what is the best way to counter the Forcemaster?

[DarthDadaD20]

This might of been said already but..... The dancing scimitar will eat force field charges up quickly for a solo mage. A lot of points for anyone but the forcemaster....but it worked well in a warlock deck. (That I hate so very,very much.)That and explode and drain life since they are not Attacks but deal damage.

[baronzaltor]

Warlock-
My versions of the Warlock have all been aggressive builds:  Lord of Fire buddy, Werewolf, Solo, etc.
So far, I've had No success against the Forcemaster.  Lord of Fire will get Mind Controlled even with a Nullify (She can Seeking Dispel/Mind Control in the same action).  Werewolf dies too fast.  And I haven't been able to keep up with her doublestrike and defenses when I run solo.  There are too many items to Dissolve.  Dancing Scimitars and Hauberk and Elemental Cloaks keep wrecking me.  Agony gets Dispelled right away.  The low mana production of Warlock simply cannot keep up with Forcemaster's arsenal.  I tried a slower approach, building up my equipment... but she just put Drain Power on Mage Wand to win the Mind Control/Dispel wars.  Besides luck, I haven't found any effective strategy.
For 11 Mana, her sword rolls 8 dice (10 with Bear Strength), while Warlock's 8 mana sword rolls 5.
But it's her innate Deflect that really tips the scales...  Free mana 50% miss for my burn spells or attacks.
/quote]

With Warlock, Skeleton Sentries are good foot soldiers due to their psychic immunity..no sleep, no charm, no mind control.  she HAS to just beat them down or let them grind away her forcefelid/defenses while you work her over.    They also take no damage from Idol of Pestilence if you want to go that route.  She has a natural health disadvantage against a Warlock so Idol is nice if you fit it in to the overall strategy, combined with Ghoul Rots and Mage Banes (her force pull counts as spell FYI) you can get her taking a lot of defense penetrating damage and force her to spend lots of mana and actions purging, while you can keep those laying on steadily.  Drain Life also will totally ignore her Force Field and defenses since its not an attack.  So they make great coffin nails for her.

Ring of Curses/Enchanters Ring make huge mana savings.  Sectarus will lay curses while you attack saving you mana and youll save 1 every time you flip, and save 1 every time you buff yourself or use a block/reverse attack/nullify.  (reverse attack spoils her day when she wastes attacks AND knocks off her forcefield tokens)

Keep yourself with falcon precision (ignores defenses), use Sectarus to keep curses going on her, pressure with Skeletons.  She can dispel your personal buffs, she can dissolve your sword (which you can replace fairly easily, or even replace via a battleforge), she can purge the debuffs... but she doesnt have mana or actions to do all that, manage upkeeps AND play her tricks.  

When shes managing her actions or has a lot of mana tied up in upkeeps, dissolve/explode galvatar.  Yes, it goes back into her spellbook...but she has to come up with another eleven mana and spend another action to replay it (which you can jinx to make her waste the action and spend another round weaponless).  her channeling is 10.. so even with no upkeeps its casting cost is more than she naturally produces.  having to re-play that sword is a massive pain.   youre saving mana with melee attacks and rings...shes spending to purge/debuff.  when you can afford it, dissolve/explode again, make her RE-cast it again.  She doesnt have the innate melee boost a warlock has, without that sword and with an agony she is pretty worthless in melee.

I also recommend casting Nullify on the Forcemaster.  Let her throw away her force fields and bear strengths or waste time seeking dispelling anything thats face down.  The whole idea is that she spends mana and actions doing things other than what she wants.  Jinx completely disrupts her flow as does Mind Shield.  Any turn that she spends casting a Seeking Dispel AND a Dispel/Dissolve is great.  You can replace easier than she can purge.  With the two rings and familiar you can replace at must less cost than her while keeping your agenda on track, or at least only partially hindered when you have to stop and dispel/disolve yourself.

Also, when Sersirex comes out, hes going to be a pain the rear for her with Warlock.  Yet another thing that can cast curses/attack spells, is Warlock only (so no mind control), can ignore charm (since casting curses is not an attack).  This little guy AND Sectarus together will keep her very tied up with debuff purging.

Ive had some good matches in tinkering around.  Shes about controlling expenses.  Forcemaster requires managing a budget to be successful, and has the big weakness of not having any surprises... Theres not much a Forcemaster can bring to the table that you dont expect.  When you strain her action budget and mana expenses you can work her down.