Due to the nature of Mage Wars, a lot of cards (while impressive and well-drawn) look stereotypical and therefore made less of an impact on me (since they weren't surprising).  Therefore, a lot of my favorite artwork are things that surprised me. 

Best:

Blood Demon - Unlike many of the previous demons, these guys actually look terrifying.  The semi-hidden mouths on their bodies, arms, and legs make them even more distinctive (and frightening). 

Infernian Scourger - Similar to the blood demons, these look distinctive, demonic, and intimidating. 

Iron Golem - I've seen a fair amount of golem artwork, but these are undoubtedly among the best.  The earth elemental looks extremely tame in comparison. 

Mana Leech - I think the most striking thing about this card is that it is impossible to tell the size of the creature.  It's probably fairly small (leeches typically are), but I like to think it's the size of a house.  The spikes (and tentacles?) all over its body are also a nice touch. 

Samandriel - I know, I know; it's a scantily clad female.  Just hear me out.  I think the flavor text and name of the card are extremely important to appreciating this artwork.  My opinion is that this card carries its theme better than any other card in the game.  Everything in the artwork is blindingly bright, from the sword to the armor, to the angel's wings, to the glow emanating from the center of the background.  Just looking at the card is enough to make my eyes water occasionally.  Plus, angels are typically shown as lightly covered (especially in older art, where they were usually either naked or covered by a sheet).  So I'm inclined to give this card some leeway. 

Worst:

Priestess - She looks like a belly dancer.  What kind of priestess walks around with partially transparent clothes and a top held together by two pieces of string?!  Lastly, what is up with her insanely long cuffs?  Those things have got to be dragging across the ground constantly. 

Knight of Westlock - Most of the card is fine, but that sword looks like a child's plastic toy.  Somebody needs to give that thing one of Sir Corazin's swords. 

Guardian Angel - Why would anyone try to go for both a heavily-armored look and a chain-mail bikini at the same time?!  Pick one or the other.  This also just makes the whole issue of scantily clad angels worse.  Be consistent! 


Some thoughts on the cards listed in the OP: I agree for the most part, but I'm fairly certain the "lightning" on the Libro Mortus card is supposed to be ethereal or death energy.  The statue on the Battle Forge card looks like a dwarf without a long beard to me, but now I will forever also see a wookie.  Why would you do this to me?

...Just...why? They are opposing for a reason and as such unable to work well together. If they break that rule i'd be furious. The suggestion is as childish as a dragonninjavampiremage... (haha)

There's no reason opposing elements can't work together, so long as the Mage still has some weaknesses.  For example, Death Knights and Anti-Paladins are the pretty standard mixing of Holy and Death magic.  I don't know of a good example of a War and Arcane mixing off the top of my head, but I'm sure the devs could think of some interesting ones. 

You've never heard of a Dark Priest?

That would also work  . 

I'm glad to see some more dual-training Mages are in the pipeline.  Sorcerer sounds awesome! 

The Mage Wars RPG also sounds interesting, but I kind of dread how long any adventure is going to take since regular Mage Wars battles already last 1-2 hours.  Are we talking 4-6 hour long games or D&D time scales here?


As a side note, if they ever come out with Mages which are trained in opposing schools, such as Holy and Dark, or Arcane and War, I'm going to be so excited. 

Oh man... this topic reminds me of the funniest game of Mage Wars I've ever played.  A friend and I had agreed to try out building custom books for the first time.  I chose the Forcemaster as my mage (having never played it before), mostly because of the cantrip weapon.  I decided to build a solo book by compiling every powerful buffing enchantment and piece of equipment, as well as some typical mind control stuff (I had absolutely no creatures or conjurations).    When my opponent announced he was playing the Necromancer, I honestly figured I was screwed since all of his creatures possessed psychic immunity. 

And then we began the game...  The necromancer stayed on his side of the field and started amassing a horde of zombies.  I decided not to press him, as I wanted to see how much punishment my mage could take.  Instead, I simply geared up.  After ~8 turns, I finally moved to the center of the board, and he attacked with all 10 of his creatures.  Hilariously enough... they couldn't actually touch me.  At that point, I had 7 defenses, 5 armor, and a whole lot of other defensive perks. 

