Mech Mage is a type of mage deck focusing on Mech synergy.
Conceived with the advent of the Mech type with Goblins vs Gnomes, Mech Mage was a highly popular deck in its time, and didn't ever become a meta player in Standard again until Voyage to the Sunken City.
Nowadays, Mech Mage is a midrange deck, combining basic Mech synergies with explosive turns utilizing Mecha-Shark or Security Automaton. The deck thrives off Seafloor Gateway, enabling Mecha-Shark and Security Automaton to their fullest, by allowing you to play multiple Mechs in a turn. This results in either a devastating amount of face damage, or giant Mechs on your board. The playstyle is fairly straight-forward. If you happen to not draw Mecha-Shark or Seafloor Gateway early, your best bet is to play it as a tempo-heavy board-based deck and finish off the oppponent with Gaia, the Techtonic later.
Standard cards[]
Core cards[]
The following cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:
Optional cards[]
The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always:
Wild cards[]
Core cards[]
In addition to the Standard cards, the following Wild cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:
Optional cards[]
The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always:
History[]
With the release of Voyage to the Sunken City, Mech Mage became a meta player in both Wild and Standard, although looking very different to how it was years ago.
Goblins vs. Gnomes Mech Mage[]
Mech Mage was a highly successful deck from its conception at the start of Goblins vs Gnomes, and remained popular up until the introduction of game formats. With around 70% of the cards in the deck being from the Goblins vs Gnomes set, the deck did not survive the removal of these cards, and was relegated to Wild format.
Mech Mage notably saw few alterations from its arrival in December 2014 to its disappearance in April 2016. Gorillabot A-3 and Clockwork Knight were some of the only additions to the decks' tried and tested formula, which continued to achieve at least moderate success despite the introduction of numerous new cards to the game.
Mech Mage was a strong deck due to its combination of efficient minions and powerful yet easily-activated synergies. Its sticky minions combined with typical mage removal allowed it to dominate the board, especially against aggro decks, whose weaker and less efficient minions were outweighed by those of the Mech Mage.
The success of the deck was due in large part to some key mage synergies with Mechs. Firstly, the Spare Parts generated by Mechs like Clockwork Gnome and Tinkertown Technician were especially useful for mages due to cards like Mana Wyrm and Archmage Antonidas. Secondly, the mage-only cards Goblin Blastmage and Snowchugger offered excellent synergy with the deck, with the former providing powerful removal and the latter both a decent body and a way to repeatedly prevent weapon-wielding classes from clearing the board, offering a strong advantage against warriors, shamans, druids and rogues.
As with any Mech deck, Mechwarper was a key minion for early tempo, typically comboed with other cheap Mechs or protected by Annoy-o-Tron, and the deck usually mulliganed for these cards. Tinkertown Technician provided early synergy, while Goblin Blastmage was usually saved for removal, and was often combined with Time Rewinder for an additional activation of its Battlecry, providing strong removal capabilities.
Since the deck usually aimed to win before the late game, Archmage Antonidas was an optional win condition, even when included, but when drawn early could often provide a strong advantage, especially if coupled with a Finicky Cloakfield. Fel Reaver was another optional play, favoured by some and shunned by others: since fatigue damage was of little concern to the deck the Reaver was largely without downside, and was especially effective in the early game. Unstable Portal was likewise optional, although at least 1 copy was usually included, providing the chance of a strong early play as well as additional spell synergy, chiefly used for buffing Mana Wyrms.
Mirror Entity was another popular inclusion as a way to equalise tempo gains by the opponent, but chiefly intended to be put into play by Mad Scientist, providing excellent efficiency.
External links[]
- Guides (Old)
- Wild format (Old)
- Icy Veins: Legendary Mage Mech Wild Deck (Updated 2016-06-28)
- Hearthhead.com - Wild Experiments - Mech Mage Gets Double the Taunt (2016-06-27)