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Topics - The Dude

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1
Spellbook Design and Construction / Down (under) dog
« on: June 09, 2017, 08:36:00 PM »
Beastmaster, I mean, he's a hunk. There's no doubt about it. Able to make companions out of the fiercest of animals, making them that much stronger because of domestication. He's great, quick casting falcons better than a magician produces a dove.... but today, it's not about him. He has a kin, much more primal, hunting, lurking... someone who is all but ignored in today's game of mages in the arena. Yes, my friends.

I'm talking about the Johktari BM

Here's the list I'm playing with currently:

1x Fellella 3 pts
1x Sosruko 2 pts
1x Steelclaw 4 pts
1x Giant Wolf Spider 4 pts
1x Dire Wolf 3 pts


total points in creatures: 16

1x hawkeye 1 pt
4x Jinx 8pts
3x Bear Strength 3 pts
3x Rhino Hide 3 pts
3x Marked For Death 6 pts
1x Cheetah Speed 1 pt


total points in enchantments: 22

2x Regrowth Belt 2 pts
1x Dragonscale 3 pts
1x Elemental Cloak 2 pts
1x Leather Gloves 1 pt
1x Leather Boots 1 pt
1x Hunting Bow 3 pts
1x Enchanter's Ring 1 pt
1x Meditation Amulet 2 pts


total in equipment: 15 pts

1x Battle Forge 5 pts
3x Mana Flower 3 pts
2x Tanglevine 2 pts
1x Wall of thorns 1 pts

total in conjurations: 11 pts

2x teleport 8 pts
1x charge 2 pts
2x Seeking Dispel 4 pts
2x Minor Heal 4 pts
2x Heal 8 pts
2x rouse the beast 2 pts
1x Force Push 2 pts
2x Dispel 4 pts
2x Dissolve 4 pts
1x Battle fury 2 pts

Total in incantations: 40 pts

2x Hurl Boulder 8 pts
2x Surging Wave 4 pts
2x Acid Ball 4 pts

Total in Attack Spells: 16 points

Total: 120 pts


So, what's so great about this list? Well, it's a great example of a tempo book. However, a key difference here is that we have a number of spells that let us gain the tempo whenever we need it. It's a not a book in which we need tempo right away. We can stall, bide our time, and go when the moment is right for the kill. With closers like Hurl Boulder and Battle Fury combined with the bow, we have a great way to end the game quickly after getting early hits with our fatties. I'll explain a few of the key importances of the book, but I feel this is a build best learnt by trying it out. You have multiples in many of the critical spells, and with meditation amulet, you have more than enough mana to get there.


1x Dire Wolf: With a few other rather large creatures in the book, this dude is perfect for adding aggression to the board without wasting too many resources. He's perfect for when the Mage is already bloodied, and helps to turn our bow on. Pairing him with the cheetah speed in your book is a great way to sic him on your foe quickly. He is a little fluffy, but getting even two thirsty attacks off with him is enough to do the dirty work.

1x Fellella: Why include enchanter's ring AND the faerie? Well, there is a number of rounds where we are using the amulet and then enchanting something, so we might as well benefit from the ring's discount. Fellella is for the 3x Marked and the 4x Jinx. Having her help stall for the kill rounds while we have our action to throw acid or Boulders  and shoot is critical. She may seem hard to set up, but really, with the amount you are gaining per round (15 with an amulet activation), she will be out in no time.

1x Giant Wolf Spider: Okay. I'll admit it. I've always wanted this card to be good, ever since we first saw this guy in  CoK. Is he? Well, the ability to taint the enemy off of a tanglevine is not something to look down your nose at. As well, shooting effective tanglevines himself is Bad effing A. He's expensive, especially because you get the most effect when you combine a Rouse with him. But try him out. He's a beast.

1x Sosruko: Oh my God does taunting make me giggle like noone else. The image of a little ferret running between the feet of world's most powerful mages, aggravating them to the point that they are punching thin air in an attempt to kill them is not only objectively hilarious, it's also quite good. What's it best on? Those guys who always seem to guard the zone. Taunt them away from that action, get that crap out of here!

4x Jinx: The best time to wear a striped sweater is all the time. The best time to throw a Jinx? When you want to kill the mage. Jinxing them off of a heal or a teleport is so very powerful, having 4 of them for 4 potential rounds of this is just good. Decent players and above tend to realize when a Jinx is coming, but even making them play around it is good enough. We only need a window of 3-4 rounds to kill the mage. Jinx helps.

If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, please, I'd love to hear about them!!

2
Strategy and Tactics / Card of the Week #2: Battle Forge
« on: February 09, 2016, 09:20:16 AM »
Card of the Week #2

Battle Forge

This week, we are going to be discussing a staple In the Mage Wars universe, a card that has been used since the games release and will continue to be used ad nauseam. The card, of course, is Battle Forge. Now, why is this card so popular? Why are there so many books that use this card specifically as an opening? Today on Card of the Week, let’s dive in into the fiery hotness (redundant is redundant) that is Battle Forge.

So, let’s start by talking about the card itself. You could be the new guy that isn’t as familiar with the cards, and that’s totally OK. That’s what we are here for, to fuel that addiction to the full throttle excitement that is Mage Wars. Battle Forge is a fire/war conjuration that costs 8 to cast,  has four armor, 6 life, and 1 channeling. It’s got this channeling because it is… a SPAWNPOINT. And not just your garden variety, run of the mill Pentagram. No, this little guy drops equipment on the regular i.e. every round. Cheap spawnpoint? Great! Buy why?
Spawnpoints are wonderful for one main reason: Action advantage. Without spawnpoints, the Mage is able to take two casting actions a round. This isn’t bad, but on average, only allows for 20-40 cards to be cast a game, with 20 rounds being the high end of most games today. This may seem like a lot, but let’s think about this. Your opponent doesn’t have a spawnpoint, you do. You deploy a piece of equipment every round. Now, instead of 20-40, you’re getting 30-60 casts per game. This is a vast advantage over the opponent. Now, of course you probably won’t have that many pieces of equipment in your spellbook, but the example does leave behind the thought that spawnpoints are a lot more powerful than on the face of things. But enough about just spawnpoints in general… let’s get back to the Forge of Doom. Or Battle Forge. What have you.

