Serious question. From my point of view there are only 2 viable mage decks right now (while druid has like 5 tier 1 decks LUL): Tempo mage and Big Spell Mage. Big Spell loses to most of the other Meta-Control decks like Shudderwock, Recruit Warrior, Recruit Warlock etc. with a very high chance. Same thing goes for Tempo Mage: First of all you need insane card draw luck to even compete with other aggro decks like Zoolock or Odd Rogue. But even if you are lucky, other aggro decks are simply better which will also leave you again with a 50/50 if you have good draw, which other classes don't rely on as much as mage does. (Because of the heropower)
Don't get me wrong, mage is still fun and playable - but it feels pretty weak in a straight comparison to most of the other classes. They can do the same as mage, just better. Am I the only one feeling like this? Of course there are good and bad matchups for every class, but mage has way more bad matchups than good matchups, no matter which deck mage is playing.
What is your oppionion on the current situation of mage, or class balancing in general? I'm interested in what you guys have to say.
Should've clarified this in the first post: It would be nice if there were some arguments and not just a simply "no", since I can't see why I got this assumption then.
You should learn to evaluate in a right way your favorite class. You can’t compare your favorite class against the class that you hate and say that it is underpowered. Mage is totally fine.
Mage's base set is arguably the strongest overall in the game so mage normally finds itself in mid to top tier. Unless more cards are sent to hall of fame or nerfed it's very likely that mage will always be competitive because of the base tools it has to work with. It doesnt take too many new good cards to push mage way over the top so I am thankful that blizzard is being careful with what they give mages.Right now it sits a little above mid tier. It may be that mage never becomes truly underpowered unless all other classes get power creeps except mage.
Mage is one of the most flexible and powerful classes in the game and has been since launch. They have powerful spells, strong card draw, great Secrets, and among the most playable Quests, Deathknights, and Weapons. They have a variety of decks (agro, secret, big spell, Elemental) in Standard and many more in Wild. They have counters of course, but Mage remains one of the most powerful classes in the game. AFAIK, it has never been considered a week class in any point of Hearthstone, whereas most other classes have had their time at the bottom.
Control Mage has no instant win condition, thus kinda loses to other control decks, but theoretically speaking, they can still set up a no-quest infinte damage combo. They have a crapload of removal already, they are just a bit slow to shut down aggro decks conistently, and they need a bit too much draw to wipe the floor with the likes of Cubelock, Taunt Druid or even Control Priest. The game is almost slow enough for them to go for infinite damage, but not quite.
I think, with just a bit more support, especially tutoring, Control Mage is dangerously close to being a powerful deck. With Ice Block, the class might be in a much better spot right now.
As for Tempo/Burn Mage, you misunderstand the purpose of the deck, It's not about beating other Aggro decks or being faster than them, it's about burning the opponent from 30 to 0 with minions in the beginnin and spells in the end. It's a control killer. NO other class is as good as dealing direct damage, and can just ignore taunt minions.
Again, Mage lost a few too many pieces to be even better at his, like Ice Lance and Forgotten Torch. And since Blizzard makes no more direct damage spells, it's a bit of a bad state when some other classes get more and more healing and armor. But even as that, Burn Mage is a serious threat to Taunt Druid and Cubelock... possibly even for Shudderwock Shaman. Not sure how the matchup data is there. But Mage is far from underpowered, and if they get one or two good cards next expansion to help with those strategies, Mage is gonna be terrifying.
Mage has two tier2 decks which means it is not underpowered. They have no tier1 decks, but that doesn't mean they are underpowered. Most classes don't have a tier1 deck, and the difference between tier2 decks and tier1 decks is not very large.
Big Spell loses to most of the other Meta-Control decks like Shudderwock, Recruit Warrior, Recruit Warlock etc. with a very high chance.
The only deck I have on my list atm is Big Spell... and the only deck that can beat me 90% of the time iis Shudderwock and barelly see them in ladder...
Mage is fine where it is. It's in the middle. You don't want a class with a lot of burn spells to be at the top of the tier list. Mage destroys some decks and does ok against others and thats how it should be.
A class' power level isn't determined by how many different decks it has in the same meta. That is akin to saying Aggro Shaman or Midrange Shaman were underpowered in their metas because they didn't have 2, 3, or 4 other decks in that meta.
Burn Mage wrecks Spell Hunter and Recruit Hunter. I also find it hard to believe that it also doesn't wreck Recruit Warrior considering the deck does nothing until turn 6 (and that is if they draw Recruit on curve).
Big Spell Mage doesn't fair too bad against Hadronnox Druid if you're teching Polymorph.
Mage has always had the possibilty to play a Freeze Mage deck, with basically the same 30 cards since three years ago, so it always had its place in meta. Other archetypes were born and then died, but freeze mage was always there to stop mage from getting to trash tier, even if there were metas in which it was pretty bad, it was still tier 4. Then Ice Block rotated out, but Big Spell Mage became a thing, letting the class alive.
So yes, Mage always had a place in the meta, and even if sometimes it was thanks to just one tier 3/4 deck, it can't be considered underpowered when compared to other classes which never saw any play for months or years. Now that it has lost two important cards from its basic set, we will see what will happen with future expansion, but I think that for this year with Explosive Runes in the standard rotation, tempo/secret mage will remain a viable option.
Serious question. From my point of view there are only 2 viable mage decks right now (while druid has like 5 tier 1 decks LUL): Tempo mage and Big Spell Mage. Big Spell loses to most of the other Meta-Control decks like Shudderwock, Recruit Warrior, Recruit Warlock etc. with a very high chance. Same thing goes for Tempo Mage: First of all you need insane card draw luck to even compete with other aggro decks like Zoolock or Odd Rogue. But even if you are lucky, other aggro decks are simply better which will also leave you again with a 50/50 if you have good draw, which other classes don't rely on as much as mage does. (Because of the heropower)
Don't get me wrong, mage is still fun and playable - but it feels pretty weak in a straight comparison to most of the other classes. They can do the same as mage, just better. Am I the only one feeling like this? Of course there are good and bad matchups for every class, but mage has way more bad matchups than good matchups, no matter which deck mage is playing.
