The OP here.
First of all let me explain my preferences for homebrew decks that might be inspired by meta decks but often have some kind of tweak that fits my playstyle. All this to say, i am slightly biased to decks that just mindlessly throw stuff for aggro or powercreep. This is something that secret magelists still do rather decently.
However let me explain this “mysterious secret mage”. My simple point is that if u create a Wild deck with all the secret synergy you can get, you will have more cards than you can fit in a 40 slot deck. The entire deck is one massive synergy and if built right barely runs out of steam. Is it a top tier-deck archetype atm?. No, no secret decklist of any class are high tiered in this meta.
However just like you described in your eloborate take, if i run a OTK deck with a bunch of armor and healing to stand a fair chance against most other decklists out there that just pump dmg like their irl life depends on it, and i just get my entire deck countered by the mere existence of objections and counterspells, then secret mage is going to feel incredibly oppressive to me. We’re talking 3 secrets (ice blocks counterspells objections) with 2 duplicates of each and that’s pretty much any chance to win out of the window, and the discounted cards and bodies are just insult to injury.
I wouldnt have this issue as an aggro priest, DH pirate, etc. But i like my soul intact.