Deck Guide: Mage Aggro - Explode your Enemies with Spells!

Mage decks are very well positioned in the meta, among the 3 classes with the highest win rates! For that reason, I decided to test out some lists and bring them here at Cards Realm, and the first deck I choose was Mage Aggro.

Aggressive decks already stand out to me as they are so fast, and therefore are the best options for those who want to reach Legend rank soon.

As any good Aggro, your goal is to pressure the enemy by filling the board with small minions. But what makes this list different from other aggressive lists is that here we can also deal a lot of damage with spells, and we are not as dependent on minions.

Usually, faster decks start to perform badly around turn 8 or 9, but Mage Aggro deals with that a bit better. Of course, you want to finish the match as soon as possible, but don't panic in case the game drags on.

As I mentioned, we don't need the board to win, so spells like Arcane Bolt and Frozen Touch can guarantee you the victory.

To really understand how this deck works, let's see what the cards do and analyze the synergies between them.

Minions

If you've looked at the list, you must have realized I don't bring Arcane Bolt, though I mentioned it in the article. That is because we bring minions who create it in your hand. They are more useful because besides giving you the spell, they make up a good board for initial turns.

These minions are Arcane Wyrm and Arcsplitter, and considering we bring 2 copies of each, we'll be able to create a total of 6 Arcane Bolts in hand, and it is a lot of damage!

We also bring other cheap minions for the first few rounds. For round 1 we already have Shivering Sorceress, Suspicious Alchemist and Irondeep Trogg. That is without mentioning Arcane Wyrm itself.

Irondeep Trogg can be your priority if you're against a spell-based list, as you'll literally annul the opponent's game.

There are great options for the second turn: Prismatic Elemental makes you discover a spell, and it even gives you a discount! Amplified Snowflurry will give you a free Heroic Power. Besides that, it will freeze the target, and this is very nice to delay your opponent for one round.

We also have some two cost minions, but they are not as efficient early on. One of them is Crooked Cook, a great source of card draw, but for that, you'll have to deal 3 damage to the opponent's face, which is definitely hard to do in the initial rounds, so it might be more useful around round 4.

Another very nice draw for Mage Aggro is Bloodmage Thalnos. However, it might be important to keep it for the last rounds and use it alongside the spells, as this minion grants you +1 Spell Damage. If we play Thalnos in the second round, he'll die, and we will lose this important resource, which is Spell Damage.

Another low-cost minion is Astalor Bloodsworn. It deals two damage to an enemy, also being a nice removal when you have your Manathirst activated. Astalor also leaves one of his "evolutions" in your hand, and this can be used later on. You'll understand better with the image below:

Frostweave Dungeoneer is perfect for this deck, as it provides two essential points for an aggressive deck: a good board and card draw. Besides it creating two 1/1 elementals that freeze the target they attack, it also draws a spell, which is excellent to increase your fuel during the match.

Note: Frostweave Dungeoneer's effect states that it will only summon the two elementals if the spell drawn was a Frost spell. Don't worry, though, as we only have Frost spells in this list, precisely not to get in the way of this card's effect.

Finally, we have two legendary minions: Commander Sivara which gives you more resources, as it gives back the first 3 spells you've played when Commander Sivara was in your hand.

As for Aegwynn, The Guardian, it is the best source of Spell Damage in your deck; it grants +2 damage to all your spells. Even if she is slain, her Deathrattle guarantees the next minion bought has the same effect as Aegwynn, The Guardian, that is, +2 Spell Damage and this same Deathrattle.

Therefore, you'll always have a minion with this Spell Damage, increasing significantly your potential of finishing your enemy with your spells.

Spells

A very important spell that can save your life is Flurry (Rank 1), as every time you feel threatened (about to die), use it to guarantee one more live turn and win!

Frozen Touch is your main direct damage spell. If its Infuse effect is activated, the spell literally goes back to your hand. Alongside Spell Damage, Frozen Touch can end many games on its own!

If your direct damage spells (Arcane Bolt and Frozen Touch) don't manage to give you the win, we still have a second win condition, which focuses on Volatile Skeleton.

You might find it weird, as Volatile Skeleton is a minion and I haven't mentioned him yet, and that's why we don't bring this minion, but rather spells that summon him on board.

These spells can summon big quantities of Volatile Skeleton: Cold Case and Deathborne.

You can use Deathborne to kill your own minions, aiming at creating the highest number of skeletons possible.

Every time a Volatile Skeleton dies, it deals 2 damage to a random enemy, so your opponent will take a lot of damage when clearing the skeletons, and if they don't, you'll literally have a huge board every turn.

More important than understanding the deck, is knowing what game posture to have depending on the enemy deck, so let's see how to do that!

Against Aggressive Decks

From my view, it is very easy to win matches against fast decks. Remember I mentioned most aggressive decks lose all their resources around turn 5?

Mage Aggro is different, as you'll have more resources to win in the last few turns. So, against these types of lists, my suggestion is: hold off the game and clean the enemy board when you can. Frozen Touch returns to your hand in case it has its Infuse effect activated, so abuse this to slay enemy minions and still keep this effect with you.

This will get you to round 6, when you'll be able to use Deathborne. This spell will be the star of the match against this type of deck, as they are famous for filling the board with small minions.

I also recommend you look for 1 or 2 cost minions to protect yourself early game, particularly Shivering Sorceress, as it can reduce by 1 the cost of Deathborne, allowing you to use this spell turn 5 if necessary.

Another great minion for the first turn is Arcane Wyrm. The fact it creates an Arcane Bolt is excellent! It will be one more way of lowering the enemy pressure.

Against Control Decks

Here the story gets complicated, but still, yes, it is possible to win!

Unlike last case, when we spend resources to defend ourselves and win through endurance, here the game is different.

Slow decks don't offer any danger early on, which is why I recommend you look for as many minions as you can, besides spells such as Frozen Touch and Cold Case.

Minions will already deal a lot of damage, and keep in mind that Arcane Wyrm and Arcsplitter will also create an Arcane Bolt for you.

Of course a control list will have plenty of removals, and even healing to deal with the damage, but, by removing your minions, your opponent will be activating your Frozen Touch's Infuse, causing you to use the same spell many times.

Cold Case is great to summon skeletons, and in case your opponent removes them, they will be once again adding to your Frozen Touch's Infuse, that is without mentioning Volatile Skeleton deals damage to enemies when it dies.

Finally, you'll have dealt nice damage to their face, and in the last rounds (with a lot of mana), you'll be able to combo Spell Damage minions alongside the Arcane Bolts you've generated with Arcane Wyrm and Arcsplitter. Keep in mind that Arcane Bolt deals more damage from round 8 onward.

It will be very interesting to play an Aegwynn, The Guardian with 3 Arcane Bolts round 8. Even if she is slain later, her effect causes the next minion you draw to also come with +2 Spell Damage, this way making you combo with this damage booster alongside spells through many turns, this way slaying your opponent.

I hope you've liked our article! It's not the simplest deck to play, so if there are any questions still, just comment down below and I will answer them, okay?

Good luck in ranked and see you next time!