Hi everyone,

I wanted to make a book that is designed around the [mwcard=FWC02]Earth Elemental[/mwcard] and maybe a few [mwcard=FWC09]Iron Golems[/mwcard]. I'm a horribly bad wizard player and my first iteration of the book is plain bad.

Does anyone have a design and strategy that might work for them? Thanks in advance!

The vines of the druid hinder everything of the opponent except flyers, this means that the druid has a HUGE mobility advantage over the opponent if she is using animals instead of plants. This is why there are so many druids running animals which is a shame. I've even heard people calling her "the better beastmaster"

So yesterday I thought of the following houserule: "vines hinder everything except the druid, plants (and maybe insects for future druids)"

That way the advantage of a druid using animals would be a lot smaller. I also believe this makes sense thematically; why would her own men/animals not be hindered by vines?

Seems like a good idea?

So lately I have been seeing DOT builds more often and I wanted to open a discussion about how to counter decks like these. DOT decks are fairly easy to build and play but can be crazy efficient and very hard to counter. Mostly, the mages being a warlock for the curses and serseryx, forcemaster for the pull/shield and force crush, johktari for felella and her fast ability or a necromancer for his poison immunity/plagued ability and zombies. In general they consist of multiple copies of the following cards:

The DOT-cards: magebane, ghoul rot, force crush, arcane corruption, poisoned blood, plagued, poison gas cloud, stranglevine and will receive extra cards from academy.
The protection: Enchantment transfusion, enchanter's wardstone, nullify. These make it VERY hard to actually counter the spells of the opponent.
Familiar: some of them use a familiar like serseryx or felella to give themself a huge action advantage.
Battle forge: to armor themselfs up.

Counter-strategies

1) rushing
The counter-strategy that work the best for me by far is rushing. If you notice you'll face a deck like that in turn 2-3, stop playing any card that will give you an advantage over time and start rushing. If your deck is able to put pressure on the opponent, do it, and do it hard.  Don't give them the time to actually play all their enchantments and force them to counter YOU. Since their strategy is  damage-over-TIME you should, apart from force crush, ignore all the enchantments they put on you.

2) dispelling
If you have summoned a creature spawnpoint in turn 1, you will probably not be able to rush the opponent. One thing I tried with very limited succes is to actually (seeking) dispel, nullify all the damage. The downside of this is that you will still receive some damage, and probably will lose more mana than the opponent. The actual hard part is still pressuring the opponent if you counter this way. I guess you should find that golden spot where you try to only counter the most annoying spells only and leave the rest of your mana for creatures/pressuring.


Are there more ideas how to counter these kind of decks? In particular when you spend much of your starting mana in slow conjurations like a [mwcard=MW1J10]Lair[/mwcard] and rushing is no option. One advantage of the warlord is of course his armor and [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] but since this is very mage specific I would rather talk about counters in general.

Counterstrike is a very curious and amusing trait. It represents a creature that is very defensive and will attack anything that even comes near it. Untill today we only have a very few selection of creatures that have this trait being the [mwcard=MW1C09]Darkfenne Hydra[/mwcard], [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC08]Infernian Scourger[/mwcard] and the porcupine in academy.
When do you get an advantage out of this trait? When the opponent is melee attacking your creature while it is not guarding.

Hydra: This bad-ass rarely sees play and that is mainly because he is slow and because agony can ruin his day. Apart from that I think the trait works best with him. If the opponent wants to kill it he'll want to attack him as much as possible in 1 turn because he regenerates, giving you the counterstrike advantage. In practice, those few times someone actually does summon him they would rather work around him than kill him. thus never attacking the hydra.

Porcupine: This creature is no danger at all for your opponent. Why would anyone ever attack it while it is not guarding? It's a decent guard but the skunk outshines him and is even cheaper.

The infernian demon: He is pretty vulnerable in arena and is a huge target for hurl rocks and such, granting no counterstrike. theoretically, I can see him being melee attacked but I feel this demon is just overpriced for most warlocks. How I see it, the arraxian crown warlock wants something stronger and the adramelech warlock needs something that can burn stuff down.

My conclusion is that I think the trait has not seen good use yet even though I think it could be very amusing. I think the trait could work when the creature is:
- A real danger for the opponent (decent attack)
- not too vulnerable, but maybe more importantly, not too strong either. The opponent will have to want to attack it. (level 3 creature)
- maybe the actual counterstrike should be a weak quick attack and the "normal attack" a decent quick attack.

I think the counterstrike would work when the creature is the opposite of the porcupine. A weak counterstrike attack and a strong normal attack.

After Siren vs Paladin comes out AW will have covered all schools decently and I was wondering what other kinds of mages people would be interested in to see in the future.

