Hello all and thank you so much for taking the time to not only read but think about my article! It is truly a wonder to see the community react with such enthusiasm when I write.

MW and MTG are amazing games in their own rights. For me to call MTG a lower game would be like saying Kill Bill was better than The Big Lebowski. They are two completely different games that have two completely different strategies, thoughts, and flows to the game. Plus, even thinking about how big the MTG community is hurts my brain cells. But there is a reason it is so big, and it isn't necessarily the game itself. It is also.. you guessed it, the prize support. Winning 40,000 dollars by playing a card game? That's like the best job in the world, right? By giving players this dream, WoTC has guaranteed the success of Magic for many, many years to come. Can Mage Wars do that? I do believe that the game is solid enough that it could very well be a game perfect for competitive  play. It will take a lot of work and a lot of reaching out to gamers and non gamers alike. Arcane Wonders has a wonderful product on their hands, all they need to do now is get player support behind it, and this, I believe, is where they may be lacking a little bit. But I do not think it is their fault.

They do have an incredible Customer Service department, but we need more than that... we, as competitive players, need thought. We need to learn this game from the inside out, from the upside down. The only way to do this, besides playing, is to read, and think, about strategy. There is so much in the way of MTG strategy out there that is NOT created by WoTC. Actually, most of it isn't. This is where we, as players, come in. It is our game to share thought about the game. We are a community, we are vying for the same cause, rooting for the same team. So I challenge you all. Do you all really want this game to be as big as MTG? Because it can be. But it is up to us. Tell everyone you can about this game. Teach this game at game night. Write strategy articles, share your thoughts, decklists. If you can branch out to other forums, by all means. I want Mage Wars to be around for my kids to see, for my kids to play. Most kids growing up wanted to play professional ball, but I wanted to win a Pro Tour. And I want to be able to share that dream with my kids through the beautiful game that is Mage Wars. It doesn't take much, and I know you all love this game, or you wouldn't be reading this right now. So join me in this fight! I know that next saturday as part of National Tabletop day, I will be running demos of this all day long. And I will the next weekend too. I even bought some OP kits to GIVE to my FLGS just to try to get them as excited about this game as I am. What can you do to help?


Sorry guys for the whole V for Vendetta rant, but I think you all get the point! :3

The Backstory


I have always had a weakness for Magic the gathering. It was the first "real" game I was introduced to, and it continues to be of love and fascination with me even to this day. But, I have left the life of a casual but can't afford to be serious MTG player for the cheaper (and more fun, but in a different way) life of a board gamer. Now, that five hundred dollars for a standard deck can be spent on something like Eclipse w/ expansion along with agricola, seasons, Rftg plus expansions, and Mage Knight board game w/ expansion. All of that hours of gaming for the price of a single deck of Magic cards.

But how did go from CCG addict to board game addict? Well, Brian Kibler, of MTG fame, had championed his Ascension game all over MTG websites. All of his deck sleeves were Ascension. We happened to be picking up a set of dual lands from our FLGS one day when we came across this game, and on whim we bought it. Me and friend then spent all night playing this game, and we played it wrong for about two hours of it. We just could not get enough of this game. So, we played it. And we played it. And we played it. And we played it. And we played it some more. And eventually, we had figured out the game pretty well. We had figured out the best strategy to winning the game (getting to 7 battle and beating the Avatar down, in order to pick up every Mechana construction on the board). But, this was game that was all contained in one box and had everything you needed to play for months. For less than ten percent of a standard MTG deck. I was hooked. I went out, like most other board gamers when they first discover this world, and bought every single game I could find that was of any interest to me. Any game. I went from a collection of a game to about 10 in the span of a month. Yeah, I was a full on addict. Until I saw a video of a demo one day in the summer of 2012...

Mage Wars! This game was awesome! It seemed to have both the depth of MTG with the compactness of Ascension. I just HAD to have this game, there was no way around it. And then I found out it hadn't even been published yet. I searched everywhere, read everything I could about this game, and soon I came across an announcement stating that Mage Wars would be released at Gen Con 2012. And the next thing I knew, I went about 200 dollars into debt in order to go to Gen Con specifically with the intention to get this game and this game alone. I was going to do anything. I remember I even signed up for the demo just so that I could play this game, if by small chance I couldn't get it.

