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Merauder
Apr 17, 2003

The North Remembers.
Official Site | Official Facebook | Rules & Other Downloads | BGG


Let's talk about Mage Wars! This kick-rear end game has been out for several months now, and with its first expansion now on shelves as well, it's time for its own thread to talk strategy, tactics, spellbooks, whatever!



From developer Arcane Wonders’ website:

quote:

Mage Wars is the customizable strategy game of dueling mages. Players take on the role of powerful mages, stepping into the arena to battle for supremacy. Mage Wars is a unique genre-breaking concept, combining the best elements of customizable card games and tactical miniature games.

Mage Wars is one of the latest and greatest in board/card gaming’s continual infatuation with pitting classic arcanist archtypes against one another in duels to the death through the use of magic spells and summoned allies. While the battling wizards genre has already seen a lot of love recently (Summoner Wars, Cryptozoic’s Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards, and the 8th Edition re-release of classic Wiz-War all in the last few years to name a few), Mage Wars is poised to set its self apart with some very unique game play elements and has received loads of praise since its public release in the summer of 2012.




The game is card & dice based and is designed to be played with 2 players (though larger games are also an option) on a game board on which players move their respective characters (also all represented by cards) around a large 3x4 grid until there is a one mage left standing. While the game shares a lot of similarities with a certain trading card game of battling wizards and is often compared to it, it actually much more closely lives alongside the games of the LCG genre than among TCGs. Everything you need to enjoy Mage Wars is included in its base game; no randomly distributed cards, chase rares, or feeling of being “priced out” of playing the game because you can’t acquire the hottest & most powerful cards available.

Players take simultaneous turns with alternating priority for taking alternating actions, which keeps the game moving and from ever feeling like you are sitting and waiting for your turn again. On a player’s turn their active character can either A) take a full action, consisting of moving two spaces on the board or casting a full action spell, or B) they can move just one space and make a quick action, consisting of quick spells and attacks. The action system is very clean and intuitive, not to mention familiar to anyone with some tabletop RPG experience. Character actions are tracked with colored markers in a face-up or face-down orientation, making it simple to tell clearly at a glance who has acted or is left to act for a round.

Mages operate off a single resource (mana) to cast their spells, generating a defined quantity into their mana pool each round, in addition to any mana that carried over unused from the previous round. This carry-over system allows for a player to employ a variety of strategies at any point in the game: Do you hoard your mana by casting inexpensive spells only for a turn, in order to cast your spellbook’s biggest threat on the next turn? What’s the risk involved with doing so? Or should you upkeep a steady stream of spells in an attempt to maintain a constant presence in the arena and win the match through a battle of attrition? The choice is yours how you manage this valuable resource. Different mages generate mana at different rates, and various cards and effects can modify this number up or down over the course of a game.

Strategy runs deep within the game play due to a number of factors, but none so much as Mage Wars’ “Spellbook” mechanic which puts decision making entirely into the hands of each player by not relying on randomized decks and drawing of cards. Let’s delve in deeper!






Spellbooks are without a doubt one of the key unique features that Mage Wars brings to the table. Included in the base game are two 2x2 paged binders, each with custom art representative of two of the playable mages included in the set (the Wizard and the Warlock). Prepared in advance, players use these binders to house their repertoire of spells similar to a deck of cards in other games, and during the course of the game are able to select spells of their choosing to be cast on their turn instead of relying on a shuffled pile and blind card draws. Ever found yourself saying things like “If I’d have had X in my hand, I’d have won!”, or “Sometimes you just draw badly and there’s nothing you can do.”? These become non-existent issues in Mage Wars when you get to choose what you have available to you every turn. With over 300 cards and 175 different spells to work from within the base game, the level of strategy and chess-like consideration for your own and your opponent’s actions/anticipated actions makes you really feel in control of your mage’s fate and sets Mage Wars apart from its competition in the genre.




What goes into your spell book? The choice is yours. The game has 6 different spell types:


The most straightforward of spells, Attacks target your opponent and deal damage to them. Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!



Objects or constructs you bring forth into the arena. These range from global buffs to you and your creatures, to debuffs hindering your opponent, to a variety of walls, and even spawnpoints to assist your mage in bringing allies into battle.



Summoned allies to fight by your side. Each enters the arena with its own special properties and attacks, and operates independently of your mage, allowing you to maneuver them flank opponents, create a phalanx of guards to hide behind, or whatever other strategy you can come up with.



Spells which attach to others to augment them in some way. Range from area traps, to mana buffs, to curses, to spell deflections, and many, many more. Another unique Mage Wars mechanic, Enchantments are always played face-down and remain hidden to your opponent until you reveal them, adding a level of strategy and even at times a hint of mind-gaming/bluffing.



Spells allowing your mage to adorn themselves in supplemental gear such as armor, weapons, magic rings, spell-casting wands, and more.



Immediate effect spells similar to attacks, but leaning more on utility than damage dealing (though sometimes both, to a creative Mage: Force Push through a wall, perhaps? Hm!). Dispells, teleports, heals, and more found in this category.




“Eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right?” –Dr. Ian Malcolm

All this talk about mana, spells, and spellbooks, but no sign of the star of the show? Let’s take a look at the Mages themselves, the characters you play, starting with those that the base game has to offer.

Four different mages are included in the base set: The Priestess, Beastmaster, Wizard, and Warlock. Each mage has its own special powers, varying amounts of health or mana supply, and schools of magic in which they are trained. Here’s an example of the Warlock’s info card:



While any mage can utilize nearly any of the 175 different spells included in the game, each character is most effectively tuned to use some more than others. There are 10 schools of magic represented in Mage Wars:



A mage’s spellbook allows for 120 “points” worth of spells to be included, which is represented by the level of the spell (shown in the top-right corner of each spell card, next to the spell’s school icon). If a mage is trained in the spell’s school, that spell costs spellbook points equal to the spell’s level. If they are not trained, it costs double. Some mages even have schools which they are forced to pay triple points for if they choose to include in their spellbook, but if they do, they can then cast the spell as normal during a game. This leads to each character having some natural definition as to how their spellbooks will be assembled, but are by no means restricted to playing only certain types of spells. Want a Beastmaster who summons no beasts and throws fireballs like a maniac Warlock? You can do that! You’ll certainly catch opponents by surprise when they are expecting a very different strategy from your chosen mage.
Here’s a closer look at each of the four mages and what a player can expect from them and their particular expertise:



Trained in Holy magic, the Priestess likes drawing on the power of conjured temples, and focuses her efforts on summoning strong Knights and Angels into the arena while keeping them afloat with powerful heals and buffs.

