I've been playing aggressive decks a lot lately and thought I would give Tempo Mage a try.
I'm new to this kind of deck and don't really know where to start. As I understood, Tempo mage usually runs Yogg, which might change considering this card will be nerfed soon.
I would appreciate it if someone could suggest a deck that works well in general, and perhaps give some general tips on how to play Tempo Mage.
Hi safastak, The deck tries to add ¨tempo¨, that means that you play minions that give you value when playing a spell, or play spells that let you keep the board, wo you manage the ¨tempo¨ of the game.
The deck should run 2 of each of these minions (except Thalnos which is a legendary). And as you can see everyone does something with spells, either giving you one, raising the spell damage, making them cheaper, and the MVP which isFlamewaker, which will make you do 2 more damage distributed amongst all enemies per spell cast.
Each spell gets powered by the above minions, for example: playing Flamewaker then a Coin and Arcane Missiles on turn 3, deals 7 damage distributed amongst all enemies, that kills any enemy minion, deals face damage and gives you the board.
If you add the minions and spells I told you, that's 26-27 cards.. So you can fill those spots with the following cards:
Water Elemental is always good against weapons, Forgotten Torch gives you early removal and cheaper fireballs to deliver the killing blow, Ethereal Conjurer (it was used instead of Azure Drake a while ago, it's nice because you can discover what you like but the drake makes you draw and also has + spell dmg), Cabalist's Tome (I'm running two of those right now), Faceless Summoner, etc.
Or the big legendaries, Archmage Antonidas was mandatory until a while ago.. Now since you ussually spend the cheaper spells its not being much used. Yogg-Saron, Hope's End was AWESOME! In this deck as in Spell Druid, it became a beast because it would cast 10 spells minimum and it added so much value: clearing board, secrets, drawing, etc. It saved my ass many times, but the nerf killed it..
The legendary which gives you a lot of tempo now, but is expensive to play is Medivh, the Guardian Playing a Flamestrike after equiping Atiesh is lovely, you clear the board and get a 7 cost minion.. Also Ragnaros the Firelord sees a lot of play, and now that shaman and hunter got nerfed as well might see more, since it's more of a big hitter than a board clearer (like Yogg was).
I will say go with versions not running antonidas as he is too slow and you may not have the low cost spells by turn 7/8 and also if your running him you should run Emperor too. Cut both and go with the fast double torch style. Run 2 cabalists tomes or conjurers if you dont have tomes.
The only big minion I run is Yogg, hes still decent even post nerf. Also firelands portal is really good if your not running into a bunch of aggro. It is interchangeable with flame strike depending what you are facing.
Thanks a lot Raphael. I built a deck that you can see below. I chose to run Medivh instead of Yogg, although I still see some people using Yogg even after nerf.
Firelands portal is a great spell, though I don't see what I can substitute it with if I want to get a second one.
And regarding Forgotten Torch, I thought one would be enough considering I already have 2 Frostbolts and 2 Fireballs.
Please let me know what you think of my deck, if you would make any changes.
Thanks a lot Raphael. I built a deck that you can see below. I chose to run Medivh instead of Yogg, although I still see some people using Yogg even after nerf.
Firelands portal is a great spell, though I don't see what I can substitute it with if I want to get a second one.
And regarding Forgotten Torch, I thought one would be enough considering I already have 2 Frostbolts and 2 Fireballs.
Please let me know what you think of my deck, if you would make any changes.
What MaestroHS said is totally right, about Antonidas and it's play style, even if you're running Emperor and Cabalist's Tome, the combo is a little bit awkward, you'll have to play cabalist (losing turn 5), then emperor to make cards cheaper, then Tony.. It's like losing 3 turns to get fireballs, double torch give's you early removal and has the same effect
@MaestroHS, you're still running Yogg? I totally loved him, but after the nerf, he has been dreadful for me. No clearing the board, no secrets, no drawing cards.. No value at all..
Nice deck safastak! I'm also running Medivh instead of Yogg.. The ones using Yogg, were successful against you?
I'm using the same deck you have, but I'm running another flamestrike instead of a Forgotten Torch and I switched out Mirror Image for Ragnaros. But that's mostly because I haven't played much lately and I'm rank 17.. When I'm lower in the ranks I'll probably switch the Flamestrike out, but I like your version as well, the deck has only 4 cards that are 3-drop, so it's a nice addition.
