I was curious as to how many unique spells there are going to be in the Forcemaster/Warlord expansion.  In the base set there are something like 174 unique spells out of a total of 322 cards.  According to the newsletter, the expansion is going to have a total 216 spell cards, but I was wondering how many of those are unique cards and how many are duplicates and/or reprints from the base set.  

Obviously I'm not talking about cards with the Unique trait, but I'm sure you've picked up on that  

As a follow up, when is the expansion expected to hit stores?  By Christmas?  What about the 2nd Core Spell Tome?  Any idea when that will be released?

I've come to believe that the Warlock is the weakest Mage and I was wondering what everyone elses thoughts were on this.  I think that the Beastmaster, Wizard and Priestess are all pretty close to being equal, with the Wizard having a possible edge, but the Warlock seems behind the curve.  Below I will list out why I think this is.

The Warlock's abilities

1. Bloodreaper: In my opinion, this is a weaker version of the Beastmaster's Pet.  Bloodthirsty is good, but requires a wounded opponent to function and also can force the Bloodreaper to not have a choice in what it attacks.  The Beastmaster's Pet get's flat bonuses that are always "on" and always effective.  In addition, paying life to summon the Bloodreaper (which you do not get back if it dies) is a much steeper cost than what the Beastmaster pays in mana for its Pet (IMO).  Yes, saving mana is good, but the loss of life is very costly as it is helping your opponent win the game.  I've seen a Beastmaster make multiple creatures his Pet in the course of a single game, but making more than one Bloodreaper is very painful (excuse the pun).

2. Curseweaving: This is a decent ability, but I think it compares poorly to the other Mage's core abilities.  The other mages tend to use their abilities very often and they seem to have a much larger impact on the game.  The Priestess's ability to gain life and remove status conditions is very good and will be used often.  The Wizard's Voltaric Sheild is very good and will save you a ton of grief if used correctly.  The Beastmaster's ability to quick summon level 1 animals is really, really good.  

Curseweaving on the other hand is only ok.  It probably won't be used every turn, or even every other turn and is dependent on your opponents build.  If your opponent is playing a self-buffing beat-down style build that either doesn't run creatures, or very few of them, Curseweaving is essentially useless.  No other Mage has an ability that can be basically neutralized like that.  While putting curses back into your book allows you to run less curses (giving you freedom to run other stuff), it just doesn't seem to hold up to the other Mage's abilities.

Battle Skill: +1 to melee is a solid ability and is used often, no real complaints on this one.

Other factors: One thing the Warlock has that is a clear advantage is being trained in two schools.  That can't be overlooked.  Only the Wizard has something similar (although the Wizard's is better).  However, I think that this bonus is counteracted by two other drawbacks.  The first is only have 9 channeling.  That hurts.  The second is paying triple for Holy spells.  While most of the other mages have a similar drawback, the penalty against Holy spells is especially painful due to the fact that it costs a lot to include any Healing spells.  Lastly, the Warlock does have one of the higher starting Life totals, which is nice, but if he uses his Bloodreaper ability that kind of counteracts that benefit.

The Warlock's Support Cards

Lash of Hellfire:  This is a great card, no complaints.

Ring of Curses: Standard cost reduction ring that each Mage has.  Solid card, but I don't think it's as versatile as the Wizard's ring or the Priestess's.

Moloch's Torment: This is a good card and can be very effective, especially when combined with something like Ghoul Rot.

Helm of Fear: Decent card...if you roll well.  The last time I played this card I failed 9 out of 9 rolls...ugh.  Basically this card is hit or miss.  When it works, it's great, when it doesn't, it's a huge mana sink.

Demonhide Armor: Don't like this card much.  You're much better off with one of the armors that have some sort of elemental protection.  The damage barrier on this is pretty weak, and you'd be better served with a Circle of Lightning if that's what your looking for.

Pentagram: Worst spawnpoint IMO.  The requirement that it only gains extra mana from damaging opposing creatures is much worse than the Priestess's temple and (especially) the Wizard's Gate to Voltari (which is the best spawnpoint).  Once again, this ability is dependent on your opponent's build.  If your opponent is playing few, or no, creatures, gaining extra mana is going to be difficult.  It's Ethereal trait is not enough of a benefit to justify the harsher requirements of mana generation.  