At this point, I could have simply ended the game, but I was just having too much fun watching my opponent's mounting frustration (he had apparently forgotten to add any dispels into his book, so his only counter was to play more and more zombies).  Instead of going for the necromancer himself, I simply cut down his minions as fast as he could summon them (he had to run out eventually...).  I even let him build up a max-strength Shaggoth-Zora (it took me all of three turns to cut it to pieces, and it only dealt 4 damage to me). 

After 2 and a half hours of this, my opponent finally quit (with an expletive-filled rant that I won't repeat here).  Sadly, he has refused to play me ever since.   

So yeah.... turns out one of the easiest ways of beating a zombie necromancer is to just buff yourself up as much as possible, pray your opponent doesn't have a purge or destroy magic, and just wait patiently until he rage-quits.   

Sorry for the length (I would have used spoiler tags if they were supported).

Background Info:
I am one of the (probably rare) players who prefers to stick with the starting spell-books,  rather than delve into the deck-building aspect of the game.  I prefer to give every mage a pre-set deck which is ready to go at all times, which the minor expansions obviously do not allow.  Therefore, I have spent a bit of time using the official spell-book builder to re-vamp the starting spell-books for the Beastmaster, Johktari Beastmaster, Priestess, Priest, Warlock, Adramelech Warlock, Warlord, and Anvil Throne Warlord in order to solve this problem.  I figured I might as well share these with other players in case they wanted to do something similar.  Feedback is also appreciated.   

Construction Rules:
1. All spell-books must be legal. 
2. Spell-books cannot use cards released after their own expansion (this means players won't have to purchase every expansion if they don't want to) [Conquest of Kumanjaro books might require cards from Druid vs Necromancer...  my bad].
3. Spell-books should, wherever possible, stick to their preferred school (no splashing large amounts of holy cards in a Warlock book). 
4. Spell-books should have a general theme to help differentiate themselves from alternate mages. 
5. Spell-books should have as many types of cards (especially in-school creatures) as possible (this increases variety and learning speed for new players).
6. Spell-books should be creature-heavy (it is far less likely for other mages to use out-of-school creatures, as opposed to other types of cards).   
7. Books should all be buildable without altering other mage classes, and without buying any core spell tomes. 
8. Spell-books should be roughly balanced around each other, but tournament balancing is completely irrelevant [DO NOT BRING THIS UP AS A COMPLAINT!  Making 12 tournament worthy books is impossible without buying a LOT of core spell tomes due to the small number of cards such as teleport and dispel]. 

A. Priestess  (Healing Bulwark)
1. Equipment:
-Colossus Belt
-Crown of Protection
-Deflection Bracers
-Ivarium Longbow
-Mage Wand
-Moonglow Amulet
-Ring of Asyra
-Wand of Healing
-Wind Wyvern Hide
2. Conjurations:
-Hand of Bim-Shalla
-Mana Flower x2
-Temple of Asyra
3. Creatures:
-Asyran Cleric x4
-Brogan Bloodstone
-Highland Unicorn x2
-Knight of Westlock x2
-Royal Archer x2
-Selesius, the East Wind
4. Enchantments:
-Block
-Fortified Position
-Harmonize x2
-Healing Charm x3
-Nullify
-Pacify x2
-Regrowth
-Rhino Hide
-Sacred Ground x2
5. Incantations:
-Dissolve
-Force Push
-Group Heal
-Heal
-Lay Hands
-Purify
-Renewing Rain
-Resurrection
-Sleep
-Steal Enchantment
-Steal Equipment
6. Attacks:
-Blinding Flash

