Imbue mage as tutorial
I think imbue mage acts as a good tutorial for wild, similar to that of the very first boss in a souls game, where the advice to beat it is to truly just get good.
Imbue mage teaches you the following things.
- Your opponent responds to your board state.
- You should exploit the weaknesses of your opponent’s deck.
- High rolling happens.
- OTK combos are common in wild.
Why Imbue mage works as a tutorial is that it is very easily telegraphed. At all times, you know exactly how much max damage output the mage has, and that you can directly influence this damage by how you use your board.
If the imbue mage has 4 damage in their hero power, and you throw down two weak tokens with 2 health each, you can expect that your opponents max damage output has increased by 16, while having done you very little in return as you increase your boards HP by 4. You can expect to take an extra 12 damage to your face. So clearly this is not a good play.
The imbue mage can use their combo with 7 mana. To use this combo they need enough damage on their hero power, and for their opponent to have a big board of small minions. If you can disrupt this you have a big advantage, as the imbue mage has no other feasible way to win.
To counter the imbue mage you have many options.
- Board lock them. If they have a board full of wisps they have a hard time imbuing, and few options to clear their own board. The wisps by themselves pose no threat.
- Play tall. If you have a few big minions, their hero power scales poorly.
- Aggro. They have a hard time responding to early threat or an early big board.
- Disrupt card draw or mana cost. The imbue mage needs to Imbue and must do so often.
- Probably many more.
The imbue mage has more counters than most of the other meta decks in wild, and their combo is more telegraphed than most other combos in wild. To beat it all you need to do is think about the actions you take not in isolation to your own win condition, but in how your opponent can respond to the way you play.