Since Magewars Wrap up is taking place and finishing up I am interested in seeing and hearing everyone’s favorite cards from the giant list of available cards. 

To start off lets focus on my favorite card type....Creatures

Here are my top 10 lvl 2 Creatures I enjoy playing with the most

1)   Izimbila, Daughter of Badgers/ Timber Wolf (bench mark for strength durability and attack for the cost)
2)   Thoughtspore  (toolkit card for FM and a fun card to experiment with)
3)   White Cloak Knight (2nd Favorite academy lvl 2 creature, non-effected by attack spells is huge)
4)   Sosruko, Ferret Companion (only taunt in game which can affect the mage, super strong and annoying) 
5)   Force Phoenix ( dissipate force creature that helps others stay out longer, while having reanimate)
6)   Death Head Scorpion ( solid level 2 animal subtype with the taint effect attack)
7)   Blue Grimlin (hits hard, can be tough to kill, and great mobility)
   Steam Elemental (maybe my new favorite and could be eventually be number 1, tons of potential)
9)   Thornlasher (snatch chance, low cost creature with range attack, love combo snatch through bloodspine wall)
10)   Noble vanguard ( love the guarding traits and ability to get two attacks per round) 

Equipment Core Set

Arcane Ring, Bearskin, Dawnsbreaker Ring, Deflection Bracers, Demonhide Armor, Dragonscale Hauberk, Elemental Cloak, Elemental Wand, Enchanter’s Ring, Fireshaper Ring, Gauntlets of Strength, Helm of Fear, Ivarium Longbow, Lash of Hellfire, leather Boots, leather gloves, Lighting Ring, Mage Staff, Mage Wand, Moloch’s Torment, Moonglow Amulet, Ring of Beasts, Regrowth Belt, Ring of Curses, Staff of the Arcanum, Staff of Beasts, Suppression Cloak, Wind wyvern Hide.

Standouts in Current Meta

Not a lot has changed from release of the core set till now.  Mage and Elemental Wand remain king of weapon/ shield slot.  Leather is still very effective and Regrowth belt remains in many books.  All the discount rings and rings that improve attacks spell types have seen some new spells over the years for added flexibility. 
The biggest question remains if Bearskin will see any action over other armor options.  Frost recently added has changed this only a little.  The reason why is because only a few forms of attack spells can be decreased by bearskin, the frost creatures doing only regular damage does not help the chances of seeing a frost meta need for bearskin viability.  Which is sad we have a great new trait and only see a counter to it in two spells.  We also have new spells like the fire and ice wand and frost trap to apply frost conditions without an effect roll which bypass the need for bearskin all together.  So Bearskin most likely will not see much more use. 

Conjurations Core Set

Animal Kinship, Battle Forge, Deathlock, fog Bank, Gate to Hell, Hand of Bim-Shalla, Idol of Pestilence, Lair, Mana Crystal, Mana Flower, Mana Siphon, Moktari, Mordok’s Obelisk, Pentagram, Poison Gas Cloud, Rajan’s Fury, Sacrificial Altar, Suppression Orb, Tanglevine, Temple of Asyra, Temple of Light, Temple of Dawnbreaker, Tooth and Nail, Wall of fire, Wall of Stone, Wall of thorns, 

Standouts in current meta

Battle Forge still going strong maybe a little less with the release of gear up but even then finds a way into high equipment builds.  Deathlock, Idol of Pestilence may find their way into books wanting to combat the high use of regen creatures, heals enchantments, ect.  As well as a nice counter against the “Bees”.  Speaking of the bees way may see use of hand of bim, poison gas cloud as also nice counters or buffs.  Wall of thorns still stays strong as well as our favorite mana channeling generators the flower and crystal. 
I have seen an increase in mana siphon, suppression orb, Mordok’s, Obelisk.  The big thing is Movement and smaller creatures (swarm builds seen a lot more play bc of Academy)
the manalock has seen a recent insurgence in the meta. Especially in tournament play. 

Gate to hell is still not useful. I would like to hear if this was ever used in any format and if it was ever viable back when the game was first release. I am Surprised this remains unchanged.

