Regionals Primer-Matchup Analysis Mage

Because the mage control deck plays well from both the Horde and Alliance sides, I will cover each matchup with some tips for both factions.

Hunter-The Hunter is one of this deck's best matchups. From the Alliance side, you will basically be looking to make 1-for-1 trades in the early game, until you can start bringing Frost Novas online. If you can survive the initial onslaught, it will be very difficult for them to finish you. The only real threats they have in the late game are Aimed Shot and Fury/Leeroy and attacking with a weapon. Jaina Proudmoore or Magni Bronzebeard shut off the allies and Counterspell will be the answer to Aimed Shot. Although it will usually be a weak card in this matchup Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire can step in and protect from their weapon attacks indefinitely should the game come down to their Krol Blades being their only viable damage source. In this matchup you will want to get one of your big allies out as quickly as possible because you don't want to let them hang around too long to squeeze out a victory they shouldn't have. From the Horde side, I think this matchup is even better. Depending on your build and whether or not you run Steelhorn, this matchup starts generating 2-for-1 trades earlier and still outdraws them later. Gaining access to the better ally suite of Steelhorn, Taz'dingo, Ophelia Barrows, Kulan Earthguard, and Zy'lah Manslayer makes the Horde deck less reliant on its abilities but it has more card advantage built into it. It can also win the game a little sooner but doesn't have the Proudmoore Bronzebeard endgame to really make the hunter cry. Overall, this is a pretty good matchup, the biggest weakness being your lower health, but you should win this match more than you lose it.

Shaman-This matchup can be pretty tough. You may actually be taking the worst of it trying to remove their allies with your abilities since a lot of them will require more than just a Fire Blast or Frost Bolt. You should still be able to outdraw the Shaman though so that will make up for some of the unfavorable trades you are forced to make. The Alliance will probably have a tougher go of it in this matchup as it runs fewer allies. With most mage decks only running Parvinks + the end game allies and maybe Medoc, it's not terribly difficult for the Shaman to simply kill all your allies and then remove them from the game before you can A-Me them back to your hand. Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire is vital to this match since without it you will just get annihilated by their umm..... Annihilator. The Shaman will do a better job of keeping a steady stream of pressure on instead of just throwing everything it has at you in one blow and hoping it's good enough. Be prepared for a long hard fought match here. On the Horde side, this matchup isn't as bad, since you have more allies to run out there to fight with. You will have close to the same set of allies as the Shaman, but better abilities and more card draw. They will try to counter that with better weapons and armor and a higher health total. If you can keep a Grimoire in play here, this matchup is pretty close to even with a slight edge to the Mage. No Grimoire is bad news as you will be put heavily on the defensive. You will have to make some very tough decisions regarding using your Protectors optimally. If you use them to protect from the Hero attacks, your board will deteriorate until you can't fight them off anymore. If you try to trade allies, you will be left taking three every turn and with only 25 health, it doesn't take long for that to finish you off. The moral of this story is to get a Grimoire in play and protect it.

Warlock-This is a matchup of two very similar decks. The adavantage probably goes to the Mage here with their ability to deal more direct damage. On the Alliance side, I think the gameplan should probably be to hide behind a Grimoire and try to deck them with Lorekeeper Darian. You are one of the few decks that can actually outdraw the Warlock. Some would say that can be a two-edged sword in a match that may come down to decking. But that's not the case here. If it comes down to one person's library being depleted it will be the person who could not answer the opposing Darian. Drawing a couple extra cards will not hurt when Darian is knocking out 10 cards per turn. It will actually give you a few extra cards to find the answer to the opposing Darian. You should play this matchup very defensively. If they are Horde it makes it even easier to just play defense. The biggest threat to you is going to be Infernal. Save a Polymorph for him whenever possible. If you can stop Infernal, you can usually stop their offensive long enough for Darian to do his thing. From the Horde side, this matchup is a little tougher. With no access to a reliable means of decking your opponent, one of you is going to have to assume the role of beatdown here. If your opponent is an Alliance Warlock you have to realize the danger of Darian. Your deck is not designed to punch through great defenses. You will have to kill Darian or he will kill you before you have a chance to deal the killing blow. Here, you have to start playing like a beatdown deck to have a chance. If your opponent is also Horde, you might revert to a slightly more defensive strategy as they have no Darian, but a little more offense than you thanks to Infernal. This matchup will be about squeezing in damage when you can and generating board advantage through favorable trades. Grimoires in both decks make actually winning this match difficult and Radak's flip ability plus Cull the Weak actually give them access to some decent direct damage. Netherwind Crown can help here as it negates their Grimoire and allows you to get an extra attack in per turn. I think the Alliance Mage has a slight edge in the Warlock matchup and a Horde mage has a tough matchup here.

