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The Wild Pyromancer – a 3/2 for 2 mana, rare – became popular after the Mage nerfing patch, which in turn made aggressive aggro decks to be played even more. Warlocks in particular, previously hard-countered by the freeze Mage build, are running rampant again, enjoying a more than decent win rate in the absence of their arch enemy.
As the heavy control decks have always had troubles against the fervor of the low-cost builds, the former looked to the Hearthstone card pool and found the perfect solution – the AoE damaging Wild Pyromancer.
The two main things that the Wild Pyromancer does is add a 1-damage AoE component to every spell and act as a poor man’s Thalnos for the sweepers. While the latter is no small bonus to neglect, it is the former that makes the Pyromancer great – it has great utility depending on which class plays him, it creates opportunities for early game sweepers (a few low-damage exceptions, all sweepers cost 4 mana or more) and helps control and mid-range decks stay alive until they can either establish board control themselves or play their game-winning bodies.
The drawback of the Pyromancer, namely that he will hit allied minions too, will also rarely backfire in control/mid-range decks since those archetypes will often have less minions than their opponents and suffering one damage will almost never be game-breaking, especially when paying this price means getting rid of Blood Imps, Faerie Dragons or even massive end-game minions (see the Paladin section below).
Note 1: The illustrated equations below are not supposed to be 100% accurate, merely to give you a general idea of the effect you'll get. For example, when we list Swipe to illustrate the effect of some combo, we treat Swipe as if it was targeted at a creature and not a player. We're fully aware that playing Swipe will always be better but not everyone is a Druid.
Note 2: When illustrating the synergies, we choose to disregard Pyromancer's drawback for the reasons mentioned in the last paragraph before the notes.
Note 3: Why do we constantly mention Swipe? Because it's likely the best sweeper in the game so every time you play it or something similar to its effect you should feel happy (or jealous of Druids).
Pyromancer in Druids
Ask any Druid player on the ladder which is the match-up he hates the most and the first answer will be Warlock (occasionally, Druids will also complain about Druid mirror and mid-range Paladin but that’s not the point right now).
Before Pyromancer, Druids were too reliant on getting Swipes before T4 so they can clear the board or at least wound the Warlock enough for a next turn Starfall. If that wasn’t big enough of a problem, Warlocks soon started developing more strategies on zerging down Druids before they could Innervate-out an Ancient of War and shut down their aggression: some added Young Priestess as an “extra copy” of Blood Imp to make Swipes even more ineffective, while others added Abusive Sergeants for extra early-game damage and for a way to gun down 4/6 Druids of the Claw.
When they didn’t get the early Swipe, Druids would almost always lose as they would either die before they could establish board control or would enter the mid-game with a massive health pool deficit. They needed a solution to not feel completely helpless in the match-up.
Pyromancer’s role in the Druid decks is to turn their early game spells into AoEs and clear one-health threats from the board. Pyromancer + Wrath/Claw are combos that are basically extra copies of Swipe. Pyromancer + Innervate/Coin is a 1-damage AoE that allows you to play threats of your own after that, most often a Harvest Golem for board presence, Novice Engineer to refill the hand or just Shapeshifting in order to finish that pesky Faerie Dragon. Additionally, he remains a 3/1 body that can trade well with most early game minions and establish board control for you even if his ability is never used more than once.
In short – if you’re playing a Druid and you’re having problems with Warlocks (likely you are), craft a pair of those. See some of the early sequence you can play below (of course, you can always double the Innervates and play something big but for the purpose of this article, let's pretend you don't).
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T2: Pyromancer + Innervate + Novice Engineer/Shapeshift
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T3: Pyromancer + Claw = Swipe (3 damage on clawed target)
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T3: Pyromancer + Innervate + Harvest Golem
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T4: Pyromancer + Wrath = Swipe (or "small" Swipe and draw a card)
Pyromancer in Paladins
You think adding more than two copies of Swipes is great? How about clearing the whole board regardless of minions’ stats or targetability for just 4 mana?
If most of the control decks are happy to have the Pyromancer for that extra AoE component, mid-range Paladins treasure this card like nothing else. The reason for that is Equality. Played in the right sequence (Pyromancer, then Equality), the pair of cards cleans every minion from the board (with few exceptions, see below) and allows the control paladin to gain control of the field.
There are a few instances when Pyromancer + Equality will not be as effective. It doesn't clear minions with divine shield on so if the opponent has them you will be in disadvantage after the sweep. It doesn't counter Blood Imp because the Equalized minions will still get +1 health from the Imp when the Pyromancer triggers. The same goes for Stormwind Champion who is another minion that applies its effect as long as it's on the field (as opposed to the trigger effects of, say, Young Priestess or Coldlight Seer).
The utility and cost of the synergy are its greatest assets as it make it fit in every match-up. Against aggro decks, it can be played as yearly as T4 to restart the board. Against mid-range decks, it can come in the later turns to clear a heavy board with Argus’d or otherwise buffed minions. It retains its power even against control decks which only play a couple of finishers, which can still be cleared with Pyromancer/Equality.
To be paired with Equality is Pyromancer’s main job in the deck (Paladin decks don’t run many low-cost spells besides Holy Light and that’s only played later in the game so they can’t trigger Pyromancer on T1-3), the card offers some utility still. On T6 it can be played alongside Consecration to deal 3 damage (Pyromancer = Thalnos in that case) to everything or be paired with Hammer of Wrath for a Swipe + card draw. On T8 it can be paired with Avenging Wrath for what will often be a definitive board sweep as Pyromancer’s effect will finish off the minions that are standing alive with just 1 health after the eight whams from Wrath.