Another card that does not get love currently is pentagram. The release of force hammer in the 1st expansion has not helped and nothing has really benefited pentagram since. I do feel with the release of academy warlock and the adramalech warlock expansion it has helped give the pentagram some new choices. The squishy nature of pentagram still remains a problem. 
Animal Kinship has seen a bit of help in the release of academy lvl 1 animal creatures that benefit the beastmaster.  Fun to try out still not sure how viable in tournament play. 

Creatures Core List

Adrmelech Lord of Fire, Asyran Cleric, Bitterwood Fox, Blue Gremlin, Brogan Bloodstone, Cervere, Dark pact Slayer, Darkfenne Bat, Darkfenne Hydra, Emerald Tegu, Fellella, Feral Bobcat, Firebrand Imp, Flaming Hellion, Goran Werewolf Pet, Gorgon Archer, Gray angel, Highland Unicorn, Huginn Raven Familiar, Knight of Westlock, Malacoda, Mana Leech, Moonglow Faerie, Mountain Gorilla, Necropian Vampiress, Redclaw Alpha Male, Royal Archer, Samandriel Angle of Light, Skeletal Sentry, Sosruko Ferret Companion, Steelclaw Grizzley, Stonegaze Basilik, Tarok the skyhunter, thunderrift falcon, timber Wolf, Valshalla Lightning Angel, Whirling Spirit

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Interesting enough there are way more overcosted creatures than I realized Gorilla useless, Royal Archer is 2 mana more expensive than it should be, Stonegaze Basilisk I like but think it is slightly too expensive.  And a host of almost every flyer is too expensive for what you get
Adramelech Lord of Fire and all the big 21 mana angels are an interesting discussion. big flying creatures have for the most part seen a slow trend of use being lowered each new release. I think with the release of big attack spells, Gravikor, more direct damage spells, and ways to get slam, introduction of grapple have slowly made flying less effective. Also with cards that are already available in core that counter, such as knockdown and banish are already super cost effective to deal with big mana flying creatures. The cost of these creatures is way too high making it way too much of a risk to make that big of an investment do die in two turns.  If they appropriately costed and flying was not seen as such a valuable trait these creatures would see play again.   I would suggest the big Angels to be lowered to 18 mana.  Adramlech at most should cost 20.  Thus why these creatures never come out anymore

Similar with Tarok, Huginn, Moonglow Faerie, and even Fellella they are overcosted because of a couple things flying being number one and secondly the defense traits.  I don’t think in early design they knew how much unavoidable trait would be included making most of these creatures one shotable.  I think lower mana for all these creatures is an ideal solution to make these competitively playable.  Fellella gets a bit of a pass because enchantment familiar is an amazing ability still.  She still should cost less.  The only well costed flyers in this set still is the thunderrift falcon and gray angel.  Even Darkfenne Bat is costed 1-2 mana than it should be. 

Enough talk on flyers there is so many great cards and well costed cards that are still core to players’ books today.  Gorgan Archer is one of the best archers in the game still, Asyran Cleric, Timber Wolf, and most animals are still effective.  Vampiress and Cevere still draw the hate like no other creatures.   Brogan Bloodstone does not get the same love as before I think due to critical strike and other high piercing creatures or enchantments.  Still a great list of creatures tho.  Just a lot of solid creatures that are still great in the meta currently. 
Freeze mechanic still does not affect the use or need to use more creatures like Steelclaw grizzly which is somewhat sad.  Steelclawgrizzly is still awesome to have but negative frost traits don’t really make them that much better.  Only two attack spells and the effects of creatures can be reduced and not the dice of the creatures which is what it should be. 

Enchantments Core List

Agony, Bear Strength, Block, Bull Endurance, Cheetah Speed, Circle of Lightning, Cobra Reflexes, Death Link, Decoy, Divine Intervention, Divine Protection, Eagle Wings, Enfeeble, Essence Drain, Force Hold, Force Orb, Force Sword, Ghoul Rot, harmonize, Hawkeye, Hellfire trap, jinx, Magebane, Maim Wings, Marked for Death, Mongoose Agility, Nullify, pacify, Poisoned Blood, Regrowth, Retaliate, Reverse Attack, Reverse Magic, Rhino Hide, Sacred Ground, Teleport Trap, turn to Stone, Vampirism.

