Mage Wars > Spellbook Design and Construction

120pts vs spellbook design

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Borg:
I was wondering if the designer ( or any other long term playtester ) could elaborate somewhat on the decision to go with 120 build points.
Why exactly that number, not less or more.

I'm asking because I'm wondering at how much "decision making" these 120 pts wil bring to spellbook-building. Will it be easy to get spells from other schools in your spellbook ? Even going with triple cost spells ? Will there be any advantages to staying in 1 school, besides being able to put more spells in your spellbook ?

Let's add a few things up :
From what I've picked up so far from various readings :
- spell levels seem to range from 1 to 5 ( have I missed any higher level spells ? )
- a regular game will take about 15 rounds to finish

Now :
- let's say you play both your spells each round ( I know, it's possible to play more then 2, but ok .. you'll probably not play 2 spells EVERY round )
- this brings us to about 30 spells used per game.

If you were going with what I would call "a focused spellbook" of about 40 cards, that means your spells can have an average level of 3 ( 3x40=120 ) to make a "legal" spellbook.
Since you're probably going to have somewhat more 1-3 lvl spells in your spellbook then 3-5 lvl spells, I reckon there's considerable room to add spells from other schools.

My questions :
- How much cards would a "focused" or "well tuned" spellbook have in your experience ?
- How many cards from other schools would/did you use on average ?
- How many cards from "opposite" schools would/did you use regularly in your spellbooks ?

Klaxas:
many of those questions i cannot answer as i am not a playtester.  however there is a level 6 spell (adramelech, lord of fire, dark 4, fire 2, total level 6)

although some things seem universal.  you will want your mage to generate more mana usually.  so mana crystals for a Wizard or mana flowers for a beastmaster but the other mages dont have it so easily so you might want to add that into those.  also from what ive heard things like disolve, heal etc are so necessary (and cheap) you want to throw some of thoses in anyway even if they arnt your school.

also i think the idea of a "focused" spellbook at 40 cards is a concept your bringing over from magic.  the reason its concidered focused in magic is you are more likely to draw the cards you need, but here drawing is irrevelent.  in Mage wars it seems you can have a well tuned spellbook at any number of cards.

also ive been thinking.  even if you only use 30 spells in 15 turns (or lets say 40) as you cast the spells you start to lower your own options.  is 3 fireball spells enough to take out the other mage? or do you need 4?  even if you dont run out of cards completely as you play you start to limit your own options for later as you use spells causing the game to get tense as you run out of good options.  a well tuned deck will have plenty of options to deal with various attacks and enough of those options to see you through the battle.

also as a side note, the lord of fire for a priestess would cost 16 points from your spellbook ( dark (4*3) + fire (2*2) = 12+4 = 16)  so that leaves plenty of room for other things even if you have a really nasty out of school surprise.

stadi:
I also think that limiting the deck to 40 probably won't work in some circumstances. You won't always know who you will be fighting against, so you'll have to prepare for a lot of scenarios.

thuzl:
Hey guys,

During design and playtesting over the last few years, we have tried a number point values for the spellbooks. We found that 120 was the number that offered the most flexibility to work both in and out of your school, while not allowing the player to include an answer for every single problem. At 120 points you have to focus your book on what it does well, but you still have a little room to meta against particular matchups.

An average spell level of three is a little high. I have found that most of my books are between 50 - 65 cards, with something like 65% being in school, 25-30% being out of school, and about 5-10% being in the opposing school. Most of the spells that are out of your school are going to be pretty low level, such as Dispel or Heal. If you want to run Adramelech in your Priestess deck, you can, but at 18 points you better have a really good reason. Actually, that was one of the very first truly broken decks we came across very early in the design. Needless to say we took care of it. :D

Klaxas:
18 ponts?  i thought it should be 16?  as the fire school is doubled and not trippled.

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