Just finished our first play of Academy. Took about 50 min including reading through all the cards, using recommended spell books, ending in the 6th round. The impression was that while the game is simpler and quicker (no planning phase, no conjurations, no opening/closing quick cast sub-phases, fewer cards, less mana, less life), it's no less complex - partly because so many cards have several lines of text or involve tokens.  No reprinting means more complicated versions of the friendly enchantments, and even the creatures feel like more complicated (albeit often weaker/cheaper) versions of their straightforward Arena counterparts. Compare new Steelclaw family to papa Grizzly, or Witchwood Hound to Bitterwood Fox. They aren't particularly hard to understand (I opened with a Lightning Raptor + FD Giant Size, and later was swinging with 6 or 7 dice with a charged up bird with extra Dissipate token vs Shrink'd Hounds and Minor Essence Drain'd Fairy) but we had more counters going than in a typical game of Arena with all the Dissipate markers, Guard markers (arguably more powerful/necessary in Academy than Arena), damage tokens, Stagger tokens, +1 damage (for the Beastmaster's new knife - token not included), Charge markers, etc. Quick overall, but less streamlined or simplified than we were expecting. Also my opponent noted she missed the planning phase (her favourite part and something she thought was unique and crucial to Mage Wars) - and I pointed out that "Academy Advanced" might be playing Academy rules but adding a planning phase where you choose and limit yourself to the 2 spells you can play.

Oh, and we noticed an error - or at least something misleading - with 2 cards that caused my opponent to cheat accidentally. Both Badger Frenzy and Panther Stealth have card art depicting a Warlock Mage enchanted with a ghostly apparition (similar to Bear Strength, etc)... which is odd since neither can legally enchant a Mage! Both can only target Minor living creatures, and since a Mage is level 4 or higher, the image showing it enchanting a Mage is quite misleading.

Here's a book I've been working on for a couple days:

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Variable Speed Priest[/spellbookname]
[mage]Priest[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a11]2 x  Pillar of Light[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]1 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j15]1 x  Mohktari, Great Tree of Life[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c06]1 x  Brogan Bloodstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c19]1 x  Gray Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]1 x  Armor Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x  Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e12]2 x  Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e16]1 x  Force Hold[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]1 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e30]1 x  Pacify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e33]2 x  Retaliate[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q03]1 x  Crown of Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ01]1 x  Dancing Scimitar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q27]2 x  Dawnbreaker Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x  Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q29]2 x  Staff of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x  Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x  Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ07]1 x  Veteran's Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i02]1 x  Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i13]1 x  Group Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

The idea is to go fast/aggro against slow mages, or go slow against fast(er) aggro mages.  I can run up to NC to get a Forge going and drop my Holy Avenger (Gray Angel) on turn 2 before charging into battle on turn 3, or I can open with Mana Flower + Battle Forge, then start gearing/turtling up, get a Guardian Angel out for protection while defending the Forge, playing the Holy Avenger a little later, then eventually pinning the opposing mage in my zone and dropping Mohktari to keep my buddies alive as we start the beat-down. 

Changes and considerations:
I expect to face a Forcemaster, and originally had a [mwcard=MW1C22]Knight of Westlock[/mwcard] + [mwcard=FWE03]Falcon Precision[/mwcard] in there as a back-up Avenger (partly because Battle Fury gets the full 5 dice second attack out of the knight) but decided to just go with Brogan instead (although he can't Avenge).  I'm not entirely comfortable about only having 3 creatures.  I started with 5 (incl spare Guardian Angel) but wanted to include some somewhat expensive spells, like Force Hammer (for nasty conjurations like [mwcard=MW1J19]Deathlock[/mwcard]), Armor Ward (because it would suck to run out of Light damage weapons or the ability to turtle against an aggressive Wizard) and Mohktari (for some passive healing in the mid/late game).  But I could probably be convinced to save a few points to include another creature (like an [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC01]Asyran Defender[/mwcard] or Knight of Westlock).  Oh, and I'm slightly worried about swarms because I don't really have a lot of ways to deal with them (aside from some damage mitigation through turtling + Aegis). [mwcard=FWE02]Circle of Fire[/mwcard] could work but is kind of expensive in both sbp and mana.  Can't wait for Circle of Light or maybe even Spiked Armor (but it's a bit pricey too).

