Since Shad0w has helpfully posted the top books from GenCon 2014, I thought it would be interesting to look at the spells the top 4 books had in common.  (I remember way back there was a topic of common spells that all books should have, and I thought this was an interesting way of examining the question.)

The following are spells found in all 4 books:
1x Geyser
1x big attack (Hurl Boulder/Fireball)
1x spawnpoint (Lair/ Battle Forge/ Wizard's Tower/ Gate to Voltari)
1x torso armor (Bearskin/ Dragonscale Hauberk/ Stormdrake Hide)
1x Leather Boots
2x Dispel
1x Seeking Dispel
2x Dissolve (& +1 Dissolve or Acid Ball)
2x Teleport
2x healing sources

I think it's safe to say every book should 100% have those.  (Though possibly Teleports could be Force Pushes?)  It seemed to me a few cards that are very good got skipped because one person did something unusual.  So, I tallied all copies between the spellbooks to find a ratio per book:

1.75 Acid Ball
1.25 Geyser
3.50 level 1 attack spell (Arc Lightning / Jet Stream / Hurl Rock / Flameblast / Surging Wave)
2.75 level 2 attack spell (Fireball / Hurl Boulder / Lightning Bolt / Thunder Bolt)

1.25 Mana Crystal
0.75 Mordiok's Obelisk
2.50 spawnpoint
1.25 wall

2.25 level 1 creature
1.00 level 2 creature
1.25 level 3 creature

0.75 Harmonize
0.75 Hawkeye
2.00 Nullify
1.00 Rhino Hide

2.00 torso armor
1.00 Elemental Cloak
1.25 Elemental Wand
1.00 Leather Boots
0.75 Leather Gloves
1.25 Mage Wand
1.25 Suppression Cloak

3.75 Dispel
3.75 Dissolve
1.25 Force Push
0.75 Minor Heal
0.75 Purge Magic
0.75 Purify
2.00 Seeking Dispel
2.25 Teleport

1.75 passive healing (Renewing Spring / Regrowth / Regrowth Belt / Sunfire Amulet / Wand of Healing)

I think some of the counts are skewed heavily by having 3 Wizards in the top 4 (attack spells, conjurations, and enchantments), but that in other areas the card counts seem like a very good general rule of thumb (equipment, incantations).

I hope this was interesting for everyone!

Edit:

Some people asked for a report on the Top 8, so I'm adding it below.

Spells appearing in 100% of top 8 spellbooks:

1x big attack (Hurl Boulder/Fireball/Force Hammer)
1x spawnpoint
1x torso armor
2x Dispel
2x Dissolve
1x Teleport
2x healing sources

Ratios of popular spells to Top 8 books:
1.25 Acid Ball
2.37 level 1 attack (not including acid ball)
2.00 level 2 attack

1.25 Battle Forge
2.37 mana manipulation (5 Mana Crystal, 1 Mana Siphon, 5 Mordiok's Obelisk, 3 Harmonize, 6 rings, 1 Psi-Orb)
1.00 spawnpoint (1 Gate to Voltari , 1 Lair, 1 Libro Morous, 5 Wizard's Tower)
1.25 wall

1.12 level 1 creature
1.62 level 2 creature
1.37 level 3 creature

1.87 Nullify

0.87 Leather Boots
1.75 torso armor
2.25 sources of healing (Drain Life, Healing Spring, Wand of Healing, Regrowth, Regrowth Belt, Minor Heal, Sunfire Amulet)

3.25 Dispel
3.37 Dissolve + Explode (25 Dissolve, 2 Explode)
1.50 Force Push
1.62 Seeking Dispel
2.12 Teleport

Hmm, pretty interesting!  Good idea Wildhorn.

Hey Folks,

My family and I are headed to GenCon next weekend, and a few of us are going to play in the Mage Wars tournament.  I haven't touched the game since Forged in Fire (just picked it up today) and am wondering how the metagame has changed.  Are new archetypes dominant?  Are there new must haves?  Have some spells become less important?  Is everything actually just as I left it?

Looking for advice, and any links to Spellbooks folks think are top notch.

Thanks!

