Mortuorum Ambulantum

[Sand Goblin]

Hey guys!  I just got my new Druid vs. Necromancer expansion, and I'm so excited!  We've already played, and now, I've made a spellbook based around him.  I'd love some critique, as I'm still fairly new to the game, and this is only the second time I've attempted to make a spellbook.

(And for those of you that know either Latin or how to use Google translate, the name of the spellbook is a tribute to one of my favorite TV shows.)

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j11]1 x  Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]2 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j18]1 x  Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC24]4 x  Zombie Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]2 x  Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC23]4 x  Zombie Crawler[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC19]4 x  Venomous Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC12]1 x  Shaggoth-Zora[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC11]1 x  Ravenous Ghoul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC04]1 x  Grey Wraith[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC01]1 x  Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC13]2 x  Skeletal Archer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC08]3 x  Unstable Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC22]2 x  Zombie Brute[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e19]1 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]1 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]2 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]1 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q22]1 x  Moonglow Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x  Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ03]1 x  Deathshroud Staff[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI06]2 x  Zombie Frenzy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

This spellbook performed very well against the warlock.  Adramelech and the Necropian Vampiress posed problems, and when they were out, so did the bats.  I was able to make great effect out of my zombies, however, and forced them back, allowing my archers to straight out kill one.  I've made what I feel are the necessary adjustments, which are taking out ziggurat, taking out meditation amulet, taking out a wall, adding a moonglow amulet, adding another acid ball, and adding another maim wings 

[Lord0fWinter]

Couple of things imo

• Too many spawnpoints. It's hard enough to maintain both Graveyard and Libro at once, but throwing in the Ziggurat just makes it impossible. If you're deploying 2 creatures a turn, you likely won't be able to Reanimate anything you kill. I suppose if you know you're about to kill something, you could not deploy anything from the other two, but still. Personally I'd reduce it to either just Libro or just the Graveyard.
• Why the Acolytes? To give zombies +1 melee? Ehh, I'd take them out too. They're better with Skeletons.
• I doubt you'll be able to consistently use most of those creatures. You could probably narrow it down to the ones you use the most and free up some more points.
• I personally don't like the Rise Again card or Animate Dead or any of the ones that let you bring creatures back. Because, again, when you're deploying creatures every turn, you shouldn't have THAT much mana left over after you do your actions. And  if you can't pay the cost when the creature dies, the enchantment was all for naught. Taking them out will free up 12 spellbook points which can be used for something more valuable like...
• SOME armor for your Mage at least. [mwcard=MW1Q05]Demonhide Armor[/mwcard], Rhino Hide, etc.
• Another Zombie Frenzy in case something happens to your wand
• TELEPORT (or Force Push at a minimum. Really helpful for getting zombies in range. Try [mwcard=FWI04]Force Wave[/mwcard] maybe)
• More curses!
• [mwcard=MW1J19]Deathlock[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J11]Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard] are both amazing with the Necro

[sIKE]

I personally don't like the Rise Again card or Animate Dead or any of the ones that let you bring creatures back. Because, again, when you're deploying creatures every turn, you shouldn't have THAT much mana left over after you do your actions. And  if you can't pay the cost when the creature dies, the enchantment was all for naught. Taking them out will free up 12 spellbook points which can be used for something more valuable like

The main problem for me is that these Zombies vs. most of the other Zombies are Slow vs. Lumbering. I used an Animate Dead once on Adramelech spent the rest of the game moving him into the zone that mage moved into. What a waste of mana and spellbook points that was...

[Sand Goblin]

Thank you LordOfWinter.  I made your adjustments.

1.  Removed Graveyard

2.  I kept them in from when I was debating skeletons or zombies, my bad.  I still include one, for bone walls and skeleton archers if I add them.

3.  I'll keep that in mind as I play with this book.  I'll keep track of which cards I don't use, or weren't very helpful, and replace them.   Did take a crawler out though, to make room for a second teleport.

4.  They could be very helpful cards for using what your opponent has against him.  I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that if I reanimate a fast creature, it cancels out Slow, which could be very useful.  I'm leaving one Animate in, for good measure.

5.  Rhino hide added

6.  Done.

7. Put a teleport in.

8. Actually, I can't right now.  My father is using pretty much every other curse right now in his Warlock book.  I'm getting a spell tome soon, and once I can, something will go for another copy of poisoned blood and another copy of ghoul rot.