What I was thinking:
Wizard -> All elements a bit and lightning a bit more in particular.
Fire -> Warlock
Water -> Siren
Earth -> warlord
Air -> nothing yet (except the wizard)

So I would really like an air based mage, more specifically one that focusses on wind and the flying trait. We have multiple flyers in different schools but flying creatures are in general an addition to a strategy instead of the main strategy. If there was a mage completely focussed on the flying trait spells like [mwcard=MW1C36]Tarok, the Skyhunter[/mwcard], [mwcard=FWC13]Selesius, the East Wind[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1E25]Maim Wings[/mwcard] could see the light more often. I'm not specifically thinking about certain mechanics/creatures for the mage, but the general concept seems something that could be very cool to me.

What are other concept you guys think could be cool for a future mage? I've read about an ice mage and a barbarian? I don't see how a barbarian could fit in this game, what would he be like?

With all the new warlock stuff going on, I wanted to request a level 2 demon with a fire attack.

The Adramelech warlock can combo a lot with demons and fire based attacks, but right now the demons with a fire attack are fairly limited.

[mwcard=MW1C15]Firebrand Imp[/mwcard]: Love the guy, but sometimes just too squichy
[mwcard=MW1C16]Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]: good strong creature, bit squichy and really expensive
[mwcard=MW1C01]Adramelech, Lord of Fire[/mwcard]: The KING! but not for every situation.

I'll leave out any further specifications for Laddinfance's imagination. 

If there is already such a demon in the set, I request this one as an upcoming spoiler.

So, what about this dragon?

I just had a blast with poopstar and I wanted to share my deck with the forum. I wanted to retry sardonyx WITH the necro, so this is what I've got. First of all I want to note that this is VERY hard to pull of. But since it is sooo awesome to do, it's all worth it. Secondly, I haven't actually won a game with it (but I think this is def. possible).



[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Sardonyx_and_minions[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Necromancer Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]1 x Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ04]1 x Graveyard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J19]1 x Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W01]2 x Fog Bank[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]1 x Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1J02]1 x Gravikor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]1 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ04]1 x Armory[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC15]3 x Skeletal Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC10]1 x Sardonyx, Blight of the Living[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC14]1 x Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC07]1 x Mort[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C32]2 x Skeletal Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC04]1 x Grey Wraith[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]1 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E14]1 x Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E25]1 x Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBD1E01]1 x Astral Anchor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x Rust[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q05]1 x Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWPRO1]3 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I04]1 x Charge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI03]3 x Reassemble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]2 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]1 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I02]2 x Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI06]2 x Power Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I18]2 x Perfect Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI13]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I19]1 x Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Alright, what have I got?

- Devil's Trident, my only real attack spell. I picked this one because it is dark, and if can cripple the opponent. In general I want sardonyx to fight in one place.

- Force hammer & Grey wraith: My only ethereal attacks. It seemed the better option since my mage is no fighter and the mage staff will probably be useless. FH can also be used as a weak boulder if necesarry.

- 2x nullify, 3x dispel, 2x teleport, 1x seeking dispel: I really need to use sard. to the maximum, so some support is necessary. I even want another teleport to be honest. Maybe I'll add one in the future.

- Sacraficial altar and graveyard, to use that awesome and very well known sardonyx combo.

- Drain soul: I've heard comments that 1 drain soul and no drain life seems a bit pauver in this build. Although, these spells are expensive! I don't think they are worth adding in more than once.

- NO sunfire amulet and NO ring of death: Although these spells might seem perfect in this book I feel they slow me down too much. They cost 5-6 mana and need to be cast somewhere in the first 2 rounds. I want more momentum.

- mana crystal & meditation amulet: In general at the start of a game I try to meditate as much as possible. (3-6 times). I want a lot of mana to cast all my creatures.

- Gravikor and maim wings for the flyers.

- Fog bank & cloak of shadows: The deck is made for close combat. I don't want rangers/attack spells to take everything out from a distance. After schwenkgott killed my graveyard without any trouble I decided to add the fog banks. A real wall is of course not an option since the creatures still need to go trough.

- Creatures: basic minions & mort. not much to say about them.

- Astral anchor: again I don't want to move, but I'm not sure I'll ever have the time to cast it. I might take it out. Originally I had force hold for the combo but I took it out to save sbp.

- 1 charge, 2 battle fury's, 2 power strikes, 2 perfect strikes, 1 piercing strike: Since my creatures aren't living I cannot buff them with nature spells. I want these to power my skelletons when I need it. Will I ever use them all? of course not, but I want to be able to choose. At first, I also used a flank attack but I took it out to save sbp.

- Armory: This spell will never be used in the same game I use sardonyx. I took it in to use if I ever decide not using him and go full "mort and soldiers".




I an awesome game vs. a zombie brute&cursing warlock. I lost the game but I did come close when my skeleton knight attacked with 14 dice. He did protect with his scimitar but we "mutually" agreed the knight was too strong to block  . (I had lost anyway) Sardonyx had brought me down to 22 life.