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

So many great enchantments and almost all these are still useful and remain some of my personal favorites.  So many great ones I think the one I see the biggest increase lately are bull endurance and regrowth.  Reasons behind this there are a lot more creatures with high armor low life that utilize these spells to great use.  I have seen regrowth so much now I am tempted to bring a deathlok in everybook. 
Some cards that I think could be looked at in either future designs or balancing are Cobra Reflexes, and Eagle wings.  Like before there a lot of counters so these are not as common or useful in current meta.  I still like an eagle wings on a gorgan archer and think it is fairly cost effective.  I do think some of these spells if designed today would all have a mana or two decrease if played on a minor level creature. 

Incantations Core List

Banish, Battle Fury, Call of the Wild, Charge, Dispel, Dissolve, Drain Life, Drain Power, Evade, Explode, Force Push, Group Heal, Heal, Knockdown, Lay Hands, Minor Heal, Perfect Strike, Piercing Strike, Purge Magic, Purify, Resurrection, Rouse the Beast, Seeking Dispel, Shift Enchantment, Sleep, Steal Enchantment, Teleport, Vampiric Strike,

Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Again lots of great spells, solid cards that appear regularly throughout and never see any decrease are dispel, dissolve heals.  With release of curse item and corrosive orchid we have seen a slight decrease of dissolves because of in school options are a little more cost effective. 
Battle Fury is just as popular now with so many new creatures to get off an effect twice or big hits if the creature or mage is buffed up.  Lots of the commands have seen a lot of use out of the non-living creatures like golems and zombies. 
I think people should consider banish and or purge magic more in books.  There has been a rise in enchantment heavy creatures that these spells could wreak if they were more prominent. 
The only card that is questionable is Drain Power.  I don’t like effects like this and worse yet a lot of times it may not pay off and resulting you in worse spot in the game.  Solution to have a lower cost one that only does a die or two for maybe 6 or 8 mana.  Or get rid of it entirely. 

Attack Spells Core List

Blinding Flash, Chain Lightning, Electrify, Fireball, Firestorm, FlameBlast, Geyser, Jet Stream, Lightning Bolt, Pillar of Light, Ring of fire, Thunderbolt


Standouts and Thoughts in current meta

Attacks spells have seen several a slow growth in variety over the years.  The cool thing is the core of these spells remain persistent in theme. 
Luminous Blast has kind of made the other holy spells feel week in comparison.  Rock and surging waves dominate for either high dice or high effect chance which takes away some of the usefulness away from the early holy attack spells.  Obviously Electrify, firestorm and ring of fire have more impact in the meta of Killer Bees.  Maybe not the best options out of school but work well for mages that need them. 

I think and know Chain Lightning takes the biggest hit on usefulness. I did not realize this before but blind is a total breaker of this card.  I used blind in a tournament the first hit took place triggering the reveal and the next hit failed the chance to hit making the rest of the attack fail.  It was quite glorious on my end, but I could see the frustration on the other end.  A four mana 1 SBP spell countering a 12 mana 3 SPB spell is a pretty big and swung the game in a major way. 

Alright.  Lets discuss swarms.  These creatures are arriving in the Academy Druid expansion, set to be released very soon. 

The current ruling allows them to be very deadly and semi hard to kill right away. 

The definition is below if you are unfamiliar with it. 

Swarms

This creature is made up of countless Smaller creatures.  Creatures with the swarm trait cannot guard and cannot be targeted or affected by non-attack spells that do not specifically target swarm creatures. When attacking, Creatures with swarm trait may make additional strikes equal to their remaining health.   Additionally, they are immune to conditions, and have the finite life trait. Non zone attacks do a maximum of 1 damage to them.



I am not going to explain every single thing about swarms but I will highlight above one sentence that makes this card one of the most confusing cards in the game.  It also can be debated on a select few cards that may or may not work with the swarms.  \

So the targeting of them is rather difficult in my opinion and with the inclusion of Arena cards it becomes much more complex and annoying to figure out what can or cannot benefit them.  It is one of the main reasons why I wanted to make this list.

