Forcemaster Builds

[Shad0w]

Sike the best thing is the book is so modal you can actively choose not to play certain cards in it. I do that all the time so I can better understand what each cards does for this build. If you think in this case a card would be nice to have then it is worth thinking about. I have found almost no cards are absolutely required to win.

[Shad0w]

Jack the main thing you need to do is buy time. The longer you can keep an aggro build like this from attacking you the better off you are. You need to get 2-3 turns extra before the main attacks start. So instead of being attacked on turn 4 you need to hold them off till turn 6 or 7.

[Aarrow]

From my experiences, "Hand-solo" is the easiest build to run with now but it is not unbeatable.
The hands are indeed the most broken cards in the game, and spamming them combined with Battle Fury can seem overwhelming.  This has been a popular deckstyle in our local scene.

The "buddy build" is very effective at countering this strategy.  You simply summon something big, and spend the rest of the game pestering the opposing mage while your buddy does the damage...   When he dies, summon another buddy.  Use your turns to keep the opposing mage Agony'd, Dazed, Stunned, Restrained, etc.  Don't waste time destroying the hands and make sure you're winning the damage war right away.

The "swarm build" is also fairly effective.  You start off losing the damage war, but summon small creatures like mad to keep her hindered.  If you can move around summoning many creatures, eventually she will be overwhelmed and the damage war will tilt back in your favor.  This leaves her with only full action options like Electrify.  Thunderift Falcons are great at surviving an Electrify- barely.

In all options foresight is the key.  Successfully predicting what the opponent's next move is will help keep you one step ahead.  Never, ever let him get his full attack off.  Keep moving, jinxing, blocking, reverse attacking, and try to be unpredictable. 

Hand-solo can easily kill your mage in four turns...  if you let him. 

[Shad0w]

Successfully predicting what the opponent's next move is will help keep you one step ahead.  Never, ever let him get his full attack off.  Keep moving, jinxing, blocking, reverse attacking, and try to be unpredictable. 

Hand-solo can easily kill your mage in four turns...  if you let him.

Some great advice and worth a sticker.

The reason my build is so tough is that you have 70 points of meat cards to work with. You can pick and choose cards that best fit your local meta.

[sIKE]

Shadow,

The cards I was missing, were due to my style of play. It was very nice to use a duplicate of someone else's book and play on through it.

I can tell you, Galvitar + Vampirism + Battle Fury = Winner

That is a tough one to over come. Still can't run into a swam with a Steel Claw Grizzly though!

[Shad0w]

@sike

What did you drop?

[sIKE]

Sorry, I am being a bit confusing. What I was referring to, was in situation X I would normally play card Y and card Y would be there as I had built the Deck. Since this was a true clone of the book you posted two or three of the cards I would typically turn too were not there. So I was forced to go in a different direction and play the spell book I had. Which was nice as I learned new ways to deal with certain situations.

Like if you are in trouble, during your First Quick Action Phase, cast Repulse and then run in the opposite direction, which will put three spaces between you and your opponent and his critters, giving you a moment of respite.

[Shad0w]

Sorry, I am being a bit confusing. What I was referring to, was in situation X I would normally play card Y and card Y would be there as I had built the Deck. Since this was a true clone of the book you posted two or three of the cards I would typically turn too were not there. So I was forced to go in a different direction and play the spell book I had. Which was nice as I learned new ways to deal with certain situations.

Like if you are in trouble, during your First Quick Action Phase, cast Repulse and then run in the opposite direction, which will put three spaces between you and your opponent and his critters, giving you a moment of respite.

Now you are starting to understand new ways to look at the combat. That was what this build was about. This was a way for me to give people the feel of being handed a book from a friend for an event and then finding out it is missing some of the expected tools. If I was going to play this on a competitive level it would include 3 Teleports and 2 Wands of healing and some other stuff. Most of the time people play they just use the same old tools. Playing like this and purposely removing those card will make you look at a match differently.

[ringkichard]

If I was going to play this on a competitive level it would include 3 Teleports and 2 Wands of healing and some other stuff.

The wands are for weak/crippled tokens? I've been trying to decide on the right counter for those.

[Shad0w]

The wand as Bryan and I made it will get that job done.

[sIKE]

Funny, the Wand of Healing is one of the things I said that I would swap in. The Rot tokens really suck the life out of you. I was missing teleport too, but not sure if it was really needed and if so maybe only one of them.

[Shad0w]

Tele is not key but a min you would want 2

[Aarrow]

Be careful about using Wand of Healing in this type of build....  If you need to use it, that usually means somethings gone awfully wrong.

Granted, the builds I've played with and against have been quite different than Shadow's, but the same concept.

You want to stick to your main core strategy as much as possible because it takes soo much effort from your opponent to disrupt it.   I find many turns playing one card per turn.  I pick a plan A and Plan B.
Plan A is usually Battle Fury or an Attack Spell
Plan B is meta...  often Seeking Dispel or Teleport depending on what I'm expecting the opposing mage to do.
I try not to spend any actions attacking non-mage creatures, conjurations, or dispelling curses like magebane or agony.
The strongest opposition I've found is the opponent running, blocking, and reverse attacking.