Warrior-This is probably your worst matchup, especially against a good Warrior player. On the Alliance side, you have some options. If you play Medoc + Moira, that can be a brutal combo against the equipment heavy Warrior. Just remember, game 2 they have access to Ophelia so they can remove Moira after one use so don't think this combo alone will win you the match. If you don't run M & M, your next option is to bring Lorekeeper Darian online with protection as soon as possible to get a clock going. Your lack of protectors outside of Parvink is a cause for concern as it will allow the Warrior to attack unchecked. Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire is great in this matchup as it will force the Warrior to get a Thrash Blade or resort to combo'ing you out. If you can get Darian online, your next step is hording Counterspells for the combo turn. They have Shield Bashes to stop your Counters so you may need 2 or 3 to make sure you don't die from the Mortal Strikes. Darian has a nice side effect in addition to being the fastest clock you can put on the Warrior of possibly milling his combo pieces. Every Strike or Shield Bash Darian hits greatly increases your chances of winning. On the Horde side, this is once again going to be a tough matchup. You don't have the luxury of the Darian clock so you'll have to do this the old fashioned way. From my experience on both sides of this matchup, the Mage's best chance is to get a Grimoire in play, and use it to protect allies until you have five or six in play. The Grimoire will keep the Warrior player from picking off your allies one by one. A smart Warrior player at this point will sit back and let you attack into him so that he can get your allies that way. If you don't attack he will then have the decision of attacking fruitlessly into your Skeletons or waiting for the combo while he waits for you to do something. At this point if he's going to keep attacking you, you should attack him back as there is little risk of him killing your allies. If he correctly resides himself to waiting for the combo, you should try to build up as good of a board presence as possible. When you have 5 or 6 allies, unleash everything you've got. This way he can only kill one ally per turn and won't be able to soak up all of the excess damage with his armor. Once his armor is tapped throw some direct damage at him to make sure it hits. If you can replace the allies as they die, you'll be in pretty good shape. I keep going back and forth on what's the most important spell to counter here, and while common sense says it's the Mortal Strikes that are most likely to kill you, countering Cleave is actually a better option as it gives you a better chance to win. I'm still undecided on which is right, and I'm quite sure that the decision may be based on many variables. Just something to consider while you play this matchup so you don't always get in the rut of saving those counter for Mortal Strikes when it might not even matter that you have them.

Paladin-This matchup is dependent on the builds of the respective decks. The Paladin does have access to a lot of armor and a toolbox of weapons. On the Alliance side, your strategy will be much the same as it was against the Warrior but both options are much stronger here. M & M is much stronger because there is no Horde Paladin yet and the Alliance has no access to graveyard removal so as long as Medoc stays in play he can infinitely recur Moira. The Paladin does have a few more tricks to play around this than the Warrior but unless they remove Medoc they will eventually lose to Moira. The Darian option is also better in this matchup as the Paladin cannot simply combo you out, so he will have to kill you through combat. Grimoires stop all damage from the Paladin until they remove it or equip a Thrash Blade or Girdle of Uther. Darian is a monster against them. Three turns may be all he needs to insure you pick up the win. In this matchup you are going to be heavily on the defensive. You have at least one great option for winning, possibly two. Make the Paladin become the aggressor and do what your deck was designed to do. On the Horde side, this matchup is actually pretty rough. No Darian and no M & M means you once again have to actually kill them. Your plan should be about the same as it was vs. the Warrior. The problem here is the Paladin has more armor and more healing so whatever you can sneak through is unlikely to stay on him long. The Paladin is also more likely to be able to ready himself than the Warrior which will make your wait and see approach tougher as they can get 2 and sometime 3 attacks per turn which will make your Grimoire less effective. This is a match that is simply going to be difficult to win.

Overall, I think the Horde is better than the Alliance vs. rush decks and a little better vs. Shaman decks, but the Alliance is significantly better vs. Warlocks, Warriors, Paladins, and in the mirror.