Last season I spent about 2 weeks playing control mage, and started to get a bit bored with it. At times it felt clunky. So this season I laddered with mainly Scout and it was a lot of fun. However, I got a bit stymied at Rank 1. So I went back to my old friend control mage, and remembered how clunky it sometimes felt. So I made some small but important changes, that have made a huge difference. I was able to go 11-3 at rank 1, playing tons of top ranked legend opponents. I think this build is well suited for the current diverse meta that contains a lot of aggressive decks.

Removed From Deck

Peddler – Bye bye Peddler. Don’t let the don’t hit you on the way out. I’ve never liked Peddler. It’s such a greedy card. It’s almost unplayable as a 2 drop. So you are basically hoping to get one use of it before it gets removed by small removal against another control deck. Now this can be quite useful. But I’ve found that this ladder season has a lot of more aggressive decks.

Tiger – Removing the Tiger? Removing a massive taunt in an agro meta? Am I insane? Maybe. But here is my thinking. The tiger is a 6 drop and by then against agro you are on the ropes. This tiger is being played as the card to save you. Now the issue is by this time your opponent will have removal, play it on tiger, and the game instantly ends. (See Shadowfen, Earthbone Spinner, Leaflurker, Javelin, etc.) I have begun to think of the Tiger as the card that loses games, so he gone!

New Inclusions:

Fate Weaver – Lots of people have been playing this card for a while because it’s great in the control mirror. It’s draw and a potential agro handler. Getting a 3/3 off prophecy early can be a big help for trading minions.
Miraak – The greediest card in the game, has just felt too greedy to me. But I wanted to be able to go over the top any deck while still handling agro, so I included it. Again no surprise here as most have been running for the mirror.

Auridon Paladin – This is a straight sub for Pillaging Tribune which I ran last season. I liked the Tribune, and he won a lot of games. But he also felt clunky a lot. Auridon is a 4/4 for 4 which is reasonable just as a body against agro. This card has also won several games as well. My final game to hit legend saw him heal 3 times against a battle mage. I won that game with 1 health remaining. I’m still not 100% sold on him, but I think he’s worth trying out longer. Plus he’s a common which is nice.

Forsworn Guide – Yup that’s right, here’s the big change. I tried him about a month ago, when I had no clue how to play Control Mage, and had a terrible budget version. I was talking to Se’jon Otumumga the other day, and he reminded me how much I had wanted to try him again in control mage. He was even better than I imagined. If you look at the deck you will see the endless come into play effects, and that’s fine. But most of them are just too greedy. Cycling a Cunning Ally for another Firebolt sounds great in theory, but in practice it’s usually too slow. However, there are a number of amazing combos. One of my favorites is with Shrieking Harpy. In one game, I was able to turn 7 Harpy, Forsworn, Harpy to lock down the shadow lane, knowing I would Dawn’s Wrath it the next turn. In another game I got to live the dream playing Nahkriin and Miraak one turn, then following it up with double forsworn to enable me to do the combo again! Ayrenn can be another great target, especially when there is only one spell in the graveyard that you know you want back. I also used Forsworn to reset a number of creatures such as Hive Defender and Auridon Paladin. Bottom line is play him, you will not be disappointed!

Shrieking Harpy – The Harpy is amazing against both agro and bombs. She is amazing early and lategame. With Forsworn Guide you can use her early and late. The fact that she is prophecy is just insane at times. If you are seeing a ton of agro, I would bump her to three copies.

How to play the Deck

Well, it plays like control mage. Trade off the board as much as you can with a mixture of minions and removal. Be prepared for long games. Don’t get antsy and start popping runes for no reason. Quite often you will pop most of them in your last attack.

Feel free to watch me stream the deck every M-F 12PM – 4 PM Pacific at . Hope you enjoy the deck, and good luck climbing that ladder!!