Hello everyone!

Due to some unforseen medical problems, it took me a while to get this episode out. However, it's finally done and you can listen to it>>HERE<<

In the episode we hype up GenCon, examine the meta of a lot of the recent tournaments going on, and give a quick talk about a priestess book. Sharkbait also needs to invest in a new mic, so I apologize for the background buzzing in the 2nd half. THat shall be fixed before MageCast 10.

#DiceOP
and as always:
When in doubt, kill it with fire

Greetings!
I am Shark bait, and I wanted to gauge the interest of the community in the following proposal.

I would like to put together a Mage Wars league for play via OCTGN. The current idea in my head is that if we can get 10 interested and committed players, we can play a round robin schedule (everyone plays each other player once) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Once those 9 weeks (or 18 if we do bi-weekly) are up, the players in the top 4 of the standings will play-off in a double elimination style tournament to determine the league's winner. If successful, more seasons of the league will follow with a possible expanded player pool.

I was planning on having everyone schedule their own matches with their opponent due to potentially large differences in time zone, and then posting a battle report of the match. If there is sufficient interest in this league, I will gladly flesh out the rest of the details. Post either on here or message me if you're interested.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright,
After some last minute shuffling around, I think we're ready to kick this off. We have 15 participants in the league. Once everyone has played 14 matches (One against each other player), the top 4 records will go into a double elimination playoff to determine the winner of the first season of The League of Extraordinary Mage Warriors.

A couple of quick notes:

Scheduling:

I will list everyone's name and their first 3 opponents here and will update the front post. Everyone has 3 weeks from 22 May to play their first 3 opponents and report the result back. This gives a bit of scheduling flexibility so you can knock all 3 out right away if you want to (or have a week that's better than others). Any matches not reported will be counted as a draw for both players. If you have tried to contact your opponent and receive no response within a couple of weeks, let me know and I'll give you the win by forfeit instead.

Card Pool:

Any card available on OCTGN at the time of the match being played is legal for a book. Promos will be allowed as they are with the following exceptions: If the card has been released and has changed, the released version takes precedent. Ballista will be counted as Unique and War Mage Only.

Standings

Standings can be found >>HERE<<

Mages
You can use any mage/book you want for each match. There is no restriction.

Alright, we're now into the second phase! If you haven't played your first 3 games, you still have time. However, you should get a move on! Prizes are at stake!

Suggested opponents for 12 June - 3 July:

1. Drefan :RomeoXero, Ad_Yer, gaspode77

2. Schwenkgott : Drmambo, Ad_Yer, RomeoXero

3. Frozen : BigL16, Kaarin, Biblofilter

4. Biblofilter : drmambo, Ad_Yer, Frozen

5. Coshade : gaspode77, Sharkbait, Kaarin

6. Kaarin: Juli, Ad_yer, Coshade

7. DevilsVendetta: gaspode77, Schwenkgott Biblofilter

8. Sharkbait: BigL16, Coshade, Sailor Vulcan

9. Juli: Kaarin, Biblofilter, Schwenkgott

10. gaspode77: Coshade, DevilsVendetta, BigL16

11. Ad_Yer: Biblofilter, Schwenkgott, Kaarin

12. Sailor Vulcan: Sharkbait, Kaarin, Schwenkgott

13. Drmambo: Biblofilter, Juli, RomeoXero

14. BigL16: Frozen, Sharkbait, gaspode77

15. RomeoXero: Ad_yer, Drefan, drmambo


Prizes
I have also decided that the following prizes will be given out:
- The top 4 in the regular season will all receive their choice of Priestess or Warlock Academy
- The two mages who play in the final playoff match will receive the other in addition to their choice for making the playoffs (So the top 2 mages will receive BOTH academy sets)
- The Winner of the League of Extraordinary Mage Warriors season 1 will receive a copy of The Lost Grimoire in addition to the two academy sets and a Trophy to go with it (picture not available yet).

A note on rerolls: If you roll the wrong number of dice, just reroll with the correct number of dice and treat the first roll as if it didn't exist

If there are any questions/concerns/I messed something up please let me know.

Sharkbait and Puddn are back! Puddn bought an extra powerful mic, so that caused a few issues that'll be ironed out by next time.

In this episode, we go over the research that we've done in the last month on specific books that we played. We accidentally ended up both playing beastmasters, so we'll go pretty in depth about the two books.

The Mage Cast is HERE

Please leave comments if you have suggestions as to the next mage/book to play that you'd like to hear about.

The Mage Cast is up early this week! Listen to the show HERE

We start the show by answering a question sent to us from drmambo! Discussions about about conjurations in general in this cast and we finish with Sharkbait name-dropping like a boss! Arcane Wonders' own Aaron Brosman joins the Mage Cast to talk about some of his favorite books!

Feedback is always welcome, enjoy the show!

Pentagrams! Warlocks! Oh my!

Mage Cast 4 is up! I'll be making sure that both books spoken about during this cast are posted in the Spellbook Design and Construction forum. If you have any ideas/discussion/disagreements/anecdotal stories please post them! I would love to spawn more of a discussion about this and see what others have had success with!

For reference:

Unholy Summoner - New Way to Run the Pentalock

Pentagrammatically Correct - Arraxian Crown Warlock

Good news, only 2 days late! 

You can find the discussion of the Forcemaster HERE

As always, we encourage feedback! Please, tell us what you agree/disagree with, share your forcemaster stories, what's working for you, etc. Discussions are more fun when you get more input!

Hey everyone,

Here's the book I used against Intangible in the Mage Roars league. The idea is to feed Kralathor a couple of bobcats to get him rolling, and not get so distracted by feeding Kralathor that you forget to kill the other mage. If you watched the video of the match, you can see I'm still working on that last part . Killing bobcats and watching Kralathor grow is a bit more fun than you'd think at first.

