New FIF warlord

[Tim]

Hey there,

With FIF i feel potential in the new warlord. However, I still lack the aggressiveness of the new warlord. I think that the new warlord can be very powerful in the longer games, but he's lacking power in the aggressive and shorter games. I is worth to consider this because, with the FIF, agro cards release, to increase the pressure on opponent.
I am looking for good openings with the warlord to counter agro-players. With agro i mean a LoF with 10 dice, and piercing +1 and a curse on your warlord on turn 3. This is enormous pressure, that's hard to overcome. To deal with the LoF the warlord need ranged creatures. Crimson is good to keep the opponent away but is easily destroyed by 1 attack of LoF. 15 mana is a huge investment for something to die that easily. Other ranged creatures are good to but with range 1-2, no pressure to keep LoF away (I think).
Like i said, once you can establish your field with outpost, barracks, altars you are in a great position and advantage to the opponent. The problem is that it takes way to long to set up without protection of a decent creature.
I would like your advice, openings, ...
Thanks!

[BoomFrog]

Against such a heavily enchanted lord of fire the best answer will always be a sleep spell. Btw, how can the agro player get all that to your starting corner turn 3?  Are you charging forward to meet him in the middle?

[sIKE]

Buff your Mage with Bear Strength and bring out a Crossbowman in your start corner. Next round move the mage one zone and bring out a Mage Staff and when the LoF comes out, start shooting him with the Crossbowman and hitting him with the staff, if he hangs tough bring out Ludwig Boltstorm and move him (via a Push) to the Crossbowmans zone and the next round hit him with a Hurl Rock and move to the Archers zone and cast a BO to Take Aim!

[Arlemus]

Sleep, block, fumble.

[sIKE]

@Arlemus,

I find that these just delay things as you will get Sleep out and now the flyer is on the gerund and gets woken up real quick. Block and Fumble delay but you are spending actions and mana that have no long term benefit. He will just start up banging on you afterwards. A buffed Mage Staff whacking LoF on the head along with a crossbowman will help a lot. Now Reverse Attack OTOH is very useful in this situation as it adds an extra attack action on your side.

I have played against this opening many times and taking the LoF out quickly typically leaves a big hole in the Warlocks strategy.

[Arlemus]

@Arlemus,

I find that these just delay things as you will get Sleep out and now the flyer is on the gerund and gets woken up real quick. Block and Fumble delay but you are spending actions and mana that have no long term benefit. He will just start up banging on you afterwards. A buffed Mage Staff whacking LoF on the head along with a crossbowman will help a lot. Now Reverse Attack OTOH is very useful in this situation as it adds an extra attack action on your side.

I have played against this opening many times and taking the LoF out quickly typically leaves a big hole in the Warlocks strategy.

The best answer to overbuffed creatures is controlling them.  The whole point of a buffed LoF is that it can't be killed quickly, so the only reasonable option is to mess with it in an efficient way.  Sleep, block, fumble, agony, etc, all work.

I'm gonna have to respectively disagree on this one.  I don't think sticking your neck out with a weapon that costs 3x sb points and summoning a creature that will get 1 shotted by LoF attacks is ok.

[jacksmack]

Reverse attack vs LoF is not an option.

He is immune to his own attack.

[sIKE]

Reverse attack vs LoF is not an option.

He is immune to his own attack.

Yeah that is why my strategy has evolved to what it is.

I have found that control of the LoF is very difficult as his mage's primary strategy is built around him and trying things like Block and such just delay. Debuffing does help but he is still there in your face and get buffed up again, and at the same time the DD from Curses, the other half of the LoF strategy, start plinking away at your mages life. Agony does work very but will be removed quickly.

As for one shotting your creatures, if your creatures are in the same zone and the LoF is attacking them instead of you, then your creatures are doing their job. That is why I like the ranged attack creatures as they are in a separate zone than your mage and are plinking away at him.

I know the [mwcard=MW1Q18]Mage Staff[/mwcard] is very expensive but luckily it is only a level one spell it is very well worth the three spell points in the meta he his talking about.

Honestly, The best way I have found to deal with the LoF 3 round opening is just to kill him. I try to get his armor down with an Acid Ball, use Piercing to help with his Armor, and just being able to put my mage on Guard and hit is back and then being able to attack him again with the Mage Staff because of the Reach trait typically means that I can put 12 dice of damage on him in one round after he is softened up with an Acid Ball.

With the Crossbowman and Mage Staff now added to the mix, my opponent has been re-working his 3 round in your face opening that has been his bread and butter since we started playing in late 2012. I am on a four game winning streak with two wins to the Necromancer and two to the Anvil Throne Warlord.

[Tim]

I agree with sIKE. Controlling is a stall action but doesn't remove the problem. You keep investing mana on stalling the creature, which ultimately cost more than killing the LoF.  I myself play LoF opening a lot and i know how devastating he can be, but controlling is stalling the inevitable. I rather see a block then a ranged creature (because it's an immediate threat to the LoF strategy).
Normally my overall strategy is early pressure the opponent because its disrupts long-play advantages + standard opening moves.
My feelings are that the new warlord have some potential as a mid-longer game. If set up complete the most mana generation + heavy creatures with decent armor. But it is out of my comfort zone, normally I'm in for early agro, but with the new FIF i need to try the new warlord and found out its potential .
sIke: do you have opening suggestions?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[sIKE]

Quite honestly, I have been mainly playing against the LoF 3 round argo quite a bit (on purpose) to help develop my control style of play. What I have described in this thread and a couple of others has proven very successful for both the Anvil Throne Warlord and Necromancer, for him change out with Skeletal Archers and use curses to apply some direct damage and the mage Staff works very well for him also and is a spellbook point cheaper even.