Priestess is the only mage with a built in ability to remove condition effects off creatures, such as Sleep, Daze, Burn, etc. caused by opposing attacks or incantations, making her strong against control strategies or just simply keeping her minions in the fray.




Master of nature, the Beastmaster commands the denizens of the forest, from its trees and plants to its wildest beasts. He excels at empowering his companions with additional strength, speed, and vitality. By taking one of his creatures as a Pet he can add even more buffs to it.

The “Quick Summoning” skill allows the Beastmaster to summon an extra creature each round, which in conjunction with their exclusive Spawnpoint conjuration, the Lair, can help him net 3 creatures in a single round.




The purest form of mage is the Wizard, focusing on straight Arcane and Elemental powers. They excel at manipulating mana and spells; their own, as well as their opponent’s.

Wizard players have the luxury of selecting one of the four Elemental schools of magic for their mage to be trained in, for the purpose of spellbook creation. If you favor aggressive fire attacks, you can designate your Wizard as Fire trained, opening up any other fire spells such as the Fireshaper Ring or Wall of Fire to count for the fewest possible spellbook points. If control is more your avenue, you might select Air as your element of choice, and utilize gusts of wind and bursts of lightning to dominate and stun their opponents. This variable training component adds a significant surprise factor to playing against a Wizard.




Perhaps the most aggressive of the mages, Warlocks are the lords of the dark and fire, channeling the depths of Hell to summon Demons and hellfire to crush their enemies.

Warlocks can summon powerful Bloodreaver demons at the cost of their maximum health, but in turn being able to continually heal themselves through the successful combat of their Bloodreaper. They are also an effective class for “solo” strategies however; foregoing summoned creatures in favor of equipment to bolster their combat prowess and enchantments (specifically, curses) to mitigate threats.




Arcane Wonders has not only crafted an expert game, but along with it a full fantasy world and story ripe with conflict, perfectly fit to host the Mage Wars. The story is set in the world of Etheria, a place with various nations currently in conflict due to some religious toil (isn’t it always?). Each of the game’s four mages comes from different areas of the world, and each area has its own history and culture. Naturally when issues arise between these cultures, the most constructive form of conflict resolution the citizens of Etheria have mustered is to put two spell-slingers in an arena until one of them is right, and the other is dead. Makes sense, if you think about it.

Maps of Etheria and more details on its political and religious landscape can be found over at the official site, or by clicking here.

Retail level organized play program is designed to get players into their hobby stores playing Mage Wars weekly, and they are providing OP kits to stores who sign up which include promo cards, posters, story guides, and more. In addition, the OP program is designed to get hobby story players to shape the story of Etheria, with stores reporting results from events which will influence the official lore/story towards peace, war, exile, life, and death of Etheria’s inhabitants.

Currently available promos through hobby store participation are alternate art version of Dispel and Minor Heal, and a currently unreleased creature named Galador, Protector of Streywood. All 3 cards are stamped with a foil Mage Wars logo.






Core Spell Tome 1
$19.99
Contains 110 cards that feature additional copies of the most useful spells from the Mage Wars base game. Whether you need an extra "Block", "Dispel", "Pillar of Light", or "Thunderift Falcon", with the Core Spell Tome, you will have the spells you need to vanquish your opponents in the Arena. With this supplement, you have the ability to customize your Mage and explore various builds adding depth to your tactics and assault.



Core Spell Tome 2
$19.99
Core Spell Tome 2 gives players lots of spells to arm themselves with, with 110 additional copies of spells from the core game focusing on the more powerful spells in the game, and contains more than 70 spells not found in Core Spell Tome 1. If players buy both spell tomes, they will have more than enough to build whatever Mage strategy they desire.


:siren: Popular Note: Many players just opt for a 2nd core game instead of using the Spell Tome add-ons. For the extra $20 you'll have more than enough cards, as well as an extra game board and extra copies of the base mages for multiplayer games, assuming you don't have any friends with the game/you have no desire to play at hobby stores with other people.


Official Spellbook Pack
& Action Marker Set
(sold separately)
$15.99 for Spellbooks
$12.99 for Action Markers
New spellbooks with original art corresponding to the Priestess and Beastmaster mages, and matching Action Markers in yellow and green, respectively.





Forcemaster vs. Warlord
$39.99

Contents:
· 216 Spell Cards
· 2 Custom Spellbooks
· 2 Mage Cards
· 2 Mage Ability Cards
· Die-cut markers
· Rules

Now play as the Forcemaster – a master of telekinesis and Mind magic, or the Warlord – supreme commander of soldiers and War magic.

Merauder fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Feb 24, 2013

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Deviant
Sep 26, 2003

i've forgotten all of your names.


This is a fantastic game I don't play enough, and it pushes all the same buttons in my brain as Final Fantasy Tactics.

Some people say it's smarter to buy two core sets than the spell tomes, however.

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
I hope we get some good discussion here because the official forums and even BGG are kind of slow for this game. My buddy got me into this, I like the Warlock but am even more excited about the Forcemaster. Once people got an idea of how to defeat a solo build (tip: multiple large creatures) my warlock book stopped being as effective. The Forcemaster looks like it might be even better at running around solo without turning it into a game of Pokemon.

That brings up one of my gripes about the game. Creatures are SOOO good. They are basically the most mana-efficient spell in the game because they last until they are killed, they give you multiple actions, and it usually costs more mana to kill a creature than to cast it. And that's fine, that may be what a lot of people want in the game, but I'd prefer more of a mage duel type of feel. So mostly my spellbooks are built around how to deal with enemy creatures without just dropping a bunch of creatures myself.

Apparently the winner of the first tournament was actually an aggressive beatdown Warlock, which was surprising to me, but he also used the most expensive creature in the game to help him to victory. So even an aggressive equipment-focused build can be heavily strengthened by adding a key creature or two. Action economy is just so important, if you go in by yourself you're probably going to break like a wave against a mass of creatures.

The other thing I'm not certain I like is the tournament tie-breaker method, which is used when a match runs over the time limit (typically 90 minutes I guess, which seems way too short based on my games with friends). The tie-breaker is most damage dealt, so you have to track separately how much damage you get dealt vs how much damage you currently have; the tie-breaker does not include healing, to help discourage turtling up.

Other than those two complaints, this is a pretty fun game that has a lot of cool interactions. I like the way they wrote (and interpret) the rules. Essentially, they tried to make things as common-sense as possible. So if you have a question about how a rule works, just think of how it should work thematically, and that's probably how it's actually supposed to work.

