Dancing Scimitar is level 2, and generally only level 1 equipments could get 4 copies.
Psi-Orb is a mage only equipment, and so you only get 2 copies.
Sectarus is the same.
Thoughtspore is mind mage only, however as it's one of 3 creatures the Forcemaster has, and it's pretty useful we included 4.
Charm and Mind Control were included at max copies because they're key to the style of the forcemaster, at least from a thematic approach.

Mohktari's Branch is a pretty specialized piece of equipment and so it gets 3 copies.
Samara Tree is a typo. There are 2 of them in the set, as there should be with almost any epic card.
Seedling Pod is needed in large numbers to work with Samara tree and so we included the full 6 cards.
Rise Again and Animate Dead were key cards conceptually for the Necromancer, also they're all fully usable by Warlocks so we put 4 copies in.
Burst of Thorns is very much like an attack spell and we wanted to give you the copies needed to cast this throughout the game.

Eisenach's Forge Hammer is two copies because it is a mage only piece of equipment.
Harshforge Plate is the same.
Otto Kronig is a typo, there are 3 copies of him.
Combustion should have 6 copies under normal rules. However, because of how the spell works it's incredibly unlikely that anyone would cast 6 of these in a game and so we cut it down to 4 copies. Still well more than you need.

One last thing to keep in mind. Sometime to make a set fit, we have to look at the options availible to us and prune some copies back to allow us to fit on the sheet. In the end we want to give our players the best possible expansion, with the best overall distribution of cards. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Enjoy your Sunday.

I was literally about to hit the post button in response to the previous replies when your post popped up, so perfect timing. 

Thanks for clarifying the reasoning behind some of the card numbers.  I wasn't aware that level 2+ equipment typically only got 3 copies.  It's also nice to know someone on the dev team didn't fall crazily in love with the Samara Tree and decide to sneak in 4 extra copies of it (I still have my suspicions about Minor Heal ). 

I do have one last question though.  Some of the cards listed are school-only instead of mage-only.  I previously assumed there was a difference, and that the two things were treated differently (with school-only getting another copy).  Is that not the case?  For example, [mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ05] Harshforge Plate[/mwcard] is War Mage Only but not Warlord Only.  For the purposes of card numbering, is that distinction meaningless?

To be honest, I do find the distinction strange in a couple of cases.  Harshforge Plate and Eisenach's Hammer seem pretty specific to the Warlord (specifically the Alt Warlord, but of course no cards are restricted to just a single version of a mage).  Maybe the designers just felt that future War mages would need those cards?  I'm also pretty surprised Mohktari's Branch isn't mage or school restricted (since it's extremely unlikely that any non-Nature mage would be running enough plants to make the card worth taking).   

I also just double-checked and realized that if mage-only and class-only did not reduce card numbers, other cards which did previously seem to apply to the standardization really don't.  So in other words, I still have no idea what the system is.   

I'm not convinced that the Wizard is somehow going to be brought in line as the card pool grows, at least considering the current pattern of releases; the problem is that he can, through his training, just adapt to best suit the current card pool. 

For the Wizard to be balanced via new releases, those new releases, maybe a couple or so, would need to stop introducing important cards that the Wizard can include at base spellbook point cost...which is pretty limiting from a design perspective, considering that would include all of the minor schools (and Arcane).  But as Academy gives the Wizard lots of new toys, such as a level 1 Arcane creature (the Wizard used to be the only Mage with a Spawnpoint without that, IIRC), I just don't see that happening. 

I hope that as I play these new releases, I'll see yet more improvement in terms of balance, but I really see the problem with the Wizard based in his mage stats card (primarily) and the unyielding expansion of the Arcane/Minor schools, not necessarily the lack of options for other mages.

I completely agree.  Back with only the base set, there were still arguments that the Wizard was slightly more powerful than the other 3 mages, but it was generally considered a very small difference in power.  From what I've seen, the wizard has actually gotten more powerful with almost every expansion due to his deck-building options.  Forcemaster vs Warlord made Earth Wizards more viable, Forged in Fire gave Fire Wizards a lot more tools, and Paladin vs Siren is almost definitely going to give the Wizard lots of Water cards he can make use of. 

