Yeah, I think Siren's Call is really what worried me the most because the only ways to counter it are Psychic Immunity and Mind Shield, which only works for one turn anyway. If you go all in on a Grizzly buddy, for instance, a siren can just ignore it for no SBPs forever.

I think maybe the best approach, though is to just always have a plan B. Like Bubu said, Siren's call and Chant of Rage aren't that good when the caster is surrounded so having an overwhelm strategy available in a buddy book when playing against a FM/Siren is a good idea.

(Also, I wish I had Lightning Beetle, but I don't have any promos that didn't come with sets)

So I just got this game for Christmas and I’m loving it (already bought Druid vs. Necromancer and Conquest of Kumanjaro).  The gameplay is just the right amount of mix between MtG and DnD for me and my friend group and we’re probably going to try to start a regular playgroup, probably with 2x2 or 4-player free-for-all rules from time to time.  For this reason, however, I’m going to need to have at least four working spellbooks at all times and since we all like variety and will likely switch between mages regularly, I’d like to have all 6 ( later 8 ) spellbooks built and ready to pick up and play at a moment’s notice. 

I don’t want any of the spellbooks to be too far in power level from the rest of the others, so what I’ll be doing is dividing up all of the staple cards and just generally good cards between the spellbooks.  At the moment, I don’t have enough to really make all of the spellbooks completely even in power level because there just aren’t enough of certain cards, but I am planning on getting another copy of the core set when the Arena version comes out so I can balance the mages more effectively.  Right now, I’m just looking for opinions on basic numbers of the staple cards.

I think the most important things to balance between mages are not so much specific cards, but effects, most of which have certain cards which are just better than others at a specific effect either for the spellpoint or mana cost:

Enchantment Removal – Dispel*, Seeking Dispel, Purge Magic, Steal Enchantment, Dispel Wand

Equipment Removal – Dissolve*, Explode, Corrosive Orchid, Steal Equipment

Counterspells – Nullify*, Reverse Magic, Jinx

Mobility (friend or enemy) – Teleport*, Force Push*, Cheetah Speed, Mongoose Agility, Teleport Trap

Anti-Mobility – Tanglevine, Stranglevine, Spiked Pit, Force Hold, Banish, Sleep, Turn to Stone, Quicksand, Stumble, Enfeeble

Armor – Equipment*, Rhino Hide, Hand of Bim-Shalla

Defenses – Cobra Reflexes, Force Sword, Force Orb, Deflection Bracers, Reflex Boots

Channeling - Mana Crystal, Mana Flower, Moonglow Amulet, Harmonize, Spawnpoints, Familiars

There are also a few other cards that I feel are good enough to be spread out between the Mages, but don’t fall into any of these categories: Block/Reverse Attack, Decoy, Bear Strength/Hawkeye, Agony, Elemental Wand, Mage Wand, Battleforge, Healing spells, Anti-Swarm cards, Walls,

What is everyone’s opinion on balancing the spellbooks this way?  Will it work?  I know I’ll have to sacrifice some power level compared to what competitive play looks like, but that’s fine with me. 

What does everyone think is the right number for each type of effect and which ones are the strongest?  Also, how much does it hurt a mage to be using the less powerful version of an effect, like an orchid or explode instead of a dissolve? 

Are any of these categories less necessary to balance? 

Even after getting more of the staple cards, the plan is for each Mage to have only 1 Teleport and 1 Force Push to prevent the teleporting from getting out of hand.  Will this invalidate certain strategies or make other strategies too strong or do you think that things will balance out in the end?  I’m a little concerned that it will make it too hard to use creatures with Slow or make Tanglevine, Stranglevine, and Quicksand too strong. 

Since I wouldn’t be using 4-6 dissolves/dispels like you see in competitive decks, is it possible that games would all end up with mages buffed up too much and taking too long to kill since they have more equipment/enchantments than the opponent could deal with or do you typically find that only 2-3 is enough most of the time?

Thank everyone in advance for any responses.