I play AGOT too! Are you guys the famous "Madrid Meta" in AGOT? If so, I assume have you gone to Stahleck?
I have to say that after Kingsguard Cycle blew away many of the old cards, I think the power creep was too steep.
I think FFG have made a big mistake with Agendas like Noble Cause that aren't fun and too many good neutrals.
Arcane Wonders should learn from the mistakes FFG made with AGOT, the longest running LCG out there.
(1) a tiny bit of power creep is inevitable, players buy new stuff to power game as well as explore new cards
(2) however, the trick is to make the creep as tiny as possible but still noticeable (so all books improve slightly)
(3) there will always be dominant and weaker factions but it should change each set and never just 1 dominant
(4) it's perfectly fine to ban and errata cards until the meta can cope with them when you remove them from list
(5) making strategies that are too fast win-or-lose (Noble Cause) or denies playing (Greyjoy choke) are not fun
(6) there needs to be "Core + last X expansions" Tournament spell book restriction (like Standard in Magic) else cost to enter the game at a competitive level will be too high (players are still free to play Legacy all expansions or even promos casually)
I think the most exciting thing about Mage Wars is being there basically at the beginning and the hobby being so small that what you post here is actually listened to and acted on (if a bit slowly). They are so cautious but it is inevitable that mistakes will be made. The current cards will be looked at like Magic Alpha and Beta cards that were plain broken (especially card draw, free turns & free mana acceleration). It does show immense pride in their product that they are afraid to attempt ambitious concepts without thorough playtesting. But then they fail to spot the bleeding obvious (e.g. DvN will totally devalue pierce/bleed and further promote Kill The King focus).
I look forward to your double-spawnpoint Priestess build. I'm surprised it survived aggro 2 Grizzly FM book - unless you changed tempo?
I need to post a new book to try to regain my tattered rep. But I've been so busy playtesting with new cards, interacting with the co-designer and other playtesters, that I've just had no time to actually study the game as it is. I was a bit dismayed at Earth Wizard coming last in a recent tournament so I might just post an update to Golem Pit (changed a lot) to at least ensure Earth Wizard's reputation is not dented any further. Alternatively, I was intrigued by a recent post asking "how does a Solo FM beat a Druid without resorting to Fire?". I'm not an expert with either but it's got me thinking... I really need to post something constructive on the public forums soon.
Yes, please post your Priestess in the Spellbook section. I think Holy is a good meta choice with the dominance of Nonliving currently.