I also decided to roll with the samara tree at first as an experiment. From what I've noticed, it's actually a really good combo for this book. The opponent can either deal with the growing threat of kralathor, or they can deal with the seedling pods. The pods allow me to choose what spell to cast later on once I can see what the opponent is doing.

The book overall probably needs some refinement, but it's a really fun book to play in its current form too.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Lunchtime for Kralathor[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Druid Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A08]2 x Geyser[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ09]1 x Samara Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ08]4 x Seedling Pod[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J13]2 x Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]2 x Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]1 x Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W04]3 x Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ11]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ06]2 x Nightshade Lotus[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC17]1 x Tataree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC21]4 x Thornlasher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]3 x Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C14]5 x Feral Bobcat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]2 x Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E01]3 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E07]1 x Cobra Reflexes[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E36]3 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]3 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E40]1 x Vampirism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ04]1 x Druid's Leaf Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ08]1 x Vinewhip Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q16]1 x Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1I23]2 x Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI11]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI13]2 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI12]2 x Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI02]2 x Burst of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI08]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]2 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Alright, I feel it is time to post my GenCon2015 book and hopefully get some more people interested in playing my favorite mage.


[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Trogdor the Burninator[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Adramelech Warlock Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1A04]4 x Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]6 x Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]2 x Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]2 x Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]1 x Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]2 x Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J22]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E40]1 x Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]2 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]1 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E14]1 x Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]2 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]2 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]1 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E04]1 x Chains of Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E21]1 x Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E17]1 x Force Orb[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E32]1 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x Agony[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q16]1 x Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q06]2 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q10]1 x Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q28]1 x Ring of Curses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q14]1 x Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]2 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]2 x Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI01]1 x Combustion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]1 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1C16]1 x Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


First, a little bit of background as to how this book came about. This book was able to get me a  3-2 record at GenCon. The only two losses coming to Nick and Tim who just so happened to be in the championship game. I lost pretty hard to Nick (The Arcane Duels guys got my two wizard matches mixed up, it wasn't as close as my other match) and was almost able to finish Tim off(30 damage/32 life. So close ) but due to some extraordinarily skilled play, Tim was able to extend his life and weather the storm.

The book I'm posting is where I have ended up from a pretty different starting point (I actually think you can find the original build I made in a forum post buried somewhere.) When my former build wasn't working as well as I would like (I formerly ran adramelech and a few other demons in here as buddies), I began to transition to a solo mage rush style that has some pretty brutal results against a lot of mages. Sometime during the transition/development, I stumbled across Schwenkgott's Face Melter build and was able to take some really nice notes on how to open. I have since come up with probably 8 different openings that weren't along Schwenkgott's formula, but it definitely opened my eyes as to how I can use the beginning of the game to set myself up for a potential 5 or 6 turn end of game. I believe the post here is revision ~30 and has already been through about 10 more experimental builds as I try to find more options for openings other than just solo mage rushdown.

The "generic" opening that all of my other openings are variations of goes like this:
T1[19]: Battle Forge(-8) + Hawkeye Face Down (-2)
T2[18(1)]: Ring of Curses from Forge(-1(-1)) + Akiro's Favor FD(-2) + either another buff to myself  FD(Brace yourself, regrowth, etc) or a curse if they're in range (Marked for Death, Rust, Poisoned blood, etc. Depends on the other mage) (-2)
T3[22(1)]: Assuming they weren't in range for a curse last turn: 2 x Curse FD  (-4)
T4[~25 mana] Fire shaper ring from the forge, reveal hawkeye and appropriate curse(s) and double Fireball during the turn for either 18 or 19 dice of damage depending on choice of curse. Only flip Akiro's if you roll like I tend to do (seriously, some days I swear the dice hate me  ) but only after you see the roll. Don't flip it if you roll well.

At this point, it's possible that you have a nearly 20 damage head start + burns on the opponent and can spend the rest of your attack spells burning through whatever defenses they try to put up. This strategy has won me many games, though obviously not all of them. It's because of this that I'm going through and trying to develop alternate strategies that I can still do with this book while keeping open the above Solo Mage rushdown as an option as well. If I can make this book a little less predictable and have an answer for some of the counters that work well against this book (looking at you, healing and Dragonscale Hauberk. Jinx hurts some too if you make even one bad play against a really good player).


Some of the lines of what I'm testing right now for the Thunderdome II include reducing the number of some of the attack spells (I cringed writing that, just so you know.  ) since it still has plenty of gas to lay down the pain, and increasing some utility enchantments and creatures to go with it. I still have a LOT of practice to do using creatures at all since I am so used to only having to worry about my mage, and because of this I haven't settled on a good creature selection yet.

I think this just about covers everything, hope this helps and maybe we can start to see more of this mage around. She is SUPER fun to play, and I personally like her better than the AC warlock.

When in doubt, kill it with fire.



I'll post an update, but here's the book that I used in the 'Dome II

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Trogdor 3 - The gimpy book that could[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Adramelech Warlock Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1A04]3 x Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]4 x Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]1 x Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]2 x Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1A02]1 x Dragon's Breath[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A12]1 x Ring of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]2 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J19]1 x Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO4]1 x Ballista[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]2 x Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]3 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E14]1 x Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]2 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]2 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E21]1 x Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E40]1 x Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E38]1 x Teleport Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E22]2 x Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO79]1 x Blur[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E01]1 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q14]1 x Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q10]1 x Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q28]1 x Ring of Curses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q21]1 x Moloch's Torment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO53]1 x Gloves of Skill[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]2 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]1 x Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I11]1 x Explode[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1C16]2 x Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C03]1 x Dark Pact Slayer[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]