That earth wizard build sounds really similar to something I'm working on. We should compare notes! And yes, my secret suspicion is that its the best book in the game at the moment, if the player can play tight enough to complete all the games in time and on plan.
Here is my Earth Wizard Kill Zone book. Although there is superficial similarity to Charmyna's “fabled Watergate" book (as all wizards use essentially the same tools with our current nascent pool), this book is played quite differently. It is easy to play for a wizard spell book thus is ideal for newer players (Watergate is subtler and requires far more patience). You can win without ever leaving your start corner zone!
14 EQUIPMENT (22)
1 Arcane Ring (1)
1 Enchanter's Ring (1)
1 Moonglow Amulet (1)
1 Dragonscale Hauberk (2)
1 Storm Drake Hide (2)
2 Elemental Cloak (2)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Eagleclaw Boots (2)
3 Mage Wand (6)
1 Elemental Wand (2)
1 Regrowth Belt (2)
8 CONJURATIONS (16)
1 Battle Forge (4)
2 Mana Crystal (2)
1 Wizard's Tower (2)
2 Wall of Stone (4)
1 Wall of Thorns (2)
1 Fog Bank (2)
7 CREATURES (24)
4 Iron Golem (12)
2 Darkfenne Hydra [8]
1 Gorgon Archer (4)
18 ENCHANTMENTS (25)
3 Harmonize (3)
1 Rhino Hide (2)
2 Hawkeye (4)
2 Cheetah Speed (4)
4 Nullify (4)
2 Enchantment Transfusion (2)
2 Jinx (2)
1 Spiked Pit (3)
1 Teleport Trap (1)
15 INCANTATIONS (25)
4 Dispel (4)
1 Purge Magic (3)
2 Seeking Dispel (2)
4 Dissolve [8]
3 Teleport (6)
1 Force Push (2)
4 ATTACKS [8]
2 Hurl Boulder (4)
1 Jet Stream (2)
1 Surging Wave (2)
Your opening differs by opposing mage and who has initiative, what you know about his book and his style of play. However, I try to follow a game plan, obviously diverted when an opportunity arises (e.g. to Wall of Thorns / Force Push / Jet Stream with Wizard’s Tower) or if the opponent threatens to disrupt my plans (e.g. Nullify and Teleport Wand in case Teleported out). You must preempt a "check" on your king.
Turn 1: build Battle Forge where you start and an adjacent Mana Crystal
Turn 2: forge Arcane Ring for other adjacent Mana Crystal and an Iron Golem in your starting corner kill zone
Ok, so you have very early on revealed your elemental specialty but you often need a guard on turn 3, especially if you started with initiative.
After that, a game is fuzzy (turn 3 Forge is usually Enchanter's Ring) but once you are at 14 Channelling (2 Crystals, Medallion, Harmonize) as early as turn 4 (reveal Harmonize on self just before Channelling to claim Arcane Ring bonus), you can summon a Golem each turn (it guards henceforth) and also cast the trap set-up enchantments (Transfusion, Nullify, Jinx) on the same healthiest Golem for cost 13+1.
As early as Turn 7, you could set the trap off: Spiked Pit in corner zone and Teleport the opponent’s mage onto it then as late as possible Transfuse Jinx Nullify onto him to hit him with 4 Iron Golems. Next turn, you Early QC 2 Stone Walls to enclose him before he escapes.
But the Turn 8 win is very rare. Often it is better to get 2 sets of stacked hidden enchantments ready. With 14 Channelling and 2 Hawkeyes (you and Gorgon) and a Harmonized Wizard’s Tower, you can cast 2x Hurl Boulders and a Gorgon's arrow for 8+7+5 dice focused attack each turn. This forces the opponent to pause to amass troops out of range, which plays into your game plan due to superior Channelling and 7 top class elites.
The 3 Teleport Wands can be used aggressively to move your Hydra about for 3x3 dice attacks then return them to safety before they are killed to heal back up. But the style of this book is not board control but simple assassination: create a kill zone that no enemy dare enter without a big assault that starts beyond range 2 then trap the enemy mage in that kill zone
That just leaves a short explanation of cards. You have a toolbox of 2 breastplates, 2 cloaks, gloves, and Rhino Hide to fully leverage your Voltaric Shield when needed. With the boots on, opponent’s Push effects (to Wall Bash, the danger with corner) cannot effect you or your Golems and it also lets you cross your Stone Walls (as full action). The tempo advantage you get with a Battle Forge (often safe in your kill zone to Harmonize) is well known. Teleport and Hurl Boulder are the default Wand binds.
The very existence of the Thorns trick (props to Charmyna) in your book forces opponents to play in a certain way to avoid cheap damage but beware of doing this too early. You want to do damage spikes in short periods of time (including Hurl Boulders) when approaching the end game as opponent will retreat to regenerate an early spike.
Fog Bank is there just for problematic range 3 Akiro’s Hammer (you venture out 1 to Teleport a range 3 Sniper into your kill zone). It's also great (with Wall of Thorns) for other match ups to break LOS to their Battle Forge or from multiple ranged threats (Gorgon Archer obviously get Teleported in and assassinated). Fog Bank is there to cheaply disrupt line of sight in opponent plans that you predict, a finesse card.