The reason Battle Forge is just so powerful is that is so incredibly versatile. No, seriously. There isn’t a mage to date that hasn’t made good use of Battle Forge at some point. The main reason for this is that there is a wealth of equipment to choose from. In fact, the one thing that all books have in common, if anything, is that they all have equipment in some amount. It’s when your book gets to that critical mass of about 8 pieces of equipment that one starts to think about Battle Forge. The reason the low end is 8 is because that’s how pieces of equipment the Battle Forge needs to produce to  break even. I’m ignoring the idea that Battle Forge can sit and gain mana over multiple rounds as that really ruins that advantage you have of having a spawnpoint. There are different thought processes about this of course, but if you simply wanted a higher channeling, there are much cheaper options to do so. The reason it is played so much is so we can have extra actions during the critical building moments of the game.

Battle Forge is also extremely prominent because it complements two strategies with extreme effectiveness. Aggressive, solo mage or big buddy builds LOVE BF because they can cast all of the equipment they need to beat face quickly so that they can go on the offensive. It is the same reasoning that turtling loves BF so much. In addition, control builds can use BF to hand pick the defenses they need each round without planning it or spending the action. Ever squandered a planned force push by deploying an eagleclaw boots? Thems the beats.
I feel like I should point out that Battle Forge also has some really interesting possibilities. For example, you can switch out wands, effectively changing the spellbound spell, without wasting the quick action. And getting additional action advantage OVER the already wonderful advantage inherent in spawnpoints? I’ll take it. Or, running 3 wispwillow amulets and a mana flower instead of 2 mana flowers? Paying 1 mana for a 6 round channeler with a Harmed up Battle Forge is just so sexy.

There are some weaknesses of the Battle Forge, however. The first, and the most damning is the mana cost of using BF. It’s not cheap. You can mitigate that by using cheap equipment, but the better equipment is more expensive but also worth having. If you are going to play with Battle Forge, you are going to need to budget your mana for the first half of the game. The other factor that can be pretty harmful against the BF is that it’s really easy to tech and kill it. Surging wave rolls for a million against it, is cheap in spellbook points, and is cheap to cast. And there isn’t really a way to protect BF from it! You can cast a creature with intercept, but chances are you won’t have that much mana to work with anyways. You can cast a wall, but again, this is mana intensive and doesn’t really defend the BF while at the same time limiting its range. The best way to defend against BF rush is to take advantage of them attacking your weak point and attack theirs. The only time BF rush is effective is if it’s done extremely early on. After about 3 rounds, the advantage of BF is done, and there is time better spent doing something else. So, if it’s early like it should be, it is easily telegraphed. Moving to NC after BF is cast is a hard tell that they will be surging next round. Take advantage of that knowledge. Beat their face in, or just capitalize on their lack of investment on the board. You will be having a lot more mana to work with, so get some of those creatures out, tanglevine them after the wave, and smash face. Punish them with your knowledge of their plan. In essence, if your BF becomes a target, you will know. Use that.

A question I often see come up and a common mistake newer players will make is the placement of Battle Forge. It’s pretty easy, actually. Don’t place it in the center zone. Force the opponent to make it over to your side to attack your engine. Don’t play it out there in the open unless you have a huge reason to do that. This greediness is okay against newer players, but veterans of the game will punish that greediness with a vengeance. Don’t get in that habit. So, that leaves three zones you can cast BF in. The starting zone, the zone directly above you and the zone directly to your left. What this comes down to is the strategy you have. If you are aggressive, to the left of you is best because them attacking it, at best, puts them 2 zones away from your starting zone. As well, your effective BF casting range will put you at most 2 zones away from the opponent. Perfect level 2 spell range. If you are slower build, directly above you is a better play because your effective range covers your entire half of the board and the NC of the opponents side of the board, allowing you to build your engine without having to worry about getting in the opponent’s line of fire.

The point I want to touch on before we close here is a question that was asked on the forums and brought up a few interesting possibilities to my mind. The question was, should you include 2 Battle Forges in your book, ever? And right now, we are going to ignore the SB cost of having two BF in your book because that is irrelevant. Would you include two Battle Forges in your book if you could? It’s non unique, so it’s fine. Something like turn 1 Battle Forge, Battle Forge? I think this is an incredibly entertaining idea and I would love to see a book that could make it work. I think DWL or JBM would be in the best position to make this work as the JBM has the ability to start hitting fast and hard, and the DWL can manipulate equipment pretty much at will. You would also need something like 16 pieces of equipment to make even limited use of your BF? That’s a little much, even for me. Then again, if I had the ability to switch equipment at the beginning of the round, I would totally do so if I could afford it. You would also need an effect 10-11 channelling, which is definitely possible for the cheap with the advent of Wispwillow amulet.

So, to kind of close things up here, Battle Forge is an incredibly versatile conjuration that can be used in any number of ways. In addition, this card is STILL being explored, even though it’s a core set card! It’s a card that constantly gives me new ideas and possibilities, and plenty of books to build around! So, pull out those cherished Battle Forges, and let’s try something new with this Card of the Week.

3
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Viper bite on garden path[/spellbookname]
[mage]Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x  Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 X Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ02]2 x  Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]2 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]1 x  Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W04]2 x Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC10]2 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x  Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC08]1 x  Gargoyle Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]4 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e23]2 x  Jinx[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]1 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ07]1 x  Veteran's Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]2 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x  Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]2 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ04]1 x  Druid's Leaf Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ08]1 x  Vinewhip Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q11]1 x  Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI02]3 x  Burst of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]1 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


This basic shell is from my previously posted book, Steve miller. This book... I love it. No. I LOVE IT.

