Spell Mage? Will the Archetype work?

It might work, I really like the idea of the deck, it's the most mage deck ever.

But there aren't enough minion generation in my opinion for this to work yet..

Its not going to work. I've been jamming quest mage for two expansions now and can confirm that you cannot win without a win condition. Basing it all on RNG isnt going to work most of the time.

Better to allow at least a few winning minions like Archmage Antonidas or Kael'thas Sunstrider or even Khadgar. Apexis Blast and Font of Power is good, but not that good.

Historically, even spell hunter needed Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound along with Barnes as a win condition. On its own the win rate tanks hard.

What about the new Netherwind Portal for this style of deck?

Maybe its too slow but isnt having a reactive card that create a Minion perhaps as a response to them using a removal useful??

https://outof.cards/hearthstone/decks/12920-spell-only-mage

thats my version much the same I think, but uses raid the sky temple which IS sort of your win condition as you get cheaper burn spells etc

it's also possible to have only a few minions and use the "only spells in deck" later when you've drawn the minions.

Likely this deck type will get better as more sets come out with mage spells to support it, by the end of the year it could be very strong, spell only hunter was strong from day one not sure about this one yet.

I personally found spell hunter interesting on paper but uncreative in practice: it worked because so many of the spells summoned minions that it basically played like a normal deck, just with a couple of super strong cards making up for not having any true minion cards.

I imagine the same happens with mage. If it works it will be off the back of the minions the spells summon/generate, at which point it won't feel much different to normal. That said, I agree with others that mage spells just don't summon enough minions at the moment, and when you aren't in control of the board you often can't afford to throw spells at the opponent's face.

So I don't expect it to work, at least for now. And then my own opinion is that even if it does ever work, it won't be as interesting as the fantasy of a lone mage casting spells left, right and centre makes it sound.

You guys forgot Power of Creation it's still in rotation

I would like to point out that after double Incanter's Flow you can Pyroblast, Fireball and Frostbolt in one turn for 19 damage. The question is how do you get your opponent down to 19 health?

If you're ready to keep some cards in your hand you can do 20 with Kael'thas Sunstrider in one turn. Add Sorcerer's Apprentice you can possibly OTK. I've tried some of those decks, desperately trying to make it work, but mage spells are too reactive, and there's very little you can do when the board gets too thick and you run out of freezes.

Maybe you can afford an Alexstrasza + 1 mana frost nova (courtesy of Incanter's Flow, one the best cards in AoO). But it might just be that mage draws are too weak in a minionless deck to do this consistently enough. Now that Acolyte of Pain is gone, that's another void unfilled in AoO.

If you think of it, Apexis Blast is a good payback for Tempo, but Font of Power? It's just extra steam.

Incanter's Flow is maximized in a Pure Mage, but you can still have synergy without the restriction.

So, unless they add more payback, a traditional Spell Mage with few key key minions is going to be better.

Quote From dapperdog

If you're ready to keep some cards in your hand you can do 20 with Kael'thas Sunstrider in one turn. Add Sorcerer's Apprentice you can possibly OTK. I've tried some of those decks, desperately trying to make it work, but mage spells are too reactive, and there's very little you can do when the board gets too thick and you run out of freezes.

Maybe you can afford an Alexstrasza + 1 mana frost nova (courtesy of Incanter's Flow, one the best cards in AoO). But it might just be that mage draws are too weak in a minionless deck to do this consistently enough. Now that Acolyte of Pain is gone, that's another void unfilled in AoO.

Think you can't run ANY minion in such deck I mean with duplicates you can run a few, cause on average you will get rid of them in your last 10 cards or so.. but ONE minion really ruins your deck and if it's the last card in your deck you have 4 worse cards in your hand (you can still play them but they kinda suck).

You can still run Incanter's Flow in any deck tbh you can have 20 spells and it's around 10 mana of saving to play the card so.. but it's a different deck of course.

Malygos/Alextraza dragon spell heavy mage, maybe also add around 4 more dragons for tempo and value (6 dragons can constantly activate synergies) and run the OTK along with tempo or stall tools. SO that's another deck that you could run.. and if you are Trump make it highlander as well.

Power of Creation is Auto-Include in spell mage

Maybe a spell-heavy, but not pure spell deck as others have suggested, is the way to go. With the many 1 and 2 mana spells in Mage's arsenal along with Incanter's Flow, you could activate Chenvaala more frequently, or even mess with Questing Adventurer.

The problem with Chenvaala is it bottlenecks the hell out of the Apexis Blast & Font of Power. Add in the Meta is too fast at this time I would suggest to forgo it until after the nerfs go live.

I tried it yesterday & went 2-4 @ Gold 4. 1st win I didn't draw Chen at all & the 2nd win I drew Chen @ turn 7.