Budget Aggro/Burn Mage Deck List Guide (The Boomsday Project)

Our Budget Aggro (Burn) Mage deck list guide for The Boomsday Project expansion will teach you how to play this powerful Mage list. This Budget Aggro (Burn) Mage guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!

Introduction to Budget Aggro/Burn Mage

Aggro (Burn) Mage is an archetype that has been around since the dawn of Hearthstone. Mage has always had access to efficient damage Spells and, when paired with minions that synergize with spell casting, the opponent’s health can drop quite rapidly. An early Mana Wyrm, for instance, is notorious for its ability to win games on its own.

The Burn Mage archetype has always had a heavy reliance on Basic Cards and low-rarity cards from the Classic Set. This is why the deck has been a mainstay in the Standard metagame, despite several set rotations, and helps keep the deck budget-friendly.

There are some notable cards excluded from the deck for the sake of reducing its cost. Aluneth, in particular, helps ensure that aggressive Mage decks don’t run out of gas. Still, the deck’s explosive potential can rack up wins on the Standard ladder.

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The Boomsday Project

With The Boomsday Project came additional support for the Aggro Mage archetype. Celestial Emissary and Cosmic Anomaly provide a massive boost to already potent spells while Shooting Star helps clean up the opposing board and clear a path for your minions to chip away at the opponent’s life total.

Budget Aggro/Burn Mage

High Priority Keeps

• Mana Wyrm – Far and away the best turn one play in the deck, Mana Wyrm may just be the best opener in Standard Hearthstone right now.
• Arcanologist – Despite the loss of many other Secret synergies, Arcanologist is still a powerful card, especially when curving into Kirin Tor Mage.
• Sorcerer's Apprentice – Not always the best turn two play, but keeping Apprentice does give you the option to make Tempo plays on board or simply develop a 3/2 that needs to be answered.
• Kirin Tor Mage – Curving Arcanologist into Kirin Tor Mage can obviously generate a massive Tempo advantage but, as a deck with few early game minions, a 4/3 alone is a reasonable turn-three play.

Low Priority Keeps

• Frostbolt – Frostbolt can remove early opposing minions but, as a reactive card, it doesn’t help develop the board. Paired with Mana Wyrm and/or Apprentice, it may have a place in your starting hand. Otherwise, send it back for later.
• Counterspell – With a Kirin Tor Mage already in hand, it can make sense to hang on to Counterspell to block critical spells from the opponent.
• Explosive Runes – Likewise, an early Explosive Runes can devastate certain decks by blocking their attempts to establish a board state. Both Secrets, however, are only worth keeping with a Kirin Tor Mage.
• Shooting Star – At one mana, Shooting Star can be an important part of an opener against board-centric decks. That said, usually winds up deck against many Control decks, so the card is heavily matchup-dependent.

Budget Aggro/Burn Mage Play Strategy

Generally, Aggro Burn Mage plays early-game minions to chip away at the opponent’s life total before closing games with massive burst damage.

This means you want to stick minions in the first few to pressure your opponents. Paramount to this strategy is landing an early Mana Wyrm or Arcanologist into Kirin Tor Mage. Cheap spells such as Shooting Star and Arcane Missiles can clean up low-health minions allowing you to maintain pressure.

Even though this is an Aggro deck, you do not necessarily want to shove all damage to the opponent’s face. Frostbolt and even Fireball can be spent on opponent’s minions if it means your own minions are able to push in for additional repetitive damage.

At a certain point in the game, you may need to concede the board and win with damage alone. Fortunately, the deck has enough card draw to get you to your burn spells. The two Elementals in this deck boost these already potent Spells to new heights, giving you a bit of extra burn potential.

Budget Aggro/Burn Mage Future Card Replacements

• 2x Research Project > 2x Primordial Glyph – Research Project helps you dig through your deck for extra burn, but Primordial Glyph fills a similar role without the downside of giving your opponent cards.
• 1x Celestial Emissary > 1x Aluneth – Aluneth is the most powerful draw engine in Hearthstone and has helped every aggressive Mage deck close out games since the card was released.
• 1x Celestial Emissary > 1x Stargazer Luna – Like Aluneth, Stargazer Luna can help cycle through your deck and find the last few points of damage required to kill your opponent.

Budget Aggro/Burn Mage General Replacements

Here’s a list of cards you can add to this deck if you happen to have them or are missing anything in the decklist.

• Pyroblast – Healing isn’t as common as it once was in the Standard metagame, and Pyro can bring your opponent back into lethal range.
• Amani Berserker – In The Witchwood meta, this old favorite returned to form in Aggro Mage thanks to his ability to contest board and, paired with a Hero Power ping, deal five damage on demand.
• Lifedrinker – Similarly, Lifedrinker can provide a bit of extra reach while developing a minion on board. Lifedrinker was considered one of the weaker cards in The Witchwood variants of Aggro Mage but still had a place in the deck.
• Water Elemental – As a four-mana 3/6, Water Elemental is a resilient minion that can get a surprising amount of chip damage in.