Forcemaster Builds

[Tim]

Hi there,
This is my decklist of my forcemaster deck.

equipment:
2 dancing scimitar
gauntlets of strength
galvitar, force blade
mage wand

Conjurations:
2 hand of bim-Shalla
deathlock
Mordok's obelisk

Creatures:
3 thoughtspore
invisible stalker

Enchantments:
2 charm
2 bear strength
falcon precision
mongoose agility
circle of lightning
cheetah speed
2 mind control
2 forcefield
vampirism
decoy
2 nullify
2 force hold
marked for death
retaliate

Incantation:
2 battle furry
2 dissolve
teleport
purify
piercing strike
power strike
3 dispel
seeking dispel
perfect strike

Attack:
hurl boulder

                                = 120 points

My openings looks something like this:

round 1:
20mana
quick cast cheetah speed on self and reveal (15)
move twice en cast bear strength on self (10)

round 2:
20 mana
summon 1 thoughtspore and bind battle fury. place face down under thoughtspore (12)
quickcast gauntlets of strength or hand of bim-shalla or marked for death on opponent.

Offcourse this is not the same every game. If I see a warlock as opponent I wouldn't enchant cheetah speed but summon another thougthspore with hurl boulder binded.

If the opponent mage is in melee zone quickcast your blade, use battle furry (binded on 1 thoughspore) and cast on self and start doing serious damage.

If opponent mage is slow (mana crystals, temple build, ...) in the beginning, start to cast the hand of bim-shalla while moving towards the mage. You can even cast other cards that helps you melee like falcon precision, mongoose agility, circel of lightning (against swarm), vampirism, nullify, retaliate, ...

Suggestions/tips/ other strategies would be great!

[Tacullu64]

I'm glad to see a Forcemaster spellbook posted.

I don't think you will get good value from Marked for Death in this build. It really shines when you're throwing a lot of attacks per turn, more than you will be capable of. You need something to help you with mana. I would replace it with Psi Orb to help manage your upkeeps or you'll be limited casting your Hurl Boulder with your Thoughtspore.

Circle of Lightening is counter intuitive to a Forcemaster, but I'm guessing this is a calculated choice since you aren't maximizing the Forcemaster's ability to make defense rolls. I'll be curious how this works out for you.

Good luck with your build let us know how it works for you.

[sdougla2]

Your lack of armor is a little concerning. You don't have ways to buff Deflection or gain many additional defenses (just Dancing Scimitar). You seem to be relying on Forcefield for additional defense, but I'm not sure if that's going to be enough.

Marked for Death doesn't seem like it will be that effective. I don't think you'll get the bonus with enough of your attacks to justify it.

You could use a Psi-Orb to help manage upkeep costs, and I'd consider discount rings and if you're planning on being aggressive often.

You have relatively little position control for a FM build. 1 Teleport, no Force Push/Force Wave/Repulse/Force Bash, and no Force Ring to give you a discount on Force Pull.

You don't have cheap attack options. That may be okay, but I'm going to try running Invisible Fist. It's a cheap enough attack that I can make it regularly while still having mana to do other stuff. Casting Hurl Boulder out of a Thoughtspore every turn will wipe out your mana. Maybe you're just planning on using Hurl Boulder to finish someone off, and it's a good choice for that.

[Tim]

Thanks for the quick reaction!

I agree but marked for dead is a bonus for increasing attack power, but I actually agree on taking it out because I don't really need extra attack power. This was just a extra thing to quickly damage the opponent mage and result is dead off opponent mage in 2 rounds (even against temple priest it happened 2/3).
I was testing the marked for dead and the damage barrier. My calculations where that I needed something against swarms, but mordoks obelisk is also a hard counter against swarms. Since winning can only be done by killing the opponent mage, I included the circle of lightning. I am not yet convinced about it so it is possible that I would change it but then again it is also good against beatdown, big creature rush, ...
I want to include a battle forge for testing because it gives me an extra action to buff myself (but this at the expense off a quick action and 8 mana). Off course then I will include more buff cards like armor, ... But now my focus is on preventing damage with the ability of the forcemaster, the 2 forcefields and if necessary the scimitars but most often I use the 3 dice attack.
 I also agree on armor: even if they can penetrate my defenses, a solid rate of armor does the trick. It goes well with the battle forge but again my focus was on preventing damage but I get the point .

As for Psi-Orb: I don't really like it, maybe I could include it with the battle forge but still then I am not convinced. I don't have that many cards simultaneous on the field with high upkeep costs. Mind control gets a lot of dispels or I use mordoks obelisk, don't pay upkeep, and the creature is gone. I almost every game have scimitar which is 1 upkeep (no problem). Forcefield is pricy but it also have already stopped 3 attacks, which is the same mana for 3 blocks with the ability to negate unavoidable attacks.
I don't use invisible stalker that much. I use it against big creature builds and solo-mage beatdown but even then, battle furry is awesome with the attack power I have. So I am hesitating to take him out but he is just to cool :d.

My experience tells my that is don't need extra positioning control with the force master. The force pull is so amazing in positioning control. That in combo with cheetah speed, I think it is sufficient.