I will introduce the many number of cards that can give them a bonus.
The last half I will list and discuss the counters to the Killer Bees.



 



Buffs for Swarms (making them a bigger nastier Nightmare)
Etherian life Tree
Straywood Scout
Dorseus
Hand of Bim Shalla
Marked for Death
Sacrificial Altar
 Crown of Protection
Bloodwave Warlord Ability (veteran markers)
Symbiotic Orb
Rolling Fog
Azurean Genie
Summoning Circle

Cards that maybe questionable (current ruling is a little vague and these could or could not work depending on how you translate objects and spells)


Fortified Position
Standard Bearer
Circle of Protection (not healing)
Sacred Ground
Vtar Sentry

Force Wave (does not work because it is always a spell even after it is cast) 
Enchantment Transfusion (off another creature onto a swarm creature)  I think this move should be illegal



Enchantment transfusion is a card notorious for many sneaky and maybe rule breaking affects in the game.  Similarly it was brought to my attention that this card may work with the current ruling of swarms.  Which means all those enchantments that could not target swarms specifically may in fact can after they are cast and transfused from one object to the new one.  The whole ruling of objects and spell debate that gives them leverage since the enchantments are now objects they now can target swarms.  Giving us super swarms!   I am not on board with this ruling and find that it should not legal.  I know others feel the same way.  So in tournaments I will propose that it is illegal to use Enchantment transfusion in any way shape or form on Swarm creatures.  not sure about shift enchantment if it has the same wording but I am against it too if it works the same way. 

Thoughts

Etherian Life Tree is number one combo with Swarms and especially the Killer Bees.   giving more life and boosting number of attacks by 2.  Straywood Scout is another useful way to get the Bees to have one extra die of attack for first attack! 

Dorseus is also crucial in that it can bypass finte life trait!  Making them tougher to kill! 


There are a number of ways of adding attack dice using non spell abilities from an assortment of cards.  You can even give Swarms tiny insect armor apparently which is pretty funny.  Nature mages have an easier spellbook point advantage in swarm builds as well as just splashing swarms in builds for some sort of sick game of supremacy!   I could see out of School builds using Killer Bees tho. 


List of best to worst mages using Swarms down below.

Druid and Beastmasters
Paladin, Priest, Priestess
Necromancer, Warlocks
Wizard, Warlords
Siren, Forcemaster

Negatives (how to effectively kill Swarms/Killer BeeS)
Gravikor
Defenses, zone attacks, triple strike, double strike, direct damage
Redirect
Veterans belt with armor
Eye for an Eye

Zone attacks
Electrify, Sandstorm, Voltaric Discharge, Ring of Fire, Volley of Flame, Hail of Stones, Blinding Flash, Telekintic Burst, Tsunami (gravikor), 
Oscuda, Elemental Golem , Akiros Hammer, Goblin Bomber, Sardonyx

Multi Attacks (triple or double strike spells
Badger Frenzy,  Spray of Barbs, Ludwig Boltstorm, Gravikor or Eagle Wings (w/  Darkfenne Hydra, kumanjaran Leopard, Gaurding Cerberus, Goran Werewolf, Sir Corazon, Galvitar, Deptonne Berserker, ect,)

Direct Damage
Magma Golem, Ice Spikes, Whirlpool and Gravikor, Helm of Justice, Disciple of Radiance, Idol of Pestilence, Malacoda, Poison Gas Cloud, Plague (on another non swarm creature), consecrated ground,

Defenses against Killer Bees
Any defense chance, force sword, Cobra reflex, reflex boots, ect.  Spiked Buckler, Veteran Belt with Armor, Suppression Cloak, Dodge, Force Field, Block, Repulse, Mass Cowardice, Alluring Orchid, Altar of Infernia,

Push attack spell effects
gravikor + surging wave, tsnunami, swell, or jet stream, windstorm, or sandstorm. 

