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Finally it's mage time after a delay of 2-3 weeks!

I've been putting in a lot of hours with mage post-patch as my beloved rogue had to move town. Mage feels quite comfortable shifting from rogue. Giving up additional hero power damage for free reign on where we want to place that 1 damage. Not confined by taunt, not confined by divine shield, not confined by freeze. I've heard some people complain that mage is weak because of the hero power, but I have to disagree. Mage shines because of its hero power.


Uses & flexibility of mage hero power:

- Remove divine shield
- Hero power still useable if Hero is frozen
- Hop over taunt to damage other minions/hero
- Control damage on the board for AOE clears
- Control any minion's enrage on command
- 1 shot most 1-drops thus gaining a lot of early game board control


Constructed playstyle:

There's many different constructed mage playstyles. They usually fall under one of the categories below:

- Freeze heavy control/aggro
- Secret heavy control/aggro
- Spell damage control/aggro
- General aggro

Personally I've only spent time with spell damage control/aggro as it seems to fit my playstyle best. I've played against most of the other mage styles, and have to say that they all feel viable and dangerous in their own ways. Freeze mages were quite common pre-patch, but since then I haven't run into half as much. Now at Master 3 it seems to be mostly spell damage or secret heavy mages.

Here's some footage of my mage control gameplay, my rush from zero to Master 1 when the patch first hit:




Arena playstyle:

With Mage arena I generally go with the usual 2/3 drop heavy with all the Mage goodie removals. With the abundance of AOE cards, drafting is a lot more comfortable for me compared to the other heroes as I'm quite reliant on AOE.






Mage cards:

- Arcane Missiles - I know a lot of pros disagree with this card, but with my spell damage decks this feels super cost efficient. The RNG is never really an issue, and the ability to take out divine sheilds & hit stealth units makes it quite powerful.

- Ice Lance - I don't think I ever used this card, and I can probably count with 1 hand how many times I've seen it cast. A very niche card which probably only has a place in constructed freeze heavy decks.

- Mirror Image - Post-patch they evolved from 0/1 to 0/2. I find any cards with 0 attack pretty useless. I'd much rather have pretty much anything else. I guess it has synergy with murloc mage decks?

- Mana Wyrm - The mana curve filler. I have at least 1 of these in my mage decks. Naturally as a mage we are spell heavy, and many of our spells are cheap. IMO this is a great card to go along with our spell board control. Letting it get out of hand could mean an early win too!

- Arcane Explosion - The bane of murloc decks. One of the many AOE mage cards. Cheap cost, decent damage, deadly with spell damage.

- Frost Nova - Not a fan, only useful with freeze decks it seems.

- Frostbolt - my new favorite mage card post-patch. So cost efficient now, and the freeze effect makes it useful from early game all the way to end game. Constructed I take 2, arena I take as many as I can get!

- Arcane Intellect - I know a lot of people disagree with this card, but I do have 2 of these in my constructed deck, and I practically have zero draw mechanic there. Won't argue that this is good, but for me personally it's better than nothing. I am considering replacing them with some engineers though.

- Fireball - Love it almost as much as Frostbolt. Good damage, average cost, deadly mid-late game. Many times a game finisher too.

- Polymorph - As some have mentioned before, a mage winning or losing a match could be down to polymorphing the correct targets.

- Water Elemental - This is one of my favorite minions all game. It's extremely cost efficient, and the freeze effect has a chance of permanently stunning heroes with weapons.

- Sorcerer's Apprentice - Post-patch, I truly love her now. Playing her early opens so much access to our spells. Arcane missiles because free to cast. Frost-bolts now cost 1. Love pairing her up with Mana Wyrm in the first 2 turns of the game.

- Cone of Cold - I usually run at least 1 of these in my spell damage decks. The freeze is a big plus, as it means we could delay minions and even possibly trade them off with 2x hero powers.

- Counterspell - The bane of my existence when it comes to mirror matches, but at the end of the day I don't know if this is worth picking over the wide array of mage goodies there are.

- Ice Barrier - See a lot of these in arena vs mages. Not a big fan. Never seen it win a game, ultimately it just delays death. Not a fan.

- Ice Block - Seen this used exactly ONE time throughout all my games in Hearthstone. Same feelings with Ice Barrier, just delaying the inevitable.

- Mirror Entity - The mage coin flip. I do draft this in my arena runs sometimes but its utility isn't always favorable. I think a good general rule of them is to cast this after turn 4/5. Any earlier isn't worth losing a turn over.

- Spellbender - the spell version of "GET DOWN!". I feel it's super weak. Just. . . no.

- Vaporize - Coin flip #2. Except this coin flip has a lot more specific parameters to it to make it worth it. Usually give this a pass too.

- Kirin Tor Mage - Sometimes I draft this guy in arena because of its minion stats. 3 mana for a 4/3 is quite decent. Having a secret or not in hand is just a minor bonus.

- Ethereal Arcanist - The trump card of secret decks. I was the victim to this once, he grows uncontrollably fast if you don't get rid of him right away. Outside of secret decks, not really worth it imo.

- Blizzard - One of the many AOEs we have in our arsenal. I would argue it's one of the less cost-efficient ones, but I guess the freeze makes up for it.

- Archmage Antonidas - Get this guy going, and it's guaranteed 13 damage anywhere every turn. I love its flexibility, it's low mana cost compared to other legendary cards of equal power, it's control compared to Ragnaros. A mage control deck win condition.

- Pyroblast - Another mage win condition. IMHO any deck shouldn't run more than 2 of these though, more than 2 you simply don't have enough mana/turns to dish them all out. This card is almost like the game starts with 30hp vs 20hp.

- Flamestrike - The 7 mana that everyone looks out for. Assume that every mage has this in their hands at 7 mana. Every. Single. Mage.


Noteworthy Neutral Card Synergy:

- Gurubashi Berserker - Mage is the only hero that can be in full control of Gurubashi's growth. +3 attack EVERY poke is disgusting. Disgustingly strong.

- Mana Addict - Like the Mana Wyrm, the Addict works well with the abundance of mage spells. I still can't really decide which is better. Wyrm or Addict? What do you think?

- Azure Drake - The additional spell damage adds to pretty much all mage spells. The draw card is delicious.

- Gadgetzan Auctioneer - Abundance spells. Abundance draws.


Quick Tips:

1) Trade minons with mage hero power whenever possible. Each trade is a card advantage you gain.

2) Don't cast AOE as soon as they're available. Read the situation, lure out more minions if possible. One successful board clear could mean a instant win.

3) Bum rush with spells. Mage can put on a lot of hurt in 1 turn as there's nothing much (taunt) that can stop the damage from going through. Watch the enemy hero's life carefully, and burst out those fireball/pyroblast/frostbolt for a quick win.

4) Mage hero is a 0/30 taunt. Save your spells, use the meat shield well. Remember the difference between winning and losing is just 1-life vs 0-life. Don't be afraid to take damage. Think rogue.


Next week:

I'm thinking of going over a warlock murloc deck, or a general paladin overview for the next segment. Any votes?

I've still been steadily uploading raw hearthstone footage of my gameplay on youtube if you'd like to check out most of the things I've been talking about. You can check it out at:

http://www.youtube.com/ReereSC


Till next week~


the iron chef mana,
Reere.

EDIT#1: Added a arena run.