The following IMO is the best list. You need those taunts to resist against aggro until t5 (arcane keysmith, witchwood piper, sandbinder etc are just too situational). There are 29 cards, the last one is up to choice. Pyros, Sindragosa, Lich King, Toki, Ysera, Alexstrasza all work fine but maybe -maybe- the best one is just an inexpensive 1x Rotten Applebaum.

### big spell mage
# Class: Mage
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (1) Arcane Artificer
# 2x (2) Doomsayer
# 2x (2) Raven Familiar
# 2x (3) Stonehill Defender
# 2x (3) Tar Creeper
# 2x (3) Voodoo Doll
# 2x (4) Polymorph
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 2x (5) Dragon’s Fury
# 1x (5) Harrison Jones
# 2x (6) Blizzard
# 2x (6) Meteor
# 1x (6) Skulking Geist
# 1x (7) Baron Geddon
# 2x (7) Flamestrike
# 1x (9) Dragoncaller Alanna
# 1x (9) Frost Lich Jaina
#
AAECAf0EBtACkAegzgKb0wKj6wLF8wIMTYoByQPsB5vCAsrDApbHApvLAtXhAtfhApbkArfxAgA=
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Dragonfire potion immunity rotated out and it was one of the main point of strenght of the 5-mana dragon (especially in raza era). Is Cobalt Scalebane still the best 5-mana drop?

***IMPORTANT UPDATE***

The best replacement for the rotated 2x Mistress seems to be 2x Gluttonous Ooze.

Unfortunately that also means the end of Prince Taldaram, which seems to be a little too greedy in the actual meta.

***IMPORTANT UPDATE***

If you wanna beat Cube (sometimes) 1x Harrison Jones is surely needed.

I’d never play it too, of course.

I didn’t say that’s strong. I said that’s disgusting to play against. I perfectly know that Paladin wrecks it and sometimes you can lose even against cubelock if some weird things happen (cube on the mistress, early skull, etc.).

The deck is brainless to play and simply disgusting. Shame on everyone who plays it; it just ruins the meta and the game for others.

lol, faceless manipulators are a lot more consistent than umbra.

You can copy:
your own voidlord summoned via lackey or skull turn 5;
you opponent’s voidlord in mirror matches or late game against priest (but you should play trying to avoid them stealing your voidlord);
your own mountain giant summoned the turn before in slow matchups;
your opponent’s mountain giant in mirror matches;
your own doomguard for burst damage (though it’s better to cube it because of guldan);
something good on the opponent’s side (i.e. obsidian statue or lich king against big priest; tirion or other big minions against spiteful, etc),
etc.

Umbra is almost completely useless before turn 9 and it does only work with doomguards (with voidlords there’s an insane voidwalker flooding). If you want the same result (but with more flexibility) you should try playing 1x sanguine reveler. At 10 mana with Prince Taldaram the result is the same (cube + taldaram + pact + reveler).

The beetles are clunky with the giants; you want to tap as much as possible in the first turn and you already have doomsayer as a 2 drop.

Something like 2 mortal coil or 2 drain soul should be more flexible, while still soaking a lot of damage against aggro (secret mage is gone, against the other aggro decks the best way to soak damage is with a big defile).

I don’t play n’zoth/big spell mage “only”. I play control mage alongside other control and combo decks (fatigue warrior, cubelock, etc). If secret mage had never existed, the meta, especially after the nerf, would have been so much better… And that’s a fact, not a subjective idiosyncrasy.

Lol. Cubelock IS the strongest deck around. Both control and aggro decks need to heavily tech against it to be 50-50 most of the times.

Spiteful vs Cubelock is favorable to spiteful only if you run something like 2 weapon removal and 2 silence.

Moreover Warlock is still the most banned class in tournaments (especially cube variants).

Mill rogue and cubelock are fun both to play and to play against. Dude paladin is retarded too, just like all the others aggro decks, but it can be countered with the usual anti aggro tools: taunt and aoes (aggro decks in general aren’t satisfying to play and they don’t reward skill; aggro mirrors i.e. just suck while control mirrors reward both skill and strategy).

You’re wrong btw, I’m a control mage player (both n’zoth and big spell). Sometimes i play quest mage too.

Secret mage is cancer because it’s an aggro deck that can’t be easily countered with the usual anti-aggro tools, due to counterspell and burn spells. For this particular reason it just ruins the meta. Murloc and dude paladin are retarded too, of course, but for what I said in the first paragraph they don’t ruin the meta.

The second stonehill defender is better than the RNG bitch (kabal trafficker). It costs the half and there’s an high chance to discover the third voidlord or the un’goro doomguard-like 3/8 with taunt.

What about mistress vs beetle? It really sucks to resummon 2x mistress with nzoth when you’re above in hp and board (but i.e. a little below in the fatigue count).

This deck is disgusting, shame on everyone who plays it. It ruins the game and the community.

Primordial Drake should be the budget replacement for Alex/Ysera, not the opposite… lol

Maybe the better one is the “new” KnC 5-mana ooze. You destroy Skull and Aluneth on curve while dropping a decent 5/5 body (which takes just 1 dmg from explosive runes).

You’re right, I forgot… :O

You can play reveler in place of umbra because at 10 mana the effect is the same

Umbra + Cube + Pact = 4 more doomguards

Cube + Taldaram + Pact + Reveler = 4 more doomguards

You would have been right if “charge” and “taunt” would have been “adaptable” into

The “gluttonous” one (the ungoro’s epic) is better. 3 armor against paladin and hunter DOES matter. The “acidic” one is off-curve with the 3 mana weapons…