There seems like a lot more things to counter swarms then there is to help them out. Don’t let that fool you tho.  Aggressive Swarm builds not considering current meta can and will get wreaked if none of these above counters are in your builds.  Zone attacks are best way to deal with them however just like most zone attacks mana to overall effectiveness could set your plan back and it may backfire if the attack is unsuccessful.  There are some quick easy counters that maybe in your book already.  Such as Gravikor, or alluring Orchid, eye for an eye, redirect, or maybe even mass cowardice.  These spells are already benefiting your build in other ways so an extra one maybe important to have to stop the bees from even hitting or ground the flying threats and get to work using non flying creatures.  Other spells or creatures to consider more are ones that have the double or triple strike attacks.  Which can quickly decimate any swarm. 


also learned push effects still work since they are not conditions.  I simply overlooked this, but discovered it a few months ago.  Attacks spells with push and wall bash are basically double strike for the swarm creatures allowing to get up to 2 damage from both attacks.  not bad options if you don't have those zone attacks available. 

Potions Introduction

New equipment being released in academy Druid!!!  Now these offer a lot to arena for little cost.  All costing 1 SBP from the Nature school they could be and should be considered in a variety of books in and outside of the nature school. Especially if you are running a battle forge which allows you to put them on your mage for a free action. 

Lets take a closer look at them. 

Cleansing Potion, 1 mana. 

Has 3 charge tokens and allows this ability:  you may once per round remove one.  If you do remove a poison condition from a friendly creature in this zone by paying its removal cost.  Cleansing Potion cannot be replaced.
If there are no more charge tokens on Cleansing Potion, destroy it.

Things to highlight.  Once potions are on you, your mage may activate the potion when you have priority as a free action.   That is awesome so for three rounds you have an option of getting rid of condition without using an action saving you much needed time.
 Secondly you can remove it from yourself or a friendly creature in your zone.  You can you use this defensively or offensively just know your mage has to be in the same zone to trigger it to help out your other creatures.  You can keep those weaks and rots off keeping your guys alive longer and hitting just as hard to deal out more damage.
Rots and Weaks are the conditions that would appear most.  Each having a removal cost of 2.  Again high value for cost. Taints are 3 and Cripples are 4. 

Corrosive Concoction, 4 mana

Has 3 charge tokens and allows this ability:  you may once per round remove one when you damage an enemy with a non-spell attack.  If you do place a corrode condition on that creature.   Corrosive Concoction cannot be replaced.  If there are no more charge tokens on Corrosive Concoction, destroy it.

Things to highlight.  4 mana for 3 corrodes!  Great cost again comparing it to acidball or rust.  Basically allowing you to get out 1 more corrode for free. 
Secondly, combo this with ranged weapons you could do direct damage to zombies, or prepping your target to take down even easier.  Joktari or any mage who wants to use ranged weapons will want to have this in your book. 

Rage Tonic, 2 mana

Has 3 charge tokens and allows this ability:  you may once per round remove one.  If you do target a friendly living creature in your zone.  It gains +1 Melee until end of the round.  Rage Tonic cannot be replaced. If there are no more charge tokens on Rage Tonic, destroy it.

Things to highlight, Again I stress free actions.  Especially combo it off a battleforge. 
Your mage wants to kill a threat or you want to send out another friendly creature to do your deed.  As long as the friendly creature starts in your mage zone you can send it out to kill things.  Lesser teleport, cast cheetah speed and hit things two zones away.  As a free action you can position things and use it at the right moment.  As a Bloodwave warlord combo this up with strategist helm and commands and get more dice out for free actions!  Maybe allowing your goblins to kill something and become that vet you always knew they would become!

Conclusion:

Potions are great ways of bumping up options of dealing out damage and or removing them pesky poison conditions.  I believe they work great for solo or buddy mages who run the battleforge.  Also support wise for your troops if running smaller less efficient threats, they will be a nice addition.  Nature mages should have them handy at all times but I could see them widely used in out of school more aggressive books as well.  They offer alot of options and could allow players to swing the game.  lastly they do not take up an equipment slot.  Now you cannot replace with the same named potion but a player could have one of each to start to combo them fairly effectively.  +1melee and +1 corrode sounds fun!

So I really love strategist helm and I have noticed it has some certain potentially negative benefits when an opponent casts certain cards. 

