Class-Specific Decks and Mechanics to Counter ITB Mage
An in-depth strategy of every class is obviously well beyond the scope of a single article, but each class does have at its disposal methods of fighting mages. They will be covered very briefly here.
Druid: Druids generally do not play hyper-aggro very well, but they do have access to powerful late-game minions. Dropping repeated high-health minions can grind down the mage’s direct damage spells; particularly against druids, it is not uncommon to see a mage forced into using Pyroblast on big minions like Ancient of War or Ragnaros the Firelord due to having already used up Polymorph. Druids have four healing cards at their disposal: Bite, Claw, Ancient of Lore, and Healing Touch. Claw and to a lesser degree Bite make their way into normal druid decks as removal spells. In the Mage matchup, they can be used in the late-game as a weak heal. One perk of these is that, because they’re armor rather than healing, Alexstrasza cannot be used to reverse the health effects of Claw and Bite.
Ancient of Lore is generally put into the deck as a draw power card, and even against mages it is generally used that way; however, in an emergency, it can be used for a little extra health. That being said, the draw power still makes it an extremely viable card in matchups against non-mages. Because of the large minions druids tends to play, Healing Touch can often be used on damaged minions in non-mage matchups. This is beneficial because it is substantially cheaper to heal an expensive, damaged minion than to play a new one, and fits the druid’s theme of large minion usage well, making Healing Touch a viable card even in a non-mage matchup.
Shapeshift is also extremely powerful against a Mage. The armor aspect of the hero power prevents the mage from pinging down the druid’s life with the Mage’s own Fireblast. Also, as a 1-damage attack, the Mage cannot use aoe board freezes to prevent a final tick of damage the turn after their Ice Block is procced.
Hunter: Hunters do not have healing. However, they can be relatively effective against mage through use of constant pressure, particularly in the form of Eaglehorn Bow and Steady Shot. By using secrets, hunters can slow down early Mage pressure substantially while the constant damage from the hunter weapons and hero power quickly wears down the Mage. Finally, when the Mage attempt to survive through use of Ice Block, Flare can be used to remove this safety. Unless the cycling is severely needed, this should not be done until the turn you are ready to kill the Mage, since it may cause the Mage to play more safely if they realize they do not have Ice Block available.
Paladin: The Paladin’s main advantage over a Mage is MASSIVE amounts of healing. If Holy Light is included, a Paladin has 48 total healing at their disposal ontop of the base 30 health of the hero. This makes it almost impossible for a mage’s 38 direct damage to kill the enemy hero without substantial board control. Holy Light is often neglected in decks as, outside of the Mage matchup, it has little in the way of practical use. However, the other 3 healing cards for paladins are all very strong in any matchup. Truesilver Champion is an effective weapon in its own right. Guardian of Kings drops a relatively large minion while healing the hero. Lay on Hands functions as a slightly weaker version of Sprint while still giving the Paladin a strong heal. Thus, these three cards remain very useful cards even in matchups where healing is less important.
Priest: Priest vs. Mage is an interesting matchup in the sense that both decks are usually control-type decks. Priests have several abilities to turn Mage minions into 2:1 removals, such as Shadow Madness and Mind Control. This can be very powerful against a Mage who doesn’t run many minions. Beyond that, Priests are one of the few classes who can safely fill up their board outside of Flamestrike range. Priests naturally tend to use large minions, but beyond that, the health buffs of Temple Enforcer and Power Word: Shield can be used to bring mid-game minions up to 6-health, which will prevent them from being killed by Flamestrike. This can lead to a board position that the mage will find very hard to reverse, and can often force the Mage into wasting a lot of their direct damage spells on these minions rather than the hero.
Rogue: Rogues can run similar hyper-aggro decks to Warlocks, without the ability to do much in the way of health buffs. This tends to be mitigated by the Rogues stronger ability with weapons, however. Also, with combo effects, Rogues can dish out a lot of damage and create a relatively large board fairly quickly. The Rogue is more susceptible to board wipes, however, (due to the lack of Blood Imps), so they need to be ready to do damage as fast as possible to give the mage as little chance as possible to do so. While it is safe to use the weapon for removal in a short game, be aware that any damage you take from using your weapon will make it all the easier for the Mage to kill you once you hit turn 8 and the mage can Pyroblast. So in essence, it can be ok to use the weapon for removal, but that needs to result in the game ending more quickly.
