Hello everyone, I’m Susu. Time flies, and it has been a long time since I last wrote a guide. Recently, I have been overwhelmed by the number of players on the ladder and in power matches who have told me that they have read my articles. Thanks to these friends, I’ve rekindled my passion for writing guides. Today, I’m taking the time to share some of my experiences scoring in Mirage Mode.
Introduction to this issue of Phantom Mode
For the exact scope of the current card pool, you can check out the original patch by clicking the link below:
Hearthstone Patch 31.2 Official Preview (I) Construct Updates New Gift Cards Phantasmagoria & More
Here, I’d like to make special mention of Time’s Den, a mini-release that went live in 2023, was Wild Mode-only, and was not given away on the return of the national service. In other words, most players did not own this version of the deck, and could only obtain it by purchasing packs of cards, rather than being able to buy full cards directly with gold, as they could with the mini-versions. This is one of Blizzard’s goals in turning on Phantom Change Mode – to entice players to spend money (but given Blizzard’s server and bug issues, I’m not willing to let them get away with it, so I’d rather break down the extra gold cards in Wild Mode than recharge).
Many people participate in this edition of Mirage Mode out of nostalgia for past decks. Some people love Cosmic Spells, some prefer Ice Spells, as well as Dirt Warfare, Slave Warfare, Milk Ride, Dead Fish Ride, etc……. This time around, you’ll be able to experience all of them. I started the game with that same expectation, but quickly realized that something was off – because certain decks had been strengthened.
Why choose Mana Thief?
The reason for this is that a certain single card has been enhanced to go from useless to godly, and that is – Juggling Kid!
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(Warm Tip: Currently there is a bug in Phantom Mode where the game may get stuck if cards from the copied deck are missing. Solutions include creating the deck manually, changing the first four digits of the code to AAEB and then importing it into Wild Mode and turning it back)
I personally reached as high as 8th place with this deck (for now)
Mana Power Thief Overview
The winning point of this deck is pretty obvious – it relies on the 2 points of mana strength provided by Juggling Gremlins to beat your opponent through direct damage. For example, at 8 cost, you can use Juggling Kid + Shadow Attack + Aegis Dart/Stabbing Bone*2 for 15-17 points of damage, and that’s not even taking into account forged Lucky Coins or Waiting for the Bone. Suffice it to say, there’s plenty of late-game damage to go around.
So which deck can scuffle blood in the early game and rely on mana damage to end the game in the mid-late game?
I get it, it’s Mana Deity!
Indeed, after the nerf to Standard Phalanx Virtue, everyone can find a replacement here. The experience of using both decks is very similar, and often times 307 is like a landmark.
I know again, it’s Ice Method!
Indeed, no offense to Icefarm players, but this Thief set is currently the superior replacement for Icefarm in this environment. (I tried and failed to save Ice Method with Juggling Gremlins)
But in reality, the experience of using it really resembles that of Mana Deity before the standard nerf. I see it as a deck that scuffs blood + control in the early game, passes cards + control in the mid game, and decimates in the late game. It’s not all about handing out damage to control the field, nor is it all about hitting the face, it needs to analyze the situation to find the optimal solution to win the game in the fastest and least expensive way possible. If I can beat my opponent at 8, but don’t win until 9, that’s not really winning.
Single Card Analysis
I know what the concern is, and that is I know what the concern is centered on, and that is that I don’t have the King of Beetles, so what should I replace it with?
Actually, I don’t recommend replacing …… First of all, it’s useful for returning to the field. Because we are not a late game otk deck, late game damage is not enough to kill in one hit. So early on we need to rub blood. The Beetle King’s Beetle can force the opponent to surrender the aoe in the early stage, if the opponent surrendered, then we are equivalent to dragging a turn, no loss. If the opponent doesn’t, then the professional who gets kicked by a field full of beetles for a round is basically a dead man in our eyes (because he will lose an extra 5-7 points of blood as a result). Anyway, Beetle can be played first to stand and scavenge for blood at cost 2-4, or it can be returned to the field at cost 5-6 after Sprint to force the opponent to resolve it. So I don’t see it as a replaceable deck. But if you really don’t have it and don’t want to synthesize it, then bring back the second Jade Lotus Gangster Confidant.