What you need to do in order to win is to read the opponent well.. as soon as you identify the deck, try to counter it, if zoo/aggro try to clear every minion, until you get board (your spells, the sinergy with your minions and you hero power give you that option), when you get it, beware of their AoE removal and start hitting face, you'll have the tempo, more draw and the advantage.
If control/reno, you'll have to go all in, wyrms, cult sorcerer, babbling books, try to make them spend their removal quickly enough and go face as much as you can, you will outpace them.
I wouldnt mind trying a Medivh style of mage I think it could make things interesting...I have been trying to fit him into priest lol.
@Raphael: Yea I'm still using Yogg as a panic button drop but honestly I dont know I think I am lucky because Yogg is doing better than before for me lol. I decided to keep him because I noticed often after Yogg killed himself and the board was clear I would just take a bunch of face dmg. He usually clears the board for me and draws me a card or drops 1 secret, if he starts to turn on me I may swap for Medivh or firelands portal.
I agree with Maestro about the fact that you need to see what you've been facing lately, it's totally dependant on what you're getting paired against.. Panic button made my day! hahahaha! It's like a panic nuclear button actually :P
I'm a little bit greedy, but playing a flamestrike or firelands portal with Atiesh equipped feels almost as good as Yogg-Saroning.. You should try that! Medivh replaced Yogg on both my Spell Druid and Tempo Mage, it's a great card (though very expensive and tempo lacking).
Honestly, I would't run the deck without those two (and I'm currenty running three right now, haha) but perhaps you can switch out a cult sorcerer or babbling book, I wouldn't take a spell out for yogg, maybe the forgotten torch..
But it's my opinion, and only because I like playing Medivh with expensive spells.. Actually since Yogg is used as a board clearer, taking a Flamestrike makes sense.
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Hey
I've been playing aggressive decks a lot lately and thought I would give Tempo Mage a try.
I'm new to this kind of deck and don't really know where to start. As I understood, Tempo mage usually runs Yogg, which might change considering this card will be nerfed soon.
I would appreciate it if someone could suggest a deck that works well in general, and perhaps give some general tips on how to play Tempo Mage.
Thanks in advance :)
Hi safastak, The deck tries to add ¨tempo¨, that means that you play minions that give you value when playing a spell, or play spells that let you keep the board, wo you manage the ¨tempo¨ of the game.
The meta deck nowadays consist of this minions: Babbling Book, Mana Wyrm, Bloodmage Thalnos, Cult Sorcerer, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Flamewaker and Azure Drake.
The deck should run 2 of each of these minions (except Thalnos which is a legendary). And as you can see everyone does something with spells, either giving you one, raising the spell damage, making them cheaper, and the MVP which isFlamewaker, which will make you do 2 more damage distributed amongst all enemies per spell cast.
And the mandatory spells are Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, Mirror Image, Frostbolt, Arcane Intellect, Fireball, Flamestrike, Firelands Portal. You should run 2 of each except Mirror Image (one is fine ussually enough) and the big damage dealers: Flamestrike and Firelands Portal, currently I'm running one of the first and two of the latter, since the combo with Flamewaker let's you have the board at the beginning and more than three of either can be cumbersome.
Each spell gets powered by the above minions, for example: playing Flamewaker then a Coin and Arcane Missiles on turn 3, deals 7 damage distributed amongst all enemies, that kills any enemy minion, deals face damage and gives you the board.
Another nice combo is with Cult Sorcerer or Bloodmage Thalnos or Azure Drake and Arcane Blast, that way it deals 4 damage, instead of 2 (or 6 if you have two minions that give + spell damage).
If you add the minions and spells I told you, that's 26-27 cards.. So you can fill those spots with the following cards:
Water Elemental is always good against weapons, Forgotten Torch gives you early removal and cheaper fireballs to deliver the killing blow, Ethereal Conjurer (it was used instead of Azure Drake a while ago, it's nice because you can discover what you like but the drake makes you draw and also has + spell dmg), Cabalist's Tome (I'm running two of those right now), Faceless Summoner, etc.
Or the big legendaries, Archmage Antonidas was mandatory until a while ago.. Now since you ussually spend the cheaper spells its not being much used. Yogg-Saron, Hope's End was AWESOME! In this deck as in Spell Druid, it became a beast because it would cast 10 spells minimum and it added so much value: clearing board, secrets, drawing, etc. It saved my ass many times, but the nerf killed it..
The legendary which gives you a lot of tempo now, but is expensive to play is Medivh, the Guardian Playing a Flamestrike after equiping Atiesh is lovely, you clear the board and get a 7 cost minion.. Also Ragnaros the Firelord sees a lot of play, and now that shaman and hunter got nerfed as well might see more, since it's more of a big hitter than a board clearer (like Yogg was).
