I've read Hanma's report on his tournament winning deck with much interest and couldn't help but thinking that those Jinxes could be of tremendous use in my Beastmaster/Cervere book as well as a means of hindering the opponent while a pumped up Cervere + Pet come hammering down.

However, I was taking somewhat of a break from MW during the july and august months mainly because I was a little put off by the Domination expansion which I have ( besides the cards ) no interest for and so I put the book aside for the time.

And guess what, I noticed today a post made last night by Kharhaz where he mentions the Beastmaster as the ideal Mage to get the most out of the Jinxes.

I know we have talked about it before Hanma, but Beastmaster is the way to go.

That little line just got my MW juices flowing again and I couldn't help myself picking up my Beastmaster book and starting the Jinx update.

So I figured I should just post my updated book here and hear what you folks might have to say about it.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Cervere Jinx[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a08]1 x  Geyser[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j22]2 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j03]1 x  Tooth & Nail[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]1 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x  Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]2 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c04]1 x  Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c38]1 x  Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC02]1 x  Dire Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c13]1 x  Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c36]1 x  Tarok, the Skyhunter[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e23]6 x  Jinx[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]2 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e33]2 x  Retaliate[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]2 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e13]1 x  Eagle Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x  Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]2 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]2 x  Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]2 x  Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i25]1 x  Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

I have Mage Wars on my schedule next sunday, we'll see how it goes.

I was looking at [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC07] Gurmash, Orc Seargeant[/mwcard] today and came to the same conclusion as before :
- he can't fight AND cast a spell during the same round
- as a Fighter there are better creatures to summon
- to cast Command Incantations he seems like a heavy investment

Wouldn't he be a much more attractive option if he could move, fight or guard AND cast a Command spell in 1 round. Maybe Creature Familiars should get the QUICKCAST Trait.
But I'm going too fast now...

Let me explain my reasoning :

Take for example [mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ02] Wizard's Tower[/mwcard] and [mwcard=DNJ02] Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]

Two conjurations, not creatures, but it's what they do mechanically that's important here.
Both can be activated before or after a creature activation.

So, mechanically, it's as if these cards give your mage an additional QUICKCAST MARKER each because that's what a Quickcast marker does. It gives you the opportunity to cast a quick spell before or after an activation.

[mwcard=FWQ09] Sectarus, Dark Rune Sword[/mwcard] a Familiar is similar.
If you hit an opposing creature with it, you may play a Curse on that creature just as if you've got an additional Quikcast marker to do that.

Now consider the Familiars [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC07] Gurmash, Orc Seargeant[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1C13] Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard] or [mwcard=FWC16] Thoughtspore[/mwcard]

They can cast a spell as well, but it's not at "Quickcast speed" but at "normal activation speed " meaning you always have to telephone your play in like for instance when you have a Battle Fury on your thoughtspore or a Flank Attack on Gurmash. These types of spells simply don't work very well because they don't have quickcast speed.

Personally, I feel all Creature Familiars should receive the QUICKCAST TRAIT

Definition of Quickcast Trait :
Once per round, before or after any friendly action phase, this creature may cast the spell attached to it.
This does not activate the creature.
Even if the creature was already activated earlier this round, it can still cast its spell.
Use a ready marker to keep track of this ability.

This means :
- the spell attached to a familiar technically can be played like playing a quickcast marker.
eg, cast Battle Fury on your mage right before activating him or
move and attack with Gurmash, then right before your following action, cast Flank Attack on a friendly soldier and attack the same enemy target.

I may be wrong but I feel like Familiars should actually work like that.
Get to move and attack as normal, with their spellcasting ability as an extra quickcast ability.

I'm sure Gurmash, at least, would become a lot more playable this way.
They would probably also be costed a bit more, but that's another debate

Hi all,

I'd love to hear about some Thoughtspore success stories you've witnessed or been part of :

More specifically, besides the obvious Acid Ball, Teleport or Dispel ...

1- were there any other "unusual" attacks/incantations that you have seen put to effective use on a Thoughtspore
2- What mage did the opposition play
3- do you have any suggestions as to what might be a good attack/incantation choice for Thoughtspore versus a certain Mage match-up ?

Thanks in advance.

I started a thread about Cervere in Strategy and Tactics http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=15460.0

I'll just copy & paste my opening post from that thread over here :

"My latest book is a Straywood Beastmaster built around Cervere, The Forest Shadow

So far, I'm surprised at how effective this base set critter has become with the help of some expansion cards.

