Archmage Arugal

Archmage Arugal Card

Archmage Arugal is a 2 Mana Cost Legendary Mage Minion card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

Whenever you draw a minion, add a copy of it to your hand.

Flavor Text

His worgen children call him Archmage AROO-OO-OO-OO-gal.
  • Mana Cost: 2
  • Attack: 2
  • Health: 2
  • Crafting Cost: 1600 / 3200 (Golden)
  • Arcane Dust Gained: 400 / 1600 (Golden)
  • Rarity: Legendary
  • Class: Mage
  • Card Type: Minion
  • Set: The Witchwood

Archmage Arugal Card Review

Well, now the Book of Specters makes a lot more sense… If you play this + Book of Specters, which isn’t a difficult combo to pull off, as it only costs four mana, you get a 2/2 and SIX cards in your hand if you hit three minions. That’s a massive, and I mean massive refill.

Elemental Mage based around minions can really be a thing right now. You can easily build that deck without lots of spells, and it’s heavily synergistic. You could make it a sort of Midrange deck that wants to play on the curve.

Obviously, Argual also gets insane value if he sticks to the board, and while a 2/2 won’t stick that often, it is possible. Like, you often can’t kill that Knife Juggler your opponent has dropped and you have to leave it.

Overall, this card has lots of potential. It’s not broken BY ITSELF, but the Book of Specters kind of activates it.

Now the question is – is it worth to sacrifice all of that burn etc. and run a nearly full minion Mage deck? It’s a very hard question. Right now, my answer would probably be no. Elementals aren’t really bad, but the tribe doesn’t have broken early game cards like e.g. Mechs used to have with Mechwarper. It’s hard to snowball the game with them, and their synergy tends to be pretty… slow.

It will require lots and I mean lots of clever deck building, but it might be possible to get the right balance between minions and spells for this card (and Book of Specters) to still be worth it in a deck running spells. It’s really hard to say. It has lots of potential, but if the minion-heavy archetype fails, it probably won’t work.

P.S. I’ve heard some voices that it has insane synergy with Aluneth… Yeah, if you want to burn 5 cards every turn. Aluneth doesn’t fit into a minion heavy deck like that, unless all of the minions you play cost 1-3 mana. Drawing 4 cards per turn is A LOT and minions tend to be very clunky. Remember that even in Secret Mage it’s often hard to not burn cards after Aluneth, and you have ways to put Secrets into play for 0 mana, 0 mana Kabal Crystal Runners and Sorcerer's Apprentice to discount your spells. Even then you often just burn a card or two even if you try as hard as possible to not do that. 4+ mana minions are so clunky that you rarely can play them after Aluneth. And I can’t see building a 1-3 mana Aggro Mage deck right now, because Mage has no Aggro shell to play.

Card rating: 9/10 in a minion Mage deck, but it also has some potential (like 5/10) in other Mage decks as a value generator.

Leave a Reply

67 Comments

  1. Hefe
    May 25, 2018 at 8:45 PM

    so in reality this card turned out not great at all, at least with the meta
    LOL AND IT’S THE HIGHEST RATED ONE

  2. Crapcrack
    April 15, 2018 at 3:14 AM

    AMAZING

  3. GlosuuLang
    April 9, 2018 at 1:52 AM

    Zoo Mage incoming. This is powerful with Aluneth active, or with the Book of Specters. Just vomit all minions. Still, I don’t know if Mage has enough good minions for a minion-heavy deck. It’s not like Mage has Murlocs. It used to have Mechs, but that was a long time ago… Still, I think this is a good legendary that can generate good value. 4/5 stars.

  4. Qhantom
    April 8, 2018 at 10:50 AM

    this has quite good synergy with wild mech mage

  5. Anton
    April 8, 2018 at 1:22 AM

    I am not a quest mage fan boy.
    BUT because Iceblock is missing they print insane cards for the deck.
    1. Dig 3 cards into your deck for 2 mana
    2. Mr. Archmage get a copy of „your spells cost 1 less“
    WIll be so frustrating to get exodiad.

