Students gifted with a keen intellect and unwavering discipline may walk the path of the mage. The arcane magic available to magi is both great and dangerous, and thus is revealed only to the most devoted practitioners. To avoid interference with their spellcasting, magi wear only cloth armor, but arcane shields and enchantments give them additional protection. To keep enemies at bay, magi can summon bursts of fire to incinerate distant targets and cause entire areas to erupt, setting groups of foes ablaze. Masters of ice can command blizzards that tear into flesh and limit movement. Should enemies manage to survive this assault, the mage can shrink them into harmless sheep in the blink of an eye. Powerful magi can even generate enhancements and portals, assisting allies by sharpening their minds and transporting them instantly across the world. (source)

Hello! There's a lot to learn when jumping in to Hearthstone, and the goal of this guide is to help you get a clearer understand of this class's basic cards. You'll also find the levels at which you unlock cards & their golden versions.

Mage is the introductory class, the first hero that a new player will utilize when they start playing the game. This class's identity involves a great deal of spell casting including direct damage, freezing, transforming, spell generation, and secrets. As you level your Mage you will unlock the remainder of the class cards, many of which are quite powerful.

Basic Class Cards

You begin with 5 of your class cards available, while the other 5 must be earned through playing that class. An overview of these cards can be found below:

Arcane Missiles Card Image
Golden Copies - Levels 32 & 34

Arcane Missiles will fire individual 1 damage missiles, each randomly being assigned a target. 'All enemies' tells us this spell may target minions and heroes.

  • Although this card costs only 1 Mana, this does not mean that you should play this on your first turn. The time at which you play your cards heavily influences the value of their effect.

    If you have Spell Damage bonuses, this card will deal additional damage and fire additional missiles. This gives you more damage to finish off minions or your opponent.

    This card is best used:
  • To clear several minions with 1 Health.
  • To trigger effects that require playing a spell.
  • To trigger effects that require a minion to take damage.
  • In combination with Spell Damage bonuses.

Arcane Explosion Card Image
Golden Copies - Levels 28 & 30

Arcane Explosion deals a set amount of damage to all enemy minions on your opponent's board.

  • This spell is a simple AOE (area of effect) spell. It's general purpose is dealing with a large number of minions, although 1 damage is very minimal.
  • Combining this with Spell Damage increases it's board clear potential. Avoid using this against a small number of minions unless you don't have an alternative play.

This card is best used:

  • To clear several minions with 1 Health.
  • To trigger effects that require playing a spell.
  • To trigger effects that require a minion to be damaged.
  • In combination with Spell Damage bonuses.

 

 

Arcane Intellect Card Image
Golden Copies - Levels 15 & 20

Arcane Intellect is purely for drawing more cards, and it's always been regarded as excellent value.

  • Playing this card is simple, but don't use it if you don't need the cards immediately. If you have nothing else to play however, this is 3 Mana well spent.
  • This card will always draw 2 cards and that can not be modified. Always keep an eye on the size of your remaining deck. If you run out of cards, you will begin to take fatigue damage!
  • Fatigue damage happens when your deck is empty, but attempt to draw a card. It starts at 1 damage, and each turn that damage increases by 1 damage.

This card is best used:

  • When you don't have anything else to play and need more options.
  • When your opponent is not immediately threatening you and you have a good opportunity.

 

 

Fireball Card Image
Golden Copies - Levels 44 & 46

Fireball is one of the most iconic cards of this class. It deals 6 damage to any targetable entity, even your own face!

  • This card is regarded as amazing value for 4 mana, and it is very powerful with multiple copies. It is very common to see this saved as a win condition.

This card is best used:

  • To remove large minions from the board.
  • To deal immense face damage as a win condition.
  • In combination with Spell Damage bonuses.
  • With cards that may grant you addition copies of this.

 

 

Polymorph Card Image
Golden Copies - Levels 47 & 48

Polymorph is a very powerful minion removal tool.

  • Any targetable minion irreversibly becomes a simple 1/1 beast, and all else is lost. Therefore do not waste this on smaller, non-threatening minions.
  • When used strategically you can nullify a huge threat and a lot of value belonging to your opponent, swinging the match in your favor.
  • Transformations do not trigger Deathrattles, and all such effects will be lost.

