I've played 5 games with Siren vs Paladin (as both mages). The Siren has lost every single game by a mile. She just seems very weak.

Sure, she can set up traps, but by the time she sets them up they only delay her troubles.

Her equipment is underwhelming. One of her rings is only useful for half of the rounds in the game while the other ring doesn't get a cost reduction from all water spells, only hydro and aquatic. Her ability to sustain psychic spells hasn't proven to be as helpful as I had hoped. She practically requires a Meditation Amulet since she seems to be constantly starved for mana.

I have been very disappointed with most of her creatures (save for Naiya, who is excellent). The sharks aren't strong enough. The pirates aren't strong enough. None of her level 1 or 2 creatures are worth casting because the most they can do is buy you time - The Siren appears to have a lot of ways to delay threats but few ways to actually deal with them, which is frustrating. The creatures she has that actually ARE effective are extremely expensive... which really makes me wonder why she only has channeling of 9. And then there is grapple, which honestly isn't that good. Even though its a condition marker it isn't hard to escape, and by the time my creatures do have something grappled they are half dead because I have few ways of keeping them alive.

As far as incantations go she has... well she really only has dissolve. And the only good water attack spell she has that you can cast regularly is surging wave.

What am I missing here? She comes off as a mage who is spread to thin with not enough focus on one thing.

Recently received my copy of FiF. I'm focusing on a build centered around having a large/strong army and taking advantage of Harshforge Monolith. I am trying something that is perhaps a little unorthodox: a warlord build with no enchantments and  no attack spells. Why no enchantments? So I don't get hurt by my own Harshforge Monolith. Why no attack spells? Because I don't really feel like I need them since I have access to plenty of soldiers with ranged attacks. I am, of course, using the Anvil Throne Warlord because his runesmithing ability is fantastic.

Conjurations: (11)
1 Barracks (3)
2 Garrison Post (2)
2 Wall of Pikes (2)
2 Wall of Earth (2)
1 Harshforge Monolith (2)

Equipment: (13)
1 Helm of Command (2)
1 Harshforge Plate (2)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Ring of Command (1)
1 General Signet's Ring (1)
1 Morning Star (1)
1 Veteran's Belt (1)
1 Colossus Belt (1)
1 Regrowth Belt (2)
1 Leather Boots (1)

Creatures: (64... could be overkill but hey I like having variety)
4 Goblin Grunt (4)
4 Goblin Slinger ( 8 )
2 Goblin Alchemist (4)
4 Orc Butcher ( 8 )
1 Gurmash, Orc Sergeant (3)
1 Thorg, Chief Bodyguard (4)
2 Dwarf Kriegsbiel (6)
2 Dwarf Panzergarde (6)
2 Anvil Throne Crossbowman (6)
1 Ludwig Boltstorm (3)
1 Grimson Deadeye, Sniper (4)
1 Bloodcraig Minotaur (4)
1 Sir Corazin, Blademaster (4)

Enchantments: (0)

Incantations: (32)
4 Power Strike (4)
4 Defend (4)
2 Perfect Strike (2)
2 Piercing Strike (2)
2 Evade (2)
2 Flank Attack (2)
2 Charge (2)
2 Battle Fury (2)
2 Dispel (6)
1 Dissolve (2)
1 Heal (4)

Attacks: (0)

Turn 1: Barracks + Garrison Post
Turn 2: Garrison Post + General Signet's Ring
Turn 3: Harshforge Plate + Ring of Command
Turn 4: Gurmash + Goblin Grunt / Goblin Slinger / Goblin Alchemist / Orc Butcher

I was looking through curses the other day and it struck me that there aren't any curses that prevent a creature from moving. Sure, there is enfeeble to slow down a creature, but why not have a curse that restrains creatures the same way tanglevine or force hold do? And you could call it "paralysis"? The spell could have a timer on it (to prevent it from being OP) and would most likely have a cost proportional to the level of the target creature (just like how Sleep works).

