Sweet so I was right! Thanks for the input! 

Bwahahahahahaha! "I have a fever and the only thing that can cure it is more cowbell Mage Wars!"

My poor mana denial wizard did not have much hope against all that mana economy the Warlord was slinging. I saw his strategy early game and rushed his battleforge/barracks as they came out. Unfortunately my rolls were terrible and I had to switch tempo and go on the defensive against the creatures that were spawning. I dissolved the meditation amulet early to slow him down and was able to take out the battleforge with a Force hammer paired with zap. I was not able to lock down the mana denial early enough in the match and he was able to gear up as a result which was turning the match into a very slow battle of attrition I was on the wrong end of. The harshforged monolith made my mana economy worse than his and after he equipped the reflex boots with the defense rune I knew continuing in a creature-less deck that was out of dissolves would be a slow pointless death. I think in a timed match I may have had a decent shot with a damage received tie breaker, but in a straight out brawl it was a poor match up for a mana denial book. His book was capable of channeling 8 + the added effect of alter of carnage and construction yard on top of his normal channel amount- a very difficult sum to lock down with mana denial.

In the second game I ran a priestess book that did remarkably well all things considered. It all came down to the final round where I ran 2 minor heals in an attempt to stall for another round of attacks. I was swarmed with various firebrand and wildfire imps and was frequently accumulating burns. I had a Valshalla angel and a knight of westlock with agony in the final round. I used the cursed knight to disable a guard and tried to swing in with Valshalla for the kill. The dice were not with me though and he survived with 2 or 3 health. I think if I would have rolled better on the Minor heals (buying another round) or instead used flame blast on him I could have had the match. It was really close so the dice could have swung it either way. I would not mind a rematch but with a priestess book of my own making.

We do not have prize support until I get ambassador status so for now I am working on building up the player base and training in new players for the area. Not counting sdougla2 or his friend he brought we now have 5 players for the area. I am hoping to at least double that. I have some friends in mind I will approach about it.

it was great to have ya! I hope you can come down again some time to beat me some more! lol

I like the way Vampirism works presently. I feel it's mechanical value would be negated by limiting the dice pools for thematic reasons. If it helps you try thinking of the vampiric mage as licking the blood up that is splattered on his weapon or clothes. When you wound someone with a melee weapon there is rarely a shortage of splatter.

As to the heal effects effecting demons and undead I feel that would be a poor design decision. It would make dark mages have a severe handicap with their minions. Think about the dice pool totals available on the heal spells compared to much more expensive combat spells. The value of mana per die of damage would be insane. Look into other heal effects such as renewing rain or group heal and it gets even worse. For gameplay stability they would have to re-work and nerf all heal spells and effects in order to make dark mages playable. I like this mechanic in Final Fantasy games but I prefer the current mechanic in mage wars for the above reasons.

Well someone has been going around necro-ing the crap out of everything soo....

Good to hear, though.
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I have seen people be reprimanded for starting new threads when old ones exist. Basically the forum encourages necromancy as a result as people have to track down old threads to ask questions. I would not look at it as a negative thing. It seems like the same 4 or 5 people are commenting on most of the stuff so it is a good thing that new blood is popping in to ask questions and keep the forum alive.

I feared that may be the case. Thanks Zuberi!

Maverick what branch did you serve in sir?

I presently serve in the MN Army National Guard. I am a 68W20 more commonly known as a Combat Medic.

Edit: Also please don't call me sir. You will force me to use the "Don't call me sir, I work for a living." Cliche. lol