Hearthpwn

I'm pretty sure that running any card at 4+ mana that isn't a burn spell is a very bad idea in a Hemet deck

I think it's generally accepted that it's clear there is an issue with a card, when a player uses said card, and his opponent's entire strategy has shifted from beating his opponent, to playing around that card. Ice Block is one of the worst offenders for this "bad card" criteria I've ever seen. The worst thing is that even if you want to play around it, there are 0 decent tech choices, so you have to play incredibly suboptimally to rush them to as close as possible to 1 health, to trigger the Ice Block and hope they don't have another one (or more). All the while, the Ice Block player gets to do anything they want if they have another Ice Block available (and they will because Arcanologist or generating one out of nowhere) because their opponent is doing nothing but worrying about triggering said Ice Block.

Mage is my favorite class but when I trigger my opponent's third (or fourth) Ice Block in a game, my eyes just about roll through the back of my skull. It's already obscenely difficult to actually get to the point in the game where you get through two Ice Blocks and have survived the Frost Novas, Blizzards, Flamestrikes that were preventing you from triggering the Ice Block in the first place.

I have no idea how Ice Block is still around when so many completely fair cards were just forced into the Hall of Fame. The actual strength of the card isn't ridiculous, but what mage can do with it is nuts. The card is #1 on my list of cards I never want to see played again, way, way above Fiery War Axe and Backstab.

I'm running 2x Deadly Shot and 1x Hunter's Mark and they have been fantastic against taunt Warrior. The Deadly Shot has been strong in every matchup.

Rat Pack has been very underwhelming for me so far. I crafted it during MSOG just to mess around and regretted the 800 dust later. Was excited to have a use for them with this set but they still don't really do much for me. It's just so hard to get turn 3 Rat Pack, turn 4 Houndmaster, because I never voluntarily keep either going first, and only keep Rat Pack going 2nd if I already have something like Alleycat + Crackling Razormaw or Scavenging Hyena. I think Vicious Fledgling may be a superior choice. 

Other than Rat Pack, the weakest parts of my personal list definitely feel like Fiery Bat and Tundra Rhino. Only running 1 Rhino because it has been useful now and then. Fiery Bat is ok but it just provides so much less early game value than Alleycat and basically no mid/late game value, unlike Jeweled Macaw. I'd replace the Fiery Bats with 1/1 split Hungry Crab/Golakka Crawler if I had either.

Hunter is without a debt the best budget option right now. I have my Hunter list listed in my decks in my profile and am currently rank 11 (I don't play much and I'm not very good). It uses 1 set of epics and 1 set of rares for a total of 1640 dust cost. The epic I am using (Rat Pack) has been the weakest point in the deck for me so far and I'm looking to replace it anyway. Probably with Vicious Fledgling, which you appear to already have 1 of. Without the Rat Packs, the dust cost is only 840 (and you have 160 of that in your deck already), which is insanely cheap for a deck that seems extremely effective so far. Some spots are somewhat flexible, but I would craft Alleycat, Crackling Razormaw and Savannah Highmane asap if you want to stick with Hunter for a while.

There is a lot of discussion in the Hunter forum with other players preferring cards that I am not currently using such as Eaglehorn Bow, Ravasaur Runt, Golakka Crawler, and more. If you have any of those, they're definitely worthwhile picks as well.

1. There is no universe in which Arcanologist is as strong as Mad Scientist

2. Yes, Primordial Glyph provides excellent value. Mage has a ton of great value at 1-2 drops but struggles with 4-5 drops. People should be upset that Blizzard created this card at epic rarity instead of rare tbh. Something that is such a clear staple for every mage deck should be available as a rare. I worry that this will become a trend and that in a couple sets, every deck will have 2 or 3 staple epics they need to run which will shoot up the dust cost of decks dramatically.

3. I have no idea how Ice Block wasn't added to the hall of fame.

Quote from Poodris >>

Vicious Fledgling

I've only played Mage since the new set released and every variant I've tried has done fine against the Quest Rogue decks. 

That said, this card and the deck that enables it is the most offensive example of a solitaire deck I've seen in a TCG/CCG in many, many, many years.  Great example of the people behind the scenes making these cards having no idea what they are doing because I guarantee they didn't intend for the deck to be this easy to go online. No TCG/CCG maker intentionally creates the potential for this sort of archetype because it goes against what every TCG/CCG is about and everyone complains endlessly. I'll be shocked if either the Quest itself or one of the two bounce 2 cost minions aren't in the first batch of cards to get nerfed after this expansion's release.

Quote from Mirzabah >>

This is a pretty good start! I've been doing an aggro/tempo-oriented Secret list as well and came here to post about it when I saw yours.

