Legendary Tempo Mage Standard

[Guest Guest]

What do you think about:

-  Emperor Thaurissan

+ Mukla, Tyrant of the vale

 

for the 6 drop spot.

Got him in a pack and want to find a use.

Those two banana spells could be easy enablers for Antonaidas fireballs?

 

[Kurai 0]

I keep getting annihilated by Zoo, anyone have any advice? As far as I know Zoo is super well positioned right now, so if it's just a matter of a bad match up (or really strong Zoo decks), that's fine too. Just wondering if anyone has had success against Zoo with certain tactics or card swaps.

[Guest Thinline72]

What do you think about:

-  Emperor Thaurissan

+ Mukla, Tyrant of the vale

 

for the 6 drop spot.

Got him in a pack and want to find a use.

Those two banana spells could be easy enablers for Antonaidas fireballs?

 

3.3. Card Swaps

Emperor Thaurissan can be cut from the deck in favour of Mukla, Tyrant of the Vale in order to create additional spells for use with Flamewaker or Archmage Antonidas.

[sc47 2]

How about cutting 1 Arcane Intellect for Bloodmage thalnos?  

That way you still have some card draw + board presence and makes Arcane Blast even more consistent?

[Guest Derek Prokop]

What's the highest rank anyone has reached with this deck? Besides Sottle and Legendary. 

[Aratyr 0]

What's the highest rank anyone has reached with this deck? Besides Sottle and Legendary. 

I'm currently rank 9, but i don't use faceless summoners and one cult sorcerer. Replaced them with second ethereal conjurer and double forgotten torches. I'm F2P and play casually so i dont want to waste dust on common and rare cards. I'm bound to get lucky eventually

[daadaadaaren 4]

this deck is crazy reliant on the opening hand. sucks that i keep getting high cost cards for them. when the stars do align, this deck really shines though

[Furikawari 0]

this deck is crazy reliant on the opening hand. sucks that i keep getting high cost cards for them. when the stars do align, this deck really shines though

My feeling too, sometimes your hand is cluttered with high costs minions (but with low life azure, summoner, etc.) and you cant do sh*t. But when you get a nice curve this deck really shines. And I should record stats about this but I think Spellslinger lost me more games than it won. I also noticed several lists with spellslingers out and yogg+1 in (yeah I know yogg can lose u games but u could also see it as a big red button that you only use when u r desperate, it's not a turn 3 game loser).

[Gereno 0]

Actually i got all cards from Sottle deck list 

but 2 changes i play:
Eternal Conjurer swap for Blood Knight   (in lot of games i play ws.Div.Shield minions) 
1x Arcane blast swap for  1x Mirror image

[CodeRazor 47]

Actually i got all cards from Sottle deck list 

but 2 changes i play:

Eternal Conjurer swap for Blood Knight   (in lot of games i play ws.Div.Shield minions) 

1x Arcane blast swap for  1x Mirror image

Mirror image in place of an arcane blast is totally reasonable if you face a big number of aggro decks.

 

As for the other change, Conjurer is definitely better.

Do you face a lot of aggro paladins in ladder?

[Guest Theodoric]

Some changes I made to the deck that has improved my games a little since I was facing many warriors/paladins/shamans:
-1x Arcane Blast

-1x Azure Drake

-1x Emperor Thaurissan

+1x Mirror Image
+1x Harrison Jones
+1x Flamestrike

[Guest Kimi47]

Hello, how about one or a copy of forgotten torches?

[Kimi47 0]

Hello any thoughts about forgotten flame? Sorry if I'm double posting... :)

[Gereno 0]

 

Actually i got all cards from Sottle deck list 

but 2 changes i play:

Eternal Conjurer swap for Blood Knight   (in lot of games i play ws.Div.Shield minions) 

1x Arcane blast swap for  1x Mirror image

Mirror image in place of an arcane blast is totally reasonable if you face a big number of aggro decks.

 

As for the other change, Conjurer is definitely better.

Do you face a lot of aggro paladins in ladder?

Lot of games are ws. Paladin decks (use divine shields) (i dunno if its named Aggro :D i am new here.. )

and lot of Wariors (i mean that name of wariors are Control) -from start he only defense and dest.my minions,he goes hard in 8-10 mana minions/combos etc.. 

that two chars is hard to beat for me... but few times i got best card draws etc and i can win easy... all about luck i mean... and bad decisions what show and when show the best card/combo)

[Guest abacus]

Hey Sottle, 

 

Will you be making a 'budget' version of this deck/standard mage deck anytime soon? 