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4 mana: Pyromancer + Equality = Twisting Nether
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6 mana: Pyromancer + Consecration = Thalnos + Consecration
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6 mana: Pyromancer + Hammer of Warth = Swipe + card draw
Pyromancer in Priests
Priests have even more troubles dealing with swarming pressure in the early game: their low-cost removal is single target and their sweeper is all the way on T5. Thus, it’s no surprise that every Priest deck that wants to survive in the high ranks runs a couple of Pyromancers.
What makes the Pyromancer great in Priest decks in particular is the class hero power and the cards that buff up health, allowing the Pyromancer to stay alive for much longer that it will in other classes.
The best synergy a Priest can trigger through a Pyromancer is playing it early and buffing it up with Power Word: Shield. This will deal 1 damage to all minions (good bye, Blood Imps), leave a 3/3 Pyromancer on the board and draw a card for you. If a second PW: Shield is in hand, the Priest can trigger it on T4 for 2 damage to all minions, 3/4 Pyromancer on the board and two cards for just 4 mana.
The other uses of the Pyromancer in a Priest deck are fairly straightforward. It turns the Smites into Swipes and can be paired with Shadow Word: Pain to hard-remove divine shielded or high-toughness threats and clear the rest.
One important note: the Pyromancer’s effect triggers only after all effects of the played spell are resolved. This means that if there’s a full health Pyromancer on the board (3/2) and a Holy Nova is cast, the Nova will first heal the Pyromancer (essentially doing nothing) after which the Pyromancer will trigger, dealing 1 damage to himself.
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T3: Pyromancer + Power Word: Shield = 1 damage + 3/3 body + card draw
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T3: Pyromancer + Smite = Swipe (3 damage on the smitten target)
+ 2x =
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T4: Pyromancer + 2x Power Word: Shield = 2 damage + 3/4 body + 2x card draw (apparently, there's no generic 3/4 minion I can use to illustrate the synergy. Shame.)
Pyromancer in Shamans
The Shaman controls are the most spell-heavy decks out there as far as early game is concerned. The average Shaman will run around 7 spells for 1 or 2 mana (i.e. 2x Earthshock, 2x Lightning Bolt, 2x Rockbiter Weapon and 1x Forked Lightning) so they have a lot of cards that can trigger Pyromancer early on. With all those spells being direct damage ones, the role that the Pyromancer plays is even bigger, often contributing that last piece of damage needed to clear the board.
Playing Pyromancer in Shamans is as fun as it is potent. Lightning Bolt and Rockbiter become Swipes. Forked Lightning does 3 damage to 2 targets, essentially becoming a Multishot for 3 mana. Lightning Storm feed off the Pyromancer as he was Thalnos. It’s just more damage, everywhere.
Pyromancer becomes even more dangerous with a Healing Totem on the field that can restore him to full at the end of each turn as well as negate all of the card’s drawbacks. The Shaman decks also often run a high number of taunting minions (Stoneclaw Totem, Feral Spirit, Earth Elemental) that can further aid in keeping the Pyromancer from harm.
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T3: Pyromancer + Lightning Bolt = Swipe
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T3: Pyromancer + Rockbiter Weapon = Swipe
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T3: Pyromancer + Forked Lightning = Multi-shot
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T5: Pyromancer + Lightning Storm = Thalnos + Lightning Storm
Pyromancer in Warriors
Warriors in ranked are rare and those who choose to run Pyromancers are even rare but it’s not unseen.
Similar to Shamans, control Warriors run a lot of low-cost spells (Blood Rage, Whirlwind, Slam, Cleave) that make triggering Pyromancer early on easy. Pyromancer’s effect will then add 1 damage to its Slams, thus making it possible to kill 3-health minions and still draw a card (Slam will check if the creature is dead immediately after it deals its 2 damage), something that can’t be done with Thalnos, for example. It turns the Cleaves into Multishots to more easily clean high toughness targets. It also helps with enraging your own Worgens while softening the opponent’s board.
While all that sounds good, the problem with playing Pyromancers in Warrior setups is the very tight decklists that the control/OTK Wars use, so finding a spot for one or two Pyromancers is often impossible. Some Warriors will use it as a substitute for Thalnos but will remove it as soon as they get one (card draw is more valuable than AoE in OTK Warriors). In rare cases you’ll see it paired with Commanding Shout to enrage a Worgen which can then clear the board for you without dying.
In short, it’s a bit more difficult to extract full value from the Pyromancer in Warrior decks as the class controls the board through different mechanics (weapons instead of spells) so its inclusion should always come after a heavy consideration. I’ve been beaten hard by Warriors running Pyromancer but the hard feels more “heavy” in Warrior decks as compared to other, more standard controls.
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T3: Pyromancer + Whirlwind = Starfall for 2 (this one has a big recoil so play it only if you have no board)
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4 mana: Pyromancer + Slam = 3 damage + draw a card
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4 mana: Pyromancer + Cleave = Multishot
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T4: Pyromancer + Heroic Strike = Swipe (or 5 damage on struck minion + 1 to all)
(on T3) + + 
T4: Raging Worgen (played on T3) + Pyromancer (on T4) + Commanding shout (on T4) & attack
