Not a single of these cards are bad, yes fireball is still better then all the common ones for example but it still means that every mage class card that pops up except mirror image and ice block/barrier are at least good if not a great card.
Which means Mage got a good average win ratio, which also means mage is still overly represented in arena...so getting kinda bored of 1.5 years of always facing mages.
Flamecannon as with Bomb lobber (best neutral 5 drop) is a great card as its not so much random. Yes in some situation is a lucky based play but for the most time its a safe investment as its so much minion trading in Arena, the result is that its very easy aiming the flame cannon at the given target. Its really a good card basically its a Frost bolt but it deals one more damage, but it cant target opponents face. This makes it be able to kill any 1-3 drop and with only 1 spell damage you can get almost all 4 drop as well, which is huge!. So its a fantastic card really another super good removal card for mage. And the random effect is even more of a bonus if anything in my opinion as that means you can hit stealth and elusive minions which is as often as when you cant aim it at least.
This is another broken anti class card really, water elemental was already super good vs rogue, warrior and partly shaman and hunter. Snowchugger just adds in another card who also just do the same thing, freeze the other player. Its a great effect and it really does mean the win ratio for mage is clearly better vs those classes mentioned, especially warrior. Being able to freeze is also just really annoying even if you can kill this card with a bigger minion that minion loses its next turn.
Its not as strong as the water elemental as water elemental also got that but with its massive 3.6 body its hard to remove without using 2 cards so even if those cards don't die they both get froozen. So snowchugger is a little worse of in that regard, buts its a only a 2 mana cost, still a really good card. For many deck this card is better then sorcerers apprentice but regardless they are both 2 really good 2 drops and mage got the best 1 drop (mana wyrm) and...mage is great if they can get a good early lead. So yeah another really solid mage card.
And again here then, mage gets another solid minion drop at early game. I found this card, very, very strong actually. Mainly as looking at dalaran mage, who is a 1.4 with spell damage, he used to be 2.4 with spell damage but was "to strong" to stay like that for mage decks...so now mage instead got an exclusive better stats 3.3 with spell damage. Yeah that is great. Its just a very solid card a 3.3 for 3 with + spell damage. Ogre magi for example is not that viable as it cost 4 mana which makes it harder to combo cards with, kobold geomancer is a ok as its easy to combo cards with but its 2.2 body makes it vulnerable to a lot, like a lot! And it cant trade so well. So the 3.3 body for 3 with spell damage really fits in good. It avoids a lot of aoe not that easy to kill for 1-2 drops and it can trade with most 2-3 drops.
This is a card I am very iffy about, I hate random effects which you cannot control. I think that a lot of people overestimate this card, a classic play its to coin it at turn 1, which often is a horrible play. Not only do you have to draw a 3 drop or less to play but many people are so eager to chance for this that they don't even have a 100% sure play at turn 2. Thats' a really bad play. It can be anything, and giving how your arena deck can be completely shitty -_- it is better then far sight and cost 1 less for the most time. But all the other Mage rare cards are great, so why pick this one?
It has a lot Mind control technician over it, some games its amazing but for the most part it stinks. I would not pick it unless all the other picks were bad neutral rares.
Here instead is another amazing mage rare card, and also a minions. Mage really got a lot of better mininons. This card on the other hand is easy to control but even so, its a fuking 5.4 for 4. Thats a greats stats even with no ability and the ability is a mad bomber +1 at only your enemies. This card is amazing.
Mech is a common to pick, as many neutral mechs are very excellent cards and even some older mechs like Harvest golem is still one of the best value cards and mage got its new snowchugger as I mentioned its often the best 2 drop, then you can coin this card if its alive etc. Basically you probably end up with a lot of mechs in your arena deck. And even without mech this is in worst case a 9 stats for 4, which is like panda or tall strider etc a little worse then yeti as its vulnerable to swipes and trusesilver. But still a good stat for a 4 drop. And if you can coin it its effect is usually completely board broken. I would have to have 29 cards with no mechs to pick unstable portal over this.
This is a very interesting card, I love in constructed. But I would say its obvious that its pretty bad in Arena, it takes way, way to long time to get its effect. Its cost to much for the tempo in arena and first and foremost. Your cards usually suck so it cant copy anything good anyway. In rare cases its very strong late game, where you are out of cards and you can copy your few guys out there. And that can give really strong card advantage or board, usually both. But that is a really bad place to have any card being strong at. This card is good if the game should already have ended, that means its ratio is horrendously low. Worst mage epic for arena by far.
Wee Spellstopper is a win more card I would say both for constructed and arena. Its also especially true for arena as what you wanna protect are often strong legendaries which you wont have in arena. Its ok to keep your tempo in arena for some mage decks. Not that great of a card as it requires the rest of your deck to be strong or at least that you already got a strong board control.
Lastly, the legendary Sucks. Its a war golem with an completely uncontrollable effect and the effect is horrible in arena for yourself, while it can be really good in constructed. Yes in a few case you can completely turn a game drawing this and clearing the opponents board. But as arena is based around having strong minion presence for any class, drawing this when you are ahead means you lose your advantage. Its good in a spell focused deck, which you might have in arena but likely wont have. Archmage is a much better legendary for arena even tough he is quite weak as well.
Judgment Mage: Goblins vs Gnomes
Mage is better now because it got some extra strong common cards and some strong rare cards. Mage actually got pretty bad epics and legendary addition but the backbone of the arena mage deck will be cards like snowchugger. Flame-cannon and soot spewer are both strong solid cards and together are quite amazing. Mage keep having a very, very solid early plays. And as I went over they really hard counter the weapon decks very often. Thats a lot of extra win ratio to gain from that. What remains mage weakness is the epic cards none of the new ones are particularly good with the old ones being good sometimes, pyroblast can finish games but can also be completely dead and cost max mana in the game. Ice block is of course often completely useless, so well both new cards are better then that one. Spellbender remains as the best epic to pick for most decks otherwise its pyroblast if you got a lot of face damage and know you can strive for so long.