This is the craziest idea I've had in a while, and I think I'm going to run with it.


When a Druid is brought to the battlefield, there arse a number of preconceived notions. This book walks the opponent down the quintessential path of druids. We start out with a control shell that happens to use a BF as an action generator... seemingly. It's straight control at this point, using the staff to stick them while I build up seemingly very control like. And then. And then I get in their face. The turning point is when I use BF to switch my gloves for gauntlets. Because this is deployment, they are hit with such a different concept of what my druid is doing. I then reveal BS and start to beat face.

Other notable entries:

2 mage wands??? No way. Well, I need actions in everyway I can get them. During my BF deployment, I can cast the second wand and just replace the first. Brand new spell. So, I avoid the having to pay a quick spell to change my spell. This comes in pretty handy considering i can then QC that spell.

Gargoyle: CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

Eagleclaw boots/leather boots. No,  I don't got 4 feet. But I can switch them out. With the battleforge.


Mainly I'm trying to get as much efficiency from each of my cards as possible. Stuck lets the opponent waste their teleports while I prep for tangle/stranglevine death. I'm also abusing the deployment phase pretty hard, letting my opponent come up with a plan only for it to backfire as they have to backpedal. Cards like Jinx during the critical turn only goes to help that.

The only truly difficult match is a hyper aggressive mage. You will have to pray for some decent dice rolls early on so you don't die, and then your life gets easier.

Save dispels for poisoned blood. Save seeking for face down enchants on opponent. Don't be afraid to seeking dispel wand. It will do work.

Force hammer is for two reasons, three if you count promos. Deathlock. Wizard's tower. Ballista. Take them down. These are real threats that need to be shut down as quickly as possible.

Force Push is another way to throw them a curve ball. If they neglect armor because they don't thing they need it, I can deploy wall and move and push. I can also use it to buy some breathing room in case the room gets too hot. They will have to waste lvl 2 spells to attack efficiently the next round, which not only do I have plenty of armor for, but also this really cool cloak that helps with that pesky flame trait.

Three thorn bursts are so that I can double thorn for two rounds rather than one with burst on a wand.

Unlike most Druid builds, my creatures are not nearly as important in the late game. I only need them to help finish the job, not do the whole thing. It is for this reason that there is a major lack of creature support in this book is that I don't need it nearly as much in this book.


Anyways, guys, I would really love your impressions of this idea, if you've tried it before, and what we can do to make it better. I think this book is tournament viable, and with the right tweaks, maybe we can do that! Thank you all for taking a look at my thoughts, and I can't wait to hear your input!!

4
Strategy and Tactics / Go Tandem Study #2: Not Jose-ki, Jo-seki!
« on: February 04, 2016, 01:41:20 PM »

It’s been quite some time since I’ve delved into some of the deeper theory in Mage Wars, and today, as kind of a way to mark a new beginning for myself, I want to discuss further the similarities in thought between one of the most interesting games I’ve ever studied, Go, and my favorite game of all time, Mage Wars. Previously, we have discussed the concepts of sente and gote as it relates to Mage Wars and as it relates to Go, but today, I want to explore two concepts:

1.   Joseki
2.   Tenuki

These two concepts, for those of you studious in Go, may not seem to correlate to Mage Wars at first, but I believe that understanding these concepts is another key to the nirvana that is Mage Wars perfection. Of course, I am no guru myself, but I think this will give you guys just another take on how some thought processes can be achieved when playing the game.

Joseki literally can be interpreted as “set stones”. Basically, joseki are a series of moves that take place in the corners of the Go board that are fixed. They have been maximized for both the black and the white player to the point that if both players have memorized the sequences perfectly for a given pattern, it will come out balanced every time. There are 1000s of josekis that are memorized and tomes of books that have literally nothing in them but diagrams of various sequences being played out. What is the point of studying these patterns, one might ask. Ideally, the perfect player would not need to memorize the stone patterns as they are able to make the perfect play every single time. Well, it makes games easier. Go games can go quite long, and there are a lot of brain processes that take place. If you can recall a pattern from rote, you can not only spend more time thinking about what happens AFTER that joseki plays out, but if you have the head on the opponent, you can bend the pattern to your rules. In most joseki, there are a number of set ways to respond to a move being made. These very basic moves are what encompass a joseki.
 
So this rote memorization in games becomes something you can play with once you know what all the deviations of the joseki are. You can tempt the opponents into traps by encouraging them to go down one path and then deviating from the norm to force them into a tough position. You can also use their knowledge of that particular pattern against them by deviation from the rote. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy thing to do at all. A masterful knowledge of joseki must be discovered before you can get to this point, but it is very possible. In fact, the better players don’t use joseki in so much as what to do stone for stone, rather what that particular joseki’s board position once the dust settles.

During the course of a Joseki being played out, you or the opponent may make a move that is deemed weak. This is when something called Tenuki can take place. For those of you who have read the previous study I shared, Tenuki is a response to a gote threat. In other words, it’s the point during which in joseki the opponent makes a weak move, and you respond by playing elsewhere on the board. Tenuki happens when the move that was just made did not add to the players board position at all, and the opponent responded by creating a  sente threat elsewhere that must be dealt with.
 
