I have advocated limiting the ready marker action. But now my solution is more elegant.

New rule. During the Reset phase, only 1 Ready marker on a conjuration may be turned to Ready by each player chosen in Initiative order.

This elegantly returns HoB and ToL as printed while weakening Wizard's Tower. Future "conjurations no creatures" build with current Epics plus Altar of Peace temple is also blunted by this new rule. Currently this build would be near broken so the rule is needed.

Access vs Theme Mage limiting is another issue. Some players prefer strong themes. Others prefer the ability to create ingenious builds. The important thing is to make each mage equal via exclusive access.

Sorry to hijack this thread but Enchantment Transfusion not needing LOS reminds me of a memorable game anecdote I have to share...

Playing Earth Wizard in a teaching game, I had 4 Stone Golems with Pestilence Idol in my start corner trapped within 2 of my own Walls of Steel! I was in NC with Enchantment Transfusion, Force Hold and Nullify all hidden on me, enemy Priestess in his start corner with c.40 life (from Sunfire Amulet, Brogan had destroyed Deathlock and other conjurations before dying to Lightning Bolts from the toolbox Wizard's Tower). Going last, I moved to FC and cast Teleport Trap on NC then QC Teleport on his mage onto my trap which then teleported him to my corner Wall of Steel cell with 4 Golems (Teleport Trap needs no LOS). I had initiative next turn. He Early QC Eagleclaw Boots (he was 3 away from me). I moved back to NC, cast Jinx on myself then transfused all 3 other enchantments on me to his mage (Transfusion needs no LOS). Unable to escape (Force Hold now revealed), he cast his other spell Blinding Flash that did not Jinx, 3 Golems Dazed, 1 Golem Stunned (+2 vs. Nonliving). But over 2 turns of attacks from my Golems was just enough to kill him (next turn, he cast Dispel twice delayed by Jinx to break the Force Hold but the turn after, my first action Golem attack killed him just before he climbed out).

Yes, I know this was over-elaborate (it was a demo to a beginner who set up a strong fort of Archers + Guardian Angels + ToL that almost killed me, saved by Voltaric Shield and Force Orb). A Spike Pit and (already set-up) Enchantment Transfusion on Nullify plus Jinx does the same thing more efficiently. But I wanted to demo some of the potential trickery in the game as I knew he likes difficult to pull-off combos.

I half suspect that someone will now say that we played by the wrong rules!

I never attack creatures unless taunted or they are guarding the Mage. I find the most profit in controlling the Mage or creatures such that I get clean attacks on the Mage.

The aim of the game is to kill the Mage, so i find that damage done to anything else is very secondary, and usually a waste of time. Other than the odd zone attack.

I generally agree with the above - except for Warlord, Beastmistress and Priest as they have mechanics that promote a creature control strategy. And familiars. Also Priestess playing zonal control (4 Archers + 4 Guardians) will focus attacks to eliminate threats sequentially.

I think however this thread is about a psychological threshold when you think "that creature is better bypassed than killed". In that respect, I totally agree with ringK that Iron Golem reads "work around me, don't bother attacking me" (which is great as they can't be healed). In fact I rely on this in my Earth Wizard build with 4 Golems + 1 Gorgon Archer + toolbox Wizard's Tower attacks as threats.

Armour vs. regen is dependent on your opponent's strategy. Armour is better vs. swarm & multi-strike, regen better against single source threats. As the meta currently doesn't favour swarm, I equate Armour 2 = Regen 2. Armour can be Pierced and Regen can be made Finite. I know it seems to overplay healing but we only have to compare Guardian Angel to Panzerguard to appreciate the power of healing. With regen, assuming you win the creature vs. creature, you then heal damage in the respite, overtaking armour benefits. Obviously if swarms and multi-strike become popular, I will revise this evaluation.

Note also that Armour has increasing benefits (that's why Armour 1 < Regen 1 but Armour 3 > Regen 3 for current meta). This is because you are more likely to encounter Piercing 1 than Piercing 2 etc. Stacking armour to obscene levels - well ask an Iron Golem! Also a mage has more life resource and is pushed through Wall of Thorns. Hence I don a Breastplate before the Belt. Fortunately, there's no algorithm.

So in an aggressive build where you apply overwhelming force to win creature vs. creature, Bridge Trolls can be very good. But if they are alone facing a swarm, oh dear. Alas, Flame +2 makes them too inconsistent to base a strategy around with the Warlock so popular. Also why Flowers are weaker than Crystals (suspect the Druid will correct this).

