Its been a while since I posted the Blasting Banker, but now I cant wait any longer to reveal the Tink Deck . I played it quite a few times now. Its alot of fun and it always worked like expected even though some of my opponents exactly knew what was coming (like they played Wizard and included Purge Magic or Destroy Magic in their books):

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Tinker Bells Angel[/spellbookname]
[mage]Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]1 x  Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j15]1 x  Mohktari, Great Tree of Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x  Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]1 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c13]1 x  Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]1 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]1 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e36]4 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]5 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]2 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e12]1 x  Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]2 x  Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]2 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]2 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]1 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]3 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]5 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q02]2 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]1 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]4 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]6 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]1 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Link for Octgn Deckbuilder:
http://octgn.net/sd/charmyna/tinkerbellsangel


First, I want to thank Murphy for playing a similar Beastmaster deck (he plays many inspiring decks) and initiating my thoughts about this book! Also the name is his idea .

The standard opening is:

Round 1:
Mage:
Fellella
Mediation Amulet

Round 2:
Mage:
Vine Tree (treebond)
Enchanters Ring
Fellella:
Rhino Hide on Fellella

Round 3:
Mage:
Bulls Endurance on Fellella
Guardian Angel
Fellella:
Bear Strength on Angel. If your opponent saved alot of mana and might be throwing Fireballs at your Tree or Flameblasts at Fellella soon you might not need Bear Strength on the Angel. In that case an early Rhino Hide on the Angel or Divine Protection on Fellella might be better.


So the basic theory behind this build is that Enchantments in general have two weaknesses: Compared to casting a creature they cost alot mana and actions. For example, if casting a Steelclaw Grizzly you need 17 mana and one action. To get the same values (HP, Armor and Attack) by buffing a smaller creature with enchantments you need much more actions and/or mana! This tells us, that if the enchanted creature dies quickly after enchanting it, the enchant was just an action/mana sink. Therefore, you really want to make sure the enchanted creature survives long enough to make the enchants pay for themselves!
So what are the strength of enchantments? Well, you get the effect without a delay compared to creatures, and of course, the surprise element. Additionally, with enchantments you can buff a creature up to becoming an invincible dice throwing terminator!
So this deck aims at countering the increased action cost of enchantments by using Fellella. Additionally, it uses the meditation amulet to make sure there is enough mana to make use of the action advantage. Since its a nature deck, it got plenty of aggressive and, maybe even more important, defensive Enchantments to make sure the enchanted creature stays alive as long as possible.
I choose the Guardian Angel as my heavily enchanted creature because its base values are plain awesome! Inherent (undispellable) Aegis, Flying and Defence? Hell yeah! 12 life and 1 armor on top of that for only 12 mana, even better! Oh and if under pressure he can heal himself. The Angels defensiveness is unmatched by any other creature in the game. This is why its a formidable platform to spam enchantments on it! Just to give you an impression of what happens in most games: The Angel has Bear Strength, Lion Savagery, Cheetah Speed and Mongoose Agility. So thats 7 dice with piercing and theres not much to stop him from attacking. He also has Rhino Hide in case he gets attacked. If he actually gets attacked, there will be Bulls Endurance, Healing Charm and Regrowth on him quickly. For sure he has Enchantment Transfusion on him and sometimes Nullify to counter Purge Magic or Destroy Magic (since he usually has a couple hidden enchantments on him its not easy to seeking dispel the Transfusion). Actually, often Fellala or my mage got another Transfusion and Nullify on them to make sure Purge Magic fails.
This sounds as many actions needed for this right? Thats true, but it actually works better than I thought at first glance. Btw Fellella has Rhino hide and Bulls on her as well.
So in most games the Angel delivers his 7 dice Piercing attack each round, while the Opponent has a hard time to decide which target to attack. The druid and his tree are usually no good targets because they survive alot and can regenerate very quickly. If needed, the Vine Tree can be used to spawn a raptor vine or vine snapper which can guard the same round by using defend. The vine markers help alot to slow down attacking creatures and tanglevine casted by the vine tree can also be of great use for that purpose.
The opponent might attack Fellella, but the only way to give ranged attacks unavoidable is sniper shot, which many dont even include in their book. If they do, it still is mana and action inefficient. Anyway, with Rhino Hide and Bulls Endurance its not easy to kill Fellella. And if she gets attacked, there will be a healing Charm, Regrowth and maybe even divine Protection on her. At some point she might die, but then Enchantment Transfusion will make sure the invested actions and mana wont be lost. Usually, if the opponent focuses Fellella the Guardian Angel has plenty of time to cost the opponent enough mana/actions to make up for the possible loss of Fellella.

