Hearthpwn

I built this deck for a 5 win mage daily (i don't usually play mage in ranked) and it went 5-1 but more then anything it was very fun to play!

You try to mulligan for a good opening (wyrm + images, undertaker + creeper etc). There are 3 different secrets for the opponent to play around, you have a chance to drop one for free with the Kirin Tor Mage, while another 3 slot is taken by the Harvest Golem. The Acolyte of Pain is the source of card draw, also Azure Drake serves the same purpose, although i don't like it that much and it could use a replacement (maybe Spectral Knight?).

The only thing you have to be careful with is mirror image and Duplicate, as you could get 2 0/2s.

I'm not really the netdecking type (been playing Magic since i was a kid) so i don't know if there's something similar. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

This deck is not so unique, I have been working with a similar concept a while, and Sjow and others have made popular ones.

This is my current midrange build, made to be good vs Zoo and Hunter, which swarm the ladder. It has problems vs priest, but there are less of them now! Feel free to steal ideas!

I don't like the fireballs because there aren't so many 5-6 health creatures around, if there's something really big there's polymorph. Most decks nowdays run a variety of small minions.

Flamestrike could replace Azure Drake, as they are both about card advantage and both late game cards. That's a good call.

Loatheb also can be the replacement for the second drake.

All three secrets come into play for free (usually, unless silence happens) and i like to keep the variety as it is (3 is not too many, not too few).

I don't like Sludge Belcher because all he does for 5 mana is give The Black Knight some value. Besides, the deck is so fast that you don't really need taunts other then Mirror Image.

I've made a slower version with belchers, fireballs, etc, but it's easily destroyed by zoo and hunter in 6-7 turns.

You say this is no rush deck, then mirror images will most likely cause you to lose card advantage. Belchers have great synergy with undertakers in the late game. I think the mirror image synergy with mana wyrms is not really worth it. I would only use them if I had antonidas in my deck, and/or maybe 2 auctioneers. If they can replace themselves with another card, they become rather fine. Otherwise, trash.

Fireballs are always useful for removing big threats, or finishing your opponents. But I see that polymorph has some merit to use with acolytes. It's really up to decision, but I'd say 3 in total might make things easier. Also one flamestrike is really useful.

As for big flashy legendaries, I wouldn't use sylvanas or cairne. Against opponents with no clue of what they are doing, they will work great. But they are too slow for your deck and good players with good decks, will make you suffer a tempo loss if they know what they are doing.

The big problem with this kind of deck, pretty much no matter how you put it togeter, is that it will always have bad matchups and bad draws in my experience. Some examples:

Too many secrets, you have no chance vs hunters because of Flare

Too many lategame minions, get ready to be destroyed by zoo

Too many small minions, good luck getting through the taunt walls of control decks. 1 The Black Knight is not enough imo.

Secrets in your opening hand with no Kirin Tor Mage, you are screwed.

Also, the secrets themselves are very matchup dependant. Zoo laugh at Counterspell and Mirror Entity, and there are a lot of them!

In general, I think your deck falls between two stools, as lacking burst potential but also relying on a strong early game. If you lose the board-control war at some point, you have no chance of getting back. You need more AOE, and maybe gear the deck more towards aggro with Knife Juggler or add some strong finisher, either spells or smth like Ragnaros the Firelord.

To be honest i kinda like the "deception" factor provided by the mirror images. As in the opponent may perceive you as rush and hex/execute some crappy minion like Undertaker or Mana Wyrm. I also like the protection they provide from weapons such as Fiery War Axe or Death's Bite (warrior control being one of the hardest matchups for my deck i suppose). But i will definately consider replacing them with 2x Ice Lance for some finishing power. Mirror Image is also awful with Duplicate. I will keep considering the Fireballs but so far in my experience they just rot in my hand waiting for the right target, slowing me down.

This is an update after swapping the drakes;

Gonna play some more with it and see how people reacts to Cairne & Sylvanas, and evaluate a swap for Rag or KT (lots of minion to trade in and get back from a KT play probably?).

So far the secret / secret giving minion balance has been amazing, 1 Kirin Tor and two mad scientist with 3 secret all different for the opponent to play around worked very well. Granted some secrets are more effective against certain decks, but it's not like they slow the deck down or anything, 90% of the times they come down for free, as you always mulligan them away.

So at which rang are you playing this? A lot of decks can have success in unranked.

I am a firm believer in Bloodmage Thalnos in this, but maybe you are right with only 3 damage spells.

It seems to lack some power and reach to me, and its not quite full aggro either. Im curious how it goes though!

I did play a few ranked matches today, went from rank 12 to 9 without losing a game. Maybe 6-7 games i don't know. Most wins came down to unexpected duplicate Sylvanas or Cairne. I wish i had more time to play ranked but i'm still farming arena for packs, as my collection still lacks all but two class legendaries, and many more.

I have to say that ranked games are much easier at this rank, in casual mode 1 out of 2 players has a legend card back, must be some weird mmr thing but it's very annoying for the dailies.

I've tried before a Bloodmage Thalnos in the deck but it feels just like nerfed Loot Hoarder with only 3 spells, like you said.

Mind i'm not saying this is a legend level deck, but should be pretty simple to put together (all 3 legendaries are pretty popular) even if you only need to do the dailies. And the best thing about it is that i finally put together something decent, i've been terrible at deckbuilding in this game so far.