Necro Book- Feedback welcome

[Ravepig]

Looking to get some feedback on the following necro book:

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Necro Book [/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ04]1 x  Graveyard[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC02]1 x  Deathfang[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC07]1 x  Mort[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC13]4 x  Skeletal Archer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC14]2 x  Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC15]2 x  Skeletal Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c32]4 x  Skeletal Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c08]2 x  Darkfenne Bat[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE06]1 x  Fortified Position[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]1 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE02]1 x  Rise Again[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]2 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e24]1 x  Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ03]1 x  Deathshroud Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]2 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ07]1 x  Veteran's Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI05]1 x  Unholy Resurgence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]2 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI03]2 x  Reassemble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i08]1 x  Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI01]1 x  Destroy Magic[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

T1: Death Ring and Graveyard
T2: Harmonize (graveyard) and Skeletal Archer
T3: Harmonize (mage) and meditation amulet
From there, basically try to summon and swarm with as many creatures as I can get on the board.

I hate using 8 SBPs for Destroy Magic, but the guys I've been playing with LOVE their enchantments and so thought this might be a nice surprise for them.

The basic strategy though is to equip Deathshroud and Mage Wand with Reassemble. Have archers in place with Fortified Position. Send out Sentries, Knights, and Minions on the offensive buffing them with Deathshroud and healing with Reassemble while Graveyard continues to summon. Should my mage get caught up in melee, I have Rhino Hide along with Vampirism and Drain Life (assuming Deathlock isn't in play yet) to keep me healthy.

[iNano78]

T1: Death Ring and Graveyard
T2: Harmonize (graveyard) and Skeletal Archer
T3: Harmonize (mage) and meditation amulet
From there, basically try to summon and swarm with as many creatures as I can get on the board.

I'd highly recommend dropping a Harmonize and trying this instead:

T1: Death Ring and Graveyard
T2: Deploy Skeletal Archer; Harmonize (graveyard) and do something else useful.
T3: Deploy a cheap Skeleton; quick-cast Meditation amulet; Meditate.

Otherwise you're paying 6 more mana to hopefully get more mana 9 turns from now.  I'd rather have the mana advantage earlier than later.  If you feel you really must have channeling of 11, then a Mana Crystal or Flower costs less than Harmonize on your mage.

Other comments:

- Drain Soul >> Drain Life.
- Deathshroud Staff is expensive for what it does (even with Death Ring).  Besides, you don't really want to be close to the action, and you won't have many actions to spare when Meditating.  You need to make every quick-cast count, and spending one to put on a weapon, then another to give melee +1 to creatures in the neighboring zone may not be the most effective use of your actions.
- Personally, I like to take full advantage of the poison immunity of the Necromancer and his undead horde; e.g. Idol of Pestilence, Plagued, even Poison Gas Cloud.  This might mean dropping the bats and some of the more expensive skeletons... but your spawn point can't summon bats anyway (and you'll want to be Meditating, not summoning bats).
- Armory is better than Fortified Position, especially if you're Meditating; e.g. want as much bang for your buck out of those few quick-casts.  Besides, you expect to be action deprived, not mana deprived, so you can afford quick-action conjurations in the 9-10 mana range (like Idol / Deathlock / Armory).
- Regrowth >> Vampirism (for your mage).
- I'm not convinced that you'll ever get 4x Skeletal Archers in play (not to mention 4x Skeletal Sentries and 2x Skeletal Knights and a Deathfang and Mort - that's a lot of expensive Skelies!), but if you plan to focus on the ranged attackers as your primary strategy, you'll seriously want to consider an Archer's Watchtower or two.  The ranged +1 is always good, and Indirect can be invaluable to ensure they can get an unobstructed shot.
- Teleports and Force Pushes and Tanglevines are as fundamental to a swarm strategy as any other staples.  Find room for multiples of these.  Seriously.

[Ravepig]

T1: Death Ring and Graveyard
T2: Harmonize (graveyard) and Skeletal Archer
T3: Harmonize (mage) and meditation amulet
From there, basically try to summon and swarm with as many creatures as I can get on the board.

I'd highly recommend dropping a Harmonize and trying this instead:

T1: Death Ring and Graveyard
T2: Deploy Skeletal Archer; Harmonize (graveyard) and do something else useful.
T3: Deploy a cheap Skeleton; quick-cast Meditation amulet; Meditate.

Otherwise you're paying 6 more mana to hopefully get more mana 9 turns from now.  I'd rather have the mana advantage earlier than later.  If you feel you really must have channeling of 11, then a Mana Crystal or Flower costs less than Harmonize on your mage.

