Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => Spellbook Design and Construction => Topic started by: sdougla2 on December 19, 2013, 07:09:43 PM
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I've only gotten to play 2 games with the Druid so far:
The first game I used a Vine Tree for action advantage against a Priest. I won largely by using 2 Thornlashers, 1 in each of the center zones, supported by Vine Snappers. After the first game I wasn't as interested in the Druid as I hoped. She seemed good, but I thought I would just rather play the Beastmaster, and I was uncertain about a number of vulnerabilities (Deathlock, Lord of Fire, strong position control...).
The second game I played, I used a Battleforge and a Vine Tree, and I much preferred the way that played out. My opponent conceded when they realized that I as so far ahead that there was no way he could catch up. There were some clear lessons from this game, such as run more than 2 Rouse the Beast, and I've made some changes to the build based on those lessons.
Here is the current iteration of the build.
Druid [68]
Creatures (34) [12]
1 Galador, Protector of Straywood (5)
1 Tarok, the Skyhunter (3)
1 Kralathor, the Devourer (4)
4 Raptor Vine (12)
4 Thornlasher (8 )
1 Vine Snapper (2)
Equipment (21) [11]
1 Druid’s Leaf Ring (1)
1 Enchanter’s Ring (1)
1 Dragonscale Hauberk (3)
1 Bearskin (1)
1 Elemental Cloak (2)
1 Leather Boots (1)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Veteran’s Belt (3)
1 Moonglow Amulet (2)
1 Wand of Healing (2)
1 Mage Wand (4)
Conjurations (21) [13]
1 Vine Tree (2)
1 Battleforge (6)
6 Tanglevine (6)
3 Mana Flower (3)
2 Corrosive Orchid (4)
Enchantments (14) [12]
1 Harmonize (2)
1 Barkskin (2)
3 Rhino Hide (3)
2 Bear Strength (2)
1 Hawkeye (1)
1 Regrowth (1)
1 Falcon Precision (1)
1 Cheetah Speed (1)
1 Mongoose Agility (1)
Incantations (26) [16]
2 Teleport (8 )
4 Dispel (8 )
4 Dissolve (4)
4 Rouse the Beast (4)
2 Burst of Thorns (2)
Attacks (4) [4]
2 Acid Ball (2)
2 Surging Wave (2)
The plan for turn 1 is:
Turn 1 (19): Vine Tree (Tree Bond) -> Battleforge (2)
After that, things will depend on how aggressive my opponent is. If I can get away with powering for 3 turns, turns 2 and 3 would go something like this:
Turn 2 (12): Druid's Leaf Ring -> Mana Flower -> Mana Flower -> FD Harmonize on Vine Tree (1)
Turn 3 (13): Moonglow Amulet -> Mana Flower -> Reveal Harmonize -> FD Barkskin (no Vine Tree cast) (0)
At that point I'm generating 17 mana per turn with 4 spell actions per turn. I can put Thornlashers in NC and FC and start playing Raptor Vines for offense while my Battleforge plays armor. With Veteran's Belt, all of the armor I can play, and effectively Regenerate 4, the Druid can tank incredibly well. This is approximately how my second game with the Druid went, although there wasn't much need to tank.
If my opponent is rushing me, I can use Battleforge to play armor earlier, and I can start playing creatures earlier. A Vine Snapper guard can help, as can Tanglevine on a creature to prevent early attacks. I'll have to see how well that works out.
Tarok and Galador are there to help with specific problems that plants are not good at dealing with. They gives me a way to deal with Incorporeal objects, creatures that are not vulnerable to Deathlock and fire, creatures with better mobility, an answer to Iron Golems and other heavily armored creatures, answers to flyers, and ways of dealing with Lord of Fire. I still haven't played the Druid against Lord of Fire, so I'll need to see how well that works out in practice. The 2 main cards I need to test this build against are Lord of Fire and Deathlock.
Vine markers are very nice for position control. Placing Vine markers everywhere drastically limits the mobility options of enemy creatures, particularly Fast creatures without Elusive or Flying. I managed to avoid taking an attack from a Ravenous Ghoul in my last game by placing Vine markers in either zone he could travel through to get to me. Plus you can get full board coverage on Tanglevine and vine creatures.
