discord?

I found out how to sign up for it, but I don't see a thing there related to MW.

Sorry but that's impossible since Mage Wars is dead! Stop lying!

My statement was quite true. I am enjoying the game as is... why do you doubt me? I don't especially care if I never buy anything else from AW ever again... I have all I need now.

Edit: I do not appreciate being called a liar.

zot, you should have been a lawyer

It's fucking expensive though, you scew yourself over with deathlock, the bow is ridiculously hard to use and necros just giggle at the sight of you.

Deathlock should be ok since you will be doing (in theory) more damage to the opponent than he is to you (especially considering bleeds), in my opinion. (I might take out any kind of healing in the book to save spellbook points.)

I don't try to use the HBow... it seems too costly for its effectiveness... you might want to forego trying to get additional bleeds on the Joktari's non-spell attacks with all of the creatures in there, and just go with a Kajarah and a backup copy (you probably don't have the mana for the Spear).

On Necros... until the Pillar of Righteous Flame gets nerfed, a book like this has to have one. You will want to focus on creatures with high attack dice numbers, and attacks that do direct and/or critical damage for zombies in addition to your main focus (needs balance). Also, maybe grab a Wand of Ice and Fire to burn nonliving creatures with.

I was thinking about Creatures to put into a Straywood BM book recently, and have considered a few that I'd never used much before for specialized roles. I'm sure that there are others, but here are the ones that I came up with the other day:

Feral Bobcat:
Even when you don't have initiative, you can get a guard out before your opponent gets to act if cast in first quickcast phase. In conjuntion with the Altar of the Iron Guard, you can quickcast the Bobcat as a guard -- as it has a melee defense, it could take a hit away from your Mage and might possibly be around for another turn. Use it to guard again or move it to attack with the Charge bonus on the next turn... whichever is better at the time.

Mountain Ram - Two uses:
1) vs. Corporeal Conjurations... half the spell book point cost of a Force Hammer for a six dice attack (presuming that it gets the charge bonus). This is a creature that seems best cast when in a zone adjacent to a corporeal conjuration with a Rouse the Beast cast on it to keep the opponent from putting a wall between it and the target before it can attack. It'll probably get a second attack on another target the next turn.
2) vs. Creatures... 4 die attack with a bonus 6+ push when moving... might push the enemy into or through a wall, or reposition it where it might not want to be.

Hellfire Ants:
The swarm of choice seems to be the Bees... but the Ants have something going for them: Their additional strikes may be made against different creatures. This allows them to knock several creatures off guard in the same turn, or "sweep" from a guarding creature into the creature you really want to attack. Downside: Any guarding creature will get its counterstrike in after the last time you attack it, so you will lose one attack each time you change between guards. On the positive side, however, each guard ttacked will only do one damage in return due to the swarm trait. Therefore, it doesn't matter how big the guard is... attack the largest guards with this one creature and then attack your main target with your other creatures.

Hunting Falcon:
Everyone has seen a pet Thunderift Falcon, but against an enemy with a sturdy flyer (Victorian Griffin, for example), a pet Hunting Falcon could be a better choice in my opinion. You get three extra life and piercing +1 for the extra two (or three, if a pet) mana and Fast trait as compared with the Thunderift Falcon. Either bird will be hindered by the flyer... so most of the time I would find the extra life and piercing the better choice. Downside: You don't get to quickcast the thing as it is level 2.

Any other interesting animals... especially those that might have niche usefulness that people may not often consider?

The comparison between Pillar and Mass Sleep might just show how overpriced MS is....

I thought the decisions these days were based around making games shorter... Pillar does that.

I have used Pillar in a number of games, sometimes with success, sometimes not.

I played it once in a tournament to deter a bunch of creatures moving into my zone and killing me in a few turns. The only trouble was that I was moved from that zone and killed elsewhere. (You need more than just this card to use it effectively... which means more mana spent and more actions taken to support it.)

One downside that hasn't really been addressed is that if you play your cards right, the Pillar player will have to play additional spells to make use of the thing... stay away from that zone for three turns and you don't need to worry about it. Sure... he'll get one attack on casting the spell, and probably a second the turn after, but that could be all without additional actions and mana.

I also played it in order to make a single absolutely necessary attack against a ghost... no other enemy creatures anywhere near it, but I couldn't let the ghost sit in the zone and take apart several other creatures instead. I feel it was worth the cost even for that one attack.

The spell puts a cramp on mobility... but so do many other spells. You just need to know how to work around it.

With all that said... I feel that the spell should have been level 3 Holy at least, probably level 4. I don't think that it should be Holy mage or Priestess only on top of that though. This would make it more in line with other very powerful spells. It might also be a couple of mana more, but 13 seems too high to me, given that you can simply avoid it unless the other player puts more resources into using it to reposition you.

Instead of an increased mana cost, I like the thought being used in some tournaments where the Pillar doesn't attack if you are moved into it... only if you voluntarily move into it (and on casting and when removing dissipates). It still feels like a level 3 (or possibly 4) spell though to me.

Edit: Note that level 4 Holy makes it much more costly for a Paladin to use. Maybe that's a good thing conceptually, but I feel that the Paladin kind of needs access to this spell. (Again... just my opinion.)