But how does Joseki and Tenuki relate to Mage Wars? On the face of things, there are only so many things you can do to responds to an opponent’s move in Go.  In Mage Wars, not only do you have a full spellbook you can respond with, you also have a literal ton of cards you can choose to build your book with. Well, things begin to narrow down when we think about it. For example, if the opponent plays a deathlink on my Grizzly, I can respond by ignoring it and playing something else, I can respond by dispelling that enchantment, etc. On a very basic level, this is a joseki exchange. Moves with the intent on getting a predicted response from the opponent. Tanglevining a Wizard with intent on him to Teleport. The examples are endless, and yes, they are by and large a lot shorter than Go joseki, but that doesn’t mean that they are any less important. Mage Wars is largely a game that is played with intention in a players mind. They have to plan based on what you are going to do. Planning simply based on what the mage is going to do is a one way ticket to losing the game, which is not so different than Go. But, with the knowledge that certain moves have certain reactions, we can use that to our advantage. If it’s by adding special tech to your book to deal with conjurations or simply utilizing a different line of play, throwing your opponent’s plays off base is one of the strongest things you can do in Mage Wars, because it buys you actions with your opponent’s time.

To begin making use of this concept, I would suggest looking into your book and examining each of your cards. Think about the typical responses the opponent makes when they see this card. Even more so, think about the timing of when you typically play that particular card. Would changing the timing of that card change the expectations you have of your opponent’s play? Even more so, after your opponent has responded, what does the board look it? Are there more assets in your favor, or the opponents? Another thought to think about is what is the most effective play against the one I just made? Not the most common, mind you, but the most effective. If that means ignoring your play, you should be either finding a way capitalize on that ignorance, or finding a play that forces a response. All of these questions stem from this very simple of Joseki, and I encourage you to explore this further. The biggest difference in Joseki in Go and Joseki in Mage Wars is that your books are customizable. You can change and make stronger your play, but that does require that critical thought that Joseki can give you.

5
Spellbook Design and Construction / Steve Miller's Plight (Druid nonsense)
« on: February 04, 2016, 10:16:02 AM »
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Steve miller's plight[/spellbookname]
[mage]Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA04]2 x  Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x  Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]2 x  Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]1 x  Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]2 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC08]1 x  Gargoyle Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC21]2 x  Thornlasher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]2 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]4 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x  Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE01]2 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]4 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e23]2 x  Jinx[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ07]1 x  Veteran's Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x  Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ08]1 x  Vinewhip Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ04]1 x  Druid's Leaf Ring[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI02]3 x  Burst of Thorns[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

I've never built a Druid before. Never had the itch.


I got the itch.

Based off of Vinewhip Staff, which is an awesome piece of Staff! Sticking people for 4 mana has never been so much fun. But the main point of the Staff is twofold:

1. It has reach. I've seen that Druids often have trouble against Fliers. Falcon punching has never been so easy.

2. As a QC, we can lay out an extra vine marker. This is critical for the early game. We want the field blanketed by round 5. This is going to be how we get do most of out bidding as well, so a continuous, strong flow of vine markers throughout the game is never a bad thing.

We also make use of the Stuck condition staff provides, but it's not the main reason it was placed in this book. Other notable changes:

Gargoyle over Angel. Gargoyle is cheaper.

Veteran's Belt. We gots the armor, I'm tired of being crit all the time. This helps


This is just a working iteration, so please, feel free to tell me what I should fix, things I should think about, how to build a druid.



6
General Discussion / All I want to do...
« on: February 03, 2016, 12:07:16 PM »
Is treebond with Togorah. Is that too much to ask?

I mean, he is a LOT of tree to bond with...

7
Strategy and Tactics / Card of the Week #1: Tanglevine
« on: February 02, 2016, 03:38:16 PM »
Card of the week:
Tanglevine

Tanglevine is a pretty unassuming card. It’s from the core set, which is by no means a slight against the card. Rather, it’s been so long since the core set has come it, it seems that we oft forget this cards in place of shinier, newer iterations of old favorites. This is a main reason I want to bring Tanglevine back to your attention. It’s a five mana quick action conjuration with 8 life, no armor, and all it does is sit there, stopping something from moving. Sure it’s a decent card, but why is it card of the week worthy? Well, for three main reasons, all of which we will go into today. Tanglevine is efficient, aggressive, and subtle in so many ways that it is a card that can be used even as utility in virtually every book!

Let’s start with the most basic observation, an analyzation of card stats to determine efficiency. The card costs 5 mana. Pretty cheap, but it’s about half a round’s worth of mana, so it isn’t something you can just cast willy-nilly. It’s also a quick action, which is awesome because we can combine with other actions and still move during our mage’s turn, which is incredibly efficient as far as sheer action strength is concerned. Now, the HUGE reason it’s so efficient, is that the card eats actions for the opponent. Casting it opening QC at the right time can shut down the opponent’s turn almost completely. They have to spend at least an action getting rid of the tanglevine. And if it’s an attack, that’s their colored action marker, and that’s an entire round that has been basically forgone to deal with the 5 mana threat that you threw out there. To think of this in terms of net gain and net loss, it does not out and out say “Gain an action” on the card, but that’s what it has the power to do, and in a game where every action counts, this little card suddenly becomes very powerful.

Now, for those of you Mages out there that haven’t had a chance to check out my thoughts on Go as it compares to Mage Wars, there is an idea I put across in those thoughts that I want to mention here today. That is the concept of sente and gote. Briefly, sente is an action that a player makes that must be reacted to. Gote is an action that a player makes that can be ignored with no ill consequence. My reasoning for bringing this up is that Tanglevine is such a card that, in the right context, is a sente threat with such overwhelming power as to change the flow of time. However, in the wrong context, Tanglevine is a gote threat. How does one definitively differentiate the situations? It comes down to how your opponent is going to need his actions. There are many mages that can just sit in the same zone and continue to do their own thing for most of the game, and in those cases, Tanglevine becomes an accessory to the opponent and thus backfired, taking your action and mana while having no real net gain to the board. At best, tanglevine becomes something they only deal with when it is most convenient for them. This is never something you want to give the opponent. If they know what you are doing, they can plan against it as effectively as possible. You don’t want to give them that option. Therefore, Tanglevine is a Sente threat during two circumstances:

1.   When the opponent is trying to be aggressive.
2.   When you are trying to be aggressive.

Starting with the first situation listed, Tanglevine can be a great way to shut down aggression. Many of these hyper aggressive books cannot afford to lose a round doing something other than hitting your face, so buying time with a tanglevine can be that breathing room you need to re-stabilize. Often, pairing a tanglevine with a wall can be the ultimate show stopper to turn the tide in your favor. Combining these two things does take planning, however, so be patient. The best time to do this is right before you are at half-life. At least, in my thought processes, this seems to be the perfect time for the opponent to hammer you with double lvl 2 spell. Offsetting that aggression by using your initiative to tanglevine and gtfo gives you the time you need to get some good defenses down. The second scenario I have listed up there is also a fantastic time to make use of the beautiful tangle of organic roping we call tangle vine. At the end of a turn that the opponent has had initiative, throw them a tanglevine! Then, you can QC lvl 2 and action a lvl 2 spell for an insane amount of damage, and they are still dealing with the tanglevine! Even if they teleported, you should be able to get right within range of them. Not only that, you forced them to spend a card that was potentially incredibly powerful later on for a mediocre conjuration destruction spell now. If you are using a more creature heavy approach, tanglevine them opening QC. That why you give your creatures an almost free round of striking while they try and deal with that tanglevine. To sum up when you use tanglevine, as the last action of a round, or as the first. There are exceptions, of course, but generally these are two very strong times to drop a sente threat. Utilizing the right timing with the right card will bring your game to a higher level.
   
But let’s talk about quite possibly my favorite part about Tanglevine. It’s a lvl 1 spell!! There are a lot of strong threats in Mage Wars that are at least lvl 2 or higher, but it’s rare to see a lvl 1 spell be so powerful. Because it’s nature, that means it can fit into a lot of spellbooks for a very small cost. Putting one into a book is almost nothing. It’s incredibly versatile, too. Shutting down a powerhouse creature they have, removing that pesky counterattacker for a round. The uses are endless.
   
If you haven’t played around with this card already, I really encourage you to do so! It’s got some incredibly interesting applications, but you want to make sure you get that timing right before you take it into any kind of serious setting, because the timing is the most critical part of this card. It’s what can give you the most tempo, but also take it away. So, go play!

On a side note, I would like to start doing a card of the week every week! If you guys like what you see here today and want more, please, for the love of Grizzly, let me know! As well, any comments, criticisms, or questions you may have are more than welcome. Thank you all for reading, and happy Roaring!



8
League / Tournament Play / Louisville, Ky players?
« on: February 01, 2016, 12:21:15 PM »
Looking for players in the Louisville, ky area!! If anyone is interested, please, shoot me a pm.

9
Events / Hey guys
« on: January 31, 2016, 11:35:17 PM »
I haven't really been on in a while. A lot of events in my life kind of took a head, and then my dad passed away. I haven't really been okay this past month, but as I'm slowing coming to grips with all this, I realized that I can't just throw off my commitments to people that I do truly care about. I'm sorry I left so abruptly. I would love to continue the work we've done on Mage Roars, and I hope you guys can forgive me in time.

10
Events / MAGE ROARS!!! Round 2 pairings
« on: November 21, 2015, 08:51:49 PM »
Hey guys, it's been a busy two weeks. Preparing for my trip to the melted meeple at the end of the month, getting my license, working on a little bit of a surprise for the mage wars community. But, with that being said, we have the results of Round 1 and the pairings for round 2!!!

Round one winners were:

Dude vs. Puddn... Puddn wins!
Theasaris v. Coshade... coshade comes out on top!
Intangible v. Sharkbait... Intangible is king!
Mystery v. Halewjn... Mystery remains an enigma!
Adoryc v. Arxiducs.... arxiducs dukes it out and wins the match!
drefan v. Moldrid... Drefan is the one whos too cool for school!!
Schwenkgott v. .... And we've had our first drop in Sailor Vulcan... hope he can join us next league!!

The pool as it stands...

The wins:
Puddn
Coshade
Intangible
Mystery
Arxiducs
Drefan
Schwenkgott

The up and comers:
dude
Theas
Shark
Halewjn
Adoryc
Moldrid


Here are the pairings:

Mystery v. Coshade
Puddn v. Arxiducs
Intangible v. Drefan
Schwen v. Adoryc
Moldrid v. Halewjn
Theas v. Shark

Dude gets the bye.

Lucky me.

Have fun guys! Make sure you post your books after the match. As well, it looks like coshade and intangible have been awesome enough to post some of these matches on their incredible youtube channel Arcane Duels. If you haven't seen any of the matches, ch-ch-check them out!



11
Events / MAGE ROARS ROUND 1 PAIRINGS AND BOOKS!
« on: November 05, 2015, 10:47:32 AM »
Hey there folks! So in this topic I will be listing the round 1 pairings, and then below this each and every one of our books will be displayed prominently! All numbers were generated

So Round 1:

Dude-Puddnhead


Mystery-Halewjn

intangible-sharkbait

adoryc-arxiducs

coshade- Thesaris

moldrid-defran

Schwengott-Henry_Ketchup

Let's get warring!


12
Strategy and Tactics / So, you just started playing Mage Wars.
« on: September 15, 2015, 05:36:02 AM »
What's up, new guy? Or old guy, or maybe you are new to Mage Wars, but you are up in Age. Or you are a young dude who's an old hand at Mage Wars. Or you maybe just want me to get on with what ever it is that I have to say. So I will.

You've started playing. You and a friend built these apprentice spellbooks, and now you are ready to dive in. You play a game, cool beans. You like the game, even cooler beans. And now you want to do that full game thing you've been hearing about. Those taboo ability cards, conjurations, man. The world is your oyster. And Mage Wars is the pearl.