Gate to Hell: I really want to like this card...but I'm struggling.  It's soooo expensive for what it does.  Yes, the +1 to melee for all demons is nice and adds up, but 12 mana is an awful lot to pay to get it (compare it with the Beastmaster's conjurations that buff animals).  The ability to open the gate seems so good, but is also very expensive (another 12 mana).  It can hit a lot of stuff, but it also hits your stuff (obviously you can build in fire protection/immunity to hurt yourself less).  I dislike that it doesn't hit objects (just creatures) and that it doesn't hit fliers.  Fliers are very big in our games, so that means a lot of stuff is going to not get hit by this.  The one time I opened the Gate, it wasn't worth the massive amount of mana I spent to do it.  

Sacrificial Altar:  This card isn't terrible, but it's not really good either, and it has it's uses at certain times.  You're killing off your own creatures for only a moderate bonus.  If you kill off a Firebrand Imp (which cost you 5 mana to play) you gain a measly +1 bonus.  Sure, you can kill off something like a Darkpact Slayer for a +3, but those are expensive.  Obviously the best use is right when the creature is on the verge of death, but that can be difficult to time.  Overall, it's a situational card that can be expensive to use.  I don't think it's a terrible card, just not great.  Compare this to the Hand of Bim-Shalla which does what it does for free and is much more flexible.

Goran (the Lycanthrope):  I haven't gotten this creature into play yet, but it seems decent.  Solid overall stats.  I wish it had Regenerate though (because it's, you know, a werewolf...).  Seems like a good creature, but I need to get it into play to test it.

So, overall, I think the Warlock's core abilities and support cards (barring a few exceptions as noted above) are weaker than the other mages.  Warlock was going to be my "main" mage, because I loved the theme and flavor, but after playing a few games, I think the Wizard is probably the one I will play the most.

Thoughts?

Hi all, I have two questions I was hoping to have answered.  The first question is regarding how Battle Fury and +x to Melee work.  I know that when you get a +x to Melee, it only works on the first strike if you make multiple strikes, but does that apply to Battle Fury since that is a completely separate attack?  So, for instance, if I have a Beastmaster with Bear's Strength on and he attacks he would roll 6 dice.  If he also had Battle Fury played on him he would make a second attack with 6 dice too right?  I would assume yes, because if a mage has +x to Ranged and makes two ranged attacks in the same round they get the bonus on each...right?

My second question involves Hand of Bim Shalla.  If you have multiple of these in play you can react and use them all to boost the same creature at the same time right?

This might be covered in the rulebook (and probably is), but I couldn't find it.  What happens if, in the middle of an attack, the target no longer becomes a legal target of that attack?  For instance, let's say that a Bitterwood Fox has a hidden Eagle's Wings on it and is targeted by an enemy melee strike.  Since an enchatment can be revealed between any of the 8 stages of an attack, you can reveal the Eagle's Wings after the declare attack step but before any dice have been rolled.  Since the Fox is now flying, it is not a legal target for melee strikes, so what happens?  Does the attack continue since the target was legal when it was declared, or does the attack fizzle since the target is now illegal?

A similar situation could arise with a card like Divine Intervention, where the target is suddenly on the other side of the map after the declare attack step.

Is there a visual spoiler of the spells online somewhere?  Or, better yet, an online spell book builder?  I'd love to be able to tinker around with spell book design while I'm away from the actual cards.

If there isn't any resource like this right now (either an "official" one or a fan made one), are there any plans to make one?

I know the game is just coming out today, but I was wondering if there has been any sort of release schedule posted anywhere for the planned expansions.  I'm sure the base game is going to provide lots of play time, but I'm curious at how fast they plan on releasing the first expansion and how long it will be  inbetween further expansions.  I think it'd be nice if they were planning on releasing something every couple of months, instead of say, every six months.

For those of you who have purchased the game already, how much product do you need to buy in order to maximize your ability to customize your spell book?  Just one core set and one of the core spell tome boxes?  Or do you need more than one core spell tome?

Thanks for any responses.