So the first one I want to highlight is magebane.  So potentially a mage can only take 2 damage per round when you cast both spells.  But since the helm allows you to cast a command for free allowing it to potentially hit 3 times in one round.   

The next card that this may benefits is Wizard opponents who use gate of voltari.  in This situation gate can only gain up to two mana when a spell is casted and resolved.  So with the helm the gate now can gain 3. 

Now I still love this card I just want to let others know it may not always be optimal against certain strats.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname] Death Zone Siren[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Siren Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by http://www.spellbookbuilder.com[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=pvs_equipment3]1 x Echo of the Depths[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_equipment5]1 x Leviathan Scale Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_equipment8]1 x Ring of the Ocean's Depths[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_equipment14]1 x Voice of the Sea[/mwcard]
[mwcard=lg14]1 x Waterfall Cloak[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=pvs_conjurations1]1 x Bed of Urchins[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_conjurations3]3 x Coral Barrier[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_conjurations7]1 x Pillar of Righteous Flame[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1J04]1 x Raincloud[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_conjurations8]3 x Shallow Sea[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_conjurations12]1 x Whirlpool[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures8]1 x Deptonne Berserker[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures9]1 x Deptonne Bloodshaman[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures15]1 x Kraken[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures19]1 x Naiya[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures22]4 x Shoalsdeep Thrasher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_creatures26]1 x Water Elemental[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments1]1 x Ballad of Courage[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments3]1 x Chant of Rage[/mwcard]
[mwcard=lg9]1 x Demonic Bloodlust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments4]1 x Drown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments6]2 x Healing Madrigal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments7]4 x Hydrothermal Vent[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments10]2 x Lullaby[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E32]1 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]2 x Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_enchantments11]2 x Song of Love[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1I02]1 x Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01I01]1 x Crumble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_incantations1]2 x Lesser Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01I04]2 x Mend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I20]1 x Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAPRI05]1 x Remove Curse[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]2 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_attacks2]2 x Swell[/mwcard]
[mwcard=pvs_attacks3]2 x Tsunami[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

here is my second attempt at build for the Siren.  Previously I built her with more merren Harpooner, Tidecaller ect.  Set up a few zones for attacking in, using Naiya and my mage.  and started the push pull through walls, urchins and traps.  Extra damage from Naiya popping off water attack spells and my mage going to work with the trident.  I would be very aggressive with this strategy but found the lack of life and being out in the open with my mage to not work well against certain builds. 

This is my second attempt it hits a little slower.  I will save up mana for a kraken as Naiya starts the conjuration setup and/or casting my equipment.  If I play against a Paladin I thinkI open with Naiya and round two echo of depths and getting out some of the Thrashers out to build up a little ball of troops and then Have Naiya do her thing.  Follow up Deptonne shaman and berserker.  In either case I play shallow seas where I want to make the attacks.  This is a control style build.  I deal with the main threats or ignore them using her songs or the Kraken. 

I really enjoy the ballad of courage on a water elemental and I usually lesser tele kraken to get into range.  Kraken has done some really great damage in the first game and became a major threat allowing me to get additional support or damage on the board.

I would like to add a mage wand for lesser teleport, or another teleport or even battle fury, but I'm not sure if it is necessary. 

Let me know what you think. 

Does mind control work on beastmaster only creatures for example?  Or are they immune to mind control? 

After watching several matches online, seeing threats of certain conjurations being at various level of degree. 

I wanted to ask the forums the question what are some of the safest conjurations in the game?  Safest meaning conjurations that would get ignored and not targeted for an attack.

Obviously some walls, war machines, and even spawn points would be high targets.  Idol of Pestilence and Deathlok are some of the highest threats in the game.   Some like Pillar of Righteous Flames is a big threat that you just have to ignore as far as attacking because it can't be targeted for an attack.   

I just want to know what you all think. 

Imo I think Hand of Bim-Shalla is one of the safest.  It has a low cost wise mana and spellbook point wise.  It has a few awesome things it could do but does not seem to be a game breaking strategy because it is unique and you can't cast multiple ones at the same time.  So I don't think it would be focused on at all my most mages.  I could be wrong, but I think it may be one of the safest conjurations in the game.