Oh crap, I didn't even see that there are no flamewakers since that's such a necessary part of tempo mage.

I really think flamewakers are much more important than either boom or antonidas for tempo mage.

Yea that's the only expansion I don't have yet. I am going with mech mage for now, that's destroying everything even without having Boom.

I've been trying out mech mage again too, it was my first "successful" deck a few seasons ago when the standard was 2x fel reaver. Been trying a more midrange version with gorillabots and not sure about it so far.

2x clockwork gnome
2x mana wyrm
2x frostbolt
2x unstable portal
2x annoy
2x mechwarper
2x snowchugger
2x spider tank
1x tinkertown
2x fireball
2x goblin blastmage
2x gorillabot
2x piloted shredder
1x loatheb
1x piloted sky golem
1x archmage tony
1x boom
1x sneed's

I dropped cogmasters because they are so awful to draw lategame and 4 1 drops seems good enough. The 2 druids I have played didnt play darnassus which is the only card it would have made a big difference against. I pulled sneeds from a pack and decided to throw him in there too (dont have other options like tosh or blingtron).

The problem is what was discussed earlier, 2 gorillabot means too many 4 drops, and its impossible to cut shredder/blastmage/fireball. Gorillabot itself has been amazing though, you are pretty much always guaranteed either a useful mech to fit into your curve (spider tank, shredder, etc) or some mech legendary which helps if you haven't drawn into any big threats or are topdecking.

Also not sure how much better this is than just running the old 2x fel reaver list. I guess my real fear is with all the paladins out there who run keepers and aldors, its easier than ever to neutralize a reaver while it still has its huge disadvantage.

not that different than my deck. mine has the same issue with too many 4 drops as well though

I might replace the gorilla bots with flame cannons.

Man Effigy is a really underrated card, laser inspired me to try it and it has the ability to really swing tempo in your favor or keep up the midgame pressure.

Gorilla bot is so vital to avoid running out of steam though, the deck can get really tired on turns 7+. And it can help fill out your curve

I am considering -2x frostbolt -1x fireball with 2x forgotten torch, thoughts?

My thinking is frostbolt is rarely used early game for me, I'd rather get a board presence and I usually end up trying to trade efficiently rather than burn up a frostbolt. Fireball is used only for late game burst damage or an "oh ****" button on a big nasty minion. Then I'd throw in a piloted sky golem or something big and sticky for the later game.

i would cut the unstable portals in a more midrangey build. i always like cogmaster and think the tempo they generate early warrents its downside. would absolutely cut the sneeds too you have enough endgame threats.
i would propably add the cogmasters and a drake or think about adding mad scientist and secrets.

For me, I use frostbolt way too often in the early game to drop it. The 2 mana cost is just too good as a turn 2 follow up to turn 1 wurm. It also generates so much tempo when you have a mech warper up and you can kill one of their creatures and drop a 2 drop of your own on turn 3.

I try to avoid trading when playing mech mage though hence the flamecannon rec.

Could go -2 portals +2 cogmasters but that also hurts mana wyrm value, is 1 less spell for tony, and of course YOLO value. Maybe -1 portal -sneeds +2 cogmaster

I just got rid of my mana wyrms in my mech deck, not regretting it at all

wymrs fit the faster mechmage deck very well that tops out with 2x fell reaver.
you dont play the archmage in that deck and with the 2x portals, the spare parts and frostbolts the wyrms can get in quite a lot of face damage it just fits the overall game plan very well to force your oponent to burn resources on the wyrms while you establish an early board lead and start getting in damage to be able to kill him around turn 7 or 8. if you cant kill him early you deck will most likelly just fizzle out at some point.
the common slower mech mages have a similar game plan but arent quite as all in because you have the archmage to extend your reach but i would never really on that. its a secondary win condition. in general you want the board hit him in the face some and finish him off with a fireball but to establish a board is key. in general you shouldnt be holding on to spells or spareparts in the early game in the hopes of beeing able to turn them into fireballs later on. we will cross that bridge when we get to it for now we want to establish a board and hit the opponent in the face if you can protect your board with spells do it.
it might appear strange to some but your wincondition in mech mage is not burn its a overwhelming board. a fireball can come in handy to sneak in a lethal behind a taunt or what ever but your general wincondition is your board.
i strongly feel the 2 standard builds of mech mage are about as refined as they are going to get when you run the fast one with 6 one drops you can get away with unstable portals when you run the 4 one drop+ archmage build i dont think you can. you need to put something on the board on turn 2 a portal will just not do. i think the mad scientist secret package is way to good in the slower build to not play it.

Just crafted Antonidas! Planning on grinding Tempo Mage for the rest of the season. I go through swings of "idk wtf I'm doing with this deck" to "okay I think I get it now" like every 3 games. Current list is:

2x Missles
2x Mirror Image
2x Mana Wyrm
2x Flame Cannon
2x Frostbolt
2x Portal
2x Arcane Intellect
2x Apprentice
2x Mad Scientist
1x Counterspell
1x Mirror Entity
2x Flamewaker
2x Fireball
2x Water Elemental
2x Ethereal Conjuror
1x Azure Drake
1x Antonidas

Can't decide if I wanna try to fit Boom back in. Took him out when I added Tony. Also unsure of Shredder vs Water Elemental. Started with Shredder, currently testing Elemental. In one game it was massively clutch vs Doomhammer.

How are you finding the mirror images compared to say arcane blast or torch?

I don't have Blasts, but I imagine I'd prefer them to the MIs. And I haven't tested Torch in place of the Mirror Images (have tested vs Flamecannon), so can't comment there, but the increased mana cost is huge deal, obv. A lot of games I'm holding MIs (maybe incorrectly) until I get a Flamewaker/Antonidas on the board.

This deck's playing well for me right now

MI is extremely useful for a cheap flamewaker trigger

imo Mirror Image is only > Blast when Warrior is pretty popular. Currently running double blast, 1x Water Elemental and 1x Violet Teacher to help combat the plague of paladins.

Teacher is an interesting tech choice I haven't thought about. I might test out running polymorph again.

Honestly Polymorph is only ever really going to be useful in tempo when you are at the point that you should be winning the game with burn anyway or so far behind that you've probably lost regardless. The few times you draw it that it's really useful are not worth all the times it's sitting in your hand doing nothing. Same thing with flamestrike in this meta.

Poly Boar is probably better overall than Vanilla Poly in tempo and it's still not quite worth running.

I have a tough time against stuff like tirion or ysera or avenged mc.

I agree with not running flamestrike as your opponent shouldn't have board or you've already lost but sometimes they drop a very sticky minion on 8 or 9 and you don't quite have enough damage to kill them with antonidas.

I prefer boar more in mechmage since you are more likely to have minions you want to boar (shredder pilot, annoyo with shield removed).

Ysera should not be an issue in your games unless you've already lost. Tirion dies to a fireblast/fireball combo

I'm trying to come up with a tempo mage list for standard, do you guys think the lack of 2 drops will be a problem? With Scientist and Portal gone there's not much to do on turn 2 besides putting down an Apprentice. I'm considering the new 3/2 +1 spellpower minion.

I also like the spell dmg card because I think the forbidden spell will be used in the deck, as will torch. If that minion survives to t3 you can kill every single 3 drop with both of those spells. If it dies then you just drop Spellslinger or Flamewaker.

Try fallen hero.