Secret Mage in Wild

This new meta report https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/wild-vs-data-reaper-report-25/ just came out today which is stat based, not opinion based, and it shows secret mage as the best deck by a large margin and having favored or highly favored matchups into every other deck except pirate warrior, where the matchup is neutral.  So there is no meta counter to this deck.  I wonder what experiences everyone is having with wild ladder related to secret mage?

I didn't play much ladder recently, but i never had much trouble with them.

Though, that could be because I usually play rather defensive Reno decks.

Reno priest used to be very favored as was reno mage.  However, after this expansion’s new cards for secret mage the matchup has shifted.  Did you play before the expansion or after?  Also, the new refined secret mage was only popularized in the past month so maybe you played before then.

Is it possible your hunter list is somehow better against them than the standard one or you are playing it better than most people?  Based on vicious syndicate stats secret mage is highly favored but maybe most people misplay in that matchup.  Any specific suggestions for how to play deathrattle hunter in that matchup or any cards you use different than their list?

Quote From Swizard

Reno priest used to be very favored as was reno mage.  However, after this expansion’s new cards for secret mage the matchup has shifted.  Did you play before the expansion or after?  Also, the new refined secret mage was only popularized in the past month so maybe you played before then.

played till the week before christmas. i started laddering again this week for a bit, so maybe i just haven't experienced the full force of the recent Secret Mage yet. I've seen some decks that run stuff like Sayge and Rigged Faire Game.

I'm 14-2 against them with reno priest. But as the report mentions I don't know how many of those secret mages were running Occult Conjurer, I don't remember seeing the card a lot. So my high winrate might be due to them running suboptimal builds.

Needless to say the deck is extremely boring to play (against). And considering half of the games I play I face the deck, I've switched back to standard-only for now.

Reno priest being tier 2 in the report is silly to me, though. The deck still chokes out so many otherwise viable decks it's ridiculous.

And lastly the contrast between top legend players and the report is also worth mentioning. From what I see and hear, top legend is nothing but darkglare warlock mirrors and decks trying to counter it. Seems like it's oppressively strong, even more so than secret mage perhaps, but extremely difficult to play optimally.

I play Wild Secret Mage on ladder (although a slightly different than meta list) to reach D5 since several seasons. I did not look up any stats but just based on my experience:

• Priest is the worst matchup (especially Reno / Raza priest)
• Warrior comes at a second (Odd Warrior especially but also Aggro)
• Apart from that no class really sticks out, however all Highlander and Aggro/Token variants can be problematic (a Reno on curve usually leads to a loss unless the Mage is really far ahead; Aggro can still outrun you as you are reliant on a number of key cards e.g. Flak Mage)
• Hunter: Rarely encounter any on ladder, but could be problematic

That being said there are several anti-secret tech tech cards available to slot into any deck. Just slot in a Secreat Eater if you are annoyed. Another tipp would be to just try to play around the secrets. I often have the impression people do not think enough and just shell out their cards.

Experience on D5+ is full of Secret Mage, Big Priest, Reno Priest, Odd Paladin. Similar to report.

Teching is overstimated. You can easily lose against Secret Mage despite playing Flare and Reno, since they simply vomit absurd amounts of Tempo while denying yours. You need equally absurd amounts of denyal to survive, and even racing them with Aggro is far from obvious.

Finally, even if you optimize against Secret Mage, your deck is still probably unfavoured against Big Priest and Reno Priest, with few exceptions.

Reno Priest itself is not far from being just as powerful (that is, a nearly flawless matchup spread) it's just less evident, and it's gonna be painful if they ever just nerf Secret Mage without touching Priest.

I'm not playing ladder again until next season or nerf.

I've been using Secret Mage to climb up through Diamond for the past year.  Honestly, it's not my favorite deck to play, but it is efficient and relatively easy to create.  I also love to play my Even Warlock and Highlander Priest decks, but I cannot plow through games as quickly with those since they are control decks and thus the games take a lot longer to play. 

One thing I will say is that there was an article put out about an Anti-Secret Mage deck that just destroys it. It is meh against other decks, but just beats the hell out of Secret Mage.  Like it isn't even funny how fast I conceded against that much hate.  

Realistically, this deck is still MUCH slower than it used to be when it had Mana Wyrm.  Granted, it now has the Occult Conjurer and Cloud Prince, the efficiency of the 1 mana drop 1/3 that just got bigger and bigger cannot be compared easily. 

With all that being said... I have changed up my build substantially and my play style since I encounter a lot of Eater of Secrets and other secret hate... mostly coming from Rogue Shadowstepping Flik Skyshiv and just leaving me with limited burn.

Well since i'm still on Plat i really haven't seeing any secret mages whatsoever. My pocket meta is filled with Reno Priest, Big Priest, and aggro (and sometime random off meta deck) at the moment. Maybe those secret mages have already climb far above me.

This season, I started off piloting an aggresive Kingsbane Rogue list to Platinum and afterwards finished the climb to Legend using a Big Priest deck that has extra healing options (1x Greater Healing Potion and 1x Obsidian Statue). Unless I drew very badly, I had no problems with Secret Mage whatsoever. I know, it's probably considered bad manners, but I didn't even have to beat them down. I simply waited (pass the turn without roping) until they either concede or kill themselves since their damage output cannot handle my recurring healing and taunt capabilities. Ice Block was never an issue for me, it doesn't work anyways on their turn.

I had a bit more problems with Reno Priest though, because a lot of my opponents seemed to curve out the perfect card each turn, especially Lorekeeper Polkelt. To be honest, if only they removed this annoying card from the game, the dominance of Reno Priest is not that big of a deal to me. All other cases, where there was no perfect draw involved by them, I could pressure them enough to win this matchup. I even got a Tie! since that was the best they could get out of that particular match.

Quote From doingtheobvious

 

Puts them unavored against Big & Reno Priest, Reno Lock, Reno Mage and Odd Paladin (if light on Flame Ward or if it omits Ice Block.)

Stats from report say otherwise. Look at the matchup spread.

Even assuming the report is somehow distorted, Secret Mage is not really as unfavoured against the decks you mentioned.