I've been working on this deck for a bit, and i'm finished with it for now (priests are so much more fun), so I thought i'd share it. It would be much better if Majiya had Eladwen's card pool, but there you go :p
In many ways, it's a relatively simple deck, hence the name. Basic mage stuff - draw lots of burn and win. You can't simply go for the throat though, you need to take board control, that's just the way of things for the meta as it is. You need to gain board control until you can do enough damage to the opposing hero to get him to a point where you can go for the throat. These are the two stages to using this deck. First off, gain board control, chipping away at your opponent's hero if you can afford to, and as you are doing so, keep a note of what you need to do to finish the opponent off. This is very important to do, and can give you wins that you might not have otherwise had if you had focused purely on board control. As soon as you know that your opponent probably can't kill your hero before you can burn/attack his to death, completely forget about board control and go for the throat.
In this (second) stage, your burn cards (Fireball/Lightning Strike/Supernova) are extremely valuable, so don't use them earlier on if you don't have to. It is generally best to save them for the later game to finish off your opponent in 1 or 2 turns once you know he can't respond. The more burn cards you have in hand, the earlier you can go to stage 2, and the more protected you are from new threats. Majiya's ability is similar in the latter regard. Treat them as emergency cards, and only use them before the end if you're going to otherwise lose board control to a point where either you can't regain it, or your hero will take so much damage in the process that your opponent can go for your throat and win before you can.
The other important aspect is your draw power. Because you're using so much burn, if you can keep up a card advantage you can answer your opponent's threats 1 for 1 and maintain board control. So, if you can get away with using Tome of Knowledge, playing Wulven Tracker or with using Majiya's ability, do it. The more cards you have in your hand, the more versatile you can be, and the faster you can finish off the game. This can lead to a balancing act in knowing what and when to sacrifice if you are short on cards, which is why draw is so important. If you can sacrifice each turn and still keep alot of cards, then you're in a great position.
Anyway, here is the deck:
1x Majiya
3x Brutalis
4x Infernal Gargoyle
4x Death Mage Thaddeus
4x Wulven Tracker
3x Plasma Behemoth
4x Tome of Knowledge
4x Fireball
4x Lightning Strike
4x Supernova
3x Lay Line Nexus
2x Dagger of Unmaking
The cards and their uses:
Draw power - Tome of Knowledge, Wulven Tracker - Both are great sources of draw power, it's as simple as that. And draw is very important in this deck. Tome of Knowledge on turn 2 if you don't have Brutalis, or turn 4 if you're looking good for board control and don't need to press with another ally. You can abuse your draw power advantage if you are playing against classes that can't keep up with you. Majiya is also draw power, but like the burn cards, only use her ability if you have to.
Buuuurn - Fireball, Lightning Strike, Supernova - They are staple and a key part of any mage deck, Fireball and Lightning Strike are obvious at 4 apiece. Supernova also needs to be at 4. You will find yourself sacrificing it quite a bit, but having it at 4 increases the chance that you aren't without it when you do need it. It takes skill to use, but if you can afford to take 5 damage, it can be incredibly helpful for board control. Don't be afraid to nova own allies if the situation demands it. It is also often a key card when you get to the 'going for the throat' phase of the game. All of these are great for board control if you are taking that route. Remember though, don't use them if you don't have to.
Early Board Control - Brutalis, Infernal Gargoyle, Thaddeus - Gargoyle is a beast, that's it. As is Thaddeus - combine his ping ability with a Lightning Strike or Majiya to take out all those annoying 4 health allies such as Jasmine. He can come in and take out Kristoffer or Puwen, and continues to be useful later into the game. As for Brutalis, he's the best 2cc ally that Shadow has at the moment for board control purposes (Pack Wolf excluded), so he is a must. Similar to Thaddeus, you can combine his 1 damage with Majiya or Lightning Strike's.
Later Board Control - Dagger of Unmaking, Plasma Behemoth - Combine Dagger of Unmaking with Supernova to regain board control. Supernova your opponent, and if they respond with a fatty you can Dagger of Unmaking it back. This forces them to spend their resources dealing with your Dagger, allowing you to put down allies next turn to begin taking over the board. Plasma Behemoth is a board control machine, all he needs is to survive for one turn and he can start going to work. 3+4 damage is just so good and versatile. Dagger of Unmaking, Supernova, Majiya and the rest of your burn can all help him to do this. Not to mention his damage output can help you with finishing off your opponent.
Item Destruction - Lay Line Nexus - Just a very useful card. It, along with Dagger of Unmaking, are slightly situational, in that you don't need them against all decks, but against decks that are weak to Lay Line Nexus, including a few can make all the difference. Destroy Soul Seeker, Ghostmaker, etc. and a host of different armours and that can really hurt certain decks. And it gives you a card back for your effort - it's the ability that just keeps giving! It is, however, a matter of weighing up how useful they can be against how often they are useful. It is for this reason that I found, in the current meta, that 3 is a good number of them to include.
Cards that could be included, but weren't:
Molten Destroyer - I was weighing up for some time whether to use him or Plasma Behemoth. He's pretty good in his own right, with his abilities combining well with Majiya's ability and Lightning Strike. I settled on Plasma Behemoth in the end though for the reasons listed above. Molten Destroyer isn't bad in this deck, but not great. There are two situations in which you could play him - when you opponent can destroy him, and when he can't. When he can destroy him, he's better than Plasma Behemoth since he can do a little damage when going down, but since your opponent often gets to choose where his ability damage goes this isn't huge. In addition, if you're having to play him in that situation you're most likely going to lose anyway. There are certain situations when it could be worth it, when you can force your opponent's hand and regain board control because of this, but they are limited. However, in the situation where you opponent can't destroy him, Plasma Behemoth's damage output makes him better, and can increase your chances of winning more than Molten Destroyer would.
Shriek of Vengeance and Evil Ascendant - These would both be good cards for this deck, they really would. Shriek would give you added versatility against certain opponents and Evil Ascendant would combo very well in a similar manner to Thaddeus, but adding one or both of these would not only decrease the consistency of the deck, but there is a question of what cards would you take out that they would be better than? Lay Line Nexus and Dagger of Unmaking have more use than these cards, the burn and draw power are essential, and taking out allies would set you back quite a bit. They're both good cards, but for the sake of consistency I have not included them. This isn't to say that they shouldn't be in some Majiya decks though, and there might very well be a way to work them in.
Anyway, I hope this has been an interesting read. I know a lot of this will be quite basic to alot of you, but I thought i'd share my deck and perhaps give ideas to some people regarding Majiya.
