Warlord vs. Wizard

[Borg]

No one has mentioned Altar of Carnage, so I will. It's potentially stupid-efficient mana generation, but it's very much a "win more" sort of card. Which is exactly what you need if you can get an early lead against Wizard and just need to put the game away before all those mana crystals and Gate to Voltari really pay off.

I've always considered Altar of Carnage as a "win more" card as well and therefore dismissed it but you make a good point there. It's an excellent card to hold and prolong an advantage, so it's definitely worth reevaluating.

Too bad however the mana only goes onto a Spawnpoint or Familiar and not onto your Mage though.
If I go really aggressive I let the Mage summon the creatures and don't bother with a spawnpoint.
So, there's another negative for AoC.

[Borg]

I need to build "Butcher Squad Book"

I've been trying to accomplish that for over a month now and I can't get it over the hill.
Main stumbling block : Guardian Angels, their Flying, Defense, Intercept, Aegis 1 , Armor +1 and Healing ability is just too much to deal with all at the same time, not to mention if those Angels are enchanted with Bear Strength and Lion Savagery...
But maybe this discussion needs another thread.
Sorry for the small hijack.

[sdougla2]

My main problem with Altar of Carnage is that it loses most of it's value if your Barracks is destroyed, and in the type of strategy where I would even consider playing Altar of Carnage, I don't want to make my Barracks a more tempting target than it already is.

[ringkichard]

I had a long post written up, but lost it.

1. (19) Barracks (7) Garrison Post (3)
2. (12 + 2) Altar of the Iron Guard (8+2) Meditation Amulet (4+2)
3. (13+4) Deploy Panzergard with Guard Marker (6) Meditate (9) SOMETHING OPTIONAL

RANGED OPTION. Spam Bloodwave Greatbows (with Panzergarde as needed) which are given piercing (and kept alive) by Fortified Position, Release Volley, Standard Bearer, Brace Yourself, etc. Archer's Watchtower and Wall of Earth/Stone/Steel can be fun. Use Force Wave, Cascading Force Wave, and Windstorm to manage positioning of your units and your opponent's. Use Wall of Pikes to prevent your opponent from playing walls to block LoS (and to make charging your archers less appealing). Eagle Claw Boots and Astral Anchor to keep your Warlord in a safe location. Mangler Caltrops or Poison Gas Cloud to slow opponent's movement. Suppression Orb against swarms and fast creatures. Hidden Tunnels to move archers efficiently between outposts. Ballista and Akiro's Hammer for Spike Damage and anti-Wizard's Tower. Harshforge Plate and Blur against opposing magic. With Bloodwave Greatbow you can skip the usual Acid Balls, but be sure to bring Hurl Boulder or Hurl Rock potentially with Hawkeye and/or Gloves of Skill. Ranged defenses are good against those things, so bring some. Elemental Wand at your discretion. Probably only one Teleport for emergencies, but bring several dissolves, and as many dispels as you can afford. Don't forget to Meditate when you can.

MELEE OPTION Build an Altar of Carnage. Spam Dwarf Kriegshammer, Orc Butcher, and More Panzergarde. As long as you're hitting something you are winning, even against Gate to Voltari. If you're having trouble spending all the mana, either play a Battle Forge for more actions, Gurmash for more battle orders, or just a blizzard of Boulders and Rocks.

[Kaarin]

All strategies posted here seem to be aimed against economy-type Wizard. In my group You usually need to have armor after first QC phase of 2nd round when playing against Wizard.
Minimum amount of dice to KO Wizard is 16. That's two Hurl Boulder with Hawkeye on. Try to get advantage of Akiro's Favor and Gloves of skill. With correct timing You can cast 4 Hurl Boulder in a row. I don't know better strategy for Bloodwave Warlord against Wizard, because every strategy I came up with for him turned out to be better suited for Anvil Throne Warlord or Earth Wizard (other than charging veteran golems or Greatbow Volley).

Sniper Shot + Hurl Rock can be pretty fun vs ravens/pixies

I think that taunting them with Thorg is more fun. He can deal with guardians too.

RANGED OPTION.

Why aren't You building Altar of Carnage in ranged option?

Also, if it would be Lightning or Fire wizard, [mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]Wall of Earth[/mwcard] messing with LoS of [mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ02]Wizard's Tower[/mwcard] is also nice to have.

Problem is that Wizard is very likely to have a hydro attack or two.

[ringkichard]

Why aren't You building Altar of Carnage in ranged option?

You certainly can! That was one part of the longer post I wrote then lost. It's a little harder to fit them in because of the higher cost of the Greatbows, but in the opening above they'll work fine.

You also make a great point about BOULDER BOULDER BOULDER BOULDER Wizards, and yeah, this opening is more geared toward fighting Weighted Wizard, which is happy to play 4 mana crystals before the Wizard's Tower comes into play. I don't get the Panzergarde down until the deployment phase of Round 3, which is pushing it, even if it does come into play ready to Intercept because of Altar of the Iron Guard.

If the Wizard does something like Hawkeye + Gloves of Skill on round 1, it's possible they're not even going to bother with Wizard's Tower. If that's the case, Wall of Earth is a great help, and maybe the Garrison Post should be Archer's Watchtower. Otherwise this opening relies on Defend to put repeated guard markers on the Dwarves, and on Brace Yourself to soak early hits. Gurmash could do those things, but I'd have to test to see how it works out. Those are the best uses for Gurmash, but my experience with him is a little sub-optimal.

Harshforge Plate is great, but too expensive against attack spam. Against a Wizard who goes right for the throat, I'd say skip the Meditation Amulet and get some Armor (or Brace Yourself) and a Block instead. Or, if the situation is right, use the sekret tek below....
--

I've been sitting on this info since I noticed it a week ago, and it's burning a hole in my spellbook: there's a *really* nasty way to use Blur against Wizard's Tower. Read them both carefully is all I'll say.

[Borg]

I've been sitting on this info since I noticed it a week ago, and it's burning a hole in my spellbook: there's a *really* nasty way to use Blur against Wizard's Tower. Read them both carefully is all I'll say.

You CAN reveal Blur and become Obscured as a response to a Wizard Tower's spell and thus cause the spell to fizzle because the Tower's spell casting does not happen during an action phase or quickcast phase.

Great catch.

As a side note : I do not like MW being swamped with promo cards which are unavailable to so many people ( including myself ) It feels like they're creating a different playing field.

[ringkichard]

Promos aren't legal in meatspace tournaments, and are freely available on OCTGN if the organizer is including them. In casual play anyone who uses them when the opponent can't do likewise is a jerk.

[jacksmack]

I wonder if this is the intention with Blur.

Blur can also  attacks from ballista and temple of light if im not mistaken (,when using range 2).

[ringkichard]

I wonder if this is the intention with Blur.

I can't say one way or another, but part of the fun of emergent systems like Mage Wars is the opportunity to find stuff like this.

[jacksmack]

You can even use blur on the opponenet if he is 2 zones away from his battleforge.

In that case you could possible cancel an expensive equipment like Galvitar, Staff of Light, Sectarus.

And its easy to get remove from him - just 1 damage from an attack and choose not to pay.

[Coshade]

You can even use blur on the opponenet if he is 2 zones away from his battleforge.

In that case you could possible cancel an expensive equipment like Galvitar, Staff of Light, Sectarus.

And its easy to get remove from him - just 1 damage from an attack and choose not to pay.

Oh my