The Comprehensive Saviors of Uldum Preview

Ancient Mysteries

Mad Scientist without the Scientist. Just the madness. Every deck that runs secrets will want to play this card, and the fact you can control when to play the free secret is a cherry on top that works particularly well with other secret synergy cards that were released in this set.

Score: 3

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Flame Ward

A serviceable secret that helps aggressive Mage decks in their usual weakness, which is dealing with aggressive flooding from other decks. Unlike Explosive Trap, it doesn’t prevent the first minion from hitting you even if it dies from the Ward. Not an amazing card but a small upgrade on currently available secrets.

Score: 2

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Cloud Prince

Fireball on a stick is strong, especially when that stick is a 4/4 for only 1 extra mana. We know Medivh’s Valet was good and this is a similar card that makes us interested in the return of Secret Mage. It’s also an Elemental that can be cheated out with Evocation. It took Valet two expansions to see play, so we’ll see how long it takes Cloud Prince.

Score: 3

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Arcane Flakmage

So Secret Mage’s new strength will be AOE? This card is very good and becomes even stronger with Arcane Mysteries. A 2 mana 3/2 that casts Consecration is no joke. Will find a home eventually, and it’s possible that slower Mage decks will be interested in a secret package again in the future.

Score: 3

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Dune Sculptor

This card looks good initially, but it competes with Mana Cyclone for spells, which means it’s got a big problem in finding a justification. Mage minions are also much weaker than Mage spells, and we cannot cheat Sculptor out. It’s a hard sell, most likely in Highlander Mage.

Score: 2

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Naga Sand Witch

This could be a powerful card in a Big-Spell Mage deck. Reducing the cost of Power of Creation and Yogg’s Puzzle Box seems like a fun idea. The problem is that it’s a bit awkward to play with cheaper spells we may want to run, like Frost Nova, Ray of Frost or Conjurer’s Calling. Has the potential to do some spooky stuff with Pyroblasts too, so it’s hard to completely rule it out.

Score: 2

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Tortollan Pilgrim

A much stronger version of Grand Archivist. We get to discover what to cast and we don’t expend the card from the deck. Finding an important AOE or a high-value spell can be quite powerful with this card. Even if we’re casting a spell for 3 mana, it’s worth the cost. This minion also becomes insane with Galaxy and becomes an 8 mana Yogg-Saron with Puzzle Box. However, it’s not easy to accommodate this minion and the support it needs while maintaining enough defensive tools to survive.

Score: 2

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Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron

We know Yogg was good before he got nerfed, and 10 spells are enough to replicate the effect of an average Yogg. Works well with Sand Witch and Pilgrim to give us more Puzzles, and cheaper Puzzles. Is such an extremely random effect powerful enough to build a deck around? We’re skeptic about that but we’ll never know for sure until we try. We’ll give this one a tentative “maybe”.

Score: 2

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Reno the Relicologist

This Reno isn’t as good as the original one, but it’s still a very good card. It’s a much stronger Dyn-o-matic because it only affects enemy minion, and it can act as both an AOE or single target removal on top of a big tempo swing with a 4/6 body. Reno should help a highlander deck’s consistency in finding removal at the right moment.

Score: 3

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Raid the Sky Temple

This card has the perfect home in Cyclone Mage since the deck already does what the quest wants it to do, which is casting spells. The big problem is that the quest will make Cyclone Mage a worse version of itself. Cyclone Mage’s opening mulligan is extremely important, and its current game plan is already miles better than a random spell button, so it has no reason to invest in this quest. Basically, this quest has found the perfect home, but the landlord kicked it out and locked the door.

Score: 1

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Final Thoughts

Saviors of Uldum Set Rank: 7^th

Overall Power Ranking: 3^rd

Mage received cards that mainly support two archetypes: Secret Mage and Big-Spell Mage. Both archetypes should be interesting to theorycraft, but we have doubts about whether they will pan out in this expansion since they still seem to possess some significant weaknesses. Compared to other classes, it is fair to say that Mage’s set isn’t one of the most promising.

Nevertheless, Mage did get Reno, which is a strong card for Highlander Mage. Most importantly, Cyclone Mage should remain a very dangerous deck. There are a couple of new cards that might prove to be strong counters to Mage, such as Plague of Murlocs and Plague of Wrath, but we don’t expect the deck to be pushed away from its standing as one of the most powerful strategies in the format, especially since we expect to see Druid rise in play.