Edit: I also bought 2 base sets in addition to 2 core spell tomes (the first one, none of the second). I recommend buying multiple base sets rather than core spell tomes as long as you think you may be interested in putting together multiple spellbooks. If you just want more cards and are fine with 2 spellbooks at a time from the core set, I'd say go with the spell tomes.

sighnoceros fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Feb 21, 2013

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!
Great OP, much better than I would have done even if I'd had time to do one. I'll post my decks and some basic strategy discussion a bit later when I'm not at work.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Feb 22, 2013

PROTOSTORM!!!
Oct 24, 2010
I have been looking into 1v1 centric games and this is tickling that itch heavily, I'm not in the green at the moment for it so it'll have to wait but by god does it look like a hoot. I hope that spellbook mechanic has some kinda sway in more card games, I can only count how many times I've built a magic deck all ready to be a loving nerd at school with it and it never loving pans out cause I'm waiting on draws that never come.

Also the first spellbook does seem like a whack expansion just to get some extras, but the second one should be worth it for the 70 additional cards? (unless whoever recommended 2 base versions deemed the new cards lame perhaps?)

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!

PROTOSTORM!!! posted:

Also the first spellbook does seem like a whack expansion just to get some extras, but the second one should be worth it for the 70 additional cards? (unless whoever recommended 2 base versions deemed the new cards lame perhaps?)

Do you mean the Core Spell Tomes?

The core spell tomes are the cards in the core set divided into two separate, small, packs. They allow you to pickup extra copies of cards from the core set without actually having to buy a whole new core set. It's not necessary to have any of the Core Spell Tomes or buy another Core Set to build decks for all the Mages but chances are you'll want to be using some of the same spells in each deck so it's good to have extra copies.

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!
Notes for New Players
Basically some things that new players should know, or might easily forget and need to be reminded of.

Mage/Elemental Wands are extremely important. These equipment allow you to reuse the same spell again and again. No matter which Mage you are playing, chances are there's a spell that you would love to use every round if you could.

Traits, such as "Regenerate 2" do not stack, unless they have a + or - symbol.

Each creature may not have more than 1 enchantment of the same name on it. Sorry you can't toss 4 copies of Ghoul Rot onto your enemy Mage at the same time.

Lairs are good. Don't build a deck without a Lair unless you're building a creatureless deck which at the moment is incredibly impractical. Lairs are very, VERY important as they allow your Mage to be able to unleash those giant Full Action spells while still being able to Summon a Creature on the same turn.

When building a deck, first identify the goal of how you want to kill your opponent most of the time. In the Core Set, decks like a Holy Creature heavy Priestess deck, a combination Curse/Fire/Demon deck with the Warlock, or a Lightning based Direct Damage Wizard are some options. In whichever case, you need to figure out what the core strategy is and then build around that idea. If you're building a Lightning Wizard for example, you probably aren't going to want spells like Bear Strength because your Mage should be doing nothing but tossing lightning bolts and thunderbolts as hard and often as he can. This is pretty obvious to most people.

What's not obvious is how to build a curve, or to co-opt a phrase from Starcraft; your 'Summon Order'. In MTG it's common for players when building a deck to lay out their spells in such a way that you can see the various spells you have a various casting costs; e.g. 8 1-mana spells, 12 2-mana spells, 14 3-mana spells, etc. While a lot of this game is reacting to what your opponent does. The early rounds are usually somewhat the same. So you need to plan what you'll be summoning in the first three rounds, a general outline that will set you up for the later game.

Let's say you're building a Lightning Wizard. Your first turn you decide that you'll want to get out your Lair(Gate to Voltari) and a Moonglow Amulet, which will use up all of your Mana. The second turn you'll now have 11 mana to play with. But let's say instead of using Moonglow Amulet, you used a Mana Crystal instead; this would give you 12 mana and would allow you to cast a Stonegaze Basilisk. Now a Mana Crystal in your starting zone is pretty safe as your enemy would need to go out of their way to send someone to attack it, while a Moonglow Amulet could easily be the target of a 'Dissolve' spell, which is another good reason not to cast 'Harmonize' on it. You might also think "Ok well, I'll just spend my first 2 turns casting my Lair, and 3 Mana Crystals." Which seems like a great idea until your enemy the Beastmaster casts Teleport on himself and you find him attacking one of your crystals or your lair in the very first turn. Now he's right next to you and you're wishing you'd dropped a creature in the first turn to go fight him off or guard your Mage/Lair. So not only do you want a "Summon Order" that will build toward your future goals but also allow for versatility. So while you might think that the Moonglow Amulet is worth that extra mana in the first turn, the second turn you might be wishing you could bring out a nice guard like the Basilisk.

Items that grant + to Channeling, seem fantastic but you need to realize that in order to make the most out of them you're going to need to design you deck in a way that will slow your opponent down, not to mention they take a long time to get that mana back. A Moonglow Amulet for example costs 5 mana and adds 1 to your channeling, this means that it won't pay for itself until 6 rounds later. By the time that amulet starts to work for you, the game could be almost over. While these items seem like "auto includes", you have to work them into your "Summon Order".

Walls are your friends. All walls thus far have the 'Extendable' trait, which after casting one wall allows you to take another copy of the same wall out of your spellbook and summon it for cost + its level. Walls are fantastic delaying spells for enemies. Try surrounding the enemy lair in a few walls of fire or stone and see how much it slows down your opponent. Remember that a push effect into an impassible wall(such as the walls around the arena itself) cause that target to take 3 dice worth of damage. This makes Jet Stream an incredibly efficient spell if your enemy is next to a wall @ 4 Mana for 2 attack dice with a 75% chance of doing 3 attack dice more from up to 2 zones away.

Up Next...GUARDING and why IT'S REALLY loving IMPORTANT!

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Feb 22, 2013

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:

PaybackJack posted:

Traits, such as "Melee +1", do not stack together. This means if an grants +1 and another effect grants +2 to a trait, the increase is +2 not +3. Example: The Warlock is making an attack with the 'Lash of Hellfire' while wearing a 'Fireshaper Ring'. The Ring grants the Warlock Melee +1 because the attack from the Lash is fire based. The Warlock already has Melee +1 however from his own Mage Card. Thus the Warlock's attack dice are total 5 (Lash +4, Melee +1), not 6.

