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Author Topic: Priest Build  (Read 14868 times)

Zuberi

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Priest Build
« on: June 22, 2013, 02:00:51 PM »
I'm playing mage wars on OCTGN and have just built a Priest Spellbook. I'm not very experienced at deck building in Mage Wars though, as I only have the core set in real life (and the spellbook pack) and have to maintain 4 spellbooks for myself and my friends to play. Doesn't leave a lot of room for customization. Thus, I'd like some feedback from you guys on how I might improve the deck.

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 6/22/2013 12:00:00 AM

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Priest

---  Attack  ---
3 Pillar of Light
2 Ring of Fire

---  Conjuration  ---
4 Hand of Bim-Shalla
2 Temple of the Dawnbreaker
2 Temple of Light
1 Battle Forge

---  Creature  ---
3 Guardian Angel
3 Gray Angel

---  Enchantment  ---
6 Nullify
3 Bear Strength
1 Falcon Precision
1 Mongoose Agility
1 Cheetah Speed

---  Equipment  ---
1 Dawnbreaker Ring
2 Staff of Asyra
1 Sunfire Amulet
1 Reflex Boots
1 Dancing Scimitar
1 Regrowth Belt
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
1 Mage Wand

---  Incantation  ---
1 Lay Hands
2 Purify
1 Sleep
3 Dissolve
1 Battle Fury
2 Teleport

sdougla2

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2013, 02:30:15 PM »
You don't need 6 Nullifies. Drop down to 2 if you rely on them. You don't need more than 1 Temple of the Dawnbreaker.

Add 2-3 Dispels, and possibly a Seeking Dispel. Add Divine Intervention and Divine Protection.

I don't like your creature suite. I'm planning on running a Priest with Sir Corazin, Angel of Light, and 2 Knights of Westlock, which I think offers a much stronger set of options. I don't mind the Gray Angels really, but 3 Guardian Angels is just unnecessary. If you feel like you need Intercept, run 1. I think you should run at least 1 Knight of Westlock.
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MrSaucy

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2013, 05:53:36 PM »
Attack spells:

Pillar of Light is very "meh" in my opinion. I'm not saying ditch it immediately, but if you need to free up spellpoints it shouldn't be top priority. Ring of Fire seems like an odd choice to me. I think Electrify is better anyways because daze/stun is more annoying to your opponent than burn conditions.

Conjurations:

4 hand of bim-shalla is excessive. You only need 2 at most. Don't worry about losing them. If your opponent is forced to attack your conjurations, I think that means you're doing alright. Drop 1 Temple of Light and 1 Temple of the Dawnbreaker for the same reason. Good players don't usually target enemy conjurations unless they really have to do so.

Creatures:

You probably might need more than Angels because Angles are very expensive. My favorite Angels are Samandriel Angel of Light and Valshalla Lightning Angel. Some other creatures I would recommend are Brogan Bloodstone, Knight of Westlock, and Royal Archer.

Enchantments:

This category is really up in the air. The Nature school has excellent enchantments like Rhino Hide, Regrowth, Eagle Wings, and Hawkeye. 6 Nullify is excessive. I would say run anywhere from 1 to 3.

Equipment:

I like running Ivarium Longbow as the priestess. Sometimes it works better to hang out behind your creatures and support them from behind with a bow. Also, running a bow makes it easier to attack almost every turn. Stormdrake Hide and Elemental Cloak are very helpful.

Incantations:

No healing? I think Lay Hands is too conditional to be useful. I would think Minor Heal and Heal would suit your build better. There are some "mandatory" incantations you should look into: seeking dispel, dispel, dissolve, teleport. Some are more "mandatory" than others, but you MUST have Dispel and Dissolve.
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Zuberi

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2013, 06:50:15 PM »
I've run two games with the Priest deck and won both, so it's not too shabby. The lack of Dispels were a glaring oversight on my part and I fixed it after the first game, taking Sdougla's advice and removing some nullifies and a temple of the dawnbreaker. I also traded out the guardian angels for knights of westlock....but found that the guardian angel has a lot more staying power. So I put them back in and took out the gray angels instead.

To MrSaucy:
Pillar of Light is there for the daze/stun. It came in handy my second game vs a Johktari Beastmaster and her grizzly. Still, I had more than I needed in there and ditched a couple. Ring of Fire is there to answer swarms and I picked it because of the damage. Hoping to kill off all the little buggers with one hit if I can. I might look into electrify though if my plan doesn't pan out so well. Something alive and dazed is better than something alive and kicking.

The hands of Bimshalla proved very good in my first game when I had 3 out and was dishing out 11 (-2 for agony) dice of damage per round + Dancing Scimitars 3 + Temple of Lights 4. Not counting the option of Battlefury (which didn't see use). Maybe I don't play against the best of players, but in my experience, Temple of Light is a target, so I think I'm going keep the backup of it for the time being.

I think it's kinda funny that you complain about angels being expensive and then go on to recommend a bunch of creatures that, except for the archer which ties, are all more expensive. Regardless, I do now have knights of westlock in the deck.

6 Nullifies was excessive. I've cut back

I like being in their face and dazing/stunning them with the staff while I dish out loads of damage, so I'm going to pass on the bow for now. Thank you for the suggestion though. Would Storm Drake Hide be better than Dragonscale Hauberk?

