How effective is that strategy?
Actually very effective in casual matches. It is not a competitive book at all. But quite fun. Nothing like having 2 or 3 archers and 2 or 3 hydras slithering around the board. I used teleports, force pushes (and now lesser teleports) to move them around. No lame clumping them all in one place and porting enemy to them. Just pushing them around was enough. Oh, and I would not buff them at all either. Just let them be as they were created. I included a banish (because it cost a lot of mana too) for a creature that could harm my pets, thunderbolts (because they cost a lot of mana), purge and destroy magic (because they cost a lot of mana) . I had a forge in it (because I had a lot of mana to spare).
I would first cast the forge and and move to get mana spread around. The arcane ring (to conserve even more mana), and cast several crystals, harmonize, amulet, and move back to the corner and start pumping out the scary beasts. I would stand off and bolt opponents while the creatures would pound things to mush. Huge entertainment for both me and my opponent. Without fail, all the opponents loved getting beat up by the huge creatures.
The book was intentionally not efficient (except to generating mana). It was specifically to be about casting the large creatures. I also skipped the spawnpoint (even though it cost a lot of mana) intentionally too, same for wizard tower. It was more about the fun of spamming huge dudes onto the board. I would not go after my opponents at all and let them do whatever they were wanting to do. Then we would eventually clash and my creatures were generally superior so would be enough to sway things. I have had this one for a long while, and never had to convert it to air as it was always an air wizard. People were worried when they faced a wizard, but I told them it was a very slow book to match their slow book or noncompetitive build on their side. I could easily make it meaner, but want something slow to match up against opponents who wanted a slower match. I could also play this book against newer players who may have a faster book but not experienced yet and it would be a good match. At one point, it had zero dispels and zero seeking dispels in it because all my copies were in other books. I had a destroy magic, and a dispel wand. How awful is that? Anyway, it has been completely fun to play.
It is undefeated I think. Maybe lost once. But I am sure the opponents did not mind losing to it because it was not a cheesy in your face competitive wizard.
I have had an opponent turn one of my hydras into a zombie, and he used it to kill his own mage before I could do it for him. A great example of how fun it was for both players.
