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Author Topic: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS  (Read 378441 times)

ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #105 on: May 21, 2013, 11:14:41 PM »
Man wow. Enchantment Transfusion is really efficient, and Enchanter's Wardstone helps both Essence Drain, or a big stack of enchantments on a Steelclaw.

Of course, this all runs the risk of making Banish a more popular option.

Both these cards nudge the settled interactions that shape the metagame, and in interesting ways. Can't wait to see how they play out.
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nitrodavid

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #106 on: May 21, 2013, 11:39:49 PM »
@paleblue block is forced to reveal and resolve when the creature is attacked but the attack is not prevented if attack is unavoidable. so the block enchantment is still resolved so the attacker will not pay 2 mana.

short story spells that resolve themselves won't make you pay 2 extra mana
Being Aussie we place all our cards face down, apart from enchantments which are face up

sdougla2

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #107 on: May 22, 2013, 01:33:10 AM »
Both Enchantment Transfusion and Enchanter's Wardstone make stacking multiple enchantments more viable, which is nice. I'm not sure how they'll change the metagame, but I'm looking forward to trying them out.
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Shad0w

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #108 on: May 22, 2013, 06:57:54 AM »
@paleblue block is forced to reveal and resolve when the creature is attacked but the attack is not prevented if attack is unavoidable. so the block enchantment is still resolved so the attacker will not pay 2 mana.

short story spells that resolve themselves won't make you pay 2 extra mana

Good call Dave have another sticker
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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #109 on: May 22, 2013, 08:32:44 AM »
Сan Transfusion move itself before to be destroyed?  :)

Gewar

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #110 on: May 22, 2013, 08:48:39 AM »
Сan Transfusion move itself before to be destroyed?  :)

Seeking Dispel forces you to keep it unrevealed and Dispel can target only revealed enchantment - so it is not the case with those two. I don't know how it would behave in other situatins.

Related question - can you move Block etc. to prevent it from being revealed?
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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #111 on: May 22, 2013, 09:29:59 AM »
Enchantment Transfusion is very situational but it could have its uses to be sure.  Don't know how often it will see play, but it's another tool for the toolbox.  Enchanter's Wardstone is cool and I can see an uber-Wizard build using this and Armor Ward that piles on the Equipment and Enchantments and focuses on mana denial.  Might be cool, but not sure how effective it would be yet.

sIKE

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #112 on: May 22, 2013, 10:18:07 AM »
I can see it being used by Mages to get a Enchantment out on something on the other side of the arena from him.
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ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #113 on: May 22, 2013, 04:29:26 PM »
Сan Transfusion move itself before to be destroyed?  :)

As a party trick, it looks like it can move itself before it destroys itself. It's a revealed enchantment while it's moving enchantments you control, so it can move itself. Then it's destroyed, but destroyed while on the new target creature, should that ever matter.  I guess if you needed a way to waste 1 mana? Or if there's ever a creature that gets +1 melee for each enchantment destroyed while attached to it or something.

Related question - can you move Block etc. to prevent it from being revealed?

Unless the rules change, yes, you can. You can reveal Enchantment Transfusion at the end of the Declare Attack step (Step 1) before the Avoid Attack step (Step 2). Block triggers in Step 2, so if it's not on the attacked creature at that time, it won't be triggered.

You can also save a Nullify in this way, by revealing the Enchantment Transfusion at the end of the Cast Spell step (Step 1) before the Counter Spell step (Step 2). 
« Last Edit: May 22, 2013, 04:31:09 PM by ringkichard »
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ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #114 on: May 22, 2013, 07:10:13 PM »
Which, now that I think about it, is either a completely wasteful or utterly broken combo.

edit- Holy Crow. Enchantment Transfusion is a monster card. Major rules powerhouse. Will say more soon.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2013, 07:16:50 PM by ringkichard »
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ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #115 on: May 22, 2013, 08:41:57 PM »
I should say, right off, that there's a small rules gray area involved here, and the whole thing might yet fall apart. More on that at the end.

Also, it's possible, of course, that I'm getting excited over a conceptually sexy card that isn't actually that good on the table. Only playtesting will really show how good this card is.

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking: the intent of Transfusion (from the artwork) seems to be to move a pile of enchantments from one (dying) wolf to another (living) wolf. But that's not what it really is; it's a Block transmitter. It's a Nullify dispenser. 

