Yeah, I agree, that's why I said "some".

For me personally, it will replace all of them. In the past (apart from the stalker) there was no other option than to go out of school if you wanted any creature at all. I just don't want to spend 12 spellbookpoints on a creature anymore if I can replace it with these guys.

Since the hill doesn't block movement, I'd say the elemental may use that ability. Just as force push also gets them on the hill.

In my experience academy, this card is especially good when used by removing a dissipate token. I wouldn't use it all that much by paying 3 mana. 

In arena, I think both paying and removing a dissipate token might be equally viable. Depending on the situation. This card is no doubt one of the key cards in the set to keep the forcemaster running strong.

How I see it:

Earth is harder to boost, but also harder to counter. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The disadvantage is that I think that heavy earth spell books are not as good as any other element (air/water/fire/light) because there aren't many interacting spells. However, if you want to use only a couple attack spells each game, earth is the way to go. Aka: most beastmasters, necromancers, ... study earth magic for this reason. The effect die on earth is not something to consider mostly. You can occasionally daze/slam something but that's certainly not why you would use the spells.

Fire needs a bit of extra work, but once you have your buffs out, fire hits MUCH harder than earth, especially if you include the burn damage. That's why adramelech warlock uses way more attack spells than a warlord on average. Fire +/-X is more often than not helpfull imo. If something is fire resistent, just don't attack it with fire.

Lightning has a very awesome effect die chance that can really annoy your enemy. The damage output is not horrible, but it can become very decent. A wizard can use the lightning ring, staff of storms, (+ hawkeye) to make the spells both dangerous and control heavy. Ideally, I think the number of lightning attacks in a game is somewhere between fire and earth. Maybe not usefull every single turn but still pretty damn often. If you let the staff power up a couple of turns, a lightning attack can become absurdly strong. I think many people underestimate the power of lightning, but stun on a mage/buddy can really mess up the plans.


Light Without any buffs, I'd say most of the light spells are only usefull only on undead things. However, since PvS, there are just like lightning, more spells to buff them. Light + Alfiya is the most deadly thing there is, even deadlier than fire.


As a conclusion, I think Earth is the one to use out of school, but I think light, lightning and fire can be much better when used by a trained mage.

What assignments could they possibly give you that require using a mac and can't be done on a pc? I mean, I'd expect that of a graphic design college, not a high school. That is completely unnecessary for them to require that.

Did the school say why they require you to *purchase expensive unnecessary extra equipment*? Because I bet the purpose of it is to make them look more prestigious--the picture of a classroom full of students using their own personal mac computers for their class which is (supposedly) hard enough to require this particular special technology in order to participate makes the school seem more impressive. It is a pure status signal if ever I saw one and it most likely has nothing to do with practicality or what's actually necessary to do well in the class.

+1. I'd even add that at university, many of my classmates had to find and search for different versions of the same software to be able to do their assigments on their macs. They always could manage but it takes some extra effort to find an alternative for specific software needed in uni (or things like OCTGN). Love it or hate it, but most software is designed for Windows.

It is not. You could instal a windows emulator on a mac, but I'm not sure you'll be willing to do that.

This summer (june-september, idk exactly) academy warlord and academy forcemaster will be released. (This has been discussed in other treads)

I believe spoilers will be released in the near future. (1-2 months)