Well play testing is a bit different than playing. I have built this book around Sardonyx coming out quickly and really taking control of the game. Mort is there to Reconstruct if needed, a Reassemble would be a good addition, but I need to figure out what that should be.
The opening for this one is to get out the Amulet to boost mana early so the Necro can have enough mana for both Sardonyx and an early Drain Soul or two.
A Lord of Fire 3 round opening gives this book fits as you could well imagine. Which is the point of the opening, I am thinking next time that I will bring out a [mwcard=DNC13]Skeletal Archer[/mwcard] and plink on the LoF for a bit and have the mage mediate all the while then hit him with a Drain Soul or two and then bring out Sardonyx. The Warlock(Arraxian Crown) build is quite curse and fire heavy so in reality it is a damage race for him, can he get my mage's life down fast enough that Sardonyx doesn't effect the outcome as this Warlock will double cast [mwcard=MW1I08]Drain Life[/mwcard] and then a Fireball as a finisher. Against other mages I have had more success, but like I said about playtesting, a lot of times it is more of a scenario setup and then what if I did this or that for playtesting. Thus not full games, but to get more of an idea of how he plays, when to play him, and how (not) to play him.
Drain Soul, like I have referenced, is very good and surprisingly the Amulet is very good at ramping your mana bank up to pay for them. I have been thinking about a Wand with a Force Push on it, so I could us a QC to move my mage and still mediate, as sitting still is very tough when those bigs start using their Full Action attacks. I would like to use it on Grizzly's or Kralathor or anything in the 12+ Life range.