I am going to use a 5 point scale to classify spells in Mage Wars.  Rather than try to rank them (which I think is not useful), I just want to score them as a thought exercise.  I am leaving out most specific mage only spells, since those don't feel relevant to rate.  Here is my scale:

5 - I almost always put one or more copies of this spell in my books regardless of school.
4 - I strongly consider putting this spell in my book regardless of school.
3 - I almost always put one or more copies of this spell in my book if its in my school, and rarely would splash it.
2 - I sometimes put this spell in my book if its in my school.
1 - I have trouble imagining using this spell, even if its in my school.

5s:
Teleport
Dispel
Dissolve
Eagleclaw Boots

4s:
Steelclaw Grizzly
Mana Crystal
Mana Flower
Battleforge
Dragonscale Hauberk
Veterans Belt
Regrowth Belt
Meditation Amulet
Regrowth
Rhino Hide
Harmonize
Cheetah Speed
Nullify
Sleep
Maim Wings
Acid Ball
Hurl Boulder
Heal
Minor Heal
Purify
Wand of Healing
Dispel Wand
Mage Wand

3s:
Leather Gloves (counts as being in everyone's book due to Novice)
(any armor granting equipment not listed elsewhere)
Dancing Scimitar
Suppression Robe
Lair
Gate to Voltari
Librum Mortus
Temple of Asyra
Archer's Watchtower
Grimson Deadeye
Sir Corazin, Blademaster
Goblin Slinger
Knight of Westlock
Royal Archer
Galador, Protector of Straywood
Karalathor, the Devourer
Wall of Thorns
Zombie Brute or Skeleton Warrior
Shaggoth-Zora or Mort
Undead Archer
Necropian Vampiress
Devouring Ooze
Gorgon Archer
Whirling Spirit
Iron Golem
Force Push
Force Wave
Precise Strike
Piercing Strike
Power Strike
Piercing Shot
Mind Control
Turn to Stone
Force Hold
Fortified Position
Sacred Ground
Enchantment Transfusion
Bear Strength
Bull Endurance
Eagle Wings
Mongoose Agility
Falcon Precision
Healing Charm
Block
Decoy
Purge Magic
Seeking Dispel
Ghoul Rot
Drain Life
Magebane
Poisoned Blood
Agony
Enfeeble
Idol of Pestilence
Deathlock
Suppression Orb
Mordok's Obelisk
Ring of Fire
Fireball
Fireblast
Chain Lightning
Jet Stream
Geyser
Zombie Frenzy or Reassemble

2s:
(any non-armor spell not listed elsewhere)

1s:
Stumble

Curious what other people think?  Should some spells be rated higher?  Lower?  Are the categories useful?  Have I described them well enough?

In Magic, there is a concept called The Philosophy of Fire, which is the idea that if your opponent is dead, it doesn't matter how many more resources they have than you.  Also, that on any given turn, the cards you will draw will add an average of X points of damage, and therefore you will have enough cards to defeat your opponent on turn Y.

I started thinking about how this applies to Mage Wars.  Since most damage spells deal about 1 damage per mana spent, if there is a fast and efficient way to convert mana to damage, it does not take very long before a mage has aquired more mana than their opponent has life.  For example, even the 9 channeling mages have gotten 37 mana by the end of turn 3, which is more than the life totals of all but the Warlock.  (Like, if we could turn 4 Fireballs and a Fireshaper Ring into ~39 damage by the end of that turn...)

Another consideration added to the mix must be the non-Mana damage a Mage brings to the mix.  For example, the Warlock has melee skill, so once close enough can add 4 damage per turn when not being obstructed by guards or distance.

The question that must then be asked is how to best convert mana to damage?  Usually, the answer to this is "creatures".  However, we must say this with a caveat, which is that almost every mage has some tools for controlling "a few big", whether it is Sleep, Force Hold, Turn to Stone, Mind Control, Banish, whatever.  When we fight over a creature, we start trading a lot of mana and actions, which works against what we are trying to exploit: time.  This is especially an issue since summoning a creature costs a full action, (which implies not making an attack), so the cost for it is not just the mana, but also +4 damage (assuming a mage with melee skill).

If creatures are not the best thing, then we have to turn to attack spells and equipment.  Assuming we will get in 3 or more attacks using it, cards like Fireweavers Ring, Gauntlets of Strength, Lash of Flame (only because of +1 from ring and Burn effects), and Dancing Scimitar can all be worth it.  However, playing any equipment demands actions, which might require a Battleforge since otherwise we would need our actions for spellcasting.  I haven't played enough games (or done enough math) to know whether the 8 mana into the forge increases or decreases the fundamental speed you can deal 30-40 damage in, but my hunch would be a slight improvement.