B. Priest  (Angel Rush)
1. Equipment:
-Dawnbreaker Ring
-Dispel Wand
-Elemental Cloak
-Gauntlets of Strength
-Reflex Boots
-Staff of Asyra
-Storm Drake Hide
-Sunfire Amulet
-Wand of Healing
2. Conjurations:
-Battle Forge
-Mana Prism
-Temple of the Dawnbreaker
3. Creatures:
-Grey Angel x2
-Guardian Angel x3
-Samandriel, the Angel of Light
-Selesius, the East Wind
-Valshalla, Lightning Angel
4. Enchantments:
-Armor Ward
-Block x2
-Bull Endurance
-Divine Intervention
-Divine Might
-Divine Protection
-Healing Charm
-Mind Shield
-Nullify
-Retaliate
-Reverse Magic
-Rhino Hide
5. Incantations:
-Banish
-Dispel
-Dissolve
-Heal
-Minor Heal
-Power Strike x2
-Purge Magic
-Whirling Strike
6. Attacks:
-Blinding Flash
-Pillar of Light x3

C. Beastmaster  (Canine Rush)
1. Equipment:
-Bearskin
-Enchanter's Ring
-Mage Wand
-Regrowth Belt
-Staff of Beasts
-Sunfire Amulet
2. Conjurations:
-Enchanter's Wardstone
-Mana Crystal
-Mana Flower x2
-Rajan's Fury
-Renewing Spring
-Tanglevine x3
-Tooth & Nail
-Wall of Thorns x2
3. Creatures:
-Bitterwood Fox x4
-Dire Wolf x4
-Redclaw, Alpha Male
-Sosruko, Ferret Companion
-Tarok, the Skyhunter
-Thunderift Falcon x2
-Timber Wolf x3
4. Enchantments:
-Bear Strength
-Block
-Bull Endurance
-Cheetah Speed
-Cobra Reflexes
-Eagle Wings
-Enchantment Transfusion x2
-Mind Shield
-Mongoose Agility
-Regrowth
-Retaliate
-Rhino Hide
5. Incantations:
-Battle Fury
-Call of the Wild x3
-Charge
-Dispel
-Dissolve
-Evade
-Force Push
-Group Heal
-Knockdown
-Minor Heal
-Perfect Strike
-Piercing Strike
-Rouse the Beast
-Shift Enchantment
-Whirling Strike
6. Attacks:
-Geyser x2
-Jet Stream

D. Johktari Beastmaster  (Big Beasts)
1. Equipment:
-Elemental Cloak
-Eagleclaw Boots
-Hunting Bow x2
-Ring of Beasts
-Sunfire Amulet
2. Conjurations:
-Animal Kinship
-Enchanter's Wardstone
-Lair
-Mana Flower
-Mohktari, Great Tree of Life
-Renewing Spring
-Stranglevine
-Bloodspine Wall x2
3. Creatures:
-Cervere, the Forest Shadow
-Emerald Tegu x2
-Feral Bobcat x2
-Giant Wolf Spider x4
-Makunda
-Steelclaw Grizzly
4. Enchantments:
-Bear Strength
-Cheetah Speed
-Cobra Reflexes
-Eagle Wings
-Enchantment Transfusion x2
-Falcon Precision
-Hawkeye
-Marked for Death
-Mind Shield
-Mongoose Agility
-Nullify
5. Incantations:
-Battle Fury
-Charge
-Dispel
-Force Wave
-Heal
-Knockdown
-Minor Heal
-Piercing Strike
-Power Strike
-Rouse the Beast
-Shift Enchantment
-Sniper Shot
-Steal Equipment
-Whirling Strike
6. Attacks:
-Surging Wave x2

E. Warlock  (Blushing Sailor)
1. Equipment:
-Cloak of Shadows
-Demonhide Armor
-Eagleclaw Boots
-Helm of Fear
-Moloch's Torment
-Ring of Curses
-Sectarus, Dark Rune Sword x2
-Veteran's Belt
2. Conjurations:
-Battle Forge
-Enchanter's Wardstone
-Mana Crystal
-Pentagram
3. Creatures:
-Blood Demon x4
-Cerberus
-Darkfenne Bat x3
-Dark Pact Slayer x2
-Goran, Werewolf Pet
-Grey Wraith x2
-Necropian Vampiress
-Sersiryx, Imp Familiar
4. Enchantments:
-Agony x3
-Arcane Corruption
-Chains of Agony x2
-Death Link
-Enfeeble x2
-Ghoul Rot x2
-Magebane
-Maim Wings x2
-Marked for Death
-Poisoned Blood x2
-Rust x3
-Vampirism
5. Incantations:
-Dispel
-Drain Life x2
-Drain Soul x2
-Seeking Dispel
6. Attacks:
-none-