Since I mostly play a non-standard Beastmaster, lets imagine a really nonstandard control oriented Beastmaster. (This might work better with a Wizard in practice, but I'm brainstorming here, not building the tournament version yet).


The deck, at its core, is

Six
Enchantment Transfusion

Some Amount of
Nullify
Block
Reverse Magic
Reverse Attack
Retaliate
Mind Shield
Jinx

And for Support either
Enchanter's Ring
Fellella
Feral Bobcats
Pet Steelclaw

Or maybe
Enchanter's Ring
Arcane Ring
Moonglow Faerie
A 21 mana Angel or the Lord of Fire

And Why Not
Enchanter's Wardstone


Ok, here's how the book works:
The mage casts both Block and Enchantment Transfusion on himself, and hangs out within two zones of his creatures. Later, when his Steelclaw Grizzly (or whatever) is the target of a big attack, the mage reveals the Transfusion on himself, and uses it to move the Block over to the Griz, and just in time, the Block intervenes to save the Bear.

Or, if he has a little more mana, he sends over a Reverse Attack. Or a Retaliate. Or if the threat is Curses and Incantations, he sends over a Nullify or a Reverse Magic.

This technique prevents the defensive enchantments from being baited by scrub attacks by casting and storing them away from the action  -- and only using them against targets that matter. The mage is now playing a MtG style counterspell deck, and choosing whether to say yes or no, instead of trying to say no to everything.   

Now, obviously, this strategy has some weaknesses. Every time the mage wants to prepare a rescue Nullify, he needs to cast a Nullify and a Transfusion on himself or some other creature (Bobcat/Faerie). The Beastmaster's familiar, Fellella, is great here, because she's a free action (and some mana) every turn to cast a defensive spell. And you can stockpile these actions by casting multiple Blocks/Reflects/Transfusions ahead of time.

Alternately, the Wizard has two rings that can help bring down the mana cost of these spells, and the book cost is very low for a mage trained in Arcane. 

Either Way, the actual mana cost is quite low with even just the enchanter's ring: 1 for the face down Transfusion, 1 for the face down defensive spell, 1 to use the Transfusion, and then whatever you'd normally pay to reveal the defense.   

Aside from that, the other major weakness is that you can only put 6 Transfusions in a book, and you probably have to put in all 6. 6 is a lot if the Beastmaster or Wizard has other plans, too. But remember that the strategy isn't to Always Say No (you can do that more efficiently without using the Transfusions), it's to be able to see what the attack is before choosing to permit or deny. 

And hey, maybe you don't even use the Transfusions every game, or you run out, or you just can't cast them for some other reason. Your blocks and nullifies are still some of the best cards available.



One last thing about that rules gray area I mentioned at the top.
It's not stated anywhere, and it's implied otherwise, but it's possible that defensive enchantments will only trigger if they're on the target before the attack.

The relevant part of Block's rules text is, "When this creature is attacked, you MUST reveal Block during the Avoid Attack Step. Block counts as a Defense and the attack is avoided." I read that as saying that I must reveal the block during any Step 2 the block could defend against. It is possible to read that another way, though; it might mean that Block actually triggers at step 1 "when this creature is attacked", but I don't do any revealing or countering until Step 2.

I think this would be inconsistent with other rulings where enchantments like Block are ignored completely until step 2, and are not treated as delayed triggers, just resolution steps, but I'm not the guy who makes the rules.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2013, 08:46:44 PM by ringkichard »
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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #116 on: May 22, 2013, 09:00:30 PM »
That was my though from earlier. Bank the Enchantment(s) on the mage or guarding creature. When needed send the Enchantment(s) to your attacking creature on the front lines.
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ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #117 on: May 22, 2013, 09:26:05 PM »
Yeah, "when needed" is the real key there. It took me a moment to realize that the cool part wasn't the distance or the ability to save up a Bear Strength and a Vampirism till the last moment.
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nitrodavid

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #118 on: May 22, 2013, 10:37:30 PM »
your block transfer strategy sounds fun but is very vulnerable to a mage binding perfect strike to the mage wand. but it would be wrong to knit pick at an unplayed and unreleased strategy so soon.

could you imagine if there was a enchantment that triggered an explosion on death and you could shift it to a creature who was obviously going to die (safe from seeking dispel)
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ringkichard

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Re: Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS
« Reply #119 on: May 22, 2013, 10:57:12 PM »
Yeah, the block version is kind of a one trick pony, and can be put down with a silver bullet.
The nullify version is meaner, but what I'm really wondering about is Jinx.
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