In my mind, Golem and Hydra are the only 2 creatures I don't bother with (assuming playing a rare zonal control book), Hydra because of Counterstrike and Regen 2. Only those 2 creatures have that "don't bother" aura for my own psychology. Other Slow creatures are ranged threats so should be dealt with else opponent will gain control (I don't count Earth Elemental as I rejoice if my opponent summons one).

Creature control is a form of mana denial. It may look like "playing with your food" (especially as Beastmistress) but it says "don't bother summoning threats as they have 1 attack before I kill them". As creatures cost a full action and 1 attack is less than an equivalent attack spell, this creates a creature-denial soft lock. Once you achieve that position, you can hunt down the enemy mage, slowly accumulating your creature overlap.

Hurl Rock - fine cost-effect (avoidable unlike Arc / Flameblast) but a bit dull, still it fills an earth attack gap

Seems a small bit undercosted.

Hurl Meteorite - more Earth love with their Thunderbolt, very good with Wizard's Tower spell-switching utility

I think it may be too good

Altar of Peace - missing control piece (split among 4 schools), mana denial boost, Epic so not overpowered

It can be OP if you build correctly, because it even affects attack spells.

Yes, on reflection and comparative analysis, you are right on the earth attacks undercosting.

I did not appreciate the universality of Altar of Peace- good point.
I suggest a split on its effect into 2 different Epic conjurations:
Altar of Peace (Holy Epic) - pay 1 at declare step for melee attacks (ok for ranged and counterstrikes)
Sanctuary Tree (Nature Epic) - pay 1 at declare step for ranged attacks (ok for melee)
This then creates a very easy piece to insert into melee-only and ranged+guards builds
It also widens the Epic control pieces to 5 major schools (then add a War Epic for enchantment upkeep)

Healing Wand:
This seems appropriately costed and given the right tactical situation it might be worth using a spare action to use this wand, but you have to use an action to cast the damn thing in the first place, so I'm struggling to see how this is going to see any serious play.

It is for swarm builds. We hope for more interesting condition-placing cards (more than 1 Weak, 1 Cripple, 2 Rot in Core; we now have Taint, Slam, Stuck etc). The fact it can remove Stun (Arc Lightning) makes it more versatile, both a Purify and Clear Mind. Many "One Big" strategy books fit 1 Purify against Gorgon control (and Warlock curse). If we assume cards like Meditation Amulet (once amended) will improve spawnpoints hence swarm viability, then this wand becomes a better choice of spell points to Purify for swarm builds. I do agree it's very action-intensive.

Ballista:
So Akiro's Hammer was too weak and you over compensated with Ballista... Something needs to be done to prevent the action stacking potential of this card or to at least make it more difficult to setup. Right now you can cast two of these in one turn then attack with both at the same time on the following turn potentially along with a QC attack spell and a creature activation (4 attacks with no chance for response! This is obviously heading the way of HoB)... there are a lot of ways to change the card to prevent that.

Ok, my solution is to permanently solve this problem by amending the rules, allowing only 1 ready marker action before or after a friendly action. This brings HoB back unchanged (multiples to boost a swarm build) which then brings ToL back as more playable. I appreciate this is radical. So how about a slower load rate of 3? It's so much better than Akiro's Hammer and far cheaper too. Then you could have "Engineer" that adds or subtracts 1 token (e.g. damage, mana or load) on a conjuration; this makes both conjurations more playable...

Akiro's Favor:
Right now this card is worded in such a way as to allow you to use it as a curse... this is crazy useful and versatile. I think it's a point or two undercosted, I don't think anyone would even blink at spending 2 mana on the reveal for this. Magebind seems to address the potential strength of this card, on reflection I think a better solution may be to make the reveal cost equal to X where X=Creature's level/2 round up, or Creature's level -1.

Sorry but this card is amazing as a persistent benefit. Option to re-roll (must take re-roll) is worth roughly 1/3 of the dice rolled. Then you have the ability to re-roll a crucial 50/50 effect making it 75/25. Or the ability to reroll a crucial 50/50 Daze check making it 75/25. You can only do 1 of them per round but their "exclusive or" aggregate effect is just too good at that price, maybe 2+5 magebind 2 for persistent effect, the same cost as Cobra Reflexes.

