The Sith Lord

[webcatcher]

We've had several FM books go up lately, so I thought I'd add one that's a little bit different. Awhile ago I made a build whose goal was to win using the FM's board control and enchantments rather than melee. After multiple playtests and tweaks I eventually decided that the build was never going to be as good as my solo melee FM because playing the extended enchantment/counter enchantment game takes such a long time that the other player can end up with a huge action advantage via creatures. Anyway, here's the list.

Equipment

Galvitar
Dancing scimitar
Force ring
Psi-orb
Moonglow amulet

Conjurations

Mana crystal x 2
Mordok’s obelisk
Suppression orb
Corrosive orchid

Incantations

Dispel x 3
Teleport x 2
Dissolve x 2
Force push x 2
Force wave
Repulse
Seeking dispel x 2

Enchantments

Force hold x 3
Regrowth
Bear strength
Falcon precision
Mongoose agility
Cheetah speed
Force crush x 4
Forcefield x 2
Stumble x 2
Rhino hide
Magebane
Nullify x2
Decoy x 2
Ghoul rot x 2
Poisoned blood x 2
Charm
Harmonize
Enchantment transfusion

Attacks

Force hammer x 2

I broke my own rule with this list and didn't include any armor, but since I wasn't planning on meleeing, anyway, it didn't seem to matter (at some point I might have had a different version with some armor on board, but I never got to cast it because I was so busy with enchantments). The obvious endgame for this build would be to draw out all of my opponent's dispels and then pin him down with some combination of force crush/hold and ghoul rot, then move 3 squares away and kite/kill creatures while the mage slowly bled out. Mage wands with dispel would obviously be a game ender for this build, so I have 1 corrosive orchid just in case his wand defense is good enough that some combination of seeking dispel/decoy and dispel won't do the job. I found that the build worked really well against other solo builds or big-few builds, but those are the sort of builds that the FM doesn't have trouble with, anyway. When I made the list I was worried that mana starvation would be a problem with all of the upkeep costs, but it really wasn't, and I don't think I ever played all of my mana boost cards. Anyway, I've retired this list for now, at least, as being inferior to a more standard FM build, but I still think it's interesting and if anyone has any ideas on how to improve it I'd be happy to hear them.

[tom]

If you are going to kill the other guy with enchantments, I would add in a couple of enchanter's wardstones to make the dispels as painful as possible for your opponent.

[webcatcher]

I seriously considered that, but eventually decided against it. It takes actions and mana to lay down the wardstones, and at the end of the day, this build is designed to encourage my opponent to use up his dispels as quickly as possible, so I don't really want to put extra barriers in the way of that.

[FrostByte]

For the sake of the name theme, you need some lightning attacks.   

[Sailor Vulcan]

On the contrary. The reason that you're trying to get your opponent to use up his dispels as fast as possible is because you don't want your important enchantments dispelled. Enchanter's wardstones, by increasing the cost of dispelling your enchantments, can either make it so that your opponent doesn't have enough mana to cast dispel on your enchant that round, or it can potentially force them to make a choice between casting dispel on your enchant and using their mana for whatever other spell they had planned. Shouldn't underestimate the effectiveness of mana denial, even a little bit of it. I think losing 2 mana is often a lot more harmful then a lot of people realize. Wardstones cost actions and mana, yes, but so does nearly everything else you do in the game. The important thing is that your opponent is paying a higher cost than you (and that cost doesn't necessarily need to be paid in just mana either, of course.)

That being said, I think the Forcemaster's main strength is in her high melee attacking. Galvitar is kind of wasted if you're only planning to use it against summoned creatures rather than the mage itself. For a full action you get to roll 4 dice with doublestrike, and for a quick action 4 dice with piercing +2. Just enchant yourself with a bear strength and you've practically become a killing machine!

Strategies like the one you've just described are much better suited to the Wizard or the Druid, I think. Togorah would probably be pretty good for a defensive buddy build. If a solo mage wants to play the long game, I think they're going to have to have some way to make position VERY important. I think it would be good for a mind/war mage. Use positional tactics so that you don't have to fight all of your opponent's forces at once, only the ones that are nearest to you. Traps, walls with upkeep costs, push effects, hindering (like with mangler caltrops), incantations that give lumbering and slow until end of round, access to high armor, and a full action attack with a high chance of taunting whatever creature it attacks, probably from the mage's favorite weapon.

That would be really cool. *starry eyes*

[webcatcher]

On the contrary. The reason that you're trying to get your opponent to use up his dispels as fast as possible is because you don't want your important enchantments dispelled. Enchanter's wardstones, by increasing the cost of dispelling your enchantments, can either make it so that your opponent doesn't have enough mana to cast dispel on your enchant that round, or it can potentially force them to make a choice between casting dispel on your enchant and using their mana for whatever other spell they had planned.

Well, let me rephrase. It's not that I think enchanter's wardstones are inefficient in general, I just think they're inefficient on a solo mage where my actions are relatively more valuable than my opponent's since I'm getting 2 actions per turn and he's getting 2 + (number of creatures under opponent's control).

Strategies like the one you've just described are much better suited to the Wizard or the Druid, I think.

I picked the FM for 2 reasons. 1) The FM is hands-down my favorite mage and I wanted to find a new viable build since the FM is often played as a 1-trick pony. 2) Force crush is, in my opinion, one of the best control spells in the game, and between the high book cost and the need for (mind mage only) psi-orb, it really requires an FM to use it properly in large quantities.

If a solo mage wants to play the long game, I think they're going to have to have some way to make position VERY important.

See force crush, above.