Alright guys and gals and non binaries of all sorts, it's time for another episode of Card of the indeterminate time frame!
I actually haf a player contact me and ask specifically about a couple cards for this segment, so address any hate mail yo dr mambo! Lol!

So owing to the fact that this article is for cards we don't see often or find particular uses for, i wss asked to turn the lens on 2 cards, one core, one slightly less core. Earthquake and Skeelax, Taunting imp.
... Im not gonna lie guy's, these cards are wildly underwhelming on the surface. But i figured id dive a little deeper and see what i came up with. So let's start with earth quake shall we? Wow this one was tough.
So it's lvl 2 earth, 9 mana full action, pick one or two zones (1st being in range) then any corporeal conjurations In or between those zones take a 4 die unavoidable attack. Also any corporeal, non flying, non unmovable creatures get a 5 up slam effect die roll.  The fact is that the best mage for this spell the warlord, probably doesnt want to play it because hes got stuff built in many zones. Hes also likely got a swarm of critters that he doesnt want to get slammed. He also suffers from a distinct lack of flying creatures that get around the slams.  Perhaps an iron golem wouldn't mind much but most other creatures In war and earth aren't any of those qualifiers. So im trying to figure out why one would want to spend a full round action, a full rounds channelling, and probably 4 sp on something so... underwhelming.

I did manage to come up with a couple ideas though. A druid could use an earthquake I  relative safety considering most all plants are rooted and therefore unmovable. A beastmaster or holy mage using fliers could also do a similar tactic, leaving the angels or the falcons in the air to continue the assault unslammed. A warlords zone with a formation in it or where everyone is on guard is a decent target for this spell, possibly slamming away the guards in the zone.  there's also some intresting interaction with elephant grass as EQ doesn't specify non terrain conjurations for the attack. As far as using it to destroy anything though its really only going to be good against something you've softened up already. 4 dice maxes at 8 damage and most of the conjurations you want to destroy arent going to die from one quake. Almost all spawn points won't care about it at all and since most if those are zone exclusive even a 2 zone quake will only have 2 conjurations to target (barring a wizards tower, or mohktari ot some other such non zone exclusive.) I suppose the ideal situation for an earth quake is if you're targeting a zone where there is a zone exclusive and several non exclusives in it. Perhaps a place with a mana crystal, a mohktari, a couple tanglevines, a corrosive orchid, a nightshade lotus, and maybe some vine markers in it than you might just get some decent mileage out of it! In reality though it seems to me to be a bit underpowered and over costed for what it does. So unless you're running a book full of flying, incorporeal, unmovable dudes, there's probably better ways to use those 4 sp.
I am not saying the card is without merit, as stated before it can put a hurt on zones witg lots of non ZE conjurations, and the potential to slam an entire gaggle of enemies seems like a win win. Keep in mind though that it affects all the creatures in those zones, not just enemy ones. Huugin can cast this though. And only one zone needs to be within range and LOS so if the enemy is turtling behind some walls witg his forge trying ti build up power, this is one way to get to him from outside the fortress so to speak.
Its not completely without merit, and i have covered a few unique ways to use it to some effect, but i find cards like these need to be book built around and i just dont think there's enough function here to want to try to force it. Hmm. Food for thought on this one.

Ok now Skeelax is another strange fellow. I look at him and i see his stats are kinda low all around don it made me wonder what's worth the 11 mana investment to get this little dude out? He's got 1 ar 9 li. Flame - 2, 11 mana lvl 3. A 1X 6+ defence, and a2 die attack with a5+ taunt on it. At first i thought that this was very usable, because one coukd force movement through walls or into traps, but Skeelax much like Sosruko, only affects enemies with his taunt if they are in the zone.  So the 2 dice arent really going to help. But there eas one interesting use for him i thought up. He has flame minus 2 and if hes in a zone with a burn condition in it he gains regenerate 2, even if its his own burn.  So one could potentially taunt an enemy witg skeelax and make that enemy waste an attack possibly defending against it. Then one could push the enemy through a wall of fire. Next round skeelax can walk through the wall, only take a3 die flame attack, if he gets burned he will just regenerate the damage from the attack away, possibly even losing the burn. I know its dicey to send your own guy through such a wall, but yo be honest Skeelax doesn't have that many uses. With a gator toughness he can be decently long lived but the defence is only 1X so you can't really rely I  this little guy sticking around for very long.  An Adramalech warlock stands a better chance of making use of him due to fireweaving. At 11 mana lvl 3 you could have a zombie brute, so without needing to use his defence or taunt you're not actually gaining much by having this little guy. He can come from  a pentagram so that's a plus, but without extra investment from the mage wich brings his mana total way up, he's a bit too weak to put I  the frontline and serves no purpose at all in three back line.
Sorry mambo, i tried like hell for this little dude, but short of using him in extremely rare situations, like forcing the release of a grappled creature or something, he's just not shiney in any particular way.