Other comments:

- Drain Soul >> Drain Life.
- Deathshroud Staff is expensive for what it does (even with Death Ring).  Besides, you don't really want to be close to the action, and you won't have many actions to spare when Meditating.  You need to make every quick-cast count, and spending one to put on a weapon, then another to give melee +1 to creatures in the neighboring zone may not be the most effective use of your actions.
- Personally, I like to take full advantage of the poison immunity of the Necromancer and his undead horde; e.g. Idol of Pestilence, Plagued, even Poison Gas Cloud.  This might mean dropping the bats and some of the more expensive skeletons... but your spawn point can't summon bats anyway (and you'll want to be Meditating, not summoning bats).
- Armory is better than Fortified Position, especially if you're Meditating; e.g. want as much bang for your buck out of those few quick-casts.  Besides, you expect to be action deprived, not mana deprived, so you can afford quick-action conjurations in the 9-10 mana range (like Idol / Deathlock / Armory).
- Regrowth >> Vampirism (for your mage).
- I'm not convinced that you'll ever get 4x Skeletal Archers in play (not to mention 4x Skeletal Sentries and 2x Skeletal Knights and a Deathfang and Mort - that's a lot of expensive Skelies!), but if you plan to focus on the ranged attackers as your primary strategy, you'll seriously want to consider an Archer's Watchtower or two.  The ranged +1 is always good, and Indirect can be invaluable to ensure they can get an unobstructed shot.
- Teleports and Force Pushes and Tanglevines are as fundamental to a swarm strategy as any other staples.  Find room for multiples of these.  Seriously.

Excellent feedback- thank you!!! I agree about the poison immunity- I was trying to find a way to work those in. But to your point, I do have a ton of creatures. I'll give the book some work based on your recommendations.

[DaveW]

I'm not as sure that Drain Soul is all that much better than Drain Life, but regardless, I usually put one of each in my Necro books.

Other than that I think his comments were spot on... especially the fact that you aren't going to heal through Vampirism, that Armory is always good for Skeletons (most of which are Soldiers), and that the Staff also certainly should come out.

The one piece that I would add to what was said before, is that the Bats don't make a lot of sense to me if you are focusing on Poison Immunity / Idol now.

[drmambo23]

yeah, 4 archers is a lot to attempt to get out! but an archers watchtower is not a bad idea!

Also, I love the graveyard especially since it can summon the wraith! But with a  necro, I have found the libro to be much more efficient over the graveyard.  1 less sbp and 4 less mana.  This helps you off to a good start by having the extra mana early and you  can still harmonize it if you feel so inclined. Libro is also better against big buddy builds.  Graveyard is excellent for enemy swarms if you can keep knocking them out and getting the extra mana on it.  But the libro gives you the same function, it's mobile, and will not be affected by how many creatures your opponent has. just curious why you chose that over libro?

I also agree that the bats could be taken out for something since they cant be deployed and your main actions are so crucial.

Also, vampirism and drain life are great but are you going to use both before dropping a deathlock? or are they used in case of an early rush?

As mentioned before, teleport, force push, and tanglevines are great! espeially when you want to deal loads of damage and not have them run away.  One nice thing I have found, though, is to use a force wave - I use it mainly with zombies to get them in a better position - but it would be nice  here to move all of the archers 1 zone closer to the enemy with your qc so that they could all use their full actions to shoot instead of moving.

It looks good, though.  I'm not a big fan of skelly necros so I always like seeing them posted on here 

[iNano78]

I'm not as sure that Drain Soul is all that much better than Drain Life, but regardless, I usually put one of each in my Necro books.

Ok, maybe not >> [mwcard=MW1I08] Drain Life[/mwcard].  But [mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01] Drain Soul[/mwcard] effectively deals 6 direct damage to anything that isn't poison immune (no dice involved), and it activates the Necromancer's Plaguemaster auto-damage ability, so for +1 mana during the following upkeep phase, it's 7 direct damage total, plus can continue to fuel that Plaguemaster ability against a heavily armored foe, for instance.  It's also less susceptible to [mwcard=MW1E35] Reverse Magic[/mwcard], since your Necromancer and creatures are immune to Tainted. (In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the net result would be that your Necromancer gains 6 life, and nothing gets Tainted, since the Necromancer is immune to Tainted/poison). 