Thoughts?  Weaknesses that need to be addressed?  General ideas for improvement?

Feel free to discuss rules and other functional differences here as they become known, but I thought I'd start off with some cosmetic differences (which may or may not be functional differences) that I noticed with the promo cards that come with Academy.



Two things I noticed immediately:

(1) School given in text under the school's symbol.  This seems redundant given the symbology is well established in Arena and is still being used in Academy.  Does this text ever vary from the symbol above it? Are there other new options?  Would "Novice" be listed in this location rather than in the card text - e.g. to make it clear what the spell book point cost is by looking only in the upper-right?

(2) The Gorgon Spearthrower's "Poison Spear" attack shows a new symbol for its d12 effect that resembles a "WEAK" condition token.  While this is nice, it takes up a lot more space and probably wouldn't work on cards like Devil's Trident that can cause more than one type of (and sometimes both) condition tokens depending on the outcome of the d12 roll.  I'm also a little surprised it doesn't show the damage type of the condition in the symbol (e.g. a poison "skull & crossbones," in the case of "Weak") since that information matters with regards to creatures that are immune to the damage type associated with the condition.  Of course, this attack itself isn't a "poison damage" attack, so creatures immune to poison can still suffer damage from the attack itself, just not the condition... and perhaps putting a poison symbol on the Weak token image might have added more confusion rather than reducing it.  Still, an interesting choice to include a symbol rather than text for effect die conditions.

There are several threads and countless comments, not to mention tournament results, suggesting that - in the hands of experienced players - Wizards are the most consistent and overall powerful mages.  This also probably explains the glaringly obvious lack of an alternate (female) Wizard in a spell tome expansion to date, with an alternate Warlord taking the Wizard's place along with the other 3 core set mages.  To quickly summarize some advantages of the Wizard, he gets:

• solid special abilities that are universally useful regardless of play style or the way his deck is built (e.g. can shrug off up to 3 damage per round; always has access to a 3-dice non-elemental ranged attack = an innate way to attack flying creatures),
• naturally high channeling (10),
• exclusive access to some of the best conjurations and equipment (e.g. Suppression Cloak, Wizard's Tower, Gate to Voltari),
• a spell point discount for Arcane (e.g. staple spells like Dispel, Teleport, Nullify, Enchanter's Ring, Mage Wand; powerful spells like Banish; many high-level creatures with powerful abilities; all the mana denial enchantments, conjurations and incantations; most of the channeling increasers) AND an elemental school of his choice (e.g. Elemental Wand; Watergate = Dissolves, Acid Balls; Earth/Pit-trap = Iron Golems, Spiked Pit and all the efficient Earth attack spells; Fire with all its powerful attack spells, Battle Forge, Fireshaper Ring, etc),
• to pay triple for nothing (e.g. every out-of-school spell in the game that isn't exclusive to a type of mage/training costs double for the Wizard).

What if the Wizard paid triple for all out-of-school spells?

Suddenly the Wizard's choice of elemental school would matter a lot more.  Do you go with Water to get cheap Dissolves for your "mana denial / attrition" strategy but are limited to weaker attack spells?  Oh, and then you also pay triple for Battle Forge, Dragonscale Hauberk, etc.  Or do you choose Fire to at least limit Battle Forge to 4 spell book points, get cheap Hauberks, make use of the many powerful attack spells?  But then you pay triple for Dissolves (probably best to go with Explode), Acid Ball, etc.

Oh, and let's not forget that Reverse Attack now costs 6 to put in your book, and you'll be restricting yourself pretty heavily if you want to run Armor Ward or summon a Steelclaw Grizzly or four.  Even the Nature-school enchantments like Hawkeye, Cheetah Speed, Rhino Hide, etc, are going to start putting a dent in your spell book.  No more spell books with 70+ cards in them unless you want to strictly stay in school!

