Hearthstone Help: Learn to play Giants Mage with Hyped

Now that Naxx is done and dusted, we're going to be switching up our Hearthstone coverage. Inspired by Chanman V's gone but not forgotten Pro Corner series, each week we'll be inviting a different expert player on to demonstrate a deck that they've been successful with, while also fielding some piercing questions from me like: “So, uh, have you considered using a Magma Rager instead of Loatheb?”

First up, I'm delighted to say we have Hyped, the #1 ranked NA player for the Blizzcon qualifiers. Hyped is probably best known for being one of the world's deadliest Miracle Rogue players, and for his preternatural calmness while streamin, but for this I asked him to showcase the Giants Mage deck which he used at the second VGVN tournament recently.

Playing the deck requires nerves of steel, but also makes for some incredibly fun, tense games, as you rope-a-dope your opponent into thinking they've got you before busting out Alexstraza and the double Molten Giants for GG.

Find out how we got on with the deck on ladder in the video below. Underneath that you'll find the decklist plus some more background info on Hype. Let me know in the comments which players you'd like to see featured next, and any other tweaks you'd like to see to the format. (I'll try to grin less next time, but I was having a lot of fun.) Now, on with the show...

Hyped

Real name

George Maganzini

Twitter

@hypedHS

Stram

twitch.tv/hyp3d

Team

Tempo Storm

Location

Orange County, California, USA

What's your favourite class and why?

Rogue because it's really fun to remove their guys while you put your own guys on the table with cards like Backstab, SI-7 Agent, and Sap. Also the hero power is my favorite and the best at keeping tempo.

Which deck do you least like facing?

Any Hunter deck right now.

If you were any card, which one would you be and why?

Coldlight Oracle, cards for everyone!

What's your greatest Hearthstone moment so far? Getting 2 accounts to ranks 1 & 2 legend

What single piece of advice would you give players looking to improve their ladder rank?

Take your time on difficult turns--this is where improvement occurs. If you can't identify the correct line of play experiment and learn from the experience.

With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.