Szerro's Frost Burn - A Reliable, Aggressive Tempo Deck for Standard Ranked

Frostburn Deck Highlight
Deck made by Szerro

Elements: Ice, Cosmic, Death, Light, Air

Archetype: Tempo, Burn

Deck Strategy

Frostburn is a simple strategy with a consistent goal. Get onto the board early, and keep it under control for the first 7~ turns using efficient low cost units, and Blizzard effects. 

Early Game (turn 1-3)

The player's goal should be to get onto the board and keep the opponent off. Be mindful of what you let die in the first 2 turns, as turn 3 may present you with a strong opportunity to play vilemoth.

Mid Game (turn 4-7)

This is when many of your evolution chains come online. During this stage of the game, ideally you have a nice grip on the board, and are able to get solid chip damage when it's good.

If you can use this time to get your opponent down to 14 or less life, it sets Juju Winterspear up to win the game on its own. If you already have Juju in hand, it is okay to give up board control if you are chipping your opponent down into lethal range.

Late Game (turn 8+)

At this point your hand is likely running low on options. Hopefully by now your opponent is just dead to Juju Winterspear.

If they arent you will likely need to lean on Cyclonius to keep you in the game. This deck has very limited options late game, with only 6 cards in the deck that cost 5 or more.

You need to craft your gameplan around ending the game on turn 9, as the longer the game goes, the less likely it is you will find a way to win. 

Key cards

Wite: The decks only egg. Its existence alone puts a lot of pressure on the opponent, and can put them into tough positions where they need to decide if they want to answer your units, or the egg.

If possible, try to play it on a turn that makes it hard for them to answer. It is not always correct to just slam it. You can protect the egg and help it evolve by freezing enemy threats.

Kryos: A solid unit with middling stats. The best part about Kryos is it being a solid middle evolution.

It evolves out of Frosti, who is often able to stick around for a turn or two after being played; and it goes into Kryogon, which is excellent for either removing large threats, or pushing big damage directly to the enemy.

Timberfawn: A highly efficient 2 cost unit. It is resilient to board wipes, and can protect other high value units by keeping them behind provoke units.

Timberfawns evolution into Elkantler can be a solid option, but don't feel obligated to evolve your Timberfawn. It might just be better to let the Timberfawn die, and pay the full 4 mana for Elkantler.

Astro: All it takes is 1 blizzard and Astro can beat anything in a fight. Astro can be used to remove multiple things from play in a single turn and is straight up incredible.

For 2 mana its 8 health is huge, and Astro is simply naturally synergistic with the rest of the deck. Protect him when able, as he can soak up a lot of value. 

Bofa Tinkertime: Get to know your evolution lines in the deck before playing to maximize on your Bofa value. Bofa can enable some incredibly powerful 4 and 6 mana combos.

Your bread and butter is evolving a unit for 1 mana, and using Bofa to cheat out the final stage in a single turn. Also combos very well with Kryos, for 6 mana you will get a blizzard, Kryogon, and Bofa.

Juju Winterspear: Big papa win condition. Loves to come out of eggs.

Cards to consider

Fungorth: Solid tool for coming back into a game if you lost the board.

Mewn: If you feel you want access to more quantum shifts.

Firon, Vroom, Cralava, Flokurnace: You may feel like the deck is too frosty, and needs more burn. Combustion is your next best option.

Astraling, Voidra, Galac, Galactoro: For some more early game beef and evolutions to go into.

2nd copy of Kryogon: You have access to a few Kryogons already in the deck thanks to Bofa, but I wouldnt fault you for wanting another….

Piloting Tip

Playing Blizzard Units for Tempo

Sometimes having the unit in play is worthwhile. It will occasionally be correct to play out a blizzard unit even if you don't get use of the actual freeze. For example, if on turn 2, all you have to play is noms, you should play him just for the 4/4 body and potential to evolve.

Blizzard can be used to shut down an enemies evolution. Don't be afraid to use blizzard on an opponent's unit even if you can't kill it. Slowing down an enemy unit for a turn and shutting off its evolution can buy you the tempo you need to run away with the game. 

All of your Blizzard units can evolve. Frosti, Kryos, Noms, and Elkantler all have powerful evolutions. Simply using blizzard to stop an enemy attack for 1 turn can enable your board and evolution turns.

Setting up an alpha swing / buying time: During the late game, you can play multiple blizzards in a turn to prevent the opponent from taking defensive trades. You can use these blizzards to push damage to the enemy directly, and ignore their board. This is especially useful when your simply fishing for damage so that Juju can close the game out

Blizzard units can be used in many ways, and you should not expect to use each one to freeze and kill an enemy unit.