Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => General Discussion => Topic started by: ArcaneDuels on August 14, 2015, 03:55:15 PM
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Hey guys!
Just when you thought we'd run out of things to post about, we're releasing Intangible's overview of all the new Academy cards!
Check them out:
Part 1: Attack Spells & Equipment - https://youtu.be/ti-ZfZdlQr0
Part 2: Incantations & Enchantments - https://youtu.be/z2XX3Xs2M_Q
Part 3: Creatures & Special Awards - https://youtu.be/zPgcG0VgxMY?a
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These videos are awesome. Thanks for sharing! I really like the commentary you give with each card. It helps me start theorizing about other ways each card could be used.
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Thank you for doing this. I've really wanted to see the Academy cards for a while.
I'm not particularly excited about the attack spells for Arena. A few might have some applications, but overall those cards aren't the ones I see driving changes in Arena play. The equipment looks very interesting though.
I like Emerald Elk Staff as a way to help keep your animals alive that is very action efficient. I'll have to try it to see how valuable I find the healing, but I can see it being a nice utility card.
Johktari Hunting Knife looks solid, particularly in conjunction with a pet Timber Wolf and Packmaster's Cowl. Put Vampirism on that puppy, prepare a Defend, and you can pretty much hold off an army of living creatures. Attack with your Beastmaster, put a guard marker on the wolf. They attack the wolf, activate the wolf and attack or guard. Later, use Defend to put another guard marker on the wolf. Even without a combo like that it is a very mana efficient damage source for any kind of extended fight, and it's vastly superior to the Staff of Beasts. I don't know whether I'll value the damage Johktari Hunting Knife offers or the utility offered by Morningstar or Mage Staff more, but we're finally seeing a worthwhile nature melee weapon.
Kajarah opens up a lot of options for the Johktari Beastmaster. It was possible to kite with Hunting Bow or Ivarium Longbow plus attack spells, and I think that strategy will still work okay, but I see more Johktari Beastmaster's running Kajarah. It fits very easily into a wide variety of openings, whereas if you want to fit a big creature or a Lair into your opening, even an Ivarium Longbow severely constrains your options. Because it can target creatures in the same zone, It makes your movement options very flexible. You can get right in your opponent's face if they try to run away from you, or you can use Tanglevines to lock your opponent down while throwing some damage at them.
Leather Chausses opens up other equipment slots for utility without weakening your defenses.
Packmaster's Cowl is incredibly action efficient, and I can't wait try try it.
Repulsion Cloak is basically Suppression Cloak light. I tend to hate mana denial, although I don't think I will dislike the implemenation as much in Academy as I did in several cases in Arena. I don't think it will be used that much in Arena, since I think Suppression Cloak is a lot stronger.
Rod of the Arcanum looks solid. It gives you a bit of a damage boost and slowly gives you a mana advantage.
Sistarran Robes I can see being okay for a Mana Denial Wizard in Arena, though I would tend to favor the more defense efficient Dragonscale Hauberk.
I really like Wispwillow Amulet as a way to boost economy without having to pay quite as much mana up front. I expect this card to be awesome with a Battleforge.
I expect almost everyone to run either Wychwood Ironvine or Regrowth Belt. For builds that have a lot of armor and are planning on using a Battle Forge to play lots of equipment, Regrowth Belt, with it's stronger regenerate is probably better. For mages that don't play a Battle Forge, I can see arguments either way. It's certainly an action efficient way to get a bit of defense, but it's not really a good way to reach a state of very strong defense, because once you've played about 3-4 cards to improve your defense, you'd probably rather have Regrowth Belt or Veterans's Belt.
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Wispwillow Amulet is pretty awesome when paried with the Battle Forge. You can run 2 and before one of them runs out of dissipate you switch it with another amulet. It's a decent way to convert battle forge mana into anything mana
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Ok, now i will not be Playing wizard but "Intangible Senior" mage. Thank you very much :D
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The video of the incantations and enchantments has been posted by Arcane Duels
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I posted this on youtube as well, but just to make sure people are aware:
Unfortunately you can not target Exile with Disperse to get rid of it, since the Exile is attached to the creature that was removed from the Arena. Thus, Exile itself is outside of the Arena and beyond the range of Disperse.
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Also, it deserves to be noted that Academy doesn't have the same combat steps as Arena, so there is no chance to reveal enchantments between rolling dice and dealing damage. Thus, in order to have Gator Toughness or Giant Size save your bacon, in Academy, you have to have it revealed before they roll their dice.