I much prefer Tanglevine to Stranglevine. Stranglevine costs more than Tanglevine, doesn't start out any tougher, and is immediately destroyed by Teleport. Losing a Tanglevine to Teleport is acceptable, but the greater cost of Stranglevine makes this exchange much worse. I'm also not a big fan of the upkeep. Sure, you're paying extra mana to deal direct damage, but I would rather play Ghoul Rot or Magebane for a DoT, as they don't require continued investment.
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Interesting. Tell me about Rouse the Beast?
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With Vine Tree and Spreading Vines, you can play Vinelashers, Raptor Vines, Vine Snappers, and Kralathor anywhere on the board, and aside from Kralathor, they're quite cheap. Rouse the Beast lets you use the creatures as you play them, which reduces the risk of your creatures getting focused down before they get to activate. It also allows the Druid to rapidly transition from building economy into defense and offense.
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Interesting. Tell me about Rouse the Beast?
You can deploy a vine creature practically anywhere on the board with Vine Tree (any zone up to 2 zones away from a vine marker you control). They're mostly cheap (because of Rooted and no armour, Raptor Vine costs you at most 9 to deploy). So you can deploy them, especially on turns you have initiative, QC Rouse, and then surprise attack something or somewhere your opponent wasn't expecting. It makes defending conjurations for your opponent all but impossible (since you can hit wherever the weakest point is as a moment's notice), and bringing the fight to the enemy mage becomes rather trivial.
This is one of the reasons Vine Tree is, in my opinion, the best Spawnpoint in the game.
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On turn 2, how do you cast the 2nd mana flower? It is not a vine, so the tree cant cast it.
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Pls, what are "Vinelashers" ??? :o
I can't find them, thx.
CYA
Gigi
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Pls, what are "Vinelashers" ??? :o
I can't find them, thx.
CYA
Gigi
Thornlashers, I assume.
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Huh, I didn't realize that Mana Flowers didn't have the vine subtype. Every other flower is a vine... Seems a little odd.
Yes, I meant Thornlasher when I said Vinelasher.
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I have to test a very similar version of my druid. I also chose forge and vine tree as my opening moves, but I will use Meditation amulet to have a huge mana supply and let the SPs do the summoning work. Having seen your list makes me feel I'm going in the right direction :D
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Vine markers are very nice for position control. Placing Vine markers everywhere drastically limits the mobility options of enemy creatures, particularly Fast creatures without Elusive or Flying.
Note - Elusive only works against creatures that hinder - see Codex. So Flying is the only trait that avoids a Vine marker hinder right now.
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So that's your handle on the Forum. I was really out of it during our match, though I concede you likely would have thrashed me anyway. I'd be happy to help you test your deck next time with a Warlock Lord of Fire build, Or a Fire Wizard.
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As I mentioned at the last meeting, I won't be around for a few weeks, but I look forward to testing it when we get a chance. I'm hoping to test my Druid build against my Warlock build when I see my brother. My Warlock doesn't run Lash of Hellfire, but he does run Lord of Fire, which is the bigger threat for the Druid (the Druid has such cheap access to equipment removal).
I'll need to try using Meditation Amulet for this build at some point.
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I expect meditation amulet will improve the flow from deployment by a rather large margin. And, seeing as there are two great sources of deployments, it 'could' be quite nice. At some point though, you're going to have to get in and get your hands dirty and forgo the amulet bonus. That's not a problem during the first few turns usually, however and amulet pays for itself(mana wise) extremely quickly. Just need to take advantage of those precious quickcasts while amulet channeling.
One thing I would consider, is the vinewhip staff. Even with 6 tanglevines, that staff is amazing due to the fact that the stuck condition can't be attacked off. Plus, it can surprise the opponent by moving and dropping a vine even closer to him(possibly on him) for the next turn's deploy. And, it has reach.
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I am a big fan of the vine whip staff- I have stalled games before when I have a "Beat stick" chasing me around the arena, and I have slowed them down enough to get my footing.