What is your oppionion on the current situation of mage, or class balancing in general? I'm interested in what you guys have to say.
No. Mage is not underpowered
No /thread
Mage is fine where its at.. Theres always going to be a rotation of class power levels.. and mage isnt at dumpster tier.. so mage is fine
Seems ok.
Not underpowered, unfortunately. The day Mage is trash tier is the day I play regularly again.
Dibbity don't touch that!
Should've clarified this in the first post: It would be nice if there were some arguments and not just a simply "no", since I can't see why I got this assumption then.
You should learn to evaluate in a right way your favorite class. You can’t compare your favorite class against the class that you hate and say that it is underpowered. Mage is totally fine.
Mage's base set is arguably the strongest overall in the game so mage normally finds itself in mid to top tier. Unless more cards are sent to hall of fame or nerfed it's very likely that mage will always be competitive because of the base tools it has to work with. It doesnt take too many new good cards to push mage way over the top so I am thankful that blizzard is being careful with what they give mages.Right now it sits a little above mid tier. It may be that mage never becomes truly underpowered unless all other classes get power creeps except mage.
I don't know man, Tempo Mage is by far my best deck. I have 62% winrate on NA over 450 games all the way to rank 5 (my monthly goal).
No other class is even close to this performance for me.
Mage is one of the most flexible and powerful classes in the game and has been since launch. They have powerful spells, strong card draw, great Secrets, and among the most playable Quests, Deathknights, and Weapons. They have a variety of decks (agro, secret, big spell, Elemental) in Standard and many more in Wild. They have counters of course, but Mage remains one of the most powerful classes in the game. AFAIK, it has never been considered a week class in any point of Hearthstone, whereas most other classes have had their time at the bottom.
Currently working on the Tinker! K&C and WW / JUG and KotFT / Classic / Basic / Introduction
My Previous Classes: Apothecary (unfinished) / Chronomancer / Death Knight (old)
My Previous Expansions: Hallow's End
lolol no and i cant be the only one that thinks fireball needs to be nerfed or have its effect changed so that it can only target minions
Not in wild at least... I have a 15-8 wr with reno mage
Skidaddle skidoodle your Milhouse manastorm is now a noodle
Control Mage has no instant win condition, thus kinda loses to other control decks, but theoretically speaking, they can still set up a no-quest infinte damage combo. They have a crapload of removal already, they are just a bit slow to shut down aggro decks conistently, and they need a bit too much draw to wipe the floor with the likes of Cubelock, Taunt Druid or even Control Priest. The game is almost slow enough for them to go for infinite damage, but not quite.
I think, with just a bit more support, especially tutoring, Control Mage is dangerously close to being a powerful deck. With Ice Block, the class might be in a much better spot right now.
As for Tempo/Burn Mage, you misunderstand the purpose of the deck, It's not about beating other Aggro decks or being faster than them, it's about burning the opponent from 30 to 0 with minions in the beginnin and spells in the end. It's a control killer. NO other class is as good as dealing direct damage, and can just ignore taunt minions.
Again, Mage lost a few too many pieces to be even better at his, like Ice Lance and Forgotten Torch. And since Blizzard makes no more direct damage spells, it's a bit of a bad state when some other classes get more and more healing and armor. But even as that, Burn Mage is a serious threat to Taunt Druid and Cubelock... possibly even for Shudderwock Shaman. Not sure how the matchup data is there. But Mage is far from underpowered, and if they get one or two good cards next expansion to help with those strategies, Mage is gonna be terrifying.
Emmh no
Top deck is cheat
Mage has two tier2 decks which means it is not underpowered. They have no tier1 decks, but that doesn't mean they are underpowered. Most classes don't have a tier1 deck, and the difference between tier2 decks and tier1 decks is not very large.
The only deck I have on my list atm is Big Spell... and the only deck that can beat me 90% of the time iis Shudderwock and barelly see them in ladder...
Mage is fine where it is. It's in the middle. You don't want a class with a lot of burn spells to be at the top of the tier list. Mage destroys some decks and does ok against others and thats how it should be.
A class' power level isn't determined by how many different decks it has in the same meta. That is akin to saying Aggro Shaman or Midrange Shaman were underpowered in their metas because they didn't have 2, 3, or 4 other decks in that meta.
Burn Mage wrecks Spell Hunter and Recruit Hunter. I also find it hard to believe that it also doesn't wreck Recruit Warrior considering the deck does nothing until turn 6 (and that is if they draw Recruit on curve).
Big Spell Mage doesn't fair too bad against Hadronnox Druid if you're teching Polymorph.
Mage has always had the possibilty to play a Freeze Mage deck, with basically the same 30 cards since three years ago, so it always had its place in meta. Other archetypes were born and then died, but freeze mage was always there to stop mage from getting to trash tier, even if there were metas in which it was pretty bad, it was still tier 4. Then Ice Block rotated out, but Big Spell Mage became a thing, letting the class alive.
So yes, Mage always had a place in the meta, and even if sometimes it was thanks to just one tier 3/4 deck, it can't be considered underpowered when compared to other classes which never saw any play for months or years. Now that it has lost two important cards from its basic set, we will see what will happen with future expansion, but I think that for this year with Explosive Runes in the standard rotation, tempo/secret mage will remain a viable option.
Mage didn't even get hit that hard, but my poor priest...