I recommend you to watch ThijsNL Twitch, or his youtube channel: ThijsNL Youtube, since he plays Mages a lot..
Here you can see him get to rank 1 with a pre-nerf Tempo Mage: Medivh Mage #1 Legend. That should let you learn a lot about how to play the deck.
Have fun playing the deck and let me know if I can help you further..
Really good layout for you from Raphael.
I will say go with versions not running antonidas as he is too slow and you may not have the low cost spells by turn 7/8 and also if your running him you should run Emperor too. Cut both and go with the fast double torch style. Run 2 cabalists tomes or conjurers if you dont have tomes.
The only big minion I run is Yogg, hes still decent even post nerf. Also firelands portal is really good if your not running into a bunch of aggro. It is interchangeable with flame strike depending what you are facing.
Hey
Thanks a lot Raphael. I built a deck that you can see below. I chose to run Medivh instead of Yogg, although I still see some people using Yogg even after nerf.
Firelands portal is a great spell, though I don't see what I can substitute it with if I want to get a second one.
And regarding Forgotten Torch, I thought one would be enough considering I already have 2 Frostbolts and 2 Fireballs.
Please let me know what you think of my deck, if you would make any changes.
What MaestroHS said is totally right, about Antonidas and it's play style, even if you're running Emperor and Cabalist's Tome, the combo is a little bit awkward, you'll have to play cabalist (losing turn 5), then emperor to make cards cheaper, then Tony.. It's like losing 3 turns to get fireballs, double torch give's you early removal and has the same effect
@MaestroHS, you're still running Yogg? I totally loved him, but after the nerf, he has been dreadful for me. No clearing the board, no secrets, no drawing cards.. No value at all..
Nice deck safastak! I'm also running Medivh instead of Yogg.. The ones using Yogg, were successful against you?
I'm using the same deck you have, but I'm running another flamestrike instead of a Forgotten Torch and I switched out Mirror Image for Ragnaros. But that's mostly because I haven't played much lately and I'm rank 17.. When I'm lower in the ranks I'll probably switch the Flamestrike out, but I like your version as well, the deck has only 4 cards that are 3-drop, so it's a nice addition.
What you need to do in order to win is to read the opponent well.. as soon as you identify the deck, try to counter it, if zoo/aggro try to clear every minion, until you get board (your spells, the sinergy with your minions and you hero power give you that option), when you get it, beware of their AoE removal and start hitting face, you'll have the tempo, more draw and the advantage.
If control/reno, you'll have to go all in, wyrms, cult sorcerer, babbling books, try to make them spend their removal quickly enough and go face as much as you can, you will outpace them.
I wouldnt mind trying a Medivh style of mage I think it could make things interesting...I have been trying to fit him into priest lol.
@Raphael: Yea I'm still using Yogg as a panic button drop but honestly I dont know I think I am lucky because Yogg is doing better than before for me lol. I decided to keep him because I noticed often after Yogg killed himself and the board was clear I would just take a bunch of face dmg. He usually clears the board for me and draws me a card or drops 1 secret, if he starts to turn on me I may swap for Medivh or firelands portal.
If I were to include Yogg in my deck, what card would you recommend I switch it with? Considering I would keep Medivh as well (should be interesting).
I would say Probably Flamestrike or firelands portal depending on what you are facing on the ladder.
I would say probably firelands because yogg can sometimes be a board clear in itself but you will have to experiment with it.
Also I just love Yogg thats why I run him, I have been playing casino mage for a bit with servant of Yogg so I'm pretty Die hard lmao
I agree with Maestro about the fact that you need to see what you've been facing lately, it's totally dependant on what you're getting paired against.. Panic button made my day! hahahaha! It's like a panic nuclear button actually :P
I'm a little bit greedy, but playing a flamestrike or firelands portal with Atiesh equipped feels almost as good as Yogg-Saroning.. You should try that! Medivh replaced Yogg on both my Spell Druid and Tempo Mage, it's a great card (though very expensive and tempo lacking).
Honestly, I would't run the deck without those two (and I'm currenty running three right now, haha) but perhaps you can switch out a cult sorcerer or babbling book, I wouldn't take a spell out for yogg, maybe the forgotten torch..
But it's my opinion, and only because I like playing Medivh with expensive spells.. Actually since Yogg is used as a board clearer, taking a Flamestrike makes sense.