Echo Mage has always been a niche deck with an unorthodox playstyle. It relies on an unusual mechanic to draw cards and usually plays the opponent to fatigue in the fashion much like the Freeze Mage. But unlike the Freeze Mage, Echo slams the opponents face in with an unremitting stream of copied minions and
Molten Giants! Echo Mage has been around for a while, going through several iterations while always seeming to successfully hang around. Rayc591 is just the latest streamer to bring this archetype back to the glory land; achieving a top 50 rank on ladder
[source].
How to Play:
With a high win percentage against aggro, Patron Warrior, and most Mage archetypes, the Echo Mage is a great choice for ladder; beating out some of the most popular decks being played right now. The gist of the deck is to play defensively early on, to then scale into high value Echo Plays, later in the game.
Against Aggro: This deck absolutely decimates most aggro archetypes, easily controlling the board early with cards like
Doomsayer and
Explosive Sheep.
Ice Block allows you to let the opponent do damage so that you can pull off a huge Molten Giant turn in the late game. Cards like
Antique Healbot and
Illuminator can rapidly heal you up if you’re afraid of getting burst down too quickly, and
Alexstrasza can save your ass in a pinch against control.
Frost Nova,
Sludge Belcher, and
Flamestrike help control the board in the mid-late game stages so that you can effectively set up high tempo plays like an
Emperor Thaurissan drop or an Echo play.
Against Control: Handlock and Control Warrior can tend to cause problems for this deck, rapidly outdrawing this deck and finishing you off with more efficient removal/late game plays. Handlock is almost an automatic loss, effectively overwhelming you with a plethora of high value minions that eventually coalesce into
Lord Jaraxxus and his army of 6/6
Infernal’s. Ray591 claims that one of the only ways to beat Handlock is through godly Sylvanas copies and a poor opponent behind the keyboard
[source]! Control Warrior is beatable; the sheer element of surprise is one of the strongest assets this deck has to offer. Protecting the Molten Giants is the most important thing to remember, try baiting out removal with other cards like Sylvanas and Alexstrasza.
Mulligan Phase:
Echo Mage is all about setting up big tempo plays to either fatigue the opponent or overwhelm them with an onslaught of giants, and in most cases, it can’t be done without efficient, early game play.
Against Aggro: Controlling the board to set up for infinite Sludge Belchers or infinite Molten Giants is this decks modus operandi and it can’t be done without efficient board clears. Mulligan hard for Doomsayer, Explosive Sheep,
Mad Scientist, and
Arcane Intellect. The Mad Scientist is great early game value and the Doomsayer and Sheep are great for big board clears; the Arcane Intellect is used to draw for Sludge Belcher’s and the Emperor.
Against Control: Look for either a Mad Scientist or a Doomsayer in your opening hand. The Explosive Sheep is useless in these matchups, actually hurting you against the Warriors
Armorsmith card. That Doomsayer is your lifeblood; dropping it onto an empty board is sometimes your best option, especially going into turn-5 or 6, stymieing the opponent and placing the tempo back in your favor.
Combinations: Frost Nova + Set up: Frost Nova is the ultimate set up card and the spark that ignites all big combinations this deck has to offer. Either to clear the board with a Doomsayer or set up a Flamestrike on the next turn, Frost Nova buys you an exorbitant amount of time for only 3-mana!
Duplicate/Echo + x-minion: X minion = you know what! I don’t need to sit here and explain what minions should be Duplicated/Echoed and what ones shouldn’t! There are only six minions that should realistically be copied and they are all over 5-mana. I’ll let you do the math to figure that one out.
Illuminator + Ice Block: The Illuminator is a card that has slowly been gaining steam in the meta, to a point where some players are actually substituting it over the Healbot. This card can keep you alive, especially against super aggressive decks because it forces the opponent to deal with the card early, preventing damage to the face while also healing you for at least four health points.
Additional Notes:
I’ve always been a fan of Echo Mage since its conception and I’m glad to see it be successful at the higher echelons of the Hearthstone ladder. It’s not a perfect deck by any means and if you’re experiencing a lot of Handlocks and midrange decks on ladder, I would suggest trying something else out, but if you’re seeing a lot of Patron and Aggro, this is the deck for you! Thanks to rayc591 for sharing, you can find him streaming on twitch at:
http://www.twitch.tv/rayc591, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, make sure to leave them below!