Opening moves

[the_iron_troll]

Dapuma, the thing about Mage Wars is that you have limited resources. If you play two pieces of equipment, and your opponent Dissolves both of them... I don't know about you, but I would probably stop playing equipment at that point, and run out my Enchantments or more creatures. And then your other 4 Dissolves sit in your spellbook just taking up space, and (unless you're a Water Wizard) costing you 8 spell points.

Additionally, if you DO end up playing the guy who plays 7 different pieces of equipment, you can put a Dissolve on a Mage Wand, protect your wand with some Reverse Magic or Nullify, and go to town on the guy.

[Klaxas]

very true i have done that before.  of course if i am playing a deck that revoles around equipment, i dont want it destroyed so i will be heavy on the nullify and reverse magic myself.  nothing more satifying than someone putting disolve in a mage wand and then casting only to find out you have reverse magic to desytroy his mage wand lol

[ShamanX]

Would love to hear more about this as I am about to play a Wizard for the first time vs. a Priestess. I was wondering how a creatureless build would work. I've noticed some cards (e.g. Mordok's Obelisk) that would seem to favor it.

Please elaborate...

[piousflea]

Dapuma, the thing about Mage Wars is that you have limited resources. If you play two pieces of equipment, and your opponent Dissolves both of them... I don't know about you, but I would probably stop playing equipment at that point, and run out my Enchantments or more creatures. And then your other 4 Dissolves sit in your spellbook just taking up space, and (unless you're a Water Wizard) costing you 8 spell points.

Additionally, if you DO end up playing the guy who plays 7 different pieces of equipment, you can put a Dissolve on a Mage Wand, protect your wand with some Reverse Magic or Nullify, and go to town on the guy.

I agree with this. A lot of builds are not very equipment-heavy and after eating a few Dissolves you stop playing equipment. On the other hand, Equipment-dependent builds WILL contain a bunch of reflects and nullifies. If you show your Dissolves early it is likely you'll eventually eat some bad Reflects. In either case, unless you're a Water Mage or you really really hate equipment, stacking Dissolves isn't an amazing idea. (although it is by no means a terrible idea)

[Jon.Ambriz]

Well my opening move is to usually play some mana generating spell from the start coupled with an equipment or Harmonize turn one. Then I'll play my spawn point and another Harmonize on it round two. Just like everyone else, the sooner I can get to spawning creatures for not a whole lot, the more mana overall I'll be able to have in the long run.

Also, Dapuma, I generally have a rule of thumb to only have 2 Dissolves in my book since that covers my bases for equipment. I can take out the two most annoying pieces of equipment that my opponent has on and then focus him down with reflects, reverse attacks/magick, and blocks.

Though I am interested in hearing about the spellbook load out for a Water Wizard, considering that I think only Dissolve and Geyser are the only Water School spells in the current game.

[Scarob]

Now that i have the game ^^ - with only two games, one being a go through of the walkthrough in the rulebook (Me as eastmaster) - and another where we made our own spellbooks (Me as wizard vs Warlock)- i found that starting with mana gen works best as it took over 9 turns for my opponent to take out even just two Mana Crystals XD - sooo much mana lol

I've found that having two of the majority of spells works well. I'm interested in seeing how well the other mages work out, and may be changing my mind to which I thought I'd prefer XD, which was the Wizard - leaning towards the Beastmaster hehehe

[Jon.Ambriz]

Now that i have the game ^^ - with only two games, one being a go through of the walkthrough in the rulebook (Me as eastmaster) - and another where we made our own spellbooks (Me as wizard vs Warlock)- i found that starting with mana gen works best as it took over 9 turns for my opponent to take out even just two Mana Crystals XD - sooo much mana lol

I've found that having two of the majority of spells works well. I'm interested in seeing how well the other mages work out, and may be changing my mind to which I thought I'd prefer XD, which was the Wizard - leaning towards the Beastmaster hehehe

Beastmaster is slightly more annoying than the other three mages, since he can quick cast all his level 1 creatures :pinch: But, that's when I throw out my "prison"- three/four Wall of Fire with a Poison Gas Cloud, Idol of Pestilence, and Mordok's Obelisk in the zone. Time to watch all those critters die bwhahahaha!

[Nata]

I like mana siphon on the frost turn.  :evil:

Ive expanded a bit on this. This will be my opening in case my opponent gets the initiative.
This works if the opponent moves 0-1 steps.
1st turn:
Move 2 steps. Cast Mana Siphon. Save rest of mana for 2nd turn.
2nd turn
In case opponent moved once: Force push to corner.
Stone Wall him in.
3rd turn.
2 teleport traps on the sides of his "cage" unless he's done something clever.

[Jon.Ambriz]

I like mana siphon on the frost turn.  :evil:

Ive expanded a bit on this. This will be my opening in case my opponent gets the initiative.
This works if the opponent moves 0-1 steps.
1st turn:
Move 2 steps. Cast Mana Siphon. Save rest of mana for 2nd turn.
2nd turn
In case opponent moved once: Force push to corner.
Stone Wall him in.
3rd turn.
2 teleport traps on the sides of his "cage" unless he's done something clever.

On the full board, that would be a little hard to pull off, since the full board is 4x3. But, that combo is pretty great to do.

[Nata]

I like mana siphon on the frost turn.  :evil:

Ive expanded a bit on this. This will be my opening in case my opponent gets the initiative.
This works if the opponent moves 0-1 steps.
1st turn:
Move 2 steps. Cast Mana Siphon. Save rest of mana for 2nd turn.
2nd turn
In case opponent moved once: Force push to corner.
Stone Wall him in.
3rd turn.
2 teleport traps on the sides of his "cage" unless he's done something clever.

On the full board, that would be a little hard to pull off, since the full board is 4x3. But, that combo is pretty great to do.

No, it works on the full board unless I missed something. You start 5 moves apart, you move 2, cast Mana Siphon one space ahead and it has range 2. Next turn you move 1 and cast 2 quickspells.

[Jon.Ambriz]

Yeah, you are right, that could be done as early as the starting round, provided you still have line of sight, and you don't mind taking a huge hit to your mana supply. Knocking off Channeling at that early of a round is ridiculously aggressive, and if you can get if off, then a ton of kudos to you.

[Nata]

I cant Missed the bit about having to pay for the lvl of the wall when you extend. Going to try with Wall of Thorns instead.

[PBKWMatt]

I like a battleforge (cheap overall cost) and then a mage buff of some type.  I like Cheetah Speed or Fly.  

Battleforge early almost always is cost effective as it regularly contributes.  Wand, cheap armor, great armor, staff/lash.  Etc.  

A creature works well too.  Something fast or something that flies.  Or, better yet, a fast flyer.  Thunderift Falcon comes to mind.

[Jon.Ambriz]

I cant Missed the bit about having to pay for the lvl of the wall when you extend. Going to try with Wall of Thorns instead.

You don't have to pay the level for the wall when you extend; you have to pay the full mana cost for the wall. So having multiple walls is a good thing if you have the mana to burn

[theduke850]

"when you cast a wall, you may immediately take a second identical wall spell card out of your spellbook (if you have one) and cast it at the same time. you must pay the full mana cost of both spells, plus mana equal to the spell's level."

Direct quote from the rule book pg. 21