Mana Leeches Against Control?

[reddawn]

What do you guys think about Mana Leeches as a way to counter control?  I think they're a good idea, since you can send them against a guard to remove it for future attacks on the enemy mage, but Mana Drain will also slow your opponent's mana advantage, especially if they channel higher than your mage.

They also have the very valuable Psychic Immunity trait, which allows Leeches to avoid cost efficient control cards like Sleep and Pacify, as well as attacks from control creatures like the Screech Harpy.

Thoughts/Experience using them?

[Fentum]

What do you guys think about Mana Leeches as a way to counter control?  I think they're a good idea, since you can send them against a guard to remove it for future attacks on the enemy mage, but Mana Drain will also slow your opponent's mana advantage, especially if they channel higher than your mage.

They also have the very valuable Psychic Immunity trait, which allows Leeches to avoid cost efficient control cards like Sleep and Pacify, as well as attacks from control creatures like the Screech Harpy.

Thoughts/Experience using them?

I am no expert but when I see Mana Leeches played by my opponent. I am always very happy. I can ignore them and focus kill the Mage. Typically I am using a Wizard control plus big few book.

[Doma0997]

Nothing is true, everything is permitted. In all serious though, i feel almost everything is viable in mage wars as long as you're spending time to learn to use it, and play it better than your opponent. However, i personally think they are too squishy to rely on, and even the full action seems kind of meh against a control build, as they usually have a high channeling anyway. You might get lucky andmessages calculation or two up, but the mana leech is right on the board so they can calculate that in.

[Stormmaster]

I like the idea of mana leeches (mana denial is a viable strat) but they seem a bit too vulnerable.  They can either be ignored or killed too easily to really make a huge power shift.  I still use them from time to time but often times toss them in as cheap chump guards I don't mind if they die, or just use them to have an extra action marker over my opponent as I prefer going first so I can hurt the opponent before they can hurt me.

Although one of the games I did win with the wizard I had 4 of these leeches out and with other mana denial they were making it so my opponent couldn't really cast much to do much of a defense or offense.  I think they were down to channelling 6 mana net per round, so these little buggers have their place but overall I'm not hugely impressed with them.  My last Wizard build I didn't even put any of them in.

[Shad0w]

Nothing is true, everything is permitted. In all serious though, i feel almost everything is viable in mage wars as long as you're spending time to learn to use it, and play it better than your opponent. However, i personally think they are too squishy to rely on, and even the full action seems kind of meh against a control build, as they usually have a high channeling anyway. You might get lucky andmessages calculation or two up, but the mana leech is right on the board so they can calculate that in.

I will agree with this I have been doing heavy control book and Doma is correct the ML is far too fragile to invest in.

[Locusshifter]

I've always felt that an attack against any of my creatures, and not myself, gains me momentum. Even if the leeches only attack a couple of times that's still a nice boost to your mana pool.

I like them. They're not the be all end all, but I still like what they bring to the table.