Some additional thoughts:

Kralathor can be very useful in this build: He can be spawned by the Vine Tree to save an action and you can spawn him in any zone by using vine markers, which might be good for a surprise attack at a valuable conjuration, an archer or a small creature that can be devoured easily. Rouse the Beast combined with Enchantment Transfusion and Hand of Bim-Shalla can be awesome to give Kralathor a 9 dice attack with Piercing (11 dice against Undead) just in the round he was summoned. This will hopefully give him the first growth marker and together with the transfused enchantments should make him nearly unkillable. In this phase of the game the Angel switches to a more defensive role.
Actually, sometimes it might be even better to cast Kralathor by your mage instead of the Vine Tree to surprise your opponent even more.

Here is a nice combo, which works for every mage:
If your Mage has two Armor and two Corrode tokens (or similar situation) cast and reveal Rust on your mage. That will remove the two Corrode tokens. After that use Enchantment Transfusion or Shift Enchantment to move Rust to your opponents mage or a creature you want to focus next. Mana and Spellpoint wise this might not be the best way to remove Corrode tokens, but action wise its really nice since you remove two tokens with only one extra action compared to casting Rust directly on the creature you want to focus next. With this druid its especially nice since Rust costs him only one spellpoint, Enchantment Transfusion is naturally needed in this book and you can use Fellalas action to use this combo as well.

Gorgon Archers can be nasty against this Deck because they weaken the Angel.  Btw the Angels defense shines against Gorgons, which is one of the reasons I favor the Guardian Angel over a Beastmasters Pet Falcon (which also works as a nice Tinker Bell Deck). Anyway, after eating some Weak tokens you can switch the enchants to Kralathor or a Raptor Vine and use the Angel only for defensive purposes (for which he doesnt really need any attack dice). If you are afraid of fighting multiple Gorgons it might be useful to put a second purify in this book (which is also nice against curse warlocks).

Divine Might (Edit I removed it in the latest Iteration): Considering how few etherial objects are played in most games it might be not worth including the Divine Might Enchantment. In the rare case you really want to get rid of such an object you could enchant Fellala with Bear Strength and Lion Savagery+Hand of Bimshalla (her attacks are ethereal) and use Transfusion to shift the enchants after you dont need the Ethereal trait any more. For now I included Divine Might into the book because it can be a nice suprise and helps destroying the etherial object(s) quicker as compared to the Fellala method. Still, if you want to change some cards, I would consider removing Divine Might.

Other useful spells to consider:

Retaliate: Great synergy with Melee+X from Bear Strength and Kralathors growth markers. It can also lead to Kralathor devouring even more creatures! Unfortunately, it costs the Druid 3 Spellpoints. Hence, I didnt include it (some of you might already know I'm really spellpoint conservative ). If you play a similar deck with the Beastmaster you might want to include Retaliate (and also Veterans Belt, which I find too Spellpoint costly for the druid considering he can be very tough even without it).

Any curse, especially Agony: You can use Fellella to cast curses while your mage does not need to move and hence is able to meditate. I found Agony the most useful curse considering the Spellpoints it costs. It excels against Creatures with multiple attacks per round. Therefore, it might be good to have two or more Agony in the book. Edit: I added another Agony and Enfeeble, because its too good against big and heavily enchanted creatures. If the Opponent tries to dispel it, just move it to his Mage or another big creature with Transfusion during the counter spell step.

Vampirism: This enchantment can be really nice if combined with Bear Strength and Lion Savagery. In general, im not a big fan of enchantments that cost 4 Spellpoints or more though, since dispelling them always gives the opponent a Spellpoint advantage (I think alot in terms of that!). Usually, I prefer including copies of 1 spellpoint enchantments instead of paying 4 spellpoints for Vampirism. For the Beastmaster Version of this deck Vampirism might be even better.

Hurl Boulder or Force Hammer:
Sometimes you really want to get rid of an annoying creature or conjuration. These spells can really turn the tide in those situations! With the Tinker Bell deck I feel like they are not needed though, because the Angels 7 dice attack and the fact that he has Cheetah Speed, Flying and Mongoose Agility if needed make sure conjurations dont annoy you for too long. Even most creatures die quickly unless they got a couple of defensive enchantments (in which case a Hurl Boulder would not do its job too good anyway).