9.  Added both of them.

[sdougla2]

I wouldn't focus as much on poison damage with zombies. I'd rather do that with skeletons, as it doesn't add targeting restrictions to skeletons.

I would drop Harmonize. Harmonize works well with big spawnpoints like Lair, but you should never put one on Libro Mortuos, and if you're going to increase your mage's channeling, you're probably better off with a Moonglow Amulet or a Mana Crystal.

You need more armor. Dragonscale Hauberk would be best, but I would include Leather Boots and Leather Gloves as well.

2 Grey Wraiths seems like overkill since you can't play them from Libro. You can play them from Graveyard, but you took that out.

I would include the full complement of 4 Venomous Zombies because they're so efficient against Living creatures.

Ravenous Ghouls seem slow to get going. Are you sure you want to use 2?

[Sand Goblin]

Thank you sdougla2!

1.  OK, then when I get the chance, I'll put in 2 Agony's instead.

2.  OK, I'll drop it for another crystal then.

3.  Why so much armor?  While this build may involve the Mage playing up a bit, he's really not going in for combat.  I think Rhino hide alone will be fine, I just have to be careful with my mage.

4.  Ah crap, I missed that.  But having that many zone exclusives will be tough...I still want one, just for the usefulness of weakness tokens and it's ability to get over walls.

5/6.  OK, I'll switch a ghoul for a Ven. zombie. 

[Lord0fWinter]

The main problem for me is that these Zombies vs. most of the other Zombies are Slow vs. Lumbering. I used an Animate Dead once on Adramelech spent the rest of the game moving him into the zone that mage moved into. What a waste of mana and spellbook points that was...

Great point, sir.

3.  I'll keep that in mind as I play with this book.  I'll keep track of which cards I don't use, or weren't very helpful, and replace them.   Did take a crawler out though, to make room for a second teleport.

In my experience, Brutes and Venomous Zombies are my personal favorites. Shaggoth generally gets killed before getting beefed up enough, Crawlers are too easy to kill, and Unstable Zombies are alright. Venomous ones are great because they can inflict Taint, and the Brutes are obviously awesome. The Ghouls also are slow to get rolling and if you have Shaggoth obliterate a creature, they can't come in and get the growth token as well.

Oh and Plague Zombies are awesome when made into Eternal Servants as long as you keep enough mana to Reanimate them.

My first Necro book was a zombie one but I eventually made the switch over to skeletons. They're better at dealing with fliers and can still pack a big punch. Bloodthirsty can be harmful just as often as it is helpful. Plus you can add Sardonyx into a skeleton book and have synergyy

I would drop Harmonize. Harmonize works well with big spawnpoints like Lair, but you should never put one on Libro Mortuos, and if you're going to increase your mage's channeling, you're probably better off with a Moonglow Amulet or a Mana Crystal.

Agreed, since Graveyard was taken out, this should be as well. I've made the mistake of Harmonizing Libro and it didn't work out too well for me.

2 Grey Wraiths seems like overkill since you can't play them from Libro. You can play them from Graveyard, but you took that out.

Personally I like including at least one of these to deal with Aggro Mages so I have an easy way to weaken them. It was mentioned that the main opponent was a Warlock, so these could be very useful in that matchup.

[sdougla2]

I always like to be able to play at least 4 armor on my mage even if I want to keep my mage out of combat. While you might want to keep your mage out of combat, many opponents will try to focus down your mage quickly. This becomes much harder if you have some armor. It's not that 2 armor won't help a lot, it's that it's easily countered, whereas 4 armor is harder to bypass. One Dispel and you're out of armor for the game. An Acid Ball could also strip you of armor.

Particularly with a zombie based Necromancer, your opponent is unlikely to settle for an attrition battle, as zombies are insanely good at attrition battles, particularly against Living creatures. That means that they need to try to assassinate your mage, and, in turn, that you must have tools to prevent them from doing that.

In particular, Lord of Fire looks like a big threat for this build to deal with. You only have a single Maim Wings, so it's unlikely you can keep it on the ground where your creatures can kill it. You have no way to get Flame -2, you don't have a lot of armor, and you have no way to put out Burns.

[Sand Goblin]

Yeah, I added 2 archers.  If and when LoF comes out, so do the archers. If they each only get an attack before LoF comes to ruin my day, that's still 8 dice.  Then I maim his wings, and it shouldn't be too hard to kill him form there.  I'm also adding another copy of that spell, most likely, so it will make it easier.

