With the addition of Kael’thas Sunstrider to Hearthstone, I had to look for a deck that can use it. The first thing I played was Elemental Highlander Mage.
Never heard of it? Well, I guess it does not really exist as an archetype in Hearthstone usually. It also could not make good use of Kael’thas. But other than that, the deck was simply hilarious and I even went to have a 6-4 record with it in Legend, which was wholly unexpected.
Elemental Highlander Mage decklist
Deck code: AAECAf0EHrsCiwOrBOYElgW/CPvsAs7yAu72AqaHA8iHA8mHA8qHA6aYA5+bA6CbA+KbA/+dA/yjA5KkA4SnA/isA/usA/2sA+yvA/OvA5GxA4e2A4i2A666AwAA
I built this decklist as a result of a number of considerations.
I wanted to have cards that benefit from spells because I wanted to use Kael’thas. That would also mandate both expensive and cheap spells to enable Kael’thas’s effect. That is how I arrived at Elemental Allies as a way to draw spells and Chenvaala as an alternative card that benefits from having a lot of spells.
From there, the focus on Elementals and some random spells became clear. Mana Cyclone can give me some random spells, and by adding more Elementals I can also benefit from cheap tempo spells such as Scorch.
But why Highlander? I was worried that a pure spell-based Elemental deck would be too weak, so adding the three Highlander synergy cards that Mage has access to gives me some tricks: Zephrys the Great, Reno the Relicologist, and Dragonqueen Alexstrasza are just immensely powerful cards.
The deck may look a little weird, but it can actually contest real decks through tempo and finish off games with burn. This is not an optimized list, just something I put together for fun, but it worked better than I expected.
Elemental Highlander Mage mulligan
You’re mostly looking for Elemental Allies, Violet Spellwing, and Zephrys the Great. Arcane Amplifier can be a good keep sometimes as well.
It is important to start doing things early in the game, you do not have the control power of a traditional Highlander Mage.
Elemental Highlander Mage gameplay video
Here’s what playing the deck looks like. I had a great time with it!