    • tim
      April 8, 2018 at 12:10 PM

      except that would require the deck to run the bare minimum of spells, so this card wouldnt work in quest mage

  6. Lucasato
    April 7, 2018 at 4:50 PM

    Finally a legendary card that I didn’t liked!!

  7. Hawk819
    April 7, 2018 at 2:25 PM

    I was expecting way better than this for the Archmage Arugal Minion. Something along the lines of a drawing a spell, then adding a copy of said spell to my hand, but alas, that is not to be. The effect is nice, but worthless without Book of Specter to support it. For 2 mana, this might as well be Sorcerer’s Apprentice or a Shimmering Tempest, but without the deathrattle. Seriously, this card needs a serious buff in order to keep it on the board. IMHO, 3-6 Mana cost, 3/5, or 4/5. Heck, I’ll go with a 3 Mana cost, 2/4. It just needs a little more health to keep it on the board. Otherwise, use it when you have mana above 6+. Elemental Mage will definitely see play with these cards, but only if one uses Shimmering Tempest, Ghastly Conjurer, and Steam Surger. Otherwise, forget it. I give it 3 out of 5.

  8. Cyclick
    April 7, 2018 at 2:10 PM

    Man this would be good in Elemental Odd Mage!… but it’s 2 mana. This could still be run, but it’s too hyped for how good it actually is. I can’t see this being as powerful as people are saying, though I’ll give it a 3/5 for what it is an how it can work in niche decks.

    • tim
      April 8, 2018 at 12:12 PM

      OR, you just don’t play the fringe odd/even archetype

      • Cyclick
        April 8, 2018 at 12:32 PM

        Okay so you play normal Control/Secret Mage, or maybe Casino Mage? What minions are you gonna copy? This minion will get removed next turn, so what are you gonna get out of it?

        • Motts
          April 8, 2018 at 6:00 PM

          What are you going to get out of it? This card is an INSANE value card. You don’t play it turn 2-3 or even 4 sometimes, just wait until later on when you have the 2 mana draw 3, or even using arcane intellect is amazing with this. For control mages, this is a great card. You don’t need the archetype odd deck to make this work.

          • Cyclick
            April 9, 2018 at 6:35 PM

            I’m aware, but it seems like that is going to be a lot of Mage. Also, if you’re playing this late, why not Chromaggus? Sure he is in wild, but if you’re playing this on turn 6 or later turns, Chromaggus just seems better. And Chromaggus never saw play. This probably won’t see either. Overhyped. (also you showed no examples of the value even though you said it was insane)

  9. Umbreomancer
    April 7, 2018 at 12:04 PM

    Get this man some arugula, stat.

  10. BlackKnight
    April 7, 2018 at 9:45 AM

    Don’t forget that the cards generated by this legendary will be affected by leyline manipulator which means more added value to this legendary. I can’t imagine Elemental mage won’t be a thing.

  11. Phil
    April 7, 2018 at 8:24 AM

    Chromaggus?

    • Someone like you
      April 7, 2018 at 8:58 AM

      Yeah thought so to, this is a cheeper better Chromaggus. 🙂

  12. Warptens
    April 7, 2018 at 7:26 AM

    If you have Argual without Book or AI, it’s garbage.
    If you have Arugal with Book or AI, you’ll generate ~4 cards instead of ~2. But keep in mind that generating 4 cards isn’t twice as good as generating 2 cards, because you possibly won’t have the time to play those 2 extra cards. Especially since they are slow minions and not fast spells.
    Arugal looks like a bad Pyros.

  13. Lucasato
    April 7, 2018 at 5:29 AM

    Firstly,is very cool the idea to induce à spell hunter while induce a minion mage xD

    • Lucasato
      April 7, 2018 at 5:01 PM

      But,it will rarely help you,to know if a legendary is good or bad,you should anyway think if it would really help you to actually win so much games,and…to it really be usefull,firstly need to be used only in “minion mages” like the Rock’n’roll is used only in spell hunter,then you must drop it together another draw card,and draw decent minions,then have enough mana to play the minions,and finally discover is these minions really have been saved you,from a lethal,doing a lethal,gaining tempo,and etc…rigth now it’s the single legendary I think is bad,I guess you guys are exciting just thinking about the combo with the new book but,think about that:how many times it can be really usefull?…probly its very overrated like the lady in white that is even usefull sometimes but won’t be stronger than so much legendaries was revelead in this season..