This is incorrect. If a trait has a plus or minus symbol, it is stackable with other sources of the trait. So 4 Dice from Lash, Melee +1 from Fireshaper Ring, and Melee +1 from Warlock gives you 6 dice. Add on Gauntlets of Strength for another +1 and Bear Strength for another +2 and you are swinging 9 dice with your melee attacks (I can personally attest that this feels pretty awesome, and if your opponent lets you get to and stay at this point you have probably won).

If, however, a trait does NOT have a plus or minus symbol, like "Regenerate 2" or "Aegis 1", then it doesn't stack with other sources of that trait.

The rest of the advice seems good for beginners. I've done pretty well myself without being creature heavy and rarely using spawnpoints, but they ARE pretty good and helpful in most situations if you're going with a creature-heavy build. Just keep in mind that if you're spawnpoint costs 15 mana and you only plan to drop like 1 or 2 creatures during the match then you're not really taking advantage of it and you might consider just casting the creatures directly. Spawnpoints really start to shine when you are using them multiple times to get action advantage.

Also, something that some beginners don't realize (I didn't at first) is when you have a spawnpoint or a familiar that can cast spells, they pull from THEIR mana first, but if they are out of mana, they can pull from YOUR mana as well. So you don't have to build up 16 mana on your spawnpoint to drop a 16 mana creature, you can just have 2 or 3 or however many your spawnpoint requires to cast and still cast by supplementing with mana from your mage.

The number one advice I would give to beginners is to think about your use of your actions. The main limiting factor in nearly all the matches I've played has not been mana, but actions. Sure, you need mana to do things, but very often you may want to do more things than you have the actions to perform, because you only get 2 actions a turn from your mage. The reason spawnpoints (which cast creatures or equipment so far) and familiars (which can cast various incantations and enchantments) are so good is because they let you cast spells without using your mage's actions. Additionally, wands are so good because if something changes in a round and one of the spells you prepared isn't necessary or you don't want to cast it anymore, you can still use your action effectively if you chose a good spell to put on your wand. Creatures are good because they give you multiple actions of attacks, and guarding is good (which PaybackJack will get into) because it uses up your opponent's melee actions before they can damage you.

PaybackJack posted:

Remember that a push effect into an impassible wall causes that target to take 3 damage. This makes Jet Stream an incredibly efficient spell if your enemy is next to a wall @ 4 Mana for 2 attack dice with a 75% chance of doing 3 attack dice more from up to 2 zones away.

Pushing through an attacking wall (like a Wall of Fire) is even better, because it will attack them. Also keep in mind that the walls that make up the border of the arena count as walls with the impassable trait, so if there are no conjured walls you can always push them against the edge of the map for 3 dice.

sighnoceros fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Feb 22, 2013

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
YESSS, MAGE WARS. Awesome OP.

I just got my Forcemaster box yesterday. I'm already thinking of ways of how I can abuse the dwarven sniper, the archer tower, and surrounding them with stone walls to infuriate my foes. :allears:

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!

sighnoceros posted:

This is incorrect. If a trait has a plus or minus symbol, it is stackable with other sources of the trait. So 4 Dice from Lash, Melee +1 from Fireshaper Ring, and Melee +1 from Warlock gives you 6 dice. Add on Gauntlets of Strength for another +1 and Bear Strength for another +2 and you are swinging 9 dice with your melee attacks (I can personally attest that this feels pretty awesome, and if your opponent lets you get to and stay at this point you have probably won).

If, however, a trait does NOT have a plus or minus symbol, like "Regenerate 2" or "Aegis 1", then it doesn't stack with other sources of that trait.

You're right about that. I was thinking they did stack, went back read it incorrectly, and that's what I meant to say the first time.

quote:

Pushing through an attacking wall (like a Wall of Fire) is even better, because it will attack them. Also keep in mind that the walls that make up the border of the arena count as walls with the impassable trait, so if there are no conjured walls you can always push them against the edge of the map for 3 dice.

Knew I forgot to mention something in that sentence.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Feb 22, 2013

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!
Let's talk about Guarding and Flying.

At first glance Flying appears to be god drat amazing, and completely broken. Flying units, much like in MTG, is a powerful form of evasion. Creatures without flying or ranged attacks cannot attack them directly. Creatures with flying can ignore walls, and even have line of site over them. Toss flying onto your Archer and cut off your enemies movement with walls, while still reigning death onto them. No doubt about it, Flying is amazing but a deck without any flying creatures still has plenty of options against a deck with nothing but and that is because of Guarding.

Guarding is probably the most important mechanic in the actual gameplay of Mage Wars. Guarding allows your smaller creatures to protect your Mage from melee threats, and then getting to counter strike with their quick attack action. The way Guarding works is like this: Your creature may take a move action, and then as it's quick action may 'Guard'. When a creature makes a melee attack in a zone, it must target any enemy guards, before any other targets. Furthermore, the guarding creature's quick attack gains the 'Counterstrike' ability, meaning that after the creature is attacked it gets to attack back with it's quick attack action. After the guarding creature is attacked the creature loses guard status, so it's only good for one attack BUT THERE'S MORE!The thing about guarding that makes this all so, SO, important: a creature that guards, maintains the 'Guard' status until its next turn to act, meaning that it can maintain guard status from the end of one turn and into the next. This is vitally important if you're about to lose the initiative. Careful planning on how to use, as well as get around guards, is one of the most important factors in the game.

So how does this help us against flying?

Flying creatures that use melee attacks against ground targets must 'swoop' down to hit their targets. Just like any other creature making a melee attack in a zone, flying creatures must target guards before any other unit. Because the creature must 'swoop' down to make the attack, they are open to counterattacks. This allows those big hitting melee creatures to protect your Mage from those pesky fliers while still being able to deal damage.

Another important note that I forgot to remind players of earlier, is the action sequence. You can *Pass* your chance to take an action only if you have fewer creatures than your opponent. This does not stop you from taking an action after your opponent takes one, so once you pass you're not out completely. This is very important because if you are lower in creature count you can let your opponent take some actions, before making a big play. You see your opponent looking to move in multiple creatures and attack your Mage, you can pass and let them all walk into your zone before casting a ring of fire and roasting them all.

Deviant
Sep 26, 2003

i've forgotten all of your names.


PaybackJack posted:

Another important note that I forgot to remind players of earlier, is the action sequence. You can *Pass* your chance to take an action only if you have fewer creatures than your opponent. This does not stop you from taking an action after your opponent takes one, so once you pass you're not out completely. This is very important because if you are lower in creature count you can let your opponent take some actions, before making a big play. You see your opponent looking to move in multiple creatures and attack your Mage, you can pass and let them all walk into your zone before casting a ring of fire and roasting them all.

