That's gotta be an expensive enchantment Arkdeniz, but I like the idea of adding Immovable and making it temporary.

I also really hope we can make the angel anything other than Holy (they do not need more good creatures), I really like the idea of dark/fire school "fallen angel" to make them specifically for warlocks (I think they need the most help).

In the interest of keeping the discussion going, Juli and I did a stream on MW2.0. Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K975ALpWuw

Okay, but I am not sure how you get that from the obscured trait:

"This object is difficult to see. It cannot be targeted from more than one zone away..."

The word illegal is not used, it does not mention the subjects ability to be hit by attacks from beyond range 1 nor does it make a creature immune to attacks at range 2+.

The word target and targeted are important keywords that we use all the time in MW, they have specific uses, like when you are declaring spells and attacks. Obscured does not affect the Ballista's range, but rather the obscured creature's ability to be targeted. Targets beyond an attacks range are always illegal, and it is illegal to target an obscured creature at range 2+. But we have already agreed that we only check target in step one and at that point the target is not obscured. This is rules as written.

You keep mentioning the section "changing the range or target of a spell or attack", i.e. "changing the range of an attack" or "changing the target of an attack".

The range of the attack is not changed, if something made the Ballista range 1 it would qualify, the Ballista bolt would fall short.

The target of the spell is not changed by obscured, it's ability to be targeted is. Let's say the Ballista fired a flaming missile at the creature, you reveal a spell that gives it fire immunity, then the target has changed and this would affect the ongoing attack.

Hey folks,

In the most recent Arcane Duels League, we saw a new trick used to counter a Ballista's attack. Blur was revealed after the Ballista declared its target, and the players agreed that this canceled the attack. Here is the game with time stamp: https://youtu.be/ywZ2lpGRHIQ?t=287

Initially my gut told me that this did not work, but could not recall where I had read the clarification and could not pinpoint the rule. It is, as the judges conclude, legal to reveal Blur when the attack has begun. So why should it not work?

Today I had an epiphany: The reason why the trick does not work is because you can only reveal enchantments "after a step or phase". The first thing that happens when the Ballista is about to fire is the turning of the ready marker, this is not a step. The first "step" taken in a Ballista's ranged attack is "Declare Attack". In the Declare Attack Step you declare the target and check for Line of Sight, this is the only point at which LoS is checked in an attack. After the Declare Attack Step, you may reveal Blur, but it is too late.

It is written in the base manual under "Attacks Step 1: Declare Attack", although they do not put a whole lot of weight on the ruling here. I have scoured the forum to find a clarification of this rule and I have to quote myself on this, from my Enchantment Tranfusion Clarification:

[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard] (ET)
Spells that interact with Line of Sight (Lesser Invisibility/Blur):
If your opponent targets a creature with a spell, you may reveal ET after the opponents ”Pay Cost” step to move an enchantment that would cause LoS to be broken, and the spell is cancelled.
Note that this does not work against standard non-spell attacks, since LoS is only checked during the first step "Declare Attack" and you cannot interrupt an initiated step. You would have to move the LoS-breaking enchant before the attack is even declared.

No one has ever told me that this was wrong, so I assume it is still true.

Zuberi has a similar post for spells, that can be used to support the ruling:

Addendum regarding Option 2: Mana Siphon doesn't choose a target mage until the Resolve Spell Step (the spell itself is targeting a zone, it is the effect of the spell that targets a mage), which is why the Divine Intervention trick works. Similarly, sweeping doesn't choose it's secondary target until after it finishes attacking the first target (luckily the second target is now optional). In order to force someone to choose a different target, possibly making them target themselves, you have to make their desired target illegal before they've actually had a chance to officially target it. For most spells, this means you must make the thing an illegal target before Step 1: Cast Spell, which will probably result in them not casting the spell at all rather than casting it on an undesirable target. Once they've officially selected a target, it is impossible to change it, much less force them to change it.

In conclusion, Blur cannot be revealed to break a Ballista shot or any other attack, you have to reveal it before the attack is declared.

If you want to write it in a more logical, less rules lawyery way: You can reveal Blur after the attack is declared, but the Ballista bolt is already fired and on intercept course with the creature, it does not care that your creature turns blurry/invisible at this stage.

Feel free to discuss and tell me if I am wrong.

Wow, this is an amazing conversion. Well done!

I have a few thoughts/questions on this.

Intangible from Arcane Duels talked about this way back, rushes have a lower ceiling and will not win as consistently. You are right that this is a trend that is becoming more pronounced. But is that a bad thing? The game is moving towards longer, more complex games, distancing itself from fast-paced mainstream card games.

Would you really prefer the opposite? That rushes were the main strategy in the game? Run forward, throw boulders, games are over in 30 minutes, all books are the same because opposed schools doesn't mean anything when only a small percentage of your SBP ever sees play. Obviously a middle ground is best, but at least long games are the lesser of two evils.

The big downside of Ritual of Kallek is that it burns your SBP for a short term gain. If SBP is worthless, then the Ritual is amazing. If SBP is worth something, then the Ritual is not worth as much. Same could be said about Wispwillow, Mana Lotus and Remove curse.

Everyone is limited by SBP, when building a book you need to balance it so you can win the game after your economy has paid off, both against rushes (which you claim is easy) but also other economy books (which should then provide you with some challenge).

How does your multiple spawnpoint Necromancer do against a multiple spawnpoint opponent? More importantly, do you consider those games boring?

Theoretically it is possible for a game of Mage Wars to last indefinitely, if both mages resolve to just sit in their corner and do nothing every turn. But how often does that happen? I think this has happened once in my MW career, no one wanted to engage so we agreed to a draw and played the next game. Does it often happen to anyone else? What happens in those situations?

Eventually you will have to engage to win, in a game of two economy books you should see skirmishes across the middle zones and larger, more important spells to swing the game like conjurations and zone attacks. Sounds fun and epic?

The biggest issue is probably real life time constraints? I like to think that quality games take time, and Mage Wars Arena at its slowest is still faster than most grand strategy games. Although it would really help if OCTGN had a save function.

Finally, the take from this is that more people should play Domination, it's a really fun game mode!