  14. flagkeeper
    April 7, 2018 at 5:06 AM

    let me change your mind!!!

  15. HS
    April 7, 2018 at 2:33 AM

    play on curve mage

  16. Dude
    April 7, 2018 at 2:27 AM

    Funny how blizzard likes to rotate archetypes. A zoo player is now crafting age cards, hunter is offering control and soon combo decks. Oh well, this seems very powerful in a zoo deck, someone just has to put it together. Aggro usually finds a way.

    • Nightfall
      April 7, 2018 at 5:05 AM

      Will be fun for the first month, afterwards it will just leave that bad taste in your mouth like all other aggro decks, won’t be pretty, but then again, at least it’s not jades

  17. Bigdream
    April 7, 2018 at 2:04 AM

    Spiteful sunmonner mage!

  18. EksSkellybur
    April 7, 2018 at 12:29 AM

    SOMEDAYSOMEDAYSOMEDAYSOMEDAYYOUREQUIREMYCONCEDE

  19. ShroomHands
    April 6, 2018 at 10:57 PM

    Wow, they sure are pushing Frost Lich and elemental mage it seems. A midrange mage could be decent given how much value the mage DK has. You can still afford some removal spells in your deck and can go hard on the elementals. At least for a year Pyros and servant of kalimos and blazecaller will be around. Plus Blizzard makes money/ dust out of everybody buying/crafting frost lich and pyros and arugal.

    • Rahul
      April 6, 2018 at 11:10 PM

      True, looks like i have to craft Pyros now.

      • ShroomHands
        April 6, 2018 at 11:22 PM

        Baron Geddon will probably see soo much crafting in the first month or so! Pyros will be amazing for a year (either waste your Spell breaker you put in your deck to tech against locks on a 2/2 or wait until it is 6/6) but everybody who doesn’t have Geddon will have to craft him since he is classic and will never rotate. No matter what Blizzard is ensuring if you want to play Mage you will likely need at least 1 legendary (even if that legendary is Arugal).

  20. MoonGrill
    April 6, 2018 at 10:55 PM

    Think about this card in mechmage, it’ll be insane

  21. Vincent
    April 6, 2018 at 10:02 PM

    You can’t play this on curve and in the late game playing this card alone does nothing. You have to hold on to this card till you can combine it with a draw card. Might turn out not that good.

    • Sterling90
      April 6, 2018 at 10:33 PM

      Yeeeeah… I’m not sure about this card. The mage class has been hit hard by rotations and is actually the class with the FEWEST total cards. Perhaps, THIS “rogue DK-type” mechanic might help… Perhaps I’m being short-sighted but I think an Arugal/Specter deck is just going to lead to a lot of bland spiteful decks… Spiteful for some reason is my least favorite archetype – and elementals are even more boring – for some reason I just find it boring. In MY opinion. Personally I’ve played too many fire flys turn 1 for a lifetime. I think I’ll jump ship for Rogue this expansion. That way I’ll be able to have variety in all my games. For me, fun is #1 priority.

    • Bob
      April 6, 2018 at 10:43 PM

      A 2/2 minion is perfectly fine on curve it has synergy with Aluneth, Intellect and Book of Specters which would only be a 4 mana combo. It’s a 2 mana 2/2 mediocre minion against aggro and then it’s a much stronger hand refill in the midgame. It’s certainly not strong enough by itself to replace the huge loss that is Ice Block but it can be an incredibly useful too. That being said it’s only minions which provides a major drawback given that Mages tend to be spell heavy decks.

  22. Sterling90
    April 6, 2018 at 9:27 PM

    Is this card good? I can’t tell. Does Mage have alot of good minions you’d want double of?

