The Perils in Paradise mini-set, Traveling Travel Agency, completely overhauled the meta. What’s crazy is that it did so with the power of just one card. Portalmancer Skyla opened the Perils in Paradise Rogue cards to Mage, and Big Spell Mage has been wreaking havoc on the ladder ever since.
The other mini-set cards have not made as big of an impression, although this mini-set has unusually good Legendary cards with Dreamplanner Zephrys and Turbulus also seeing some play in the post-patch meta. Thanks to the power of tourism mechanic, Traveling Travel Agency is one of the better mini-sets to buy. No matter where the rest of the cards will end up, Tourists are too good to pass on.
Anyway, Big Spell Mage is the early winner. It rose from obscurity to fame overnight, and the ladder is now adjusting to this new reality and attempting to counter the newcomer. Big Spell Mage itself is also still going through refinement, including finding ways to win the mirror more reliably. Sometimes, one card can cause more upheaval in the meta than the rest of the mini-set combined.
Big Spell Mage
While Portalmancer Skyla is just a single card, she is also a tourist, which means that Mage suddenly received access to several new cards. Big Spell Mage makes use of Metal Detector, Sea Shill, and Conniving Conman, thereby turning one new card into four new cards for the archetype.
The deck attempts to play the big Mage spells, Sunset Volley and Tsunami, as early as possible and overwhelm the opponent. It has many ways to accomplish this, and it is this redundancy that gives the deck the consistency needed to succeed. The deck already had King Tide, Surfalopod, and Under the Sea to get some big spells going as early as turn five.
With the addition of the new Legendary and the Rogue cards, the deck can now also switch the cost of a Coin and Tsunami/Sunset Volley with Portalmancer Skyla for another way to play the big spell on turn five or even earlier, depending on how many Coins you have. Rogue also helps with Coin generation with Metal Detector and can repeat the big spells with Conniving Conman. Even if things go poorly, a combination of Coins and Sea Shill can still get your big spells out early. Answering 9-drops or 10-drops and boardfuls of Water Elementals just a few turns into the game is a challenging task for any deck.
Beyond the basics, Big Spell Mage is still looking for its perfect form. Some lists opt to use more Coin generation in the form of Greedy Partner and Instrument Tech to tutor for the Coin-generating weapon. Speaker Stompers are used for the mirror, and there’s even the occasional Cattle Rustler that tutors Surfalopod from the deck.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Player:
8,400
Success has also been found with Doomsayer and Sleepy Resident acting as a board clear in the mirror and against aggro decks and with Glacial Shard buying some time against the lone huge minions in the mirror.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Posted By:
- 7,080
You can try to build a generic version of the list that is as effective as possible in getting to its win condition or use some slots to tech against your most dangerous adversaries and slow them down to get through a weaker draw more reliably. Properly tuned, you can get an advantage in the mirror, but there are other decks that can challenge Big Spell Mage too.
One of the best things the deck has going for it is its lack of true “counters”. There is no single deck that players can use to completely dominate Big Spell Mage. However, it doesn’t mean that you’re out of luck – multiple builds have a slight edge in the matchup. Early stats indicate that Big Spell Mage is very strong, but not oppressive – at least not in terms of win rate (popularity is another thing).
Pain Warlock
By far the best counter to Big Spell Mage is Pain Warlock. Pain Warlock can put a lot of stats on the board, and it can do so a bit faster than Big Spell Mage. Sunset Volley against a bunch of big minions? Does nothing. Tsunami against a bunch of big minions? Slightly better, but the Water Elementals end up dead, so it is just a moment of reprieve.