It's a flexible spell, as it can finish off a tough creature or do serious damage to a Veteran's Belt / heavily armored mage, plus keep you in the game a little longer. It's expensive at 16 mana, but there are few guarantees in Mage Wars, and 6-7(+) direct damage is pretty awesome - not to mention 6 life gain, assuming you don't have [mwcard=MW1J19] Deathlock[/mwcard] in play yet.

[Ravepig]

yeah, 4 archers is a lot to attempt to get out! but an archers watchtower is not a bad idea!

Also, I love the graveyard especially since it can summon the wraith! But with a  necro, I have found the libro to be much more efficient over the graveyard.  1 less sbp and 4 less mana.  This helps you off to a good start by having the extra mana early and you  can still harmonize it if you feel so inclined. Libro is also better against big buddy builds.  Graveyard is excellent for enemy swarms if you can keep knocking them out and getting the extra mana on it.  But the libro gives you the same function, it's mobile, and will not be affected by how many creatures your opponent has. just curious why you chose that over libro?

I also agree that the bats could be taken out for something since they cant be deployed and your main actions are so crucial.

Also, vampirism and drain life are great but are you going to use both before dropping a deathlock? or are they used in case of an early rush?

As mentioned before, teleport, force push, and tanglevines are great! espeially when you want to deal loads of damage and not have them run away.  One nice thing I have found, though, is to use a force wave - I use it mainly with zombies to get them in a better position - but it would be nice  here to move all of the archers 1 zone closer to the enemy with your qc so that they could all use their full actions to shoot instead of moving.

It looks good, though.  I'm not a big fan of skelly necros so I always like seeing them posted on here 

I chose the graveyard over the libro only because as you say, the two guys I play with love the priestess and warlord, which means they just toss out creature after creature. Also, I get what everyone is saying about the deathshroud Staff and agree- the only reason I kept it in is because my one buddy loves to play the enchantment that provides a zone Aegis 1 minimizing my attacks. So, the deathshroud was an attempt at countering that card hoping to keep my melee creatures to their base attack. Thoughts?

[iNano78]

Also, I get what everyone is saying about the deathshroud Staff and agree- the only reason I kept it in is because my one buddy loves to play the enchantment that provides a zone Aegis 1 minimizing my attacks. So, the deathshroud was an attempt at countering that card hoping to keep my melee creatures to their base attack. Thoughts?

Dispel works.  Also moving out of that zone works - hence Push effects, Teleport, Tanglevine, Astral Anchor, basically anything  to keep the opposing mage away from his [mwcard=MW1E37] Sacred Ground[/mwcard]/[mwcard=FWE06] Fortified Position[/mwcard], etc).  As mentioned, [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ04] Armory[/mwcard] is better than any of these, as it works for the whole arena, so you can choose where (not) to engage to your advantage.  And it's hard to get rid of; e.g. aside from [mwcard=MWSTX2FFI02]Conquer[/mwcard], you'd have to destroy an Armory, whereas the enchantments or equipments can be Dispelled/Dispersed/Crumbled/Dissolved. 

You can try the Staff if you want, but I think you'll find that it isn't worth the mana (mostly up front) plus quick-cast actions (every time you want to benefit from it!) that it takes to keep getting that +1 attack for a zone worth of Skelies.

[Ravepig]

Also, I get what everyone is saying about the deathshroud Staff and agree- the only reason I kept it in is because my one buddy loves to play the enchantment that provides a zone Aegis 1 minimizing my attacks. So, the deathshroud was an attempt at countering that card hoping to keep my melee creatures to their base attack. Thoughts?

Dispel works.  Also moving out of that zone works - hence Push effects, Teleport, Tanglevine, Astral Anchor, basically anything  to keep the opposing mage away from his [mwcard=MW1E37] Sacred Ground[/mwcard]/[mwcard=FWE06] Fortified Position[/mwcard], etc).  As mentioned, [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ04] Armory[/mwcard] is better than any of these, as it works for the whole arena, so you can choose where (not) to engage to your advantage.  And it's hard to get rid of; e.g. aside from [mwcard=MWSTX2FFI02]Conquer[/mwcard], you'd have to destroy an Armory, whereas the enchantments or equipments can be Dispelled/Dispersed/Crumbled/Dissolved. 

You can try the Staff if you want, but I think you'll find that it isn't worth the mana (mostly up front) plus quick-cast actions (every time you want to benefit from it!) that it takes to keep getting that +1 attack for a zone worth of Skelies.

usually my  mage isn't quite close enough to the action to cast those spells one zone away. But I like you're thinking here. I need to do some reconfiguring! I'm basically trying to counter my buddy's specific Priestess build when I really get down to it ha ha ha.