He has also become a phenomenal threat to staple conjurations like Battle Forge or Wizard's Tower which he can just 1-shot with the help of just one 2-mana spell.

My "goldfish" opening vs a mage staying in his corner goes like this :

R1-19 : Cervere + Enchanter's Ring
R2-11 : FD Bear Strength + Pet Thunderift Falcon + move Cervere to NC and guard
R3-11 : FD Lion Savagery + Force Push Cervere to FC + attack opposing mage with 8 dice + Pierce+1
             His Fast and Elusive traits allow him to repeat this 8 dice + Pierce+1 attack every round.
R4-10 : ...

Things also become interesting when an opponent makes a very common early move like dropping a Battle Forge :

R1-19 : Cervere + Enchanter's Ring
R2-11 : FD Bear Strength + Pet Thunderift Falcon + move Cervere to NC and guard
R3-11 : FD Lion Savagery + Piercing Strike + attack BF with 8 dice + Pierce+4
            That's a destroyed BF even with a relatively poor roll ( like 6 dam out of 8 dice )
R4-11 : ...

Overall the book intends to attack with Cervere, a Pet Falcon backed up by a pet Dire Wolf or pet Timber Wolf, and the Beastmaster himself and 1 or more other small creatures depending on how many creatures the opponent Summons. I'd like to have 1 more action than my opponent. It's not a swarm build, though it has the capacity to swarm ( to a certain extent )

Stopping Cervere is not simple since he has a built-in ability to ignore Guards so opponents have to take other measures to stop him or slow him down like walls or Tanglevine which leads me in turn to pre-emptively put a FD Eagle Wings on him if I suspect something like that coming and as such not only prevent Cervere from being tied down but also wasting the opponent's Tanglevine spell in the process.

In short, I like Cervere more the more I play him ... "

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]The Forest Shadow[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a08]1 x  Geyser[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]1 x  Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j03]1 x  Tooth & Nail[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J01]1 x  Rajan's Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j02]1 x  Animal Kinship[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]1 x  Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]2 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]2 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ03]1 x  Etherian Lifetree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ08]1 x  Renewing Spring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ05]1 x  Mana Prism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x  Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]2 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c04]2 x  Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c14]1 x  Feral Bobcat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c38]1 x  Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC16]1 x  Spitting Raptor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC02]1 x  Dire Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c36]1 x  Tarok, the Skyhunter[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]2 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e13]1 x  Eagle Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x  Divine Might[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ06]1 x  Morning Star[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i25]1 x  Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]2 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i21]1 x  Purge Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]1 x  Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]1 x  Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Cervere needs only Bear Strength and Lion Savagery to have 8 dice + Pierce+1 every turn.

Other enchantments intended to help him out :
Vampirism can heal 4 damage on average
Eagle Wings lets him clear obstacles and avoids Tanglevines
Akiro's favor to maximize damage and deal with Daze effects
Falcon Precision to work around Defenses
Divine Might to deal with Ethereal
Enchantment Transfusion to transfer his enchantments to another creature should he go down

Thunderift Falcon pet should get a Lion Savagery so it could hit for 6/7 dice + Pierce+1

Tooth and Nail adds another Pierce +1 for every animal and Rajan's Fury adds Charge +1
Add Rust as well and we can confidently attack 5 Armor
Also add Corrosive Orchid and Spitting Raptor and we shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with opposing armor.
Note that the Raptor can melee for 4 dice + Pierce+1 himself

The Cheetah Speed is intended for our Beastmaster.
With Animal Kinship out he gets Elusive from Cervere ( or the Feral bobcat ), Melee+1 from a Fox and armor +1 from the Raptor, effectively turning him into a second Cervere ( Fast and Elusive )

There are 30 spells in there which cost only 1 SBP, leaving a whopping 90 spellpoints to flesh out the book.
As a result, there's room for a lot of "counters" like :
Morning Star to deal with Defenses and Forcemaster
Enchanter's Wardstone to discourage opponents from dispelling and create a mana advantage should they continue to dispel anyway ( Enchanter's Ring + Wardstone )
Renewing Spring to heal and shed Conditions
Etherian Lifetree vs non living but also gives our Corrosive Orchid, Tanglevines and Wall of Thorns +2 life
Mana Prism to counter Suppression Cloak and other upkeep costs ( thanks ACG for the tip )
Tarok vs Flyers
Purge Magic vs curse warlocks and multienchantment carrying creatures
Purify vs poison conditions
Geyser vs burn counters
and last but not least : Piercing strike vs Battle Forge, Wizard's Tower, Harshforge monolith etc

There are still a lot more tricks in the book but I think you all know those as well like Rust/shift enchantment and such.

