Lets say you the player were making version 2.0 of mage wars. you can remake it from the ground up and aren't bound by old cards or rules. What might you change?

To start us off. I don't like how a player can chain a bunch of actions together. So:

1) Non-Creatures with attacks(wizards tower) use action markers.

2) Player with initiative can have last creature action of round(superseding the rule of having to take an action when opponent has same number of actions left; rather than having to have the most creatures to get the last action.)

Why they hate him:
1) because he has 9 channel with optional -1mana to place a burn rather than 10 channel with optional -2 mana to place a burn. Discussed elsewhere.

2) Holy Avenger. Poor outlook: people think, "I either don't get that +5 life or I don't get that extra damage. Even worse, its the opponent who decides what benefit I get." I wouldn't bulls endurance my knight, so why would I holy Avenger it?" With a more positive outlook it becomes, "I can wreck their stuff unless they deal with the Holy Avenger first. And if they kill it I can just keep making more."

3) Priestess multi-corrode removal can't be replicated with other spells like purify.

Thats about it.

edit: 4) people undervalue daze and priest is the king of daze. The reason is the uncertainty. If daze made people receive half damage rather than having half a chance of zero damage, people would love it.

edit: 5) Adding a mana cost to the summoning of a level 3 creature (no level 1-2 holy creatures were viable at priest release) is prohibitive. Beastmaster pet has always had level1-2 options. Bloodreaper has no mana cost. Academy will help, but the opinion has already been formed.

Good ideas borg. I agree that it cant be done reliably earlygame. The vinestaff(stuck may end early but is repeatable) and fumble(only on unexpected heavy attacks) sound fun. I'm using the assumption that I don't know how many teleports they have, so i have to be prepared for them to have a spare or two that cant be baited. That is the main purpose of astral anchor and why i havent wanted to make this kind of book before. (ps, astral anchor can stay unrevealed until the counter spell step of a teleport. they way the opponent cant prevent it without removing all facedown enchantments from the zone)

I'm working on a mage who will build up a lethal stranglevine. Though I could see a forcemaster trying to do that, I will be making a druid.

Problems:
Where/When is the strangle:
Do I trap them in turn2 on their side, teleport trap them to my side, or wait for them to come to me?

Teleporting away:
Use of astral anchor, nullify, and jinx will keep them using teleportation, but may require 2 quick actions per turn to maintain. It could also eat up to 10 mana per turn. Further problems: they have a familiar, divine intervention, or nullify/jinx me back.

Creatures meleeing the vine:
guarding vinesnappers / quicksand / nightshade / togorah / get creatures stuck outside of zone somehow

Mage meleeing the vine:
surging wave, agony, dissolve/orchid the firelash.

ranged attacks:
they cannot target the vine, but a ring of fire or similar could damage it. minor concern.

Mana problems:
once the stranglevine is taking 5+ mana per turn, its impossible to keep up the teleport prevention.

The only ways to heal stranglevine:
tataree, lifetree(one +2), [mwcard=DNQ06] Mohktari's Branch[/mwcard](only versus burn or poison melee or zone attacks), [mwcard=DNI04] Renewing Rain[/mwcard], [mwcard=FWC04] Goblin Builder[/mwcard](which is a bit too cheesy of an option for me)

Big decisions:
Each tree:
lifetree keeps things alive
mohtari is similiar, but better for fellella and druid but ineffective on stranglevine
vinetree will get out the vinesnappers to guard and the tanglevines to bait teleports
samara+tataree is the most economical/defensive play but half of the seedling pods will have to pop outside of the anchorzone which is a problem. the ones out of zone can be lifetree, togorah, [mwcard=DNC10] Raptor Vine[/mwcard], thornlashers to pull enemy creatures out of the zone, or a wall of thorns to [mwcard=FWI04] Force Wave[/mwcard] all the non-rooted creatures through.


Use which action generators? fellella, vinetree, seedling pods
Use which mana generators/how much time spent on economy? 
If using fellella+vinetree use a meditation amulet?
Try to bait out 2+ teleports before going for a lethal stranglevine? baits would mostly use tanglevine, stranglevine copies, or stuck conditions. If they have less than 2 teleports, a facedown astral anchor is all you need for teleport control.

I've looked at a rush strategy, and it seems fairly likely to fail. Further, once it does fail I will be way behind. I keep gravitating fellella and alll defense/economy until I get out a turn4 togorah to protect my tree. then the anchored zone would be under my tree. sometimes I think about added a spawnpoint tree and maybe meditation amulet



So that's it right now.

I have seen a few trap-based books, and yours is one of the better ones. I would do it differently. The way I'd try it:

ooze +caltrops +spiked trap +astral anchor +poison gas NC or FC. Keep pulling/pushing->teleport trapping him in. I see a big problem if he has creatures to get in the way of the traps and such.

astral anchor+stuck sounds fun. Needs a better way to deal with swarm or buddy builds imo.

It is the same SP as a wizards tower since the tower-bound spell is discarded too.

warlock/warlord/firewizard:3sp
most others:4sp
bm:5sp
druid:6sp
wizard tower+out of school level1 spell:4sp.

necro, but its the most relevent thread so here we go.

When is [mwcard=DNC17]Tataree[/mwcard] gonna get erratad to cost 4 mana rather than 6 (psst, never but i havent taken the opportunity to complain yet). its druid only but even druids barely touch it.

hand of bim shala costs 5 for 1(heal, melee, armor anywhere) before next rounds actions
mana flower costs 5 for 1 mana on caster anywhere before next rounds actions
tataree costs 6 for 1(heal in-zone, mana in-zone) after next rounds actions. Since it has a 1 round delay it should cost 1 less than the above spells. That would make it cost 4.  It currently costs 6.

Now you are replying, its only one-two mana, so it doesnt matter, but it is an economy spell which means people put a lot of efficiency planning into it. When people have comparative economy spells, they pick the cheapest option. Imagine if mana crystal cost 6. 90% of the time people would only use mana flowers.

Tataree has unique benefits(gain an action marker, heal conjurations, non zone exclusive channel booster), so maybe people think those are worth 2 mana. I could handle them being worth one mana(making tataree cost 5). Lets talk about harmonize cast on the mage. It costs one more than a mana crystal, yet people are still using it in tournaments and such. It brings something special that the others don't. It can be a hidden enchantment(tricky), its not zone exclusive, its more durable some ways, and it has the versatility of being castable on spawnpoints for cheap.

if tataree was better, samara would get used(or if samara/seedling pods were better tataree would get used). as-is it really doesnt need to be druid only. imagine a beastmaster loading it up with enchantments for attacks .

Also I miss you deckbuilder and would have supported your methods were you still around.

I am working on a complex mod, but my specific thoughts on making a shorter game(and maximum length):
each mage has +4life. Each mage loses 2 life every upkeep. At round 10, you are at -6 life. By 15 rounds, its -16 so i can't see gamaes going much longer than that. Problems are sunfire amulet and priestess lifegain and devaluation of channel boosters. outside of those, it should really help. I figure its been thought of before, but I still think its one of the better options.

As for a smaller map, I am working on some stuff...