Arcane Wonders Forum

Mage Wars => Spellbook Design and Construction => Topic started by: Nealo on January 21, 2017, 08:10:38 PM

Title: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Nealo on January 21, 2017, 08:10:38 PM
Hello all!

I haven't actually played Academy yet but I've seen a fair number of the cards online and while a lot of them feel underpowered for Arena, I imagine there are a few that are great additions to Arena as well. What Academy spells do you use in your spellbooks?
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Beldin on January 21, 2017, 08:55:33 PM
I am about to hit the hay so you are only getting the top of my head spells. I will edit this tomorrow.

Crumble
Leather Chausses
Remove Curse
Dissipate
Lightning Raptor
Piercing Thunderbolt (think thats the name)
The little green imp dude

Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Sailor Vulcan on January 21, 2017, 09:01:19 PM
I am about to hit the hay so you are only getting the top of my head spells. I will edit this tomorrow.

Crumble
Leather Chausses
Remove Curse
Dissipate
Lightning Raptor
Piercing Thunderbolt (think thats the name)
The little green imp dude

Piercing Thunderstrike actually.


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Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Reddicediaries on January 21, 2017, 09:03:30 PM
I am about to hit the hay so you are only getting the top of my head spells. I will edit this tomorrow.

Crumble
Leather Chausses
Remove Curse
Dissipate
Lightning Raptor
Piercing Thunderbolt (think thats the name)
The little green imp dude

Piercing Thunderstrike actually.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Arcane ward.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: drmambo23 on January 21, 2017, 09:27:05 PM
Extinguish
Afflicted demon
Demonhide mask
Beastmaster cloak and knife and boomerang
Slavorg
Wispwillow amulet
Temple sentry

There are plenty more but the names escape me atm
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: iNano78 on January 21, 2017, 09:39:02 PM
In addition to what has been listed above, in no particular order:

Curse equipment
Divine Reversal
Redirect
Wolf Fury
Gator Toughness
Wychwood Ironvine
Resplendent bow (?)
Disciple of Radiance
Temple Sentry
Ehren, Enduring Paladin
Megghedon, Sealed Demon
Darkfenne Asp
Wychwood Faerie
Panther Stealth (more for Domination)
Tarraki, Thousand Bites (ditto)
Rajah, Jungle's Talon (ditto)
Aurora Lucere, Dawnbreaker's Chosen (ditto)
... and apparently you can cast Eye of Bael on the opposing Mage (!)

I've also gotten some use out of Lowland Unicorn, Azurean Genie, Mana Worm (swarm), Slavörg (after losing some Asps), Steelclaw Cub + Matriarch, Wychwood Hound, Tangleroot and Siphon Life. And I feel like Kajarah should be good but My Johktari Beastmaster sucks.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: RomeoXero on January 22, 2017, 01:07:51 AM
Im not gonna lie i have gotten MILES of use out of Glancing blow. Might not seem like much but with aegis 1 or 2 armor you turn that 8 dice hurl boulder into a really expensive 4-5 dice invisible fist or hurl rock. And even on a normal 4 dice melee attack without any aegis you roll 1 die.
It's great for keeping familiars safe, and for frustrating late game killing blows, especially in conjuction with brace yourself or a few points of stacked armor.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: drmambo23 on January 22, 2017, 01:17:56 AM

... and apparently you can cast Eye of Bael on the opposing Mage (!)

Yeah, its a nifty trick if you can pull it off for that little extra damage.  Not practical but cool. Any equipment except for mage specific items can go on any mage
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Halewijn on January 22, 2017, 03:34:44 AM
I think it's easier to list the cards that are NOT viable. (Most are pretty good in arena)

Wizard vs BM:
Voltaic discharge: Overall pretty weak and not worth a full action
Atticaran Porcupine (I think it is weak in academy too)
Rajah, Jungle's Talon: A bit too weak compared to other level 3 creatures
Razortusk: Timber wolf is better
Emerald Elk Stave: (I think it is weak in academy too)

Priestess:
Reveal magic (I think it is weak in academy too)
¨
Warlock:
Volley of flame
Combustion demon
Khali-Gar: needs too much support or she will be shot down
Naraka: Weak compared to other creatures


Other than that I think that the other cards can have good use in arena. Although the creatures with full actions as attacks are something I would not use often.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Biblofilter on January 22, 2017, 05:08:10 AM
I thought Combustion Demon would be worth it, if you run a Wildfire Imp Swarm?

Get into your opponent square and summon a Combustion Demon then Teleport with the Wildfire Imps.
Or use Flame Girl ability.

Ignite might be better and i know Pentagrams pretty bad, but still i could see its uses.
You get a Burn token on something and a creature. Seems like it might be worth it in some Fire builds.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Sailor Vulcan on January 22, 2017, 08:32:45 AM
I thought Combustion Demon would be worth it, if you run a Wildfire Imp Swarm?

Get into your opponent square and summon a Combustion Demon then Teleport with the Wildfire Imps.
Or use Flame Girl ability.

Ignite might be better and i know Pentagrams pretty bad, but still i could see its uses.
You get a Burn token on something and a creature. Seems like it might be worth it in some Fire builds.

Since when is pentagram bad? People just play it wrong. You're supposed to cast it right before you attack and then keep attacking enemy to keep the pressure on them and off of your pentagram. Pentagram pays itself back in about 5 rounds or so but only if you're attacking.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: rant on January 22, 2017, 09:31:38 AM
I thought Combustion Demon would be worth it, if you run a Wildfire Imp Swarm?

Get into your opponent square and summon a Combustion Demon then Teleport with the Wildfire Imps.
Or use Flame Girl ability.

