Mixing different strategies/themes and spreading yourself too thin

[Stormmaster]

There are so many ways to win in Mage Wars, and different strategies and paths to victory.  There are theme builds, there are combo plays, there are various "win conditions" and counter points.  With all the variety at our disposal but still a limit of 120 spell book points I'm just curious how you all find a "balance".

I have so many things I want to try out but they don't always fit with a current mage or build.  So I'm wondering if it is better to not mix and match strategies too much (ie devoting a large number of spell book points to diverse strats) or if it is good to mix strategies so as to not rely on any 1-2 win methods.

So far what I have been doing if I want to try a different "theme" or combos is do that ONE (or two) different related card set ups that make sense with a particular mage, and then try another different set up with another mage, but for the first time I've been considering "combining" totally different things including double+ spell book cost ones, but I am not sure that would spread me too thin.

Generally there is a base set of cards and I build from there.  I'd have to eat into the base to make another strat work.  So if you had two things you wanted to try do you combine them in one deck or do you just play them separately in two different games?

[aquestrion]

Normally I play a usual startagy and an out of school strategy. IE  I would use the force master for her thought spore supported play. Push wall of thorns. And for a solo mage fighter... then I spend 1/4 of my spell book on 2 creatures(the LOF and NV). This gives me options against non force master opponents. I mean let face it what's worst than being a warlock and having the opponent FM drop adamoloch before you can. But the 30 point take away a lot of the base FM cards so I'm really limited to the force blade and the two thought spore to kill opponents. But against non force master builds its really good to have such a surprise.

[sdougla2]

I tried running LoF and NV in my FM build today after reading your post, and it worked out well. It's nice to have a solution for flying creatures (Galvitar does not shoot up), and the mana works out perfectly to get them both down by the end of turn 3. It slows down the Galvitar line of play by several turns, but gives you more offensive and defensive options.

[Stormmaster]

umm I know NV, what is LoF?  I'm sure I'll know it as soon as you say but can't think of it.  Thanks.

For now I decided I will go with the general strat with 1-2 variations and not have a vastly different combo mechanic that will eat into my base.  My main issue with too divergent strategy is eating into both creature differentiation (ie balance of small/big) but also reduction in sheer volume.

By that I mean if a strat I want to play is outside of my school and is going to cost me 15 book points to pull off I could put 5ish decent creatures in my book for that cost.  So I am worried about balancing a good high damage strat with, 'if' it doesn't work being able to last.

For whatever reason (local meta) most of my games run long, I've never run out of creatures or things but I've come semi close before.  You should never be in a position where you don't have something to cast.  Although that does make me pick up my tempo and finish off the mage so I guess it all works out.  I just get leary of devoting too many points to something.

[Koz]

LoF = Adramelch, Lord of Fire

[Stormmaster]

gotcha, thank you! 

I could see those being a challenge to face especially together. 

[aquestrion]

And like you said the worst thing happening is not having a card to play when you need it. Those two creatues in my book take up 30 pts!!! But thought spore is 2pts and stalker is 5 and psylok (if you wanted to waste space) is also 2 pts. So force only creatures amout to 21 pts total if you use max copys. And i have tried to use other creatures like timber wolves, angels, malacoda, and brogan. But LOF and NV keep themselves alive. The only other card that works well is VALSHALLA. But without other creatures to support her and build up her counters i find the legendary lof better suited for a imeadiate effect against a warlock to prevent his own Lof: from coming out.

[Stormmaster]

Well I gave this a go mixing a couple out of school expensive combos together and it worked and I won but it also did just like I predicted...spread my overall book a bit thin.  To put some of the big heavy hitters in with the correct enchant support is costly but effective.  It also feels a tad vulnerable, kind of one of those things it either works wonderfully or is a wonderful failure lol.

I just made a wizard deck with only 5 creatures and I don't think I've EVER played with so few creatures.  It did kind of make me nervous.  Like what happens when you run out of creatures?  yikes.  Has anyone ever played a game where they ran out of spells or ran out of creatures even and it was just your mage left?  I guess most games don't usually go that long.

Honestly though with the wizard decks as long as you put Gorgon Archer + Basilisk in together (and properly support them) it is almost hard to lose.  Basilisk crippling things so they can't move and Gorgon weaking and doing decent damage, by the time anything actually gets to you they are rolling 1-2 attack dice so they are like weak kittens you can just zap and finish off.  And it if they want to play the range attack war with the Archer + Wizard + Wizard Tower they can have at it.  p.s.  That isn't to say there isn't a counter strategy to it, I think there is to almost anything (makes the game fun) there are no silver bullet game winners per se.

[zot]

my air wizard at gen con only ran one creature, the gorgon archer.  and i did not run out of spells, just ran out of time.

[Stormmaster]

Ooh interesting, very cool Zot.  I love the Gorgon Archer, one of my favorite cards.  I used her and a basilisk and an air spirit.  Creatures that can push other creatures are kind of fun! 

[Fentum]

I have run several reasonably effective Air wizard builds with only two creatures. Steelclaw Grizzly and Necropian Vampiress. I had a defensive creature in for a while (Guardian Angel or Gargoyle) but found them to be too little of a threat.

My current build plans to have the two aggressive creatures out by turn 3 then lots of control. Last couple of games I ran with just the grizzly plus control and that worked well.

In summary, plenty of good options with just a couple of creatures.

[Shad0w]

I personly like having 2-3 lines of play in most books I build

[Fentum]

I personly like having 2-3 lines of play in most books I build

Exactly that.