I'm here to tell you you're doing it wrong.

Well, maybe not. Who am I to tell you how to play your purchased game with your own hard owned dough? I'm nobody, just a duder. But I can offer you a few nuggers of wisdom I've picked up along my way of Mage Wars. and the nugger that I'm offering you today? Play the absolute poop out your apprentice books. Seriously. Those full books that come with the game are great and all, but you will be overwhelmed. There are some very basic strategies in Mage Wars that the Apprentice books teach you very well. A few examples:

Going for the opponent's face. So many games have I seen in which the mages are just kind of sitting there, building up forces to take each other on. And then they take those forces and fight each others creatures, for sure making this epic battle of attrition. But just like chess, you don't win based on the number of pieces you take. You win based on taking the king, or in this case, the mage. Going straight to the full game too early, you see all these awesome creatures and you're like, woah. And then you're like woah. And then you're like, woahhhh. Your creative little brain starts thinking up ways to use these creatures, which isn't bad at all! But it's not the best way to grok the game.

Positioning. If there is one thing that's easy to screw up in Mage Wars, it's positioning. Knowing where to place your pieces and when is a critical part to winning the game. The shortened size of the arena allows much more forgiveness in this sense, as you are able to readjust without losing too much tempo. Picking up on when you need to move, and what you need to move, seem almost arbitrary when you first get to the full game. You've got all this space and all this time, why not just move wherever? You'll find yourself backtracking, losing tempo, and ultimately, the game.

Reading the opponent. This is the hardest, most frustrating aspect for new players, and for good reason. There are a metric s word TON of cards in the game. How am I supposed to know what two you picked, and when? I remember when I first started playing, that aspect was so overwhelming, i ended up just ignoring it. That's right, I ignored it completely. This vital, and one of the most fun parts of Mage Wars, and I was missing out! Playing out with the apprentice books a good number of times will teach you what basic cards the opponent will play in a given situation. The apprentice game gives you basic tools, not only so that you can learn the mechanics, but you can also begin to read what the opponent is doing. Put this way, if you can accurately read what the opponent is doing every turn, you will win the game with about a 95 percent chance, the other 5 being cards you don't have in your book and statistically bad rolls. I think of the Apprentice game a lot like I think of chess. You know what the opponent is bringing to the table, you just have to read when he is going to do what, and counteract that. Don't worry, my friend, you can do it.

And these are just a few examples of what you can learn when you play the most basic form of Mage Wars.

Now we get to the crazy part.

Been playing Mage wars a while?

Build those Apprentice books again.

Play the basic game.

Seriously. You will learn a lot more than you think. You may not learn any fancy new combos or crack the code on how to win 100 percent of the time, every time. But you will break bad habits. You will start to build a solid foundation with which to pile onto your knowledge. It's a great tool for growth....

and it's becoming my favorite way to play. Seriously. I know every card in my opponent's book, and he knows every card in mine. It's like a preconstructed format from the old TCG days, but better IMHO. The game gains a strategic depth that I had almost forgot existed. And I started learning again. Building books are a wonderful way to play Mage Wars, but if you aren't careful, that is ALL you will do. You won't play, you will build. And build. And build. Theory starts to replace practicality, and your books, in turn, will get worse. This isn't always true, of course, but for me, at least, this was how it worked. Going back to the apprentice books allowed me to focus purely on gameplay. I didn't have to worry about what I did or didn't put into the book. Instead, I could focus on what i was going to play. And I absolutely love it. Maybe you will, too.

So, be it a sapling or a great ole Oak, or spruce, or whatever tree you think you are, try it out. Stick with the apprentice books. Give it 10 plays. I guarantee you will learn something new.



13
Events / OCTGN Challenge Boards: WIN PRIZES. MageRoars League (UPDATE!!!!)
« on: September 06, 2015, 05:23:50 AM »
Whaddup thugs and Mages alike.

Octgn has this AWESOME feature. It's called the Challenge boards. Basically, you can create a league in one of the games offered on octgn. Now, I'm sure you guys are used to destroying each other on the regular, but wouldn't you want to WIN something for all of your efforts? This league offers you that opportunity. Here are the rules:

1. Send me a PM to tell me that you are interested, and I will give you the details on how to join.

2. The League will run one game per week starting every thursday. You will be matched up randomly each and every week.

3. When you choose to enter, I will be giving you a list of 4 mages, one for each week. This will be randomly chosen from a list of all the mages, except for Wizard, because everyone would always want Wizard, and then there would be Wizard this, and Wizard that, and Wizards coming out of every hat.

Each week, you will choose one of your listed mages to build a book with, and you play your opponent with that chosen book. Careful though, win or lose, you are not allowed to play with that mage again for the rest of the league.

4. You will be given until the following thursday to complete your game with your opponent. That means once you receive your opponent, coordinate with them, find out when best you both can play. If you have not recorded within the week, I will have to give you both a loss. And I don't wanna do that:/ So only join if you are for sure you can set aside enough time to play!

This means you will receive your first opponent on October 1st. You need to report that game by 1200 EST October 8th, or you will receive a loss. That night of the eighth, you will receive your next opponent. On the 15th, make sure you report! Same with the 22nd! This will be your last standard game, and on the 30th of October, the day after the final recordings have been listed, the players with the highest ranking will go into a playoff. How that will be decided will depend on the number of players joined. If there is a single highest player, instead, he/she will receive winnings.

5. What are the winnings? Well, I'm a broke 20 something with bright eyes and high dreams, so what I want to do is get the winner his choice of MW arena playmats to keep. It's not much, I know, but Pepsi won't sponsor me yet, and my 12 step sponsor doesn't have the money. So, to the winner, goes a new playmat, a set of damage dice (to replace the damage tokens), and bragging rights!


