Hearthpwn

After struggling in the 13-9 ranks for several days I decided to tweak and tech my standard mech mage to be able push through and advance out of the lower ranks. This deck is the combined work of many people and much of the teching options were done by Icegirl and myself.  Right now the deck sits at rank 6 and will continuing  to push to legend. 

Overall Strategy

Like any other mech mage, the deck seeks to establish an early board dominance using low drop minions such as Cogmaster, Annoy-o-Tron, Snowchugger, and Mechwarper. Then it becomes a game of balancing damage to face and control of the board. The deck has enough versatility that it can easily adapt to whatever deck you are facing and provide you with just the right solution.

• Early board domination/fireball burst- Continue to build your board while denying theirs and hold Fireballs in reserve for a final face blast.
• Snowball aggression. Play the deck extremely aggressive pushing your opponent to be 100% reactive and never getting a chance to establish much of a board himself.(Only recommended for Druid and Warlock)
• Archmage Antonidas Fireball spam. This one is a tad bit harder to go for as what spare parts you get will greatly shift the odds on the viability and many times the use of a spare part pre-antonidas can make the difference between winning and losing.
• Snowchugger lock down. Against classes with weapons(warrior, hunter, rogue, shaman, paladin) The Snowchugger becomes one of your greatest tools. In the case of Shaman it can literally shut down much of their power ramp from power mace and allow you to get a board they will be struggling to deal with, or force them to use a Crackle on a Snowchugger, which is more ideal then it being used on your face.

Spare Parts

Spare parts are a very important tool in this deck.  The deck only has a max possible of 3 spare parts it can get from its minions. This makes what you get and when and how to use them very crucial to success.Archmage Antonidas is the most obvious source of usage, however this should not be the only source. As it stands there is really only 1 spare part you want to get and hold onto souly for Archmage Antonidas and that is the Finicky Cloakfield. Reversing Switch can be used to turn a Goblin Blastmage into a yeti for more survival or used to flip a Sludge Belcher over so a Frostbolt sends it to its smaller form thus lessening the damage a trade with a minion will cause. Time Rewinder is a great card for battlecry effects. Big Game Hunter, Goblin Blastmage, Even Azure Drake for a secondary card draw.

Mulligan

In almost every situation the mulligan is very simple. 

Clockwork Gnome, Frostbolt, Cogmaster, Snowchugger, Mechwarper, Annoy-o-Tron,  

In many cases your Tinkertown Technician and Spider Tank are fine to keep if you have a 1 and  2 drop that are not spells Unstable Portal is not a bad card to keep as long as you have a minion you can play  turn 1 or 2. 

The coin will also help in your determination of what to keep and toss. With coin keeping a Tinkertown Technician makes sense if you have a Clockwork Gnome. If no gnome then a Spider Tank is the obvious choice.

"Teching"

By now most of you are saying "What makes this different from the thousands of other mech mage decks that exist?" What makes this deck unique is the choices it makes to handle other popular deck's "value cards". These cards can also be slotted out with some ease depending on personal preference and what you are facing against the most in the meta. 

Polymorph

This card is extremely versatile in dealing with many high value targets that would otherwise require unfavorable trades.  Tirion Fordring, Sylvanas Windrunner Kel'Thuzad, Ysera.  Polymorph removes these and other high value minions for minimal cost.

Big Game Hunter

Thanks to the widespread appeal of Dr. Boom , Ragnaros the Firelord, and Giants, this minion will most of the time have value. Even when playing against a more aggro based deck such as "Zoo" he becomes a solid offensive minion. It should be noted his low life is idea for Imp-losion so be wary.

Azure Drake

Azure Drakeprovides a much needed draw mechanic to the deck as well as a solid 4/4 body. The added spell power is a great secondary effect that can work well in pushing for lethal or removing a minion.

Unstable Portal

While technically a spell, unstable portal is for all intensive purposes a minion. The mana reduction and the Rng variance of what you can get from it can swing the odds of you winning dramatically. If the minion it summons is 3 mana or less it plays for free so early in the game this is a great play if you have no viable turn 2 play to build your board state. If the minion summoned is greater then then the mana reduction, this will allow you to ramp out the minion to give a greater mana curve value or to allow it to be combined with other plays to make a very imposing board that forces your opponent to expend resources and minions unfavorably or allow you extend your advantage and thus further increasing your rate of success. This spell also has the chance to pull some extremely high value minions that should be played wisely and correctly.

 

Substitution

 

• Archmage Antonidas. This is a tough call as the deck has a nice synergy with him as a win condition. Ragnaros the Firelord can work, Kel'Thuzad works if you can maintain board control.
• Dr. Boom. While not overly needed its value is tremendus. a second Piloted Sky Golem is another option or even Sylvanas Windrunner
• Piloted Sky Golem. This card is meant to help provide mid and late game value by the fact it is very sticky and forces unfavorable trades. Sylvanas Windrunner, Cairne Bloodhoof, The Black Knight(tech option for heavy taunt meta)

Conclusion

The deck is a lot of fun and at times will require some creative plays in order to gain the advantage and push for victory!