Hearthpwn

I'm trying to make a decent elemental mage and big spell mage. Is archmage arugal crucial for elemental mage, or should I craft Bloodmage thalnos. I also use a tempo mage deck that I would like to have bloodmage thalnos in, but if arugal is important for elemental mage i"d rather spend my dust on that.

Also, I have seen alexstraza in a bunch of big spell mages, but I really like the concept of toki. Do big spell mages use alextraza as a big threat, or do they need to battlecry to heal/damage

I have Arugal in elemental mage and find that I usually get moderate value from him at best. Thalnos is a neutral legendary from the classic set who fits in many, many decks.

Bloodmage Thalnos imho. just risking that he finishes in Hall of Fame 

Thalnos is good to craft, because it fits into a lot different decks. The versatility is really nice to have, and good value to craft.

From your choices, I'd craft Alexstraza. It fits into more of the slower decks such as Elemental Mage that focuses on Control, and Priests decks. (Control Priest, Quest Priest, Dragon Priest, etc) But most importantly, Alexstraza is a card that can shift the game in a big way, to your favor. Thalnos is generally a good card and can be thrown into many decks, but has a small impact on the game compared to when Alexstraza is played.

This isn't much of a choice. One is a neutral that fits well into many decks and has stood the test of time. The other is a throw away mage legendary that doesn't fit anywhere. 

But to really answer your question, neither of these is a great choice for elemental mage. You should probably post your deck and ask for advice. Or look at existing lists. Alex can be good.

I rank them as follows:

1) Alexstrasza: As she is played in Big Spell Mage, Reno Mage, Freeze Mage, Giant Quest Mage, Control Burn Mage, OTK Malygos Druid etc. She essentially has a lot of applications in Control mage decks and combo decks in general.

2) Bloodmage Thalnos: One of the most versatile cards from the classic set. Whether you want cycle or spell damage, he's good to be stuck almost anywhere

3) Archmage Arugal: He's an ok card but don't really view him as control material.

4) Toki, Time-Tinker: She's a fun card that produces value but honestly I don't consider her to be competitively viable all that much

Quote from Biddio92 >>

Bloodmage Thalnos imho. just risking that he finishes in Hall of Fame 

 I'm not worried about that, you get a full dust refund :)

Quote from Grenache >>

Thalnos is good to craft, because it fits into a lot different decks. The versatility is really nice to have, and good value to craft.

From your choices, I'd craft Alexstraza. It fits into more of the slower decks such as Elemental Mage that focuses on Control, and Priests decks. (Control Priest, Quest Priest, Dragon Priest, etc) But most importantly, Alexstraza is a card that can shift the game in a big way, to your favor. Thalnos is generally a good card and can be thrown into many decks, but has a small impact on the game compared to when Alexstraza is played.

 I'll go with thalnos.

as for alexstrasa, should I craft her or toki time turner

I dusted my Arugal. Never used him. Bloodmage Thalnos has more use and crafting value (a possible hall of fame card too, as some have mentioned)

I feel I dont have much use for thalnos. He seems to slow to put in tempo mage, and arugal is better in elemental

Honestly I don't feel Arugal is that great for elemental mage. I play the elemental minion mage that Kibler introduced that I adapted a bit for wild and my hand is usually so full of value anyway with spellstone generated spells and discovered elementals. 

Big threats in Big Spell Mage are very flexible, there is no one correct choice. However, the only major benefit I'd think of that Big Spell Mage would get from Alex is if you had a wide board with no enemy taunt minions and you could somehow steal a win (assuming they weren't a druid with a ton of armor). Otherwise, the choice doesn't make much sense for me in a deck with no burst and in a meta full of taunts and instead massive armor gain.

Toki isn't a needed tool for any mage deck, but if you love the meme then go for it.

Sounds like Thalnos is your best bet.

Bloodmage Thalnos is consistently strong through every meta and is a truly powerful and versatile card.  He should be one of the first crafts for any player.  Craft him and never look back.

bloodmage or alexstrasza easy draft it fix in many deck