    • Sterling90
      April 6, 2018 at 9:43 PM

      Also how does Mage stay alive without ice block? That’s a huge loss. I don’t think they’re going to have the luxury to play a card like Toki or anything like that. Maybe they run book of spectres with this? They’ll need a lot of taunt minions I guess.

      • Morei
        April 6, 2018 at 9:55 PM

        The reason why Ice Block is leaving is because it is OP in most cases, because it is one of the only card in the game that guarantees you one extra turn of survival turn, unless you take fatigue damage. Ice Block is basically run in almost every Mage decks, because other Mage secrets get countered easily here and there. Mage could still technically stay in most games, there’s rarely a need for Ice Block, unless you are playing a Control heavy deck that only relies on pure value and grinding.
        Ice Barrier is a more accessible way of survival, but of course definitely weaker, however it will see much more play after Ice Block going out of rotation.

      • Amethonys
        April 7, 2018 at 6:37 PM

        Artificer and jaina are your healing tools to not die. You don’t NEED Ice Block in an actual tempo/control deck since your win condition isn’t throwing burn at face.

    • Jirwin
      April 7, 2018 at 12:25 AM

      arcane artifcers, if you somehow manage to get 4 then gg, i play zola the gorgon just to play 3 in my control big mage

  23. Morei
    April 6, 2018 at 9:26 PM

    Inb4 Spiteful Mage with fukton of minions or Elemental Mage all the way

    • Yggdreigon
      April 6, 2018 at 9:30 PM

      well mage has pyroblast after all

  24. Umbreomancer
    April 6, 2018 at 9:22 PM

    Dear Blizzard

    Why make both Mage legendaries even-costed if you’ve also made Black Cat to make us think that Mage would be getting more than one odd-costed card in this set?

    • david
      April 6, 2018 at 9:25 PM

      It’s the first set introducing these new archytype and also new mechanics. This happens with alot of card games… for example magic the gathering… you need a few of the following sets to flesh out new mechanics

      • Umbreomancer
        April 6, 2018 at 9:33 PM

        Guess I’ll just have to hope that at least one of the epics or rares are a good, odd-costed big spell to run. MTG at least has more than a single card per color that follows a mechanic.

        • David
          April 6, 2018 at 9:40 PM

          You are very right. but MTG is also much more established and mature. and hearthstone has much smaller sets. And since it’s virtual it has access to mechanics MTG doesnt. which means they are pioneering these new effects and have alot more to experiment with less card slots

          • Nimbus
            April 6, 2018 at 10:49 PM

            I don’t disagree with your premise, but pioneering might be a bit generous. As long as we’re talking MTG, then Echo is Storm and Rush is Haste (combat in MTG is different but same diff).

          • David
            April 7, 2018 at 7:40 AM

            Echo is not storm. storm requires you play more than 1 card. echo is playing 1 card more than once…. buy back is close but requires you pay way more mana. but can play later in the game aswell

          • Ur mom lol
            April 7, 2018 at 12:34 PM

            Echo is more like kicker tbh

    • Sterling90
      April 6, 2018 at 9:32 PM

      I was a little surprised by that too, then again – Hunter got 2 (even) legendaries; Warrior got 2 (odds). All the other classes have even/odd. I assume they made the decision based on the current class options. I honestly never play mage so I can’t really be a judge of how good this card is.

  25. Soup And Salad
    April 6, 2018 at 9:18 PM

    It seems like this plus Book of Specters can become a 4 mana draw 6 combo or 8 mana draw six with Aluneth.
    The 2/2 stats does mean this will probably end up dying rather easily, but the 2 cost does mean it can be comboed with the draw power Mage has.

    A minion based Mage deck will have similar issues as a spell based Hunter deck did, but it is easier to envision a minion based Elemental Mage than the current spell hunter decks were.
    Perhaps a Spiteful Summoner Elemental deck with Pyroblasts, Book of Specters, Flamestrikes and will emerge with this being a draw engine to compliment Aluneth if the deck plays it, but this is definitely a good card.