Overall, I love the vids you guys are doing. These are a great introduction to the Academy cards.
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Thanks for the clarifications Zuberi!
Part 2! --->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2XX3Xs2M_Q
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I just noticed that Arcane Ward does NOT specify enemy incantations or enchantments.
So if you cast a spell on your own arcane warded object, the arcane ward will go off.
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I was wondering when someone would notice that. I started to write something to that effect, but I got distracted by the internet.
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I just noticed that Arcane Ward does NOT specify enemy incantations or enchantments.
So if you cast a spell on your own arcane warded object, the arcane ward will go off.
Truth. That's another reason why this won't replace Nullify, besides the non-Mage limitation. However, this will be extremely useful for protecting Equipment from Crumble and Enchantments from Dispel/Disperse, something that no other counterspell can currently do. And you don't typically target your own equipment or enchantments with anything. Not to mention it being something the Warlord can afford to include.
I really just love being able to enchant my enchantments, lol. I mean, I could do this before with Decoy or Harmonize, but there really wasn't any point to it. You can even put Arcane Ward on an Arcane Ward, lol. Not really a strategically great move, but it still makes me smile.
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Regarding Wychwood Ironvine (belt), I like it better than Regrowth Belt because I often find myself wondering when it's best to play RB. If I cast it before I've taken damage, it does nothing and I should have waited and cast something more urgent, whereas if I wait till mid game, I may not have the action or mana needed to cast it. With the Ironvine, I don't mind casting it earlier as I can benefit from the Armor. Oh, and it's cheaper. :)
I've been thinking about Akiro's Game... What is the "casting cost" of Talos? 28 mana? 0? Love the idea of Stagger'ing him or Adramelech or whoever each round. Great for a Swarm Mage or one running a level 2 buddy.
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Part 3 is actually up on YouTube and can be seen HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgcG0VgxMY).
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Akiro's game costs 3 mana to cast and 5 to dispel. Correct?
Also, since it's effect is during the upkeep phase you always have 3 mana to reveal it right?
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Now the hard thing for me is going to be narrowing down what I want to do with the Straywood Beastmaster. I'm pretty sure that I want to use a bunch of Timber Wolves, a Lair, Kajarah, and Enchanter's Ring as the basis for my Johktari Beastmaster play.
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I hang my head in shame for not reading Exile carefully enough! Ah! There were a few other incorrect points I made too but that was definitely the one that kept kicking me.
I am happy overall with the responses to the video though. I was a bit fearful that I'd get an ear full from the forum posts because I strongly stated my opinions (always a risk to do publicly). Instead, there's been nice conversations on your own opinions, and that's awesome. :D
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Don't feel too bad. I actually saw that mistake made several times as I ran the demos at gencon, especially since most people just leave the creature in the play area. If you physically move the creature and everything attached to it off to the side then it clicks with them, but then they might forget about it and not keep up with the dissipate and such. My point is, it's a common oversight. Your videos are amazing and we are all in your debt.
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Intangible0, even with like one minor mistake I really like hearing your opinions. Even if there's something that's not quite correct it stimulates interesting discussion. The videos were really fun to watch. I very much enjoy having an awesome video to listen to rather than just a picture of the cards, for example. Thanks :D
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I watched all three parts and despite the fact, that in some cases i have a different opinion, you also point out things which i would never discover. Youd did a splendid job sir!
Cant wait for video of Academy Game play :)
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Hey everybody, I appreciate the encouragement and feedback!
However... I've heard some people say they disagree with my opinions. Now, you can't just leave me hangin' there! What do you think! I'd love to hear how you feel about some of these cards. There are almost 60 new cards, let's start a discussion! ;D
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Ok, let me start then. Regarding joined strength I think that is an awesome card. The transfer of damage is no downside at all. It helps to keep the animal/pet alive. Beside of that, any hit against this animal/pet is not a hit against the mage directly. So I am quite happy to take 1 point of damage instead of the full blow against the mage.
Thanks for the great videos. They are awesome. Can't wait to see the playthrough of academy.
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Wychood hound will be amazing with redclaw. Also, the hydra lite doesn't have slow.
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The Packmaster's Cowl means the Beastmaster no longer wants for Altar of the Iron Guard. And much has already been said about the Johktari Knife and "boomerang."
All the attack spells are level 2, so they probably won't get used by anybody other than an Air Wizard. At first I wasn't really impressed with them, but then I got to thinking that spells that deal the Stagger condition might come in handy in Domination, where you want to prevent a Minor creature from hitting an orb. For this reason, a Ridgeback Skunk guarding an orb (whether you control it or it's currently neutral) might be interesting.
