Are mages fundamentally flawed right now? I have built a bunch of different mage decks and played them on Cockatrice. All of them seem to suffer either with draw power or the ability to finish the game. The only "mage" decks I have seen with any success are really other archetypes with a mage as a Hero (i.e. token deck, murloc deck). While mages do have the best big damage spells, I feel like the class needs more fundamental draw power. Ice Lance could stay the same but add a Draw a Card too it. Other classes have removal/damage spells that add draw a card (i.e. Starfire).
Mage specific minons with abilities like Gadgetzan Auctioneer would also be a good fit. The only similar mechanics that mages have in their set either decrease spell cost (Sorcerer's Apprentice), decrease minion cost (Pint-Sized Summoner, or cast free secrets (Kirin Tor Mage). While all of those are great, they all increase the rate at which mages uses cards, again resulting in draw power issues.
My other thought is that since mages are the class everyone in the game will start with, I almost believe they are intentionally underpowered by Blizzard. This way, players will feel some progression when they move on to other classes.
My other thought is that since mages are the class everyone in the game will start with, I almost believe they are intentionally underpowered by Blizzard. This way, players will feel some progression when they move on to other classes.
I can guarantee you this is not the case. It's not what Blizzard has ever done in balancing, to make a class knowingly underpowered to support other classes. No decent company would.
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Mages aren't even on the bottom rung when it comes to draw power. Hunter and shaman have no card draw power. Far Sight and Tracking are card neutral. Mages at least have Arcane Intellect.
If you want to talk about card advantage in general mages have a lot of AoE spells which will allow them to 2 for 1 (or 3 or 4 for 1) their opponents very easily.
There are certain good mage decks that I love. Token decks, enrage decks and secret decks are really good mages. For draw power you can get an acoyte of pain and ping him with your hero power very good in almost every mage deck. Plus the secrets help a lot. Not a fully invested secret deck but the Kirin tor mage whit a secrets go along way. Cult master had 3 health was a great draw power but with 2 health it's so easy to remove and I think that really hurt my mage decks cause I had him in alot of them. Plus slumgum is right mages have lots of aoe which really help board presence. A spellpower mage deck with aoes go a long way. Plus I like how mage can pretty much remove and 1 health minion at the start of the game.
I really don't like arcane intellect or ice lance or frost nova or ice block or ice barrier. I think those cards are realy bad for their cost. Arcane intellect really gives you and extra card in its place which I'm sure it it's worth it. A novice engineer does the same but puts a body ont he board and is much cheaper.
From what I've seen Mages can surely be streaky, but I think that with the right deck (as is the case for all the Heroes) they can be extremely potent.
I'm still learning the game and the cards, as I'm sure most people are, and I haven't played cockatrice at all (I'm too intimidated by the client and scared to do something wrong :/ ). But as I understand the Mage class, they have great clear potential of large minions through polymorph/Hero Power, incredibly powerful single and AoE spells, and the ability to create immense board control through freezing abilities and minions and spell clears.
I really like the new iceblock and to be able to ping damage every turn, mages definitely have tools designed to keep them in the game while they wait for power cards to arrive.
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Are mages fundamentally flawed right now? I have built a bunch of different mage decks and played them on Cockatrice. All of them seem to suffer either with draw power or the ability to finish the game. The only "mage" decks I have seen with any success are really other archetypes with a mage as a Hero (i.e. token deck, murloc deck). While mages do have the best big damage spells, I feel like the class needs more fundamental draw power. Ice Lance could stay the same but add a Draw a Card too it. Other classes have removal/damage spells that add draw a card (i.e. Starfire).
Mage specific minons with abilities like Gadgetzan Auctioneer would also be a good fit. The only similar mechanics that mages have in their set either decrease spell cost (Sorcerer's Apprentice), decrease minion cost (Pint-Sized Summoner, or cast free secrets (Kirin Tor Mage). While all of those are great, they all increase the rate at which mages uses cards, again resulting in draw power issues.
My other thought is that since mages are the class everyone in the game will start with, I almost believe they are intentionally underpowered by Blizzard. This way, players will feel some progression when they move on to other classes.
I can guarantee you this is not the case. It's not what Blizzard has ever done in balancing, to make a class knowingly underpowered to support other classes. No decent company would.
If you see a bad post on the forum use the report function under it, so I or someone else of the moderation team can take care of it!
I would like to think that is the case as well, and suspect they are not doing that. However, I do think mages will need some love at some point.
Mages aren't even on the bottom rung when it comes to draw power. Hunter and shaman have no card draw power. Far Sight and Tracking are card neutral. Mages at least have Arcane Intellect.
If you want to talk about card advantage in general mages have a lot of AoE spells which will allow them to 2 for 1 (or 3 or 4 for 1) their opponents very easily.
There are certain good mage decks that I love. Token decks, enrage decks and secret decks are really good mages. For draw power you can get an acoyte of pain and ping him with your hero power very good in almost every mage deck. Plus the secrets help a lot. Not a fully invested secret deck but the Kirin tor mage whit a secrets go along way. Cult master had 3 health was a great draw power but with 2 health it's so easy to remove and I think that really hurt my mage decks cause I had him in alot of them. Plus slumgum is right mages have lots of aoe which really help board presence. A spellpower mage deck with aoes go a long way. Plus I like how mage can pretty much remove and 1 health minion at the start of the game.
I really don't like arcane intellect or ice lance or frost nova or ice block or ice barrier. I think those cards are realy bad for their cost. Arcane intellect really gives you and extra card in its place which I'm sure it it's worth it. A novice engineer does the same but puts a body ont he board and is much cheaper.
Let me change your mind
From what I've seen Mages can surely be streaky, but I think that with the right deck (as is the case for all the Heroes) they can be extremely potent.
I'm still learning the game and the cards, as I'm sure most people are, and I haven't played cockatrice at all (I'm too intimidated by the client and scared to do something wrong :/ ). But as I understand the Mage class, they have great clear potential of large minions through polymorph/Hero Power, incredibly powerful single and AoE spells, and the ability to create immense board control through freezing abilities and minions and spell clears.
I really like the new iceblock and to be able to ping damage every turn, mages definitely have tools designed to keep them in the game while they wait for power cards to arrive.