I saw the movie Dr. Strange last night and loved it. The spell casting and relics brought back visions of matches I've played in Mage Wars Arena.

Any chance for some licensing agreement to bring Dr. Strange to the Mage Wars universe? For example, I could see a Battlegrounds expansion that let you recreate the assaults on the Tokyo, New York, and London sanctums. I would love to see a levitation cloak spell too.

It seems the creatures that get pushed by a Tsunami attack are attacked by a wall between the zones.

What happens to the wall in a zone border along the Tsunami path? Normally a zone attack does not effect walls in the zone borders. However, this attack has a special effect that moves it between zones.

It seems natural that they would be attacked by a wall of moving water, but the effect does not include this wording about the interaction of a wall with a Tsunami attack.

Here are the highlights from the WBC 2016 Mage Wars Arena tournament held July 22 – 30 at Sevens Springs Resort, PA.

This year Apprentice play covered 5 days followed by the top 8 players moving to advanced play on Saturday, July 30. We had 64 players attend demonstration sessions over the course of the first 4 days but this includes some players attending multiple sessions to learn a different mage. The qualifying round on Thursday had 19 players with 8 of those returning from last year’s tournament. We also had 7 players attend a Spellbook Design Seminar this year to learn advanced rules and tips for customizing a mage spellbook.
 
WBC 2016 graduating Apprentices are listed in rank order:
1.   Brad McCandless (Top ranked in 2015 too)
2.   Jim Newsome
3.   David Wolfe
4.   Jack Howell
5.   Vincent Sinigaglio
6.   Danielle Rosenberger
7.   Doug Mercer
8.   Nick Chepaitis

Core Set Mages selected for the single elimination rounds on Saturday were 4 Wizards, 3 Warlocks and 1 Beastmaster. The final match was a duel between two Warlocks with Nick Chepaitis defeating Jack Howell for the championship.

Congratulations to Nick Chepaitis the WBC 2016 Mage Wars Arena Champion!

Thanks to Arcane Wonders for co-sponsoring the event and donating a wonderful array of prizes for the participants. The game continues to be a big hit in the scheduled demonstration area at WBC with each session drawing 10 to 15 players at a time.

For tournament statistics and match by match details with pictures see the link below to the full tournament report.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cl698ih6up2aqpz/WBC%202016%20-%20Mage%20Wars%20Tournament%20Report.pdf?dl=0

Mage Wars Arena Schedule of Events at 2016 World Boardgaming Championships in Seven Springs Resort, PA
 
Event Page - http://www.boardgamers.org/WBC%20Event%20Previews/magewarsarena.html
 
July 23 – 26 @ various times see Event Page
Join a demonstration and learn to play Mage Wars Arena.
 
July 27 @ 1000
Attend an optional Spellbook Design 101 seminar that introduces the spellbook design rules with a focus on the Mage Wars Arena Core Set spells and mages used in the tournament. The seminar provides players with tips and strategies to help prepare for battles using the Full Mage Abilities and Core Rules used in the single elimination rounds.
 
July 28 @ 1000
Tournament Round 1 continues through the day with Apprentice mode matches to qualify the Top 8 players for advancement.

July 29 @ 1600
Repeat of the optional Spellbook Design 101 seminar

July 30 @ 1000
Tournament Rounds 2 – 4 single elimination matches with the Top 8 advancing players from Round 1 to determine the Champion.

Arcane Wonders has donated additional prizes for this tournament including random door prizes for lucky Round 1 entrants and extra prizes for players that advance and win.

Checkout the Tournament Event page here for background - http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbkex/mgwpge.htm

There is a 21-page PDF report available for those who want more detail and visuals. Here is the Dropbox link https://www.dropbox.com/s/wgh6pofmbc4uswo/WBC%202015%20-%20Mage%20Wars%20Tournament%20Report-Online%20Version.pdf?dl=0

Qualifying Heats
This round saw the player field of 29 improve their ability to kill a mage from a low of 5 kills in Heat 1 to 7 kills in each of Heats 3 and 4. Six of the advancing 8 players competed in all 4 heats while the other two were undefeated but played in only 3 heats. Two players enjoyed the game so much they drove to the local game store during the lunch break and each bought a copy!

Quarterfinals and Semifinal Play
No kills were scored during Saturday’s single elimination rounds and the top killing Warlock from the qualifying rounds fell in all 3 quarterfinal matches. Paul’s Priestess won both mirror matches as he advanced to the finals using Divine Reward as a key strategy. Bradford’s Wizard defeated a Warlock and a Beastmaster on his way to the finals.

Final Match (Paul Toro vs Bradford McCandless)
The match saw classic Wizard strategies of position control using Poison Gas Clouds, Wall of Stone, and Teleport spells with suppression of the Priestess’ ability to channel with spells like Mana Siphon and Mordok’s Obelisk. Paul’s Priestess played a Temple of Asyra opening, but aggressive play by the Wizard soon found the temple sanctuary under attack by a Gorgon Archer and a Darkfenne Hydra. From the center arena position the Wizard focused down the holy creatures as they emerged from the Temple. In response the Priestess began to focus on directly attacking the mage and using her Divine Reward ability to gain life. This strategy was then countered with a Deathlock spell that prevented further healing and life gain for the rest of the battle. On the last round of the game both mages had equal remaining health. The Wizard cast a Sleep spell on Samandriel, Angel of Light. This left the Priestess with only a mage action and a quickcast action to counter any Wizard attack that round and the Gorgon Archer was able to inflict the damage need for the Wizard’s tie-breaker victory. Congratulations to our Champion Bradford McCandless!

Thanks to …
• The 29 players competing in Round 1 who made this event such a fun experience for me to game master.
• Arcane Wonders for donating such an amazing array of additional prizes for players to win.
• Assistant GM Nick Losekamp for demo support and open gaming play.

Come to WBC 2015 in Lancaster, PA the week of Aug 3 - 9 for a Mage Wars event like no other! Mage Wars Demos and Open Gaming will be happening all week long at a boardgaming convention run by players for players. The Round 1 heats for the Mage Wars tournament are held on Thursday, August 6 with the top 8 players advancing to single elimination play on Saturday, August 8.

Learn about the WBC convention here http://www.boardgamers.org/#wbc. The Mage Wars event page is here http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbkex/mgwpge.htm.

Feel free to ask any questions you have here or send me an email at the address on the event page.

Note - the Arcane Wonders official tournament format has been modified for this event to encourage new players to enter and compete. See the event page for details.

I will be attending the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA the week of Aug 4-10.

Anyone looking to play Mage Wars can find me at open gaming that week. I plan to have the box up at each table I play at to find players and teach new ones.

If you want to meet up in Lancaster, PA that week, send me an email to share contact information.

Tom Cannon
wtcannonjr@gmail.com