Hi, my name is OldKeith and I love Mage. I have significantly more games on Mage than on any other class, with my all time favorite being Freeze Mage (R.I.P. Standard). While I understand it's a deck you either love or hate, it's just the playstyle of fighting from behind and winning against all odds that attracted me. But once we lost Ice Block, I turned my attention to wild, learning how to play mage there. And I fell in love with another archetype: Reno Mage. I liked how the deck had an immense value generation engine, and even more now with the new wave of Highlander cards (yes, I am aware they are not new, but I have not touched the archetype for a long time).

So, done with the long, emotional intro, time to look at the deck. What does it do? It tries to stick a board while having enough value generation and survival tools to reach endgame, where 'fun stuff' happens. I say that because your endgames will be more wild than you imagine.

Defensive tools: Armor Vendor heals you for 4, which really doesn't mean much in wild. But it's a very solid 1 drop, you always keep it and it may give you the chance to survive until Reno Jackson. Devolving Missiles is one of the best cards in the deck, it really can win games straight away versus tribal decks, such as murlocs, mechs, and even zoo's infamous Tiny Knight of Evil. Your three secrets have two activators with board presence in Mad Scientist and Inconspicuous Rider. Firebrand and Imprisoned Observer further solidify your board, with really solid bodies and a potentially devastating effect against aggression. And Zephrys the Great and Kazakus, the most versatile cards, giving you either an answer to aggression or good value against slower decks. Finally, Reno Jackson and Reno the Relicologist also shut down a lot of games against aggressive decks.

Value generation: Not much point picking individual cards here, as most of them have random effects, but don't be too greedy with them; you will just draw another big value card soon. Priest will demolish you if you give them enough time, and that's why it is important to have very proactive cards here, so that you can try to stick a board while having roulette options in hand if things go wrong. Brann can even be jammed on 3 against aggro decks, because they will kill you before you can assemble a value generation turn, and you don't need such a turn when you try to survive.

Tech Cards: Since Big Priest is a very popular deck, we now have multiple ways to hit them where it hurts: Devolving Missiles, Polymorph and Kazakus can turn their beefy minions into woolly tokens, which damages their resurrect pool in a way that will often lost them the game. Wand Thief, Ring Toss, Keywarden Ivory and Primordial Glyph can also help you discover polymorph effects. The Amazing Reno can also poof away some hand played big minions, meaning they will not be able to be brought back, so you might want to save it for Catrina Muerte or Ragnaros the Firelord; the more you hit, the better! Kobold Stickyfinger is there just because Kingbane Rogue is a very viable deck, and this card alone will almost always win you the game when played. It will almost never be useful in another matchup, but without it, Kingsbane Rogue will just chop you down, so you really need it. Dirty Rat needs no introduction, as it dismantles a lot of combo decks, save it for Brann only if you can afford it.

The Roulette: When you reach late game, as I said before, interesting, unexpected things will happen. That's the fun part, and that's why you will play this deck and enjoy it. Spin the wheel, open the box, pew-pew away and you will experience Hearthstone at its best.

Cards that did not make it in: Let me start off by saying that a lot of S tier cards had to be cut for this list. While there is no traditional 'win condition', we want to follow a simple game plan: survive, generate board, generate value. I think I picked the best cards for this gameplan. Sure, there will always be arguments for cards. But I first heard of this gamplan while following Lifecoach's deckbuilding streams for good old Reno Mage in the Gadgetzan era, and he removed staple cards like freezing effects and Emperor Thaurissan, because their effects are simply not good enough. It is reasonable to add Blizzard and Frost Nova to your deck to survive until The Amazing Reno, but when you don't have him in hand, those freezes will not do much, and you would rather have cards with board impact or value generation instead. Zola the Gorgon is a very good addition though, if you can find another card to replace for it. I did not yet feel like I needed Zola in any of my games, there is a lot of value already.

Bad Matchups:

Mill Rogue - almost impossible to stop the Coldlight Oracles. You can devolve one, and rat another, but they will usually have shuffled more into their deck, and without a card like Flikk Skyshiv available to Mage, it is just extremely unlikely to beat them. You just have to rush them down and hope they do not draw their Vanish cards, so jam everything on board asap.

Secret Mage - they have lots of burst, board presence, and secrets that are extremely efficient against your expensive cards. Very tough matchup, you need luck to stick a board against them, and a combination of Ice Block and Reno Jackson, and maybe you will be fine. But remember they have a lot of burst, and Reno Mage does not do too well against burst from hand.

Token Druid - Flame Ward into Imprisoned Observer asap, otherwise no chance.

Pirate Warrior/ Aggro (odd) Demon Hunter - kind of rough when the damage comes from the enemy hero, as you have no efficient way of repeatedly freezing their hero. Just hope you stick an early board.

Conclusion: This deck is not tier 1 or 2 competitively, but I guarantee it is one of the most fun and satisfying decks to play in wild. Any questions/suggestions are welcome, as I might have missed some obvious card choices.

TL;DR: Mage go brrr.