Hearthpwn

Description: This is my list for the Un Goro release meta. Secret Aggro looks to fall between Mech Mage and Tempo Mage in playstyle; the deck runs powerful spells like Primordial Glyph in conjunction with the secret discounters Kabal Lackey and Kirin Tor Mage to set up undercosted turns and develop strong board states. Arcanologist helps to keep your hand fueled and Kabal Crystal Runner comes down as a free or super cheap 5/5 in most games. These card choices complement a traditional tempo-style card selection and other secret-synergy options. The deck can power out wins as early as turn 5 while also having enough sustain to not insta-concede if they're still alive on turn 7. The addition of Arcanologist and Primordial Glyph give the deck a serious power boost compared to what may have been possible before Un Goro and Mana Bind has already started to prove itself as a valuable part of the secret suite.

Playstyle: You want to SMOrc less than Face Hunter and trade less than Zoo. Being able to read where you should fall on this spectrum from game to game, and even turn to turn against other aggressive decks, is vital. The learning curve doesn't feel particularly steep but this list offers enough interesting choices to you throughout the course of a game that the deck doesn't feel like it's just on autopilot.

Results: As of 4/16/2017 I've gone 76-38 on ladder for a 66% winrate from rank 18 to rank 3. VODs of most of these games are available on my Twitch channel. Check them out if you'd like to see the deck in action and feel free to drop me a follow (#sellout).

• vs Druid: 6-3, 66% (2-0 vs Aggro, 1-0 vs Quest, 1-0 vs Jade, 1-3 vs Token, 1-0 vs Other)
• vs Hunter: 11-5, 68% (0-1 vs Face, 10-4 vs Aggro Beast, 1-0 vs Midrange Beast)
• vs Mage: 8-2, 80% (5-1 vs Quest, 0-1 vs Elemental, 1-0 vs Secret, 1-0 vs Tempo, 1-0 vs Freeze)
• vs Paladin: 5-5, 50% (1-0 vs Quest, 1-3 vs Murloc, 2-1 vs Handbuff, 1-0 vs Aggro, 0-1 vs Healadin)
• vs Priest: 5-1, 83% (2-0 vs Combo, 2-0 vs Quest, 1-0 vs Silence, 0-1 vs Dragon)
• vs Rogue: 19-7, 73% (15-5 vs Quest, 2-2 vs Miracle, 1-0 vs Aggro, 1-0 vs Other)
• vs Shaman: 6-2, 75% (3-2 vs Elemental, 3-0 vs Quest)
• vs Warlock: 4-5, 44% (0-1 vs Quest, 2-1 vs Handlock, 2-3 vs Discard Zoo)
• vs Warrior:  12-8, 60% (5-2 vs Pirates, 7-6 vs Quest)

The weakest matchups have been decks like Token Druid, Murloc Pally, and Zoo so far, meaning that we struggle against wide boards and explosive turns (like multiple buffs coming out or highroll discard scenarios) given the lack of AOE options. We've excelled against most Quest decks, which take too long to set up their conditions and lose tempo by our ability to disrupt their boards in many cases. In particular, I've been farming Quest Rogue super hard.

Card Choices: As mentioned above, most of these cards are Mage mainstays or specifically brought in for the secret synergy. Possibly the weakest card so far has been Secretkeeper; I started with 2 copies but have cut one (for the second Babbling Book) and the remaining copy doesn't feel necessary, so consider this a flex spot. A second Sorcerer's Apprentice is probably a safe replacement as the value the girls give you from Glyphs alone just feels so much more powerful.

Medivh's Valet is sometimes awkward as a 2-drop you usually don't want to play on turn two but is an important part of the deck as a body to contest the board and making up for a relatively small direct damage suite. You could potentially cut one for a second Fireball if you're worried about too many conditionals but I've been satisfied so far and really feel like the body is an important factor up through the middle stages of the game.

Ethereal Arcanist feels really good as a one-of right now but this could change depending on how the rest of the meta shapes up and how long secrets tend to stay up before being popped. I've had a handful of games where the card died as a 5/5, one or two games where I had to tempo it out as a 3/3 with no secret up, and one game against Quest Warrior where it singlehandedly won me the game with 15 power.

The composition of the secret suite in this list could definitely be reworked depending on personal preference and the meta you're facing. I feel like 2x of Mirror Entity should be a mainstay but the other slots are flexible. Double Counterspell and Mana Bind were chosen for the first draft to try and take advantage of the high prevalence of assorted Quest deck players: t1 Lackey on the play into any secret forces them into a guessing game of whether to burn the coin or not to avoid losing their win condition, not to mention the potential for countering and/or getting a free copy of their reward later in the game if it's a spell. The deck plays fast enough that I wouldn't consider Ice Barrier or Ice Block but a 1-of Potion of Polymorph or even Spellbender might be worth the try.

Budget Considerations: Another nice facet of this list is the cost: 2160 Dust plus expansion cards. This list includes only two different Kharazhan cards, in Bubbling Book and Medivh's Valet, and you could potentially run the list without them although I would think you'd need to do some other tweaks and push more towards a higher-curve Tempo list. You could really lower the cost by cutting the Glyphs as well but again, I feel like they are worth crafting and a good investment as they will see play as long as they are in Standard across most Mage decks.

Mulligans: Coming soon hopefully, or if I get some upvotes and want to update I guess. It should mostly be straightforward insofar as you throw back secrets when you don't have Lackey or KT Mage and want to try and curve out from turns 1 to 4 efficiently. There are likely some important considerations to be made form class to class but I'd like to do more testing before writing anything up on that.

Thanks for reading! Let me know how you fare with this list if you give it a try.