i think easy answer is dwarf panzerguard here . in school, has enough stats to withstand a blast or two. 

Gargoyle sentry is also nice but too expensive SBP wise similar to the guardian angel.   

I just want to reply here to see if anyone has built frost books and had any success? 

In my experience they have been a little underwhelming or overshadowed by other book ideas I'm more excited about.    Frost can give you a little boost but there is a lot more efficient ways of killing things imo.  Tough trait ruins frost builds and at the moment I feel if you go with a pure frost strat it takes up too many sbp to be competitive in tournament play. 

Right now as it stands frost is okay to splash in some books but it is not ideal  to build the whole book around.  Which is disappointing.  Also having them stack is "cool" and I wish it did minus melee die per each one similar to stagger.  melting on the frost creatures is too harsh especially with 0 armor.  And the frost creatures don't even have a frost attack subtype to their attack bar so no way of it mattering on +frost or -frost traits. 

Freeze weapon is highly disappointing too imo,  it will never get used. 

overall frost feels meh at the moment.  time will tell maybe its too new and no one sees in potential value. 

Druid and Siren I feel have a great chance of having the most success with it. 

Hey yea there is usually a group playing at Origins.  I went the year before last year and at it was awesome!   

Check here on discord and get connected with players across the world. https://discord.gg/TUxgM9

I’m sure players will be discussing events on discord as well as posting info on the forums about tournaments at conventions.  There is a pretty steady playerbase on octgn for mage wars as well if you want to play online.   

Equipment Core Set

Arcane Ring, Bearskin, Dawnsbreaker Ring, Deflection Bracers, Demonhide Armor, Dragonscale Hauberk, Elemental Cloak, Elemental Wand, Enchanter’s Ring, Fireshaper Ring, Gauntlets of Strength, Helm of Fear, Ivarium Longbow, Lash of Hellfire, leather Boots, leather gloves, Lighting Ring, Mage Staff, Mage Wand, Moloch’s Torment, Moonglow Amulet, Ring of Beasts, Regrowth Belt, Ring of Curses, Staff of the Arcanum, Staff of Beasts, Suppression Cloak, Wind wyvern Hide.

Standouts in Current Meta

Not a lot has changed from release of the core set till now.  Mage and Elemental Wand remain king of weapon/ shield slot.  Leather is still very effective and Regrowth belt remains in many books.  All the discount rings and rings that improve attacks spell types have seen some new spells over the years for added flexibility. 
The biggest question remains if Bearskin will see any action over other armor options.  Frost recently added has changed this only a little.  The reason why is because only a few forms of attack spells can be decreased by bearskin, the frost creatures doing only regular damage does not help the chances of seeing a frost meta need for bearskin viability.  Which is sad we have a great new trait and only see a counter to it in two spells.  We also have new spells like the fire and ice wand and frost trap to apply frost conditions without an effect roll which bypass the need for bearskin all together.  So Bearskin most likely will not see much more use. 

Conjurations Core Set

Animal Kinship, Battle Forge, Deathlock, fog Bank, Gate to Hell, Hand of Bim-Shalla, Idol of Pestilence, Lair, Mana Crystal, Mana Flower, Mana Siphon, Moktari, Mordok’s Obelisk, Pentagram, Poison Gas Cloud, Rajan’s Fury, Sacrificial Altar, Suppression Orb, Tanglevine, Temple of Asyra, Temple of Light, Temple of Dawnbreaker, Tooth and Nail, Wall of fire, Wall of Stone, Wall of thorns, 

Standouts in current meta

Battle Forge still going strong maybe a little less with the release of gear up but even then finds a way into high equipment builds.  Deathlock, Idol of Pestilence may find their way into books wanting to combat the high use of regen creatures, heals enchantments, ect.  As well as a nice counter against the “Bees”.  Speaking of the bees way may see use of hand of bim, poison gas cloud as also nice counters or buffs.  Wall of thorns still stays strong as well as our favorite mana channeling generators the flower and crystal. 
I have seen an increase in mana siphon, suppression orb, Mordok’s, Obelisk.  The big thing is Movement and smaller creatures (swarm builds seen a lot more play bc of Academy)
the manalock has seen a recent insurgence in the meta. Especially in tournament play. 

Gate to hell is still not useful. I would like to hear if this was ever used in any format and if it was ever viable back when the game was first release. I am Surprised this remains unchanged.