Ignite might be better and i know Pentagrams pretty bad, but still i could see its uses.
You get a Burn token on something and a creature. Seems like it might be worth it in some Fire builds.

Since when is pentagram bad? People just play it wrong. You're supposed to cast it right before you attack and then keep attacking enemy to keep the pressure on them and off of your pentagram. Pentagram pays itself back in about 5 rounds or so but only if you're attacking.

Pentagram has been "bad" for as long as I can remember. 

First, it's expensive to cast.  Second, it relies on attacking, which you might not always be able to do. Third, Demons feel like they cost more for doing less than other creature builds. Lastly, it's 10 incorporeal. So, about 2 ethereal attacks making it very weak.

Title: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: Sailor Vulcan on January 22, 2017, 10:08:41 AM
I thought Combustion Demon would be worth it, if you run a Wildfire Imp Swarm?

Get into your opponent square and summon a Combustion Demon then Teleport with the Wildfire Imps.
Or use Flame Girl ability.

Ignite might be better and i know Pentagrams pretty bad, but still i could see its uses.
You get a Burn token on something and a creature. Seems like it might be worth it in some Fire builds.

Since when is pentagram bad? People just play it wrong. You're supposed to cast it right before you attack and then keep attacking enemy to keep the pressure on them and off of your pentagram. Pentagram pays itself back in about 5 rounds or so but only if you're attacking.

Pentagram has been "bad" for as long as I can remember. 

First, it's expensive to cast.  Second, it relies on attacking, which you might not always be able to do. Third, Demons feel like they cost more for doing less than other creature builds. Lastly, it's 10 incorporeal. So, about 2 ethereal attacks making it very weak.

If you're a warlock and you're *not* attacking and damaging anything at all you're probably not playing the warlock right. Warlock likes to curse things and attack things. That's what the warlock is designed to do. And there are ways to make sure your attacks are actually going through. Opponent has defenses? Use unavoidable attacks, or falcon precision. Armor? Acid and piercing. Guards? Tanglevine, shrink, surging wave, mongoose agility etc. Healing? Finite life. So you see, a spawnpoint that relies on attacking enemies isn't really much of a restriction for a warlock since the warlock would be doing that anyways whether they had a pentagram or not.


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Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: farkas1 on January 22, 2017, 10:28:43 AM
I use a ton of acdemy cards in my books.  Now every book may not be filled with academy spells but I have started seeing some really awesome combos that are being used in arena.   I do have a small critter book that I call the super swarm master and it is only possible because of the academy cards.  I agree with Halewijn that it's easier to list what's not useful than what is just because of how many good cards there is.  I will come back to this thread and make a list as well.  I do believe with everyone's post shows a really cool variety of cards being used from academy.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: iNano78 on January 22, 2017, 11:33:56 AM
With regards to Combustion Demon, Pentagram and Wildfire Imp swarm... works well in Domination, where efficiently getting your swarm to a particular zone (and different zones as the match progresses) is crucial. And Combustion Demon is to Ignite as Wychwood Faerie is to Ring of Beasts: similar effect, but you also get a dude that can tap orbs.  But there are some downsides: Warlocks don't have many good guards, or ways to get extra actions (like free guard markers) as other mages, and they usually can't keep up with Beastmaster or Necro in the creature summoning department.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: rant on January 22, 2017, 11:49:56 AM
I thought Combustion Demon would be worth it, if you run a Wildfire Imp Swarm?

Get into your opponent square and summon a Combustion Demon then Teleport with the Wildfire Imps.
Or use Flame Girl ability.

Ignite might be better and i know Pentagrams pretty bad, but still i could see its uses.
You get a Burn token on something and a creature. Seems like it might be worth it in some Fire builds.

Since when is pentagram bad? People just play it wrong. You're supposed to cast it right before you attack and then keep attacking enemy to keep the pressure on them and off of your pentagram. Pentagram pays itself back in about 5 rounds or so but only if you're attacking.

Pentagram has been "bad" for as long as I can remember. 

First, it's expensive to cast.  Second, it relies on attacking, which you might not always be able to do. Third, Demons feel like they cost more for doing less than other creature builds. Lastly, it's 10 incorporeal. So, about 2 ethereal attacks making it very weak.

If you're a warlock and you're *not* attacking and damaging anything at all you're probably not playing the warlock right. Warlock likes to curse things and attack things. That's what the warlock is designed to do. And there are ways to make sure your attacks are actually going through. Opponent has defenses? Use unavoidable attacks, or falcon precision. Armor? Acid and piercing. Guards? Tanglevine, shrink, surging wave, mongoose agility etc. Healing? Finite life. So you see, a spawnpoint that relies on attacking enemies isn't really much of a restriction for a warlock since the warlock would be doing that anyways whether they had a pentagram or not.


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Funny that you decided the warlock should play a certain way then listed out of school spells to support that idea. In the end, needing to attack IS a restriction. I have yet to see a Pentagram strategy that actually works.
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: RomeoXero on January 22, 2017, 12:07:00 PM
This thread is about academy cards in arena, not about pentagram guys.  There are several threads, an entire mage cast, and a couple posted books that all involve this issue. If you wanna necrobump those threads to talk about that again, go for it. But let's try and stay on topic for the sake of the OP. Rock on!
Title: Re: Which Academy spells are viable/good in Arena?
Post by: MrBubu on January 23, 2017, 01:58:28 AM
How did joined strength go unmentioned?^^

Overall I agree with Halewijn. Not sure about his actual list, but it might be easier to list cards that are under the power curve in arena.
especially the non-creature cards are interesting. Although there are some outlier creatures like Slavörg or whatever. The one who gets cheaper as animals die and who basically gets another action, i.e. guard for 2 mana, all while having respectable stats anyway.