Druid (Vine Tree build) - spell book clinic

[Zuberi]

An action is really important, that is WHY she should have the amulet. In cases where she doesn't have the mana to cast three or more spells, I would rather meditate than do nothing at all. A wasted action is a big set back.

[ACG]

I am not suggesting that the Druid should base her strategy around meditating every turn; but due to her potential for an absurd action advantage, I often find that my druid has nothing particularly useful to do with her personal action, especially during times when my spawnpoints are using up all of my mana. This is also an excellent reason to run seedling pods (even without Samara tree). No need to waste a perfectly good action. Perhaps you will have a game where you are so pressured that there is no time to meditate, but for 2 spellpoints I see little reason for the druid to deny herself the option of doing so when she needs to.

[Aylin]

The problem I have with meditation amulet is that in order to make it worth it, you have to meditate at a rate greater than once every three turns. That's why I don't find the arguments about occasional turns where you're doing "nothing" with your action convincing. If you only meditate rarely, you would have been better off with a Moonglow Amulet or (even better) a Mana Flower. You'd get more mana out of it and would still have your full action to say...move twice to be in a better position next turn, or guard for the counterstrike against an expected attack.

If you meditate more often than one turn in three, but less than every turn, you're also not getting much of a return on your investment. At one turn out of two every full action spent meditating gives you only 1 mana over a simple +1 channeling. At three turns in five you make 4 mana over the +1 channeling, so each full action gave you 1.333 mana. At two turns in five each full action only gives you .5 mana. On the higher end, if you meditate two out of every three turns you make 1.5 mana for each action spent. And at max, when you meditate every turn you only make 2 mana per action spent. I'd honestly prefer a 3-die attack than any of those; think of it as Voltaric Shield in reverse.

I prefer the Sunfire Amulet over the Meditation one. The +1 Life every upkeep seems to unnerve opponents more than it should, especially when they think about the Druid's amazing regeneration and easily-applied armour.

[ringkichard]

In my best games with Meditation Amulet, I used it nearly every turn. To do this requires a spawnpoint or familiar. Without another source of spell actions you'll fall terribly behind, and have no access to movement or summoning. It also helps to have some way of blocking targeting, either Cloak of Shadows, a wall, or just long range.

Basically, if you can structure your play so that the game is determined by who has more mana, then Amulet is the clear winner. If it starts to matter who has more actions, Amulet is a waste.

It's also helpful to have ways of spending large amounts of mana in a short time. If your book is filled with cheep spells and no extra actions, you can get stuck with 20+ mana and no really efficient way to spend it at a critical moment.

[Wildhorn]

The problem I have with meditation amulet is that in order to make it worth it, you have to meditate at a rate greater than once every three turns. That's why I don't find the arguments about occasional turns where you're doing "nothing" with your action convincing. If you only meditate rarely, you would have been better off with a Moonglow Amulet or (even better) a Mana Flower. You'd get more mana out of it and would still have your full action to say...move twice to be in a better position next turn, or guard for the counterstrike against an expected attack.

If you meditate more often than one turn in three, but less than every turn, you're also not getting much of a return on your investment. At one turn out of two every full action spent meditating gives you only 1 mana over a simple +1 channeling. At three turns in five you make 4 mana over the +1 channeling, so each full action gave you 1.333 mana. At two turns in five each full action only gives you .5 mana. On the higher end, if you meditate two out of every three turns you make 1.5 mana for each action spent. And at max, when you meditate every turn you only make 2 mana per action spent. I'd honestly prefer a 3-die attack than any of those; think of it as Voltaric Shield in reverse.

I prefer the Sunfire Amulet over the Meditation one. The +1 Life every upkeep seems to unnerve opponents more than it should, especially when they think about the Druid's amazing regeneration and easily-applied armour.

Actually, you just need to medidate once every 4 turn to be even with moonglow amulet(up to 8th turn).

Meditation: Cost 4, two meditation = 2 mana over
Moonglow: Cost 6, 8 turns later = 2 mana over

Then if you meditate a 3rd time, you are good to go up to 11th round which in my local meta is 1 round after one of the two mage is dead, so meditation amulet can be quite better.

[DeckBuilder]

The Druid and Meditation Amulet

Ok, the Procrastination Amulet (as I call it whenever an opponent brings it out) is very relevant to any Druid build. This is because, if it is not good enough for the Druid, with her Spawnpoints and her vine range spells, then it is just not good enough, what I call Fool's Gold.

We can all see the Necromancer was designed for 2 basic builds, predominantly zombies or predominantly skeletons, and for each of them, you have 3 tempos based on spawnpoints: 0 (e.g. my fave Brute Squad, Altar corner), 1 (usually Libro) or 2. Yes, Battleforge can be another option and there are rogue builds.

I suspect the Druid was designed similarly here but it is less obvious. You have defensive and aggressive. And then you have choice of Vine Tree or Vine Tree + Samara Pyramid Mana if the match-up is good (e.g. Wizard Mana Denial) or other spell action sources (Felella or 6SP on a Forge).

