1. I see what you are saying red and I'm still trying to learn too (like I said I'm still pretty new to the game) so maybe I don't fully understand some of the mechanics.
2. The question I have for you when you say "quality of action" I am confused. Let's set aside the debate if a spawnpoint is worth the mana investment or not and get to the action (or quality of actions). A spawnpoint summons the same creatures that your mage does so the quality is the same. A creature is a creature.
3. If you are saying it is more efficient/higher quality action to summon a big creature vs a spawn point, that might be true but after the spawn point is out you can summon TWO creatures instead of ONE. That is where I am trying to say the power (and extra action phase) is valuable (at least to me) regardless of the mana investment.
4. If I am going creature heavy I use my mage to summon medium to big creatures (since they will have better position depending where I am on the board) and the spawnpoint summons the little swarmlings (practically free). A lair with harmony is regenning 3 extra mana per round, a lvl 1 creature costs 5, so for a mean 2 mana investment I get an EXTRA creature out each turn. Sure it is a baby and no that won't win me anything but an extra creature for 2 mana that doesn't cost my mage an action phase is worth it to me.
5. No it isn't the fastest opening strategy but (over time) the extra mana + extra creatures do add up, to help the end game. A strong beginning and opening position is awesome but it's how the game ends not how it starts that matters most to me. Which is why I like to save the "big creatures" for the end because the opponent has less resources available to deal with it. So the baby level 1's are fodder/nuisance, get a few dice in, do some guards as needed but then end it with the big guys after the opponent is overwhelmed a bit.
6. If I do summon anything kind of big early it would have to be ranged or maybe a flyer to deal with flyers. Like one of my favorite creatures in the game is the Gorgon Archer, making your oppnent weak and roll less dice is so attractive, plus her regen is awesome.
1. Yup, sorry if I seemed like a jerk. I wasn't trying to imply that you're awful at the game or something, I just usually play competitively so that's the mindset I bring to the discussion and sometimes it comes off as more than a little hard-nosed. So, when I see someone write something I might view as wrong, I feel obligated to express my clearly superior view
2&3. Spawnpoints can technically summon the same creatures, correct, but my point was that you will not be able to afford the more powerful ones after you have paid for a spawnpoint. It's not like right after (or heck, even many turns after) you conjure a Pentagram you can just start summoning turn after turn of Slayers. The mana just isn't there, so you have to summon Imps or Bats instead.
I'm not debating the fact that all creatures are creatures (which is redundant), I'm saying that it different levels of creatures have different impacts/uses, and that while Spawnpoints may let you summon smaller ones faster, you will ultimately get better gains, both immediate and longterm, in terms of actions and mana if you just summon very powerful ones instead.
Additionally, it has been my experience that beyond the initial 3-4 beginning turns, assuming you are not the Straywood Beastmaster, summoning creatures is a luxury that you cannot often afford. A good opponent will push you around, get his/her creatures in your face and beat the junk out of you unless you are prepared to fight back, or at least trade blows. Once you've started to fight, there are usually more pressing actions that you need to do, like heal yourself, your creatures, buff them, control opponent's creatures, etc.
4. I understand that you believe that you're gaining value from investing in the Lair, and the Lair is probably the best spawnpoint arguably to invest in if I had to choose, but that 20+ mana or so you're spending on the Lair could give you some serious muscle with which to beat down your opponent.
There are some matchups in which the BM can't just bare-knuckle beat the crap out of his/her opponent (like against the Warlord), and in those matchups gaining some extra channeling is a good idea...but spending upwards of 20 mana on a Lair and Harmonize is just overkill. At that point, destroying the Lair becomes insanely efficient when in reality a Mana Flower or two will get the job down at half the cost or less.
5&6. This is where we fundamentally disagree the most. Again, I don't know really how your opponents play so it's very hard for me to make sense of whats going on in your games, but in every game in which I have spent all my starting mana on huge aggressive creatures, my opponent must do the same or will be steamrolled, and vise versa. It's simple math really; if you throw more mana at your opponent that he or she does at you, you're 9 times out of 10 going to come out on top.
This is not to say that there is no late-game in Mage Wars, or that improving your channeling/actions serves no purpose. It's just that, in most matchups, one of the mages is already at a mana advantage from the get-go. Yes, you could improve your channeling a whole lot if you're playing BM against a Priestess, but I don't really know why you would...the Priestess's abilities specifically rewards her the more spells she casts and thus the longer the game goes on, while neither BM are rewarded in that way. The BM also has a better aggressive early game.
In matchups in which mages have the same base channeling, then things become more complicated and subject to which creatures you open with, but usually, one mage stands to benefit more as the aggressor and the other stands to benefit more as the defender.
