I'm spending the week in Roscoe, IL on a business trip. Anyone in the area want to meet up for a game or a drink? I should have a few free evenings between Monday and Friday, but I won't be very mobile, unfortunately. I'd love to have the chance to meet some of the illustrious IL warriors, so pm me if you're interested!

DevilsVendetta and I played our game tonight. I brought an Anvil Throne Warlord to the table to meet DevilVendetta's Fire Wizard. The Wizard quickly established a strong economical advantage with crystals and discount rings, gearing up with two battleforges; meanwhile the Warlord rushed to his center to summon a Bloodwave Greatbow and a Dwarf Panzergarde. The orc archer made short work of the first battleforge, and a Ballista eventually helped taking out the second one. The Wizard brought a Gorgon Archer to counter the threat of the Greatbow, and managed to dish out weaks left right and center, but his conjurations could not be saved. The ballista went up in flames under the attacks of the Wizard and his Tower. A Bloodcrag Minotaur and a Goblin Alchemist joined the fray to deal with the Gorgon and the Wizard's Towers, as well as a second Greatbow, perched atop an Archer's Watchtower. The Minotaur eventually succumbed to the heat of the Wizard's damage barrier, but the Wizard was struggling to find a safe zone by then, with ranged attacks coming from every direction. The Alchemists slowly corroded his high armor, then the Warlord jumped in the melee, padded with armor and wielding his trusty Forge Hammer, to deliver several heavy blows to the Wizard. This proved too much for the bearded old man, who fell to the floor after 24 rounds of intense play.

Personal thoughts/highlights :
Bloodwave Greatbow is insanely good. With the AT Warlord's battle order, he gets Piercing + 4, making him a beast against conjurations or heavily armored targets.
I had a lot of fun casting Battlefury from a Helm of Command on my opponent to pop Nullifies. It felt so wrong and yet so right at the same time...
These high armor strategies make the games last forever... This one took 4h30 to complete, and we played it pretty fast. At one point I had 9 armor on my mage, which felt pretty silly (and yet it helped against a nasty fireball).
DevilsVendetta, you're a great opponent, and I had a lot of fun in our match. Thanks again!

I'll try to post my spellbook soon.

Altar of Skulls. Man, what a card. It's hard to get it going, but once powered up, it can be devastating. Finite Life and direct poison damage to every living creature on the board. The tricky part : your mage has to survive long enough to make it happen. Good luck with that.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Too Cool for Skulls[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Necromancer Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by some dumb oaf[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack (3)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration (8)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ01]1 x Altar of Skulls[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]4 x Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J22]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature (14)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC01]1 x Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C32]2 x Skeletal Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC15]6 x Skeletal Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC14]2 x Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]1 x Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC07]1 x Mort[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC02]1 x Deathfang[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment (18)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNE02]1 x Rise Again[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E14]2 x Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]2 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E02]1 x Plagued[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]2 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E25]1 x Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E04]1 x Chains of Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]1 x Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]3 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E22]1 x Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment (8)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q19]2 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q05]1 x Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation (17)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI05]1 x Unholy Resurgence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI03]6 x Reassemble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]1 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI13]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]2 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I25]2 x Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI08]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Opening looks like this :
T1 (20) : QC Death Ring (-5), FC Acolyte of the Bog Queen (-5)
T2 (20) : QC Altar of Skulls (-9), FC Libro Mortuos (-9), the Acolyte prays to the Altar.
T3 (12 + 1) : Deploy Minion (-4), QC Brace Yourself (-2), FC Curse / Rhino Hide / Skeletal Sentry / Meditation Amulet, more praying by the Acolyte.
T4+ : Try to survive, keep your Acolyte alive, put up walls to protect her and your Altar, send your skeletons as cannon fodder to distract the enemy (or have them guard the Altar). Hide like the coward you are, you spineless Necromancer.

There are plenty of reconstructs and walls. Reconstruct with the Death Ring discount costs only 3 mana for a whopping 6 dice of healing. That's insanely efficient, and you most likely should always have one planned (or put on a wand, if you fear you'll run out). Try to save some mana by meditating whenever you can afford it, to be able to cast a Drain Soul before the Altar is completed. Also, try not to die. This is essential to the strategy.

Like most of my books, this one is weak to rush strategies. Mages running Non Living creatures can also be a problem, and facing another Necro will give hilarious results. For him. You won't be laughing much, I promise. Still, the book has its qualities. Once everything is Finite Life, your mage can Lifebond two damage each upkeep to the Altar, ignoring range and LoS. If Mort is in the same zone as the Altar, he'll reconstruct that damage right away, free of charge. The Acolyte, before dying to the poison damage for which she worked so hard, will also remove two damage from the Altar every turn if she has nothing better to do. That way, the initial damage you certainly took can be mitigated for a while. There's also the ol' Sacrifice-your-Eternal-Servant-Plague-Zombie-to-Rot-Everything-in-the-Zone-and-Reanimate-it trick (SESPZREZRT, for those in the know) that never gets old.

The downside : you'll feel like a dirty, dirty coward all game long, running and hiding behind your walls and waiting for your opponent to miserably collapse, out of healing options and ridden with disease. If you weren't killed right off the bat by an opponent who figured that your strategy takes about 48 turns to complete, and that maybe throwing stuff at your face might be a good idea.

Thoughts welcome!