If rot tokens are killing you, try ignoring them and speeding up your gameplay and focus powerful attacks on the mage only.
The beastmaster can attack with 3 bats on turn 2, but even that cannot out damage your blade and battle fury.

If weak tokens are killing you, try to anticipate them early.  Yes, a wizard can surprise you with a rouse'd Gorgan... but any Gorgan should only get one attack against this deckstyle.  The core strategy takes so little room in these builds, so you have many, many options to deal with threats.  (Hint- use cards with big payouts for short time periods)

Also, you can always heal with the hands in a pinch!

Expect many of these builds at the Gencon tournaments! 
 

[Koz]

From my experiences, "Hand-solo" is the easiest build to run with now but it is not unbeatable.
The hands are indeed the most broken cards in the game, and spamming them combined with Battle Fury can seem overwhelming.  This has been a popular deckstyle in our local scene.

I was calling the Hand of Bim Shalla and Battle Fury THE two power cards from the core set way back when the game first came out, and an expansion later it still seems like that is the case.  The Hand's are just so versitle, cheap and effective.  They should have at least been spell level 2 IMO so that it actually hurt a bit for non-holy mages to put them in their books. 

The "swarm build" is also fairly effective.  You start off losing the damage war, but summon small creatures like mad to keep her hindered.  If you can move around summoning many creatures, eventually she will be overwhelmed and the damage war will tilt back in your favor.  This leaves her with only full action options like Electrify.  Thunderift Falcons are great at surviving an Electrify- barely.

Another trick against the Forcemaster with swarms is to make use of Charge.  Feral Bobcats are great because they are cheap, effective guards with their Defense die and if they get Pushed they hit really hard when they come back in with their Charge trait.  This can also work with Foxes and Falcons with Rajan's Fury out.  Make that Forcemaster pay for moving your guards out!

In all options foresight is the key.  Successfully predicting what the opponent's next move is will help keep you one step ahead.  Never, ever let him get his full attack off.  Keep moving, jinxing, blocking, reverse attacking, and try to be unpredictable. 

I think Jinx is an excellent way to slow the Forcemaster down.  If she can't use her quick action to Push or cast Battle Fury or whatever, she will be much less effective.  An Agony is also good (as it is against any beat-down build). 

As the Priestess, it's worth the 12 mana to Divine Intervention the Forcemaster back to the other side of the board early in the game (like say right when she goes to make her first attack against you).  You'll buy yourself an extra 2-3 turns before you're in danger again, giving you more time to get your defenses up.

Also, if the Forcemage is running a bit high on upkeep (like say Forcefield and Dancing Scimitar going), don't be afraid to Dissolve her Forceblade.  Yes, it's a Cantrip item, but recasting it should be pretty painful for her because it leaves her less mana and actions to Push or Battle Fury...and if she can't recast it for a turn because she has to save, all the better.

[Aarrow]

Koz, I couldn't agree more with everything you said. 

I was calling the Hand of Bim Shalla and Battle Fury THE two power cards from the core set way back when the game first came out, and an expansion later it still seems like that is the case.  The Hand's are just so versitle, cheap and effective.  They should have at least been spell level 2 IMO so that it actually hurt a bit for non-holy mages to put them in their books. 

Absolutely.  Or create something to slow them down...
Something like:
Incantation
20 Mana- Target Conjuration
Seismic Tremors
Make a 10 attack roll against target conjuration and all other conjurations in the arena with the same name.
Seismic Tremors cost 3 mana less for each additional conjuration.

Another trick against the Forcemaster with swarms is to make use of Charge.  Feral Bobcats are great because they are cheap, effective guards with their Defense die and if they get Pushed they hit really hard when they come back in with their Charge trait.  This can also work with Foxes and Falcons with Rajan's Fury out.  Make that Forcemaster pay for moving your guards out!

I played against a deck dubbed "missiles", who spammed Rajans and just ran around casting foxes & falcons...   Very strong against mages who ignore creatures.

I think Jinx is an excellent way to slow the Forcemaster down.  If she can't use her quick action to Push or cast Battle Fury or whatever, she will be much less effective.  An Agony is also good (as it is against any beat-down build). 

As the Priestess, it's worth the 12 mana to Divine Intervention the Forcemaster back to the other side of the board early in the game (like say right when she goes to make her first attack against you).  You'll buy yourself an extra 2-3 turns before you're in danger again, giving you more time to get your defenses up.

Also, if the Forcemage is running a bit high on upkeep (like say Forcefield and Dancing Scimitar going), don't be afraid to Dissolve her Forceblade.  Yes, it's a Cantrip item, but recasting it should be pretty painful for her because it leaves her less mana and actions to Push or Battle Fury...and if she can't recast it for a turn because she has to save, all the better.

Quote For Truth...  Although the Forcemages I've played usually have no problem with mana, so I tend to save the dissolve strategy for turns they have initiative and I'm about to get doublestriked. (make sure you decoy/seeking dispel the turn before on the end turn quickcast).  Now that you've dismantled their turn, you've got room all the way into your next initiative before they can equip again.