PM if interested, at let's start Roaring!


EDIT:


First of all, guys, I want to offer you all a sincere apology. My life got to be 10 different kinds of hectic right around the time this league should have began. This is the fault of myself and my incredibly inconsistent time management skills. I didn't mean to give any false hope!!

So, with that being said, I am reformatting the structure of this tournament a little bit. Here are the current changes that are taking place:

1. The games to be taken place will be given 2 weeks to complete their games. This should be ample time to complete their game, with ample time to report.

2. We are no longer going to be going through the challenge boards. Because of my lack of knowledge in using the website, moderating through it's use seemed to be to be a bad idea. Instead, I will be handling the tournament on paper.

3. This will be a 16 man tournament. The player with the single most wins over 4 matches will be the overall winner. Any ties will be decided via sudden death. The overall winner will be given the playmat of that players choice, and bragging rights.

4. Sudden death will be decided at the time of it's need, and will be revealed to those players at that time. No pre planning!

5. The league will take place over 8 weeks, so 2 weeks per match. It will begin on Wednesday, 11/4, and end on 12/30. The schedule will be as follows:

10/22- the final date for joining the league. Admissions will be closed at noon on this day. Near the end of the day, you will receive the four random mages for you to build your books with. I would like the book of the first mage you choose to play with submitted to me (padawanofthegames@gmail.com) no later than 11/3. These will consist of all the mages in the game, with the exception of the Wizard. No Wizards (don't worry, I love the Wizard, but I want to see what a meta can bring with no Wizard in the mix).

11/4 This will be the day you will be given your first opponent. You are expected to get in touch with this opponent and arrange a date within the the next two weeks for you to get a game of Mage Wars in. Once this game is finished, I want a screenshot of the game sent to me via padawanofthegames@gmail.com, as well, I would like both the winner and the loser to tell me their thoughts about the game in a brief summary. What they thought they did correctly, what they thought they did incorrectly. Book design decisions. Strategy tips. This can be as short or as long as you desire, but what I want to accomplish here is a stream of consciousness that isn't just an announcer, or just a single players side of the story. At the end of the league, these thoughts will be made public, so just keep that in mind when deciding what to write. Two week should be enough time to get this all accomplished in your spare time, at least, that's the hope! As well, I would like all of the players during this time to submit to me the book of the mage they plan to play during the second round of the league. You will be playing a different mage than the one you played with during your first round game. For instance, if your four mages were:

Beastmaster
Priestess
Priest
Warlock

And you chose to play with the Beastmaster during your first round game, your second round you will have the choice of Priestess, Priest, and Warlock to choose from.


11/18 On this day you will be given your second opponent. Otherwise, proceed in exactly the same fashion for the second round as you did the first. During this time frame I would like the players to submit their books for the mages they plan to play in the third round of the league. Continuing from our example above, if the list of Mages I had were:

Beastmaster
Priestess
Priest
Warlock

And the mage I decided to play during the second round was the Warlock, I would then have the Priestess and the Priest to choose from.

12/2 On this day you will be given your third opponent. Again, this round is the same as the previous two. During this time frame I would like players to submit the books for the mage they will use in the final round of the league. Continuing from our example, if the mages we had to choose from are:

Beastmaster
Priest
Priestess
warlock

And the mage we chose to use in this round was the Priest, than the book we would submit for the final round would be the book of the Priestess.

12/16 This round will be the final round of play, but it will proceed exactly as normal.

12/30 Winner will be announced. If no winner has been found yet, sudden death with rules and players involved will be announced.

These are the spots that are free. If you would like to join, please email me at padawanofthegames@gmail.com, with "MageRoars 2015 League" as the subject header. This is sos I can knos whos yous is!

1. Dude
2. Sharkbait
3. Intangible0
4. Henry_ketchup
5. Puddnhead
6. theasaris
7. Arxiducs
8. halewijn
9. Mystery
10. Moldrid
11. Schwengott
12. Adoryc
13. Defran
14. Coshade
15.
16.


Again, sorry for the false start guys. It was bad timing on my part. But hopefully you can still have faith in me! I hope the best for all you out there, and good luck to you!

14
General Discussion / Here's to you.
« on: December 06, 2013, 06:12:51 PM »
Hey guys! So, you may, or may not, know you I am. I have been with this game for a while, and I love every single aspect of it. From the mechanics, to the player base, there is absolutely nothing about Mage Wars I don't like (except the Battle Fury thing, but hey! it's not that bad). So, when I perform less than average, or I don't treat people, especially the people I love and care about, with enough respect, It really gets to me. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk about with you all today.

Yesterday I posted in a thread entitled: New Initiative rules and you. The topic started as a discussion on a subtle but important change to the Mage Wars core rulebook. This prompted another discussion about declaring your school as a wizard, which was still incredibly interesting. I did not make it seem so with my post. Here is a link for those of you who want to read these terribly unbecoming words: http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=13333.msg26749#msg26749. And it's all by me. I singlehandedly ruined what I love most by involving outside anger to discussion that was not even mine to begin with. I was angry (not with you folks, with a personal problem), and I let loose hurtful words to people I really do love and care deeply about. I may not know your real names, or know what you do for a living, but I do know your love for the game, and it's a love I can definitely respect, which is exactly what I didn't do in that thread.

So I want to apologize to all of you for the shame that I brought upon myself with those words. I did act with respect, or kindness, and for that I apologize. To all of you who I offended, Baron Zaltor, Kharhaz, aquestrion, sIKE, ringkichard, AylinisAwesome, as well as Deckbuilder. You all have had nothing but good things to say in the past, and I truly do apologize for my words. My mom once told me that they were the only real thing a person had, so for me to give you such a rotten gift is in no way respectful. I consider you all my peers, my equals, my friends. And for me to sink that low just rerail a discussion is just plain wrong. There are no two ways about it. There is one user that I did not mention in the previous list, and that guy, or gal, is Zuberi. My reply to your response was not only uncalled for, it was completely lacking in respect. I hate when people talk to me like I did to you, so for me to do that same thing is intolerable, and I sincerely apologize. You all deserve much more than what I had to offer with those responses.