This is a lot like passing in Battletech, for those of you :goonsay: enough to know that.

Merauder
Apr 17, 2003

The North Remembers.
Great bunch of contributions to start off the discussion so far. The New Player Tips is awesome and something I considered working into the OP as well (and maybe will still go back and add an FAQ or something), but just wanted to get the thread started to correspond with Forcemaster vs. Warlord hitting shelves this week.

Speaking of, I picked up my copy of the expansion Thursday and had a chance to play 1 full game with the two starter spellbooks, and another half a game which got cut short so far. SO MUCH AWESOME.

I was most excited about the Forcemaster in this release, because being a big ol' Star Wars nerd, it is pretty undeniably a case of Jedi-meets-high-fantasy. I won the full game using Forcemaster against a friend who I'd just introduced the game to earlier this week, so it was only his second game, but he played Warlord like a champ and REALLY made me appreciate that mage a lot more; their Outposts and Warmachines are especially awesome. For the Forcemaster, I enjoyed the new Repulse spell. At one point I was pinned down in a corner of the arena with a 3rd zone border covered by the new Wall of Pikes (also a new favorite of mine), with the Warlord and one of his goblin creatures sharing the zone with me. Repulse sent his mage through the pikes and the goblin got smashed against the wall of the arena and the damage was enough to kill him. :black101:

I'm really looking forward to customizing both mage's books. Anyone else play games with the new mages yet?

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
Yeah, I played a game as the Warlord against the Beastmaster. WARLORD IS AMAZING

Basically, first turn I casted the legendary sniper and archery tower using all my mana. He could hit every square on the board except the two furthest corners. :stare:

With the Warlord's "Fire Volley" command and the tower buff, my dwarf sniper was rolling 6-8 dice every attack. loving brutal :smug:

Nemesis Of Moles
Jul 25, 2007

I love this game, its everything I ever wanted in a card game but everytime I play I get entirely stomped by people just playing for the first time and I kinda feel like a superidiot. Hopefully this thread will help me suck less.

echoMateria
Aug 29, 2012

Fruitbat Factory
Maybe it would be a good idea to add to the OP a section about buying 2 core sets vs buying the Spell Tomes.

With the expansion raising the unique character count into four, the four player battles option sounds more viable than ever and having two core sets would bring two boards and enough space for four characters to jump into the battle.

Spell Tomes are overpriced in my opinion, costing 1/3 of the game itself. Instead of buying those two, I'd rather toss a little more and grab a second core set and have extras of everything else in case of damages, lost pieces, tears in spells books and such. Even if I wasn't planning to try playing this game with four players.

Merauder
Apr 17, 2003

The North Remembers.
Yeah, it's mentioned in some of the first replies, but I'll add it to the OP. Also, the unqiue mage count is 6 with the expansion, not 4. I haven't put together a fancy section for the expansion mages yet, but have them listed with the expansion.

Spellbook theory: Am I wrong in thinking that including 3x-4x Dispels and/or Dissolve is pretty much a must in every book? I feel like the times I've played with custom spellbooks which focused heavily on staying within their mage's respective training as much as possible, I end up cutting out a lot of the utility incantations and seem to regret it every time. Example: Last night I played two games, one of which I didn't have enough Dispel (as a Beastmaster) to mitigate a Warlock hitting me aggressively with curses, and the other I didn't have either the Dispels or the Dissolves (as a Warlord) enough to stop a Priestess and their +Armor granting helm, or their Aegis +1 enchantments.

Also, Aegis is dumb. -_-

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Dispels/Dissolves are tough. To me, it feels like trying to counter with something that gives YOU a lasting advantage is usually a better choice. If all you do during the game is try to counter stuff your opponent puts out, you WILL lose. I always try to have a couple in the spellbook so I can get rid of critical enchantments/equipment, but I always hate having to spend an action on them.

Obviously if you have Huginn out then casting Incantations gets that much better, so my Wizard spellbooks usually have more (plus Dispels cost him less anyway).

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!

Merauder posted:

Yeah, it's mentioned in some of the first replies, but I'll add it to the OP. Also, the unqiue mage count is 6 with the expansion, not 4. I haven't put together a fancy section for the expansion mages yet, but have them listed with the expansion.

Spellbook theory: Am I wrong in thinking that including 3x-4x Dispels and/or Dissolve is pretty much a must in every book?

I think the Core Spell tomes will become more useful as more expansions come out and players want to run more of those basic spells. Stuff like Walls, Moonglow Amulet, and the aforementioned Dispels/Dissolves might necessitate the buying of another Core Spell Tome 1 at some point.

I thought the same thing about those spells being auto-include in every book. The game certainly seems like having a larger "toolbox" is better than having a lot of the same spells. However the more I play, the more it seems like having 1-2 or those spells is probably enough.

I used to keep x4 Dissolves for Moonglow/Wand/Armor/Something Else, now I just run x1 for the Wand.

Dispels I still usually run x3 of though, there's just too many enchantments/status effects that you need to be able to get rid of.

I'm trying to play around recently with more focused, less toolbox, spellbooks but need to play with some friends using my other, toolbox based decks to see how they really fare as my only regular sparring partner plays an very streamlined direct Beastmaster rush deck.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Feb 24, 2013

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...

Merauder posted:

Also, Aegis is dumb. -_-

What's wrong with Aegis? It doesn't stack and it's usually expensive v:shobon:v

Merauder
Apr 17, 2003

The North Remembers.

Dre2Dee2 posted:

What's wrong with Aegis? It doesn't stack and it's usually expensive v:shobon:v

Well, it would be helpful if I weren't bad at remembering every rule, and didn't forget about the non-stacking clause. :downsgun:
I was losing two dice per attack the other night due to forgetting it doesn't stack, while playing with a bunch of 3-dice attacking goblin creatures. Rolling 1 against 3+ armor Angels several times and doing nothing got irritating real fast. I'll be sure to remind my friend I played with of the stack rule, and will be sure not to forget in the future!

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Yeah the rule of thumb is if it has a + or - symbol it stacks, if not then it doesn't stack.

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...

Merauder posted:

Well, it would be helpful if I weren't bad at remembering every rule, and didn't forget about the non-stacking clause. :downsgun:
I was losing two dice per attack the other night due to forgetting it doesn't stack, while playing with a bunch of 3-dice attacking goblin creatures. Rolling 1 against 3+ armor Angels several times and doing nothing got irritating real fast. I'll be sure to remind my friend I played with of the stack rule, and will be sure not to forget in the future!

