Cnoedel - so how did your build work in practice?
It's a very good stab as your first spell book for a very challenging archetype. But there were areas where it could be improved, specifically
(a) too few equipment to make use of your Battle Forge
(b) too many zone exclusive conjurations to feasibly protect
(c) too few persistent enchantments (too many mandatory)
(d) too few incantations as your game will go long
Your build concept seems to be: stack Enchanter's Wardstones, Armour Ward, other mana drain effects. Your game plan is a long game. You slowly starve the opponent by turning the screw on his mana generation. Over time, you quickly overlap opponent to "take control". But this all takes time. You need to build a book that plays the long game. This means being able to cast more of those same key spells than your opponent. And being able to lull opponent into retaining his Big Threat with Essence Drain and Pacify attacking you with Suppression Cloak and Obelisk, costing him 7 mana a turn. You will trade early life loss for control, waiting for his threat generation to slow down to an easily managed trickle. But this initial defensiveness also means you need to regenerate some of that lost life later else you risk dying to his burst damage spells. So stacking many simultaneous mana drain effects as well as slow passive healing is good for this strategy.
Equipment:
Voltaric Shield works better with armour and you will find yourself 2 mana spare for boots or gloves
Staff of Arcanum is just not worth it for its cost and benefit and you are better off with a Mage Wand
Mage Wand (protected by Armour Ward and other mana drain) can re-use your precious incantations
2 Mage Wands is insurance, also you swap spell in it as a free action with Battle Forge for 2 extra mana
Dispel Wand is only range 1 and level 1 enchants and only gets the metamagic discount when first cast
As an Air Wizard, you would be better off with an Elemental Wand with Jet Stream (great board control)
Regeneration best in long games and your games go long (Belt better with Armour Ward to Regrowth)
Conjurations:
Conjurations will probably be Battle Forge (Arcane Ring) > Crystals > Siphon > Orb > Obelisk > Wardstones
Even though you have 9 zone exclusives, you are expecting some of them being destroyed to fit Wardstones
Only once your Wardstones are out do you execute the Transfusion trick of negative enchantments on mage
Creatures
Huginn can be amazing but is always very risky. If you do play him, he needs Bull Endurance and Regrowth
The problem with Huginn is he uses up precious Incantations unlike a Mage Wand so is not for a long game
Huginn is for when you need more spell actions to pull off a combo or escape a combo (see Golem Pit thread)
You do not need him (Transfusion is your action burst); Huginn is also anti-synergetic with Obelisk and Orb
Win Condition
If you are basing your build on Wardstones, then your win condition is Transfusion of Curses and Force Hold.
You stack these (Enchanter's Ring) on the very resilient Hydra, leaving Nullify and Transfusion itself until last.
Then Teleport the enemy mage to your Gas Cloud (maybe 2 of them in 1 zone) and Transfuse them all to him.
This will be after you have set up the Wardstones, so that even Seeking Dispel whilst hidden costs too much.
Force Hold + Ghoul Rot + Magebind + Poisonous Blood + Jinx + Nullify are Transfused, 2-3 Wardstones in play.
Threat Mana Drain
Most books don't have more than 2 premium resilient creatures to cast Essence Drain + Pacify on them.
Add your Suppression Cloak and an Obelisk and you are daring the opponent to maintain the creature.
These mana drain spells are not great unless you go "all in" with this strategy; even then it is very risky.
You will try to trade early life loss (Shield + armour is your friend) for control by forcing opponent's hand.
You need Pacify + Essence Drain against main Big Few strategy; Obelisk + Cloak + Orb hits swarm more.
Utility Spells
You have a daringly low number of utility spells but rely on your 2 Wands and Armour Ward for long games.
Take all 3 Teleports in Core! Your Jet Stream in your Wand and Tower plus Whirling Spirit can give 3 pushes,
Depending on your meta, I would feel naked without a Purge Magic but I appreciate this is not rated by all.