The Doomsayer list looks more even, so Pain Warlock may not enjoy its dominance for long, but against most current Big Spell Mage decks, this is the best counter.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-124
- Player:
- 11,280
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
Pirate Demon Hunter and Pirate Shaman
If you want to hurt the opponent’s face but not your own, the good old aggro also works against Big Spell Mage. The premium aggro archetype in Perils in Paradise has been Pirates. Whether it’s Demon Hunter or Shaman on top has varied a bit, and now in the Big Spell Mage meta, Demon Hunter seems to hold a slight edge, as it can squeeze in a couple of percentage points better win rates in the matchup than Shaman. These two are the top versions of their archetypes specifically for the Mage matchup:
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Player:
- 8,400
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-125
- Posted By:
- 10,200
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
Spell Token Hunter
A new top meta deck promotes new innovation, and some of that comes in the form of the comeback of Beast Token Hunter. This brand new list excels in two matchups: Big Spell Mage and Pain Warlock. Given how Big Spell Mage is the deck to beat and Pain Warlock is the best counter to it, a deck that is a strong counter to both of those decks has great opportunities in the meta!
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Posted By:
- 8,080
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
Evolve Shaman
Evolve Shaman is another deck that can create a boardful of big minions, something Big Spell Mage is vulnerable to. It can also transform opponent’s minions with Wave of Nostalgia and Hex from Thrall's Gift, thereby making those ten-drops something less intimidating. Just make sure to not use it against Water Elementals.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Posted By:
- 11,040
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
Big Shaman
Shaman is a good class to bring against Big Spell Mage in general. Big Shaman is another fine choice with a 55-45 matchup into Big Spell Mage. This deck brings tools like Kologarn and Yogg-Saron, Unleashed, and a way to bring them in and out of the deck with Cliff Dive. It is not as strong as the other Shaman decks for the matchup, but it is a viable option, if you’re looking for something different to play.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Posted By:
- 11,820
Flood Paladin
Paladin is never completely out of style, and Flood Paladin is the oldest deck that can take on Big Spell Mage. The list has been largely static for months, but it is a solid archetype and flooding is a good strategy against Mage.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-125
- Player:
- 13,320
Zilliax: Pylon Module + Ticking Module
Highlander Druid
Highlander Druid can ramp up ahead of Big Spell Mage and use tools like Reno, Lone Ranger and Yogg-Saron, Unleashed to fight against the tide. It can even steal the biggest minion on the board with Mind Control Tech that nowadays allows you to choose the target.
- Format: pegasus
- Season: season-126
- Player:
- 18,060
- 0Zilliax Deluxe 30001
- 1Giftwrapped Whelp1
- 1Glacial Shard1
- 2Trail Mix1
- 3New Heights1
- 3Pendant of Earth1
- 3Tortollan Traveler1
- 3Trogg Gemtosser1
- 4Griftah, Trusted Vendor1
- 5Mind Control Tech1
- 5Night Elf Huntress1
- 5Puppetmaster Dorian1
- 7Marin the Manager1
- 7Sleep Under the Stars1
- 10Reno, Lone Ranger1
- 10Yogg-Saron, Unleashed1
Zilliax: Perfect Module + Twin Module
The Best Counters to Big Spell Mage
To sum this up, here are the best counters to Big Spell Mage:
- Pain Warlock
- Pirate Demon Hunter
- Spell Token Hunter
- Evolve Shaman
- Big Shaman
- Pirate Shaman
- Flood Paladin
- Highlander Druid
When really thinking about it, there are lots of “counters” to Big Spell Mage. While the deck is strong, it is not unbeatable by any means. Truly dominant meta decks have had just one or two weaknesses, and Big Spell Mage has several. One thing Big Spell Mage has going for it is that its weakest matchup – Pain Warlock – is only a 40-60. Nothing really crushes Big Spell Mage. That adds to the impression of its strength.
The refinement of Big Spell Mage is also still underway. The Doomsayer variant, in particular, shows a lot of promise, and there may be more discoveries coming. The deck may yet develop into a full-blown tyrant. For now, it is strong, and it warps the ladder around it, but there remain multiple paths to target it and win.
Old Guardian
Ville "Old Guardian" Kilkku is a writer and video creator focused on analytic, educational Hearthstone, and building innovative Standard format decks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OldGuardian Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/old_guardian