Ah, gotcha. Yeah that would be insane :)

medchem
Oct 11, 2012

Just ordered this and the expansion. Is anybody from the Cincinnati area playing this already or is interested in trying it out with me?

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!
Can't wait for the Deckbuilder to be ready for use on Cardgamedb.com, in the meantime you can still use the search function to look up any cards.


Here's the Priestess deck I'm working on right now:

Enchantments
Harmonize x1
Pacify x3
Essence Drain x4
Decoy x1

Equipment
Moonglow Amulet x1
Mage Wand x1
Regrowth Belt x1
Crown of Protection x1

Conjuration
Hand of Bim-Shalla x1
Temple of Light x1
Temple of Asyra x1
Temple of the Dawnbreaker x1

Incantation
Dissolve x1
Dispel x1
Lay Hands x1
Resurrection x1
Minor Heal x2
Group Heal x2
Battle Fury x4
Sleep x2
Force Push x1

Creatures
Asyran Cleric x4
Gray Angel x3
Royal Archer x3
Valshalla, Lightning Angel x1
Samandriel, Angel of Light x1
Highland Unicorn x3
Knight of Westlock x3
Brogan Bloodstone x1



First turn is drop Temple of Asyra and then Harmonize on it(10(start)+10(channeling)-10(temple)-4(harmonize) = 6 mana).
Second turn is Summon 2 Asyran Clerics off the Temple and the Priestess (6+10ch-3-5=8 mana).
Third turn is a bit more questionable, but I'm thinking Moonglow and Mage Wand with Sleep attached(8+10ch-6-5=7).
Fourth turn I'll then have 6 mana on the temple from two turns of channeling and two clerics feeding it, my Mage will have 18 mana and I can then drop 2 Royal Archers.(7+11-6-12=0)

I think I'm still a little slow against a Beastmaster rush, in which case you don't drop Moonglow and build towards a Knight, an Archer, and a sleep spell off the wand the following turn.

Edit: Worked in the Crown and added a Decoy for good measure. I think those are more important than a second copy of Force Push. Also, obviously a Ring of Asyra would be good in the deck, however I just don't think I'll actually have the "time" in the middle of a game to cast it.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Mar 3, 2013

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Went to a Forcemaster vs Warlord tourney here in Pittsburgh yesterday, took 2nd and walked away with a copy of the expansion, an action marker set, and the Priestess/Beastmaster spellbook set. Also got basically an extra Warlord deck and Forcemaster deck plus a Summoning Circle as a participant.

I really like the Forcemaster. She has a lot of really neat tricks that make her flexible. As a result she is very good at getting through defenses to put damage on the opponent mage; you can't cover every avenue. She can pull you away from your defensive fortification, push a guard away, slam you against a wall or through one, and in a pinch she can just hit you from range for VERY respectable damage.

The Warlord I was not expecting to like too much. A lot of creature focus which isn't my style, I like tricky play. But they handed out spellbooks at random yesterday and I got a Warlord so I played it all day and I actually ended up liking it. Of course, I generally played him aggro instead of building up Barracks and a bunch of creatures, but he still has some fun tricks that make him interesting.

The one thing I don't like about the Forcemaster is her spellbook seems almost fixed. Like there is a specific strategy that you're going to want to follow and it doesn't seem like there are many other options. Do you prep with Thoughtspores with Force Push and Invisible Fist for reliable action economy, or do you rush and just hope to damage race? Either way the end result is going to be you going in and beating face while trying to neutralize their creatures. But you look at someone like the Wizard who can be played with a bunch of different strategies, or even the Warlock who can go curse heavy or aggro or even creature heavy. I guess I'm just happy that I happen to LIKE the play style that the Forcemaster represents, and in fact that's the play style I was trying to emulate with the Warlock before the Forcemaster even came out.

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
Mage Wars FAQ is up.

Didn't realize stuff like Flame +2 affects BOTH red and yellow dice rolls :stare:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/td4af9xtcf4vs09/Mage%20Wars%20Official%20FAQ.pdf

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Yeah that chart is really nice. The rules as written in the book are a little ambiguous. I knew Damage Type +x modified the effect die, but I didn't know about +x vs Creature Type. It doesn't come up often right yet anyway but with all the non-living creatures introduced in the expansion it might be more relevant soon.

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!
Just got the Forcemaster vs Warlord expansion, man this here Earth Elemental is loving awesome. I want to make a deck based around ways to teleport him around the board every turn owning the poo poo out of everything in his zone.

Dancing Scimitars are loving awesome.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Mar 9, 2013

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Having some trouble with my Warlock book against my friend's Beastmaster. He throws out a Harmonized Lair like 1st turn, Enchanter's Ring and maybe a facedown enchant on himself 2nd turn, 3rd turn the Lair drops a Pet Timberwolf, and he's ready to put Bear Strength on it and use Rouse the Beast if I'm within 1 space of the Lair. If he doesn't use Rouse the Beast, then he has enough mana to drop a Steelclaw Grizzly on turn 4 to back up the Timberwolf. He usually is able to keep his Beastmaster within 1 space of the Timberwolf, which means it usually swings for 6 dice plus enchants. And if I just rush and try to get his mage I get torn apart even with help from a Vampiress or a Dark Pact Stalker w/Bloodreaper. But at the same time, I can't just sit around and let him build up with his Lair pumping out 3 mana every turn.

Any ideas against this kind of strategy?

sighnoceros fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Mar 11, 2013

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!

sighnoceros posted:

Having some trouble with my Warlock book against my friend's Beastmaster. He throws out a Harmonized Lair like 1st turn, Enchanter's Ring and maybe a facedown enchant on himself 2nd turn, 3rd turn the Lair drops a Pet Timberwolf, and he's ready to put Bear Strength on it and use Rouse the Beast if I'm within 1 space of the Lair. If he doesn't use Rouse the Beast, then he has enough mana to drop a Steelclaw Grizzly on turn 4 to back up the Timberwolf. He usually is able to keep his Beastmaster within 1 space of the Timberwolf, which means it usually swings for 6 dice plus enchants. And if I just rush and try to get his mage I get torn apart even with help from a Vampiress or a Dark Pact Stalker w/Bloodreaper. But at the same time, I can't just sit around and let him build up with his Lair pumping out 3 mana every turn.

Any ideas against this kind of strategy?

First post your deck list. Are you curse heavy or fire spell heavy? Also what are you using your first 3 turns on? Do you have the cards from the expansion ForceMaster/Warlord?

