Arcane Mage gear

The best and second-best item for each slot at level 20, and where gear comes from at 60.

Level 20: best and second best per slot

Slot	Best	Second best
Head	Crafted: Tailoring (requires Merchant's Favor)	Crafted: Engineering
Neck	Hall of Thanes — Faldrim Anvilmar	Shadowfang Keep — Rethilgore
Shoulders	Shadowfang Keep — Wolf Master Nandos	quest The Glowing Shard — Wailing Caverns
Back	Wailing Caverns — Deviate Faerie Dragon	Ragefire Chasm — Bazzalan
Chest	Shadowfang Keep — Archmage Arugal	Crafted: Tailoring
Wrist	Hall of Thanes — Faldrim Anvilmar	Ragefire Chasm — Taragaman the Hungerer
Hands	quest Important Heirlooms — Hall of Thanes	Crafted: Tailoring (Merchant's Favor)
Waist	Shadowfang Keep — Archmage Arugal	Wailing Caverns — Lord Pythas
Legs	Ruins of Lordaeron — The Abandoned	Crafted: Tailoring
Feet	Wailing Caverns — Mutanus the Devourer	Ruins of Lordaeron — Rath'mael
Ring	Wailing Caverns — Mutanus the Devourer	quest Arugal Must Die — Shadowfang Keep
Trinket	Shadowfang Keep — Odo the Blindwatcher	Wailing Caverns — Lady Anacondra
Main Hand	Shadowfang Keep — Baron Silverlaine	Ragefire Chasm — Bazzalan
Off Hand / Shield	quest Important Heirlooms — Hall of Thanes	none listed
Two-Hand	Shadowfang Keep — Odo the Blindwatcher	The Deadmines — Captain Greenskin
Ranged / Relic	The Deadmines — Cookie	Crafted: Enchanting

Pre-raid: Alcaz Prison, Shaper's Terrace, the Drowned City, Krol'dok Stronghold and Hyjal quests; hit and crit are merged, so 'spell hit' and 'spell crit' items are the same stat budget as melee ones.
Crafted: Tailoring school-specific sets ('Flame', 'Shadow', 'Pearly' at L20 — expect the same lines at 60), Enchanting ring Spell Power, Alchemy trinket.
Wands lost spell-damage scaling on 24 Sep — treat the ranged slot as stats only.
Raids open 9 December; no level-60 BiS exists yet.

Theory