My impression is that this is not only a competitive book but also a very FUN  book to play.

Thanks for reading

Here's how I think it works :

I cast a [mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03] Disarm[/mwcard] targeting the enemy mage and then choose his Dragonscale Hauberk to place a Disable marker on it.
I figure at that point the enemy mage loses the Armor+2 and Flame -2 from the Hauberk but now I'm not so sure anymore because let's look at the text on the [mwcard=MW1Q06] Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
 "Mage gains Armor+2 and the Flame-2 TRAIT

while the codex on Disable says :
"Disable is a condition that temporarily prevents an object from functioning. If an object has one or more Disable markers on it, it is Disabled. Disabled objects lose all attack bars, action bars, and non-trait abilities."

So, it looks as if the Armor+2 is canceled during a disable but since the Flame-2 is a Trait and Traits are apparently NOT disabled it looks as if the Flame -2 is still in effect.

Is that correct ?
And second question, is that really intended to work like that ? because this way Disarm seems great to temporarily disable a weapon ( or anything with an attack bar or action bar ) but not so efficient against armor or Cloaks.

Versus an Elemental Cloak for instance you would only be able to eliminate the Armor+1 but the Flame-2, Frost-2 and Lightning-2 would all remain in effect while it is "disabled" ?

Do you have to reveal LS prior to taking your move action to trigger the Charge+2 effect or can you wait to reveal it until the end of the Avoid Attack step to reveal and still get the effect ?

[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06] Lion Savagery[/mwcard]


The Piercing part you can wait with until you actually have rolled the dice, but its the Charge+2 part I'm not sure about.

Meditation Lair is a Spellbook for my Straywood Beastmaster.

The idea behind the book is to use the [mwcard=DNQ10] Meditation Amulet[/mwcard] and the [mwcard=MW1J10] Lair[/mwcard] to quickly summon a "critical mass" of [mwcard=MW1C38] Timber Wolf[/mwcard] empowered by [mwcard=MW1C29] Redclaw, Alpha Male[/mwcard] and then rush the enemy Mage.

Contrary to a common swarm strategy which uses cheap creatures like [mwcard=MW1C04] Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1C37] Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard] this book tries to summon more or less the same amount of creatures but of the more durable kind.

The Beastmaster's 9 Channeling + 2 mana from the Lair + 3 mana from the Amulet gives him 14 mana per round which allows him to deploy a Timber Wolf (9) and Quickcast a Bitterwood Fox (5) every turn while meditating for 3 mana per round.

The idea is to build up your forces for about 4 turns, then go on offense, including your Beastmaster.

If the opposing Mage closed in on you in the meantime, all the better, since this means you don't have to cover a lot of ground anymore with your dogs.

The book has a secondary strategy in that it runs very few Enchantments of its own and that is because it intends to lay down a [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01] Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] near the battlezone to take away as much mana as possible from the opposing mage while he is under pressure from the dogs.

These two elements combined should be enough to down the opposing Mage.

Of course there is no guarantee as to how much Enchantments ( if any ) the opposing Mage will play, but looking around at all the various Mage books on the net tells you that most ( if not all ) use plenty of Enchantments.
Thus, building an enchantment-poor spellbook with the intention of slapping down a Harshforge Monolith at the most (in)opportune time makes sense to me, especially in a swarm book which rather casts a new Animal instead of empowering one with an Enchantment.

So in short, the book wants to Rushbuild, attack and manasuffocate the opposition.

This is where the build currently stands.

Please, feel free to comment and make suggestions.


[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Meditation Lair[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]3 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j10]1 x  Lair[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j03]1 x  Tooth & Nail[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]1 x  Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ03]1 x  Etherian Lifetree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c38]4 x  Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c04]6 x  Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c29]1 x  Redclaw, Alpha Male[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC02]1 x  Dire Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC03]1 x  Galador, Protector of Straywood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c36]1 x  Tarok, the Skyhunter[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]1 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC16]1 x  Spitting Raptor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x  Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]2 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]2 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]1 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ10]2 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q25]1 x  Ring of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]2 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI04]1 x  Renewing Rain[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i15]2 x  Knockdown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i03]2 x  Call of the Wild[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Plan :

Lair in starting corner vs aggressive opposition ( eg Forcemaster, warlocks )
Play Lair 1 zone up vs medium aggression ( eg Priest )
Play Lair in NC or ( quite risky imo ) in FC vs defensive opposition ( eg Priestess, Wizard )

Personally I prefer to stay in my starting corner and cast Lair there as I want at least two uninterrupted turns to start the game.