F. Adramelech Warlock  (Everything Must Burn)  [Side Note: Her official starting book is illegal.  It comes out to 124 points.  This can be partially solved by eliminated one of the suggested Lashes of Hellfire (there is only one in the base game anyway).]
1. Equipment:
-Adramelech's Torment
-Bloodfire Helmet
-Cloak of Shadows
-Colossus Belt
-Eagleclaw Boots
-Elemental Wand
-Fireshaper Ring
-Lash of Hellfire
2. Conjurations:
-Gate to Hell
-Mana Crystal
-Sacrificial Altar
-Wall of Fire x2
3. Creatures:
-Adramelech, Lord of Fire
-Cerberus
-Firebrand Imp x3
-Flaming Hellion x2
-Infernian Scourger x4
-Seriryx, Imp Familiar
-Wildfire Imp x6
4. Enchantments:
-Adramelech's Touch x4
-Circle of Fire
-Hellfire Trap x2
-Vampirism
5. Incantations:
-Combustion x4
-Disarm
-Explode x2
-Ignite x4
-Teleport
-Vampiric Strike
6. Attacks:
-Devil's Trident x4
-Fireball x3
-Firestorm x2
-Flameblast x2
-Ring of Fire x2

G. Warlord  (Goblin Swarm)
1. Equipment:
-Harshforge Plate
-Helm of Command
-Horn of Gothos
-Morning Star
-Reflex Boots
-Ring of Command
-War Sledge
2. Conjurations:
-Akiro's Hammer
-Alter of Carnage
-Alter of Domination
-Archer's Watchtower
-Armory
-Barracks
-Garrison Post
-Mangler Caltrops
-Quicksand x2
-Wall of Pikes x2
3. Creatures:
-Bloodcrag Minotaur
-Earth Elemental
-Goblin Alchemist x4
-Goblin Bomber x3
-Goblin Builder x4
-Goblin Grunt x6
-Goblin Slinger x3
-Gurmash, Orc Sergeant
-Orc Butcher x4
-Talos
-Thorg, Chief Bodyguard
4. Enchantments:
-Akiro's Favor x2
-Armor Ward
-Fortified Position
-Standard Bearer
5. Incantations:
-Akiro's Battle Cry
-Conquer
-Flank Attack x3
-Power Strike
-Sniper Shot
-Whirling Strike
6. Attacks:
-Hurl Boulder x3
-Hurl Rock x2

H. Anvil Throne Warlord  (Dwarf Fortress)
1. Equipment:
-Colossus Belt
-Eisenach's Forge Hammer
-General's Signet Ring
-Harshforge Plate
-Helm of Command
-Horn of Gothos
-Reflex Boots
2. Conjurations:
-Altar of Carnage
-Altar of Domination
-Archer's Watchtower x2
-Armory
-Construction Yard
-Harshforge Monolith
-Wall of Steel x4
3. Creatures:
-Anvil Throne Crossbowman x4
-Dwarf Kriegsbiel x4
-Dwarf Panzergarde x4
-Grimson Deadeye, Sniper
-Iron Golem x2
-Ludwig Boltstorm
-Otto Kronig, Master Engineer
-Talos
4. Enchantments:
-Akiro's Favor x2
-Armor Ward
-Brace Yourself x2
-Fortified Position x2
-Mind Shield
-Spiked Pit x2
5. Incantations:
-Conquer
-Defend
-Earthquake
-Flank Attack x2
-Perfect Strike
-Power Strike
-Sniper Shot
6. Attacks:
-Hail of Stones x2
-Hurl Rock x2