Secret Aggro - 66% WR from R18-R3 Tempo Mage Deck by Mirzabah - Apr 8, 2017 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (17) 2x Babbling Book 1x Ethereal Arcanist 2x Kabal Crystal Runner 2x Kirin Tor Mage 1x Secretkeeper 2x Mana Wyrm 1x Sorcerer's Apprentice 2x Arcanologist 2x Kabal Lackey 2x Medivh's Valet	Ability (13) 2x Primordial Glyph 2x Counterspell 1x Mana Bind 1x Vaporize 2x Arcane Intellect 1x Fireball 2x Mirror Entity 2x Frostbolt
Loading Collection

I did a bit of a writeup on the deck's page as well but this list is serving me really nicely so far. I went for a really low curve and it feels great and my results over 32 games yesterday/today have been good against everything except other Mages. There's definitely more tweaking to do but this has been a good starting point. I'm unsure about the Secretkeepers and the exact secret suite mostly. Even the Sorcerer's Apprentice hasn't seemed perfect given the low curve but I hesitate to replace it.

Quote from MaSQue >>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bjgpOd0gM

Day9 playing Secret Mage. In his second game he WRECKS Quest Rogue and wins on T5 lol. One thing I am seeing with him as well as my own build is it runs out of steam mid game and you get run over by midrange decks. This is the deck he is running ........

Secret Mage Secret Mage Deck by MaSQue - Apr 10, 2017 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (16) 2x Ethereal Arcanist 2x Kabal Crystal Runner 2x Kirin Tor Mage 2x Mana Wyrm 2x Arcanologist 2x Kabal Lackey 2x Loot Hoarder 2x Medivh's Valet	Ability (14) 1x Pyroblast 2x Spellbender 2x Counterspell 1x Potion of Polymorph 2x Arcane Intellect 2x Fireball 2x Mirror Entity 2x Frostbolt
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Blizzard might actually support Wild in the future, and people might be more willing to adopt it as more cards rotate out of Standard. I have played 0 games of Wild, and still have 0 plans to dust any of the cards.

It's strong because it has the ability to consistently curve out threats and answers. If something like Dragon Priest has a poor mulligan or falls a turn behind or fails to find the removal, it can just push through. And Feral Spirit is a brick wall for other aggro decks.

In addition to Shaman having gotten so many incredibly strong cards (many of which seem like they were supposed to be Mage cards), it also has access the Pirate package for some reason and can pump out Jade bombs with cards it would often be using even without the "Summon Jade Golem" part of them. Everything just works so well together without having to make any meaningful deck building sacrifices, which is pretty shocking for a game with a 30 card deck.

That said, it doesn't seem too strong at all. There are a lot of strong decks in the meta and this is one of them.

With your current collection, I would aim to build Pirate warrior and it's not even close. The deck has a relatively low learning curve, is very consistent, only 1 card in most lists is rotating out, and you own almost all the cards. Unless I missed something, all you need for the core of the deck is Patches and 2 each N'Zoth's First Mate, Upgrade, Bloodsail Cultist. I believe you have 22 of the other cards in tempostorm's list, the 30th spot has Finley in it, which is the 1 card in the deck that is rotating. You could spend a few dollars (and also get Reno and Brann in wing 1/2 on the way to getting Finley in wing 3) to get him or just use something else.

Weapon mechanics are fine and really fair. You have to face damage yourself to hit a minion, you can't hit their face if they have a taunt up. The "issue" with Pirate Warrior isn't that weapons can hit face, it's that Small-Time Buccaneer and Bloodsail Raider feel too strong when paired with Warrior weapons. Except there really isn't an issue at all, they are slightly favored and slightly unfavored against most decks in the meta. It's just the nature of an aggro deck to run smoothly due to the low cost of its cards, relatively redundant effects of said low cost cards, and as a result, ability to burst through most decks when their opponent draws poorly.

It has a very average power level for a competitive card. It is fairly slow and has a minimal impact on most games, especially when played on curve. The reason it might seem good is that 5 drops are fairly terrible in general, and decks like Tempo Mage and Dragon Priest have horrible draw power, so they are starving for a card that has synergy with the deck and provides some meaningful card advantage. When guys are throwing down 1 mana+coin for Pirate/weapon+Patches+2/1 Pirate or just a 3/4 on turn 1 or a 7/7 on turn 3 and ending every game on turn 5-7, I think there are more things to complain about than a 4/4 for 5 that does nothing but sit there for a turn when played on curve.

Welcome to the 21st century, where everyone wants everything without putting in any effort. The ladder system is fine mechanically. It should have better rewards, but the way it functions is completely reasonable.