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Secret Mage has always been a fringe deck, but with a totally new meta and the addition of Arcanologist maybe this is its time to shine! Thanks to latryna for allowing us to re-host this guide!
Hello,
I want to share with you my latest deck. I had a fantastic run from rank 5 to legend using only this deck with incredible success. That was my fastest run to legend ever. I don’t have stats to prove this run, but please check this and try it. Main goal of the deck is to kill your opponent on turns 6-9. It is aggressive deck and you need to push some damage with minions. You can count on something like 10 damage from hand, but that’s it.
- Legend Proof: http://imgur.com/R3exoul
Card Choices
- Mana Wyrm – very good turn 1 minion with snowball potential
- Babbling Book – just a solid 1-drop that is good later
- Kabal Lackey – secret for free, another 1-drop
- Arcanologist – best 2-drop in the game for mage
- Frostbolt – standard burst spell
- Medivh's Valet – secret synergy, VERY STRONG 2-drop
- Primordial Glyph – I’ve cut Cabalist’s Tomes for this card – it is so good, it can give you a secret or any spell you need at point of time
- Arcane Intellect – standard mage card draw
- Kirin Tor Mage – MVP, secret synergy – this guy is face molester, super good in this deck
- Ethereal Arcanist – MVP, this card solo wins against slower decks, especially against warrior, play it behind counter spell and you’re set to win
- Fireball – burst, standard spell
- Kabal Crystal Runner – solid card, usually 4-mana 5/5, but later in the game 0-mana 5/5, good tempo card
- Firelands Portal – late game finisher, burst
Secret Package
In my opinion secrets should depend on what you play against on ladder.
I picked this package:
- Counterspell – very solid spell, MVP against druids, can block warriors nicely, bad against rogue, but still can mess up them a little
- Potion of Polymorph – well in my humble opinion this secret is great, sometimes it will morph a little cat or pirate, sometimes it will win you a game erasing big Lion or taunt, but IT WILL gain you tempo – always
- Spellbender – at the start of run this was Ice-block, but I’ve noticed that I really use this spell only to proc secret synergy cards for sure and never really needed that for surviving purposes, so I swapped Ice-block for another “not-easy-to-proc” secret, Spellbender does it job and for a bonus it still protects your Kirins and Arcanists
EDIT 14-04-2017
You should for sure change your secret package from time to time. People start to play properly around secrets. I like 2x PoP, 2x Mirror right now. It’s better against minion heavy deck. Strong thing about this deck is element of surprise. Try few packages and write what works the best against different decks.
END OF EDIT
That’s my choice and I was very successful with these.
Cards not included
- Cabalist's Tome – Too slow card, very clunky 100% games I’ve played, basically win more card only, bad play when even or behind, it’s fun card, but also bad card
Pyroblast – I was thinking about this card, but it’s slow, you can play this card only on turn 10 or later, most games are done by earlier turn, you can always get it from Glyph - Sorcerer's Apprentice – Not many tempo oriented spells in deck, so this minion is not that viable, secrets played for 2 mana aren’t that great either, so… nah
Gameplay
Man, gameplay is smooth, secret synergy cards play themselves. When going first you want to curve out the game – perfect draw will be Wyrm -> Arcanologist -> Kirin + Secret -> Arcanist. There are plenty of 3 card combos that are nice tempo plays: Lackey/Kirin + Secret for free + Valet/Arcanist/Crystal Runner.
I play 6 1-mana drops, because I want consistent minion play on turn 1. Then I play tempo oriented game for next few turns. Then when Kirin or Arcaninst is set you cast Face Warp (in your mind) and go face. You finish your opponent with Fireball or Firelands Portal. That’s a game plan.
Secret Gameplay
Playing secrets, which ones and when? It’s definitely fun part of deck to play secrets and see your opponent playing around your plays. Knowing your opponent is crucial. What is my opponent want’s to play next turn? What is his best play?
Just a short list of notes:
Mage
Most mages nowadays are quest ones and burst ones. Quest Mage is auto-win – there is absolutely no world when this deck loses to quest version – you snowball way too fast. Good advice to feel when they want to play Doomsayer + Freeze combo and play secret turn before – best is both secrets (Counterspell, Polymorph) works. Against burst version I think this deck has an edge – better minions, same amoung of burst.
Priest
Most priests will be silence priests or some sort of combo ones. Against silence priest morphing their 3-mana 4/8 plant is best way to win 😀 If that happens you win. You have also chance to interrupt their buffs via Counterspell and just play your game.
Warlock
I haven’t played against that many Warlocks, but they all seems to be discard/zoo-ish types. They play 1 spell only and all minions. I think this deck should lose to zoo – too many bad targets for polymorph and not good enough value for counterspell, can’t tell for sure though.
Warrior
Against pirates you want to play fast as possible, no waiting for playing secrets, you play all you have it is winnable for sure. Against taunt/quest warrior THE ONE THING you need to focus on is to keep your Arcanist alive !!! This card will win you tens of games against warrior and polymorph is also very good card in this matchup.
