Arcane Wonders Forum

Mage Wars => Spellbook Design and Construction => Topic started by: nitrodavid on September 15, 2013, 08:35:28 PM

Title: Mage Wars: Casual [Beast Master]
Post by: nitrodavid on September 15, 2013, 08:35:28 PM

Howdy Mages

i am designing a new way to build decks for Casual players of mage wars, who dont want to build decks from scratch.

in this "Spellbook Design and Construction" forum i will be posting the  Deck information for each mage as i create it. once i have made all the decks i will combined them into one file for everybody to have access to and post it in "alternate play" form.

Mage Wars Casual consists of 2 changes

1. a handicap channel system where the weaker mage gets +1 to +5 channel depending on there ability (not relevant in this topic)
2. a casual spell book guide, which consists of a 80 pt spell book core and then your choice of several 40 pt "themes" to add to make a full 120 pt book

Note: i decided to make this because i am in the position where i am the only person in my circle of friends who owns magewars. so my friends like to play but don't have the time to make spell books from scratch and the recommended books are to predictable.


ok so that is my intro now here is what i need from you fellow mages. most of my Cores are based of a stripped down recommended deck. i would like to post what i think is a good Core + Themes and i would like any advice. Any information like "i cant believe you forgot X" is fine, additionally if there is a nice Theme that i forgot completely feel free to add it.

Note: these were made in excel and Word so i did my best to translate it into this forums code. i know its hard when all the font is the same size

i will present the text in this maner

Mage Core Deck
Alt Mage Change to Core Deck
Theme 1
Theme 2
etc

so here is the first one

Beast master

Equipment	Bearskin	1
	Mage Wand	1
	Regrowth Belt	1
	Ring of Beasts	1
	Staff of Beasts	1
Conjurations	Lair	1
	Mana Flower	3
	Rajan's Fury	1
	Tanglevine	2
	Wall of Thorns	2
Creatures	Cervere, The Forest Shadow	1
	Emerald Tegu	1
	Feral Bobcat	2
	Mountain Gorilla	1
	Thunderift Falcon	2
	Timber Wolf	2
Enchantments	Bear Strength	2
	Block	1
	Bull Endurance	1
	Cobra Reflexes	1
	Eagle Wings	1
	Nullify	1
	Regrowth	1
	Rhino Hide	1
Incantations	Battle Fury	1
	Call of the Wild	1
	Charge	1
	Dispel	2
	Dissolve	1
	Heal	1
	Knockdown	1
	Minor Heal	2
	Piercing Strike	1
	Rouse the Beast	1
Attacks	Geyser	2
	Jet Stream	1

Johktari Beastmaster

Equipment	Mage Wand	-1
	Staff of Beasts	-1
	Hunting Bow	2
Enchantments	Bear Strength	-1
	Hawkeye	1

Theme Builds

Swarm

Equipment	Eagleclaw Boots	1
Conjurations	Tooth & Nail	2
	Mohktari, Great Tree of Life	1
	Wall of Thorns	1
Creatures	Bitterwood Fox	4
	Feral Bobcat	1
	Sosruko, Ferret Companion	1
	Steelclaw Grizzly	1
	Thunderift Falcon	1
	Timber Wolf	1
Enchantments	Cheetah Speed	1
	Marked for Death	2
	Mongoose Agility	1
	Rhino Hide	1
Incantations	Call of the Wild	1
	Group Heal	2
	Minor Heal	1
Attacks