Thats it for now. I hope you like this deck and enjoy adjusting it to your needs! It might also help to counter Watergate or Blasting Banker. I had some really nice games against a variation of Watergate Wizard in which this Tinker Bell Deck did really well. Against Blasting Banker I have no idea who would win, but it definitely will be an interesting match . Have fun and keep playing this awesome game!

I can tell you this is one of the most fun and awesome builds I ever made! In the recent ten games I played it worked so perfectly I cant tell you how awesome it is.

So the basic idea is to use the Battle Forge and some Crystals + Moonglow Amulet to gain more actions and mana. The Forge then is used to cast many defensive stuff on the Wizard which in addition to defensive enchantments makes him nearly immune against most attacks.
To slow down the opponents buildup the Obelisk, Essence Drain and Suppression Cloak are used.
After all defensive stuff is set up the Banker starts getting rid of the opponents defensive enchants/equip and banking actions on the Opponent (Poisoned Blood+Mage Bane+Nullify) and on himself to increase the damage output when it comes to the Blast (Hawkeye, Dancing Scimitar, Fireshapers Ring).
After this preparation the Banker saved like 30-40 mana and the opponent should be left without any dragonscale hauberk or defensive enchantment (at least not in play).
Now the Blast starts: In a round the opponent has Ini, at the end the Banker casts a Fireball by himself and a Wizards Tower, which casts another Fireball. Next round the Banker has Ini and often is able to finish the opponent off with some more Fireballs/Flameblasts and with the help of the banked enchantments which prevent healing etc.
Its also important to note that a Mage Wand and/or Elemental Wand casted by the Forge really help this build since they allow to prepare for alot of the opponents defensive reactions (like the Banker has a Dissolve/Explode on the Mage Wand against a possible Dragonscale Hauberk, a Seeking Dispel and a Dispel in his hand and a Fireball on the Elemental Wand).
In all the games so far, after I started the Blast it was a matter of 2-3 rounds depending on how much defensive stuff the opponent had left.

I guess this build works so well because of the current meta. Neither high armor on Mage nor Interceptors are used that much - at least not in Octgn.
If you want to see the Blasting Banker in action, in this post you can find links to streams including audio comments:
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=13428.0

Here is the book (its a Fire Wizard):

Attack Spells:
Surging Wave   1
Jet Stream   1
Acid Ball   1
Geyser      1
Fireball   3
Flameblast   2

Conjurations:
Wizards Tower   1
Hand of Bim-Shalla   1
Mana Crystal   2
Battle Forge   2
Mordok's Obelisk   1

Enchantments:
Nullify      4
Rhino Hide   1
Regrowth   2
Poisoned Blood   2
Enchantment Transfusion   3
Hawkeye      1
Essence Drain   1
Agony      1
Divine Protection   1
Magebane   1
Force Orb   1
Armor Ward   1

Equipment:
Mage Wand   2
Dragonscale Hauberk   3
Leather Gloves   2 (or 1 switching with Leather Boots)
Leather Boots   1 (or 2 switching with Leather Boots)
Veterants Belt   2
Fireshaper Ring   1
Moonglow Amulet   1
Wand of Healing   1
Suppression Cloak   1
Dancing Scimitar   1
Arcane Ring   1
Elemental Wand   1

Incantations:
Teleport   2
Dispel      6
Seeking Dispel   4
Dissolve   6
Minor Heal   1
(Might add an Explode in the future)

Creatures:
Darkfenne Bat   1


Here is the link where you can download my actual Blasting Banker build (might be a bit different from the list posted) for the Octgn Deck Builder:
http://octgn.net/sd/charmyna/the_blasting_banker


Newest Iteration:

Attack Spells:
Surging Wave   1
Jet Stream   1
Fireball   3
Flameblast   2

Conjurations:
Wizards Tower   1
Hand of Bim-Shalla   1
Mana Crystal   1
Battle Forge   2
Mordok's Obelisk   1
Enchanters Wardstone  1
Mana Syphon 1


Enchantments:
Nullify      5
Rhino Hide   3
Regrowth   2
Poisoned Blood   1
Enchantment Transfusion   3
Essence Drain   1
Agony      1
Divine Protection   1
Force Orb   1

