Myric, I am loving your enthusiasm for a themed book here.

Those are cool for casual play and learning the game. Unfortunately, the obvious themes tend to be ripped apart by honed books that utilise specific out of school spells. Some of the themes don't really 'work' in practice, such as the huntress bow for johktari BM and a swarm for the original Beastmaster.

Charmyna,

What are you DOING, my friend, giving away all your secrets?!     

Your post and Sdouglas2 reply are truly excellent examples of tactical advice on the web. 

Since our last few games, I have found a bit of success with a similarly themed build, but with the Air Wizard. A Grizzly plus Nec Vamp combo, very aggressive with both out on turn 3 and 12 channelling built up. Have you now settled on the view that Golems and Gorgons outweigh Vamps?

Did you get to the view that the defensive creatures (Guardian Angel and Gargoyle) were too little a threat for their cost?

Great posts chaps.

What do you guys think about Mana Leeches as a way to counter control?  I think they're a good idea, since you can send them against a guard to remove it for future attacks on the enemy mage, but Mana Drain will also slow your opponent's mana advantage, especially if they channel higher than your mage.

They also have the very valuable Psychic Immunity trait, which allows Leeches to avoid cost efficient control cards like Sleep and Pacify, as well as attacks from control creatures like the Screech Harpy.

Thoughts/Experience using them?

I am no expert but when I see Mana Leeches played by my opponent. I am always very happy. I can ignore them and focus kill the Mage. Typically I am using a Wizard control plus big few book.

Earth wizard build in capable hands with out of school creature support gets my vote.

Thanks for that information Charmyna.  I love the game and keep wanting to join OCTGN but have been a little intimidated not knowing the interface, and not really want to hold people up or be that "slow" one while learning it.  So this will help a lot, at least enough to make me feel comfortable enough to give it a try.

Thanks!

Just do it. Plenty of guys willing to help you through it.

I'll be one of the Mage Wars ambassadors at Gen Con this week, and I was curious about what people were interested in seeing in terms of event coverage. We're not at the stage where video coverage is a possibility, so you can leave that suggestion out for now.

Given a limited number of "coverage reporters," what are the most important things you'd like to see covered? Mage vs. Mage breakdowns with winning percentages by matchup? A detailed blow-by-blow of one match per round or a general overview of all matches in a given round? Are things like final life totals or number of spells cast important to you, or do you just want to know who won and what Mage they were playing and battling against? Would you like to see decklists for the final tournament?

These are a few of the questions I had, so I would love your input! Fire away with your suggestions!!!

A general summary of the tactics used in every match, plus key moments. E.g. FM solo using multiple deflects lost to Air Wiizard using tower and pushes. Key moment was a push through a wall of thorns with a flying Nec vamp going over the wall to finish off the FM.
A blow by blow on a few good matches.
I like story above mechanics so don't need too many stats.

I try and discourage blood on my games even more than I try and discourage devices at the game table!

I DON'T !