However I think it would be more interesting to leave it a 2/1 enchant (no magebind) but with "reveal to claim 1 effect then discard". I also quite like the unintended curse versatility. But this would change the spell name to "Fickle Fortune" to be both boon and bane. This leaves room for bluff as player 1 reveals to reroll (well) only for player 2 to reveal and reroll! I would make it even more versatile to suit its name: "reroll any 1 die or all attack dice" as a timed one-use effect. That gives War school some much-needed versatility to match Force Push.

Critical Strike/Lion Savagery:
Armor seems to be getting less and less useful...(especially with vorporal blade also)

I totally agree. You forgot Ballista. I assume they will hence have more multi-strike creatures to balance this? I suspect they will release an Incorporeal enchantment (so no Armour) with upkeep (perhaps cumulative) to make Divine Might more relevant...

Altar of Peace:
I see this being horribly abused in combination with the Ballista and Wizard's Tower. As if swarm strategies weren't already weak enough, yet another card that punishes you for having a lot of creatures. I think I would feel a lot better about this card if it was Holy mage only.

I appreciate your concern here but you are basing this on the current pool, not a future pool. If they manage to make creature spawnpoints competitive (e.g. with a better Meditation Amulet, the "Engineer" etc), then swarm will be competitive. In which case releasing this missing control piece will make sense. I agree about abuse with Ballista (even nerfed) but it is easily corrected by rewording. Though I suspect as a Temple, the wording is deliberate to exempt conjurations and counter strikes. I also like the symmetry of splitting 4 control conjurations among 4 major schools, all of them Epic but open to all. Finally, this opens up mana denial as a competitive strategy.

Shad0w told us that promo cards serve as beta testing to obtain player feedback.
I explained feedback would be limited without a list of cards for everyone to discuss.
Someone kindly posted this link (with images) below.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/992092/current-promo-list

Power Creep
I personally believe that to keep players interested, a slow LCG like MW ideally needs to bring out new mechanics hence new competitive strategies. But there must also be a small amount of power creep to keep established mage builds happy. The trick is to keep this power creep as small as possible to prolong the obsolescence date of the oldest cards whilst giving us a tiny dose of power gaming. I've been pretty happy with AW because their expansions so far have brought in new innovative strategies. Some cards are currently never played competitively but the meta can always change to incorporate them (e.g. more Incorporeal creatures/conjurations appearing in competitive meta for Divine Might to be added to enchantment toolbox like Falcon Precision). In an ideal world, you would want every card to be costed just right but this never happens in practice hence the same (slightly under-costed) cards appear in competitive books. The fact I'm more concerned about wasting future release space with under-powered cards than overpowered cards is a tribute to the patient design team. So well done AW.

I also appreciate that promo cards are some of the "sexiest" cards being tested. It appears only Galador has been released so far and it is a sexy card, addressing flyers, metal armour guards and guards with no intercept. But it is not overpowered.

It is also hard to feedback on cards in isolation without knowing the context of the other cards in the set. Falcon Precision and Iron Golem being in the same set as FM is an obvious example. In the same way, the next set may introduce a solution to Iron Golems and kill zones (e.g. "reveal to teleport 1"). Even if a mistake is made, it can be corrected in the next expansion,

With the above caveats, after analysing the new card images, below is my initial feedback. I am sure players far better than me have far better points to make and I hope they will share them here. So, in order of images in the link...

Healing Wand - alternative to Purify. cheap and versatile but very action-intensive, why release Dispel Wand instead of this?

Sersiryx, Imp Familiar - action-burst abuse with Enchantment Transfusion after safely casting curses on self; suggest "level 1-2 curse enchantments on enemy objects"; checking what was cast was legal is also an issue; otherwise it's cool to see warlock curses get more love, making warlock more control.

Asyran Defender - cost gap in Holy creatures filled, Guardian Angel is so good though so used more as a cheap resilient guard remover, would making him a cleric be too good?

Stumble - love it (user-timed unlike Jinx) but we then need more mobility beyond Teleport and Force Push

Summoning Circle - bluffs a zone trap, ambush in slow creatures, range 2 unlike garrison = 6 teleport cost

Sandstorm - a range 2 fast zonal attack to primarily disrupt position/attacks, great against zonal control

Elfric's Life Ring - overcosted rubbish, please never waste space by printing this

Meditation Amulet - why this over Moonglow? Equipment has to be good competing in this slot. This is the card to make spawn points more competitive. The game values temporary denial of a fast action spell at 3 (Jinx). A 4-cost amulet that trades a full action for 4 mana may be considered in some spawn point builds (and solo FM). It's a full action burst not no-action persistent so needs a greater benefit.