Equipment:
Mage Wand   4
Dragonscale Hauberk   4
Leather Gloves   1
Leather Boots   1
Veterants Belt   2
Fireshaper Ring   1
Moonglow Amulet   1
Wand of Healing   2
Suppression Cloak   2
Deflection Bracers   1
Eagleclaw Boots    1
Arcane Ring   1
Elemental Wand   1

Incantations:
Teleport   2
Dispel      6
Seeking Dispel   4
Dissolve   6
Minor Heal   1
Explode 1

Removed some level two out of school spells (Dancing Scimitar, Armor Ward) and included some more defensive equips/enchants - especially Eagleclaw Boots in case the BB gets trapped in a zone with two Walls. Added a 2nd Suppression Cloak since its just too good against creature builds and added a 2nd Healing Wand to help against Corrode Tokens.



Im thankful for any comment and if you tried this build/a similar one or played against it pls share your experiences .

I just thought what could be the cheapest way (in terms of mana, not spellpoints) to get rid of Nullify?
I say its Purify! Not only the name sounds similar, it also costs zero mana and the opponent has to reveal Nullify . Sure, if your intuition was wrong and its not a nullify, you just lost an action and a spell. But, at least you know its not a Nullify and you payed zero mana for that info! Im not saying its the best move. Still, if it works you seem like the smartest guy/girl ever  .

Edit: If youre a priestess, you get +1 life for that move as well! Holy sh.... Well, if your opponent pays two mana to reveal nullify, you do not get the life. But, thats even better since you payed zero mana and he four!

Hi everyone, I started live streaming/recording games again. Here you will find the links to the recent games and a brief summary of the game and what I learned from it.

New: Started uploading videos on youtube so you have the choice between different resolutions. Additionally it makes it easier to post comments to a specific video. I wouldnt mind some likes as well . If there is a youtube video available I will post it below the twitch link.

The order of these videos is not necessarily chronological. One reason is that in some videos I explain the idea of a new build at the beginning and I guess its better to start with those videos. If you want to see the most recently added videos pls go to the highlight section of my twitch side (some videos only have youtube links though):
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/profile

_____________________________________________________________________________________
The Blasting Banker vs Neotoni(Warlock)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCUnlbb0bG0&feature=youtu.be

Very quick game and all audio comments seem to be well understandable from what I tested (in some videos a part of some comments is missing). You also hear a brief explanation of the build at the beginning.
Neotoni increased his channeling to 11 with a Crystal + Moonglow Amulet and relied on curses+Explodes
to damage my mage. He used an Idol of Pestilance+Deathlock as well but in the end my higher channeling and the action advantage from the Forge got him I think.


_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Blasting Banker vs Dinotim (Necro)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3768200

He used four Zombie Brutes for which he had to pay alot of upkeep thanks to my Obelisk. In the end the bloodthirsty on the Brutes backfired at him since he could not dissolve the Suppression Cloak quickly (partly because of Enchantment Transfusion+Nullify trick) and his zombies had to attack me (and couldnt destroy Enchanters Wardstone) even though they did only very few damage and he had to pay 2 mana for each attack.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Blasting Banker vs Plattenspieler (Druid)

Twitch-links:
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3712162
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3712142

Youtube-Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_cHcQvqzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-dxpYfI4xk

Here you see some more action of the Blasting Banker! Its a new build that relies on banked actions (many enchants on his/my mage before the real fight start) and on firespells for damage. Plattenspieler used Vine Tree, followed by Cervere, Raptor Vine and Oscuda. During the first round I banked hidden enchants on him, used Forge to lower the damage from his creatures and saved like 30 mana. After that I kept attacking him with firespells/zap, revealed ghoul rot and kept him from healing with poisoned blood+some nullifies. In the end that worked quite well even though I left his tree alive!!!
Take home message: It might not always be necessary to destroy the druids tree before attacking him. Btw banking actions+mana is just awesome .