Now I suspect a defensive build plays Vine Snappers and lots of Attack Flowers (as well as usual vines) because it plays slow land grab, terraforming the arena. In such a long game strategy, where you've built a surfeit of spell actions you can't even use (why did you up-front invest in them in the first place?), I can understand why Meditation Amulet could be useful for the Druid.

However, I contend at least 50% of books you meet will be "Go For The Throat" aggro builds. Because that is how you beat slow burners like Druid or Necromancer who outpace you if you dare play Mid Range. Against those builds, any investment in economic infrastructure is at risk and even if you use the Druid's incredible resilience to repel them, it's too late, they have literally Scorched Earth and your game plan is in tatters. However, if an opponent is so foolish as to leave you alone while you stationary Meditate, I can see how it outproduces the opponent to win you the game. But more fool him/her for not attacking the moment he sees you set up your Alternate Spell Actions + Meditation Amulet infrastructure.

Can Meditation Amulet be good for an aggressive strategy? One argument is that you get the $3 right now up front, not $1 every day. If cashflow is the issue, why invest in it? That $3 can only be spent on the next Deployment by a Spawnpoint, by which time you would have had $2 via alternative means ($4 for a Flower)! So if urgency is the issue, that $3 can only be spent on your post-Meditate QC. I don't buy the cashflow argument because that leads to No Mana Augmenter aggro builds, creating Actions that destroy your opponent's Economy.

This game is actually a business game in disguise (sorry to destroy the illusion). You have an Income, you Invest in many Assets, plan a Return On Investment to derive an anticipated Lifetime Value. Your opponent tries to reduce that Lifetime, make your Investment unwise, or at least less productive than his own Investment (everything is relative in Life; "you don't need to outrun the tiger, just your companion"). I was going to write a follow-up to Resources that described the levers in this business game and how to optimise your Business Model. But with me getting more personal satisfaction helping to develop the game, that will have to be on a back-burner (maybe if they wanted a series of "heavy" S&T articles to appeal to snob intellectual gamers but I don't think deconstructing a game is good; in my experience, tearing down the curtain may bring short-term enlightenment but rarely brings long-term happiness).

Now in business, there is a calculation known as Net Present Value, the depreciation of Revenue over time due to a Discount Rate which is, in an over-simplified nutshell: "what could I earn if I invested differently?".

In Life, everything has an Opportunity Cost with Time, Money and Expertise as our basic Resources. This is no different in games, in fact it is starkly highlighted in games which simplify the complex decision-making we have to make all the time in Life.

I'm currently arguing a certain Novice spell is "meh" therefore its inclusion in the next set has Opportunity Cost on the limited cards in the set. Because players will not include it because its weak effect, even for 1 SP, is an Opportunity Cost on a 120 budget. This Opportunity Cost becomes even more obvious with a Highlander decision ("there can only be one"). For example currently the game has 3 excellent Cloaks in Elemental, Shadows and Suppression. A new Cloak in a new set will have to be just as good otherwise it is a waste of space. The same goes for Amulets because Moonglow is so good. However any Helmet with a minor benefit will be used by Forge builds. That is a stark example of Opportunity Cost and Market Gap Analysis.

And with the Procrastination Amulet, you have to think about the Opportunity Cost.

Option 1
Meditation Amulet (-4) / Meditate (+3)
Every turn you Meditate, you then gain 3
The equation is simple:
Action Investment = 1 QC + X Full Actions
Mana Revenue = 3X - 4
You are literally a sitting target but you have QC and Spawnpoint to develop your game

Option 2
This Druid build opens Leaf Ring, Vine Tree
Turn 2, Tree spawns a Raptor Vine, Mana Flower, Harmonize Tree
Instead of Meditating, I develop my game exactly as above and plant 4 Flowers turns 2-5
Now I have a +4 mana per turn Revenue Stream with no action cost
I Invested -4 x 4 and my Revenue increased by 1 each turn
Action Investment = 3 QC + 1 move/quick spell action (for 4 Mana Flowers, Ring is a given)
Mana Revenue = -16 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 x Length of Game less first 5 turns = 4 x (Length -5) - 10
Of course my Assets may be destroyed
But that is an Opportunity Cost for the opponent who invested in an Asset and Time to do so

I just don't get how Meditation Amulet can be good for the more aggressive Druid build.
And this is a more aggressive Druid build as it assumes the opponent wisely won't give me time!
And if he nevertheless does, well I'm going to disrupt his plans by being the quicker tempo player.

This build is about Druid positioning herself. With initiative, you spawn a Raptor at vine range. First action Druid moves 1 to 2 behind new Raptor and casts Bear Strength on it. Raptor gets attacked then you QC Rouse the Beast and its Bear Strength Vampiric attack hopefully regains some health back (unless of course against a Nonliving build, with only Lifetree to help you). You can't apply mobile pressure like that while meditating.

Deathlock or Wizard Tower Fireball comes out and the Druid needs to move, position herself to Acid Ball the conjuration while sending 2 Raptors against it to "one round it" as a mana sink. The opponent's mage moves to behind his guarding Knight of Westlock? The Druid needs to move to cast Surging Wave on the guard to let the Raptors attack.

