I don't feel like Power Grid and Mage Wars feel that similar because in Power Grid the player out in front is at a considerable disadvantage, and you are trying to stay just behind the other players until you are able to swing ahead in the final round and win, whereas there is no reason not to press your advantage in Mage Wars. In Power Grid, The way that the player in the lead is at a disadvantage, and you don't actually want to press your advantage until the final round is the reason I don't like the game.

Normal Mage Wars Arena reminds me more of miniatures and real time strategy games than eurogames, though there is a fair amount of resource management, which is reminiscent of eurogames. The big difference is that eurogames don't generally feature as much direct conflict; you're usually trying to get a higher score rather than eliminate your opponent. Comparisons to eurogames are probably more apt for Domination than to regular Arena, but I haven't played Domination yet, so I don't know from personal experience. I think of Mage Wars as a turn based version of a real time strategy game crossed with a minitiatures game corssed with Magic, but that's based on Arena.

I think the comparison to Go makes sense because that comparison was based on the similarity in tempo rhythms between the two games, plus the conflict in Go is pretty direct, even if other aspects of the games are completely different. Unlike in Mage Wars, you probably can't completely eliminate your opponent from the board, but if you could, it would be the correct play.

Pixel Tactics has a somewhat similar feel to Mage Wars, though it's much more tactical and less strategic (and, at least for the first set, much more vicious).

Summoner Wars is the obvious comparison, though Mage Wars feels much more organic, and less stylized, since movement is more fluid. Summoner Wars always felt like a giant gridlock. Mage Wars is also much more strategic, whereas Summoner Wars is more tactical.

Thank you for posting this. It was interesting to get to see Academy in action. I'm looking forward to getting to play it once it comes out.

My feeling is that the Wizard needed to focus more on using stagger to lock down the Razortusk, not play the weapon until later, when he might actually use it with some consistency, and do more to defend his Lightning Raptor. In addition, Shrink would have really shut down that Razortusk for a few rounds. Badger Frenzy is a lot less exciting when it's 2-3 mana for 2 attack dice instead of 4 dice. I like the idea of a Giant Size on Lightning Raptor to discourage attacking him and make his attacks more relevant earlier, but it helps to reveal it.

On the Beastmaster side, I liked the use of Joined Strength and using Badger Frenzy to deal a ton of damage and end the game at the first opportunity. I'm not sure how good that will be against a good stalling Wizard that uses guards, Shrink, repeated stagger conditions, and maybe Exile to bog you down, but I'm looking forward to finding out. My main issue with Badger Frenzy in Academy is that there is only 1 creature I would actually want to use it on in Academy, and if my opponent locks that creature down (and they'll want to), it loses a lot of value.

A zone cannot have multiple conjurations or enchantments with the same name attached to it the same way that creatures cannot have multiple conjurations or enchantments with the same name attached to them.

So no, you cannot have 2 Wizard's Towers in the same zone.

Divine Reversal looks really mana efficient for the Priestess. With both discount rings, you can prevent 2 damage, heal a creature for 2, and gain a life for 1 mana. I also see it as a good card to use if you want something akin to a Block that will work well against unavoidable attacks. Mostly I envision using it to support high armor creatures. Knights of Westlock particularly come to mind.

I really like the looks of Joined Strength. It's a way to make one of your creatures harder to take down, and forcing your opponent to spread out damage, rather than focus down one target at a time, is a good thing.

I already hate Minor Essence Drain.

Panther Stealth is so much cheaper than Mongoose Agility that I can see using it on lots of creatures that I wouldn't put Mongoose Agility on. The big target that comes to mind is a pet Thunderift Falcon. Put a Lion Savagery and a Panther Stealth on it and watch your opponent cry. Or just play a few Rajan's Furies so that they'll be easier to replace. That just seems like the perfect followup to a Cervere opening.

Rajah, Jungle's Talon is interesting. I think Rajah will be much better than Cervere for Lair builds, and Cervere will be a bit better for builds without a Lair. You COULD also do a cat build, but I still question the value of Makunda.

Badger Frenzy seems better in Arena than it does in Academy. The only creature I would really want to use it on in Academy is Razortusk, and I expect it to be a bit hard to get one out and keep it alive (and un-weakened). Besides Razortusk, your best attacks are 2 dice with piercing +1 or 2 dice and unavoidable, which is not that exciting. In Arena, you can use Badger Frenzy on Timber Wolves and Emerald Tegu, which you can spam out of a Lair.

I want to play 4 Rajan's Furies and then spam Steelclaw Cubs. I just think it would be fun.

If your opponent dedicates a lot of resources to kill your tree, fails, and then gives up to try to do something else, you've basically won the game. Treebond is pretty much the best mage ability in the game if you can keep your tree alive. It takes the Druid from having the worst stats of any mage to having the best stats of any mage. It's pretty reasonable for an opponent to be willing to spend 16 mana (double Fireball) to kill your 7-9 mana treebonded tree round 2, because the long term advantage you get from keeping that tree out is worth more than the 7-9 mana difference (whatever the tree does + the benefits of a Mana Crystal, a Regrowth Belt that stacks with regenerate and works through finite life, and Bull Endurance).

