Aggro Mage Deck Guide [Wild Format]

Introduction

Hey guys! Thanks for the great response to my earlier articles and guides. I hope you are all doing ell on the ladder and in tournaments. Some of you might already be bored by the stale ladder environment. Well, cheer up! This time around, I bring you something different. I bring you a deck for the Wild format!

Now I know that many of you have not been playing wild at all, but believe me it is still very much fun and you do get  a chance to get away from the stale standard Meta. And for those who do play the format, make sure to take this cheap brew for a spin on the ladder. I can assure you that you are going to love it!

The new cards that we got have opened up ways for many new interactions that only a few people have been working on. Anyway, while this is a new and unique deck, this was not made possible by the new expansion. Rather it was very much possible before the standard format was introduced and I used to play a version of this one myself.

What Is Different?

You looked at the decklist and saw some mechs. What is new and unique, you ask? Everything is, as you will see. This is not your standard Mech Mage deck. Rather this is more of a Face Mage deck that makes use of the mech synergy. Only a few of the cheaper and more effective mechs have been included in the list, leaving room for other cards to be included. To win, you need to spam the board and push for early face damage while using Jeeves to replenish your hand. As you might have guessed, this works in kind of a similar fashion to Aggro Paladin decks of the past. The inclusion of the likes of Abusive Sergeant and Argent Horserider, along with already present Frostbolt and Fireball gives you high damage potential in a span of few turns.

Now before going into details about the gameplay and general strategy, I think it will be wise to take a look at the deck list and understand the exact card choices. This will go a long way in helping you pilot this deck successfully.

Cards Choices

Mana Wyrm – This little guy has been standard 1-drop in any form of tempo mage deck just because of its sheer awesomeness. Comparable to Shaman’s Tunnel Trogg, this guy can quickly get out of hand and get too hot to handle for the opponent. This gets all the more better with the inclusion of Abusive Sergeant because with that you can remove that Tunnel Trogg or Voidwalker without using your Frostbolt. You might argue that that the number of spells is too less to get value out of it. Well, the thing is I used to run Arcane Explosion before Twilight Flamecaller. I even had Arcane Missiles for a while there. While I replaced those cards, I kept Mana Wyrm. Well, apart from Frostbolt itself,you still have the spare parts from Clockwork Gnome. And not to forget the coin. If you are going second and coin out something after this, this guys is practically a 2-drop for the cost of a 1-drop.

Cogmaster – This is another 1-drop which practically has the stats of a 2-drop. Easily comparable to Warlock’s Flame Imp with a 3/2 statline since you will almost have a Mech on the field.  Cogmaster has been played in Mech Mage decks since the dawn of ages and will continue to. The early board control is just too crucial to ignore.

Abusive Sergeant – Aggressive decks need all the cheap drops they can get. And what better 1-drop minion to include other that the overpowered Abusive Sergeant? This card is an auto include in almost all the face decks out there, this being no exclusion at all. You can use your tiny Mana Wyrm or Cogmaster or just any other minion to trade up. Or you can just use it as an additional source of face damage.

Clockwork Gnome –This little gnome which also turns out to be a mech completes our array of 1-drops. You can summon this card for free actually, if you have a Mechwarper on board. Turn one coin Mechawarper into Clockwork Gnome is an amazing tempo play and pretty much seals you the game. The spare card you get from this can be crucial sometimes. The spare parts are better than ever in the current Meta.  And you can always use them to buff up your Mana Wyrm.

Mechwarper – This card is easily my favorite 2-drop in the game. I mean, what is not to like here? Solid statline is only an icing on the cake. With the insane overpowered potential to spam multiple mechs onto the board on a single turn, I would have played this even if had less stats. This is the card why mech decks exist at all.

Snowchugger – Chugga Chugga! This little snow engine is another overpowered little card. Having standard solid stats, this guy has the insane ability of freezing whatever it attacks! Fiery War Axe being Warrior’s standard removal, this guy can totally wreck them if you get him to stay. How to do that? The next card takes care of it! Yes, it is none other than Annoy-o-Tron itself!

