The location should be brought into line with the rest of the locations and have three charges. That i am sure most would agree with. Beyond that Mage is fine.
What REALLY needs to changes is Rogue so that it allows other classes back into the game especially Hunter. If Hunter was a more viable class right now it would be the counter to the Mages and they wouldn’t be as good.
There is a difference between being defensive and defending. I defend mage because it has been forced into mediocrity for every meta it ever had a chance in.
Do you know why mage is heavily played? Several reasons
Im not even saying mage should not get any nerfs at all. The vitriol against mage is some of the worst i have seen. Druid still beats it btw.
You really are murdering them…you just keep dropping facts and without even seeing their posts I have zero doubt they are already not addressing your strongest points like the fact Mage is literally top tier. Again there are two types of peple at these forums. You are the type bringing specifics the other type of folk dont want to respond to.
Right, there is, but I think it’s important to take stock of what you defend and from what you’re defending.
This would be fair if it were true. Mage has been meta so many times (at least since I started playing in Un’Goro). From Guenther Mage to Secret Mage to Freeze Mage to Jaina Mage to BSM and now Spooky Mage (& BSM)…Mage has had so many meta decks.
I won’t contend this. People are 100% entitled to find whatever they want fun.
I will contend this. Mage largely cares about the board right now insofar as it likes getting chip damage in as a little bonus, but largely the board exists solely to help mage scale up its hero power post-Magister Dawngrasp. Beyond that, Mage pretty much plays freeze cards and gets chip damage until it can really do some serious damage with its hero power later on.
Rogue or Ramp Druid are both probably ~better~ but that does not mean that Mage is even remotely bad. Mage sports a favorable matchup (albeit incredibly slight) against Edwin Rogue, but that’s largely because it’s able to freeze the board out, counter pressure, and Solid Alibi big scary boards.
Again I won’t really argue with this because people DO overstate how simplistic Mage is, but at the same time, it’s also pretty low barrier to entry as well. It is nowhere near as skill capped as Edwin Rogue is, and even that deck is a bit easier to pilot than some decks of bygone eras (Garrote or Whirlkick Rogues spring to mind).
It is largely because it is effective, and that’s what drives players in the vast majority of meta games. Occasionally there are fringe cases like Quest Mage from UiS where people for some reason just refused to stop playing the deck despite its later power levels.
I am not trying to beat up on you here; if you like to play Mage, by Jove – do it! Nobody is telling you to stop playing the class if that’s how you have fun. Just understand that when people are saying the class’ play patterns right now are absolutely abysmal to play against, they aren’t personally attacking you or your fun; they just REALLY don’t like the way the deck plays out. Their vitriol is valid, as is your fun.
I appreciate your level headed tone. Seems like you have a pretty logical take, so Ill ask you. What SHOULD mage do? What is mage allowed to do that wont earn the ire of so many?
So the game I just played is yet again a perfect example. I am playing a Barnabus death rattle deck. Lots of big minions, but also several low cost 5 attackers to rush Barnabus out by turn 7-8 usually. I had near full board control (used Finny to swap my hand out for 0 cost minions) and they were turtling with freeze effects already for a turn or two. I had already played multiple turns out of order trying to avoid letting them copy my best minions. I for several turns played out of order guessing around their secrets incorrectly meaning they for 3 made me play multiple turns out of order. The mage then plays yet another secret. At this point they have a few high threat minions as well, so I risk a Stoneborn general. Which the Mage gets a copy of. Meaning their secrets for multiple turns and only 3 mana kept me guessing and playing out of order and finally gnabbed them a freaking 8/8 with rush that dies and gives them an 8/8 with rush. They finally for 4 meanwhile sheep my card then freeze the rest of my board. Next turn freeze my board and frozen touch twice with spell damage already in effect and pummel me with my own Stoneborns. The only reason they didnt kill me was I had built up Armor and also disgustingly used Dentharius to heal and finish the game. Which geeze do I feel gross playing Dentharius…couldnt take being hit without it anymore without using it back though…
One of the things that makes this so messed up too is that the damned Mage could have done this to most of the decks in the game. It wasnt just because im playing an unusual big minion Barnabus deck. That mage could have froze turn after turn, copied minions, countered spells and stalled til he got his cheap OTK he was likely looking for.