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Blasting Banker vs Neotoni (Warlord)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlMBlEfKjb0

He tried to kill my Battle Forge with Akiros Hammer quickly but needed two attacks. So I got some actions out of the Forge fortunately. Later he casted a Forge himself which I quickly destroyed with a lucky roll on geyser (Forge has Water+3!). At some point I casted a Darkfenne Bat to get a rot token on his Mage while he casted a sniper and Sir corazin. I managed to kill the sniper and get a Rot token on his mage after the third attack from the Bat. Unfortunately he had to go at that point.
I learned that the Bat is a nice as annoying for the opponent as i thought it would be and that I need a 2nd Forge, its too important for this build.
_____________________________________________________________________________________


The Blasting Banker vs Oneirophage (Druid)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3709460
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N2hURqvz1I

Tested a new build: It starts with a Forge and relies on banked actions (many enchants on his/my mage before the real fight start) and on firespells for damage. Since he casted a tree bonded vine tree I had to focus that down first. After that I needed to flee from his creatures (2 Grizzlies, Raptor vine+Thornlasher) while banking actions. That worked quite well since he didnt care enough for me banking.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Pterosaur vs fiery Warlock (Neotoni)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3715935

New build: The basic Idea is to have some flyers to deal constant damage to the opponent, in this case flying Dinosaurs (= Pterosaurs). Since they have a ranged attack guards wont stop them. Another way would be to have flyers with mongoose agility (tried that in a later game but we could not finish it). Part of the idea is that since the creatures are flyers most of the opponents creatures cant attack them and since the druid is no easy target, thats in my favor. Problem with this build is: Its damage is slow and I dont have much to protect my Tree. In addition I cant afford to have many Teleports, so if I get tanglevined its difficult to get out of that (happened during the unfinished game). I think the main route for this build is to survive long enough to get rid of the opponents protections and then push him through a wall of thorns. Still thats a difficult task and I think the Blasting Banker is much more effective for this purpose.

In the match linked above, the build worked well because the Warlock tried to focus me down by banking mana and then using Fireballs. I cared about his high mana pool though and prepared accordingly. Therefore he could barely damage me over the curse of the game and at the end I had quite some banked actions (enchantments) on him and did not fear his damage at all so he conceded. I think this game shows that if you want to focus down the druid its not enough to bank mana. You need to get rid of his protections first and bank actions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Blasting Banker vs Murphy (warlock)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3733245

If you never saw the Blasting Banker before (IMO one of my strongest builds), you might want to start with this video since at the beginning I give a brief Introduction into the build. Later some of the audio comments arent easy to understand unfortunately. Still the beginning is.
Murphys build could be named the canine feast fest. He summoned three kinds of canines (and later he told me he had all canines in his book - quite cool ). His Dogs went after my conjurations and my Wizard while I used the battle forge to gain action advantage. Near the end his canines had a tough time barely scratching my pants eh armor and finally my Blasting Banker burned him into GG.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Druid vs Ranger (Priestess)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3717525
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3717544

This time I tried to use cervere, a raptor vine and much later a grizzly. Unfortunately his Knight used his 7 dice attack to roll 10 crit damage against my cervere which had only a few damage before. After that it was a pain. For over an hour my only hope was that he does not protect himself well against force push+wall of thorns. Guess what? He didnt .
What Ive learned: I should not use meditation amulet with this build and not attack that early if I dont have enough vine creatures to support the attack.


_____________________________________________________________________________________


The Pterosaur vs Neotoni (Attrition Wizard)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3715268
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3715276

He tried to get me with a couple Mana Drain Mage Wands. Because of the lost mana I had quite a few misplanned round. Still, after a while I dissolved the wands while protecting myself with the help of the Forge. So he could not do alot of damage. At the end I had a Raptor+Cervere and he conceded.

_____________________________________________________________________________________


The Thorny Magician vs Gizzu (Watergate Wizard)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3695309
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Ki_WRjmzE

During the first few rounds he summoned Gate, Gremlin and Wizards Tower. I managed to push him through a Wall of Thorns twice in a round early on which resulted in 24 damage. In just the same round his tower attacked huginn with geyser and rolled 5 damage! Since I spend all my mana on wall/push/jet stream I had no mana left to reveal bull endurance on huginn and lost alot of mana and actions! Still, the damage on his mage was high enough to finish him off a few rounds later with surging wave and a boulder.
What to learn: Im not too sure . On the one hand, it might have been smarter to delay the push till I have enough mana to push twice AND reveal enchants on Huginn. Especially if huginn is in range of the Towers Geyser/Flame Blast. On the other hand, it`s really tempting to push twice if your opponent has no armor/enchants at all. Tough call ...