Rogue
Quest rogue is tough matchup, but: if you interrupt their bounces with polymorph secret you win 🙂 Play fast game, Arcanist can win solo. The Plant Rogue is another story. Whole game is tempo game don’t even try to rush rogue or something, because next turn rogue will make tempo play and you lose. It’s fun matchup with many moments to outsmart opponent.
Paladin
Does it exist?
Hunter
FUN matchup, again it’s tempo game like rogue one, game depends on how you play your secrets and how opponent will play around your secrets – again, fun games many meme moments, most cats polymorphed.
Shaman
Not big sample of games to make a judge, there are no particular good targets for polymorph, but counterspell it’s good in this matchup, I would say play your game and let them react to your plays.
Druid
Most of druids are aggro and you can win with it, MVP is counterspell just try to time it before their aoe buff and you’re good.
I was shocked how consistent is this and how good it works against ladder. This deck can win against Pirate Warrior with a little luck.
Please try this one and share your thoughts about deck.
Where’s the Mad Scientist?
In Wild Format
Why potion of polymorph?
As a casual player – absolutely loving this deck. Just wanted a mage deck, mage is my favourite :-), with a good chance chance of being able to win with semi-regularly with in the 20 – 15 ranks.
This deck is that in spades – and heaps of fun as well – thank-you so much Latryna. Also the guide you have written is excellent – especially for som-one who has _not_, and is never likely to, make legend 🙂
i replaced one babbling book with yogg
Beat quest rogue with this no problem – thanks. https://hsreplay.net/replay/ZWtQxpgwP8Xg9bQCqbVu79
Really enjoying this deck trying to climb from Rank 10. Wanted to give some quick observations from my experience so far:
– Learning to play my secrets correctly took a little time depending on the class I was facing. So for anyone who’s getting frustrated that the “isn’t working,” believe me – it does – but as Latryna stated in the guide, you have to have a feel for what your opponent is going to put down next, i.e. spell or minion, and play your secrets accordingly;
– At Rank 10 I started out 5-10 with the deck as shown above, and felt it was because I just wasn’t consistently drawing secrets to allow me to use the minions’ mechanics effectively. To fix this I made the following changes: -1 Kabal Crystal Runner -1 Ethereal Arcanist +2 Mirror Entities. These changes made my game play way more smooth;
– Every Mage I’ve encountered so far is running some version of this deck 🙂 I’ve found that the ability to Counterspell their first secret pretty much decides the winner;
– Rogues – this deck destroys them! Quest, pirate, doesn’t matter. THANK YOU!
– How you use the big-hitter spells in the deck, i.e. Fireball and Firelands Portal, are almost always the deciding factor in winning or losing. Don’t blow them too early, but also don’t be afraid to use them early to remove a big threat. It takes a little while to get a feel for when these particular spells should come into play, and I’ve found that depending when you draw and what you get with your Babbling Books and Primordial Glyphs determines when and how the aforementioned spells should be used.
That’s all I have, but again, thanks for posting this deck, and keep us updated on changes 🙂
Cheers, Bueler 😉
Just an exceptionally solid and fun deck to play. Thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
The cool thing about Spellbender is it also nullifies Quest Rogue’s Shadowstep. I found this out today. It was funny.
No Arcane Giant ?
Honestly, you don’t need a big minion with this deck. It plays kind of like a zoo lock, in that the ability to consistently clear your opponent’s minions and inflict damage with your cheap minions is what ends up winning the game.
Very fun deck, thx
I’m having mediocre luck with this deck. I think a flamestrike would work better cuz im getting overrun.
Hahaha! I haven’t had this much fun playing Mage since Flamewaker rotated out. Thank you!
Is it possible to play this deck without Medivh’s Vallet?
Ya it really is. He’s s great 3 damage but if your secrets get used then he’s just a 2/3 for 2. Hes easily replaceable with other cards, secret keeper for instance would be good
Really strong deck. Took me to legend from lvl 4 in one afternoon. In my 37-18 run the only really bad matchups were midrange and N’Zoth paladins (0-3). Deck has decent chane vs pirate warrior and completly destroys the quest rouge and also really fun to play.
i just tried my own version of the deck, against warrior on rank 15.. i won.
8-0 from rank 7 to rank 5!
Great deck. 🙂
This deck is amazing. Im not near legend or anything, but so far im 5-0
nice deck 😀 6-0 In legend!
Found your deck on Reddit, tried it – super fun to play and has a nice winrate for me.
The best part of this deck are constant mindgames with the opponent.
hmm.. only 5 secrets in deck? =/
i ain t no legend player, but savjz kolento and other high ranking players play control paladin. Not to mention recently there s a guy who reached LEGEND 1 with n zoth pally. LEGEND 1, so while i like the deck, i don t think you re accurate when it comes to paladin play in ranked.
You got the point. Sometimes really hard pals, especially with heals, which is hard to deal with, cause there are few damage spells and only holy random can save u. But in ranks from 10 to 25 I’ve met really few paladins and mostly murloc decks and sometimes with Don Han’Cho buffs. So for most of the players pal really does not exist)))) Anyway, the deck is pretty strong and I enjoy it.