Taking your Ice Mage into PvP:

O.K. You are level 60 and ready to hit the BG’s. Let’s look at each one individually:

Alterac Valley:
Your Primary spells here are going to be Blizzard, Arcane Explosion and Sheep. Av is normally won or lost depending upon which side, (Or Zerg) can push the hardest.

Defense:
If your side is in a defensive position you want to use Blizzard as much as possible to at least slow the enemy down. You should be in the back of the “frontline” correctly timing when to use Blizzard.

Rogue jumps out and WHAM! The very first thing you do is IB (Ice Block), this negates the stun and gives you plenty of time to react. If you are in a good group then by the time the IB wears off the Rogue will already be dead, if not you have 3 options:

1. Blink away, turn around and Insta cast sheep, or FB. (FB = Frost Bolt, not Fireblast)(Depending on how badly the Rogue is hurt) If you FB’ed him then you want to mana dump. Insta cast a FB, (If he freezes, FB again) then Fire Blast, a COC and AM (Arcane Missiles) should finish him.
2. The Rogue has no idea when your IB wears off, so when it does simply CS, (Cold Snap) and IB again, your mission here is to defend the front line, not mana dump on a Rogue. Really if someone in your group has not attacked him through 2 IB’s then you need to look for another group, LOL.
3. Either wait for IB to end or end it yourself and quickly start walking backwards away from the Rogue, as soon as your back is away from him hit FN,(Frost Nova) and then COC.(Cone of Cold) Now he is screwed, most likely he took a crit(+50% chance), and he is slowed. (Still walking backwards)Fireblast, Insta cast FB, CS and FN again, COC and he should be down.

A warrior charges you, you cannot fight with a warrior in AV, when you are supposed to be holding the frontline, and my advice is to sheep him.

On Offense:

Here is where it gets fun! After you die, DO NOT use your INT buff, and do not use you Shield either. (You will need all the mana you have, of course if you are very far from the front, buff up) Mount, have your finger over the dismount key, ride straight toward the frontline.(timing here is critical, also if you have a Priest make sure he/she shields you, BEFORE you charge the frontline.) Within 2 seconds you should dismount (Right at the forward edge of the frontline) and start spamming AE, DO NOT turn, run straight thru. If the peeps on the frontline want to engage you they have to turn around and chase you. (If they are stupid enough to do this, you already accomplished your mission, IB, CS (when you want) and IB again. Remember your job here is to collapse the frontline. In the case that no one turns around to chase you, keep spamming AE, if you have time, Insta cast Sheep on a Priest, Druid, or Pally. (Healers) Important note: if you see a Druid/Pally/Priest with a full mana bar, DO NOT attack them, because they are not healing and are most likely noobs.(Enemy noobs can be your friend if you use them correctly) Also do not Sheep a Druid if it is morphed, you are looking for healers.

If at a Flag: (GY or Building)

Always use sheep here and when given a choice ALWAYS sheep the freakin healer! DO NOT Blizzard a flag in defense, (it will not stop the cap, so many Noob mages try this) run in and use your lowest level AE, this will stop the cap and conserve mana for your shield. If attacking the Flag, it is best if another party member gets the flag while you play support sheeping anyone that tries to whack the capper. If there are multiple enemy targets coming into a flag to hit your capper, Blizzard, and hope for a freeze.

WSG:
Your primary spells here will be Sheep, FN, and FB. I do not recommend a mage to “carry” the flag, yes I have seen mages do it, but only by using an exploit. Sigh… I do not like posting exploits, but in order to be a complete guide… How to exploit the flag: When you are carrying the flag and you get a ton of DOT’s on you, or a Snare simply IB, the flag will drop, but all DOT’s and snares will be removed. (You did have your mouse pointer over the spot where the flag drops right? Or you had you finger on a macro that picks up the flag for you.) This will cause you to IB, drop the flag, and pick up the flag, BEFORE the enemy even sees that it was dropped. (This takes practice on the timing part) Now simply Blink away and hit Cold Snap, in case you have to do it again. If peeps are close to do not forget to FN, and if it is a solo peep just Insta Sheep him/her.

Escorting the Flag:

The best role you can play in WSG is “escort”, Mages make a mean escort if played correctly. When you are running with the flag carrier and someone is in front of the carrier, you Insta Sheep, if they are behind you FN or Insta FB.(If you have time, cast the FB instead of using your Insta and just Blink back to the carrier) If you can get the carrier to your tunnel, its all over, just go about ¼ of the way thru the tunnel and turn around and Blizzard the entrance, no you wont kill anyone, but you just slowed everyone down and let the flag carrier capture the flag!

Defending a Flag:
In today’s WSG BG’s you really want to be running escort, however if you get stuck defending, your options are limited. (I do not like defending as a Mage in WSG) If a solo peep comes in, just sheep and get into a good position and mana dump. If you have 2 peeps coming in, DO NOT SHEEP the first, because the second is normally the escort or healer. So Sheep the second, and FB the first to slow him/her. NO AOE here, you will break the Sheep! Do not mana dump on the flag carrier, simply FN and FB, because if you mana dump when there is two, you may kill the carrier, only to have the second finally come out of sheep and you have no mana…(if your mana Regen is not on cooldown you can try, this but your timing better be near perfect.) What happens if the flag carrier attacks you instead of trying to escape? Then you Blink and keep him around the flag room as long as possible, you cannot afford to burn mana on your shield or mana dump, because of the second peep that is still sheeped.

Arathi Basin:
I have been in over 100 AB’s now, and you really do not see too many Ice Mages there, this is because they know they are going to be running AB’s for weeks trying to get rank. So they respect into Arcane or Fire. If you are going to take an Ice build Mage into AB for a prolonged amount of time I would strictly play flag defense. An Ice Mage defending a Flag really counts as two defenders, because you can sheep, taking one enemy out of the equation. Even if you get jumped by a Rogue just IB, if he tries to cap you break the IB move a little distance away and Fire Blast him. If the Rouge is solo use the strategy listed above. As a Mage in AB you will run into your arch enemy the Hunter. You will get rocked by Hunters until you learn their “sweet spot”. There is an area about 6-7 feet away from the Hunter, (In game feet) that the Hunter cannot melee or range attack you. You get in this “spot” and FN and COC, FB, and the Hunter can do nothing… ALWAYS charge a Hunter, because if you sit there and try to DPS you are just gonna get mana drained.