In here we try to find the optimal opening for a Necromancer that gets Altar of Skulls going. Do you get out Altar of Skulls (AoS) and bring out the clerics when it is "safe?" Do you get the clerics out, build a solid foundation of skeletons and THEN cast AoS? Or do you try to get AoS going as quick as possible and force your opponent to respond? I have been testing out the last method:

Turn 1: Altar of Skulls, Acolyte of Bog Queen
Turn 2: Wall of Bones, Acolyte of Bog Queen
Turn 3: Wall of Bones (shutting yourself in and blocking LoS), Death Ring
Turn 4: Libro Mortuos (Graveyard is out of the question because it is Zone Exclusive, like AoS)
Turn 5: Mort

It is a very slow opening that can easily be undermined but how else would you do it? And you get into a situation where you aren't sure whether to use your clerics to repair your walls or place skull tokens on AoS. Would it be a better opening with another cleric? Or perhaps just 1 cleric?

I didn't see a thread about this under the "Spells" forum so I thought I would make it. The topic is pretty simple - spells you commonly find useful. And by this I mean spells you tend to use in a variety of spellbooks regardless of which mage you are using. So why not make a list of such spells? It might not be useful for the hardcore players but it could be useful for players who are new to the game.

The majority of these spells are level 1 spells, which definitely plays a role in them being commonly useful.

FROM THE WAR SCHOOL
Ivarium Longbow (Equipment)
Gauntlets of Strength (Equipment)
Retaliate (Enchantment)
Battle Fury (Incantation)
Piercing Strike (Incantation)
Evade (Incantation)

FROM THE HOLY SCHOOL
Divine Might (Enchantment)
Healing Wand (Equipment)
Minor Heal (Incantation)
Heal (Incantation)

FROM THE DARK SCHOOL
Agony (Enchantment)
Maim Wings (Enchantment) - can use Knockdown instead if holy mage

FROM THE ARCANE SCHOOL
Mana Crystal (Conjuration)
Elemental Cloak (Equipment)
Nullify (Enchantment)
Seeking Dispel (Incantation)
Dispel (Incantation)
Teleport (Incantation)

FROM THE MIND SCHOOL
Block (Enchantment)
Force Push (Incantation)
Knockdown (Incantation)

FROM THE NATURE SCHOOL
Tanglevine (Conjuration)
Mana Flower (Conjuration)
Regrowth Belt (Equipment)
Bear Strength (Enchantment)
Hawkeye (Enchantment)
Falcon Precision (Enchantment)
Regrowth (Enchantment)
Mongoose Agility (Enchantment) - can arguably replace Evade in certain spellbooks
Rouse the Beast (Incantation)

FROM EARTH / AIR / WATER / FIRE SCHOOLS
Stormdrake Hide (Air, Equipment)
Jet Stream (Air, Attack)
Dragonscale Hauberk (Fire, Equipment)
Dissolve (Water, Incantation)
Acid Ball (Water, Attack)
Surging Wave (Water, Attack)

Edit on 1/4/14: Mana Prism removed. Mana Flower and Mana Crystal added. Surging Wave added.
Edit on 1/4/14: Retaliate, Jet Stream, Acid Ball, Healing Wand, Mongoose Agility added.

The planning stage of Mage Wars can be terrifying for new Mage Wars players. Sometimes you face decision paralysis - there are so many choices that can't pick just one. I am by no means a Mage Wars pro or anything like that, but I can offer some advice to new players when it comes to the planning stage. For me it helped to ask myself the following four questions when it came to planning.

Questions to ask yourself when you are planning:
1.   Initiative: Is there a way I can capitalize on having initiative?
2.   Creatures: Should I summon a creature?
3.   Mana: Is there a reason to keep spare mana open?
4.   Trouble: What enemy “thing” is causing me the most trouble?

As you play more and more games these questions will become easier to answer.