T1 : 19
- Lair (4)
- Ring of Beasts (2)

T2 : 11 + 2
- Dep Pet Bitterwood Fox (6)
- Meditation Amulet (2)
- Meditate (5)

T3 : 14 + 2
- Dep Timber Wolf (7)
- Meditate (10)
- Bitterwood Fox (6)

T4 : 15 + 2
- Dep Redclaw (1)
- Meditate (4)
- Bitterwood Fox (0)

From this point on you're ready to advance the dogs and you can Dep a Timber Wolf every turn for a steady stream of pressure.
QC a Fox or use the remaining 5 mana to anticipate the gameboard situation.

Hurl Boulder is a finisher.

Acid Ball, Rust, Spitting Raptor, Tooth and Nail and Dissolve are supposed to keep the opposing Mage's as well as some lvl 3+ creatures armor at 0.
Different circumstances dictate which of these choices is the best answer.

Rust is an enchantment I'll gladly pay upkeep for, as well as Marked for Death.
Their benefits outweigh the small upkeep.

Tanglevine is especially useful early on for keeping the opposing Mage out of Dissolve range for 1 or two more turns so I can get the most out of the Amulet during my build-up.

Etherian Lifetree makes my critters even better vs non-living.

Deathlock comes into play vs regenerators ( Druid ) and Healing builds ( Priestess )

The Monolith, as explained already, is supposed to hit the game when my opponent is high on enchantments and low on mana

Dire Wolf makes a great Second Pet during midgame when damage has been dealt already ( and vs living opposition, of course ).

Tarok is a Flyer counter, while the Thunderift Falcon is supposed to go after small flyers like Felella or Thoughtspores.

Galador is an anti flyer counter, as well as a counter to Lightning +2 creatures.

Kralathor has Reach, thus can take care of Flyers and is a natural Necromancer counter.
He has to be played by the Beastmaster himself though but I don't consider that too much of a handicap as that is where the Rouse the Beasts are put to good use as well.

The Knockdowns can take care of Flyers and work around Defenses.

This turned out to be a longer than anticipated write up but I guess every spellbook deserves some explanation and clarification ...

A card that doesn't seem to get much attention on the forum is Whirling Strike and I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the card.

A 9-mana, quickcast Incantation for 3 attacks against 3 different targets looks like it should have its uses in certain spellbooks.

Clearly it is best used with creatures with a quick attack of 4+ basic attack dice.

It also seems to be intended to give a boost to solo Mages and/or elite creatures to deal with swarms and to give an action advantage to the user.

Going through the creature pool, to find out which creatures would benefit most from this card, the first card that sticks out is the Iron Golem.
6 attack dice x 3 can maw away weenies in a hurry.

The Warlord seems like a logical choice to run this combo, especially since his Ring of Command can bring the cost down to 8 mana for 12 extra attack dice.

An Earth Mage probably likes this card as well, as if he needs more power ...

Another excellent creature choice would be Adramalech, Lord of Fire
A 6-dice quick attack with a 66% chance of adding 1 or more Burn counters x3 is impressive.
Imagine using this on some Fire +2 creatures ( Druid, are you paying attention ? ) ouch.

In the 5-attack dice pool, Samandriel stands out.
5 attack dice, +1 vs non-living or dark creatures and a 50% chance to Daze or Stun seems to be quite potent as well.

Other honorable 5-attack dice mentions : Steelclaw Grizzly, Knight of Westlock ( which means the Priest could use 1 or 2 of these in his Spellbook imo ), Necropian Vampiress and Bridge Troll.

In the 4-attack dice category, Valshalla, Lightning Angel stands out and of course the Priest armed with a Staff of Asyra and the Warlock with his Whip can get some nice results out of this card.

The Forcemaster with Galvitar seems borderline and is probably better off with a Retaliate.

Special mention : Kralathor.
4 attack dice for starters, but 6 dice vs Undead and with the Growth ability tacked on this card has the potential to be big.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this card and for those who have already used it or seen it being used, please share your experience.