All or Nothing Beastmaster

[Brian VanAlstyne]

Got a pretty big tournament in a week and think I'm gonna try this book. It's pretty unique and might not be workable but I wanna give it a try. Basically the idea is to wall myself in early and use the Forge, Fellella, the flowers, and Otto to build up myself and a Pet DireWolf as much as possible before rushing in and beating my opponent. The first few turns would be:

1: Mana Flower/Battle Forge
2: Harmonize Forge/Mana Flower
3: Extended Wall/Mana Flower
4: Fellela
5: Otto
6: Wall if necessary
7: Pet Wolf

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]WW April Beastmaster[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]1 x  Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J01]2 x  Rajan's Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]3 x  Wall of Earth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]3 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]3 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]3 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC02]1 x  Dire Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c38]1 x  Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c13]1 x  Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]4 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC09]1 x  Otto Kronig, Master Engineer[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]2 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]2 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e34]1 x  Reverse Attack[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e35]1 x  Reverse Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]2 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]2 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]1 x  Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e07]1 x  Cobra Reflexes[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]2 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q30]1 x  Staff of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ02]1 x  Hunting Bow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x  Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]1 x  Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

[sdougla2]

I don't see the value in spending so much time, mana, and spellpoints on walls and Otto when you could be pressuring your opponent so much faster. The Beastmaster's best hardcore economy options revolve around playing lots of creatures, not making himself and one pet into unstoppable killing machines. If you want to play a buddy build, you're better off pressuring your opponent quickly than trying to build up to a critical mass of buffs first.

You can make your build go from pressuring your opponent on round 9 or 10 to pressuring your opponent on round 3-4 by removing rounds 2-6 from your plan, and possibly the Mana Flower on round 1.

Using both Fellella and Battle Forge will slow you down considerably, and you don't need the amount of economy you're putting in your opening.

You don't have enough cheap equipment to take full advantage of Battle Forge. Consider Enchanter's Ring, Ring of Beasts, Leather Boots/Eagleclaw Boots, Leather Gloves/Gauntlets of Strength/Deflection Bracers. You don't have the curses to take full advantage of Fellella.

Don't Harmonize the Battle Forge. That makes it a more tempting target, and a lucky roll for your opponent could let them kill it in a single attack.

You have limited options for dealing with armor stacking, and you are extremely vulnerable to curses, certain pieces of equipment, Force Crush, Turn to Stone, and position control.

[sIKE]

These walled off builds work well but always get disrupted by [mwcard=FWC07]Grimson Deadeye, Sniper[/mwcard] + [mwcard=FWJ02]Archer's Watchtower[/mwcard] +[mwcard=MW1E21]Hawkeye[/mwcard] so you will need to plan for that play. If the Sniper is parked one zone away that will be 8 dice + battle order if you put yourself in a corner then there is a good chance the same build may have [mwcard=FWC10]Ludwig Boltstorm[/mwcard] + [mwcard=FWJ02]Archer's Watchtower[/mwcard] +[mwcard=MW1E21]Hawkeye[/mwcard] to say goodnight Johnboy.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Be prepared for the heavy offense early on this Saturday man. You know at least one rushing Wizard is coming. The wall could hold him off for a bit. but he'll have an army waiting when they come down.

[Brian VanAlstyne]

These walled off builds work well but always get disrupted by [mwcard=FWC07]Grimson Deadeye, Sniper[/mwcard] + [mwcard=FWJ02]Archer's Watchtower[/mwcard] +[mwcard=MW1E21]Hawkeye[/mwcard] so you will need to plan for that play. If the Sniper is parked one zone away that will be 8 dice + battle order if you put yourself in a corner then there is a good chance the same build may have [mwcard=FWC10]Ludwig Boltstorm[/mwcard] + [mwcard=FWJ02]Archer's Watchtower[/mwcard] +[mwcard=MW1E21]Hawkeye[/mwcard] to say goodnight Johnboy.

I would be worried about this, but luckily in our meta not many Warlords come into play. I'm mainly worried about Wizards at this point.

For the other complaints, I thought about taking out Fellela or the Forge but then I become really action starved and can't buff up the pet/beastmaster as quick as I'd like. I understand the set-up takes time, but I've tried rushes and other strategies and I just can't get enough damage done before losing my key attacks. I'm hoping the nullifies/reverses/transfusions are enough to keep the pressure on once I start moving forward.

I would like to add more equipment to make better use of the forge, but I really don't know what to take out to make it work in my head. I could probably take out a Rajan's Fury for something, but those are almost necessary if I wind up losing my Pet and need to move to a Falcon strategy.

[Sailor Vulcan]

This strategy does not work well with the beast master. If you want a buddy build that plays defensively until it has enough power to take down the enemy, might I suggest using a malakai priest with guardian angel as your holy avenger? Then use armor, a couple temples of the dawnbreaker, a hand of bim shalla and a temple of light with a few cheap light attacks and some enchantments to power up yours and your angels attacks.

If you'd rather do a buddy turtle than a buddy tank, your best bet is anvil throne warlord with battle forge, grimson sniper and walls of pikes. When they try to get close, shoot with your sniper. Once you're warlord is powered up enough send him out to fight the enemy mage.

Your going to need some anti swarm tech for that to work though, as well as some ways to deal with a few big creatures. Sleep, tanglevine, quicksand, mangler caltrops, suppression orb, sandstorm, hail of stones, altar of peace, armor, defenses, etc.

[rodriguekhalil]

   So your tournament took place. As far as I know, your book build does indeed have the perk of being unique. I'm curious how it went.

Questions:

1- Did you end up trying that book?
2- How did you squeeze all those Zone Exclusive enchantments? To be able to use your forge, you had to be behind the wall with your Battle Forge. Remember, if your Forge cannot see you, it can't cast equipment spells on you.
3- Did you have to deal with flying creatures? How did you do so?
4- Did you use Fellela, if yes, was she targeted soon in the game? She is flying after all, so everybody can still see her.

Thanks,

[Borg]

I'm afraid I can't see this working well, honestly.

My Priestess book ( Enchantment Transfusing Angels ) would love it
and my Forcemaster would simply put a Teleport on its Thoughtspore, Teleport the Forcemaster into your walled off area and your pet and any other creature out of it.

[Brian VanAlstyne]

My memory isn't great and I won one mach via KO against a Wizard, lost a long match via KO against a Necro zombie swarm where I played into his hands, and basically drew a Warlord where he won via more damage dealt at the end of time. The strTegy itself varied a bit from match to match as I was able to utilize Fellella a bit against the Wizard and Necro but she got killed rather quick against the Warlord. Just from those 3 games though, I do know I probably need to get rid of the Angel and Otto and possibly find a more agressive approach. Some of the complaints I have seen here and gotten just havent been an issue though. Oh and for the conjurations, I wound up taking out the Rajans Fury because I needed to make room for something else I can't recall at the moment which meant you didnt runout of zones to use.