 

 

[Guest DeathProof]

Limited sample size,  but I'm having a lot of fun with the deck. Very decent win rate to boot.  Emperor is central to the deck,  discounted (2x cult sorcerer + 2x fireball + frostbolt)  equals 21 face damage equals Uber finisher. And the deck is strong enough to win even without Archmage. 

Cut spellslinger for ice block (not interested in being Pyro blasted again) and ethereal conjurer for cabalist tome. Not so tempo-ish I suppose, but tome with  emperor is just great synergy. More fuel for Archmage or just plain survivability. 

 

[Guest Dinojosz]

What about a Forgotten Torch instead of a Spellslinger? 

[positiv2 950]

6 hours ago, Guest Dinojosz said:

What about a Forgotten Torch instead of a Spellslinger? 

Forgotten Torch is most of the time just a 3 mana 3 damage, because you should try to end the game quite quickly, so you usually won't draw Roaring Torch.

[Guest FunkyBunch]

I've been playing with this deck for 50 games or so now.

I feel like the Water Elementals are never something I want to cast.  But I can't figure out what to add instead.
Most of the other cards have instant value when played at turn 4/5 but water elemental is do-nothing turn.
It just gets you more ahead if you already have board presence, but doesn't slow the other guy down.

I almost want a summoning stone since we have such a decent spell count.  But it still seems bad.

But I'm still a newbie, stuck at rank 14/13.

[Gereno 0]

Mine top is rank 12. but try it again and again to pass rank 10... 
 

[PaasHaaS 81]

16 hours ago, Guest FunkyBunch said:

I've been playing with this deck for 50 games or so now.

I feel like the Water Elementals are never something I want to cast.  But I can't figure out what to add instead.
Most of the other cards have instant value when played at turn 4/5 but water elemental is do-nothing turn.
It just gets you more ahead if you already have board presence, but doesn't slow the other guy down.

I almost want a summoning stone since we have such a decent spell count.  But it still seems bad.

But I'm still a newbie, stuck at rank 14/13.

Water ele is one of my favourite mage cards in the game. It's a very solid 4-drop that's almost guaranteed to trade into 2 minions thanks to its high health.

On top of the favourable trading, it freezes! For weapon classes such as Warrior, Rogue, Paladin, Hunter, shaman (and to a lesser extent Druid) the Water ele basically demands removal or unfavourable trades into it, as it has the potential to completely shut down their weapon usage.

If they choose to use their hard removal on it, which often will be the case, this just means they won't be able to play any 5-drops (and in most cases just a 1-2 drop at best), making your turn 5 drop have a stronger impact.

[alexshiro 0]

On 25.05.2016. at 7:24 AM, positiv2 said:

Forgotten Torch is most of the time just a 3 mana 3 damage, because you should try to end the game quite quickly, so you usually won't draw Roaring Torch.

I think you're underestimating Forgotten Torch. I use one instead of 1 Arcane Blast that I don't have, and in my experience it's a 3 for 3 in a minority of cases and Roaring Torch comes out fairly often. However, since the conventional wisdom in card games is that anything above the minimum number of cards in the deck is bad, I'm not sure if adding the Roaring Torch to the deck is a benefit or a drawback. It feels good to me, it might be worth testing out by somebody who's better than me at the game.

I hate randomness, so I took out Spellslinger and 1 Faceless Summoner and added Bran and a second Ethereal Conjurer. I think Conjurer gives more flexibility in attack and defense and is better on turn 7. Bran is removal bait most of the time.

Between Sorcerer's Apprentice and Cult Sorcerer, which is generally more expendable?

[Paracel 165]

2 hours ago, alexshiro said:

I think you're underestimating Forgotten Torch. I use one instead of 1 Arcane Blast that I don't have, and in my experience it's a 3 for 3 in a minority of cases and Roaring Torch comes out fairly often. However, since the conventional wisdom in card games is that anything above the minimum number of cards in the deck is bad, I'm not sure if adding the Roaring Torch to the deck is a benefit or a drawback. It feels good to me, it might be worth testing out by somebody who's better than me at the game.

Between Sorcerer's Apprentice and Cult Sorcerer, which is generally more expendable?

Forgotten Torch is not bad, especially from that perspective. Conventional wisdom you're talking about is that by adding cards you're putting yourself away from gas. 

Now ask yourself : Is 3 mana 6 damage gas? Hell yes it is, the right answer is. With the amount of card draw generally run in Mage decks and 30 cards deck it's far from impossible to draw Roaring Torch.