Toolbox Incantations
Wand can bind these to "lock" opponent (Drain Power), Sleep threats, Heal yourself and/or Purify conditions
As you are not playing idol of Pestilence, playing Sleep Wand against a Few Big strategy is cliche but strong.
Playing 2 Mage Wands, the versatility an incantations toolbox gives you is great (Banish is for aggro tempo).
Toolbox Attacks
I stuck to range 2 attacks only, Surging Wave for its unavoidable + Slam Intercept guard/defences removal.
Elemental Wand hosts your 2nd Jet Stream as this is great board control, especially with Hydra, Gas Clouds.
If your Tower gets destroyed, the remaining spells are still not wasted as you can always switch Wand bind.
So, I'm going to give a VERY ROUGH draft of how I would slightly amend your build. As you can see, there are only about 10-15 cards different from the list that you gave. It is essentially your build but with a few tweaks. This is untested (I don't know your meta) and I am sure you have your own better ideas. I encourage you to always experiment and individualise it to suit your play style and local meta.
This build demonstrates being consistent to your core mana drain concept: lots of equipment (Armour Ward), lots of enchantments (Wardstones), fewer large creatures (Orb, Obelisk), toolbox incantations (Wand), toolbox attacks (Tower).
Air Wizard Mana Drain (1 Core + CoK only)
Build assumes opponent has same pool (no Fog for Hammer, no unmovable psychic immune Golems etc).
Target Self
1 Arcane Ring (1)
1 Enchanter's Ring (1)
1 Harmonize (1)
1 Armour Ward (4)
1 Suppression Cloak (2)
1 Dragonscale Hauberk (2)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Leather Boots (1)
2 Mage Wand (4)
1 Elemental Wand (2)
1 Regrowth Belt (2)
Zone Exclusives
1 Battle Forge (4)
2 Mana Crystal (2)
1 Mana Siphon (3)
1 Suppression Orb (4)
1 Mordok's Obelisk (2)
3 Enchanter's Wardstone (3)
Guards & Board Control
2 Poison Gas Cloud (4)
2 Darkfenne Hydra [8]
1 Wizard's Tower (2)
1 Gorgon Archer (4)
1 Whirling Spirit (4)
Hydra Transfusion
1 Force Hold (4)
1 Ghoul Rot (4)
1 Magebane (2)
1 Poisoned Blood (2)
1 Jinx (1)
1 Nullify (1)
2 Enchantment Transfusion (2)
Threat Mana Drain
2 Essence Drain (4)
2 Pacify (4)
Utility Incantations
2 Dispel (2)
2 Dissolve (4)
2 Seeking Dispel (2)
3 Teleport (6)
Toolbox Incantations
1 Drain Power (3)
1 Minor Heal (2)
1 Purify (2)
1 Sleep (4)
Toolbox Attacks
2 Jet Stream (2)
1 Surging Wave (2)
1 Lightning Bolt (2)
1 Fireball (4)
If you need further advice, you could refer to an earlier Strategy thread "Mana Denial: Viable Strategy?" which discusses this (to an earlier card pool meta) or an excellent Strategy article by The Dude: "Starving your Opponent",
This strategy needs the missing promo card Epic conjuration yet to be released (Altar of Peace: each creature attack costs 1). Then this and lots of other more cerebral builds (like Solo Forcemaster) will suddenly become more viable. I suspect the designers are hesitating releasing it as this strategy could become overpowered with too many Conjuration Threats. Also, this strategy of slowly "turning the screw" like Land Destruction in Magic (a denial strategy that is dull for opponents), playing the game more like Chess (main random element is d12 push effects), it's not for a large segment of the fan base. The game is currently doing a very good job satisfying two different gaming segments (broadly Aggro and Control) and Altar of Peace may well destroy that balance.
Good luck with your experiences. It is a deceptively deep and sophisticated game, wrapped in the clothes of an American flavour game. Yes, there is luck in it (mainly the d12) but the choosing mechanic and alternating turns makes it more like Chess than any other game. I'm sort of jealous that you get to experience that early steep learning curve, the joys of discovery that can never be re-experienced.