Annoy-o-Tron – I love this card! Annoying as the name suggests, I like to have this guy on my side of the board. This little guy simply puts in too much work. People underestimate the value of that divine shield on this, ignoring it in many of the mech decks I have seen. Not only does it help you against aggro decks, it also helps you dictate the trades, if you wish to trade that is. Mostly, it just sits there protecting your bigger minions as they hit your opponents face, setting up for an early lethal. The best part is you can get it out cheap with Mechwarper’s cost reduction.

Frostbolt – This card is a very versatile spell. While on one hand it is your standard two cost three damage spell that can help you gain early board control, you can use it for face damage later on. You can also use it to freeze a character if needed in emergency, like freezing the face of that Paladin, Warrior or Shaman so that they cannot attack with their respective weapons.

Spider Tank – Spider Tank is a solid vanilla 3-drop that is hard to remove because of the four health and should take care of most of the early game from the opponent’s side. And the fact that you can again bring this out for one mana less with Mechwarper is insane. If you manage to pull that off, which you will, this becomes Totem Golem. A Totem Golem without overload!

Argent Horserider – The Smorcrider. You might argue my including this TGT card over Tinkertown Technician. Well, this fits the theme of the deck while Tinkertown does not. More often than not you will get your opponent to sufficiently low health to burst him down. Drawing this with Jeeves, you can easily take the game. You can also use it to remove your opponent’s 2-drop to gain tempo. Or just like other face decks do, combine it with Abusive Sergeant for more damage.

Piloted Shredder – The card that is so good that it had found in way into almost every single deck that existed. He is the king of sticky minions. And the best thing about him, you ask? He’s a mech! That means you can get him out early with Mechwarper and well, win!

Twilight Flamecaller – The only addition in the deck from Whispers of the Old Gods expansion. Well, even before standard was introduced, I used to run Arcane Explosion in a similar deck for a while. Even tried Arcane missiles, but with the huge amount of Paladins and Zoo on the ladder at that time, Arcane Explosion had just seemed like the perfect inclusion. It is not so different this time either. With Secret paladin still going strong in the Wild format and Zoo making a comeback, Twilight Flamecaller will help you get a considerable increase in your winrate.

Fireball – Fireball is the standard burst and removal spell for Mage; and the best one around too. The fact that you are even more likely to draw into this on time with Jeeves around only makes this one of the best cards of the deck.

Goblin Blastmage – There is a reason why mechs work best in Mage than in any other class. The reason is Goblin Blastmage. This 4-drop is simply too good to not play in any Mage deck that revolves around mechs. Best case he will remove a minion or two from your opponent’s side of the board. Worst case? A worst case does not exist for this card. Because him going all face is kind of even better because that is what this deck intends to do.

Jeeves – This is THE card that even makes this deck viable to begin with. And this is the only reason for the low curve we are running. This card can be compared to Divine Favor in in the aggressive Paladin decks. Actually, scrap it. This is even better because he will draw you cards for multiple turns, giving you cards to play turn after turn. He is going to stay, don’t worry. You will have other much more pressing threats for your opponent to spend resources on this little butler. And that solely is going to win you the game.

Some Things To Note

Now that we have looked at all the inclusions and why they are here, and even the synergies among the different cards, some things to note here. You might be wondering why some of the cards that could be actually very good here were not included. Well, that is simply because they did not fit in with what we are trying to do here. What we are trying is to exploit the synergy between mechs to seal the game as quickly as possible.

As I already explained, Argent Horserider fits in better than Tinkertown Technician. But Spare Parts, you say! Well, the spare parts are fine early on when you get them off Clockwork Gnome, but late game they are anti-synergistic with Jeeves. You would rather just draw one of the cards from your deck than have a dead spare part that might not even be useful. This is to ensure even higher chances of drawing into your burst damage. Another unique thing about this deck is that this does not run any cards that cost more than four mana. This again has been done to ensure to get maximum value out of Jeeves. Anyway, all the cards you will ever need are already in here.