    • Matt
      April 6, 2018 at 9:21 PM

      Spiteful/archivist with just blizzards and flamestrikes is kind of fun.

    • David
      April 6, 2018 at 9:22 PM

      the issue with aluneth and this guy is you are going to flood your hand really quick and it’s unless you are playing aloooooot of 1s and 2s you won’t be able to dump your hand fast enough…. so the 3 you duplicate or by some miracle he lives a turn. then 6 duplicates have to be better than most of the rest of your deck because you are going to burn alot of cards cause you have atleast 4 more cards on top of the 6 your drawing next turn

      • Soup And Salad
        April 6, 2018 at 9:33 PM

        That is true, but the effect and the statline on this card does mean it will rarely survive to the next turn, especially is this is played in conjunction with Aluneth. As it is right now, you only tend to play Aluneth when you’re low on cards in hand. Spitting out cheap Elementals doesn’t tend to be difficult to make sure you don’t burn too many cards.

        If this Spiteful elemental Mage deck leans more towards midrange rather than tempo, it wouldn’t play Aluneth anyway.

        • David
          April 6, 2018 at 9:43 PM

          Yeah I think the current elemental she’ll is best for this. just pull out arcane intellects and add book… then a few of the spells can come out for this guy and some other synergies…… imagine having the 5 mana that summons 1/1s of minions u draw….. first draw on book this legend…… so next 2 draws u summon 2 1/1s and get additional copies in hand….. opponent uninstalls

  26. tokeghost
    April 6, 2018 at 9:17 PM

    I really like the recent design of value cards. this looks like a sonya shadowdancer to me, but a new archetype in mage will hopefully emerge from it. cool card, I look forward to more cards like this for a few of my favorite classes.

  27. Reeveff7
    April 6, 2018 at 9:16 PM

    Minion mage and spell hunter. Maybe weaponless warrior next

  28. david
    April 6, 2018 at 9:15 PM

    This is unreal. elementals mage isn’t far off from being pretty much all creatures. replace arc int with new draw spell. on top of this guy….. turn 4 draw 6 and get a 2/2 that has to die immedietly….. and only deplete 3 cards from your deck ?!?! that combo will have same effect on win rate as price kelseth shadow step….almost

    • Matt
      April 6, 2018 at 9:19 PM

      What’s the combo?

    • Miagamus
      April 7, 2018 at 1:18 AM

      Geez, yeah. Or if you can wait it out, turn 9> Dollmaster>Archmage>Book of specters. Draw 6 minions each of which has a 1/1 of it appear on board instantly. Nuts.

    • flagkeeper
      April 7, 2018 at 5:21 AM

      we imagine u played that combo on turn 4 is that a strong turn for u? ofc not turn 4 2 /2.but the minion u draw has to be played every card u get a copy need some mana to played this card is very good but u need to sacrifce 1 or mb 2 turn to get benefit of this and remmeber the book can discard jaina.
      i rly dont think building a deck around book just to get a copy of some minion that could be just useless .
      u already can copy minions with zola or brew master tham but who does that .i play zola alot but zola turn always is a weak turn and that hurt alot and more hurting after turn 5 when your enemy plays skull on 5 u r just going to play a copy card.the only card i play every turn even i get more is only and only mighty drakonid coming through.oh sry darkonid gone through past:D.
      but still is a good card mb it was better in rouge class

  29. Safari
    April 6, 2018 at 9:13 PM

    Elementals!

  30. applecwisp
    April 6, 2018 at 9:13 PM

    Why for mage though

    • david
      April 6, 2018 at 9:17 PM

      because they want the meta to make large changes. so giving mage more spell synergy won’t really change many mage decks…. just tweak them. this is strong enough to make an entirely new archytype or maybe even a couple of archytype around. especially with that new draw spell

  31. Brady Lynch
    April 6, 2018 at 9:07 PM

    Hmmm seems like theyre pushing for a minion based mage, dont know how this will turn out. But if it becomes a thing, this will definitely be in it. Mini Chromagus