Any thoughts or comments or disagreements? Any ways to use these apparent clunkers that i, in my extremely limited and situational wisdom, haven't seen? Please let us know! Got any cards you want me to put under the microscope or free time an boredom? Let me know! Anyway folks thanks for reading and i hope to catch you soon on the next episode of Card of the (?)!

Hello mage warriors! I have returned from Gencon steeped in our gaming culture and bright with new ideas. And since its been so damn long since I've done one of these I'm going to take a few minutes today to talk about an OLD spell, core set even, that you probably don't see very often anymore if at all. But today I'm going to discuss Resurrection!

"Whoa!" You say. "Romeo pump the breaks! That spell is 4 sp! Nobody plays that but the occasional priestess!"
And that's what I'm here to talk about. I think re examination on this card is warranted. Yes it's 4 sp and as a result its usually a whopping 8 sp for the untrained mage! 12 for opposed schools but let's face it, they have better ways to do a similar mechanic cheaper, so let's forget about warlocks and necros for the moment. They will persevere I'm sure.

Let's look at the very basics of the game we all know and love. When building an arena book you can have 6 max lvl 1 copies of a spell, and 4 lvl 2 or higher. That's it! When they are dead they are gone man! Sometimes its not a huge deal,  you can just cast a different creature for a replacement. But what if your strategy hinges on specific creatures? Ive got a druid that needs those 4 thornlashers to behave all game long!  Losing 2 lashers is a huge problem there! I can't have any more than 4 and different snatchers are too expensive and not reliable enough to be used an alternative. Enter Resurrection. I had a match at gen con (non tourney) where my aggressor saw what i was doing and properly countered my strategy by acing down my lashers one by one. He took a great deal of damage in the process but he was perfectly set up to destroy my remaining squishy druid with her last remaining troop, with almost no trouble at all. Not that the mechanics are integral to the tale, but when played properly resurrection can put you right back in the game. Off init i waited till the end of thhe round and cast a mage wand with resurrection and immediately ressed a thornlasher, then knowing i was about to lose the wand cuz we were in one zone of one another, i first qc on initiative pushed him away and ressed another thornlasher.  Minor creatures, lvl 2s specifically really shine with this spell,  because they tend to have low casting costs. I'm talking 7 to 8 mana. Then you can pretty much guarantee you'll have that mana from base channelling. Rez is the lvl plus the casting cost. 9 in total to bring back that dead thornlasher, noble vanguard, kelsar ranger, vine snapper, or 10 for other such dudes, asyran defender (i think) nakara vampiress, temple sharpshooter, etc.
Now it's obviously not an early game spell, its always better to cast another copy of the creature over rezing one cuz its cheaper, but if you've got none left and you just gotta have that thing back on the board, you won't care that it was 4 or 8 spell points, you're just gonna bring back your threat and gain tempo. Need to heal? Need a flyer, rez the dead broken wing angel or messenger of bim shalla and do both! You can also get great millage out of minor creatures this way, staying back and ressurecting your falcons every time they die off  will get really annoying really fast! With a wand and lvl 1 creatures it can be used every turn with rouse the beast. Falcon for 7 rouse for 1. Fast back into the fight. 
Some of these new war creatures coming out might be worth it too.
The spell gets way to costly when you get to the higher creature levels, nobody's resurrecting Alfiya for 30 mana, but even a lvl 3 might be worth it.