Now that all of you are seemingly familiar with the deck contents and the potential of what this deck can do, it is time to take a look at the general strategy and how to go on about piloting this beauty!

General Strategy

The general strategy is simple – spam minions, get board control, go face and win. Sometimes just go face and win. It will all depend upon the matchup, actually. This deck works more or less like an aggressive Zoo deck and should be fairly easy to master for players who have played much of Zoo Warlock or even Hybrid Hunter for the matter. The basic gameplay follows a path much similar to the two decks in question. The best part about the deck is that a timely Jeeves will mean that you just won the game. Most of the times he will draw you at least two or three cards with potential of drawing much more. With a sizeable board and getting the opponent to low enough health, you will eventually draw into one your burst cards and win the game. With Fireballs and Frostbolts, this deck has the potential to snowball very easily. And it will, more often than not.

There have been times when I have ended up drawing my entire deck just because I summoned the second Jeeves as soon as the first one left the board.  Believe me, the satisfaction you get when you draw three perfect cards is immense. Sometimes, your opponent will himself spend all his resources inefficiently to get value from your Jeeves himself. This actually helps you rather, because well, his deck wasn’t built to abuse his ability. He just wasted his precious removal and your Goblin Blastmage will go unchecked now.

Given the basic strategy, there are still some particular things to be kept in mind while facing different archetypes. Specific decks do not matter much, to be honest, but you can sail through easily if you know how to tackle that archetype. Obviously, you might need the deck knowledge too in some cases like Secret Paladin. Without knowing how to play around the secrets, you cannot really win, can you?

Matchups

Let us look at the matchups against certain specific archetypes of decks.

Aggro – Frankly, these decks are your most favorable matchup. Your early game should be just too good for them to handle. Combined with your amazing hero power to ping down their little dudes, your opponents should not stand a chance. Twilight Flamecaller should put in a lot of work here, removing little threats and helping you control the game. The absolute key card though, is Annoy-o-Tron. This annoying bot will win you games. Oh, and not to forget the absolute gem of a card, Goblin Blastmage!

Midrange – Midrange decks are again a fine matchup. The only time you will find yourself behind is if they got a good board control turn or simply if you drew bad during the initial turns. Otherwise though, you should be able to beat them easily unless other midrange decks around. Jeeves should put a lot of work in here. And Mechwarper too, you can never forget him. Goblin Blastmage is again insane in this matchup because Midrange decks are all about board control and they fall behind if they lose it.

Control – Control decks like Control Priest and sometimes even Warrior are easily the toughest matchups for this deck. Warrior is still easy because of Snowchugger, Frostbolt and Jeeves. Priest can be a real pain though. Always try to keep Jeeves in hand, at least if you have the coin. This will ensure that you maintain the board presence even after losing your minions to his board clear turns. Well, if they get multiple of them, you cannot really do anything. As I said, Jeeves is the absolute key card here. The strategy is to push as much damage as possible before they can use their board clears and finally burst them down with the likes of Argent Horserider, Frostbolt and Fireball which you drew with Jeeves.

Ladder Experience

I don’t play Wild much as most of my time is taken up by either standard or Arena. Still though, I easily got this deck to rank five last season. Even before the Standard format came into effect, I used to run variants of this deck, consistently getting to rank five with it. Do make sure to give it a spin if you plan to play the Wild format. It is really cheap and fun!

Conclusion

Well, thus ends my first Wild deck guide. If I actually end up getting good response for this, I might do some more as I have some really nice and unique decks for the format that are actually pretty good. Do let me know if you want any more of these. You can always post in the comments section below or hit me up on twitter (ManveerS_07) for any information or help you might need. I mostly play on the NA servers and my Battle Tag is Mighty#1147

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