In short, as a naturally aggressive player (except when I'm playing with my food as a Wizard), the sacrifice of mobility is just too much for such meagre benefit which you can simulate in mana production in a far less action intensive and sustainable way.

I am very inexperienced playing the Druid (but I've beaten her a few times). So I am perfectly happy to be told that this Druid spell works and this doesn't. But Meditation Amulet is a Resource Exchanger and I can analyse mechanics like that pretty well with my Eurogamer background. I cannot see how Meditation Amulet can ever be better than "what you could have done instead" as long as you can plan your Mana Supply. In a way, it is a "I can't be bothered to plan my mana 2 turns ahead" piece really, it reduces game choice as you opt for a brute force mono strategy of spawning plants and vine spells, a strategy that a good opponent should spot, predict and counter.

If your opponent allows you to win the Mana Game by leaving you alone while you Meditate cross-legged under your Tree, that's more a reflection on your opponent's understanding of the game's heuristics than the strength of the Meditation Amulet.

Kich, ACG, Zuberi, such respected posters, - I just don't get it!
Maybe this is like sIKE's anecdotal evidence on Piercing and this is a reflection on your opposition?
Because, from hard card analysis, it's not as bad as Gate To Hell (what could be?) but it's not good.

Sorry guys, I'm with Aylin, gw and Wildhorn on this one.

(I'm more surprised nobody has questioned Sunfire Amulet in the build - for Barkskin, Treebond etc)

[Aylin]

The problem I have with meditation amulet is that in order to make it worth it, you have to meditate at a rate greater than once every three turns. That's why I don't find the arguments about occasional turns where you're doing "nothing" with your action convincing. If you only meditate rarely, you would have been better off with a Moonglow Amulet or (even better) a Mana Flower. You'd get more mana out of it and would still have your full action to say...move twice to be in a better position next turn, or guard for the counterstrike against an expected attack.

If you meditate more often than one turn in three, but less than every turn, you're also not getting much of a return on your investment. At one turn out of two every full action spent meditating gives you only 1 mana over a simple +1 channeling. At three turns in five you make 4 mana over the +1 channeling, so each full action gave you 1.333 mana. At two turns in five each full action only gives you .5 mana. On the higher end, if you meditate two out of every three turns you make 1.5 mana for each action spent. And at max, when you meditate every turn you only make 2 mana per action spent. I'd honestly prefer a 3-die attack than any of those; think of it as Voltaric Shield in reverse.

I prefer the Sunfire Amulet over the Meditation one. The +1 Life every upkeep seems to unnerve opponents more than it should, especially when they think about the Druid's amazing regeneration and easily-applied armour.

Actually, you just need to medidate once every 4 turn to be even with moonglow amulet(up to 8th turn).

Meditation: Cost 4, two meditation = 2 mana over
Moonglow: Cost 6, 8 turns later = 2 mana over

Then if you meditate a 3rd time, you are good to go up to 11th round which in my local meta is 1 round after one of the two mage is dead, so meditation amulet can be quite better.

As a Druid, you'd be more likely to use Leaf Ring and then a Mana Flower, or at least just the Mana Flower over the Moonglow. Costs less both in terms of mana and spellbook points.

[Zuberi]

That's a very in depth write up, DeckBuilder, with good points and I greatly appreciate the insight. My counter argument is going to be considerably more succinct.

Meditation only works in conjunction with a spawnpoint or familiar to replace your action with. That way you are still getting two spell casts per round, but are generating a lot more mana. It is a slight tempo loss, but only from the casting of the amulet and the spawnpoint/familiar to set up the engine. I don't think of the meditation as losing an action, because that action has been replaced. It is simply extra mana to work with. And if I have the mana to do so, I can make up tempo by occasionally foregoing my meditation to take an extra action.

Whenever I play a spawnpoint without the amulet, I feel I have more actions than I can efficiently utilize. Mostly because of lack of mana.

I haven't actually played the druid yet, so I have nothing specific to her to add.

[baronzaltor]

My thing with Medidtation Amulet is that to maximize it, you have to build around it.  Using it as a mana engine to fuel something to replace your full actions is not something you can just toss into a build, the build has to be designed with it in mind.  So for it to be viable, you have to crutch on it more than I care to in most builds.

This means if someone spends 4 mana to dissolve it, you end up having wasted your time.  You spend a quick action to cast it, and a full action to not break even… then have it destroyed, you have to either re-cast and re-channel, or just force you build to push on without the intended mana generation source.

At its low mana cost you can even afford to Explode it out from under the enemy.. all in one spell you get an attack, a burn chance, waste 2-3 of their actions, and disrupt the core mana engine of their current strategy.  Not a bad way to spend 10 mana. 

My other annoyance with the amulet is that its one of only 2 Mind cards in the set.. and the Forcemaster has absolutely no use for it.  She has to be on the move and commit full actions to melee attacks, and has precious few actions to spend.    I hate when the mage with least need for a card are the ones trained to use it.

[Zuberi]

I will grant you both points. Forcemaster has no use for it, and it can be a bit of a crutch. But I don't think it is as useless or bad as some people would have us believe. It just has a fairly narrow nitch.