This card is best used:

  • To remove very threatening minions.
  • To bypass a Taunt minion to deal face damage.
  • To negate Deathrattles.

 

 

Cards Unlocked Through Class Level

Additional cards are earned ever 2 levels, up to 10. Levels are earned through individual class experience, and that is a product of playing the game!

We will give an overview of these locked class cards, and at which level you can access them:

Frostbolt Card Image
Unlocked - Level 2
Golden Copies - Levels 40 & 43

  • Frostbolt is another very powerful spell in every Mage's arsenal. This card deals 3 damage to the character of your choice and freezes it. When a character is frozen it can not attack for one turn. 

    Some minions have Divine Shield or effects which will negate damage, however that does not prevent the freeze. The frozen status can be removed only through Silence effects, which also remove all other added effects.
  • For only 2 mana there is a ton of value packed into this card and it's a very popular inclusion for many Mage decks. If you get extra copies through random effects in a match you should be quite pleased!

This card is best used:

  • To remove or immobilize moderate to large threats.
  • To Prevent the enemy hero from attacking with their weapon.
  • In combination with Spell Damage Bonuses.
  • With cards that synergize with frozen minions.

 

Mirror Image Card Image
Unlocked - Level 4
Golden Copies - Levels 36 & 38

Mirror Image can be very handy in some situations. This summons two minions with 0 Attack and 2 Health, represented by 0/2. They also have Taunt, requiring the opponent to destroy them before they or their minions may attack other characters. Spells still ignore Taunt.

  • Note that because these minions have 0 Attack, they can not be used to deal any damage unless you buff them with other cards. Enemies will be unharmed when attacking them as well.
  • It is advisable to save this for when you need to defend yourself or need tokens, unless you have some effects that playing it will trigger. Otherwise they may be easily removed and serve no purpose, wasting the card.

This card is best used:

  • When you need to protect your face or other important minions.
  • If you require many tokens.
  • To trigger effects that require playing a spell.

 

 

Frost Nova Card Image
Unlocked - Level 6
Golden Copies - Levels 23 & 26

Frost Nova is a type of 'crowd control' spell. This completely disables your opponent's board for a turn. It does not freeze heroes.

This spell is primarily used in more control oriented decks to slow the game down and limit the opponent's options. It can also be valuable with cards that trigger when minions are frozen.

  • The maximum number of minions on the board is 7. If your opponent's board is full and you freeze it, they will be unable to play further minions unless one is destroyed.
  • A classic combo is to play a Doomsayer in combination with this for a full board clear, assuming the opponent can not remove it.

This card is best used:

  • In control decks to slow the game down.
  • To stall your opponent and regain tempo.
  • With cards that synergize with frozen minions.
  • To enable some board clears.

Water Elemental Card Image
Unlocked - Level 8
Golden Copies - Levels 49 & 50

Water Elemental is a great example of solid value. For 4 mana, a minion with 3 Attack and 6 Health is pretty good. With the addition of the freeze whenever it does damage plus the Elemental tag, you can rely on this to perform very well.

  • The effect of this minion will always and only trigger through damage. If this minion attacks one with Divine Shield it will not trigger as the target would not take damage.
  • This minion can be very annoying for opponents to remove with it's moderate Health and active effect. It's common for multiple cards to be required for it's removal.

This card is best used:

  • In midrange or control style decks.
  • With cards that synergize with frozen minions.
  • In combination with other Elemental cards.

 

 

Flamestrike Card Image
Unlocked - Level 10
Golden Copies - Levels 51 & 52

Flamestrike has always been viewed as the big daddy of board clears. Dealing 4 damage to all enemy minions is a very powerful effect and experienced players will always keep it's existence in mind and attempt to play around it. 

  • This spell is utilized by many and feared by all. It's very common to see this in arena for mages, and just about any other deck that loves to have a late-game tool for mass destruction. 
  • Do your best to wait for the right moment, when your opponent has multiple vulnerable minions. It is a waste to play a card like this on one or two minions unless it is absolutely necessary to maintain a chance at winning or close out the match.

This card is best used:

  • In midrange or control style decks.
  • For a heavy duty board clear.
  • In combination with Spell Damage bonuses for even more devastation.
  • Alongside cards that synergize with high-cost spells.

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