Necromancer - Zombie Swarm

[MrSaucy]

Necromancer – Zombie Swarm 

Conjurations:
2 Wall of Bones
2 Poison Gas Cloud
1 Ziggurat of Undeath

Putting Poison Gas Cloud in your mage’s zone is really sweet; the Necromancer  is immune to poison, as are his nonliving zombies.  I kinda think of Poison Gas Cloud as the Necromancer’s “damage barrier” in a sense because it makes living creatures think twice before entering the Necromancer’s zone to attack him. Ziggurat of Undeath works well against creature heavy mages as well as mages that bring out a couple powerful creatures. I don’t always use Ziggurat, but when I do I usually cast it before a round in which my zombies are going to kill an enemy, living creature.

Equipment:
1 Death Ring
1 Libro Mortuos
1 Deathshround Staff
1 Elemental Cloak
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Demonhide Armor

I always bring out Death Ring and Libro Mortuos on Turn 1. Death Ring is nice because it diminishes mana costs not just for your Necromancer but for your Libro Mortuos. I bring out Deathshroud Staff on Turn 2. Based on what the opponent does I will put on Demonhide Armor if I feel like I need it. The same can be said for Elemental Cloak/Cloak of Shadows.

Enchantments:
1 Harmonize
1 Death Link
3 Ghoul Rot
2 Poisoned Blood
2 Agony
2 Maim Wings
2 Marked for Death

Harmonize is for Libro Mortuos. I always cast Harmonize on Libro Mortuos on Turn 2. The combination of Death Ring, Libro Mortuous, and Harmonize is very powerful. If your opponent starts out too slow you can quickly overrun them. The rest of the enchantments are fairly straightforward. Marked for Death works great since you should be attacking the enemy mage with a horde of zombies.

Incantations:
2 Seeking Dispel
4 Dispel
4 Dissolve
2 Teleport
1 Heal
4 Zombie Frenzy
1 Battle Fury

Seeking Dispel, Dispel, Dissolve, Teleport, and Heal are incantations I include in every spellbook. To me they seem that necessary. In addition I have 1 Battle Fury and 4 Zombie Frenzy. Zombie Frenzy… my god… such an amazingly powerful card!

Creatures:
6 Zombie Crawler
4 Zombie Minion
4 Unstable Zombie
2 Zombie Brute
1 Shaggoth-Zora

These are, in my opinion, the best zombie creatures to use. The only advice I can give is only use Shaggoth-Zora to obliterate Zombie Crawlers/Zombie Minions AND only obliterate a creature that is close to dying.

Final note: I do not have the Conquest of Kumanjaro. Not yet anyways. Asking for it for Christmas

[cymyn]

I definitely like the poison gas cloud "barrier". PGC is one of my favorite cards.

Question: do you cast the Zig in the corner or move your mage to a middle square to minimize their slowness?

[MrSaucy]

Question: do you cast the Zig in the corner or move your mage to a middle square to minimize their slowness?

It really depends on the placement of my Necromancer and which mage I am playing. I guess I usually move my Necromancer to the middle zone on my side of the board. I may stay two zones away from the other mage to take advantage of Cloak of Shadows. The downside about staying 2 zones away is that the Deathshroud Staff only has a range of 1 zone, so you have to plan accordingly. However, you could always do what I do, which is only move within 1 zone after you have spent all of your Zombie Frenzy OR if you feel like you are starting to overwhelm the opponent and they will be too busy dealing with your zombies to threaten your mage.

I think that where you place Zig isn't as important as when you place Zig. On my first game I put out Zig very early. I realized this was a mistake; my opponent took note and didn't summon any weak/medium creatures. On my second game as Necromancer I cast Zig the turn I thought my zombies were going to kill a creature (that wasn't epic or legendary). This didn't give my opponent much warning.

I played a game as the Druid against somebody using this Necromancer spellbook. The game went on forever (4 hours!) I must say that Poison Gas Cloud (PGC) was really a "thorn" in my side (pun intended!) I couldn't place any zines in zones that had PGC unless I could somehow use the vines during the same turn I deployed them. I almost came back late in the game, but the deal was sealed when my opponent cast Poisoned Blood on me and I had ran out of all 4 of my Dispel.

