[Wild] The Dragon Archmage

Quest Mages have some very obvious weaknesses. They have close to no board presence at all, and they always struggle versus aggro. Their passivity also makes playing it a bit boring.

Descent of Dragons changes this. The dragons along with highlander cards can really cover these weak spots. I believe this deck can contest every decks currently on the wild meta.

Your win condition will almost always employ Time Warp. So, quest completion is essential.

This deck has plenty of spell-generating cards: Arcane Breath, Ray of Frost, Primordial Glyph, Shimmering Tempest, Spellslinger, Malygos, Aspect of Magic, Kalecgos, Firetree Witchdoctor, Zephrys the Great, Banana Buffoon, Vulpera Scoundrel, Kazakus, and Cobalt Spellkin.

This time some minions will be left on board while spells are generated.

This is also true for card draws. You can draw cards with Arcanologist, Questing Explorer, chonky boi Big Ol' Whelp, and also the old favorite Azure Drake.

Your hand will be big most of the time, so there is flexibility and always an option to answer the board. Twilight Drake is included because of this, aside from its role as enabler for dragon synergy.

COMBO & WIN CONDITION

The ultimate combo will be the same as usual Vargoth deck (5-card combo, or 4-card without Drakkari Enchanter). Do these steps if your board is empty.

First Turn: Play Time Warp and Archmage Vargoth, then go Extra Turn.

Second Turn: Play Molten Reflection on Archmage Vargoth. Hit face/minion with Vargoth (don't let him die), use your hero power, then go Extra Turn. Now you have 4 Vargoths.

Third Turn: Play Greater Arcane Missiles and Drakkari Enchanter this turn. Again, hit face/minion with Vargoths. End your turn. Enjoy 81 damage to the opponent board and face.

Always calculate your board, and consider the opponent taunts. The above combo isn't your only win condition. If you think you have enough face damage from your minions on board, just use Time Warp. A Time Warp will double the damage from your current board. Add Archmage Vargoth, then it is tripled.

Dragonqueen Alexstrasza is also a great setup.
Play her BEFORE your Time Warp turn, and DO NOT play both 0-cost dragons immediately.
Dragons mostly have big attack, so on the winning turn go Time Warp + Archmage Vargoth + 2 0-cost dragons. 
Then on next turn you can play additional spells and minions while attacking face with Vargoth and both dragons.
Then on the last turn you can finish them.

MULLIGAN & MATCH-UP

vs Warriors:
- On ladder the wild warriors are almost always aggro, pirate package. Mulligan for Reno Jackson, Flame Ward, and Ice Block, or alternatively try to play on curve (keep Questing Explorer or Arcanologist). Try to clear their boards, even if you must use your incomplete combo piece. In this match-up, quest completion is not more important than to make them top-decking and to re-gain control of the board. Reno the Relicologist is useful in this match-up. Also, search for board clears from your spell-generating cards.

vs Mages:
There are 2 types of mages commonly played, secret mages and other highlander/cyclone quest mages (mirror).
- Secret mages is actually easier, with a pretty similar strategy vs aggro deck. The difference is Eater of Secrets, use it optimally when they have 3 or more secrets. Zephrys the Great is also useful to tech against secrets. Heal back up using Reno Jackson.
- Other quest mages on the other hand, are quite tricky. Basically the first to complete the quest wins. So, cyclone quest mages are the harder match-ups because they can usually complete the quest faster. Search for Counterspell if you can, countering their Time Warp is very satisfying this way.

vs Warlocks:
Know what type of deck your opponent play. The common archetypes for wild Warlocks are Quest/Mecha'thun Warlock, Galakrond/Zoo Warlock, and N'Zoth/Deathrattle/Demon Warlock.
- Quest/Mecha'thun Warlock employs shuffling deck and use of Mecha'thun or Chef Nomi combo as win condition. Be faster. Mulligan for spell generating cards to finish your quest quickly. It is a race, but usually they're slower than you.
- Galakrond/Zoo Warlock is probably your hardest match-up. You can use the same strategy like vs aggro warrior, but unlike the warriors, warlocks can fill the board again very quickly after board clear, and they can always draw cards. Always search for board clears while contesting the board. It is hard, but still winnable.
- N'Zoth/Deathrattle/Demon Warlock. This is a slow deck. Vargoth combo is usually your win condition in this match-up. Finish the quest, enjoy the game, Quest Mages eat slow decks like breakfast. But, always be careful. A useful tip, try to keep Polymorph and only use it for Mal'Ganis, as he can make Warlock invincible to face damage.

vs Paladins:
The common archetypes for wild pallies are Odd Paladins, Mech/Magnetic Paladins, and Holy Wrath Paladins.
- Odd Paladins, use the same strategy as vs Aggro Warriors. Eater of Secrets is sometimes also useful.
- Mech/Magnetic Paladins are also one of the harder match-up, as you must have some specific cards to counter them. They are very fast. Freeze effect and Ice Block can delay them, as well as contesting the board with minions. The ultimate counter for them is a well timed Polymorph.
- Holy Wrath Paladins. It is a race, but you usually are faster. You also have better board presence. You also have Ice Block to cheat death. 

vs Hunters:
- vs Face Hunters, use anti-aggro strategy like vs Aggro Warriors. Reno Jackson is essential.
- vs Secret/Highlander Hunters, they always have secrets on their deck, so countering it will give you tempo and possibly turn the game to your favor. They also tends to be a slower deck, so eat up.
- vs Mech Hunters, use the same strategy as vs Mech Paladins.

vs Shaman:
All shaman decks in wild are either mid-range or greedy late game king. Don't worry too much about your early game, focus on quest completion.

vs Rogues:
The tempo king. There are only two notable archetypes for rogues in wild, Odd Rogue and Deathrattle Rogue.
The later is slow deck, so focus on quest completion.
The former is aggro deck, so it is best to use anti-aggro strategy, but try not to use your combo piece, as they are very good in re-gaining control of the board.

vs Druids: 
Rare breeds in wild. Druids are either aggro or jade. One fast, one slow. You know the drill.

OTHER CARDS TO CONSIDER

- Babbling Book: 1-cost spell generator. I don't include this because turn 1 is usually for Open the Waygate. 'Random' is also a disadvantage when using this card other than on turn 1. Its 1/1 body is also unimpressive.
- Magic Trick: It is a good card, but it doesn't leave a body on board. It is 1-cost too. Pretty useful in other quest mages (especially cyclone) but probably not that much in this deck. Arcane Breath is simply better.
- Violet Spellwing: Better card against aggro meta, and also can be an alternative turn-1 play other than Open the Waygate
- Arcane Intellect: I found that additional card draw spell tend to be not that useful as you can draw from the minions with battlecry included in this deck. You also don't want to fill your hand too much so you don't burn combo cards. If you really need additional card draw, you can also get it (with some random chance) from spell-generating cards, Kazakus or Malygos, Aspect of Magic.
- Mad Scientist: It actually has higher power level than Arcanologist, but we only play 2 secrets. Quite possible to be a dead card on half the games. Also, you can't choose what secret will be played. Nevertheless, it is worth to try including this card. You can add +1 secret, either Potion of Polymorph or Counterspell, and remove Spellslinger and Shimmering Tempest. This will cycle your deck a little bit faster with less spell-generating cards as the downside.
- Zilliax: Very good alternative. If I were to include this card, i will swap this with Twilight Drake. Less dragon synergy, but more healing for survival.