Hearthstone Help: Basic Decks Guide

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Basic Mage

2x Frostbolt

2x Acidic Swamp Ooze

2x Novice Engineer

2x Arcane Intellect

2x Shattered Sun Cleric

2x Water Elemental

2x Gnomish Inventor

2x Fireball

2x Polymorph

2x Chillwind Yeti

2x Gurubashi Berserker

1x Archmage

1x Stormwind Champion

2x Flamestrike

How does it work, then?

Being a Mage is equal parts "cost/benefit analysis of your cards" and "being that jerk everyone hates because you've turned their souped-up minion into a daft-looking sheep and then smashed their hero in the face with a fireball".

Tip

Arcane Missiles introduce a note of randomness to the deck but can be deployed effectively against low-health minions early on in the game where the chances of scoring a card removal will be higher. If the enemy side of the board has already been cleared it also provides a reliable 3 damage to the opposing hero.

Poyo says:

Discussing potential Mage decks, Poyo gives an example deck construction built with using the Legendary Archmage Antonidas card in mind–the explanation includes a standard Mage minion base:

“It's a fairly late-game card, it's extremely dependent on what you have in your hand, and it requires a certain level of aggression throughout the earlier stages of the match to push your opponent low enough so it can be a finisher. You would probably decide to go with a standard Mage minion base–Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Frostbolt. You don't really want to trade minions if you want to do damage so you can put in Mirror Images and Arcane Missiles which delay or act as potential removal.

"After that you make sure you have some sort of card advantage so you add a few cards like Loot Hoarder and Arcane Intellect. In mid-game you want to have good minions–Water Elemental or Chillwind Yeti, even Harvest Golems. You've got your minion base sorted. Polymorph and Fireball are going to be a great solution to mid- or even late-game threats. Then I'd want some sort of control for when the board gets out of control. In the Mage's case, that would be Flamestrike.”

Dust's no object, you say?

Take a peek at the Legendary Mage Control Deck