Tommy J’s Cheap Heroic Temple Escape Mage

Tommy J generously allowed us to host his decks and guides using (mostly) Basic cards to take down The League of Explorers Heroic bosses. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel.

This has got to be my favorite boss so far in any adventure. It was fun, was completely unique, and aside from a potential 0 vs 10 damage swing, the only RNG was in your card draw! (since the opponent has no deck and all).

Anyway, since everything happens in a pretty much set order, I’ve written out below what happens on each of the opponent’s turns so you can plan ahead if you’re struggling.

• Opponents 1st – 6/7 spawn (9 remaining) – +1 card, or +1 mana
• Opponents 2nd – 6/7 spawn, 7/7 spawn (the 7/7 spawns a 1/1 scarab with taunt at the end of each turn) (8 remaining) – Take 5 damage, or chance taking 0 or 10
• Opponents 3rd – 6/7, 7/7 attack, 2×8/8 spawn, boulder spawn (your side) (7 remaining)
• Opponents 4th – 6/7, 7/7, 2×8/8 attack, 10/10 spawn (6 remaining) – when there are 6 turns to escape, this is where you want to use your first Frost Nova.
• Opponents 5th – 6/7, 7/7, 8/8, 8/8, 10/10 attack (5 remaining) – ceiling collapse, all minions die
• Opponents 6th – 2×6/15 spawn (4 remaining)
• Opponents 7th – 6/15, 6/15 attack, 7/7 spawn. (3 remaining) – given the option to reduce to 2 remaining and spawn a 7/7 (very much yes – logic below!)
• Opponents 8th – 6/15, 6/15, 7/7, 7/7 attack, multiple 10/6 spawn. (1 remaining) – this is where you need to make sure either everything on the opposing side of the board is frozen, or you have an ice block available.
• Opponents 9th – 6/15, 6/15, 7/7, 7/7, multiple 10/6 attack.

So there are a few key points to this – prior to the boulder spawning, DON’T put down more than 3 taunts. The opposing creatures will only attack 3 times, and if there is a fourth the boulder will kill it at the end of your next turn. Next, it may be possible to prevent the 10/10 from spawning by letting the Obsidian Destroyer (the 7/7) spawn 3 scarabs, which will block the board (not confirmed – i killed a scarab in my attempts), however, there will still be too much damage taken unless at least most of the opponent’s board is frozen at this stage. Also, don’t play any more minions than you need to prior to the ceiling collapsing – if you do it’s just throwing away cards. Once the ceiling has collapsed – go nuts, get everything you can down to help you survive the remaining turns.

As far as making the most efficient decisions go, in my opinion this is what will make it easier. 1st (Glowing Pool) – +1 card, the mana really doesn’t provide you with much unless your curve is worse than mine was, and that extra card could be the difference between getting cards you need and not. 2nd (Pit of Spikes) – it honestly doesn’t matter too much, but it’s very possible to win even after taking the 5 damage, so don’t just restart over and over until you get 0. If you don’t have an amazing hand you may as well go for the Swing Across option and hope for no damage. If you’re like me and take an entire turn to the face, you’ll be left on about 6hp, which means while you can take the 5, you cannot take the 10. 3rd (The Statue’s Eye) – Unless you desperately need the +10hp, I would go with the cards. It increases your chances of getting the things you really do need to get this down (i.e. Frost Nova/Taunts). 4th (Take the Shortcut?) – I think that taking the shortcut is by far the better idea unless you have managed to gain board control, since really if your decks like this one it will be 1 extra 7 damage hit, vs an extra turn where you can take an extra 6, 6 and 7 hit.

Mulligan

Ideally you want cheap Taunts/Freezes that can be played in turns 1-3, or your Frost Nova for later on in the fight. Keep in mind that a freeze such as Frostbolt (or Ice Lance if you choose to include it) effectively does the same job as a weak Taunt minion – it prevents you taking damage from a single enemy for 1 turn.

Card Additions

Any cheap freeze card such as Ice Lance, or cheap, effective Taunt cards such as Annoy-o-Tron (seriously, Divine Shield AND Taunt!) Also, Ice Block is amazing for later on in that it will prevent you dying for a turn (seriously imagine drawing 2 of them! those final 2 turns would be a cakewalk). Deathlord is also great, as for about half of the game they would take 2 hits to kill as well. Just be careful about picking up super expensive taunts – they may not be as good as you think. For example, a Sunwalker will do no more for you than an Annoy-o-Tron since all enemies excluding scarabs hit for more than 5.

Cards to Remove

Both Forgotten Torch and Flamestrike are 100% useless in this fight. If you have any of the above, replace them! The next most useless would be Lord of the Arena, purely due to its high cost and the fact that it only has 5hp, meaning it would likely be 1 shot by everything you’ll see during this encounter. If you’re looking for something else to remove, I’d think that Water Elemental would be the next thing, as unlike the Sen'jin Shieldmasta it requires that extra turn down before it can help you prevent damage.