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In fact, there are only four cards in the entire set that can be replaced, which is understandable. Crappy Pirate provides skyhook plus blood dabbing, Sprint is now a full complement of every Thief’s hand after the enhancement, and the rest are damage cards, the cornerstones of our entire deck, none of which can be moved.
The earliest time I saw someone else share the idea, he brought two blue young dragon, two jade lotus gang secret agent. But after my own real-world testing, I found that 5 cost is very often the turn of Sprint. Blue Dragon can’t go down, it’s stuck in the hand. Poor Blue Dragon strengthens to 545, but is instead discarded by mana decks because other cards strengthen it even more. (If it was a 4-drop, I’d consider taking it)
So what to switch to? I started out thinking that since it’s all about passing cards, I’d take Bitter Squire, which has also been beefed up to 4 blood. A lot of times it can pass 2 cards.
However, testing has revealed that the only good bitterness is the Bitter Squire that comes on time at 3 cost, and the bitterness that comes later is not as good as the Explosive Fish.
So for a while I brought a combo of 1 Affliction + 1 Exploding Fish until …… ran into Cosmic Art/Cosmic Shepherd.
There was a Cosmic Shepherd at the top of the ladder that I didn’t beat several times. Then some cosmic spells at the bottom of the rankings I sometimes flopped. Which brings me to the card Crisis in the Air.
Previously, La La La famously said, “The card Crisis is no longer suitable for this version!” Because he is playing the arena, the arena did not have a card, you shuffle in the spider, out of all rely on the fringe, equal to the three cost of the empty over, of course, is not suitable. But some people say, ladder also no one with ah. Indeed, at that time, no one to bring, because the ladder everyone overcard is not much. But times have changed, and Sprint is now 5-cost.
(A few random screenshots to see the ratio)
The strengthening of sprinting has led to the current phantom transformation inside all the thieves, plus we need to carry explosive fish in order to pass, so that the probability of shuffling in and out of spiders is greatly increased, and can even offset the negative effects of explosive fish, and also against a hand of cosmic decks. Then Crisis is a card that is simply too good for this version!
The first time Jade Lotus helped me think of Ambush of Crisis, so my build became 2 Secret Agent + 1 Explosive Fish + 1 Ambush of Crisis.
But having only one Explosive Fish often resulted in looking at the Sprint + Explosive Fish inside the library in a daze. So in the end, I chose a combination of 1 Detective + 2 Explosive Fish + 1 Crisis.
But actually, Jade Lotus Gang Confidant is a very useful card.
For example, he found Mythic Hands when I had a full field of beetles.
(Of course, I lost this game because after the cost jump, the sprint popper didn’t show up.)
Jade Lotus Gangster has also found Roar when full of beetles, Shaman’s Windfury when I was standing at 10-10 Dafan, Shaman’s Damage, and a third Sprint ……
I’d still be full if I had the chance, but it being as strong as it is doesn’t change the fact that I’ll need to pass more in the mid-late game (7 and beyond), so I’ll just have to suck it up and only bring one.
Explanation of the game in detail
Know your enemy and know yourself. Regarding what’s inside the environment, it’s recommended that you look at the deck recommendation strategy:
[Phantom Mode Deck Recommendations] Old Time Remnant Party
The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new one, and you’ll be able to do that:
The environment in the thief blossomed, there are lapis lazuli sea thief, lapis lazuli Cthulhu Thief, Cthulhu Cthulhu Thief, explosive card thief.
There are a few key points to this matchup: 1. Prioritize building rice in your backhand. If you come after the rice, then you can stay, the first hand in the wait + sprint or Jade Lotus Gang secret agent does not stay.
- Play King Beetle first. First under the beetle will be prioritized to force against ** knife fan. If it’s the Jade Thief Cthulhu Thief Civil War or something they won’t keep the knife fan, so don’t need to prevent it. The knife fan ate no loss, no knife fan can let the beetles kick a round that we basically very difficult to lose.
