Forcemaster Builds

[ringkichard]

Any attack, unavoidable or not, will scrub a token off your Forcefield. You can't chose to take the attack on the chin or to let a defense handle the attack instead of the Forcefield. All attacks go through Forcefield first. In consolation, Forcefield will cancel unavoidable attacks on your Forcemaster, because it works before the cancel attack step.

[MrSaucy]

In my very limited experience with Force Master, Battle Forge is great, but I'd skip the Harmonize.

A lot of Forcemaster's turns are spent with a Force Pull Quickcast and then a full round double strike attack (with Scimitar too, probably). This is really cheep, and you'll end up with difficulty spending all your mana. The point of playing a Forge in Force Master is that it gives you extra actions to help you spend down that mana, to make your mana consumption and your action consumption equal.

Battle Forge is an investment of one action, that pays off in actions (and a bit of mana).
Harmonize is an investment of one action, that never pays off in actions (but does make some mana, too).
As an agro deck which plans on using Galvitar as often as possible, actions are your limiting factor, not mana.


Just as a weird thought experiment, has anyone built a Forcemaster book that includes a Goblin Builder?

Thanks for the solid advice. I will be sure to skip harmonize then.

Also, I haven't heard of anyone putting Goblin Builders in their spellbook. In my opinion they are entirely worthless. They WOULD be useful if they could effectively heal conjurations, but the ability to remove only 1 damage from a conjuration is a joke. I wish they could remove 2d damage from a conjuration or something like that.

[ringkichard]

Yeah, I'm looking at the card again and what really kills him is the requirement that it be a Full Action at a range of 0-0. This means that for he can only cast a zone exclusive conjuration every 2nd turn (1 to move, one to cast). If he had range 0-1, or a quick action, he'd be the lowest mana-cost source of extra actions in the game, even if he lacked channeling. Sadly, as a creature, it takes a full action to cast him, so you can't cast him on the run, even. Battle Forge really is just much better.

[MrSaucy]

Yeah, I'm looking at the card again and what really kills him is the requirement that it be a Full Action at a range of 0-0. This means that for he can only cast a zone exclusive conjuration every 2nd turn (1 to move, one to cast). If he had range 0-1, or a quick action, he'd be the lowest mana-cost source of extra actions in the game, even if he lacked channeling. Sadly, as a creature, it takes a full action to cast him, so you can't cast him on the run, even. Battle Forge really is just much better.

If only we were given a Familiar that could cast Conjuration spells... now that would be cool.

[sdougla2]

Now I want a familiar to cast Tanglevines/Quicksands on creatures...

[ringkichard]

Dwarf Builder, maybe.
It'd probably have to be Warlord Only. The last thing Forcemaster needs is to be able to cast Hand of Bim-Shalla through a familiar.

[MrSaucy]

Now I want a familiar to cast Tanglevines/Quicksands on creatures...

I want something like Tanglevine/Quicksand but only targets flying creatures. I hate flyers!

The last thing Forcemaster needs is to be able to cast Hand of Bim-Shalla through a familiar.

Yeah, good point. Making it Warlord exclusive would solve that problem and would fit the Warlord too.

[baronzaltor]

The only time Ive ever used Goblin Builder to any real success was in a novelty build.  I made a Warlock "demon" book, and used a Builder to cast Gate to Hell for me, since its a full round action for my mage to cast it.   It also allowed me to cast and open it in the same turn if I chose to drop 24 mana.

If you happen to swarm out a team of 4 or so builders you can use their repair ability to repair conjuration damage in more meaningful chunks, but even that is very situational.

[MrSaucy]

If you happen to swarm out a team of 4 or so builders you can use their repair ability to repair conjuration damage in more meaningful chunks, but even that is very situational.

That is the problem. You need more than 1 of them in order to be effective. Who in their right minds wants to spend 4 full actions summoning a creature that has 1 very specific purpose and can easily be killed?

You done goof'd, game developers.

[ringkichard]

Smells like a last minute nerf they knew they wouldn't have time to playtest, so had to be extra thorough. Just guessing, though. Maybe someone built a really killer warlord conjurations book that we just haven't found yet.

[sIKE]

My experience with the FM is that you want a quick kill. Battleforge would work but might not make a great return if you meet your objective. You don't need to equip much in this kind of build. If you get the chance play test Shad0ws build. Actions are most precious in a rush....

[MrSaucy]

My experience with the FM is that you want a quick kill. Battleforge would work but might not make a great return if you meet your objective. You don't need to equip much in this kind of build. If you get the chance play test Shad0ws build. Actions are most precious in a rush....

I have been working on the FM build in my head lately. I had already decided Battleforge would be too slow.

[The Dude]

Short Answer: BF is one of the best cards for FM. She is rather dependent on Equipment, so having BF out sets you back an opening turn, but gives you so many actions. I mean I cast on average 9-12 pieces of equipment a game (depending on the dissolve rate of my Dancing/Defense Ring. That's 9-12 actions I can use actively attacking. Slow? Nahhh brother man.

[MrSaucy]

Here is my first ever attempt at a FM build. Instead of just listing the spells I decided to include my own reasoning behind including them, when to play them, etc. I read everyone's advice on the FM carefully and tried to make this build look as original as possible (i.e. not just a rip-off of Shadow's build)

   Opening Spells / Early Strategy

Turn1: Force Ring + Psi Orb (cast Ring first)

Turn 2: Defense Ring + Force Orb / Force Sword (choose depending on matchup)
OR
Turn 2: Mordok’s Obelisk and Suppression Orb (if playing against swarm)

Turn 3: Galvitar + Forcefield (face down, reveal it next turn)
Turn 4: Scimitar + Bear Strength (face down, reveal it next turn)
(should start attacking now)
Turn 5: Gauntlets of Strength + Attack
Turn 6: Stromdrake Hide or Dragonscale Hauberk + Attack
Turn 7: Regrowth Belt + Attack
Turn 8: Mage Wand (bind Battle Fury) + Attack
Turn 9+: Use Force Pull + Attack or Battle Fury + Attack when optimal; otherwise, turn to additional enchantments and incantations.

   Non-opening Spells / Middle to Late Game Strategy

Charm, Sleep, and Mass Sleep: basic creature control.
Agony, Ghoul Rot: physic-immune and/or immovable creature control.
Maim Wings, Knockdown, Force Hold: flying creature control.
   *Force Hold is last resort because grants creature counterstrike.*
Falcon Precision: for FM matchups or opponents that rely a lot on defenses, block, reverse attack, etc.
Cobra Reflexes: mainly to replace your Force Orb/Force Sword (if it gets dispelled).
Dispel and Dissolve: mandatory.
Force Push, Force Wave, Force Bash, Repulse, and Teleport: for positional control.
Vampirism: to put on only when your health is at 50% or worse.

[DevilDave]

So u are not playing Hands at all?