Conquest of Kumanjaro - SPOILERS

[nitrodavid]

you can reveal the transfer enchantment with jinx hidden to the mage that is within 2 Los of the original jinx holder (any creature remember your own, familiars might proc your own jinx). if you do this during the counter spell step for the other mage you can prevent there quick spell.


additionally you can your own creature as a relay so you can cast enchantments (good or bad) to anything 4 zones away from your mage (if the creature is flying no walls can stop your Los as well, or satellite relays I will call them)

[ChimpZilla]

The defensive applications of Transfusion are awesome. And this card seriously hoses Purge and Destroy Magic. But the offensive potential with the Warlock intrigues me most. It finally enables cursing builds where you can run Enchanters and Ring of Curses, dump all your curses plus this on a friendly "carrier", bomb everything within 2 zones, and benefit from the subsidies on both ends.

As for the Stone, I suspect some will look at it like Armor Ward and just dismiss it as a tax rather than an answer to enchant removal. But when I can generate threats at a cheaper cost than at what you can remove them, that's highly beneficial IMO. We've seen in MtG how that can wreck tempo.

[ringkichard]

(if the creature is flying no walls can stop your Los as well, or satellite relays I will call them)

Enchantment Transfusion says you move the enchantments from "this creature" to "one legal target creature up to 2 zones away". I'd assume that this does check LOS because it uses the word "target" (not like Teleport Trap which just says, "of your choice"), but it's not entirely clear whose LOS you'd use. I think you're right that you'd use the LOS of the relay creature, but I'm not sure?

[patrickconnor]

Here's Galador! Available in the Conquest of Kumanjaro Spell Tome Expansion.

[patrickconnor]

A Flying Interceptor! Meet the Gargoyle Sentry.

[sIKE]

Wow anti-Angel/Eagle/Demon tech. Love it! Going to make my Earth Wizard Spell book that much tougher!

[ringkichard]

I'll be glad to get my hands on Galador, if for no other reason than to give him Eagle Wings and turn him into a flying reindeer. I do notice that he's got the Cervine keyword, and I can only imagine what other deerlike creatures Mage Wars has in store for us 


Gargoyle Sentry is more competition for Bridge Troll, Panzergarde, Knight of Westlock, and Iron Golem. Do remember that guarding creatures lose flying, so when it gets heavy, it has to land. Nice design touch, that.

Like Panzergarde, the extra defense gained while guarding only protects it from the first attack, so Iron Golem still endures better against a sustained assault, but at least it gains flying after it takes a hit, taking it somewhat out of harm's way. Intercept is great, but the attack is much weaker than Iron Golem's, but the mana price is lower and it doesn't have slow.

All in all, I suspect Earth Wizards will want to stick with at least one Iron Golem, but may chose Gargoyle Sentry for a second defensive creature, especially with the popularity of lightning attacks. Wizards in other elements will probably switch to the Gargoyle from whatever else they were using, if they want a defensive creature. Personally, I think the Gargoyle is so much harder to disrupt than the Hydra that it's probably going to drive the hydra to extinction as a defender.

[patrickconnor]

Stuck
Creature is Restrained and Unmovable. At the end of each of its Action Phases, a Stuck creature may attempt an escape roll: on a roll of 7 or higher, remove Stuck. If creature is teleported, destroy all Stuck conditions on it. Has a removal cost of 4. Does not affect conjurations.

[ringkichard]

So! Its a larger, more expensive Stonegaze Basilisk. I love the flavor! Competitively... I'm underwhelmed.

15 mana, and not an animal (so no discount for Beastmaster) makes this a pretty hefty investment.

THE GOOD
5+ instead of 7+ on the Stuck/Cripple is a major improvement. Stuck is also not a poison condition, so the Spider can hit poison immune creatures (all the nonliving + Malacoda), which Cripple can't. Spider also has a little more health, isn't slow, and as a finishing touch, has Psychic Immunity.

THE BAD
-1 range compared to the Basilisk. Range is synergistic with Restrained effects, so this is an important downgrade.

THE FUNKY
It's not immediately clear to me which has the stronger melee attack. On the one hand, the 4 die bite on the Basilisk is quite adequate for a ranged creature. On the other hand, the Spider's bite is weaker at 2 dice, but has a 1/3 chance of doing 3 points of Tainted. That chance rises to 2/3 if the creature is webbed, which looks kind of like a tie: 4 = (2/3)*3 + 2. But tainted is harder to heal than damage, and (more importantly) it ignores armor. So I give a slight edge to the Spider if the target is restrained, and the edge to the Basilisk otherwise.

I should also point out that Slow doesn't seem to be much of a hindrance to the Basilisk because--like all (?) creature ranged attacks--it takes a full action to attack anyway, so it can't move and attack no matter what, and it doesn't need to move much in the first place.

Over all, Basilisk seems better to me because of its longer range and lower cost, but I can see a Beastmaster saving spellbook points by chosing the Spider if the major purpose of the creature is to ground flyers, not stop a rush. Still, its not an animal, so no ring and no lair, so the Beastmaster doesn't lose much at all by "downgrading" to Basilisk.

I feel like 5+ is quite good, but it's not an amazing 4+ with a bonus at 10+ like Gorgon archer has, so even though it's more reliable, its not so reliable that its a solid answer to a specific and immediate threat (e.g. turn 3 assault by Lord Of Fire). It's more generally a good answer to a flyer heavy swarm strategy where there will be many opportunities to make the Stuck roll.

Which makes me wonder if the Spider will just be outclassed by Gravicore.

 I'm not disappointed, just wondering what I'm missing.

[tarkin84]

What does 'intercept' mean? Thank you!

[ringkichard]

My understanding is that Intercept lets a guarding creature guard against ranged attacks as well as melee.

[Shad0w]

Correct ring

[patrickconnor]

[sIKE]

Intercept of the Holy order, little cheaper in cost but also a little less powered than other schools interceptors. Of course the Holy side of things have several really powerful Angels already.....

Edit: I went back and looked at the other two creatures with Intercept, this Angel costs one Mana more, but has Flying and Aegis 1 and if she guards she can heal 2 points of damage. Not bad it all for 12 Mana.

Once again if you put her on Guard she loses her Flying trait which is a real shame.....

[nitrodavid]

will guardian Angel make grey angles extinct