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The even thornier Sporemaster vs Thelas (Air Wizard)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3698083
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyk3r9hQ9hc

Long but very interesting game against a mana drain deck! Due to my former lack of experience against such builds I was quite surprised how much trouble it caused me (I should have known better still!). He used obelisk, essence and mana drain, as well as mana siphon to lower my channeling while I used two spores and the Forge to get an action advantage. Turns out I couldnt make use of that since I had no mana . Took me a while to recover from his mana drain and my very low mana pool for subsequent rounds.
Near the end I finally had enough mana and actions to (theoretically) push him through the wall of thorns twice per round and I really looked forward to doing so! I even had a stumble prepared to prevent his movement away from the wall after the first push. Great planning you think? Well, his Wizards Tower said "Nonono little thorny wall, this is no good place to idle around" and oneshotted my innocent wall with a lightning bolt. So, in theory stumble works pefectly fine. In practice, even though the opponent cant move, he might kill the wall easily (I still think stumble can be great in some situations, dont get me wrong).
Well, in the end he conceded because he did not have enough dissolves to handle my regrowth belt + two mage wands. Still, it was an awesome, challenging game and I think with better rolls on his side it could have gone in a totally different direction!
I learned to be afraid of mana drain decks and next time I think I will put a dissolve and  force push on the spores instead of acid ball and push (or maybe not since I dont want to be too predictable ).
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Thorny Magician vs Jacksmack (Fire Wizard)
Due to problems with the connection the video was split in three parts - uploaded them on both youtube and twitch:
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3693469
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3693504
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3693542

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOO2yPGLJAc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t__oRKCrmB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMcvNEV-bO8

VERY close mirrormatch! He relied on Battle Forge, Wizard Tower and fire attacks while I summoned Huginn and Wizard Tower for some Force Push aktion. Important mistake on my side: I didnt care enough for his high mana pool which is always dangerous because it allows the opponent to deliver high burst damage for subsequent rounds. At that time I should have put some armor on my mage but did cast rhino hide on Huginn. Blame me! The game was open till the end, very exciting IMO!
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Aggro Druid vs Jacksmack (Necro)
Due to problems with the connection the video was split in two parts:
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3693658
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3693669

Long game but IMO quite interesting to learn from my mistakes: Think I lost because first I moved two zones per round too often at the beginning. In round one I moved twice to south to reach his battle forge quickly. I decided to move to south corner instead of middle because I thought that way my Vine Tree is far away from his zombie spawning Mage and my druid can run back to the tree quickly if needed. In the second round I moved twice again to reach his newly summoned Graveyard quickly, but since I moved twice to south before, my druid still wasnt adjacent to the graveyard. Next time I should move the druid to the middle if moving twice (that way the druid could be adjacent to every zone at the end of round 2 and with the help of vine markers cast a vine snapper into the opponents spawnpoints zone and a raptor vine into the adjacent zone in round 3). Actually it might often be better to move only once in round 1 to not loose an aktion and cast tataree or harmonize (I still think its good to move twice if the opponent already casted his spawnpoint early on so you know where to move).
2nd mistake: I had no high damage attack spells in my book to get around his guarding zombies. I might consider putting one or two hurl boulders into the deck.
He relied on many spawnpoints + meditation amulet (Battle Forge, Tome, Graveyard). Interestingly I think he had no sources of healing besides regrowth belt and I think after this game (even though he won it) he considered putting heal spell(s) in his book. IMO at least one heal spell should be included in most spellbooks, especially if they include a mage wand as well.


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The Thorny Magician vs Fapostol (Forcemaster)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3687284
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kpqj_qNCtI

The audio comments dont have loops now (actually there is a very short loop for a few seconds at the beginning).

Tried a "new old" build focused on the idea to push through Wall of Thorns. Huginn and Wizard Tower are the key. In this game the tower wasnt that helpful though because of the opponents deflect (bad for jet stream). Huginn was very helpful btw! Not a great surprise I guess .


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The Thorny Magician vs Fapostol (Warlock)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3688069

We both summoned two mana crystals in Round 1+2 (the game before I realized im too short on mana too often). Besides that he used a battle forge and a deathpact slayer while I summoned Huginn and a wizard tower. In the end the action advantage due to those two cards together with the wall of thorns+force push combo worked very well.

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Aggro Dudu vs Sike (Necro). 2nd game.
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3682859

Sorry for the double audio comments - still figuring out best settings.

