how about something along this line, all decks should have a card that does a certain effect then list the cards. you should have at least one card in each category.
de-equipt: explosion, dissolve
dispel: dispel, destroy magic
armour: chest, ele cloak, book
mana efficient damage: creatures, weapons
burst damage: attack spells, battle fury
avoid guard: elusive, creatures, ranged attacks
life regen: regrowth/belt, vampire, heal, life drain.
etc
you can see how this will better help new players as they can find a neccesary spell for each deck
That actually is kind of where I was going with it. I probably meant to say what "types" of things are needed and maybe not specific cards because it does depend on the individual mage. Having something in each "category" to handle something or perform X action is a good way to go about it. Like I said I am a mageling and only played a dozen games or so.
What I am finding is cards that I go to more often and some cards in my box I almost never use.
I've also been trying to build more "themed" decks to actually get use out of some of the cards that I don't use so I don't end up playing the same strategy over and over. Just because you know you can win doesn't make it fun, I like the challenge.
So far my only sets of cards I really focus on (regardless of mage) is:
Action advantage: I like to take more actions per turn than my opponent
** so I try to use spawnpoints/familiars/battleforges - the more I have familiars and spawnpoints summoning things the more actions I have to attack with my mage or cast other stuff
Mana advantage: I like to regen more many per turn than my opponent so I can take advantage of those extra action phases. Wizard my favorite for this, with my opponent regening only 6 mana per turn and me regening 14+ mana per round I can cast a big creature or extra big spell every turn
Armor/Defense: So far I haven't quite found the sweet spot here. I generally try to have 3 points of armor and 3 things to deflect. I don't normally get hit with more than 4 things in a turn anyways and if I do get hit 3 armor points seems sufficient?
Life management: I'm actually thinking about taking healing spells out of all of my decks, as it is now I am down to 1-2 heal spells but in the last 6 games I have played I never cast a single heal spell, and in the last 3 games I have played I never took a single point of damage to my mage so heal spells seem a waste of spell points. I kind of am nervous to take them out though because as soon as I do that is when I will need them lol. It is like if you bring an umbrella it won't rain, but if you don't have one it will rain. I like to be prepared.
I do run regrowth belt, regrowth enchantment, and vamparism in pretty much every deck so prefer that method of "passive" healing because I don't have to use an action or quick action to cast a spell, and can get an extra attack in.
Damage output: Lately I have found myself removing almost all attack spells, and most every incantation. They are situationally good (and necessary) but if I have the choice to spend mana to cast a spell or cast a creature I seem to like to cast a creature because it will have a longer effect on game than a spell. The only spell I really like to run is Force Hammers (I kill annoying conjurations or spawn points as soon as my opponent casts them) and I do like Battle Fury for extra damage output as well.
Creatures of course for the bulk of damage (plus they can guard me too if needed).
I'm a big fan of "weapon" damage over "spell damage" since weapon damage is so much more mana efficient. If I whack someone or shoot a bow it doesn't cost me mana, so I can build my mana up or use spawnpoints/familiars to cast stuff while I hit stuff.
Utility: I definitely run dispels/dissolves, sometimes steal equipment
So do you think it would be a mistake to drop all heal spells from my deck? If I'm running regrowth & vamparism?
