Hearthpwn

Tempo Mage is a Mage deck that utilizes cheap spells alongside minions with powerful spell synergies. It's a deck that is capable of early game aggression, with minions such as Mana Wyrm and a wide array of burn spells. Unlike aggro decks, however, Tempo Mage is more than capable of playing the long game, with a multitude of ways to clear an opposing board, the primary involving Flamewaker. Tempo Mage uses card draw and value generation effects such as Archmage Antonidas to ensure that it remain relevant in the late game.

Tempo Mage first rose into prominence in Blackrock Mountain, with the release of Flamewaker. This card's effect, when used with multiple cheap spells such as Arcane Missiles, created massive, often game-winning tempo swings. The Journey to Ungoro expansion added only one new card to improve Tempo Mage's gameplan, but it's a significant one: Primordial Glyph. Primordial Glyph allows Mage to discover a spell to adapt to the current game situation, essential for free since the spell's cost is reduced by 2. Already a strong card on its own, Primordial Glyph power is further amplified when combined with Flamewaker, increasing the number of cheap spells the Tempo Mage can cast on a swing turn.

In a deck revolving around spell synergy, the addition of essentially 4 more cheap spells in the form of Primordial Glyphs is enough to catapult Tempo Mage up to Tier 3.

~ Writeup by MetricTrout