[MrSaucy]

Note to self: Include Rise Again in the spellbook!

Note to self: Include Plague Zombie for Plague Zombie+Shaggoth-Zora combo!

(Shaggoth obliterates a Plague Zombie, triggering a rot explosion!)

[ACG]

I played a game as the Druid against somebody using this Necromancer spellbook. The game went on forever (4 hours!) I must say that Poison Gas Cloud (PGC) was really a "thorn" in my side (pun intended!) I couldn't place any zines in zones that had PGC unless I could somehow use the vines during the same turn I deployed them.

One important thing to note is that Poison Gas Cloud only affects living creatures, whereas vines are conjurations. Likewise, Idol of Pestilence and Altar of Skulls have no effect on conjurations. This was actually a big deal in the last game I played as Druid against the Necromancer - after the game, my opponent noted that he had few solutions to my conjuration-heavy strategy. And it's true - many of the Necromancer's strongest poison spells are completely ineffective against a conjuration-swarm druid like the one I played (a buildtype that I think is only viable with the druid). Interestingly, Akiro's Hammer should be very effective against this strategy (though I haven't tested this in practice). Some love for the warlord, perhaps?

Anyway, I don't want to derail the topic from the stated focus on the necromancer too much - just note that his poisons are less effective against the druid than one might at first think.

[rivermoth]

Note to self: Include Plague Zombie for Plague Zombie+Shaggoth-Zora combo!

(Shaggoth obliterates a Plague Zombie, triggering a rot explosion!)

From the Codex for Obliterate:
When you obliterate an object, it is utterly destroyed, leaving no
trace. The object is destroyed, then it is removed from the game.
It does not become discarded or get returned to a spellbook. Any
ability or effect printed on that object, or attached to it (such as a
marker or enchantment), which triggers on destruction, is canceled.

No Shaggoth and Plague Zombie combo there, sorry.  If Shaggoth obliterates the Plague Zombie, his ability won't trigger.    Also, does any one else get that feeling whenever they spot a rule discrepancy that there's probably five more that they themselves are overlooking?  Now I'm going to feel paranoid all night about legal targets for poison conditions...

[AsianChexMix]

I personally love using Sacrificial Altar in my Necromancer book. I use the Sacrificial Altar sacrificing Plague Zombie which triggers the rot condition which could be synergized with other things (Eternal Servant, Ravenous Ghoul, Graveyard). It also beefs up another creature with melee +2 and piercing +2...yeah that hurts when a Brute is out and everything is damaged to make Bloodthirsty work (8 attack die).

Just another advantageous way of using Plague Zombie. I only use Crawlers, PZ, Brutes, Shaggoths and Ghouls for my creatures. I am trying to find see if Zombie Minion can fit. Still tinkering the book.

[MrSaucy]

I have definitely made changes to Necromancer spellbook, as expected. Spellbooks are always evolving. I am starting to think having Rise Again and Animate Dead is more effective than Ziggurat. In fact I am thinking of taking Ziggurat out. There are a couple reasons why.

First of all, Ziggurat mandates that you kill a creature with your zombies. My zombies do most of the killing, but there are ttimes where it is best to use the Melee attack with Deathshroud staff to finish off a creature.

Second of all, Rise Again can be more unexpected. When Ziggurat is out, your opponent knows exactly what you want to do. He will be more careful with his creatures. But you can surprise your opponent with Rise Again, especially if you manage to cast it on a creature JUST before killing it.

Third of all, you can cast Animate Dead at any time after the target, living creature dies. Perhaps you want to wait until more mana is available before raising an enemy's dead creature. Maybe you want to bring back a creature later for tactical reasons.

No Shaggoth and Plague Zombie combo there, sorry.  If Shaggoth obliterates the Plague Zombie, his ability won't trigger.    Also, does any one else get that feeling whenever they spot a rule discrepancy that there's probably five more that they themselves are overlooking?  Now I'm going to feel paranoid all night about legal targets for poison conditions...

Thanks for clarifying this. Nobody got around to actually pulling of the combo, so no rules were broken.