We get to gen con, and the first day, it is completely and totally sold out. What a bummer. I mean really. 200 miles, 300 hundred dollars in debt, for it be sold out! There was hope, however, in another batch being sold on saturday. This was to be my last chance to buy the game before having to wait a whole month to purchase a copy. And what do you know? It's sold out. So, I held out. Eventually, I was able to purchase the game, after waiting 6 months for it's release, and I haven't bought another game since. I now have 6 spellbooks, 4 sets of action markers, an Organized Play kit, Core spell tome 1 and 2, and the expansion, and I am hoping to buy two more cores. 1 for more cards, and one to sleeve up and cube draft with. That's just how much I love this game. I have never demoed a game before either, but I plan on demoing this game at every store in louisville, even if it's just to share this game with a few more folks. But why do I love it so much? Well, if you don't know anything about this game, here's an

Overview

So, the basis of Mage Wars is to kill the opposing Mage through the intelligent and tactical use of spells, creatures, enchantments, and equipment. This usually takes about an hour for experienced players, but for newer players it may take anywhere from 75 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the speed of play and prior knowledge of spellbooks and cards. But what are spellbooks?

Well, the first innovation that Mage Wars offers is the scraping of the old "shuffling" that so many TCGs and CCGs have offered in the past. That's right! There is no "Well, you just top decked the right cards, and I just got mana screwed." With Mage Wars, players construct spellbooks of different creatures, attacks, incantations, enchantments, equipment, and conjurations to form a book of cards that players will flip through and select out of each round of play. There is no hand of cards and a deck to draw from, just you and a spellbook.

The second real innovation that Mage Wars has to offer is the way you select your spells. While in M:TG you can play as many spells as you can pay for and have in your hand, in MW you are only allowed to cast two cards a turn. you pick these two cards at the beginning of the round, set your spellbook aside, and then use your Mage's two action markers to cast these spells.

But, what are actions? Well, played have a set of actions markers that are colored in one color (blue/red) and have one side showing a white starburst, and the other side being blank. Players will place one of these markers on their mage at the beginning of the game, as well a black "quickcast" marker that only the mage can have. The normal colored action marker will go on every creature that is cast throughout the game, but the black "quickcast" marker will only be on the mage itself. With these two actions, the mage can do a multitude of things, such as moving a zone on the board (there are twelve, set in a 4x3 shape, with each mage set in a an opposing corner), they can cast a quick spell, or cast a full action spell, usually being a creature, or a huge thunderbolt, or a hail of stones. The list goes on..

Now that I have given a brief overview of what actions are, I can explain the third and final true innovation to Mage Wars, which is it's action allowance system. You only have as many actions as you have creatures. This completely gets rid of the broken combos of M:TG. You have to fight to win in this game, and you have to fight hard.

This game just seems too good to be true, but are there any downfalls?

Downfalls

This game does have a pretty steep learning curve. Yes, it is easy to grasp the basics of this game, but you will be referring to the rulebook many times before you fully grasp all the mechanics this game has to offer, in addition to a lot of key words. In all honesty, though, I did not find this game any harder to teach and to play then many other games. In fact, I found this game easier to teach than a lot of the other games I own.

This game is also a time investment. If you really want to get the full enjoyment out of the game, you are going to have to build your own spellbooks, think about your own strategies, and invest thought into winning. It is still an incredibly fun game with the preconstructed spellbooks, but in order to really feel the depth of what your mage can do, I would advise that after learning this game thoroughly, to create your own spellbooks.

Did I skip the strengths? I don't think I di- damn it.


Strengths

There are so many, I'm not sure where to begin... This game is great as a beginning game for card players, or as a veteran gamer. It has both the depth and fun that both parties need and strive for to play this game.

The fact that you roll dice to attack ( I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to make it seem to good to be true, but now that you are here...) makes this game all the more fun. The game comes with 9 red d6s and 1 yellow normal d12. The d6s are specially designed to contain 2 blank sides, one normal 1, one critical 1, one normal 2, and one critical 2. You roll these dice and add them together to attack. Rolling one dice or two dice is fun once or twice, but I can say that rolling 10 dice just to damage one creature is incredible feeling many times over. The number of dice does mitigate the luck, as well. I can guarantee that you will roll damage, because there are just enough dice to roll to not be lucky, but not too many dice that it just becomes tedious.