This is what I imagined.  While my zombie swarm marches on, the crawlers will stay behind with my mage.  They will help him defend himself from incoming attacks, which should be relatively harmless, because I should have the other mage devoting his resources to keeping the zombies away.  Once I get a good window, I summon Shaggy, and he will devour the crawlers.  Then he goes forward, and assists my zombies.  I had terrific success with that exact play with the base necro spellbook, and I'd like to see if I can pull it off again here.  I do think that getting the crawlers out in a timely fashion, while still sustaining the rest of zombies, will be difficult.  But not impossible.  If it doesn't work, I promise you guys, the first thing going in will be armor.      

[sIKE]

My Necro strategy for LoF is to lay a bit of damage on him with an Skeletal archer when he gets it the 5-8 damage range, hit him with a Drain Soul, and then finish him off with my Necro + Mage Staff + Bear Strength. He goes down real quick.

[Sand Goblin]

Simply building these things is such a hard task, because of all the cards I can pick from.  I want to include them all, but alas, I limited to 120 spell points. 

In all seriousness, I'm glad to have all of these options.  There are certainly many ways to take out LoF. I'm glad to know that if one fails, I have a lot more to fall back on.     Just out of curiosity, would any of you consider zombies better than skeletons overall, or vice versa?  Or are they about the same?

Thank you all for helping me revise this book.  I'm going to try it out soon against my warlock opponent, and I'll give a short review of it as soon as I finish.  I am going to be editing and revising this book until it is perfect, no matter how much time and how many changes it takes.

[sIKE]

If you are playing with a mage that is turtling then they are great, as once you get a group of them out and drop a Zombie Frenzy or two and they are quite mean with that Bloodthirsty trait.

[MrSaucy]

One spell I commonly run in my dark mage spellbooks is invisible fist. It is a nice cheap spell to cut through any pesky non-living enemy creatures you come across (the attack is ethereal).

If you are going with two spawnpoints then don't count on playing any other conjurations than Wall of Bones. I prefer having both spawnpoints in my Necro spellbooks. You can decide on the fly which spawnpoint you want to use, which depends on which mage you are going up against. Sometimes I use both spawnpoints just for the fun of it.

As far as reanimation goes my go-to-spell is Animate Dead. I don't like Ziggurat because it gives your opponent time to react and I rarely have the mana to summon a dead creature mid-round with Rise Again. What I like about Animate Dead is that there isn't anything your opponent can do to prevent it other than possibly resurrect a dead living creature (this doesn't happen that much!)

[MrSaucy]

Just out of curiosity, would any of you consider zombies better than skeletons overall, or vice versa?  Or are they about the same?

I prefer zombies a lot more over skeletons. Resilient is very helpful and the lumbering trait isn't that annoying once you learn how to play wall of bones, chains of agony, force push, and zombie frenzy to put your zombies in a good position and trap the opposing mage. In addition, Venomous Zombies and Plague Zombies can be devastating against living creatures and really make the most of the Necromancer's plague master ability. If they add more skeletons that inflict poison conditions then I may consider skeletons. Finally, I hate how fragile skeletons are. You have to invest in reassemble, acolyte of the bog queen, mort, and perhaps fortified position just to keep the darn skeletons alive. But I do find the skeleton archers handy and Mort to be pretty badass.

I play Necro a lot and I hardly use skeletons. Just not my thing. If you plan on running 100% zombies it might help to check out my zombie swarm spellbook. I don't want to call it "finalized" because, lets face it, are spellbooks EVER finalized?

[Sand Goblin]

Thank you for the advice MrSaucy!

Unfortunately, I don't have any copies of that card.   I am still new, and the only things I have are the Core Set and DvN.  I'll make sure to try it out when I get it, though.  I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Invisible fist is in FvW? 

Eh, the Ziggurat seems pretty good for reanimating.  Other than the Forcemaster and some warlock builds, it seems like it would be suicide to stop summoning creatures to avoid reanimation, because only a specifically built book could have its mage deal with so many creatures.

My thoughts exactly.  I preferred zombies since I first saw them, because it always seemed that skeletons were so fragile.  One-shotting the weaker ones is easy, and gives no chance for reconstruction.

I'll make sure to check it out!  And I don't need to have ven played 10 games to know that it is impossible to truly finalize a spellbook.