I like the idea of wands, but much like spawnpoints, they are not as useful as they first seem.

I've seen new players that at first assumed that a wand spell was free. As stated above, make sure you all realize that you still have to pay for the wanded spell.

Otherwise, I think this is a product of local meta/groupthink. I rarely use a wand, and if I do it's usu for something very specific to that game. They need to be cheap to be worth it, but they're (currently) too easy to dissolve to waste the ap.

I tried to edit my post, but it didn't work for some reason.  So I started a new thread.  Board ops can move it necessary.

I made changes based on suggestions and playing 4 games.  This guys went 3-1 in those.  Today, I went 2-0 in our organized play using the book below.  Keep in mind, I'm using a Core, Spell tome 1, spell tome 2, promos given out at local org play, and I snagged a Sectarus from a player.

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com Mage Wars Deck Builder
http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/magewars/mage-wars-deck-builder

Mage:
Warlock (Core) 


Attack (5)
Fireball (Core #1A04) x2
Flameblast (Core #1A06) x2
Ring of Fire (Core #1A12) x1

Conjuration (4)
Idol of Pestilence (Core #1J11) x1
Deathlock (Core #1J19) x1
Tanglevine (Core #1J22) x2

Creature (4)
Necropian Vampiress (Core #1C26) x1
Goran, Werewolf Pet (Core #1C17) x1
Flaming Hellion (Core #1C16) x1
Dark Pact Slayer (Core #1C03) x1
Sesiryx (Demon Familiar) x 1

Enchantment (22)
Stumble x2
Ghoul Rot (Core #1E19) x3
Magebane (Core #1E24) x2
Marked for Death (Core #1E27) x1
Poisoned Blood (Core #1E31) x1
Agony (Core #1E09) x2
Chains of Agony (Core #1E04) x2
Enfeeble (Core #1E14) x2
Hellfire Trap (Core #1E22) x2
Death Link (Core #1E08) x1
Bear Strength (Core #1E01) x2
Cheetah Speed (Core #1E05) x1
Harmonize (Core #1E20) x1
Vampirism (Core #1E40) x2

Equipment (9)
Demonhide Armor (Core #1Q05) x1
Lash of Hellfire (Core #1Q14) x1
Moloch's Torment (Core #1Q21) x2
Ring of Curses (Core #1Q28) x1
Fireshaper Ring (Core #1Q10) x1
Regrowth Belt (Core #1Q23) x1
Elemental Wand (Core #1Q08) x1
Sectarus x1

Incantation (12)
Drain Life (Core #1I08) x1
Battle Fury (Core #1I02) x1
Dispel (Core #1I06) x3
Dissolve (Core #1I07) x2
Seeking Dispel (Core #1I24) x1
Shift Enchantment (Core #1I25) x1
Teleport (Core #1I28) x3

Wall (2)
Wall of Fire (Core #1W03) x2




Game One was against a forcemaster.  My opening was:
Turn one: Summon Imp Familiar, ring of curses qc
Turn two: Move imp one space north and cast first curse, summon Firebrand Hellion and make Bloodreaper, skip qc

I ultimately regretted the bloodreaper move.  Seemed cool at the time, but it only netted me an extra 2 dice one time.

As soon as the FM got in range (turn 2),  I immediately started the curse volley.  I started out with Enfeeble to slow her down.  I got about 14 curse damage in before things go interesting.  We eventually ended up in the far corner together with her surrounded by a dark pact slayer, my hellion, and me.  Mind control and charm are a PITA.  With us both past 20 damage, I finally broke free with a Drain Life, which, although pricey, has the wonderful ability to get past all defenses and other problems and heal me.  The imp provided the final blow, doing 1 point of damage to finish it. 

The second game was against a Wizard.  He had initiative.  I queued up a cheetah speed and ghoul rot.  He cast two mana crystals and moved out a space, so I was able to cheetah speed and rot him on turn one. 

Turn two he summoned his gorgon, and I moved a space closer and equipped sectarus and mage baned him.

Turn three, I QC'd into his zone with a teleport after he passed tanglevined me on his qc.  He moved his archer out of the zone, and I quickly followed and attacked her.  I used sectarus to ghoul rot her to stop the regeneration. 

