Chiropteran
Diamond Member
- Nov 14, 2003
- 9,811
- 110
- 106
The mage deck has a very low mana curve, if it's not over by turn 9 or so I've usually lost.
2 arcane missiles
2 ice lance
2 mirror image
1 abusive sergeant
1 argent squire
2 leper gnome
2 mana wyrm
2 frost bolt
2 knife juggler
2 sorcerer's apprentice
1 vaporize
2 acolyte of pain
1 shattered sun cleric
2 fireball
2 defender of argus
2 water elemental
2 azure drake
Main strategy is to play an early knife juggler and spam minions over it. I try to mulligan for a solid 1 drop (leper gnome or argent are best), but will almost always keep a knife juggler + mirror image combo. People tend to kill knife juggler instantly when they can, so I won't usually cast him alone, I'll wait until turn 3 (or turn 2 + coin) so I can play him and play a mirror image also in the same turn, getting immediate value. sorcerer's apprentice fits with this, because she pushes mirror image's mana cost down to 0.
Given the option between playing a card or killing an x/1 enemy minion, I almost always kill the enemy minion, unless of course playing the card has a high chance of killing the minion for free due to a knife juggler.
A dream hand of sorcerer's apprentice knife juggler mirror image mirror image when going second is pretty amazing.
I try to save direct damage spells for nuking the face. Basically it's a two part strategy. Part 1, is rush with minions and knife juggler abuse to get my opponent somewhat low, and then Part 2 is to play a fireball to the face followed by frost bolt+ice lance.
NEVER cast ice lance just to freeze a target, unless it's the only way to survive one more turn. Use it with a frost bolt to deal a lot of burst damage (even more if you have an azure drake out), or use a water elemental to provide the freeze.
Sometimes you need to save a mirror image to get good value from a defender of argus. when your opponent is killing everything you play as soon as you play it, it's hard to have to minions to buff. Mirror image solves this problem, since you can cast it and defender in the same turn for a mere 5 mana, and get some solid board presence with 2 1/3 taunts plus a 2/3. I don't usually cast mirror image unless there is some synergy with defender, knife juggler, or the shattered sun cleric.
Main weakness is life gain cards, or a very early heavy taunt wall (which is what makes warlocks and druids tough- warlocks play the 0/4 taunt guys and druids play turn 2 shieldmasta via innervate).
Vaporize mainly exists for rogues. It's a fairly strong way to protect against leeroy jenkins, and rogues can't remove secrets.
I don't stick with the exact same card list, the deck previously included polymorph (tempted to put 1 or both back in, but the deck is loaded with 4 drops), cone of cold, even antonidas (but he was too slow). If do try a similar deck, let me know how it works.
edit: Bloodmage thalnos would be an obvious addition, I just haven't pulled or crafted one yet.
2 arcane missiles
2 ice lance
2 mirror image
1 abusive sergeant
1 argent squire
2 leper gnome
2 mana wyrm
2 frost bolt
2 knife juggler
2 sorcerer's apprentice
1 vaporize
2 acolyte of pain
1 shattered sun cleric
2 fireball
2 defender of argus
2 water elemental
2 azure drake
Main strategy is to play an early knife juggler and spam minions over it. I try to mulligan for a solid 1 drop (leper gnome or argent are best), but will almost always keep a knife juggler + mirror image combo. People tend to kill knife juggler instantly when they can, so I won't usually cast him alone, I'll wait until turn 3 (or turn 2 + coin) so I can play him and play a mirror image also in the same turn, getting immediate value. sorcerer's apprentice fits with this, because she pushes mirror image's mana cost down to 0.
Given the option between playing a card or killing an x/1 enemy minion, I almost always kill the enemy minion, unless of course playing the card has a high chance of killing the minion for free due to a knife juggler.
A dream hand of sorcerer's apprentice knife juggler mirror image mirror image when going second is pretty amazing.
I try to save direct damage spells for nuking the face. Basically it's a two part strategy. Part 1, is rush with minions and knife juggler abuse to get my opponent somewhat low, and then Part 2 is to play a fireball to the face followed by frost bolt+ice lance.
NEVER cast ice lance just to freeze a target, unless it's the only way to survive one more turn. Use it with a frost bolt to deal a lot of burst damage (even more if you have an azure drake out), or use a water elemental to provide the freeze.
Sometimes you need to save a mirror image to get good value from a defender of argus. when your opponent is killing everything you play as soon as you play it, it's hard to have to minions to buff. Mirror image solves this problem, since you can cast it and defender in the same turn for a mere 5 mana, and get some solid board presence with 2 1/3 taunts plus a 2/3. I don't usually cast mirror image unless there is some synergy with defender, knife juggler, or the shattered sun cleric.
Main weakness is life gain cards, or a very early heavy taunt wall (which is what makes warlocks and druids tough- warlocks play the 0/4 taunt guys and druids play turn 2 shieldmasta via innervate).
Vaporize mainly exists for rogues. It's a fairly strong way to protect against leeroy jenkins, and rogues can't remove secrets.
I don't stick with the exact same card list, the deck previously included polymorph (tempted to put 1 or both back in, but the deck is loaded with 4 drops), cone of cold, even antonidas (but he was too slow). If do try a similar deck, let me know how it works.
edit: Bloodmage thalnos would be an obvious addition, I just haven't pulled or crafted one yet.
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