You also get a big strategical advantage because you run virtual Fireball #3-4. Virtual is not actual, though, but that's how you make a card balanced. 

Cult Sorcerer vs Apprentice : In a pure power vacuum, Cult Sorcerer is more powerful, but in reality it depends on your current game state. If you are full on cards, you want to deploy them asap - that's where Apprentice shines. Start of the game is usually where you want her, as she can snowball you with mana advantage pretty hard.

Cult sorcerer, obviously, is better when you care about each point of damage - that is often in the late game. 

[Banterous 0]

I'm a new player as of last season and decided to adapt this as my first contructed deck. I am using Malygos as a sub for Antonidas (after getting Malygos in a pack luckily, and having more Mage cards than the rest by chance). I built it to rush from rank 20 to 15+ last night with success, using the below subs:

- 1 Archmage Antonidas + 1 Malygos

- 1 Spellslinger + 1 Mirror Image 

- 1 Ethereal Conjurer + 1 Cabalist's Tome

Any tips on what other subs to make when using Malygos instead? I have found for example that Cabalist's has actually been very useful without those 3 spell generating cards. And critique on the following subs I am considering (to my deck) would also be good:

- 1 Water Elemental + 1 Faceless Manipulator (+spell dmg synergy)

- 1 Mirror Image + 1 Flamestrike (have found myself wanting this against aggro in ladder and loving when Cabalist's gives me one)

I have all wings of Blackrock only atm, and can rustle up around 500 dust.

Cheers

 

Edited June 1, 2016 by Banterous

[Paracel 165]

1 hour ago, Banterous said:

- 1 Archmage Antonidas + 1 Malygos

- 1 Spellslinger + 1 Mirror Image 

- 1 Ethereal Conjurer + 1 Cabalist's Tome

Any tips on what other subs to make when using Malygos instead? I have found for example that Cabalist's has actually been very useful without those 3 spell generating cards. And critique on the following subs I am considering (to my deck) would also be good:

- 1 Water Elemental + 1 Faceless Manipulator (+spell dmg synergy)

- 1 Mirror Image + 1 Flamestrike (have found myself wanting this against aggro in ladder and loving when Cabalist's gives me one)

I have all wings of Blackrock only atm, and can rustle up around 500 dust.

Cheers

Malygos is not a replacement to Archmage Antonidas in any way, they are simply different cards. To use Malygos effectively you need both to have it lived for a turn and have spells in your hand already. People generally can scrap a good killspell around t9-10 and  works because you have efficient removal and synergies early\midgame, so you kinda see the pattern.

Antonidas can be used for immiedate value and is working on its own - you only need 1 any spell in a deck full of spells. Funny enough, Malygos adds 5 damage for each spell, while Antonidas generates a Fireball that's 6 damage = profitable even in math department.

Get your hand on Archmage if you want to play Mage any reasonably, but don't dust Malygos for it. Dragon occasionaly rocks in decks like Miracle Rogue or RenoFreeze - pay attention, these decks CAN engineer a game state where +5 spell damage makes it for OTK, unlike Tempo Mage.

On to your next choices.

Additional Mirror Image is OK, and I assume you play 2 Arcane Blast. Cutting for a Flamestrike, though, is not a great idea. Having 2 Flamestrikes in your deck hurts mana curve and early consistency in general.

Same applies to Spellslinger. That card is tricky but OK and fills your curve at 3, where you often have to save Flamewaker for a blow-out turn.

Cabalist's Tome i've seen a lot at ladder, and card is OK. Arcane Intellect on the Old God steroids with some more card selection stuck it. Dropping Ethereal Conjurer, however, is not a great idea - that card is really strong. He allows you to get away with playing 1 Flamestrike where you'd like 2 without, well, playing 2. Chances to get that are pretty decent and so are they with random hosers like Counterspell or Vaporize. If you're in the market for some Tomes, I'd run them in conjunction and not as the replacement. Not having LoE is an excuse, though, but you'll end up being slightly weaker.

Faceless Manipulator doesn't do spell damage unless you copy it. You can't copy it unless you drew it, played it and it stayed alive, etc,etc... In short, he is way too unstable to be good unless you have a very special plan for it, and 5 slot is already full. 
Water Elemental is one of the best 4-drops in the game and should not be cut at all. Losing it, much like losing Spellslinger, is bad for manacurve and screws you in the long run.

I've explained why Flamestrike isn't great in multiples maindeck. Making space for it by removing an early game anti-aggro card is not a great idea, either.