Designing your own spellbook is a game itself in that finding the best cards, balancing reactive cards with active cards, and fitting that all into one constraining mold is not only a challenge, but it is entertaining. You may think that constraint is a bad thing, but without rules, a rebel cannot create. With the core set alone, you have 322 spells to choose and create from, and with the two tomes, you now have 542 cards to play with. If you decide on the expansion, you now have 758 cards to form spellbooks with, and two more mages. If that isn't enough replayability, then maybe gaming just isn't your thing... only kidding!

The fact that this is a tactical card game only makes it all the better. Between the bluffing mechanics and the movement mechanics, you will burning your brain every single round for the best possible move of your creatures. There is nothing but interaction between players, but it isn't a "take that" sort of interaction, it's more of a "okay, I'm going to kill you now." sort of interaction. Mage Wars is designed to give the player who can better handle that interaction the win. This is why the learning curve is so steep, but also why it's so fun. You are constantly learning new information, figuring out opponent strategy, stopping movement, making your opponent retreat, and sending creatures off to battle. It's when to do all of these things that make this game so incredible.

So, I guess it's kind of obvious what I think about this game, right?

A Not-So-Subtle Opinion

I do think this game is for a lot of people. Between it's cheap to purchase, lots to play packaging, and it's depth of play, I think that this game is well worth the time it takes to learn how to play, and how to play well. It also has incredible component quality, and if anything is wrong with the components, Arcane Wonders staff is right there to help you in any way, which is another reason to fall in love with this game. Every question I've had has received prompt, courteous, and caring reply, and I cannot give any more of a glowing recommendation for all they do. I had an order from Arcane Wonders that not everything had arrived, and within a business day I had a representative with an order out for me. When I had problems with my mage books bubbling up, they instantly sent me new ones. They are a great company with so much to offer, with the added benefit of having an incredible product in Mage Wars. My only hope is that this review will encourage new and old players alike to at least try this game out. If you, don't be afraid to message me with your thoughts on it, if you want to purchase it. I love to talk anything and everything about this game. Although it is still a baby as far as gaming goes, I am a life longer to Mage Wars for its indepth and thoughtful gameplay, replayability, deck design, customer service team that is off the charts, it's innovative mechanics, and finally, because hell, we all like to roll a lot of dice. c:

Haha no worries I had quite a laugh from your reply!

Annd you get a girl scout!

Thank you for giving me more of a perspective on healing. I do think you are correct in that healing can be effective, but I cannot deny that it also does open you up to losing tempo. Healing differs in MTG in another way, too: it's not a static amount. I've seen plenty of minor heals that heal 2 to 3, instead of the average, which is five. When you take into account that in the mid to late game, a good player won't be swinging for less than 10d per turn, it really isn't as effective, and is especially hurting to tempo.

I do love RtB, though, it was actually one of the cards I was going to talk about next week, along with charge, and battle fury, all of which can swing the tempo in your favor incredibly.


And initiative is also a really funny thing... most games, when I see that I am playing against a less aggressive deck, I will usually give first initiative to them. I have found that against build decks, they will not be doing anything but setting out crystals and conjurations, so you can play a creature, and then you gain initiative in the second round, where you can really start to go at them. It almost seems counter intuitive to not want to go first, but I have found that not going first can really let you scope out what your opponent is doing, so that when you do go first, you can get the jump on them.

Quote from: "padawanofthegames" post=9151

Mage Wars allows you to have as many (or as few) copies of a card as you want. You want 12 timberwolves? I can get you 12 timberwolves by 3 PM. With nail polish.

While I understand the post is about tempo, I just want to point out that the above is not true except in casual games. You are only allowed six copies of a level one spell, four of anything higher, and one of an epic spell. Otherwise, ever onward.

Thank you mate! I fixed it so that it is rules accurate!

Hey man, that sounds completely AWESOME. But I have such a hate on for the warlock. The divine vampiress combo has been working well for me to combat most warlock strategies, as has.... my earth wizard! But it seems dog swarm would do really well against it too...