If you die to a mage, you got outplayed.

It means he had to calculate (and execute) the fight exactly to his specifications, stats and other numerical values taken in at that very moment, taking into account your cooldowns and his, the creep waves and the general "feel" of the lane (an ability that has to be honed through years, maybe decades of what you call merely "gaming")

Indeed, to be defeated by a mage is to realise that you have found your better, both as a player and as a man. Your mettle failed you, but the mage player is wood-hard, cold, reliable- and as he secures his first blood and you anxiously await the surrender vote, his mind is still operating at full capacity preparing strategies for a near infinite amount of possibilities.