3, the knife fan do not easily throw. This game exists a hand of 307 small children + knife fan back to the field. Thief 5 fees before the green jade is almost impossible to greater than 44, return to the field after the probability of empty field station a small child, the opponent can not solve away. The next round of damage to the face of the opposite side of the single-digit blood. The back of the casual point of what are winning.
4, do not prevent what train king double cold blood. Other forms of thieves are still weak, leading to either a sprint or empty hand. A lot of times, the defense of 6 blood kill is already very facetious. Our kill line is much higher than all the other thieves, we are the active party.
For example, in this game, both sides build 88 rice against each other, and I definitely don’t switch, I just hit my face and my opponent has to come and switch me.
Against Warlocks:
There are two main forms of Warlock, Discard and Cosmic. First of all, discard, discard is not very good, because discard has a lot of small hair, and discard with dark trade and soul siphon can solve our little ghost. Of course, I haven’t run into any since I changed builds, so I’ll add more when I do.
Cosmic: Crisis is the core, but you don’t have to go all out to find it, just keep it as you can. There’s not much in the early stages of the warlock’s game, so if he dabbles in blood and sips on himself, he’ll be almost 20 blood. So we’re just going to go all out and pass the cards. Exploding Fish is a positive effect in this matchup.
Against Priest:
Priests also come in two forms: Heartfire Shepherd and Cosmic Shepherd. In this case, it depends on who is the bigger hulk, and often the Priest will play a Northshire Cleric or a Red Cleric for 1 cost, so we should try to untap them if we can, or else the Priest will stick a Velen’s Enchantment on them, and we won’t be able to deal with it. In addition, be careful of the Madness Potion to abduct the little ghost (but often can not be prevented). It can be said to be a disadvantageous matchup (it’s too late for a thief to be disadvantageous against a priest).
Cosmic Shepherd: It’s the same as Cosmic Arts, but Cosmic Shepherd is a casual milking game in the early stages, which is not the same as a sip. As we can’t rub down the blood in the early stage, we probably won’t be able to hit 30 at once in the middle stage, which will lead to the priest milking back. So it’s a bad matchup. (We’ll even get a dab from the Priest and then rely on Shadow Heir to kill us)
Against Paladin:
Paladin, whether it’s Dead Fish Rider or Milk Rider, the way to deal with it in the early stages is pretty much the same, but Paladin’s Milk is a bit more bulky, unlike Priests who have Milk in their skill set. So Paladin only needs to deal with the self-propelled cannon, and the rest of the blood dabbing is randomly dabbed. Be careful not to invest too much in the big Fan, a 66 or 88 meal is enough, Paladin randomly solve the big Fan. But we have to make the paladin can not breathe, beetles then big Van, so that the paladin tired to solve the field.
There is another kind of Buddha Ride, we have a lot of solving cards, not very afraid of Buddha Ride. However, we should pay attention to the knife and fan do not just throw, to prevent the Paladin to punish the black + War Horse Trainer.
Against Druid:
There were quite a lot of Druids a while ago. It was mainly dominated by Ked or Blue Dragon Deity. But now it has been hit by other forms of thieves.
Versus Warrior:
Warriors look at the skin, usually look at the richer are sentimental players, usually dirt-cheap defense war. This matchup we have almost no win points after the defense war played Tohat. So this is a bad matchup. Strive for the early rub blood, and then the middle of the kill it.
The most important thing is that the pirate war. This game depends on whether the pirate war is smooth or not. If we can solve the field, keep the blood is not very afraid. Personally, I think it’s a 50-50 match.
However, the two forms of warriors to keep cards is very different, my opinion is that the back of the stabbing knife fan must be kept, the beetle and the big Fan also must be kept ……
Against hunters: low-cost pirate wars, I think it’s pretty good.
Against mages: default ice spell, damage all go face, we are faster than mages. After all, we are the top replacement for Ice Mage.
Shaman: no one knows where the shaman went ……
Epilogue.
This is my first time to write a phantom change strategy, also for a long time, if there are any places that have not been taken into account also hope that everyone in the comment section to help me add.
We are the remnants of the old times, the new times – maybe there is a ship that carries us?