On this week’s episode of Happy Hearthstone, guest host David brings his challenger deck against Dan’s defending-champion deck, for a battle of deck-building supremacy.
You can watch and listen to us discuss the decks, then battle with them, and discuss how it went, but if you want to build the deck yourself, David’s put together this awesome guide for you, explaining every card he chose and giving advice for how you can build the deck with whatever cards you have.
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by David of HearthPower. Thanks, David!
The Secret Mage
To put it simply: this deck is a very fun to play. If you miss that “sneakiness” from Magic the Gathering, this might be the deck for you. There are secrets galore, and they protect you and your minions until you can unleash the Mage’s fury! This deck was inspired from one of the top decks from a tournament I watched a few weeks ago. It is almost the same as that deck, with a few modifications of my own. I always wanted to get The Secret Mage deck to work, and now that I’ve finally collected the proper cards, I was able to make this a reality.
Let’s get straight into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
This is a simple card that accomplishes two things: reducing the cost of your secrets, and being a solid early drop. It’s a nice 3/2 body so don’t be afraid to drop this early.
This guy is pretty standard in most Mage decks – he gives you nice card draw. Especially if you can play him on turn 5 and he draws you two cards (ping him with your Mage Power and the opponent attacks him on the following turn).
Another obvious pick if you’re running with lots of secrets. This minion will allow you to play a Counterspell or Spellbender immediately after to protect it (assuming the opponent’s board is clear).
Another essential minion for the deck. His role is to get some nice mid-game damage on your opponent. The ideal situation: you play a Kirin Tor Mage on Turn 3, followed by a free Spellbender or Counterspell. If your opponent does not trigger the Spellbender on their turn, you now have a nice 5/5 for 4 to cast on your turn that is now protected by the Spellbender/Counterspell.
This minion is nice because he gives you some control with his freeze ability, as well as being a 4 drop with great stats to back it up. He will get you to the late game if he isn’t immediately removed. He is also really nice against weapon decks (mainly Warrior decks).
2x Azure Drake
The Azure Drake is a neutral minion that finds it’s way into almost any deck that wants +Spell Damage. Usually a 2 for 1 in your favor, he makes your spells stronger and is a nice 4/4 body to boot. Not much else to say here!
1x Ragnaros
Ragnaros is your token “I end the game with this card” legendary. A Ragnaros on the board with a Spellbender lurking in the background to protect him is how you win games. It should be noted that Antonidas is a better replacement if you have it, but really, any strong end-game legendary will do.
2x Frostbolt
Basic removal at a nice cost. Also has the added benefit of control, as well as the ability to chuck it at your opponents face.
2x Counterspell
One of the essential secrets for the deck. You need this card to protect your minions as well as take advantage of its secrecy (triggering Ethereal Arcanist).
Another secret to fit the deck strategy. Hopefully you get a nice minion out of it as well if your opponent thinks its a Counterspell or something.
2x Spellbender
Same idea as Counterspell. More of the same thing here, and a really nice card to protect your minions.
2x Fireball
An auto-include in any Mage deck. Removal or to the face, whichever the situation calls for.
2x Polymorph
Removal is essential to have in almost any deck. Polymorph will help you answer any threat with ease.
2x Blizzard
Every deck needs AoE (Area of Effect) spells to help clear the board. Luckily the Mage has access to quite a few choices. Blizzard doesn’t do as much damage as, say, Flamestrike, but it will slow the opponent’s minions down for an entire turn. The fact that it is 5 mana makes it pretty strong for what you are getting out of it.
2x Flamestrike
Like I mentioned above with Blizzard, AoE is important. It can help you catch up if you fall behind, or can allow you to keep board control if your opponents drops a lot of minions on his turn. Flamestrike is one of the strongest AoEs in the game, and it will take care of many many minions.
1x Pyroblast
Last, but absolutely not least, PYROBLAST! The most infamous of Mage finishers, Pyroblast comes out of left field and is absolutely devastating to your opponent. A third of your opponent’s life total for 8 mana in one card is nothing to slouch at. If you have dust and you intend on playing the Mage as a class, this should be one of your first goals to craft. Only 1 is needed here because you don’t want to draw it too early, and you certainly don’t want both in your early starting cards. Honestly 1 Pyroblast is usually enough.
Possible Additions
Like I mentioned earlier, the deck list is pretty specific because the deck revolves around playing secrets and the cards that are affected by them. That being said, there are a few cards you can swap in until you get the stuff you need.
If you have him, he should take the place of Ragnaros. He is the main Legendary you want for this deck. One of the biggest weakness of Antonidas is the fact that he immediately gets removed. This becomes less of an issue when you back him up with a secret which you cannot do with Ragnaros (on the same turn).
2x Vaporize
Vaporize isn’t as strong as the other secrets, but if you have Vaporize it can take the place of the secrets you are missing.
2x Ice Barrier
Same as the above-mentioned Vaporize. This is considered the weakest of the Mage secrets, mostly because it does not give you board control or tempo.
Arcane Intellect is a nice filler if you’re missing cards. If you don’t have everything you need, this will let you draw what you DO have faster. Also combos nicely with Sorcerer’s Apprenctice.
2x Secretkeeper
I’m not a fan of this card in this particular deck for one reason: you don’t want to be playing her early because she gets targeted down immediately, and she isn’t terribly amazing late-game either. You need to drop her and at least 2 secrets on the same turn to get her out of the dangerous “3 health” range. Still, there is obvious synergy with this card, so if you are in need of fillers and you have her in your collection, toss her into your deck.
Thalnos is one of my favorite Legendaries. He is like Azure Drake, being useful in any Spell Damage deck. He isn’t quite as needed here, but can make a great addition if you happen to own him.
The “play this and draw a card” minions are great fillers. The Novice Engineers and Gnomish Inventors are great when you are only missing a few cards to make your deck complete.
See ‘Novice Engineer’ above.
Final Thoughts
The Secret Mage deck is not the most guaranteed-competitive deck out there, but it really is enjoyable to play. And it can totally hold its own if you have the right cards!
Be sure to listen to our last episode of the podcast, where we talk about the deck at length. If you try it out, tell us what you thought of it, and what cards you swapped in to have the most success.