[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Army of Darkness[/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ01]1 x  Altar of Skulls[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]4 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC07]1 x  Mort[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC13]2 x  Skeletal Archer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC14]2 x  Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC02]2 x  Deathfang[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC05]1 x  Ichthellid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]4 x  Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e16]2 x  Force Hold[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]3 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e38]2 x  Teleport Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]2 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e08]1 x  Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]2 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e19]2 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e22]1 x  Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]2 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]3 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ03]1 x  Deathshroud Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x  Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q05]1 x  Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI05]1 x  Unholy Resurgence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]2 x  Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI03]3 x  Reassemble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i08]2 x  Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i26]1 x  Sleep[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i02]1 x  Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


Summon skeletal army, control the battlefield, support from the back line.  It's the unholy Priest version of Necro!  Very much a work in progress but I want to tinker with this idea.  Consider this a placeholder. :p

I got to play the book and definitely learned some things.

Probably don't need 2 Spawnpoints for this type of build.  Graveyard is incredibly synergistic but Libro just felt like wasted mana and I never got much return from it.  Death Ring may be the same but I'm not sure.

Idol of Pestilence and Deathlok may also be cut.  Idol is win more and Deathlok buys time against lots of early Regen but is so situational as to be virtually useless.  More testing required but it's on the fence for sure.

Will need to tweak the utility spells as the Dissolve/Dispel numbers don't seem very good.  I don't care much about them having armor when most of my damage is direct. 

Some more aggression/fodder would be good to drive mana on Graveyard and protection for me and the win con would be good. 

Dispel Wand would be great if I had it, until then we may look at a Mage Wand with a Dispel option as that also works with Reassemble and Zombie Frenzy




My opponent is really new and didn't pressure me so it was easy getting the Altar going but man was it awesome to see him take 8 poison every upkeep! (4 Rot tokens + 1 from Plague Master + 2 from Altar + 1 from Idol) While the setup was slow, the payoff ended the game incredibly fast. 

Thanks all!

@silverclaw - Very good points.  How important is it to play around [mwcard=MW1I21]Purge Magic[/mwcard] when it comes to laying on the curses?

@ death - The problem though is that if I summon Acolyte turn two I cant use it to pray until turn 3, slowing down the clock by a turn which may or may not be relevant.  I'll have to play it both ways and see. 

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Black Death[/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j20]1 x  Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j18]2 x  Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ01]1 x  Altar of Skulls[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j11]1 x  Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC01]2 x  Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC19]4 x  Venomous Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC22]3 x  Zombie Brute[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c08]3 x  Darkfenne Bat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]4 x  Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c12]2 x  Emerald Tegu[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c23]1 x  Malacoda[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC24]3 x  Zombie Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC23]4 x  Zombie Crawler[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e19]2 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]2 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e08]1 x  Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e16]2 x  Force Hold[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x  Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ03]1 x  Deathshroud Staff[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI06]2 x  Zombie Frenzy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i08]1 x  Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI01]1 x  Animate Dead[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


My 1st take on a Necro book.  It's pretty straight forward in wanting to get the poison going as quickly as possible and keep it going with the late game [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard] + [mwcard=mw1j11] Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard].  Zombies are mostly there as meat shields though [mwcard=DNQ03]Deathshroud Staff[/mwcard] + [mwcard=DNI06]Zombie Frenzy[/mwcard] does allow for some big combat turns especially once the blood starts flowing.  Thanks for any input!

Edit:  Oh yeah.  Probably the thing that excites me the most about this book is making [mwcard=DNC09]Plague Zombie[/mwcard] my Eternal Servant and putting it on the [mwcard=mw1j20]Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard].  Buff a Zombie, Rot everything in the zone, then bring it back to do it all over again.  I may need to take something out to fit in a [mwcard=DNQ10] Meditation Amulet[/mwcard] to keep up with mana needs and I feel like [mwcard=DNJ04] Graveyard[/mwcard] could play well with this strategy too.  Thoughts?

Well, I work M-F 8-5 EST and that's when I do most of my forum going since I'm at a computer all day.  If I know to bring my spell book with me I can post pretty much anytime during those hours pretty regularly.  Evenings I'm free after 9 when the wee ones go to bed. 

]I doubt many 3-turn templates survive contact with the enemy. Even 2-turn templates might not if the opponent goes hard aggro (or possibly if they go hard economy, e.g. a spawnpoints+meditation amulet opening).

That was my thinking as well Myr.  Turn 1 is about all you can count on to develop unmolested since we've already demonstrated the ability to attack starting corner on Turn 2.  It's why I'm not a fan of hard openings as much as I am having a theoretical framework from which to operate. 

You know, I've been very interested in doing something like this as well.  I'm actually working on a piece that would serve as a prologue for a RPG style Mage Wars campaign, but recording a battle is an awesome idea.  Here's a pitch for you:  what if we play out a game via post/email that way we both have the round by round action and results, then we each write the battle from our Mage's perspective and either intertwine the two or offer both independently?  It would take more than an hour but might be more feasible. 

They mentioned this somewhere (where? I can't recall - maybe GAMA?)  a few months ago. Sounds like a bit more info now though, I'll have to watch the video.

My theory after first hearing about it is they'll use this to balance some of the issues floating around - novice, limited versions of teleport, dispel, etc. That way all mages can have access to "required" spells at a low cost. Did they discuss anything like that in the cool stuff video?

Nope.  It was more like LoW said above, streamlined rules for beginners, lower price point to lower barrier to entry for casual gamers with the ability to play with just 2 spell books (no board) in about 20-30 minutes.  It honestly sounds a lot like a Mage Wars version of MtG with your Mage slinging spells and creatures duking it out in the red zone.  Supposed to be fully compatible with the full game (though maybe not the other way around), so I would probably pick it up for the kids if nothing else.