So, where can I go from here? I do not deserve forgiveness at all for what I have said, and I completely respect those of you who decide that I am not worth the time of day. I am by no means a perfect soul, nor do I want to be. But I do want to show you all that I do care about you, and about this game. I am young, and very prone to mistakes, but I will try my hardest in the future to disrespect any of you in the slightest.

I hope you can forgive me for my anger, and I can only hope to meet, talk with, and even play some Mage Wars with, in the Future.

Here's to you

"The Dude"

15
Strategy and Tactics / Let's all just Die and Win.
« on: December 03, 2013, 10:54:45 PM »
Recently, it has come to my attention that a lot of users on here seem to be jumping on the "Go for the Throat" tactic of Mage Wars. The, "Let's all just throw balls of fire at each others faces". Roman candle fights are fun, but they will be just as lethal to you as they are to the opponent. Believe me, I know. Let's go back a bit, shall we? To the Land of Two Thousand and Twelve, or, as some might call it, the year the Great Game of Our Time and Yours was released.

The most popular tactic back then was to build. By this, I mean that the mages would spend 2-3 rounds on dropping mana crystals and spawnpoints and whatever they could squeeze out of their *ahem* wands, until there was one giant clusterf*** in the middle of the arena. And then they would use their creatures to fight other creatures until one opponent almost arbitrarily died. Don't worry, there was strategy involved, but come on, we were new to the game. We didn't know about things like Force Push/Wall of Thorns. We thought the most devastating combo in the game was Divine intervention + Vampire (believe me, I built a book around it). And then something new and radically different happened. The first expansion for Mage Wars was released in the form of the Forcemaster vs. the Warlord. And with it, aggro.

Sure, aggro has been attempted before, and even to some success, with the Warlock and his Lash, but never to the extent that Thoughtspore + Battle Fury + Galvitar + 4x Hand + Bear Strength + Gauntlets + Dancing could bring. That's like, a million dice. And I'm not even counting The Dancing attack. And we realized that hey, Killing the opponent before the opponent could kill you was a far more effective strategy that building up a force that could only equal what the opponent had. So it became the norm. So much so, in fact, that we had 3 cards completely nerfed, 3 critical cards that were vital to the strategy of this aggressive book.

But there were other ways to aggression. My own version of Earth Wizard was famous for killing opponents before they could scrape one damage on to my Wizard. this was quite the boring book to play, mind you, but it did win, and a lot. Now, with the exceptionally large part of the meta playing these aggressive books, there was really only one place for the meta to go, and that was downhill. The nerfs were an attempt to rebalance the meta, and it did just that. Within a month of the changes, players started taking a more turtling approach, abusing things like Voltaric Shield and High Armor, Spawnpoints, and Big creature builds. These are all fantastic approaches, and really help to shape the game, to mold and to change it.

So why are we stuck on the Go for the Throat? This tactic is not nearly as fatal as it once was, and although it can fringe win, it is by no means a solid strategy to build on anymore. Almost any Wizard build nowadays will pick a spike damage book apart, piece by piece, until there is nothing left. Aggression is a tactic, not a strategy. A book should be built with it in mind, but it shouldn't be built with it at it's core. Now, on to the big question: Why is it that half the questions on this forum are answered with "On, you should just focus on killing the mage." Or, "Killing the much would be much more effective than trying to take out it's creatures." This is a cop out, a bad excuse for not wanting to actually think. There is more to this game than life totals, mind you, and although they decide the fate of the players who manipulate the cards, there are far more influences on the game than how much damage you can deal. Some games, you may just have the mage to kill. Look at half the Forcemaster books on the web recently. Some games, you might have to take down a large beast. The object of the game is to kill the opponent's mage, correct? You can't do that if you yourself are dead.

Please note that I am by no means saying that players r dum and that aggression is a stupd wy to win. I'm not complaining. Like I said, the book I solely played for about 7 months straight was hyper aggression. But there is more to this game, and you cannot expect to win if you just focus on killing the opponent. Like I have stated, it may win you a fringe game or two, but it will by no means win a large margin of games you play. As well, it's ******* boring to play hyper aggression. The same opening moves, the same exact strategy game after game. So, not only is it not effective, it's not even fun!

I urge you players out there to explore, to find new ways to play, to win with. And if you think Hyper Aggression is the end all be all of strategies, I urge you to take a look at "The Fabled Watergate Build". Charmnya taught me the ways of control when it comes to Mage Wars, and I can tell you it works.

You have to focus on some of the opponent's resources if you hope to win the game. Sure, you could get lucky and roll 20 crit 2s in a roll and just win the game, but in all likelihood, that's probably not going to happen. By cutting off the opponent's resources and routes to victory, you are effectively upping your chances to win as well. It cuts down on the risk of rolling fast and loose, and instead focuses on a planned and effective route to victory. Maybe cutting that third Hurl Boulder for a Teleport, or Trying out a Piercing Strike against those Battle forge builds. What I do is this, if you let an opponent go long enough doing whatever he wants, he will eventually win the game. Playing chance to see if you can beat him before that is just too risky to be effective.

So, go play! Kill some mages, but most of all, have fun! There is no prize for reaching the end of the rainbow in Mage Wars (yet c:) but there is a lot of fun to be had, and a lot of thinking to be done. I don't ever claim to be right, or even partially correct, so don't take what I am saying as an attack against you or your beliefs. I just think it's time for a new way of thinking. And it starts with you.

Oh, and that rug? Really tied the room together.

Dude.


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