Attack spells must be the bread and butter of this strategy.  The more mana that can be turned into damage at once the better.  I think Fireball and Hurl Boulder currently are tops, though Jet Stream, Acid Ball, Invisible Fist, and Fireblast all have their places.  The book would either need an elemental wand(s) or lots of copies of these spells to keep turning mana into damage.  Fireball yields an expected 8.75 damage (7 dice + fractional 1 burn) for 8 mana, which is pretty nice.

However, an opponent is not going to just sit still for this.  Issue #1 are healing spells and effects.  Unlike Magic where life gain is not very good, and thus is not played in ever deck, in Mage Wars every mage seems to find room for at least 1 heal or minor heal, and probably more.  As such, we absolutely must have a reliable source of Finite Life.  Currently this means either Deahlock or Tainted Blood.  Deathlock is far more preferable, because Tainted Blood can easily be dispelled.  Worse, it could be disspelled during a turn where the opponent is in the "going last" position, and will have initiative next turn, which could mean landing 2 healing spells after the dissolve before we would have a chance to Tainted Blood them again.  The only upside of Tanted Blood is that if we catch them by surprise, we can waste a lot of their mana and one of their (presumably not overly numberous) healing effects.

Issue #2 is armor or Defenses.  Even two points of armor effectively increases opponent's HP by 50% vs. a 4-dice melee attack and 25% vs. a Fireball.  This is unacceptable.  Part of the reason we want to avoid spending mana fighting over the freedom of a creature, is that we want to devote mana and time resources to keeping the opponent naked / defenseless.  Explode is actually awesome for our strategy, since we are fundamentally constricted on actions (only 1 QC per turn if we are using our melee attack).  We get to destroy a piece of equipment and push damage in one fell swoop.  Sometimes we'll need to disspel or dissolve things, that's just the nature of the beast.  Acid Ball is also a very efficient answer to most armor pieces.  So long as we're not staring at a - Element effect we can't tolerate, it's actually better than Explore or Dissolve for anything like Leather Gloves, Leather Boots, Bearskin, etc.  (I'd rather Explode/Dissolve a Wyvernhide Hauberk or Elemental Cloak because they mess up the burns.)  The goal is to keep the opponent with no meaningful protection against our spells.

Issue #3 are counter effects like Nullify, Block, Reverse Magic, and Reverse Attack.  These cards require careful play not to get destroyed by.  I very much like Dancing Scimitar because of its ability to trigger Block or Reverse Attack, as well as to deal with a creature on Guard.  Nullify and Reverse Magic require specialized answers.  Either we must give up our melee attack so we can 1-2 punch the opponent with a "fake" spell (like Decoy), or take the time to summon a Familiar so that our melee attack is free and we can still 1-2 punch opponents.  I've been thinking Sectarus is particularly interesting for this job, since it is a quick or battleforge action to summon rather than a full action like Huginn or Mindspore.  Wizard's Tower is also a solid choice, though potentially a little fragile.

I've only played a couple of games with a book like this.  So far it has seemed opponents are underprepared for the direct personal onslaught.  Like, they have a couple of defensive pieces and heals, but when my entire book is dedicated to fighting past those, they run out of tools.

I'm curious about other people's experiences.  Have you or your meta played books like this?  Are they good?  How do metas combat this strategy?  What are the minimum tools a book needs to fight off a book like this?  Etc?

Initially I was inspired by the Forcemaster with two Silverclaw Grizzly build.  I really liked the synergy between the Forcemaster's Force Pull power, and the huge damage on the slow attack of the animals.  When I saw the druid, I saw a lot of tools for keeping someone in a space:  Vinewhip Staff and Tanglethorn.  I also saw a book that could play a lot of really good in-school spells, so could afford important out of book spells like Teleport to manage opponent's location.

Once I committed philosophically to controlling my opponent's location, I felt I could move all-in on spells that are great if you never move:  Vine Snapper, Fortified Position, Mohktari, Silverclaw Grizzly Bear, etc.  I further like that unarmored plants benefit the most from the spell Fortified Position, which is an Enchantment I truly love.  For only 2 more mana I get a Rhino Hide that affects every creature I have, including my Mage?  Yes please!  I know it can be dispelled, but they only have so many disspells, y'know?