Another card that does not get love currently is pentagram. The release of force hammer in the 1st expansion has not helped and nothing has really benefited pentagram since. I do feel with the release of academy warlock and the adramalech warlock expansion it has helped give the pentagram some new choices. The squishy nature of pentagram still remains a problem. 
Animal Kinship has seen a bit of help in the release of academy lvl 1 animal creatures that benefit the beastmaster.  Fun to try out still not sure how viable in tournament play. 

Creatures Core List

Adrmelech Lord of Fire, Asyran Cleric, Bitterwood Fox, Blue Gremlin, Brogan Bloodstone, Cervere, Dark pact Slayer, Darkfenne Bat, Darkfenne Hydra, Emerald Tegu, Fellella, Feral Bobcat, Firebrand Imp, Flaming Hellion, Goran Werewolf Pet, Gorgon Archer, Gray angel, Highland Unicorn, Huginn Raven Familiar, Knight of Westlock, Malacoda, Mana Leech, Moonglow Faerie, Mountain Gorilla, Necropian Vampiress, Redclaw Alpha Male, Royal Archer, Samandriel Angle of Light, Skeletal Sentry, Sosruko Ferret Companion, Steelclaw Grizzley, Stonegaze Basilik, Tarok the skyhunter, thunderrift falcon, timber Wolf, Valshalla Lightning Angel, Whirling Spirit

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Interesting enough there are way more overcosted creatures than I realized Gorilla useless, Royal Archer is 2 mana more expensive than it should be, Stonegaze Basilisk I like but think it is slightly too expensive.  And a host of almost every flyer is too expensive for what you get
Adramelech Lord of Fire and all the big 21 mana angels are an interesting discussion. big flying creatures have for the most part seen a slow trend of use being lowered each new release. I think with the release of big attack spells, Gravikor, more direct damage spells, and ways to get slam, introduction of grapple have slowly made flying less effective. Also with cards that are already available in core that counter, such as knockdown and banish are already super cost effective to deal with big mana flying creatures. The cost of these creatures is way too high making it way too much of a risk to make that big of an investment do die in two turns.  If they appropriately costed and flying was not seen as such a valuable trait these creatures would see play again.   I would suggest the big Angels to be lowered to 18 mana.  Adramlech at most should cost 20.  Thus why these creatures never come out anymore

Similar with Tarok, Huginn, Moonglow Faerie, and even Fellella they are overcosted because of a couple things flying being number one and secondly the defense traits.  I don’t think in early design they knew how much unavoidable trait would be included making most of these creatures one shotable.  I think lower mana for all these creatures is an ideal solution to make these competitively playable.  Fellella gets a bit of a pass because enchantment familiar is an amazing ability still.  She still should cost less.  The only well costed flyers in this set still is the thunderrift falcon and gray angel.  Even Darkfenne Bat is costed 1-2 mana than it should be. 

Enough talk on flyers there is so many great cards and well costed cards that are still core to players’ books today.  Gorgan Archer is one of the best archers in the game still, Asyran Cleric, Timber Wolf, and most animals are still effective.  Vampiress and Cevere still draw the hate like no other creatures.   Brogan Bloodstone does not get the same love as before I think due to critical strike and other high piercing creatures or enchantments.  Still a great list of creatures tho.  Just a lot of solid creatures that are still great in the meta currently. 
Freeze mechanic still does not affect the use or need to use more creatures like Steelclaw grizzly which is somewhat sad.  Steelclawgrizzly is still awesome to have but negative frost traits don’t really make them that much better.  Only two attack spells and the effects of creatures can be reduced and not the dice of the creatures which is what it should be. 

Enchantments Core List

Agony, Bear Strength, Block, Bull Endurance, Cheetah Speed, Circle of Lightning, Cobra Reflexes, Death Link, Decoy, Divine Intervention, Divine Protection, Eagle Wings, Enfeeble, Essence Drain, Force Hold, Force Orb, Force Sword, Ghoul Rot, harmonize, Hawkeye, Hellfire trap, jinx, Magebane, Maim Wings, Marked for Death, Mongoose Agility, Nullify, pacify, Poisoned Blood, Regrowth, Retaliate, Reverse Attack, Reverse Magic, Rhino Hide, Sacred Ground, Teleport Trap, turn to Stone, Vampirism.

