Fas723, I disagreed with your methodology for the first "most efficient" thread, and I still disagree with it now.

The traits and attributes in Mage Wars have such complicated interactions that it is nonsensical to assign a mathematical "efficiency" to any one trait. Just a few examples:

1) Nonliving. Is it a bonus, or is it a penalty? I would argue that for the Skeletal Sentry it is a major bonus, giving immunity to Pestilence, Deathlock, Malacoda, and Psychic spells. However, for the Earth Elemental it is a really major penalty, because you cannot use Nature enchantments (ie Bear Strength or Cheetah Speed) or heals on Nonliving.

2) Falcons vs Foxes. The falcon has the same stats but gains Flying for only 1 mana. Most people would agree that this makes it very underpriced when you just compare stats. However, the Fox synergizes much better with Redclaw and Animal Kinship, to such a large degree that many swarm decks prefer Foxes over Falcons.

-----
I think it would be far more valid to reverse-engineer the "expected mana value" of Health, Armor, and quick action melee attack die - ignoring all traits, abilities, and ranged attacks.

Then you could say stuff like, "An Emerald Tegu costs 1.83 more mana than it would without any traits or abilities, so you are paying 1.83 mana for 8+ Rot.", or "A Falcon only pays 1 mana for Flying which is pretty sweet.", or "Boltstorm pays 5 mana for his triplestrike 3 dice 1-1 ranged attack, which is really awesome."

A few ideas come to mind

I think theres room for things like:

Lycanthrope:  Has ability/cost/trigger to toggle form.. wolfing out drastically altering mana and spell acess but becoming much more melee/health oriented, or even fully out of control.

"Monk/Jedi"- I use the term loosly, but inspired by a "jedi" style concept.. based around iconic style magic weapon that can deflect/redirect ranged attacks and cut through armor and such as obviously influenced by Lightsabers.  To further reinforce the Jedi feel, the deck/archtype would have basic recreations of "force" powers but could choose to be light or dark (holy/dark) for its other spell types (ie jedi/sith) at deck creation.  (much like the mage selects his element)

Vampire Lord: Count Dracula, Strahd, etc.  You get the idea.

A Lich style concept where the mage himself is invincible but his "weakness" is contained in a zone or conjuration or something on the board, and he loses if that is destroyed.

Dragon Lord:  Who doesnt love Dragons?

Reaver:  Gets more powerful as his health total gets lower and lower

Spell Theif/Doppleganger: works off of or immitates the opponents abilities and spells.

Elemental: Not an elementalist, but literally a Fire/Water/Earth/Air/nature/stone/Etc elemental. (slected at creation)

Ninja: Stealth mechanic of being able to play creatures face down like hidden enchantments, to turn himself facedown to "hide" use sneak attacks and subterfuge and neat ninja magics ala shinobi.  Lightfooted quick fighting mage with neat caltrop traps, smoke bombs,and ninja flavored equipment

Bard: charms and enthalls other creatures, etc.

Martyr/Guardian: based around taking damage and redirecting to himself on behalf of his minions to keep his creatures in the game doing things for him, rather than the traditional angle of creatures defending for the mage.


Other more traditional archtypes include:
Illusionist,  pretty self explainatory.  Illusions and trickery based

Enchanter, again self explainatory focuses on enchanting things

Artificer,  builder.. works heavily through crafted goods (equpiment) and things like golems and clockwork minions

My first impression is that his conjurations and creatures are incredibly powerful, but I haven't even scratched the surface of how to use him properly.

The 4-mana conjurations (Watchtower and Garrison) are incredible because of their cost. They are so cheap that there is no point in trying to destroy them; you can recast them for the cost of a single Block. (and they've probably absorbed more damage than one Block) You need 2 other outposts to maximize the mana income of a Barracks, so there is no reason not to throw down towers early.

The "Soldier" type creatures are all about damage and mana efficiency, but they tend to be fragile for their cost. In contrast, the Iron Golem and Earth Elemental are Slow and immensely sturdy. I am definitely planning to use Golem/Elemental to Guard my fragile slingers and snipers.

The Barracks generates 3 mana per turn and the Goblin Grunt costs 4 mana. This is incredible. Seeing all of those grunts swarm out onto the battlefield made me want to yell "FOR THE HORDE!!".

Becoming good at the Warlord is going to require a lot more skill in positional play. For example, the mere presence of Ludwig Boltstorm (1-1 3 dice triplestrike crossbow) strongly discourages enemies from hanging out in zones adjacent to Ludwig. The presence of an iron golem strongly discourages enemies from venturing into that zone. Caltrops and walls can further "zone out" enemies.

A Warlord creature swarm is very different from a Beastmaster creature swarm in that he is slower to get started and therefore cannot rush as effectively. A BM can make an effective swarm without any spawnpoint at all, or with just a Lair (14 mana), while a WL needs a minimum of Barracks + 2 Towers (20 mana). However, once the Warlord has a lot of creatures out, his extra abilities like Veterancy and Battle Orders make those creatures extremely powerful.

The 3x mana cost for dispels, nullifies and teleports is really painful. A Warlord will frequently have to make do with knives, axes, slings and arrows in situations where a more "educated" Mage would use spells.