Teleport Trap is there to extend your Teleport lure into your kill zone if the opposing mage stays in his start corner. It is also there for if the opponent Climbs out of your Stone Wall zone after Escaping Stuck in 1 round of being battered, donning Eagleclaw Boots; you (outside) Dissolve his Boots, cast Teleport Trap on an empty zone within 2 of the walled-in kill zone and Teleport opponent onto it as Teleport Trap, like Divine Intervention, requires no line of sight, moving him back into the kill zone.
Harmonize all 3 mana sources, Hawkeye for yourself (don't forget ethereal Zap) and your Gorgon, Cheetah Speed for sustained attacks by your Teleported Hydras (until Dispelled), all of them leveraging your Ring(s) for mana advantage.
Purge Magic (note can be Nullified unlike Dispel) gives you momentum via action (and often mana) advantage, forcing your opponent to avoid stacked enchantment synergies (no more Bear Strength + Vampirism + hidden Retaliate), and counters curse Warlock Transfusing all his Enchanter Ring hidden curses onto you as a free action. As an Earth Wizard should leverage excellent Hurl Boulder via Elemental Wand, this build is more brutal and less subtle to Watergate’s Dispel Wand, one card I had previously dismissed but now appreciate its value. Nonliving Golems are immune to many negative enchantments and you can use Forge to free action swap Wand if low on Dispels.
Finally you have a small toolbox of range 2 attack spells (nothing that a cloak resists), 2 utility and 2 for damage spikes (and very useful Slam). An opponent’s aggressive opening of move 2 and Near Centre Battle Forge will lead to your Wizard’s Tower hosing it down with Surging Wave (also used on Blue Gremlins). Use Jet Stream on Flyers and threats best pushed away to prolong approach (and Thorns).
A variant of this build (and a prior interation) could be:
-2 Darkfenne Hydra, -1 Gorgon Archer, -2 Cheetah Speed, -1 Hawkeye
+1 Idol of Pestilence, +1 Deathlock, +1 Suppression Orb, +1 Mordok's Obelisk, +1 Wizard's Tower, +1 Hurl Boulder
The problem with this build was guarding the control conjurations (which you bring out appropriate to each match-up) which actually serve as lures. With emergence of Swarm in the coming expansion, this Control version may be the future. However, currently, the simplicity and brutality of the above build is better. I've also experimented with Force Hold and Turn to Stone but, because this book does not have many "must Dispel" visible enchantments, they were soon Dispelled as opponent's Dispel quota had not been depleted (if you include restraint, use them in large quantities). I far prefer Tanglevines to Force Hold as they are cheaper points and players run out of Teleports faster than Dispels. However all of these cards are perfectly reasonable to be considered in your variant to suit your local meta. I just prefer good old fashion creature toolbox quantity (all high quality) and position, removing opponent's reactions in an action burst via Transfusion. Combo (this build hybrids with spell points-conscious Attrition) is about "opportunity windows", gaining a burst of free actions to deny responses.
So what are the problems faced? Cervere is a problem but your Shield plus armour should be enough while you mana-efficiently remove her. Fragile Huginn is rarely played (usually with Bull Endurance and Regrowth for resilience) but this causes major problems as it peeks over your Stone Walls etc and can return the opponent to safety, so you need to have the second set of Transfusions ready for it before you spring the trap. Nullifies need to be rooted out first, costing an action window, meaning you need to time your trap well (always leverage Last QC then First QC double fast action when you gain initiative), even worse when they have that timed Nullify using Transfusion which can't be rooted out (just accept the mana loss from your Teleport Wand to use up their trick). Divine Intervention (needs no line of sight to escaped walled-in) is also there as Holy Epic so accept you need to do the trick twice (don't wall in first time) and Seeking Dispel any face down enchantments before doing it (reveal gets round Jinx Nullify). Multiple ranged units (zonal control) can, if timed properly with a Force Wave, cause problems so you need to adopt more aggressive Cheetah Speed Hydras and Gorgons approach, with Teleport into my kill zone assassinations to ensure opponent does not get zonal control over your "L" 3 corner zones. Finally, lucky Seeking Dispels may hit a key piece twice to break the combo trap, forcing you down the walled-in route or change to the standard Teleport attrition strategy. That is the main advantage of this book over prior iterations which used control conjurations as, although it lacks any finesse, this has a plan B.
I believe this build has even stronger match-ups vs. non-wizard decks than Watergate (but now that Charmyna has shared his book, I feel his build has a slight edge in a match-up). Golems are almost an auto-win against the Forcemaster, Beastmistress and Curse Warlock. Against Air Wizard or Priest, it may be best to bring out living creatures first (so toolbox based on match-up). The whole build is a result of a meta where swarm is currently not viable (for reasons given in a strategy thread) hence multi-target attacks (as range 1 or 0 full actions) are not played, allowing for congregating your forces in a kill zone. Once the new expansion is out, with Corrode and Etherian Lifetree and the meta changing to popular swarms resulting in zone attacks being added to books, this book will not be tier 1. So make the most of the build while it is dominant, a current strong and easy-to-play build (unbeaten in our local meta against variety of mages and strategies). Be warned though that, although an easy idea, it is still a wizard build hence there is much subtle skill mastering the book. It is however more brutal than Watergate’s attrition which seems a daunting and draining book to play requiring far more skill.
This build leverages the benefits of not needing to invest resources like move actions in closing in with the enemy, summoning very cost efficient, resilient and control immune threats to guard you in time that then becomes suicidal to assault until a larger force is summoned out of range of your significant ranged threats. But this increases your advantage (better channelling) until you finally spend accumulated resources to lure and trap your opponent for an end game spike damage kill.