Over the next few turns, I worked on his gorgon while he retreated a bit.  He did get one shot off with the gorgon and weaked me once.  But we ended up in roughly the same squares - me with a hellion, and him with an earth elemental and huggin.  Suffice it to say, I took two earth elemental punches in the face, and we ended up with me in the same square as him and his elemental with 20 damage on me, him with 24 damage, and my hellion in the adjacent square clinging to life.  through a series of unfortunate events for him, he was never able to stop to get rid of the ghoul rot.

At this point, we both realized that this was probably it. 

He queued up battle fury on his elemental with huggin, and a hurl boulder (I think) with his mage.  We counted it up, and his total attack  that turn was going to be roughly 21 dice.   He had his shield on and I had 20 mana, so I queued up (ba badda ba!) - Drain Life!  I had the initiative.  So I qc'd Drain Life, and after rolling nothing but crap for most of the game, I rolled an out of my mind 9 damage.  Game over.  Final life went from being 20 to 24 to 12 to 32.

Lower in the postings, there was some question about drain life and it's cost.  I had two good rolls with it today, but late game - drain life is invaluable.  I may try to find a way to get another one in this build.  Sure it can be nullified, but otherwise, it's basically an unavoidable fireball + minor heal all in one.  It's a game ender if ever there was one.

LoL so....uh...yeah...  How's that cursing warlock build workin out JMoodie? 

I'll let you know on the 7th. It was very apparent the piousflea is on the right track. DoT can't sustain enough damage. I need to get at least the vamp on the board. Then the imp.

I know EXACTLY how ya feel.     He also ran the Ivarium longbow + Hawkeye for added ranged attacks and Sir Corizan for melee support.    So... while dealing with Sir Corizan's melee assault, he was shooting you with the bow, and began summoning Ballistas.  It was a very effective build.

And the god forsaken f'ing tanglevines.

Took him out to play today.  I made some modifications, including adding the familiar sword and dropping the lash, and adding some shift enchantments, a teleport, dropping two hellfire traps, etc.

First game out was against a beast master. 

turn one, imp familiar, ring of curses
turn two, move imp twice laterally, qc harmonize, move move mage to center up in the board.
turn three, necropian vamp

My opponent was using the pixie familiar.  He didn't drop a big creature quickly, and I ultimately cursed him into oblivion.  I ended up killing him while suffering 4 damage.  He just wasn't able to recover from the damage and the vamp being on him quickly.  To be fair, he was trying out a new strategy that fizzled.  He won his next game b/c he didn't waste time getting to a big crit.

The second game, I was against a Warlord.  I've never played against the WL and don't yet own the FvW expansion.  I got myself into some trouble mid board.

I used the same open to see how it would go.  It went poorly.  I didn't keep my imp back far enough and he died on round 3.  I never recovered enough to get my vamp out.  I held the warlord at back for awhile, but got pinned down by 3 ballistas (the vassel promo card).  I burned two of them, but by then the damage was done.  It was all over but the crying.  I was killed and had done about 14 damage to the Warlord.

In this game, I massively regretted not having a Lash.  I kept getting tanglevined.  And the ballistas are also kindling for the lash.  Instead, I ended up using all of my walls to try to stymie the warlord and his creature.  I made one big strategic blunder, and the WL capitalized on it and never stopped pushing.  I couldn't even catch enough time to get a Deathlink on his creature. 

I think I'm going to alter my opening and make it something like

turn one, imp, skip qc.
turn two, move imp, cast vamp
turn three harmonize imp, and lash or bear strength the vamp or curse my opponent.

Teleport. Teleport. Teleport. Dispel. Dissolve. He gives you an extra action and he's really hard to hit.

Haven't gotten FvW yet unfortunately, or the sword would be a must add.  This is just core and both spell tomes.

I like the suggestions. Def going to implement them.

As for the rev magic and jinx, I threw a few decoys in to try to pop those. I figure at some point it is inevitable that I'll curse myself.

And as for the zone disenchant, I can't really stop it. Much like dispel. I can only hope to push tempo.

What's your feeling on Malcoda? What do you think about poison gas clouds?

Quote from: jmoodie on June 04, 2013, 10:59:28 AM

Oh - and a really like to teleport a baddie into a teleport trap.  saves some mana and gets me the 3 squares.

This is delicious.

I suppose, you could get 4 blocks if it worked out correctly.