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

So many great enchantments and almost all these are still useful and remain some of my personal favorites.  So many great ones I think the one I see the biggest increase lately are bull endurance and regrowth.  Reasons behind this there are a lot more creatures with high armor low life that utilize these spells to great use.  I have seen regrowth so much now I am tempted to bring a deathlok in everybook. 
Some cards that I think could be looked at in either future designs or balancing are Cobra Reflexes, and Eagle wings.  Like before there a lot of counters so these are not as common or useful in current meta.  I still like an eagle wings on a gorgan archer and think it is fairly cost effective.  I do think some of these spells if designed today would all have a mana or two decrease if played on a minor level creature. 

Incantations Core List

Banish, Battle Fury, Call of the Wild, Charge, Dispel, Dissolve, Drain Life, Drain Power, Evade, Explode, Force Push, Group Heal, Heal, Knockdown, Lay Hands, Minor Heal, Perfect Strike, Piercing Strike, Purge Magic, Purify, Resurrection, Rouse the Beast, Seeking Dispel, Shift Enchantment, Sleep, Steal Enchantment, Teleport, Vampiric Strike,

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Again lots of great spells, solid cards that appear regularly throughout and never see any decrease are dispel, dissolve heals.  With release of curse item and corrosive orchid we have seen a slight decrease of dissolves because of in school options are a little more cost effective. 
Battle Fury is just as popular now with so many new creatures to get off an effect twice or big hits if the creature or mage is buffed up.  Lots of the commands have seen a lot of use out of the non-living creatures like golems and zombies. 
I think people should consider banish and or purge magic more in books.  There has been a rise in enchantment heavy creatures that these spells could wreak if they were more prominent. 
The only card that is questionable is Drain Power.  I don’t like effects like this and worse yet a lot of times it may not pay off and resulting you in worse spot in the game.  Solution to have a lower cost one that only does a die or two for maybe 6 or 8 mana.  Or get rid of it entirely. 

Attack Spells Core List

Blinding Flash, Chain Lightning, Electrify, Fireball, Firestorm, FlameBlast, Geyser, Jet Stream, Lightning Bolt, Pillar of Light, Ring of fire, Thunderbolt


Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Attacks spells have seen several a slow growth in variety over the years.  The cool thing is the core of these spells remain persistent in theme. 
Luminous Blast has kind of made the other holy spells feel week in comparison.  Rock and surging waves dominate for either high dice or high effect chance which takes away some of the usefulness away from the early holy attack spells.  Obviously Electrify, firestorm and ring of fire have more impact in the meta of Killer Bees.  Maybe not the best options out of school but work well for mages that need them. 

I think and know Chain Lightning takes the biggest hit on usefulness. I did not realize this before but blind is a total breaker of this card.  I used blind in a tournament the first hit took place triggering the reveal and the next hit failed the chance to hit making the rest of the attack fail.  It was quite glorious on my end, but I could see the frustration on the other end.  A four mana 1 SBP spell countering a 12 mana 3 SPB spell is a pretty big and swung the game in a major way. 

Yea ballad does not work on golems unfortunately. One thing u maybe forgetting but you maybe don’t care is the only creature that can carry the formation enchantments is the Minotaur and currently you have one.  Not sure how vital that is to you. 

I like this build a lot, armory is a must and completely agree it needs to stay.  Royal armorer could be a nice addition, it could replace promotion.  The rock golems seem a little unnecessary because no soldier synergy.  Goblin bomber seems a little too niche too when you have some zone attack spells already.  And the. Lesser invisibility would be unneeded too. 

The only big thing missing which Pax has pointed out are dispels, dissolves, seeking dispel. . You could put in the harshforge construct to save on spellbook points. 

Other things that you may be interested in are possibly deathlok to stop regen and healing for everything.  Also scout could be a good choice to increase damage output. 

Love the formations too.  Again cool build

Yep I don’t know if I implied the whole attack or every attack is avoided but it does apply to the first buffed up strike if the swarm opponent was to hand of bim +1 melee, scout +1 melee ect.  So yea they are not as effective but to avoid one attack from the bee attack Cycle is really good. 

On that note I’m going to make an up dated list and edit and post it back here further down on this page.  I Played a bee swarm book at Winter War and it was quite effective.  I took 2nd and almost had first place worn 3 life and 5 life  left to  my opponent at several times in The match.  So I will do a write up and notes of the bees.