If he's investing heavily in that TimberWolf early on that's great because Timberwolves, while tough, are vulnerable to Sleep/Charm. If you aren't running a lot of creatures your own deck let him get 4-5 of them on the board and then drop Mordok's Obelisk and Idol of Pestilence. Then toss out a few Essence Drains onto his bigger creatures. Meanwhile you've taken that saved mana from multiple smaller creatures and have brought out something big of your own like Goran which is defending your Mage as he hands out curses with Sectarus.

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
You need to cast curses on his Beastmaster he can't ignore. Death Link, Ghoul Rot, Marked for Death and Mage Bane are going to wear him down. Try to get Mage Bane out fast.

An elemental wand with flameblast and a Ring of Fire equipped can do some really good damage. Lash of Hellfire also gets dice from Ring of Fire, rip those creatures to shreds.

Might need to load up on Banish/Teleport, that should buy you some time to build up.

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
The book is beatdown focused with curse support. Fire spells, while good, are too mana inefficient compared to a creature and equipment to use repeatedly. I do have a couple set aside as finishers though. So first couple turns are generally going to be something like cheetah speed + enchanter's ring on me while moving closer, summoning a Vampiress or Dark Pact Bloodreaper and throwing on Bear Strength, Magebane on him ASAP with a Ghoul Rot to follow up when I get the time/mana, Sectarus + Vampirism on me, and mostly trying to focus down the mage. I have a Battle Fury but maybe I need to add another one. I also need to work on timing for Jinx, if I can hold off a Battle Fury of his for an extra turn then maybe that will help. It's rough because the Timberwolf has a 6 dice attack if it's in his mage's space, and then he can throw on Bear Strength to give it an 8 die quick attack. So even if I try to move his mage away from it, it can catch up and still attack.

I do have the expansion. Suppression Orb/Mordok's is going to hurt me as much as him because we both usually only get out a couple creatures before it's all over. If I let him get out creatures while I sit around and then throw out a Mordok's that's all well and good but he'll still overpower me with that army, my book is not meant to wait around because it has no economy. The idea is to be aggressive and hit the mage before their economy can get going. It works great most of the time but he's learned how to parry it pretty well with his beastmaster since he knows what to expect.

I used to use the Lash but I'm trying to get Sectarus in. I just don't know if the curses right now are good enough to make Sectarus worth it over the Lash. I feel like if I try to destroy his Timberwolf, even if I get it down in one turn with 5 dice from me and 6-8 dice from my creature (not even guaranteed, it has 3 armor and 13 health - same armor and 1 health less than Andramalech) that's one turn that I didn't spend wailing on his mage, and he can just spend 14 mana next turn to bring out another one and Rouse the Beast it again. So I've taken damage from it last turn before I killed it, and probably from his mage too, and he took none and he's ready to swing again the very next turn.

Maybe the Vampirism on me should be something else against this strategy anyway. I make so few attacks because the game goes so quick that it tends to not pay off too much, and a poor roll or two will make it almost worthless. Maybe another offensive enchant to try to get him down before his Grizzly can get into the fray would be better.

sighnoceros fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Mar 12, 2013

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
Lash can do sick amounts of damage. With Fire Ring alone its 6 dice. Mark of Death kicks it up to 8, which is why I always get Ring out early. If you are going to use Vampirism, I would use Lash over Secatarus because you'll be rolling for more damage. :)

Dre2Dee2 fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Mar 12, 2013

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Yeah before the expansion came out my basic strategy was Battleforge (just to give me action advantage, the mana tended to fall a little short by the end of the game), Fireshaper Ring, Gauntlets of Strength, Lash of Hellfire, Bear Strength, then Battle Fury until tender. Now that the Forcemaster is out I thought I would switch up strategies a little while still staying aggressive and try to make Sectarus work since my Forcemaster plays so aggressively.

I'm not sure if it's that the Lash is just so good compared to Sectarus or if my friend is getting better at countering my play. I'm going to keep working at it. But I think Vampirism is probably going to come out of this strategy since it heals so little and I want to primarily be piling on damage to speed things up. The more turns he has to fight back the less of a chance I have to pull out a win, and Vampirism doesn't work towards that goal.

PaybackJack
May 21, 2003

You'll hit your head and say: 'Boy, how stupid could I have been. A moron could've figured this out. I must be a real dimwit. A pathetic nimnal. A wretched idiotic excuse for a human being for not having figured these simple puzzles out in the first place...As usual, you've been a real pantload!

sighnoceros posted:

The book is beatdown focused with curse support. Fire spells, while good, are too mana inefficient compared to a creature and equipment to use repeatedly. I do have a couple set aside as finishers though. So first couple turns are generally going to be something like cheetah speed + enchanter's ring on me while moving closer, summoning a Vampiress or Dark Pact Bloodreaper and throwing on Bear Strength, Magebane on him ASAP with a Ghoul Rot to follow up when I get the time/mana, Sectarus + Vampirism on me, and mostly trying to focus down the mage. I have a Battle Fury but maybe I need to add another one. I also need to work on timing for Jinx, if I can hold off a Battle Fury of his for an extra turn then maybe that will help. It's rough because the Timberwolf has a 6 dice attack if it's in his mage's space, and then he can throw on Bear Strength to give it an 8 die quick attack. So even if I try to move his mage away from it, it can catch up and still attack.

I do have the expansion. Suppression Orb/Mordok's is going to hurt me as much as him because we both usually only get out a couple creatures before it's all over. If I let him get out creatures while I sit around and then throw out a Mordok's that's all well and good but he'll still overpower me with that army, my book is not meant to wait around because it has no economy. The idea is to be aggressive and hit the mage before their economy can get going. It works great most of the time but he's learned how to parry it pretty well with his beastmaster since he knows what to expect.

I used to use the Lash but I'm trying to get Sectarus in. I just don't know if the curses right now are good enough to make Sectarus worth it over the Lash. I feel like if I try to destroy his Timberwolf, even if I get it down in one turn with 5 dice from me and 6-8 dice from my creature (not even guaranteed, it has 3 armor and 13 health - same armor and 1 health less than Andramalech) that's one turn that I didn't spend wailing on his mage, and he can just spend 14 mana next turn to bring out another one and Rouse the Beast it again. So I've taken damage from it last turn before I killed it, and probably from his mage too, and he took none and he's ready to swing again the very next turn.