After playing with it, I like the way the book performs.  Vine Snappers and Raptor Vines are *so* mana efficient for their damage output, and the movement control spells (Teleport and Force Push) make up for their weakness when the opponent tries to exploit it.  I've generally been summoning 1 big (Grizzly most of the time), and then having my Vine Tree keep up a supply of plants as needed.

I feel like the deck could be a little weak to fire, even though I've included a few big non-Plants as a plan B vs. Mages I suspect of having lots of fire magics.  I also wonder if I truly have enough vs. Flying creatures?  I feel pretty vulnerable without a Maim Wings.  I also wonder if Renewing Spring might not be better than Healing Wand?  They are about the same in points, but the spring can remove a lot of conditions much faster if a big area gets hit with something gross like a Plague Zombie death or a Ring of Fire.

The first Decoy would be really nice, as might a second Force Push.  Maybe I should have a Mage Wand? However, I am not really sure where I could/should make room for such things.

I'm curious about other people's thoughts on this general strategy (it's a lot like Golem Pit, but it doesn't require a corner, and isn't as all-in on being a combo), and this book list in particular?

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 2/4/2014 12:00:00 AM

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Druid

---  Conjuration  ---
2 Corrosive Orchid
1 Nightshade Lotus
1 Mohktari, Great Tree of Life
1 Vine Tree

---  Creature  ---
1 Kralathor, The Devourer
1 Galador, Protector of Straywood
4 Vine Snapper
2 Raptor Vine
4 Thornlasher
2 Steelclaw Grizzly

---  Enchantment  ---
1 Falcon Precision
2 Bear Strength
2 Bull Endurance
1 Regrowth
1 Barkskin
2 Fortified Position
2 Eagle Wings
1 Mongoose Agility
1 Cheetah Speed

---  Equipment  ---
1 Vinewhip Staff
1 Eagleclaw Boots
1 Leather Gloves
1 Veterans Belt
1 Meditation Amulet
1 Wand of Healing
1 Enchanter's Ring
1 Bearskin

---  Incantation  ---
4 Teleport
3 Dispel
3 Dissolve
4 Burst of Thorns
1 Force Push

My brother and I have been playing Mage Wars by email.  It requires that we trust each other on card planning (though we could both make blind emails to a third email address and verify after if that were an issue) and dice rolling (though we could use a dice roller to cover that if it were an issue).  We just keep a short text file to describe the game state, and it works quite well.  Here's an example from the end of the first game we finished:

Turn 7 (Planning)
Initiative: Andrew

Warlord (Alexander - Green) : Channeling 9, Mana Supply 12, Damage 18 / Life 36
(Meditation Amulet) (Regrowth Belt) (Dragonscale Hauberk)

Warlord (Andrew - Blue) : Channeling 9, Mana Supply 15, Damage 3 / Life 36
(Ring of Command) (Leather Gloves) (Warhammer)

A4: (B) Grimson Deadeye (A+) (D:6)
B2: (G) Knight of Westlock (A+)
B3: (G) Knight of Westlock (A+)
B3: (B) Akiro's Hammer (L:2) (D:5)
C3: (B) Warlord (Andrew) (A+) (QC+)
C3: (G) Warlord (Alexander) (A+) (QC+)

There are a few cards I keep wanting to build with but finding don't exist:

1) A "Reforge" spell.  Maybe Fire or War?  I want to "resurrect" dead equipment.  It's too book intensive to play multiple copies of each equipment, since you can't always predict which one your opponent will destroy.  It would be nice to have a spell that put them back together once they Dissolved, Corroded, or Exploded.

2) A level 2 "vanilla" Light creature like skeletal sentry or orc butcher.

3) A level 3 War school soldier.  (This is my favorite ratio of cost:power:time in creatures, and it's brutal having to pay x2 for Knights of Westlock or Undead Knights.)

4) A level 3-4 flying (and elusive?) non-legendary demon to build a solo-ish Warlock in the vein of the Forcemaster.  I want something that makes a good Blood Reaper while having a useful ability to avoid swarms and prey on a specific target.  (I want an Invisible Stalker analog for my Warlock.)

I've poured through the archives, but have been unable to find top Spellbooks from GenCon, BashCon, etc.  I would love to look at these if anyone can provide links to them, or ask for them to reposted if they've been taken down since original posting.

Thanks!