Let us start with question #1. Initiative is extremely important. Whenever you have initiative, you should try to take advantage of it as much as possible. When you have initiative, you basically get two privileges: 1) You get to cast first; 2) You get to move first. Let us look at the first priviledge. Attack spells work well when you have initiative. Maybe you want to use a lightning spell to daze/stun a creature, throwing off whatever the opponent may have had planned. Healing spells works best when you have initiative. You never know when an enemy who has initiative will do something with their quickcast that makes the Minor Heal/Heal you planned useless. Anti-magic works best when you have initiative. Maybe you want to dispel an enemy enchantment or dissolve enemy equipment. If it isn’t your initiative, the opponent may slip a nullify/reverse magic under himself or one of his creatures. But when you do have initiative, you don’t have to worry about this. This leads into another point. Protection spells works best when you have initiative. You might want to take advantage of your initiative by slipping a damage barrier onto your mage or a nullify/block under one of your creatures before an opponent does something. Now for the second privilege. You get to move first. The placement of your mage is very important. When you have initiative and your mage isn’t in a terrific position, you should consider moving them. Turns when you don’t have initiative but want to move your mage can be scary; the enemy mage gets their quickcast and their full action to do something to prevent you from moving!

Now for question #2: Should I summon a creature? Answering this question comes with two other questions. Do I need to move my mage? Do I need additional creatures? If you need to move your mage, then summoning a creature won’t be possible. (The exception to this is special creatures that don’t require a full action to summon and the Beastmaster’s ability to summon level 1 creatures as a quick action). So how do you know if you need additional creatures? Ignoring attack spells (for simplicity’s sake), it isn’t too difficult to calculate how much average damage your opponent can do to you with their creatures and how much damage you can do with your creatures to your opponent. Keep in mind that when you/creatures roll X die, you will do, on average, X total damage. On average, half of this total damage will be normal damage and the other half will be critical damage. Rolls can be unexpectedly awesome or awful, but trusting averages is smart. If your opponent would do more damage (on average) to you than you would do to them, you need a way to generate more damage. For some mages this will mean casting more attack spells or attacking more with their mage. For other mages this will mean summoning more creatures. With the exception of a Forcemaster and a solo-rush-Warlock, it is hard to win without creatures to generate damage and take damage for you.

Question #3: Should I keep spare mana open? Look at any condition markers you may have on your mage or creatures. If you need to remove these conditions, don’t forget to take removal costs into account. Think about nasty condition marker you could get during the current round. Answering question #3 is complicated and will come with experience. Admittedly, there have been many times where I have used up all of my mana and regretted it! But if you see no reason to not use all of your mana, why not use it all? Don't be paranoid and hoard mana. If you aren't making the most of your mana then what is the point of having any?

Question #4: What enemy “thing” is causing me the most trouble? This depends on too many variables to mention. But usually it isn’t too hard to put your finger on the most “annoying” enemy spell. Conjurations with global effects, like Deathlock, can be annoying. Powerful enemy creatures are annoying. Crippling enchantments, like Ghoul Rot, are annoying. Wands are never not annoying! Get to the root of which enemy spell is causing you the most trouble. Once you have located the biggest problem, you should either attempt to remove the problem or work around the problem. For example, some creatures are so powerful that trying to kill them is just a waste of time.

The first time I saw Rise Again I thought the card was perfect for the Necromancer. And then I saw that it had to target living creatures. My heart sank. All of the Necromancer's creatures are nonliving! Why would they include Rise Again with the Necromancer? The only reason I could think of was to revive living creatures that were converted via Ziggurat or Animate Dead. But then I noticed Rise Again wasn't Necromancer only... it was Dark Mage only. If anything, it seems like Rise Again is more useful for a Warlock using non-zombie, non-skeleton creatures. So Rise Again seems like a worthless card for a Necromancer but an excellent card for a Warlock using living creatures. Is there something with the Necromancer I am missing or am I correct about this?