And yes, there are definitely times where the rules can be complicated. There is a lot to learn. For example, I just learned that if a creature is on guard and they are the target of multiple melee attacks from different creatures then they get to use counterstrike against each attacker. But if a creature is on guard and you attack something ELSE in their zone with a melee attack, they only get the counterstrike once. Strange stuff like that pops up here and there.

[vlad3theimpaler]

I noticed the same thing with the Ziggurat in a game with the pre-built spellbooks over the weekend.  It might be better if you're running only zombies, but if you're using other creatures, it just doesn't trigger as often as you'd think it would.

I like Animate Dead the best out of the reanimation spells.  It doesn't have to be set up beforehand, which is a huge plus for it.

[MrSaucy]

I like Animate Dead the best out of the reanimation spells.  It doesn't have to be set up beforehand, which is a huge plus for it.

The cool thing is when you play Animate Dead to bring back a creature the opponent forgot was killed. When you play against the Necromancer you suddenly have to keep track of all your destroyed creatures. It takes getting used to for sure.

[Zuberi]

. For example, I just learned that if a creature is on guard and they are the target of multiple melee attacks from different creatures then they get to use counterstrike against each attacker. But if a creature is on guard and you attack something ELSE in their zone with a melee attack, they only get the counterstrike once.

You have unfortunately mislearned something. If a creature on guard is the target of an attack, they lose the guard marker after that attack is completed. That means they lose the counterstrike ability. Any further attacks against them do not get counterstriked.

If a guard is the target of a melee attack, you must remove the guard marker when the attack is complete, at the end of the Counterstrike Step, even if the attack is unsuccessful. Once the attack is resolved, the creature is no longer guarding and loses both the Counterstrike trait granted by guarding and the ability to protect its zone.

[MrSaucy]

. For example, I just learned that if a creature is on guard and they are the target of multiple melee attacks from different creatures then they get to use counterstrike against each attacker. But if a creature is on guard and you attack something ELSE in their zone with a melee attack, they only get the counterstrike once.

You have unfortunately mislearned something. If a creature on guard is the target of an attack, they lose the guard marker after that attack is completed. That means they lose the counterstrike ability. Any further attacks against them do not get counterstriked.

If a guard is the target of a melee attack, you must remove the guard marker when the attack is complete, at the end of the Counterstrike Step, even if the attack is unsuccessful. Once the attack is resolved, the creature is no longer guarding and loses both the Counterstrike trait granted by guarding and the ability to protect its zone.

I stand corrected. I read something different in the book that was on a different page. Don't have the book with me unfortunately.

For some reason I feel like Mage Wars does a bad job of giving consistent rule descriptions.

[Zuberi]

If you do find a discrepancy in the rulebook some place, please let us know. I am maintaining a thread on these forums regarding issues that are not clear in the rules or FAQ.

[MrSaucy]

Here is a tentative new Zombie Swarm spellbook. I am going off of memory, but I am sure the spellbook is over by 20 or 30 points. Any input is welcomed.

Conjurations:   
2 Mana Crystal
2 Poison Gas Cloud
2 Wall of Bones
1 Ziggurat of Undeath
1 Deathlock

Equipment:      
1 Elemental Cloak
1 Leather Boots
1 Leather Gloves
1 Demonhide Armor
1 Regrowth Belt
1 Death Ring
1 Libro Mortuos
1 Deathshroud Staff

Enchantments:     
1 Nullify
1 Harmonize
1 Enfeeble
2 Maim Wings
2 Poisoned Blood
2 Agony
2 Ghoul Rot
2 Marked for Death
1 Death Link
Rise Again (0-4?)

Creatures:          
6 Zombie Walker
4 Zombie Minion
1 Shaggoth-Zora
4 Unstable Zombie
2 Zombie Brute

Incantations:
2 Seeking Dispel
4 Dispel
4 Dissolve
2 Teleport
1 Force Push
Animate Dead (1-4?)
Zombie Frenzy (1-4?)

[AsianChexMix]

How has Venomous Zombies worked? At first I thought they automatically got a spot but seeing how Plague Zombie's 8+ effect die doesn't happen often I'm wondering if 7+ makes any difference? I do like how the tainted aspect works so that they receive 3+ damage but just curious.