lack of spells), and I myself have taken out 1 Illuminator in favor of BGH. Other than that I would not change a thing, very solid deck. Props to Kibler.

  38. Jhonatan
    August 5, 2015 at 10:40 PM

    finisher like dr. Boom or athonidas?

    • Calisis
      August 31, 2015 at 11:42 AM

      The finishers of this deck are the high cost dragons, this deck is designed to sustain until fatigue or very close to fatigue

  39. Big game spitter
    August 5, 2015 at 12:34 AM

    It works much like a control deck where Alex is pretty irreplaceable, Ysera tho could be swapped on and out with Nefarian depending on the BGH’s around!!

    • xbreqs
      August 16, 2015 at 7:46 AM

      swapping out one of your three 8 attack minions because you’re scared of bgh is a bit backwards.

  40. Yuiboss
    August 4, 2015 at 1:17 PM

    I see no fireball, maybe alexs better replace with ysera ?

    • SirEddie64
      August 4, 2015 at 2:51 PM

      This is a grinder-style control mage, and a lot of them don’t run fireballs because the goal of the game is to out-value your opponent and win fatigue with duplicate. Alex’s effect is really strong and not really replaceable but Ysera would be the best candidate IMO