The Swarm build takes advantage of the best master’s cheap creature assets. This swarm will get great effectiveness with the original beast master’s mage skill “Quick Summoning” which will allow you to summon a level 1 animal creature spell as a quick spell. This allows the beast master to summon 2 creatures a turn, or 3 if you also have a lair.
Your goal with a swarm build is to get set up as early as possible so you can summon 1-2 creatures every turn.  Although as all your swarming creatures will have low life points so your level 1 creature will die easily, especially If the other mage has zone attacks.
Tip:
•   Summoning a large creature such as a steelclaw Grizzly amongst your swarm early will be a good distraction to keep your little creatures alive and attacking.
•   Avoid using single target enchantments on your small creatures as they become ideal targets for the other mage.
•   If you don’t think you can defeat the other mage quickly try changing to a more sustainable solution. Adding a Lair and Ring of beasts allows you to save 3 mana a turn.
•   One of your strongest combos will be having Rajan's Fury and Tooth & Nail already on the field, Then Cast Call of the wild while revealing Marked for death on your target. This will give +2 melee, +1 charge and +1 piercing on every creature that attacks that round. 3 more attack dice effectively double the amount of dice most level 1 creature’s role for attack.


Canine

Equipment	Eagleclaw Boots	1
Conjurations	Tooth & Nail	1
Creatures	Bitterwood Fox	4
	Dire Wolf	2
	Redclaw, Alpha Male	1
	Steelclaw Grizzly	1
	Timber Wolf	2
Enchantments	Bull Endurance	1
	Cheetah Speed	1
	Marked for Death	1
	Mongoose Agility	1
	Rhino Hide	1
Incantations	Call of the Wild	1
	Force Push	2
	Group Heal	1
	Minor Heal	1
Attacks

The Canine build takes advantage of Nature schools highly mana/cost effective Canine creatures.  The timber wolf is the most cost effective creature in the game, with 10 life, 2 armour and a 4 dice melee attack this means it will beat most level 2 creatures in a straight up fight.
This book can be played similar to a swarm book, but also gives you the option to bring larger creatures that can withstand more attacks. In contrast to the Cats theme, canines also provide greater defence capabilities if you wish to protect your mage.
This build will work with both beast masters equally well. You can use the standard beast master to summon creatures faster and give them the Pet buff, or use the Johktari to give your pack +1 melee for each attack against the “wounded prey”
Tips
•   The timber wolf is the most cost effective creature in the game, with 10 life, 2 armour and a 4 dice melee attack this means it will beat most level 2 creatures in a straight up fight.
•   Turning a timber wolf into a Pet Timber wolf is great value. The Pet boost makes it stronger than most level 4 creatures and some level 5’s.
•   Use Redclaw, Alpha Male to buff all canines in the same zone as him. +1 armour and melee can usually prevent your weak Fox’s from getting killed in a single attack.
•   Dire wolfs are good in a pack of wolves or as a solo hunter, however be aware that “bloodthirsty” will force you to attack wounded prey. This isn’t always bad, as it allows you to ignore taunts if there is another wounded living creature in the zone.


Cats

Equipment	Eagleclaw Boots	1
Conjurations	Tooth & Nail	1
Creatures	Feral Bobcat	1
	Giant Wolf Spider	2
	Makunda	1
	Steelclaw Grizzly	1
Enchantments	Bull Endurance	1
	Cheetah Speed	1
	Marked for Death	1
	Mongoose Agility	2
	Rhino Hide	1
Incantations	Call of the Wild	1
	Group Heal	2
	Force Push	1
	Minor Heal	1
Attacks

The cats book uses the assassination abilities of the Cats to kill key targets quickly. Cats do have lower life and armour value compared to Canines but have the Defence ability, allowing them to have a chance of evading the incoming attack completely.
Each Cat comes with different traits so you can focus on what creature is best for the situation. you can use your creatures to make fast attacks, ignore armour, ignore guards and restrain your enemy.
This book choice is not the easiest book combination the beast master can use, but you can’t underestimate the power of unique attacking combination this book has.
Tip
•   If you want to make a sudden attack, use the Ferak Bobcats +2 charge.
•   If you need to get around heavy armoured creatures use Makunda’s ability to grant all cats +1 piercing to shred through armour.
•   If you target is protected by guarding units use Cervere, The Forest Shadow and it’s elusive and Fast trait to ignore other creatures guards.
•   the Giant Wolf Spider can use his  web attack to cause creatures to be “Stuck” which will restrain them. Restrained creature can’t Defend the zone, so this is another way to ignore guarding units. Note: the Giant Wolf Spider is not an animal so it does not benefit from any “animal” buffs
•   The only non-legendary cat creature is the bobcat, therefor it is not recommended to turn one of your cats into a pet. Instead convert the steel claw grizzly or Mountain gorilla into a pet. This creature is far better suited to defend your mage if needed.