Hurl Rock - fine cost-effect (avoidable unlike Arc / Flameblast) but a bit dull, still it fills an earth attack gap

Akiro's Favour - ridiculously good and under-costed, needs "friendly creature" target if designed as a boon only else too versatile, fine at that cost (without Magebind) as a "may reveal to re-roll and discard" (so as timed bad luck mitigation) to make the game more skillful

Ballista - open to abuse with multiple sequential attacks without reply action, needs Unique (unrealistic, multiples needed for zonal control) or rule change to only allow 1 ready marker use before or after each action (the better solution as this removes HoB errata which then brings ToL back as a competitive option).

Bloodcrag Minotaur - fine for some future Charge-based build (e.g. "soldiers gain Fast and Elusive")

Critical Strike - fine command enchantment that obsoletes Piercing Strike (most existing commands poor)

Gravikor - I finally view it and it's definitely great in some books but does not seem overpowered, just wary of making Iron Golems better in the current meta...

Hurl Meteorite - more Earth love with their Thunderbolt, very good with Wizard's Tower spell-switching utility

Lion Savagery - fine, with Minotaur it hints at a future Charge-based strategy (so Force Wave better etc)

Morning Star - fine but is it too much nerfing of Defence/Block/Reverse Attack with too much unavoidable?

Vorpal Blade - fine vanilla aggro, equal cost to versatile Mage Staff, will be popular but not overpowered

Temple High Guard - wow, very good but may be what Holy needs (so best guards with Guardian Angel), makes slam attacks even more tactical which is good

Altar of Peace - missing control piece (split among 4 schools), mana denial boost, Epic so not overpowered

Mordok's Tome - a cool card, suspect it flatters to deceive but nice flexibility, arcane mage only is in theme

Oscuda - more interesting than Dire Wolf, more armour hate (zonal critical), more Golem love (poison), reminds me that I suspect Screeching Harpy missed zonal and Psychic Immunity to make it competitive

Clear Mind - psychic Purify, niche meta-dependent, a lot of unnecessary FM hate in these promo cards

Spiked Buckler - seems very good but probably not overpowered with Morning Star in the same set

Altar of the Iron Guard - ok, this is poor design, it is far too cheap for a global effect and Legendary so the player going first gets a huge advantage. For that cost, you should delete "which you control, you may" to make it a benefit for both players. Global effect conjurations benefit both players ("just that I have more animals than you"). As a benefit for both players, one players who builds around it (Guardian Angel, Temple High Guard) will still gain more.

Debilitate - why this over Agony? Does not work with Charge. Maybe 1 copy for an enemy aggro mage? Please don't print this. Why not "this creature's attacks lose all keywords"? Now that would be a cool curse.

Holy Strike - why? It's not even a command. Divine Might may be played in an Incorporeal meta but this?

Plagued - a very interesting curse but more Iron Golem synergy, nice soft control to separate creatures


So my first impressions are, based on their current text, a few seem too strong (Altar of the Iron Guard, Akiro's Favour, Ballista, Sersyrix), a few seem too weak (Life Ring, Meditation Amulet, Debilitate, Holy Strike). But most of the promo cards seem fine, even taken out of context of their future card pool.

I think the important thing is for AW to ensure there is a vibrant competitive scene hence promoting the various strategies and mages so they are roughly equal in competitive viability. So if Holy zonal control needs a boost, maybe Temple High Guard is brought out early etc.

The most important thing is balance between mages and strategies. We know the current meta is now more balanced than the game's early aggro dominance (esp. Warlock). But there may be mages (Warlord? Priestess?) that need a bit of a boost to join the others. As well as weaker strategies (mana denial? Get that Altar of Peace released fast!). I've got no issues with standout cards that address imbalance (Beastmaster needed Galador). There will always be good cards and bad cards (varies by strategy and mage access). However, a more even power-level distribution among new cards would be best to widen the choice pool when players strategise.

Overall, having finally seen the promo cards, apart from a few, they are not something I'd worry playing against (half the battle is knowing they exist and anticipating their play). So I feel far less handicapped not having them. Keeping them shrouded in mystery only promotes resentment. My misgivings proved unfounded so well done to AW; they are mostly pitched at a nice level (with a few mis-steps).

Has anyone else spotted any potential abuse / broken uses for these cards with our current pool?

