i recently went 31-12 from D10-Legend with hero power mage, but c'thun druid just felt like an instant loss. they gain too much armor, ramp, and draw very quickly. Maybe I got unlucky, but 3 of them had Guff on turn 3. After that it was just over, and they don't play any minions besides random 8-drops and 6/6 c'thun taunt. It's possible I drew poorly, or just sample size since I only faced 5 of them, but the deck seems to be strong against anything else.
Also wondering if I should try and find a way to fit Shivering Sorceress into the deck for the potetial turn 6 Mask of C'Thun into turn 7 Magister Dawngrasp. I also think Varden Dawngrasp could be helpful, but I don't currently own it or have the dust. Aggro doesn't seem to be a problem most of the time though since I have a lot of tools to control the board.
Most versions of the deck I've seen already include Shivering Sorceress and include fewer "random" targeting spells for the Magister to repeat so they're garaunteed to target enemy minions or be other spells you want (usually 8 in total - wildfire, mask, overflow and ice barrier).
I've toyed with putting a Coldarra Drake into my ping mage, but I always found it was too slow and it never got any realy value, so if I were to start someone this is one I would remove.
All that said, I think druid is probably a poor match-up for the reasons you mention. The strategy probably has to be "smorc em down as quick as possible", but sometimes that's not enough. Your best approach would be multiple masks (5 are possible without discover effects), but the stars need to align for that to work.
If you really wanted to improve your chances (probably at the expense of other match ups) you could add Deepwater Evoker or Ice Barrier to get your health above 30 (this still only stops one C'thun though) and Mutanus the Devourer to snipe the C'Thun before it's played. You could also try adding counterspell to hit one of their pieces. These are all going to rely on the opponent playing sub-optimally though. Finally - Maw of C'thun needs a minion to target so you might be able to slow em down by not playing minions at a certain point (not really a viable strategy imo but you never know).
i tried to avoid playing minions in the mid game to prevent that, but (at least the versions i ran into) didnt mind because they just Solar Eclipse and Cenarion Ward for 16 armor and a lot of pressure on the board, usually when im only at 5 or 6 mana.
as to Grey Sage Parrot, i tested it, but it was quite slow. I think even Kibler dropped it from his version. It was a ton of value, but this wins against most control decks with 3+ Mask of C'Thun already. i can see the value of only playing specific spells that with build a board and clear opponent minions with the hero card, but i struggled with thief rogue, secret hunter, and demon hunters without the First Flame, Brain Freeze and Firebrand. I suppose Shivering Sorceress would be a fine replacement for First Flame. even if it doesnt hit a Mask of C'Thun it's still a 1 mana 2/2 that provides tempo on the other spells in the deck.
thank you for the input. hero power mage is a deck ive enjoyed refining since Wildfire came out, and it finally seems really viable in standard now.
i recently went 31-12 from D10-Legend with hero power mage, but c'thun druid just felt like an instant loss. they gain too much armor, ramp, and draw very quickly. Maybe I got unlucky, but 3 of them had Guff on turn 3. After that it was just over, and they don't play any minions besides random 8-drops and 6/6 c'thun taunt. It's possible I drew poorly, or just sample size since I only faced 5 of them, but the deck seems to be strong against anything else.
Also wondering if I should try and find a way to fit Shivering Sorceress into the deck for the potetial turn 6 Mask of C'Thun into turn 7 Magister Dawngrasp. I also think Varden Dawngrasp could be helpful, but I don't currently own it or have the dust. Aggro doesn't seem to be a problem most of the time though since I have a lot of tools to control the board.
Most versions of the deck I've seen already include Shivering Sorceress and include fewer "random" targeting spells for the Magister to repeat so they're garaunteed to target enemy minions or be other spells you want (usually 8 in total - wildfire, mask, overflow and ice barrier).
They also tend to include Grey Sage Parrot to repeat Mask of C'Thun or Arcane Overflow.
I've toyed with putting a Coldarra Drake into my ping mage, but I always found it was too slow and it never got any realy value, so if I were to start someone this is one I would remove.
All that said, I think druid is probably a poor match-up for the reasons you mention. The strategy probably has to be "smorc em down as quick as possible", but sometimes that's not enough. Your best approach would be multiple masks (5 are possible without discover effects), but the stars need to align for that to work.
If you really wanted to improve your chances (probably at the expense of other match ups) you could add Deepwater Evoker or Ice Barrier to get your health above 30 (this still only stops one C'thun though) and Mutanus the Devourer to snipe the C'Thun before it's played. You could also try adding counterspell to hit one of their pieces. These are all going to rely on the opponent playing sub-optimally though. Finally - Maw of C'thun needs a minion to target so you might be able to slow em down by not playing minions at a certain point (not really a viable strategy imo but you never know).
i tried to avoid playing minions in the mid game to prevent that, but (at least the versions i ran into) didnt mind because they just Solar Eclipse and Cenarion Ward for 16 armor and a lot of pressure on the board, usually when im only at 5 or 6 mana.
as to Grey Sage Parrot, i tested it, but it was quite slow. I think even Kibler dropped it from his version. It was a ton of value, but this wins against most control decks with 3+ Mask of C'Thun already. i can see the value of only playing specific spells that with build a board and clear opponent minions with the hero card, but i struggled with thief rogue, secret hunter, and demon hunters without the First Flame, Brain Freeze and Firebrand. I suppose Shivering Sorceress would be a fine replacement for First Flame. even if it doesnt hit a Mask of C'Thun it's still a 1 mana 2/2 that provides tempo on the other spells in the deck.
thank you for the input. hero power mage is a deck ive enjoyed refining since Wildfire came out, and it finally seems really viable in standard now.