He summoned a ghoul and protective stuff early on (no spawnpoint!) while i casted vine tree followed by raptor vine and timber wolf. Later the vine tree casted a thornlasher for me which together with the damage potential from my creatures and a teleport wand gave me the ability to play around with his ghoul/mage and outdamage him.
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Aggro Dudu vs Sike (Necro)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3682881

He started with a death ring and a plague zombie. Later he casted defensive stuff (dragonscale hauberk and cloak of shadows) together with Idol of Pestilence . I think the reason I won this game was that his zombie/idol and equipment did not help him that much against my setup (vine tree, raptor vine, vine snapper).

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Aggro dudu vs Facebreaker (necro)
http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna/c/3682152

Sorry for the repititions in voice chat.
In the first, round he moved one zone and casted a graveyard into his middle zone. That made it easy for me to rush forward and cast a couple vine snappers (with rouse the beast) and a raptor vine right into his face .
After my snappers destroyed his Graveyard early on, he attacked my vine tree. To protect the tree I teleported his zombie brute into my snappers zone and killed him just in the same round. A round later it was GG.

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First, I know its not all about spell points. But, I will show that its really important to take them into consideration when making strategic/tactical decisions.
Let me start with a statement: A well played wizard cant be defeated in early or mid game. Voltaric shield together with some armor and cheap teleport/mage wand allows the wizard to escape every rush. Therefore, if you play a wizard yourself or if you play against a wizard, you need to be prepared for late game!
Btw, late game is a complex word. What exactly is late game? I would say it’s the part in the game when you feel like your options or your opponents options during planning phase shrink. Lets say, you or your opponent is about to run out of cards from a category that is really important for his strategy (with category I mean: creatures/enchantments/incantations/attack spells/conjurations/equipment).



So the question is: What matters the most during late game? Here are a few possible answers:

Having higher channeling.
This does matter for sure.  But, if you run out of cards (i.e. options), especially if you run out of creatures, your mana wont help you at all.

Board control.
Sure, it helps having more and stronger creatures than your opponent or lowering his channeling enough so that he can cast a costly spell every other round only. But again, if you run out of good cards while your opponent still has some nice options to choose from, you wont keep board control for much longer!

In my experience from over 300 games I think what matters the most are spell points. Let me give you a few examples to demonstrate what I mean. They will be somehow simplified but still they illustrate the point and things like this happen quite often in some variation:



Example 1: In school vs out of school creatures.

In your build (wizard) you focus on in school creatures. Lets say you have 4 hydras. Your opponent is a wizard too and focuses on out of school creatures. He has a grizzly and a grimson sniper. Both of you invested the same spell points, but you can bet, at some point during late game his two creatures will be gone while you still have 2 of your 4 hydras on the board. GG!
Well, someone might argue that the sniper and grizzly put you under enough pressure to pay for their spell points and will kill your wizard quicker than you can make use of your bigger creature pool. I don’t think so. Even with a sniper and/or grizzly its really hard to kill a wizard that has some armor+voltaric shield +regrowth on him and is supported by hydras/gremlins/gargoyles. In the end, the sniper/grizzly will die at some point without putting your wizard under enough pressure to finish him off. I had enough of those games.
What does this have to do with the topic of this thread? Its all about spell points! The grizzly/sniper costs twice as much spell points compared to the hydra. Therefore loosing the grizzly/sniper will hurt much more than loosing a hydra and at some point the out of school wizard will have no creature left while the in school wizard still has some.

Example 2: Equipment vs Dissolve.

Your opponent likes having more life. Therefore, he includes two sunfire amulets (which give +1 life each round) in his spell book for 8 spell points. You are a water wizard with 6 dissolves. During the game he will cast the amulet twice and you dissolve it soon. He will still get 2 or more life from it, but in the end he will have paid 8 spell points while you paid 2 (with mage wand even less). I cant stress enough how important this is! Two life, heck even six life, really don’t matter if your opponent spent six spell points more than you did! Late game is not decided by six more life (and, as I said, as a well played wizard or if playing against a formidable wizard you will reach late game for sure). Its decided by who has the better options to choose from.

Example 3: Essence Drain vs Dispel.