Yeah, I kinda focused more on aggro than healing. Putting in the lay on hands was kind of an after thought, and it made it because it was the most efficient heal I could find. 12 dice for 9 mana ain't bad. The removal is just icing on the cake. I might put some more in if needed, but not sure what I would take out. You are right about dispel being mandatory! I was hurting for a lack of it my first game against a warlocks curses.

New Spell Book:

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 6/22/2013 12:00:00 AM

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Priest

---  Attack  ---
3 Pillar of Light
2 Ring of Fire

---  Conjuration  ---
4 Hand of Bim-Shalla
1 Temple of the Dawnbreaker
2 Temple of Light
1 Battle Forge

---  Creature  ---
2 Knight of Westlock
2 Guardian Angel

---  Enchantment  ---
4 Nullify
3 Bear Strength
1 Falcon Precision
1 Mongoose Agility
1 Cheetah Speed

---  Equipment  ---
1 Dawnbreaker Ring
2 Staff of Asyra
1 Sunfire Amulet
1 Reflex Boots
2 Dancing Scimitar
1 Regrowth Belt
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
1 Mage Wand

---  Incantation  ---
1 Lay Hands
2 Purify
1 Sleep
3 Dissolve
2 Battle Fury
2 Teleport
3 Dispel

sIKE

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2013, 08:59:52 PM »
Lay Hands can not target your Mage....

If you are going to get in and rumble, expect to have your Armor Dissolved, so add in the Storm Drake Hide and that way if it is a Warlock Dragonscale or Wizard Strom Drake. Cause either of those guys are going to get rid of the armor. I like to Cloak as well....as it not only provides +1 Armor but adjusts Elemental effect roles....
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Zuberi

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2013, 09:09:08 PM »
hmm, you're right. It can't. Don't know how I missed that.

MrSaucy

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2013, 02:35:09 AM »

I think it's kinda funny that you complain about angels being expensive and then go on to recommend a bunch of creatures that, except for the archer which ties, are all more expensive. Regardless, I do now have knights of westlock in the deck.

I like being in their face and dazing/stunning them with the staff while I dish out loads of damage, so I'm going to pass on the bow for now. Thank you for the suggestion though. Would Storm Drake Hide be better than Dragonscale Hauberk?

You are right about dispel being mandatory! I was hurting for a lack of it my first game against a warlocks curses.


All of the Priest/Priestess's creatures (at least the useful ones) are expensive, but there is a difference between a level 3 creature that cost 12 to 13 mana and a level 4 or level 5 angle that can cost 20+ mana. I was just pointing out that variety can be nice. Wouldn't want your opponent always knowing your strategy and building an anti-flying deck, now would we?  ;)

I run Stormdrake and Dragonscale. One isn't always better than the other. (I imagine, in the future, frost will become a problem and I will have to throw in Bearskin as well.) You have Stormdrake for Air Wizard matchups and Dragonscale for Warlock/Fire Wizard matchups. Elemental Cloak thrown in with Stormdrake or Dragonscale can really frustrate the opponent. A Warlock is going to have a hard time dealing fire damage if your Dragonscale and Elemental Cloak is giving him -4 to his fire attacks.

I learned that Dispel was mandatory the hard way. Ghoul Rot and I had no Dispel. Yep. That about did it.  ;D
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cbalian

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2013, 08:54:23 AM »
Ya Dispel Dissolve mandatory in every deck.

@ MrSaucy how do you get -4 to fire attacks?  Isn't the max -2.  Just curious what combo is achieving that?

MrSaucy

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2013, 02:12:35 PM »

@ MrSaucy how do you get -4 to fire attacks?  Isn't the max -2.  Just curious what combo is achieving that?

My mistake. Elemental Cloak and Stormdrake Hide/Dragonscale Hauberk don't stack since they are traits.

"Only the trait with the highest value counts." - pg7 in rulebook

Regardless, I still consider Elemental Cloak mandatory.
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sdougla2

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2013, 02:22:02 PM »
They stack because they have + or -. Traits that are just a number do not stack, for example, 2 instances of Regenerate 2 is the same as just having Regenerate 2. On the other hand, Melee +2 and Melee +1 is the same as Melee +3, and 2 instances of Fire -2 is the same as Fire -4, since they do stack.
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MrSaucy

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2013, 03:52:45 PM »
They stack because they have + or -. Traits that are just a number do not stack, for example, 2 instances of Regenerate 2 is the same as just having Regenerate 2. On the other hand, Melee +2 and Melee +1 is the same as Melee +3, and 2 instances of Fire -2 is the same as Fire -4, since they do stack.

Okay. That is how I've been playing. For a moment I thought I was getting unfair Fire -4 and Lightning -4 advantages with Elemental Cloak and Stormdrake Hide/Dragonscale Hauberk.
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nitrodavid

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2013, 06:23:29 PM »
I keep forgetting to add this to the sticky post (on phone now so can't edit posts). I'll try to add it tonight and decide how o am going to deal with alternate mages.
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Shad0w

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Re: Priest Build
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2013, 11:56:09 AM »
Keep up the good work all. It slightly different than my gen con build but it looking to be solid.
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