New Mage Card Reveal - Astromancer
A previous version of this article referred to this card as "Fluffy Epic Mage".
A new card has been revealed by Dian Fuji.
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This chic is hot.
IT'S CALLED "MAGE" BECAUSE HE CASTS SPELLS. STOP PUSHING MINION MAGE ARCHETYPE, IT SIMPLY WON'T WORK. GIVE SOME CARDS TO MAGE THAT DON'T INCLUDE RNG OR MINIONS. I HOPE LEGENDARY SPELL WON'T BE SHIT. Cheers
Well, I'm definitely gonna try this in the Book of Specters Elemage...
Not sure if it's actually good tho
Not sure about the idea behind the design of this card tbh.
Control Mage, whether Big Spell Mage, standard control, or Reno Mage in wild do not use big minions until the very late game and they only make room for very impactful ones at that as alternate win conditions if they don't think they can grind the opponent out. The reason cards like Allana work so well is because they have more impact on the board than a random 7-9 drop, Allana specifically puts out way more stats than this card does. No idea why you'd want to essentially run a random minion as a late game threat in your deck when you could just include a specific big threat that you can count on drawing and including as an out should you need it against other control decks.
Comparing this to spiteful is not the correct comparison to make because spiteful decks are inherently midrange/tempo minion decks that seek to put out a lot of pressure. A control mage deck doesn't include much if any burst and are not minion decks. They are not and usually cannot seek to win by dropping something big between turns 7-9 like Spiteful Druid or Spiteful Priest.
Perhaps this could find a place in a spitefulish mage deck, but including this really clashes with what control mage lists are trying to do to actually beat you.
Spiteful Summoner + This Summoner = Profit :D
Spiteful Summoner decks are meant to play minion threats on curve every turn (which means your handsize isn't going to be that big if you aren't druid with UI). So a true Spiteful Mage deck is almost never going to have a full or near full hand size.
I don't see profit in the name either, and I looked really hard.
And AGAIN! Another random shit to Mage. Can Mage actually get something that is not discover or random? FFS!
Big spell mage, but no love for him in this exp. so far. Maybe leg spell will be or commons.
This might help Control/Big Spell Mage with their occasional issue with lack of threats by turning their hand size into stuff. It will be interesting to see what they will cut to add this is, if anything. The big removal spells are there for a reason and cutting anything with lower cost would make the deck quite greedy. This shouldn't turn out to be as annoying as Spiteful Summoner, a card which I truly hate, but don't quote me on that.
What lack of threats?
In standard we have access to Allana, LK, Sindragosa, Alex (though I personally don't like this one), & Baron Geddon.
In wild we also have Rag & Medivh.
Most of the above minions either immediately impact the board, create a lot of extra value, or put something big on the board and allow you to still ping to make a water elemental.
This card gives you a 5/5 & something random that you can't predict to help you manipulate the board and your generation of water eles and cannot guarantee to give you more value back to hand.
Predictable long term value > stats that are inferior to Allana and a random unpredictable big threat.
I've certainly had games as Big Spell Mage where my hand was full of reactive cards and I would have liked to play a threat instead. However, that lack of threats is caused by how the deck is built, not by a lack of threats that could be put into the deck. The problem is that as soon as you put in more late-game threats, your chances of surviving until the late game against aggressive and mid-range decks shrink a lot.
For example against Shudderwock decks you'll need to push damage early, getting something out even one turn earlier can make a difference, not to mention that stats divided over two minions is useful in many situations. Alanna needs heavy setup to truly impact the board. Geddon is rarely just dropped on board, you're usually looking for healing/board clear. Alex is a bit similar, rarely just dropped on board. Astromancer can just be dropped on board and you should get more than 7-mana worth of stats. Not to mention that it's cheaper to craft if you don't have that much dust.
Not that surprising really, the placeholders will rarely be there for more than a few hours. I’ve been a member for a few years, and the first “fluffy” I saw was, was in Kobolds.
First time for me today, and I've been here 2 months after GvG
The first I can remember is Mountainfire Armor from Frozen Throne, which might have been the first ever because everyone was surprised about "fluffy" back then.
Another Spiteful Summoner, control\big mage will have no problem getting 8-drop or 9-drop consistently.
In an archtype that doesn't have much, if any burst, and that doesn't bother trying to make a board presence into well into the late game I don't see control or big spell mage would go bonkers over this tbh. The playstyle isn't seeking to win by having a turn 7-9 big tempo swing, like actual spiteful decks depend on.
An eight or nine drop pales in comparison to a 10 drop right now.
One question, does the battlecry count this card (ie is a full hand a ten drop or a nine drop)?
definitely a powerful card, but it is not a new spiteful summoner
Spiteful Summoner was included in the first Big Spell Mage lists, but got taken out, even before the nerf. The decks that used the Summoner effectively were curve decks, that put on pressure from the early turns and used the power spike of the Summoner turn to get a board advantage that was hard to reverse. Control/Big Mage keeps the board empty until the late game, so a card like this will be a lot easier for the opponent to deal with.