Actually, with all of the "pay +X mana" from the new set, Mana Prism might become more common in the meta...

Wait till you see the other Harshforge stuff we have planned, in the coming sets. 

No more teasing us! D=

My first game was as a Priestess; I wanted to summon Valshalla.

My opponent focused her down before she could act however. Still managed to murder the opponent's Wizard with 2 Royal Archers though.


Lately I play more Druid or Forcemaster though.

1. Why do you need so many copies of these?  There are multiple ways of solving problem enchantments other than removing them and I don't know why you would ever need 3 Dissolves when Acid Ball deals with the most problematic equip--Armor (Warlord doesn't pay 3x for them anyway, so it hardly matters).

This is ridiculous.

Armour isn't the "most problematic" equipment, nor can Acid Ball remove Damage Type -X on equipment. Acid Ball is a specialized tool; it solves one problem spectacularly well (removing armour) but it is useless at dealing with anything else. It cannot deal with Wands, Weapons, Defense equipment, etc. Additionally, Corrode Tokens can be removed with the incredibly cheap Wand of Healing, or by the Priestess' Restore ability. Relying on a single Dissolve to solve all of the problems Acid Ball cannot is a very dangerous strategy. Especially since Acid Ball and Dissolve cost the same to include in any book...

1 Dispel sure, maybe 2 if you're paranoid, but 3 is overkill.  The Warlord only needs to pay 2 more points for those Dispels at that point.

There are many enchantments that simply cannot be solved by any spell except for Dispel. Forcefield, Force Crush, Force Hold, Mage Bane, Circle of Fire/Lightning, Vampirism, Bear Strength, etc.

If anything, three might not be enough. It definitely isn't overkill.

Teleport is a good card, but it's also very expensive mana-wise.  Charge can accomplish much of the same for less and give the target and extra die. 

The most effective use of Teleport is to move your enemy to you. Charge cannot do that.

2.  Other than the fact that it [Barracks] makes more mana if you play it, and for cheaper than a Mana Crystal/Flower?

Makes more mana than what? A Mana Crystal of Flower? If that's what you mean, that is incorrect. A Mana Crystal/Flower costs 5 and makes 1 mana each turn. The Barracks costs 12 and makes 1 mana per Outpost. All other currently released Outposts cost 4 mana, so the cost/gain ratio is:

Barracks: 12 - 1
Barracks + 1 Outpost: 16 - 2 -> 8 - 1
Barracks + 2 Outpost: 20 - 3

In terms of mana generation Barracks is the worst Spawnpoint.

Or, you can play one and cast a soldier 1 zone away...and still make more mana.  Most other Spawnpoints require the player to fulfill some sort of condition that requires regular actions; the Barracks does not, and the outposts serve another function should you need it.  Your definition of synergy is obviously pretty limited.

If you use Barracks to summon a creature, you cannot summon it in a location you have a Garrison Post. They do NOT work together, no matter how you try to spin it. Absolutely no synergy here.

As for Archer's Watchtower, you need to spend a whole round moving the creature to the proper zone to make use of it. Also, since Barracks counts as an Outpost it makes it harder to place your Watchtowers. I'm not sure how you can possibly call this Synergy either.

The Armory in FiF that gives all Friendly Soldiers Armor +1 and Piercing +1 has synergy with Barracks. Neither of these do.

Now, as for the other spawnpoints...
Lair just makes 2 mana per turn.
Pentagram gives you 1 extra man each time you damage a different enemy creature (max 2) in a turn, which is something you want to be doing anyway (at least to the mage).
Temple requires friendly Clerics to spend a full action praying, which is admittedly pretty bad. However, cost of 2 Clerics + Temple is the same as Barracks + 2 Outposts, and the Clerics can guard, heal, or attack if needed instead of Praying.
Gate to Voltari gives you mana when your opponent casts a spell.
Libro Mortuous just makes 1 per turn.
Battleforge just makes 1 per turn.
Graveyard is more variable, though it doesn't require you to do anything you wouldn't be doing anyway (killing your opponent and their creatures).
Vine Tree just makes 1 per turn.
Samara Tree + Seedling Pod I hate for different reasons, but those are off-topic to this discussion.

However, other spawnpoints (except 1) don't require you to be doing anything you wouldn't want to be doing anyway, so I'm not sure what your point even was.

3.  "So many Warlords?"  That looks like an exaggeration if I've ever seen one.  I doubt enough people even play the game, much less the Warlord, to make an assumption like that.

The War school lacks a non-Legendary soldier creature that both hits hard and is hard to kill, while both Holy and Dark have those. A majority of the Warlord books I've played against since DvN or seen on these forums have focused on one of those two schools for that reason. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as "many" by any reasonable definition. Remember, "many" does not mean "most".

I've helped build Warlord books that included skeletons or holy creatures, and after testing came to the conclusion that the Warlord doesn't need point-expensive situational creatures like Knights or S. Minions.  Butchers and Slingers, like Timber Wolves for Beastmasters, meet most of the Warlord's needs. 

