Recently a lot of people have been asking me about decks that are viable in the Old Gods expansion. In particular, many people have been asking about Mage decks in the Standard format. Mages got hit quite hard with the expansion release, with them losing Mad Scientist and several other key cards for each of their archetypes. However, they are far from dead, and in fact have three different archetypes alive. Let’s take a look at each, and the benefits of each one.
Yogg-Saron Tempo Mage
Pros
– Fairly easy to play
– Very quick, often wins before turn ten
– Lots of fun with random spells from Nexus Champion and Spellslinger, as well as Yogg-Saron
– Flamewaker is very strong against a lot of the Zoo decks on the ladder
Cons
– Can often run out of steam if you don’t curve out properly
– Very difficult to win against decks with lots of healing or armour
– Random spells can often be entirely useless
This is a very typical Tempo Mage deck, but with Yogg-Saron thrown in as a potential finisher when all else fails. This deck did receive a bit of a hit by losing Mad Scientist and Flame Cannon, but they can easily replace them with Forgotten Torch and Faceless Summoner, as well as Nexus Champion Saraad for extra spell value. As with any Tempo Mage, this deck seeks to control the board and push fast face damage. The finishers are direct damage through Frostbolt, Forgotten Torch, and Fireball, as well as large Flamewaker plays or later game Antonidas value. As mentioned, Yogg-Saron is used when all else fails as a last ditch attempt to win matches you would otherwise be guaranteed to lose.
Value Mage
Pros
– Beats most control decks through pure value
– Tons of fun with lots of valuable random spells from Cabalist’s Tomb
– Can remove pretty much anything from the board
Cons
– Lackluster healing
– Extremely slow
– Loses to most aggressive decks for the above reasons
Value Mage is the deck that took the biggest hit with the expansion. They gained Cabalist’s Tomb, which is an amazing tool for refilling their hand, but they lost Antique Healbot, Sludge Belcher, and Duplicate. Without the walls and healing to stop aggressive decks, this deck is in a fairly dire situation. Perhaps as the list becomes more refined it will be able to once again claim a place as a viable deck, but unfortunately at the moment it just gets steamrolled by most decks on ladder. This is also the list most subject to change, as everyone plays Value Mage differently.
Freeze Mage
Pros
– Strong against most aggressive decks and many slower decks
– Very good at locking down Shaman, which is currently dominating the ladder
– No longer has to worry about Healbot or Loatheb countering it.
– Silence nerf allows the Frost Nova + Doomsayer combo to dominate many decks
Cons
– Automatically loses some matchups
– Relies heavily on Frost Nova + Doomsayer in many aggressive matchups
– Extremely difficult to pilot
Freeze Mage will never fully go away. In fact, right now it’s quite strong. Shaman is easily the most played deck on the ladder at the moment, and Freeze Mage does very well at locking it down. Freeze Mage makes use of their Doomsayers and Blizzards to lock down the board while preparing their own combo. With Healbot leaving the Standard format, Alexstrazsa has gotten a lot stronger, as many cannot react to his fifteen damage burst. Same goes for Loatheb, players cannot simply play him to counter Freeze Mage either. As usual, however, this deck flat out loses to Warrior in most cases, even moreso now that the Ancient Shieldbearer gives a massive amount of armour in addition to their typical Justicar and Shield Block generation. Priest and Paladin have also found ways out through Twilight Darkmender and Forbidden Healing respectively. These are much more conditional, however, and by no means impossible matchups.
Final Thoughts
At the moment, from these three lists, Freeze Mage is the most viable Mage deck. It completely counters a lot of the decks being run, enough that even with their automatic loss against Control Warriors, the deck holds a strong win rate. Tempo Mage is also fairly decent, certainly a viable deck for climbing, if not as powerful as its counterpart. Value Mage has taken the biggest blow, and at the moment is by far the least viable. Of course all of these are subject to change, especially as the decklists adapt over time, but at the moment I believe Freeze Mage to simply be the best Mage deck in the Standard format!