New Initiative Rules and You!

[Zuberi]

Baronzaltor makes an excellent point. There are spells that are restricted based upon school of training, thus we must know your training to know the legality of plays.

[Kharhaz]

Baronzaltor makes an excellent point.

That he does and  I am inclined to agree.

[aquestrion]

Is there an "elemental" specific spell one the states "fire mage only". Then why would you have to announce that your a classed mage? They released a new FAQ and still haven't wanted to say one way or another. AW hasn't made a statement so maybe their debating it as we speak.

I personally don't mind if anyone looks at my book, any of my books, before we play. You can't know what I'm going to cast at every possible moment. Why do you need to know what wizard I am. I can be a water wizard with more earth and fire spells than water. I have made wizards that could be any element at a time by balancing out elemental spells.

One game I was a air wiz, the next game I was fire, the opponent said I was cheating and I let him count my points.
I could be any of the four but why do I have to annouce it

[sIKE]

One word - Fairness

In the Arena you are not playing a Wizard, but a ____ Wizard. I play a Druid and you play a Air Wizard.

The difference:

- Water Wizard I think 6 Dissolves, Surging Waves, Geysers, and Acid Ball

- Earth Wizard I think Iron Golem, Earth Quakes, Hurl Boulder/Stones/Meteorite

- Air Wizard - Lightning, Poison Gas Cloud, Jet Stream

- Fire Wizard - Fire

Now you may consider the Elements inter changeable, but they are not, they have strengths and weakness. Just as with a Beastmaster (which you "know" what he is when his card is revealed) may mean you open with Obelisk or plan for it round 2 or 3. The same holds true with the ___ Wizard, I typically run both Dragonscale and Stormdrake Hide in my books for Dissolves. But, when I play Air Wizard I am more likely to put on the Hide fist and probably an Elemental Cloak, where as a Earth Wizard (due to no Elemental boosters) put on Dragonscale and Rhino Hide myself. Your mage and his training tell me certain things that I am able to put into my planning and expectations.

The is an Arena based match and see things as such:

In this corner you have:

Glendaia the Green Druid

and in the opposite corner

Vikta the Volcanic Fire Wizard

lets get ready to rumble!

I can not imagine:

Vikta the Volcanic "we will keep it a secret" Wizard

just doesn't seem fair - I get to pick the elemental school I am trained in and I am so special that I get to keep the knowledge of that training from my opponent.

[aquestrion]

What if I use absolutely no elemental spells whatsoever and I choose to be a blank wizard....I want to make a fire wizard deck with no fire spells just to disrupt all your "plans"

[Zuberi]

That's perfectly fine. You don't have to play to stereotype. But the "type" of mage you are still matters because spells exist that play off of that. I could play a warlock who doesn't include any dark spells if I want to, but spells that affect "dark" mages will still affect me. Therefore, you have to announce what you're playing even if it doesn't have an effect on the spellbook you've built.

[aquestrion]

Last time I checked a warlock wasn't a dark mage. He was a mage TRAINED in the dark school. Does samdrieal get a bonus when attacking him?

Please name some of these "school/mage" cards that effect you when playing a blank wizard.

Is there a card except barkskin (which targets druid), forcefield (which targets a forcemaster), and equipment (which target mages) are the only cards I can think of off the top of my head that are specific to mages. Not a single one card say "fire, earth, air, or water only" as of right now! So what cards are you all referring to?

 I'm currently at work so when I go home I will look through all my cards one at a time and say to myself,"would this card effect my game if I played against a blank wizard rather than a known wizard."

[Zuberi]

There are several cards in the game that reference a mage's school of magic. For example: Demonhide Armor is Dark Mage only, and Divine Intervention is Holy Mage only. A mage's training is a game Trait. It affects what cards you can put in your book, what cards you can cast, and what cards can be under your control. Game traits like this are public knowledge.

I don't think there are currently any cards in the game that reference the Elemental Schools, but that doesn't change the fact that your training in an elemental school is a game trait and is public knowledge. To give a relevant example of another such trait, the fact that Steelclaw Grizzly has Frost -3 is a game trait and public knowledge. You are not allowed to lie, hide, or obscure the fact that your Grizzly has Frost -3 if your opponent wants to know. Even though there are currently no cards or mechanics that are impacted by that trait at this time.

[aquestrion]

Yes it is true frost trait doesn't exist yet but that is why I reiterate the fact that just because you want to read the rules about creatures TRAITS it doesn't make a mages TRAINING a trait. Its on the attribute card and it is in its own clearly separate area of the card. The mages ability section list TRAITS of the mage IE sprinting (this mage has the fast trait)

Where in the rule books or FAQ does it state that a mages training is an attribute or trait that the mage has?

[aquestrion]

On a side note cards with a grey color trait are only effected for use of building the book and are not used during gameplay.

[Zuberi]

I am not certain on the termonology, so I will use a more generic adjective. It is a game mechanic which does affect game play as detailed on page 15 of the FAQ.

[The Dude]

So how did this go from an interesting discussion on the new initiative rules to an arbitrary argument about a pedantic rule that no one really cares about? Argue strategy, tactics, not petty points like how you feel a card is just too powerful or about if you should give the school of your Mage out publicly. It's silly, petty, and should not be tolerated on this forum. I love most of you guys, so please, discuss what will actually matter.

[ringkichard]

deep breath. it's gonna be ok.

[Zuberi]

I will grant that we might have gotten off topic and should start a new thread if we wish to continue our discussion. However, I believe that discussions about rules, even small ones, do have a place on these forums. In fact, I thought that was one of the primary purposes of these forums. Your hostility does not have a place on these forums, though. Resorting to name calling and swearing, does not have a place on these forums. This should be a friendly atmosphere.

[The Dude]

Eh, you see I wasn't being hostle, just stating a fact. This particular forum is entitled strategy and tactics, unless I'm incorrect and in which case I'll need to check my eyesight. And name calling it did not, although swear I did. I apologize sincerely if I offended you, or anyone else for that matter, it was not meant to harm, rather to point out a fact. It seems about half of these strategy threads these days degenerate into a rules argument about silly, yes, silly things like if your opponent should know what Mage you are. It's public information on your Mage card so, if asked, yes it is required to spell out what schools you are trained in. Pray tell, why would the wizard be any different than any other Mage? This argument is senseless as well as in the wrong place. Again, I apologize for the hostle tone, but my stance remains the same.