Long story short, without an errata of some kind, the Wizard is always going to remain one of the most powerful mages.  He can make too much use of the overall card pool, so he's not going to ever fall behind (unless Arcane Wonders releases an expansion with practically no elemental or Arcane cards, and even then he can just pay double for any other stuff he's really interested in).  But if Arcane Wonders is going to errata the Wizard himself, they really need to do it before they release Alt Wizard vs Alt Forcemaster, which is going to be their next minor Arena expansion. 

I'm not sure why the first set of Academy was Wizard v. Beastmaster and not Priestess v. Warlock, to be honest.

While it is a bit awkward, I do see the logic in having Beastmaster vs Wizard be the first release.  The latest release was Forged in Fire, which helped out Warlocks.  The next Arena release is going to be Paladin vs Siren, which is obviously going to help out the Priestess as well with new Holy school cards.  So Arcane Wonders kind of had to give the Beastmasters something to prevent them from getting stale. 

I don't really get your reply, mind is fine for the forcemaster, the invisibile stalker is mind school.  I'm not sure what other school force is referring to, I understood it was a subtype, like animal, demon etc.

So Mind/Dark gives the creature a lot of flexibility that doesnt have to rely on psychic only. Basically an invisible stalker that throws out curses like bees poo honey would be a mind/dark creature that fits the bill...

Force and Psychic are both sub-types of the Mind school (similar to how acid and hydro are 2 sub-types of the Water minor school).  The problem is that a lot of creatures possess Psychic Immunity, which makes all Psychic type attacks and spells useless against them.  For example, the [mwcard=FWC12]Psylok[/mwcard] creature can't affect Psychic Immune creatures because its only attack has the Psychic sub-type.  That creature represents a full 33% of the Mind school's current creature pool.  Therefore, some people want a creature for the Forcemaster that isn't countered by Psychic Immunity. 

The problem is that Mage Wars tends to follow theme extremely well.  In general, everything does exactly what you'd expect it to do.  Why can the [mwcard=MW1C26]Necropian Vampiress[/mwcard] fly during its activation?  Because a lot of vampire myths claim vampires are capable of limited flight.  Why does [mwcard=MW1C29]Redclaw, Alpha Male[/mwcard] buff up surrounding wolves?  Because wolves usually travel in packs, and the designers wanted players to mirror that through gameplay.  There are a ton of examples of this stuff. 

So what do most people think of when they imagine a nightmare creature?  I'd bet they usually think of psychic abilities.  Take Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street: he can usually only injure/kill people in their dreams, and only because he's feeding off their emotions.  If, hypothetically, he was tasked with killing a robot in one of his movies, do you think he'd be very effective at it? 

That basically describes the situation.  Some people want the creature to be useful and fill a niche for the Forcemaster, but it's difficult for that to happen while the card still stays true to its theme. 

the first question is do we want this creature to be Legendary or not?

First there is the creature who feeds on dreams. This would be like a kick ass version of haunter from pokemon. It puts you to sleep and then feeds on you without breaking the condition. Then, there is the "Phantom Force Nightmare". This one could be like a poltergeist or some form of intangible force knight with a horrifying presence.  And I'm sure you guys have ideas for this as well. We're close. After this step I'll build some playtest cards for us to see just what we've come up with.

Personally, I'd prefer non-legendary.  While a Legendary creature allows for more unique abilities, the mind school kind of needs solid mid-tier soldiers to deploy.  That being said, I do have an idea or two for a legendary creature as well.  Disclaimer: these are all initial ideas, and have had absolutely no thought given to balance concerns yet. 

1. Mind-Consuming Darkness
Idea = a dedicated anti-familiar.  Consumes them and grows more powerful.
Specifics = attacks gain Unavoidable and +2 against all familiars.  If a familiar is killed by this creature's attack, its card is placed under this creature's card.  These creatures cannot be resurrected or regained in any way by their mage.  For each captured creature card under it, this creature gains Reconstruct +1, Melee +2, and an extra action marker (giving it an extra turn).  Whenever this creature takes damage, its controlling mage may discard one of the creature cards under it to regain health equal to the number of health listed on that card.  Afterwards, that card is Obliterated. 
Notes = the upside is that it's very different from any other existing creatures, and it suits the theme fairly well.  The downside is that its abilities would only suit a legendary creature, and familiars aren't extremely popular or prevalent anyway (meaning the card would be HIGHLY situational).