Your opponent casts essence drain four times during the game. You dispel all of them and some of those dispels come from a mage wand. You will have lost 8 or more mana, but your opponent will have spent 4-8 more spell points than you did. This is really in your favor! A reason I do not include essence drain at all in my wizard spell books. Another reason is that I prefer to just kill his creatures quickly. Therefore, an essence drain won’t pay off. A similar example is ghoul rot vs dispel. Although I have to say that ghoul rot is a much bigger threat than essence drain since direct damage hurts a lot more than lost mana.

Example 4: Mind Control vs Dispel.

Your opponent casts mind control four times on your hydra and you dispel it asap. Your hydra will be stunned a lot but in the end the Forcemaster will have paid 20 more spell points than you did. You will win late game!
But be aware: If the Forcemaster uses mind control+obelisk to kill your big creature, this can be a real problem. It costs you spell points as well and might put you under a mana disadvantage which hurts so much that in this case it’s the mana that matters, not the spell points. Therefore, against a FM a mage wand with dispel is quite useful. Mind control has to be revealed between action phases. The latest point he can reveal it is before the final QC phase. If you have enough mana, a dispel wand and no jinx on you, you can dispel the mind control before he can use it to kill your creature during next upkeep phase. You need to save quite a lot mana to do this and need a nullify on yourself to protect against jinx, but it can really be important to let your creatures survive this threat.

Example 5: Attack spells vs creatures.

Your opponent is a wizard that relies on attack spells instead of creatures. He cant focus you while you have a couple creatures out since killing a wizard with attack spells takes really long (if it ever works at all) and during that time your creatures will kill his wizard. Therefore, he needs to take care of your creatures first. But, on average he has to spent more mana than you did and even more importantly, he usually has to spent more spell points (if you dissolve his elemental wand and destroy wizard tower quickly). At some point during the game he will run out of attack spells while you have creatures left.



Something that is closely related to this topic is the question whether to have two distinct strategies or to focus on one strategy. For example, as a warlock having two strategies could be going the curse route while including some melee orientated enchantments/equipments. On the other side you could forget about melee and just put more curses into your spell book.
At first glance it might sound strange, but I believe its often better to focus on one strategy instead of having multiple. The reason is that if you go the curse route half-heartedly you wont reach the point at which your opponent runs out of dispels/purifies. Sure, you will be able to melee, but your opponent will be able to counter that without the need of dispels/purify (i.e. armor+guards).
Another example: You play an earth wizard. Is it better to have a turn to stone and a tanglevine or two turn to stone? Lets neglect that the latter costs more spell points for the moment. Often its better to have two turn to stone! The reason is that turn to stone and tanglevine have different counters (dispel and teleport). Therefore, if you have both spells, its likely that your opponent has enough cards to counter both. But, if you focus on one strategy (i.e. only turn to stone), it is more likely that you reach the point at which your opponent runs out of counters.



Let me summon up: If you think that your games will often reach late game, you really need to consider spell point cost when thinking about your strategy. Be aware that equipment with high spell point costs (e.g. sunfire amulet) will put you under a spell point disadvantage (especially if facing a water wizard which I am sure will become quite popular with Druid vs Necro). If your mage is not a wizard, mage wand will cost a lot too. Still, unlike sunfire amulet, I would advice to take one or even more mage wands into your spell book. They are just too good at conserving spell points.
Maybe even more important than high spell point cost equipments are big out of school creatures. If you have two or more of those creatures, you really don’t want to reach late game! Therefore, if playing a wizard, I think it’s best to take as few out of school creatures as possible since it’s the late game the wizard shines at!
For all other mages this discussion still is important. If you often play non wizard vs non wizard, it matters to think about spell points too.  Your games might be quicker as compared to playing against a wizard, but still its not too unlikely that one of you will run out of good options at some point. If you don’t want to be that player, during spell book creation make sure to check whether that out of school card really is worth the extra spell point cost. Maybe you can substitute it with an in school card for nearly the same benefit or maybe digging deeper into an in school based strategy is better compared to having a backup out of school strategy.

The topic says it all. Is Arcane Wonders fine with us playing via Octgn?

Since there are a couple of posts mentioning Octgn for quite some time and they didnt intervene, I guess its tolerated. Octgn helps promoting Mage Wars and I met many players who tried MW via Octgn first and then decided to buy it since its more fun in real life.

If you are interested in watching games live, I will stream my games if the opponent is fine with it (recorded games can be found here as well):

http://www.twitch.tv/charmyna

If you have any questions about my strategy and build feel free to contact me here in the forum or in Octgn.