Many of the creatures are interesting, and generally pretty cheap to cast. And the enchantments for Minor creatures will be useful for both swarmy mages and those who want a cheap buddy (like a Blue Gremlin or Timber Wolf or Asyran Defender or whatever). Slavorg is a neat option for when your swarm has failed, or after some utility creatures have served their purposes (e.g. Darkfenne Asps). The Genie and Lightning Raptor are two of my favourites so far. And many of the cheap animals, like Darkfenne Asps, can activate Animal Kinship for cheap.
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There are a lot of new possibilities for all mages with this set. The Beastmaster's Cowl allows for a lot of neat tricks with melee + creatures.
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There are a lot of new possibilities for all mages with this set. The Beastmaster's Cowl allows for a lot of neat tricks with melee + creatures.
It's more-or-less a piece of armor with built-in [mwcard=MW1Q19]Mage Wand[/mwcard] of [mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]Defend[/mwcard], which is pretty good for just 3 mana (and 1 sbp). Only works on Minor creatures and costs 2 mana for level 2's, but doesn't cost you an action, which is pretty huge. Takes up the slot of [mwcard=MW1Q07]Elemental Cloak[/mwcard] (so you'll have to find another way to gain protection from various damage types), but still provides Armor +1.
The Cowl is once per turn, but the Academy Beastmaster can sort of do this twice if he wants, since when you summon a level 1 animal, can basically [mwcard=MW1I23]Rouse the Beast[/mwcard] for 1 mana, then use that animal's action to Guard (if it doesn't want to attack).
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There are a lot of new possibilities for all mages with this set. The Beastmaster's Cowl allows for a lot of neat tricks with melee + creatures.
It's more-or-less a piece of armor with built-in [mwcard=MW1Q19]Mage Wand[/mwcard] of [mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]Defend[/mwcard], which is pretty good for just 3 mana (and 1 sbp). Only works on Minor creatures and costs 2 mana for level 2's, but doesn't cost you an action, which is pretty huge. Takes up the slot of [mwcard=MW1Q07]Elemental Cloak[/mwcard] (so you'll have to find another way to gain protection from various damage types), but still provides Armor +1.
The Cowl is once per turn, but the Academy Beastmaster can sort of do this twice if he wants, since when you summon a level 1 animal, can basically [mwcard=MW1I23]Rouse the Beast[/mwcard] for 1 mana, then use that animal's action to Guard (if it doesn't want to attack).
My tactic is to get a creature to have as high a melee + bonus as possible then defend them with the cowl, get the bonus then attack after and get the melee + again. In arena you can get a pretty ridiculous creature with it. Not overpowered or anything just fun :D
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Divine Reversal looks really mana efficient for the Priestess. With both discount rings, you can prevent 2 damage, heal a creature for 2, and gain a life for 1 mana. I also see it as a good card to use if you want something akin to a Block that will work well against unavoidable attacks. Mostly I envision using it to support high armor creatures. Knights of Westlock particularly come to mind.
I really like the looks of Joined Strength. It's a way to make one of your creatures harder to take down, and forcing your opponent to spread out damage, rather than focus down one target at a time, is a good thing.
I already hate Minor Essence Drain.
Panther Stealth is so much cheaper than Mongoose Agility that I can see using it on lots of creatures that I wouldn't put Mongoose Agility on. The big target that comes to mind is a pet Thunderift Falcon. Put a Lion Savagery and a Panther Stealth on it and watch your opponent cry. Or just play a few Rajan's Furies so that they'll be easier to replace. That just seems like the perfect followup to a Cervere opening.
Rajah, Jungle's Talon is interesting. I think Rajah will be much better than Cervere for Lair builds, and Cervere will be a bit better for builds without a Lair. You COULD also do a cat build, but I still question the value of Makunda.
Badger Frenzy seems better in Arena than it does in Academy. The only creature I would really want to use it on in Academy is Razortusk, and I expect it to be a bit hard to get one out and keep it alive (and un-weakened). Besides Razortusk, your best attacks are 2 dice with piercing +1 or 2 dice and unavoidable, which is not that exciting. In Arena, you can use Badger Frenzy on Timber Wolves and Emerald Tegu, which you can spam out of a Lair.
I want to play 4 Rajan's Furies and then spam Steelclaw Cubs. I just think it would be fun.