So you are playing wild? Isnt that an entire different conversation? The freeze available there is enough to freeze the world.
DING DING FREAKING DING! People will play whatever deck gets them cheap easy wins. If thats Priest and rushing to shard, thats whats getting played. If its Dentharius giving 1 turn kills in every deck…its getting played! And right now Mage is getting played not because its some special kind of magical fun that fits most peoples desired play style. Its because people are finding easy and cheap wins with it.
People play what gives them easy wins, easy experience, easy card gains. Its that simple for a HUGE chunk of players due to this games manipulative P2W style unfortunately combined with a struggling global economy.
I’m not going to speak for the many in regards to sentiment, but I can speak to what Mage SHOULDN’T do:
I personally like the class, and Guenther Mage was my very first deck I built (from F2P to eventually purchasing a 40 Classic pack bundle & the Karazan Adventure) so Mage does hold a nostalgic part of my heart. I will say though: the class has had so many metagames where its identity was this:
And this play pattern is precisely what people hate. There isn’t really interaction with it; you either pressure it down in time & win, or you lose. You aren’t trading with its minions, you aren’t forcing awkward turns; decks like these are pretty content to sit back & wait until they have the cards to win in their hand.
Spooky Mage is a wrinkle in this mold, but it’s not a complete departure from it. All I would do to make Mage tolerable in the metagame is make it so that Magister starts at 1 damage, ramps 1 damage on Honorable Kill, and that Wildfire didn’t carry over from hero to hero. To me, Mage is allowed to have a hero power win condition…as long as it really takes time to work for it. Right now, you play Dawngrasp and immediately have a 2-4 damage hero power, meaning you might only really need 1 honorable kill to pivot towards your opponent’s face.
I think these changes keep mage relevant enough to win against aggro enough times while also having a game plan for other control decks; it just really slows down the clock and allows for other control decks to mount serious winning chances.
Hate to break it to you but stats dont lie , Mage was indeed top tier in 2017 but it toke almost 5 years for it to get a repeat of that in Sunken.
Its also the class it with least tier 1 decks in the history of the game out of everyone but again who cares right.
I actuay play hero power mage my stance as somone who considers mage among his top 3 faveroute is that it is among 4 classes that needs to possibly be nerfed so the overall meta is balanced - mage quest hunter druid and rogue and maybe wig priest but i reiterate i unsure this is just my opinion. 
I want to like Mage. Its just one of those things in this game I usually feel cheap playing. If im complaining about something here I generally am trying not to be a hypocrite and play it myself. Mage has fun designs and concepts…it just always feels like playing easy mode of a game to me though, so I chose not to play it.
I looked at that data and saw Mage have a LOT of tier 2 decks in those data sets, and that’s +50%. So like, to say Mage hasn’t been THE BEST deck is one thing, but to act like Mage hasn’t had a major presence is a bald faced lie.
No disputes that but it also toke 5 years for Mage to top the meta just like it did on the expansions you talked about.
Its that simple .
Freeze mechanic needs an overhaul altogether. Need a system where minions cannot be frozen on consecutive turns or a better freeze counter, starfish breaks too many decks to force include. Location also needs to be nerfed to two charges.
Wouldn’t that neuter the deck, though?
It would neuter mage if they weren’t given buffs to their board clears in return with all the minion creep.
yes let’s kill it immediately.
Not kil it nerf it and the other 3 or 4 top performing decks i like mage myself and rogue but both can take a smalll hit.
As a mage player i can graap the gripes to a degree whilst noting that the issues mentioned here where designed around eachother, specifically dawngrasp and wildfire. Mage akin to hunter was designed with hero power emphasis, im focusing less on volatile because its introduction was one of the few answers to the newly introduced decks such as imp warlock which avoided nerfs.
Honestly i think there are bigger worries out there currently but if volatile and dawngrasp are your issues then so be it