I really like the idea of giving the Wizard some really tough choices during spell book building so he can't be the ultimate jack-of-all-trades with cheap access to answers for everything in every spell book.  It would be a pretty simple errata that could go a long way towards leveling the playing field and simultaneously open up design space for elemental school cards (e.g. powerful water attacks, Frost damage, etc) and for an alternate (female) Wizard that doesn't just end up making the existing Wizard even more powerful - e.g. maybe she's more in-touch with nature and pays single for Arcane, double for all elemental and level 1-2 Nature spells, and triple for everything else - but doesn't have as strong/universal special abilities.

If this is too much of a "nerf," a compromise might be to make non-Arcane primary schools (e.g. Dark, Nature, Holy, Mind, War) cost triple while out-of-school elemental spells cost double - or vice versa.  But I think it is still possible to build (several) viable Wizard(s) using full-out "pays triple for out-of-school" rules, despite being much less flexible (e.g. fewer answers in his book).  Besides, there are still 4 possible choices of elemental school, so it might actually add diversity since the four choices would have more distinct styles sort of "forced upon them," rather than slight variations on a theme all running the same toolbox of out-of-school answers.

Thoughts?

I can't seem to find an answer to this question... and I made sure to check the Rules and Codex Supplement this time.

Does reanimating the Necromancer's "Eternal Servant" get a discount from [mwcard=DNQ02]Death Ring[/mwcard]?  The Necromancer's reference card doesn't state that it counts as a "necro" or "undead" spell (probably because it isn't an action), but Reanimate is bolded and all other reanimation abilities are "necro" - and the creature being (re)summoned this way is "undead" by requirement of "Eternal Servant" ("you may pay mana equal to its casting cost to Reanimate it"). The Rules and Codex Supplement refers to the "Eternam Servant" getting "summoned" to the zone it was destroyed in, similar to [mwcard=DNE02]Rise Again[/mwcard] / [mwcard=DNI01]Animate Dead[/mwcard] and cards with the Reanimate keyword, but never calls this particular reanimation a "spell" as would seem to be required to get Death Ring's discount.

For example, I'd like to have an "Eternal Servant" [mwcard=DNC09]Plague Zombie[/mwcard] in a key combat zone, have him attack during his activation, then sacrifice him to an [mwcard=MW1J20]Altar[/mwcard] to trigger his ability upon being destroyed (and to give melee +2 and piercing +2 to a friendly), then reanimate him to do it all next turn.  With the Death Ring, does it cost 9 or 8 to reanimate my "Eternal Servant" Plague Zombie? It seems to depend on his "casting cost". Is the casting cost always 9, as printed on the card, or is it 8 because I would get a discount if I casted it as a spell?

I was thinking about using [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC04]Cerberus[/mwcard] to guard my Necromancer and was wondering if anybody has gotten that to work.  A quick search of the forums didn't come up with much, but something along these lines:

Cerberus would be better with the Necromancer. He can be brought back as a zombie. The Necro has more valuable dark conjurations worth guarding than the warlock. I had an idea recently for an "eternal guard dog" build, using Cerberus to guard you and casting a sacrificial altar in your zone whenever you want to give him triple strike, and sacrificing him to get a powerful melee attack, bringing him back with rise again. With graveyard you could summon more sacrificial altar fodder (your eternal servant plus extra)

I was thinking of having my Necromancer hang out on a NC [mwcard=DNJ04]Graveyard[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1J11]Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard] or [mwcard=DNJ13]Ziggurat of Undeath[/mwcard] or something (depending on opposing mage) protected by Cerberus and a [mwcard=MW1J18]Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard], using [mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard] to stay put, while pumping out zombies to eventually swarm and destroy the opposing mage.  Only problem is that, unlike my mage and the rest of my creatures, Cerberus isn't immune to poison.  Aside from letting him die a slow and painful death and then [mwcard=DNI01]reanimating[/mwcard] him as a zombie, is there an easy / less risky way to make him immune to the Idol/Cloud? 

I guess I could use [mwcard=MW1E32]Regrowth[/mwcard] to slow it down...