Butchers compare unfavourably to Timber Wolves, both because the Warlord must go out of school to buff it, but also because it lacks the survivability the Timber Wolf has.

The Slinger has no analogue in another school. A 6 HP 0 Armor creature isn't hard to take out, however. The attack is pretty sub-par as well.

Trolls are there if you need fatter guys; they aren't as vulnerable to Sleep as Westlock Knights and require less support to survive than do Skeletal Knights.

Trolls cost a Warlord 5 spellpoints. Knights of Westlock and Skeletal Knights cost the Warlord 6. Neither of the Knights are vulnerable to Fire (the most common elemental damage currently), both have the same 5-dice attack as the Troll, they have better defenses, and the mana cost for all three is 13.

Plus all you really need to do to suppose a Knight of Westlock is to put Regrowth on it. Troll would need Rhino Hide anyway.

Also, you can't do 1:1 comparisons of creatures based just on level.  There are a bunch of creatures that are the same level but that's where the similarities end.  Other than abilities, Cost is a big motivator to consider less expensive, same level creatures over more expensive ones.

You think I ignore cost when comparing creatures?

4.  What do you mean "no one plays swarm"? 

I mean it isn't competitive in any real sense.

Playing with lots of creatures happens to be very good right now with Acid Ball and Meditation Amulet.  Not everyone plays the way you do or in the environment that you do.

In some metas, Swarm has a place. However, that doesn't make it an effective strategy. Acid Ball doesn't lend itself overtly to any particular strategy, and Meditation Amulet strategies are vulnerable to Dissolve (in my experience, it tends to mess up the tempo of the book significantly).

And yeah, some games Veteran isn't relevant, that's true. 

Sure.

The Warlord's abilities also cost nothing (because you should be using the Ring of Command) and require virtually no work. 

They still cost a quick action.

A mage isn't defined solely by abilities either; there are mage-specific or easy-access cards that help him or her out too.

I'm actually glad you bring that up!

Warlord/War Mage Only Cards:
Thorg - Decent
Akiro's Hammer - Awful
Barracks - Awful
Standard Bearer - Decent
Helm of Command - Decent
Horn of Gothos - Decent
War Sledge - Awful
Akiro's Battle Cry - Awful

Nearly all of them are sub-par at best, and none are that great overall.

5.  Well, the novice War incantations are good cheap options but they're hardly "the best." 

There are 9 War Incantations. 3 are Novice (Power Strike, Perfect Strike, and Piercing Strike). Akiro's Battle Cry is just plain awful. Whirling Strike is pretty much just a worse version of Battle Fury, so is not worth taking.

The rest are all level 1, but not Novice (Sniper Shot, Battle Fury, Charge, Evade).

So yes, all the best War School incantations are level 1, with nearly half being Novice.

It's not just about paying spellbook points for something; the Warlord's helm lets him cast/change those cards on the cheap without actually expending them, which is a fact that many anti-warlord posters here apparently overlook. 

It's a Mage Wand that's even more limited. Please excuse me if I don't get overly excited about it.

Power Strike/etc every turn if you need it plus another creature or extra mana is pretty good in my experience, and lets him use the extra spellbook slots he saves for other cards.  Like that extra Dispel or Teleport you need so badly.

The problem arises in switching spells, since it takes an entire action. It really isn't that great.

Some of comparisons in this thread don't even make any sense.  You play Togorah for his abilities.  If you don't need his traits, you don't play him.  Does that mean he's situational? Yes.  Does that mean he's bad? No.   

The discussion is over whether or not Togorah is worth spending 6 spellpoint to put into your book when it's highly situational at best, and there are other things you could put in instead that solve the same problems Togorah does except for less spellpoints and mana (and they likely also solve other problems as well).

How would Cerberus work with wall of bones? Its a dark conjuration, but walls aren't in zones.  I take it they wouldn't synergise?

Since it's not in the zone, it wouldn't boost Cerberus.

Quote from: Wildhorn on April 29, 2014, 06:26:26 AM

Quote from: Aylin on April 29, 2014, 12:54:48 AM

Quote from: Arlemus on April 29, 2014, 12:44:17 AM

With all the low cost walls out/coming out I don't really see the issue...

They're gonna eat through walls very easy...

Yeah but a simple Fog/Dirt Wall will cost them 3 turns.

This.  And unless they're lucky, that's 4 turns. (Should take more than 1 attack to take down incorpreal, even at 5 dice)

They're gonna have more than 1 Ballista. And on top of that, hitting the wall with a mage (equipped with Mage Staff) would take down a Fog Bank or severely weaken a Dirt Wall.

Walls are great if you can turn that delay into an advantage. I honestly think you'd be better served by Reverse Attack or Flameblast/Fireball.

With all the low cost walls out/coming out I don't really see the issue...

They're gonna eat through walls very easy...