Elites

Equipment	Eagleclaw Boots	1
Conjurations	Enchantment Wardstone	1
	Tooth & Nail	1
Creatures	Bridge Troll	1
	Fellella, Pixie Familiar	1
	Feral Bobcat	-2
	Galador, Protector of Straywood	1
	Steelclaw Grizzly	1
	Tarok, the Skyhunter	1
	Thunderift Falcon	-2
Enchantments	Bear Strength	1
	Bull Endurance	1
	Cheetah Speed	1
	Cobra Reflexes	1
	Falcon Precision	1
	Mongoose Agility	1
	Rhino Hide	1
	Vampirism	1
Incantations	Battle Fury	1
	Charge	1
	Force Push	1
	Minor Heal	1
Attacks

The elites book ignores all of the beast masters lower creatures and adds some serious big creatures. this book grants you a large variety of large creatures to bring into battle, each with unique abilities.
Don’t play this book like a swarm book, you will run out of mana too quickly. Instead choose only a few creatures to summon, and pick which will be best suited for your opponents. Then use all your resources to keep them alive and increase their strength with your enchantments.
Tips
•   Use Fellella, Pixie Familiar to place enchantments on your creatures. not only can she allow you to enchant creatures greater than 2 zones away from your mage, but also due to her flying can enchant creatures over walls.
•   Turning a steelclaw grizzly or a mountain gorilla into your Pet gives them a stat boost that makes them one of the strongest creatures in MageWars. While turning a timber wolf into a pet is a cheap way to get another strong large creature.
•   Use Tarok, the Skyhunter if your opponent is a mage with strong flying creatures ie Warlock and Priestess. Its high attack damage and defence’s against flying creatures are great.
•   Galador, Protector of Straywood not only has a ranged attack but also gives you a chance to daze and stun.
•   The Bridge troll is very resilient and will take your opponent a long time to kill, use him as a distraction. Although avoid using him if there are fire attacks, or Finite life spells in play.

Title: Re: Mage Wars: Casual [Beast Master]
Post by: DeckBuilder on September 16, 2013, 02:02:21 PM

Wow! A lot of hard work here. Your approach of variant builds (80 basic + 40 theme) is a great way to convince your friends to play again as you empower them in choosing a strategy build. I also like the variety in your lists (sub-optimal in places but this is "casual") as "spamming" the same spell is less fun than trying new synergies.

I found my problem was to create 2 different competitive books that illustrated 2 different strategies with a pool of 1 Core + expansions. In the end, lack of multiple copies of key cards (Regrowth Belt, Dragonscale, Enchanter's Ring, Hand of Bim Shalla etc) forced me to buy a 2nd Core set (ok, I also needed a 4th Teleport for my unbeaten Earth Wizard kill zone). Even now, I find it very hard to simultaneously present 2 spellbooks that I'm happy with.

Just a pedantic correction:
"however be aware that “bloodthirsty” will force you to attack wounded prey. This isn’t always bad, as it allows you to ignore guards if there is another wounded living creature in the zone."
Not quite. The rules state "(if possible)" and guards make it impossible so they may ignore. This is clarified in the FAQ.

Otherwise an interesting read. I particularly liked the little "strategy guide" you give your opponents with their chosen theme. Nice.

Title: Re: Mage Wars: Casual [Beast Master]
Post by: nitrodavid on September 16, 2013, 07:47:52 PM

I did fix the bloodthirsty part but must not have saved, thanks.

I find that these 80 decks save some time when I play with friends and also if I want to run demo's. as I can have 4 80 pt books which will work fine for apprentice mode.

the beast master was fairly easy to make decks for because i have played several games with him, since i haven't played the warlock much i will find him the hardest so i will be guessing most of his decks.