I get what you say about the expensive hurl boulder. It would cost me 7 (1 channeling of thoughtspore). I don't use it every turn and it is mostly to scare the opponent and use it when he comes to close to my thoughtspores and to finish creatures. But then my problem (in my opinion) is that I don't use that thougthspore efficiently because the best way to use the thougthspore is to use the bind spell almost every round (I think). What do you think about that?
I don't like the idea of invisible fists because its a 0-1 spell. I rather be at a distance because thoughtspores are easily killed and their support means a lot especially the one with the battle fury!

Thanks again for the good reactions and I always appreciate tips/feedback/...

[DarthDadaD20]

I would say, battle forge and more equipment as well.
 Two mind control is too much IMO, I would rather have more sleep/charm the twelve points put in to two mind controls. One is good for me.

But yeah...Looking good!

[Tim]

Thanks DarthDadaD20.
I get your point. I find mind control a cool spell but I can never use the creature for an attack or something.
I cast mind control, then reveal it, target is stunned, I use action marker to remove stun. Next turn It gets a dispel, ... and okay target is stunned again but its just a slow-down card.
I used a quick action + spend (let us say the creature was lv3) 8 mana + 3 mana upkeep. I could slow it down for 2 turns (1 when I control it, 2 when mind control is destroyed/removed) and mostly the opponent mage use a resource to remove the mind control (dispel). This will cost the opponent 8 mana and also a quick action + one of his dispels. If the opponent doesn't use dispel I will pay 3 mana upkeep with pleasure to use the creature. + I like the combo with Mordok's obelisk  .
What do you think?

[DarthDadaD20]

It is quite the combo!

[Tim]

Yesterday, I lost a game with my deck against the priestess but it was rather due to the bad plays/decisions I made. But then again I was testing a different strategy.
You learn with every experience, so play is important :p.
Before the match I swapped out de circle of lightning and the marked for dead for other cards.
I wanted to test if I could focus 80% on melee and if this was the case then I could make room in the deck by cutting on the dissolves and dispels.
 
Opponent summoned creatures but there where no problem. I already had damaged the priestess so that she had suffered 24 damage on turn 4!!!
At this point my opponent played a mage wand (opponent had enough mana) and binds removal-cards (like dissolve, dispel, ...).
I wanted to test if I can focus on doing 'a hell of a lot' of damage and to kill her quickly, so I let the mage wand be. At first it wasn't a problem at all. My opponent succeeded slowly to reduce my attack power. Which wasn't a problem because I had enough attack power + support of one thoughtspore with battle furry. But when the game progresses it was a problem. I had the priestess down on her knees with only 7 health left and she couldn't heal because I played a deathlock. Due to a bad decision and poor dice rolling and opponents lucky strike on deathlock, I became at a serious disadvantage.  At the end I was at such a disadvantage that I couldn't win.

Conclusions:
- a mage wand with dissolve/dispel can really hurt the deck a lot. The opponent is slowly decreasing my attack power which is all so important for this type of deck.
- I realized that once my attack power is decreased I couldn't build it up again.
- So the dispels/dissolves in deck are necessary to remove cards that are a threat like mage wands, cursus like agony, enchantment with aegis +1, armor, ...
- I also find that the support of 2 thoughtspore are, almost in every game, necessary. I should had summoned another thoughtpore (in beginning) with dispel/dissolve bind or equip myself a mage wand with dispel/dissolve and enchant myself with a nullify.

If you have any suggestions or tips/strategy let me know.

[Tacullu64]

I was wondering why you have a second Dancing Scimitar? I like the DS, it just doesn't seem important enough to your strategy to have a back up. I use one. If mine got destroyed I'm not sure I'd want to use the action to cast its replacement. If you went equipment heavy and played with a Battleforge it could cast it and save you an action, but you are going a different route.

[Tim]

I find that my first dancing scimitar 70% gets a dissolve because its a extra 3 dice attack. Thats why i include a second copy.
I understand what you mean: it is indeed an extra quick action but it gives me 3 dice attack every round or a defense. Because my strategy is to do a lot of damage in a short time i include 2 copies.
I am considering to include a battle forge in the deck but then i need to make room for more equipment which is going to be a pain.
I will take decoy out the deck because if i use the force spell a nullify must activate.
Maybe i even consider to take out the invisible stalker. What are your thoughts?

[Tacullu64]

I think you are talking about significant changes now. I would continue to tweak the deck until your are ready to go in a new direction. I think Battleforge and more equipment could be interesting but only if you're satisfied with the effort you've put in the spellbook to date. The finished product is likely to play very differently from your current build.

[DarthDadaD20]

I HATED stalker at first....threw him in after a few games later and wow...he is just great. Activate him at the end and he is 5 more damage a round and wont go anywhere soon. I hate that I cant guard with him though...I get him out early and he does well.

[Shad0w]

After the league this week I hope to post my build and match results.

[Tim]

I would like to read that and the strategy u use.
Good luck!

[Tim]

Your right DarthDadaD20, he is great but:
at the time that i could summon him i should be attacking because i am at my max attack power. I understand thats its a good card but its expensive and takes a full action. I use it mostly when playing against buff mage or something. I always wait for the last moment to attack with him. My opponent is also a decent player so he always keep 1 decent creature to attack the stalker when he is visible. He guards a lot with other creatures and guard is a real pain for the invisible stalker.