Well done, Kharhaz! Give the man a prize for taking on all-comers here. Bravo!
I simply don't see the logic of why you need to declare anything beyond what's already printed on a mage card
at a beginning of the game (which is what this topic originated from as it is related to the tactical importance of choosing who has first initiative).
When I join a tournament, I hand the judge my book list with training and spells. Everybody's book list is secret.
(To not do this would allow me to scout my opponents and change my book according to the tournament meta.)
At the end of any game, be it casual or tournament, a player has every right to look at the opponent's book and count his spell points. This is when any Wizard player will have to reveal his training to the opponent, to satisfy the opponent that he has spent within his spell points budget. This also applies to any face down enchantments when a game ends so as to ensure a player does not have his own duplicate enchantments (hidden or revealed) on an object. This is simply integrity checking and whilst I'd bristle (at the the sore loser's implication that I have cheated), you must accede to such requests. Just like in major Magic tournaments, after a match, a player is allowed to ask a judge to check the opponent's deck to ensure it reconciles with his deck list handed in at the start.
At the start of the game, when I reveal I am a Wizard, there is no need for me to declare my elemental training, just as there is no need to for any player to reveal any spell in their book. Your book and how you made up your spell points budget remains a secret. You've broken no rules in keeping anything that is not already on your mage card a secret.
When I play an Epic spell, I am assuring the opponent that I only have 1 copy of that spell in my book. You don't get to look at my book to check this until the game is over.
Below are the reasons given so far for why "a Wizard must declare Elemental Training at the start of a game":
(1)
Nobody else has this ability. Well, nobody else currently has training in Arcane, a Voltaric shield or an in-built ranged attack either!
(2)
This will invalidate future Element X Mage Only spells. Firstly none exist and may never exist in "minor schools" so this is hypothetical and secondly no, you simply play it and thereby indirectly declare you are trained in that element, else you are playing an illegal spell. As for the desperate "what if I want to target you with my Fire Mage Only equipment?", why would you ever give an opponent this hypothetical beneficial item? Even if you want to and I am forced to reveal I am not one, oh dear, I am an illegal target, you must target yourself instead. Basing an argument on equipment that does not exist and there is no reason to ever cast on an opponent to his benefit is embarrassing.
(3)
This is a Duel between Renown Mages. Well, if I am so renown, how come nobody knows my spells? Am I the Fire Wizard who plays Lord of Fire and Angel of Light? Or the Fire Wizard who plays 4 Hydra that I buff with enchants? Or the Fire Wizard who plays 4 Devouring Jelly? C'mon, if I'm so renown, how come nobody knows what my "signature spells" are? Whilst as a role-player I applaud this role-play argument (I am all for "retaining fantasy realism"), this renown argument makes no sense when you don't know the spells that I can cast.
(4)
Because OCTGN ensures your opponent knows your training. Well, I contend that this is an error on the part of OCTGN programming.
(5)
"Because it is not fair!" Now here I have the greatest sympathy. The wizard is probably the strongest mage. Those playing other mages must hate facing Wizards. To find out this mysterious versatile mage doesn't need to even declare his unspecified elemental training (just like it says on the tin) must be the final straw. This is understandable and explains the passionate denial of even a possibility that Wizards don't need to declare their elemental training at the start of a game. However "it's not fair!" is simply not an argument, let alone a valid one.
Not declaring training may not be good for play balance (Kharhaz contends it has little relevance, I disagree and no doubt others from the passion in this thread). "Not good for the game because it strengthens the strongest mage" would be a very valid argument. Nobody has yet said it, rather relying on other spurious justifications. So let's be honest. We simply don't want to give the Wizard any further advantage.
Our local meta (all of us once very competitive Magic players) have always played that Wizards don't need to declare elemental training. This was made clear in the first post of the Golem Pit thread...
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.
One of the disadvantages of that Turn 2 Golem was you were telegraphing your training but that early guard is often essential.
Knowledge is advantage. To me it's interesting that we have a mage that has an unknown Trained Element at game start. This is a game about uniqueness, with cards breaking rules. We should rejoice in mechanics that make things different instead of trying to homogenise the game.
By all means argue Wizard needs to be nerfed (I've constantly argued Teleport shouldn't be able to target enemy mages as this shortcuts so many better ideas so that Teleport becomes a "spell points tax" in every book). But please don't dress up the reason why Wizards have to declare something not on their card with arguments that just don't hold water (or fire or earth or air).
