Hearthstone Mage Deck Guide For Beginners: Strategy and Tips

For those that are new to Hearthstone, the mage deck is the first one that the game lets you play with. Here is a brief guide on the mage deck on how to build a simple deck that can hold up in normal play mode. This also allow you to learn more about the game in the process.

The mage is your spell powerhouse. The unique mage cards mostly focus on direct spell damage and allow you to take out either your opponent or his/her minions with ease. Below is the list of pros and cons of the mage deck.

Pros

1) Fast hitting spells

2) Direct damage against opponents or their minions

3) Works well with Spell Damage minions

Cons

1) Lack of heal

2) Countered by healing decks

3) Hard to get Pyroblast

Fireblast deals 1 damage to either your opponent or minions. This is a very versatile spell that is useful for taking out weak 1/1 minions. I do however feel that for 2 mana and deal 1 damage is underpowered compared to other classes hero spell.

I personally started with this deck. Please note that the cards are all free and available to you at the start of the game. I find that it can hold up pretty well in normal games.

Mage Cards

2x Arcane Missiles - Deal 3 damage randomly split among enemy characters.

2x Arcane Intellect - Draw 2 cards.

2x Fireball - Deal 6 damage.

2x Polymorph - Transform a minion into a 1/1 Sheep.

Neutral Cards

2x Voodoo Doctor - Battlecry: Restore 2 Health.

2x Acidic Swap Ooze - Battlecry: Destroy your opponent's weapon.

2x Novice Engineer - Battlecry: Draw a card.

2x Shattered Sun Cleric - Battlecry: Give a friendly minion +1/+1.

2x Chillwind Yeti

2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta - Taunt

2x Stormwind Knight - Charge

2x Frostwolf Warlord - Battlecry: Gain +1/+1 for each other friendly minion on the battlefield.

2x Gurubashi Berserker - Whenever this minion takes damage, gain +3 Attack.

2x Stormpike Commando - Battlecry: Deal 2 damage.

2x Archmage - Spell Damage +1

2x Boulderfist Ogre

2x Stormwind Champion - Your other minions have +1/+1.

Let's take a look at the statistics:

• 23 minions and 7 spell cards
• 14 free and 16 common cards

This is as basic as you can get. The important cards that will help you in the game against different opponents are:

Polymorph - This is useful against decks that have powerful minions. Save this card and only use it against minions with 4/4 or higher.

Acidic Swamp Ooze - This is great versus weapon users such as warrior or paladin.

Fireball - This spell will bypass taunt and deals serious hurt against your enemies.

The Voodoo Doctor is there to give you some healing power and this is what the mage lacks, healing herself.

Once you hit a certain level, you gain new mage cards. Here is a list of mage cards that you achieve on various levels:

Level 2 - Fireball(4 mana) - Deal 6 damage.

Level 3 - Polymorph(4 mana) - Transform a minion into a 1/1 Sheep.

Level 8 - Frostbolt(2 mana) - Deal 3 damage to a character and Freeze it.

Level 10

• Mirror Image(0 mana, 0/2) - Taunt.
• Frost Nova(3 mana) - Freeze all enemy minions.
• Water Elemental(4 mana, 3/6) - Freeze any character damaged by this minion.

With these cards in place you can replace some of the basic deck cards with any of these, depending on your preference. If you like more direct damage spell deck, add in Frost Nova and Frostbolt. If you like more minions, you can switch out some minions for the Water Elemental.

Since the mage depends on dealing damage quickly, I would suggest you spend your mana every turn on whatever you can. The reason is because your mana points will be "wasted" every time you skip the turn without playing any cards. This is only true when using this deck.

When you have access to more powerful cards such as the Pyroblast, you can stall and not use your cards until you can finish your opponent in 1 combo. These are more complex and will require you have gotten the rare mage cards, which is a while away for beginners.

Also remember that when you are dueling, you only have a set amount of time to make your decisions, so do not take too long to make a move. Otherwise, you will lose a turn.

Your hero spell and direct damage spell(Fireball, Frostbolt etc.)can also hit yourself if you are not careful. Make sure you drag it all the way to target your opponent! I once lost a match when I accidentally dragged a Fireball spell to myself and took 6 damage. Ouch!

The mage deck is very fun to play. It reminded me of the Red deck from Magic the Gathering. Happy card playing guys!