That earth wizard build sounds really similar to something I'm working on. We should compare notes!  And yes, my secret suspicion is that its the best book in the game at the moment, if the player can play tight enough to complete all the games in time and on plan.

Yep, I shall post my build in the books thread soon (at work with only my Excel spell points calculator to recreate it). I'm thinking of an even more control variant with Seeking Dispel Wand and Decoy for mirror control (Transfusion Wars!), maybe Chain Lightning Wand for mirror Golem clusters. Decoy (with Enchanter's Ring, used with Arcane Ring in Tranfusion "timed denial/reversal") has that bluff element I love in other games (e.g. Netrunner).  This counter-strategy leads to a "rearguard" creature 2 away from Spike Pit death trap to move enchants out-of-range of enemy's Seeking. I don't know what this rearguard creature should be as points are so tight.

The worry in going so anti-control is you lose to good old-fashion aggro (though Purge has saved me against a Vampire Bear Mongoose Lord of Fire and Curse stacking). Much like magic, I find it impossible to balance books against all strategies. There's always a chink. Hurrah for that. Every build needs an Achilles heel else the game would temporarily stagnate (until new releases fixed this) and become dull as the majority net-deck "The Book".

Hmm... Thinking about it, I can't think of much that the Straywood Beastmaster has gotten in the expansions compared to what the other mages got, but I still think he's a strong mage. Of course, with just the base set, I thought that he was the strongest mage (certainly for me), so even without getting much that's relevant, I still think that he's good.

I started only recently (in fact, you/padawan/rock all gave me great friendly advice and encouragment after my first nervous post on BGG, converting me to this hobby) and yes, my analysis of the game with 1 Core was that Straywood Beatsmaster had the best options (synergies of turn 1 Forge on FC I opened at the time followed by Ring of Beasts and Enchanter's Ring). I appreciate Dark + Fire access synergies but I never felt as comfortable as a Route 1 in-your-face Bear/Cevere slowly buffed up with Bear Strength / Vampirism / Retaliate then Battle Fury and the Roused Wolf Pet similarly buffed. As attack-triggered enchants always benefit you with persistence (over cheaper commands) and cost/damage/longevity of his creature base gave the best ROI, the lack of bursty ranged finishing is a minor weakness (4 point Circle of Lightning sufficient anti-swarm in mirror); the Straywood had it all with a 1 Core pool.

I look at how my Straywood has evolved: the only new cards are Galador, Arc Lightning (Golem/Knight-heavy local meta), Storm Drake Hide (domino effect of a Golem meta) and Eagleclaw Boots (sideboard). However, I take encouragement from the Straywood's fall from 1 Core pole position. It shows that current weaker mages (the poor nerfed Priestess, the CoK mages that were built to fight each other for board control not a solo FM, unloved Warlord who needs more zonal control) can rise while current dominant ones (Warlock has been shown disproportionate designer love) can similarly fall from grace.

Each expansion release shakes up the meta. This is good. I just hope they try to keep all mages more on par. Thankfully (as a Netrunner and Game of Thrones subscriber), expansions aren't that frequent, allowing plenty of time to experiment with the recent expansion. I have been very impressed by AW's slower playtested releases. It is a hard balance as expansions generate revenue but deter entrants who sense a "slow LCG".

I do think Straywood is still a contender as Galador is just amazing, especially with Golems so popular. I will be very happy if my old favourite mage wins Gencon. I just hope the Warlock does not win again.

Another point..

I am not (or rather no longer) an OCD completist. But there are alot out there in the gaming hobby hence all the expansions for perfectly fine games. CCGs & LCGs rely on this "collector" element among us gamers. It is their bread and butter because these are guaranteed repeat purchasers of your product, the best customers you could possibly hope for.

However I totally sympathised with a poster in a different thread who admitted he was an OCD completist and bemoaned the fact he could not sleep at night because he did not have promo cards to complete his collection (ok, humourous hyperbole but you get the point).

So what AW are promoting is a black market (E-Bay) to exploit an important segment of their consumer base. AW are not even profiting from it (barring a cosy Dice Tower relationship)! I could understand if AW were making money out of this but they are not, others are. They alienate their best repeat-purchasers (completists) to make others richer.

As well as alienating anpther customer segment, strategists (like jacksmack and myself), who can't join in with current promo-inclusive meta discussions in forums and feel disenchanted when we build as we have access to less cards than everyone else.

This marketing strategy of limited distribution strategy-pivotal cards is commercial madness in the long run.