Shaman: Shamans lack popular hyper-aggro or healing builds, which can lead to problems against mages. That being said, shamans have an ability to control the early game very well through use of cheap spells and weapons and to start dropping large minions in the mid-game. In this sense, they function somewhat similar to a druid in the Mage matchup, except that they lack the heals to prevent damage. This means that, whereas a Druid can allow the game to draw on for a long time, shamans need to become very aggressive once they begin dropping these large minions and attempt to end the game quickly. Still, shamans are likely in for a difficult matchup against mages, though certainly not an unwinnable one. Note that Alexstrasza can be used as a form of emergency healing; because mages do not expect a Shaman to heal, they may feel safe burning a Shaman to low health without killing them, something they wouldn’t do against a class which is known to have healing abilities.
Warlock: Warlocks are the epitome of a hyper-aggro deck that can fight against mages. Cards like Flame Imp, Power Overwhelming, and Soulfire allow them to dish out a lot of damage in a very short time. Beyond that however, Blood Imp is a great card for pushing minions out of the Blizzard range. Also, Blood Imp is an ideal card for interfering with Cone of Cold. Note that you’re likely to have more than 3 minions on the table; however, you can still use Blood Imp placement to your advantage, putting important minions on the edges and a Blood Imp next to them. This forces the enemy to choose between freezing three less-important minions, or freezing only two minions in order to get the important one. Note that, if you can spare it, it’s often a good idea to use a health buff on the Blood Imp to make it harder for mages to kill, as they won’t be able to use a 2-damage aoe until turn 6.
Warrior: Warrior decks do not tend to use hyper-aggro variants, though they often can be relatively aggressive. However, Warrior decks in general have a substantial number of charge minions and weapons, allowing them to easily circumvent the freeze mechanics. The hero power creates enough armor to out-pace the Mage's hero power. Also, while Shield Block is a little weaker than most healing spells, it allows the Warrior to cycle a card, meaning that they do not lose a card for the healing effect. In both cases, the "healing" takes the form of armor, so once again, it's a great hedge against Alexstrasza. One other card that sees use in some decks is Armorsmith. Armor smith is relatively weak in terms of its ability to exert board pressure, but has fairly high health for a 2-cost minion, and its effect sometimes allows for a very substantial amount of healing. Particularly if the Mage ignores it for more dangerous minions, the armor effect can quickly ramp up to countering a Pyroblast.
Conclusion
This article was specifically focused on ITB styles of Mage play. However, recognize that as with every class, there are many different deck versions. Still, many of the staple abilities of ITB mage decks can make their way into other variants. Of course, in the end, the goal is to attempt to make a well-balanced deck that can fight against mages as well as any other class. As such, you are unlikely to put every single card in your deck that can be used to defeat mages; but rather, look for cards that counter the ITB mage strategy while still being useful against other decks. An example of this would be a card like Argent Commander; as a charge minion, he circumvents a mage’s freeze, but he still is very popular card in many decks, regardless of whether or not the opponent is a mage.
Also, it should be remembered that even with a well-crafted deck you are not going to win every game. If you fail to draw the right cards or the Mage succeeds in drawing all the right cards, the mage likely to win. However, a well-crafted deck designed with ITB mages in mind should be able to defeat these mages more often than not.
Click here for Part 1
Class-Specific Decks and Mechanics to Counter ITB Mage
An in-depth strategy of every class is obviously well beyond the scope of a single article, but each class does have at its disposal methods of fighting mages. They will be covered very briefly here.
Conclusion
This article was specifically focused on ITB styles of Mage play. However, recognize that as with every class, there are many different deck versions. Still, many of the staple abilities of ITB mage decks can make their way into other variants. Of course, in the end, the goal is to attempt to make a well-balanced deck that can fight against mages as well as any other class. As such, you are unlikely to put every single card in your deck that can be used to defeat mages; but rather, look for cards that counter the ITB mage strategy while still being useful against other decks. An example of this would be a card like Argent Commander; as a charge minion, he circumvents a mage’s freeze, but he still is very popular card in many decks, regardless of whether or not the opponent is a mage.
Also, it should be remembered that even with a well-crafted deck you are not going to win every game. If you fail to draw the right cards or the Mage succeeds in drawing all the right cards, the mage likely to win. However, a well-crafted deck designed with ITB mages in mind should be able to defeat these mages more often than not.
If you missed Part 1, you can find it here!