2. Haunting Shadows
Idea = relatively weak creature which enemy mages are forced to deal with personally.  Sort of like living homing missiles.
Specifics = this creature may only move in the direction of the nearest enemy mage.  It cannot be targeted by any non-mage creatures or conjurations.  It is Obscured, Unstoppable, and Uncontainable.  It cannot attack anything except a mage, and its attacks are Unavoidable and Critical.  It is unaffected by terrain and walls. 
Notes = upside is it doesn't have to be legendary, is somewhat unique, and fits the theme of a "phantom force nightmare".  Downside is that it will be challenging to make this idea scary instead of annoying for an opposing mage while not having it be too powerful.

3. Nightmare Illusionist
Idea = a solid mid-tier creature which can make damaging illusions of itself, making the enemy guess as to which one is real
Specifics = this card comes with 4 tokens.  all tokens possess the same face-up side, and 3 of them say illusion on the other side.  The last token says real on its face-down side.  When this creature is summoned, place all 4 tokens in areas within 1 space of the controlling mage (can be placed in different spaces from each other).  Place the creature card next to the mage's equipment.  Each token possesses its own action marker and takes its own turn.  Whenever one of the tokens is attacked, it is flipped over.  If the token says real, the creature card is placed in that space and all illusion tokens are discarded.  If the token says illusion, that token is discarded.   Each token may attack and deal damage as normal, but only the real token may damage psychic-immune creatures. 
Notes = on the upside, this would give the mind school a solid soldier card, while also incorporating the theme of mind games.  On the downside, this might prove unwieldy and intrude too much on whatever is planned for the Siren (or a future Illusionist).  It also relies on psychic attacks by necessity (which might be a problem). 


I might think of other ideas later. 

It might be helpful to define or elaborate on what constitutes a "Nightmare Creature".  That choice seems to have a lot of potential overlap between "Psychic Ghost" and "Creature from Beyond". 

Anyway, I'm voting for Cthonian-Style Creature from Beyond, mainly because I feel it is the most logical direction for Mind & Dark cards to go in.  We already have ghosts which are pure Dark, so having ghosts also be the Mind & Dark combo will make it feel less distinct and special.  I view Brain in a Jar as more natural as a Mind & Arcane combo than Mind & Dark (there's nothing necessarily evil about surviving as a brain in a vat...  Heck, some of my best friends might be brains in vats for all I know!).  I would be really excited for Zombie Fungus (I really want fungus/mushroom people), but that seems like an ideal Nature & Dark combo.  Mental Parasite could be good, but I think it's pretty similar to how the Zombie Fungus could work.  And Nightmare Creature is a bit vague at the moment. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Wizard Tower is just a really really strong card, in an already potent school, that plays to the major strengths of the wizard's wheelhouse.

All that to say:
The complexity of this "issue" is two fold.  The wizard and the arcane school.

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I think I agree with the above statements most.  The wizard by himself is good, but not overpowered.  The arcane school by itself is good but not overpowered.  And the Wizard's Tower by itself is good, but not overpowered.  By combining them, however, you get a really nasty and hard to beat opponent. 

I think the wizard's abilities themselves are fine.  They are powerful, but they cost mana to make up for it.  The wizard's main problem is that his deck-building flexibility is almost unlimited.  The easiest way to fix that would be to make the wizard pay triple for the element which opposes his chosen element (water = fire, air = earth), and for all War school cards.  Without the element restriction, the long-rumored elementalist mage would be unnecessary, since the wizard could simply do the job himself (with the added benefit of still having access to Arcane spells).  And the War restriction makes thematic sense. 

As for the Arcane school itself, the 3 main problems are Teleport, Dispel, and Nullify.  From what I understand, each of these cards is considered top tier in the meta, and have been for a long time.  This hasn't really happened with cards from other schools, at least to this extent.  In order to fix this, Arcane Wonders needs to design and release cards (from schools OTHER than Arcane) that directly counter these cards in order to reduce their popularity to manageable levels.  It should be perfectly viable to build a competitive deck with absolutely no copies of those spells at all.  Astral Anchor and Harshforge Plate are a good start, but it's not enough. 

Last is the Wizard's Tower.  I think the only things that should be changed are that it should cost a quick action to change out the tower's spells, and the tower itself should be epic.  Being able to bring out another tower as soon as the first one is destroyed is just silly, and the quick action to change spells would bring it more in line with other familiars.