"I love you Slaknir. XOXOXO"

Your Biggest Fan,

Goblin Builder/Slinger/Bomber

I wouldn't waste my time with these as Wizard... meh².

Otherwise, cool. Need to see these in context with the rest of the orb/battlegrounds rules. I'm optimistic about the concept of objectives in general. If done well, could shore up one of the weakest aspects of the game IMO.

This is never easy for anyone as proud as I am to say so I'll just say it: There's a reason I lurk more and post less. For those hiding under a rock, I deployed full nukes on the forums this past week, and I owe three entities an apology, post haste.

1. iNano - No excuses for the personal attack. Instead of taking the high road, I let past interactions on here pollute my emotions and went straight to my blow torch. I swiftly morphed into that guy - the ginormous gluteus maximus I couldn't stand arguing with on the interwebs. As a show of good will, here I lay:



2. Arcane Wonders (inc. Aaron Brosnan, The Popes, Tox, et al.) - I don't expect you to endorse my criticisms (which I stand by), but I want to make crystal clear that nothing I said was out of malice or hatred for your product or your company. Let me reiterate I am a fan of both, and my critical nature is fostered from decades of competitive gaming in different systems, and my bias against black & white thinking. I can see how I was coming off as a giant [insert noun], and my behavior fosters a hostile environment which impacts the fan base, your PR, and potentially your livelihoods.

3. The Forums - Unless you love a good train wreck, nobody here deserved the misplaced Evangelist/superfan quips. Or the meltdown in general. As much I'd like to dismiss the reaction with, "Hey, just kidding!", intent is meaningless when you offend people. You can say objectively racist things without being a card carrying racist, to wit. And as a parent, I failed miserably at setting an example for all the younger members on here.

It's all probably too little, too late for some, and I'll probably say something outrageous again, but thought I'd lay it out there. 

Mods: Feel free to do your worst and/or redact the offending post.

Sincerely,

Project Mayhem ("Furious George")   

Define popularity and your expectations of it. If you wanted adoption akin to Warmachine, Warhammer, MtG, Netrunner, et al., then Mage Wars was never "popular".

Me personally, I see a few things that speak volumes:

1. Lack of any substantial release since FiF (including spoilers).

2. Lack of forum(s) activity, both from good players/contributors and the few individuals I could care less for.
Could be intertwined with point 1.

3. AW releasing a revamped core set that has a lighter footprint and two expansions that introduce a new wincon and a stripped down version of the game.

4. Bare OCTGN presence (compare to Netrunner).

5. The disaster that was Origins last year.

6. My local experience which jibes with others. I'm down to 1-2 other friends who'll play when I can find the time. And I live in a major metropolitan area in the Northeast for ****'s sake. I can't even get my kids or the missus to play. It's depressing.

7. My increasing ambivalence to the game itself. I like it, and I'll still play, but I also play MtG (Legacy), Netrunner, Summoner Wars, Hearthstone, & Malifaux, and I find those games to be more competitively, strategically, and tactically satisfying. There are points where I can't get past the niggling design flaws, particularly involving resource management and board control mechanics, to really justify the time commitment.
<<<<<<<DEPLOYS FLAMESUIT>>>>>>>>>>>
This is completely jarring when juxtaposed to Summoner Wars, where I feel like it's roughly the same game, just more tactically challenging, mechanically efficient, and with harder choices that have an impact on game play. And I can get people to play that game. That's a huge factor that I think many of the superfans here casually gloss over. The reason I still invest is because of AW, who are legit trying, and whose customer experience is the twinkie-****ting-rainbow-belching unicorn variety.   

 

Invisible is an already existing trait. Look at Invisible Stalker.

Yes, I know. Hence, the rhetorical statement of it "doing what I think it does".

MBS is to Mage Wars what Nekrataal was to Magic. From a design standpoint, not original, but a game changer.

All the War spells look great. Hidden Tunnels is an auto include for serious Lord Swarm if Invisible does what I think it does.

I like the imp more than the golem for Adlock since it looks easier to implement but I don't know if it warrants slots from Wildfire.

Lifelink is cool. BS is basically Holy School Mind Shield/Rise Again. Very narrow and cute.

Love your blog and love these write ups. Moar please.

*Not being a dick*: This game practically ended on turn 6 but was won by turn 3. Your opponent got insanely greedy, and mixed up the order of operations by casting Arcane Ring after Crystal, costing him one mana. I would have opened Ring > Crystal/Forge, and after seeing Libro, at most Moonglow > Harmonize/Crystal/Forge turn 2. And that's it. Turn 3 would've seen a Gargoyle hit the board and a Wiz Tower/Obelisk with Wizard guarding with SCloak/Drake Armor. He had two threats the entire game (!!!) and they were six turns apart. The rest of the time was spent durdling and playing passively to what you were doing. Obviously was his first rodeo. I'm confident he'll adapt.

I'm confused why Bridge Troll is in his build instead of Gorgon/Basilisk. Troll does nothing to lock the board which is not where I want to invest six spell points if I'm going control. Also, he could really benefit from more lighting, and thus, more  stuns which work on the same principle above. Teleport traps might also be something to consider. Your friend is spot-on thinking walls.

On your end, you had the right strategy, optimal spawn (Libro > Graveyard for combating control shells), and made the right decision not to race on income. The only flaw in your play, given the comp, was harmonizing Libro. Not a fan. Never do this. You're practically handing your enemy four mana to Dissolve. Which you did. The only other instance of currently profitable hard removal I can think of is Teleport on Tangle(Strangle)vine/Quicksand. No bueno.
 
My $0.02. Good stuff.