Here's the Earth Wizard I played against mastermystery in the ADMW Tournament today. The book is somewhat gimmicky, and better play from my opponent gave him the victory, but I feel it has some potential... or not? I don't know. It felt right, but there is certainly room for a lot of improvement in there.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Telepit Earth Wizard[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Wizard (Earth) Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by yours truly[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack (8)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]2 x Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA04]2 x Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A09]1 x Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]1 x Flameblast[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration (12)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1W02]2 x Wall of Stone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]2 x Wall of Earth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]1 x Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J22]1 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ07]1 x Quicksand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ02]1 x Wizard's Tower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]1 x Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]2 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J14]1 x Mana Syphon[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature (4)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWC09]2 x Iron Golem[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC02]1 x Earth Elemental[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC03]1 x Devouring Jelly[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment (22)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]1 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E15]1 x Essence Drain[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO19]1 x Summoning Circle[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE05]1 x Spiked Pit[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E38]3 x Teleport Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO13]1 x Mana Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E21]1 x Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E09]1 x Hoodwink[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]3 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E23]2 x Jinx[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E10]2 x Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]1 x Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E36]1 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment (9)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q01]1 x Arcane Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q09]1 x Sistarran Robes[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q10]1 x Wychwood Ironvine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q31]1 x Staff of the Arcanum[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q19]2 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation (13)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWI13]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]4 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I21]1 x Purge Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I25]1 x Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]3 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Solid, non-living creatures, and some possibilities to create a nice death-zone, featuring a corrosive orchid to take care of some armor and possible Eagleclaw Boots. Economy is decent, with two crystals and the Siphon (although I'm really incertain about this one, the upfront cost is huge and I can't seem to defend it properly).

Opening should look like this :
T1 (20)      QC Arcane Ring (-2) FC Crystal (-4)
T2 (25)      QC Crystal (-4) FC Golem (-13)
T3 (20)      QC Mana Vampirism (-2) FC Siphon (-11)
T4 (19)      QC Spiked Pit (-2) FC Summoning Circle (-2)

There's plenty of mana to go around in the initial turns, so reacting to the opponent is not too much of a problem. The inclusion of the Sistarran Robes, Essence Drain, Mana Vampirism and Staff of the Arcanum are really questionable in my opinion; although they seem to combo pretty well, the action investment doesn't seem so sound, as the opponent has time to grow defenses or creatures and these cards take a couple of turns to pay themselves off, turns that could be better employed at negating the enemy's defenses through dispel/dissolve. More walls, more creatures and more attack spells would probably be better in this spellbook. I debated a lot over including Astral Anchor or not, and the jury is still out on this one. Any thoughts will be highly appreciated!

I just had my match against RomeoXero, that was a blast! I played the Johktari Beastmaster, and he played a zombie-happy Arraxian Crown Warlock.

The Beastmistress started by moving two spaces to the near center and popping a pair of flowers, for decorative purposes. The Warlock stayed in his corner, played a pair of mana crystals and started spawning Zombie Brutes like they were going out of style. The BM responded with two Spitting Raptors and set them on his crystals. The mage helped with Kajarah in hand, but was too scared of the three Brutes guarding the Warlock to make any kind of reckless approach. The Warlock had something else in mind... on his initiative, the BM got teleported in the pit of zombies and Tanglevine'd in place. A Teleport bound to a Mage Wand saved the Johktari from this tricky situation. In retaliation, the Brutes made short work of one of the raptors, and converted him to dark side with a Rise Again. Curseweaving ensured that this curse would get a few other uses during the match, to the Johktari's great dismay.

A Ghoul Rot, a Magebane and a Deathlock put a steady stream of unmitigable damage on the BM, while she was struggling to get creatures out (she somehow forgot how to cast a Lair). The Beastmistress fled the Warlock and his undead horrors as much as she could, in between summoning a few canines to help with the action advantage. Redclaw, a Timber Wolf and a couple of Foxes tried their best to reach the Deathlock, pumped up by Rajan's Fury, but found Walls of Bones in their way several times. They diverted their attention to the Warlock when he came by, and helped close the damage gap a bit. They all eventually fell to the various Flameblasts and heavy blows from the Zombie Brutes, while the Johktari was licking her wounds in the opposite corner of the arena, gearing up and bringing in more foxes as reinforcements. The Warlock eventually stepped too close to the heat, and got a Boulder to the face for his troubles, slamming him and dealing 10 damage. Another high-rolling Boulder during the next first quickcast phase ensured that this Warlock would never again curse or burn a poor animal.

Lessons learned : double check your spellbook to see if you haven't forgotten something important like oh say a spawnpoint for your myriad of creatures. Nullifies save lives. Rise Again is a pain in the back, and prevents your creatures from resting in peace in your discard pile where they could at least net you a nice rebate on Slavörg's mana cost.

Thanks again for the game, RomeoXero! And thanks to coshade, Puddnhead and Sharkbait who joined us to stream the game!

I've played Domination regularly and my playgroup doesn't use Galaxxus. Mainly for practical reasons, since we generally play 3-for-all and only have two copies of it; we do not want to put someone at a disadvantage by not having it and needing to play against it. Besides, not having Galaxxus make the games more diverse and interesting imo.

There are a lot of cards that get better in Domination than they are in Arena. [mwcard=MW1J17]Circle of Fun[/mwcard], [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC04]Poly-Puppy[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J18]Stinky Gas Cloud[/mwcard] all gain signifiant avantages when playing with orbs. I've tried something with the [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard] one, but still felt it was too slow despite the dying Sslaks feeding it.

In Academy, when a guard decides to ignore an attacking Pest enemy, is the Counterstrike Step skipped? More specifically, if a Pest creature attacks a guarding Ridgeback Skunk, and the guard chooses to ignore the little bugger and save his guard token, does the attacker still receive a stagger condition?