I was just going to throw this in....IDK if it would work for your build....but
One of my favorite spells for the druid is "Repulse". Since a majority of her creatures are Rooted, and there is a good amount of time that the druid wants to defend a conjuration- Repulse works great since it will push many opponents creatures out of a zone but not you Rooted ones.
Have fended off zombie swarms using repulse.
Just putting it out there.
Also- I like the build! ;D (I throw Battleforge in everything.....I just cant help myself)
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I've thought about the tanglevine-repulse combo to keep just the opposing mage next to you for solo beater or 1 big builds, but I hadn't considered what repulse would do when combo'd with several rooted creatures. Excellent find!
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Had to find someway to push back the zombie hoards! ;D
And nice add in with the tangle vine- Have not done that!
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Another thing that I might add that I have in all of my druid builds (And as of now it is a promo...) is Ballista.
Ballista is great for protecting the druids set up zones, like the starting zone with her tree.
I often stand back and cast spells from afar using vines when I play the druid- and ballista allows me to do so- not many things want to get in range of it.
Ballista is nice also for conjurations like Wizards Tower- which, when placed correctly, will give my druid alot of problems. (Mostly due to my turtling with her, and setting up those zones that even geyser can start to take out.)
Just a thought.
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Yah ballista is absolutely fantastic for protection. Moving a zone and casting tree and ballista in near center is a fantastic way to protect your setup. Two ballistas is just aggro as hell when combo'd with the vine markers.
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To be fair, as it currently stands every spell book should have multiple Ballistas in it.. regardless of mage, archetype, strategy or style.
Even paying triple spell cost for it as a Druid its worth running some.
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To be fair, as it currently stands every spell book should have multiple Ballistas in it.. regardless of mage, archetype, strategy or style.
Even paying triple spell cost for it as a Druid its worth running some.
Only if your meta runs Promo cards. Many do not.
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I don't play with Ballista. I can see it being good for the Druid, but I expect it to be fantastic for pretty much any build. Particularly the Forcemaster.
The issue I've found with playing Vine Tree and Battleforge on turn 1 is that it leaves you in a poor position to adapt to a Lord of Fire rush. Galador and Tarok can help, but you've invested so much mana in action advantage that doesn't help you play them that it's difficult to efficiently respond. You can prevent the Lord of Fire from killing you quickly with Dragonscale Hauberk, Elemental Cloak, Barkskin, and Lifebond, but it's very difficult to keep your Vine Tree alive, and playing plant creatures from your Vine Tree just seems like throwing more mana away. Lord of Fire just kills plants so quickly.
Other sources of fire damage aren't nearly as big of a problem. Lash of Hellfire can be destroyed with Dissolve and Corrosive Orchid pretty easily, Circle of Fire can be Dispelled, and Firebrand Imp and Flaming Hellion are weak enough that you can focus them down. Attack spells are one shot, so you mostly need to worry about eating a zone attack.
I think I'll try running a build with just Vine Tree for action advantage, and more Acid Balls and Burst of Thorns. Acid Ball and Burst of Thorns allow you to more efficiently focus down and armored targets like Lord of Fire. It will also be easier to take advantage of my animal support.
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You can deploy a vine creature practically anywhere on the board with Vine Tree (any zone up to 2 zones away from a vine marker you control)....
Say what? Someone please tell me that this is not correct. Don't you have to target the zone with the vine marker? How can you cast a creature within two of a vine marker? (I'm probably misunderstanding what is being said... but still....)
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You can deploy a vine creature practically anywhere on the board with Vine Tree (any zone up to 2 zones away from a vine marker you control)....
Say what? Someone please tell me that this is not correct. Don't you have to target the zone with the vine marker? How can you cast a creature within two of a vine marker? (I'm probably misunderstanding what is being said... but still....)
I'm pretty sure what they mean is that you can deploy a vine marker with your spreading vines ability then use the vine tree to do it again. Since you can place a vine token adjacent to a previously existing token you would be able to spread your distance up to two zones away from a previously placed vine.