The Druid can either focus on defending their tree and using that long term advantage to come out ahead, or allow their opponent to kill their tree while they gain a significant early game board advantage and apply a bunch of pressure while their opponent is behind on mana. The best of both worlds is if your opponent dedicates a lot of resources and doesn't kill the tree, in which case you are massively ahead.

The Anvil Throne Warlord's runes aren't directly a target in the same way that the tree is, though they can also give you a significant long term advantage.

Thank you for doing this. I've really wanted to see the Academy cards for a while.

I'm not particularly excited about the attack spells for Arena. A few might have some applications, but overall those cards aren't the ones I see driving changes in Arena play. The equipment looks very interesting though.

I like Emerald Elk Staff as a way to help keep your animals alive that is very action efficient. I'll have to try it to see how valuable I find the healing, but I can see it being a nice utility card.

Johktari Hunting Knife looks solid, particularly in conjunction with a pet Timber Wolf and Packmaster's Cowl. Put Vampirism on that puppy, prepare a Defend, and you can pretty much hold off an army of living creatures. Attack with your Beastmaster, put a guard marker on the wolf. They attack the wolf, activate the wolf and attack or guard. Later, use Defend to put another guard marker on the wolf. Even without a combo like that it is a very mana efficient damage source for any kind of extended fight, and it's vastly superior to the Staff of Beasts. I don't know whether I'll value the damage Johktari Hunting Knife offers or the utility offered by Morningstar or Mage Staff more, but we're finally seeing a worthwhile nature melee weapon.

Kajarah opens up a lot of options for the Johktari Beastmaster. It was possible to kite with Hunting Bow or Ivarium Longbow plus attack spells, and I think that strategy will still work okay, but I see more Johktari Beastmaster's running Kajarah. It fits very easily into a wide variety of openings, whereas if you want to fit a big creature or a Lair into your opening, even an Ivarium Longbow severely constrains your options. Because it can target creatures in the same zone, It makes your movement options very flexible. You can get right in your opponent's face if they try to run away from you, or you can use Tanglevines to lock your opponent down while throwing some damage at them.

Leather Chausses opens up other equipment slots for utility without weakening your defenses.

Packmaster's Cowl is incredibly action efficient, and I can't wait try try it.

Repulsion Cloak is basically Suppression Cloak light. I tend to hate mana denial, although I don't think I will dislike the implemenation as much in Academy as I did in several cases in Arena. I don't think it will be used that much in Arena, since I think Suppression Cloak is a lot stronger.

Rod of the Arcanum looks solid. It gives you a bit of a damage boost and slowly gives you a mana advantage.

Sistarran Robes I can see being okay for a Mana Denial Wizard in Arena, though I would tend to favor the more defense efficient Dragonscale Hauberk.

I really like Wispwillow Amulet as a way to boost economy without having to pay quite as much mana up front. I expect this card to be awesome with a Battleforge.

I expect almost everyone to run either Wychwood Ironvine or Regrowth Belt. For builds that have a lot of armor and are planning on using a Battle Forge to play lots of equipment, Regrowth Belt, with it's stronger regenerate is probably better. For mages that don't play a Battle Forge, I can see arguments either way. It's certainly an action efficient way to get a bit of defense, but it's not really a good way to reach a state of very strong defense, because once you've played about 3-4 cards to improve your defense, you'd probably rather have Regrowth Belt or Veterans's Belt.

The Beastmaster isn't as good an example of a strong late game mage as a Priestess because his defenses aren't nearly as strong, and it's harder for him to keep his investments alive long enough to reach a dominating late game position. Although just a bear and multiple wolves is hardly a late game position anyway. You can reach that state by turn 3-4, although you might have to accept an unhealthy lack of defense in order to pull it off depending on what your opponent is doing.

Turn 1 (19): Ring of Beasts -> Steelclaw Grizzly (1)
Turn 2 (10): Enchanter's Ring -> Timber Wolf (0)
Turn 3 (9): FD Brace Yourself -> Timber Wolf (0)

A dominating late game position might be something like 2 Guardian Angels, Samandriel, Brogan, and a Knight of Westlock. Playing that much total creature strength is completely unnecessary against a solo rush build, but can be absolutely vital in an attrition mirror match. It really depends on the matchup.

3 Knights of Westlock is more like a midgame position than a late game position unless they had a lot of enchantments boosting them or something.

As to whether attrition strategies are viable in a competitive environment, I don't know. I haven't heard of many in tournaments, but the tournament sample size is so small that it's hard to draw firm conclusions about the relative strengths of different strategies from the data I've seen anyway.

I'm also not sure how long most people that play at tournaments would take to win with an attrition strategy, which could impact tournament viability. It shouldn't hurt the Attrition Priestess too much due to her tools for gaining a life advantage, but I can see it hurting other attrition mages.

I've been theorycrafting that Grimson and Cervere would be amazing in Domination.