Maybe the Vampirism on me should be something else against this strategy anyway. I make so few attacks because the game goes so quick that it tends to not pay off too much, and a poor roll or two will make it almost worthless. Maybe another offensive enchant to try to get him down before his Grizzly can get into the fray would be better.

Post your deck list.

It sounds like the problem is that you're trying to put out a fire with a blowtorch. You want to rush in and beat him down, but in doing so you're using mana on spells like Cheetah Speed, while he's sitting there building up for you. You need to use stuff like Wall of Fire, or even Earth, to cut the board off and slow down his creature production. Don't just try to get to his zone as fast as possible, rush towards him, then Force push him into your zone and toss a Wall of Earth up behind him, leaving his creatures trying to push through on the other side, or forced to move around. Toss his Timber Wolf into Quicksand and let it flair around for a few turns before it dies, or just put it to sleep and let him waste a turn waking it up.

I still think your best plan is to build up your own creatures first and get your Spawnpoint rolling.

sighnoceros posted:

Yeah before the expansion came out my basic strategy was Battleforge (just to give me action advantage, the mana tended to fall a little short by the end of the game), Fireshaper Ring, Gauntlets of Strength, Lash of Hellfire, Bear Strength, then Battle Fury until tender. Now that the Forcemaster is out I thought I would switch up strategies a little while still staying aggressive and try to make Sectarus work since my Forcemaster plays so aggressively.

I'm not sure if it's that the Lash is just so good compared to Sectarus or if my friend is getting better at countering my play. I'm going to keep working at it. But I think Vampirism is probably going to come out of this strategy since it heals so little and I want to primarily be piling on damage to speed things up. The more turns he has to fight back the less of a chance I have to pull out a win, and Vampirism doesn't work towards that goal.

Does your friend not use the Guard action at all or what's the deal? If you're just rolling into a Beastmaster with stuff already on the board you shouldn't even be able to touch him behind the wall of scrub monsters he should have already out on the board.

PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Mar 12, 2013

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:

PaybackJack posted:

Does your friend not use the Guard action at all or what's the deal? If you're just rolling into a Beastmaster with stuff already on the board you shouldn't even be able to touch him behind the wall of scrub monsters he should have already out on the board.

Before I changed the deck around I had enough positional control that I was able to consistently get to the Beastmaster and through his guards, either with Elusive or Knockdown or Force Push to remove/ignore guards or get the mage away. And Lash + equipment is so good that you can quickly get 9+ dice with a good chance of Burn, so I only needed to hit him 2-3 times plus maybe a single Battle Fury and it was all over. I didn't care if his creatures hit me AFTER I nailed him because I was winning the damage race. So yeah he used guards and stuff but the goal of the deck was to be able to deal with that and just lay in with my mage. I will admit that we've played quite a bit since I last used that build so we've both improved and maybe even that strategy wouldn't work anymore, who knows.

But this new deck is trying to avoid that, since that's EXACTLY what the Forcemaster excels at, and I wanted the strategy to be a little different. Still aggressive and melee because that's what the Warlock is good at, but different.

Here's the current deck list:

Equipment (11)
Sectarus (3)
Demonhide Armor (2)
Elemental Cloak (2)
Ring of Curses (1)
Enchanter's Ring (2)
Moloch's Torment (1)

Creatures (17)
Andramalech, Lord of Fire (6)
Dark Pact Slayer (3)
Firebrand Imp x2 (2)
Necropian Vampiress (4)
Darkfenne Bat x2 (2)

Enchantments (45)
Jinx x2 (4)
Nullify x2 (4)
Magebane (1)
Marked for Death x2 (2)
Maim Wings (1)
Poisoned Blood (1)
Chains of Agony (1)
Agony x2 (2)
Death Link (2)
Ghoul Rot x2 (4)
Enfeeble (2)
Vampirism x2 (4)
Bear Strength x2 (4)
Cheetah Speed (2)
Falcon Precision (2)
Rhino Hide (2)
Retaliate (2)
Decoy (1)
Block x2 (4)

Conjurations (6)
Deathlock (2)
Idol of Pestilence (2)
Wall of Fire (2)

Incantations (31)
Explode (2)
Dissolve (2)
Dispel x2 (4)
Shift Enchantment x3 (3)
Steal Enchantment (6)
Knockdown (2)
Perfect Strike (1)
Teleport (4)
Drain Life (3)
Battle Fury (2)
Force Push (2)

Attacks (10)
Flameblast x2 (2)
Fireball (2)
Ring of Fire (2)
Force Hammer (4)

Dre2Dee2
Dec 6, 2006

Just a striding through Kamen Rider...
Well I had a good match against of friend yesterday, I was Warlord and he was Beastmaster.

I started with dropping Grimson Deadeye into an Archer's tower. My friend was better prepared for me than last time (since he's seen it before), and dropped his Lair and Mana Flower in opposite corners I couldn't hit.

It didn't take long till he had enormous creatures rolling into my side of the board, so to buy myself some time, I played Akiro's hammer and started sieging his conjurations. That drat Lair is built like a truck, even rolling 8 dice TWICE I didn't manage to take it out.

As the game went on, I basically turtled into my Archer's Tower Square, putting down two sets of Caltrops, Fortified Postion, and some spear walls. Rain of Stone and Hurl Boulder were applied liberally. I got some amazing status effect rolls that really saved my rear end.

After taking down my wall and Hammer, my opponent rushed in his creatures and his Beastmaster into my square. His Beastmaster actually took MASSIVE damage from my caltrops (I rolled 8 damage!). After that I just blasted his Beastmaster with everything I had left and ended up winning.

It was actually a really close game and good status effect rolls on my earth spells help swing things my way. Earth magic owns :allears:

sighnoceros
Mar 11, 2007
:qq: GOONS ARE MEAN :qq:
Yeah my friend found a really annoying tactic with his Warlord. 1st turn drop Grimson Deadeye, 2nd turn if the other player is being aggressive drop a watchtower and hole up. Otherwise, move up, drop an archer's watchtower in near center, and move Deadeye up to it. Drop a Wall of Stone on whichever space seems most likely for the enemy to approach by. Now Deadeye can target all squares on the board but is hard to get to/target himself. Throw down a Hawkeye and another Wall of Stone next turn and just try to keep the enemy from getting through the walls while Deadeye tears them apart with 7-9 damage ranged attacks.

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GrandpaPants
Feb 13, 2006


Free to roam the heavens in man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness of the universe!

What would be the best way to sell this game to people who have gotten into other LCGs like Star Wars and Netrunner?

Also, how does this game play with more than two players?

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