Now im not saying that everyone needs to run resurrection, (i mean come on, its not glancing blow! ) but it IS one of those spells that gets you what you need when you need it, kings of like a wand. Only this one is always a surprise, brings back something they thought they were done with, and when played cleverly can really shift the battle back to where you need it. 

Hopefully i can get another one of these out soon, but until then feel free to criticise or comment as you choose. May you all roll well!

 besides me of course! Im headed to the biggest Mage Wars tournament running, at the biggest oldest gaming con running! Im freaking stoked! Anybody else getting last week excited!? Im looking forward to meeting so many people!

So we've gotten a bunch of new names around the forums lately, along with a couple new mages, and some awesome new cards. So my question folks, is what mage do you consider your favorite mage? And why? What mage do you consider your BEST mage (they aren't always the same, mine aren't)? How come? What mage do you least enjoy playing or paying against?

My favorite mage is the Malakai Priest. Thematically i really enjoy his story, when the church gets threatened, they send in the priests! How cool is that? Yeah he (according to the meta) might be under powered, but the tools he has in his kit are just plain fun. Burning shit with his holy pimp slap has got to be the funniest thing ever (at least to me) and having a built in ethereal attack is awesome, just ask the wizard. His outfit is pretty baller too in a purely esthetic note.

My best mage is the Druid. I've always believed that she just does nature better. Even with 2 trip schools she still kicks ass and if you're a tierer she ranks top in almost everyone's estimation. Superior board control and vine range casting, coupled with built in "Treegen" make her really tough to kill, and if you've got a solid plan of action its really tough to throw her off. A good druid makes you pay for your choices in a match, no matter what they are. Go for the tree and you're gonna pay for it in burst damage, go for the druid and ignore the tree, your going to pay for it by losing the attrition game as she heals generally 4 life per round. She's an absolute baller in every way.

My least favorite mage to play is the force master. She just doesn't suit my style. She was queen of the rush for awhile, but without solid creature support, which she generally can't afford, she's sort of forced into a buddy category, a solo mage, or a long game DoT strat. I've seen her taken apart too many times to have much faith in her.

Least favorite to play against used to be wizard. Since the errata I've seen maybe... 2? Nobody plays him anymore so the ratio has skewed. So it's prolly necromancer now. Zombies and resilient are kinda OP right now as there's no way to overcome it reliably. Its only gotten worse since chant of rage showed up.

Well that's me, what about you folks?

I have been staring at this card since i got my PvS and i haven't been able to bring myself to use it until last night. I put together a priest that ran clerics and metatron, with some temples thrown in. Let me tell you that if the effect die is on your side these little ladies are worth the weight in gold! They hand out dazes like candy, and with a little luck, (and maybe malakis basilica) the stun chance on the ranged attack can be a huge swing!
I ran 2 of them, with a handful of DBIs and Asyran clerics (to help heal ehren) and with a gator toughness they can stick around for a while. 2 armor ten life is pretty awesome. I don't know that id make one my holy avenger, but they make a really great little shock troop with an equal daze chance on both attacks. Anyone else have better or worse luck with them?
Either way if you haven't tried them yet givem a shot. You might be surprised

So i don't know if this is covered somewhere but ive got an interesting querry come up about equipment spawnpoints like echo of the depths and libro mortuos. If i were to harmonize my libro or echo, then subsequently cast another piece of equipment over it (like a mage wand or a trident), does the harmonize go to the graveyard or back into the book with the spawnpoint?

Weve all been there right? Our enemy is close to death, but we need to put the final nail in the coffin or the victory might become a loss. Theres so many ways to try and power or those last 14 damage or so. Now i know that the answers here are going to vary by book and theme, but i want to know what finishing combo makes your players heart fill up with glee? Do you like to chuck heavy rocks? Balls of flame? Maybe you enjoy a death pit? Or a brutal push through the wall of thorns or poison gas? Maybe your sinister soul is hungry and you giggle at the thought of draining away your preys soul while they slowly die by ticking DOTs?

How do you like to do it? Please enlighten me!