economy of conjurations

[webcatcher]

New to Mage Wars and trying to figure out the early game sequence. There's a lot of helpful advice on economy of actions and of mana, but it seems like there's an economy of conjurations, too. Most conjurations seem to be zone exclusives, so you're only going to put so many down before you either run out of space or your opponent starts torching them. In addition, every time you cast a conjuration you're using mana and actions up without summoning creatures or attacking your opponent. So is there a sweet spot for number of conjurations or for the ratio between mana conjurations like flower/crystal, spawnpoint conjurations, or buffing conjurations like Tooth and Claw? And when and how often should conjurations be cast?

[Zuberi]

I don't think there is really an economy of conjurations, other than perhaps the fear of running out of room for them. This is not a common issue, though it might occur with conjuration heavy builds like two Druids facing each other. In such a case as that, you would have to evaluate which conjurations are most important.

Otherwise, it can be boiled down to mana and actions. You have to judge whether a conjuration is going to be worth the cost in mana and actions that you put into it. As most conjurations become more valuable the longer they are in play, you usually want to play them early. Especially for conjurations that produce mana or actions, you want to get them down ASAP.

There are some conjurations though that become more valuable under specific circumstances. For these it is important to recognize when those circumstance crop up, as the conjuration might not be worth casting otherwise. For example, it might not be worth casting a Mordok's Obelisk if your opponent has the same number of creatures as you do. You want to wait for them to have more creatures than you, and the more he has the more valuable your conjuration becomes.

[ringkichard]

I find that the top number of conjurations I want to cast is 4 in a conjuration heavy book like Wizard. That's usually some combination of  Mana Crystal (or Mana Flower), Hand of Bim-Shalla, Wizard's Tower, Battle Forge, Archer's Watchtower, and maybe Gate to Voltari.

 The first two conjurations I cast are usually mana crystals in my starting zone and adjacent, followed by a support piece in the other start-adjacent zone and an aggressive conjuration in near center (closest to the enemy).

Wizard's Tower is especially good for the 4th position because it is ready to cast an attack spell immediately, and likely will have to because combat reliably starts on the start of turn 3 and I've been playing sim-city while my opponent has been summoning bears or demons or whatever.

[The Dude]

An economy of conjugations might be one way to out it. But I think it goes much deeper than that. I think you are more speaking on the economy of actions as it pertains to a strong enough build up that you can effectively execute your strategy. For some books, that may be a single conjugation and a strong weapon. For others you may require 2 mana crystals 2 ward stones, and a mana siphon. That's a lot of set up, yes, but that maybe what you need to win. But the trick isn't what you need it's how you can efficiently play them. The question, though a broad one, can be asked here: "When should I be active, and when should I be reactive?"

When I first started playing, I generally thought that playing your mana crystal in the first round Is a strong play because then you can benefit from them soon. The thought was clear that it takes five rounds to pay off the mana crystal, and another to benefit it. Now, the opening is one the most important, mana tight moments in the game, and most of that action should happen in the first two rounds. I try to focus on getting a sort of spawnpoint in the first round followed by either a large creature or a fast track to mana generation with an enchanter's ring or a meditation amulet. And then I don't have to worry about spending that much mana at all, with which you can conserve for a large creature or tough conjurations, or mana engines. The point here is the smaller amount of set up you do, the more time you have to act, to attack, and to basically be the offensive. This strength is oft the explanation of a players decision to go super aggressive. It's this economy of actions that allows you to do so.

[MrSaucy]

@ webcatcher, I recommend checking out this:

http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=12466.0

It might be helpful.

I would typically avoid casting more than 2 conjurations during the first 3 turns. As the duderino pointed out, economy of actions is very important early on. He knows what he is talking about.

Try to prioritize your conjurations. Don't put 4 conjurations in your spellbook and plan on casting all of them every game at the start no matter what. Only include that many conjurations in your spellbook if you want to give yourself a lot of conjurations to choose from.

Early on, I used to do basically the same thing every opening and I didn't include enough choices for my openings. This is a bad idea for two reasons: (1) it makes you very predictable; (2) it probably means you aren't adapting your opening to what your opponent is doing. I believe that the mage you are playing is the most important variable to take into account when you are developing your opening. For example, I include Deathlock in my Necromancer spellbook. I may only actually play this conjuration against a Priestess or Druid, or after the opponent puts on a Regrowth belt, but it is important to include anyways to give me that choice.

My main point: give yourself solid early options.

I like opening like this:
Turn 1: most essential conjurations/equipment, spells that minimize cost/boost channeling. Basically, I think of the 2 spells that are most vital and cast them turn 1. Casting any mana related spells feels awkward to me after turn 1.
Turn 2: some protection, particularly cloaks and armor. Elemental Cloak should be in every spellbook you make in my opinion.
Turn 3: a conjuration that fits who my opponent is / how my opponent opened + an early creature.

Note: this opening does not revolve around spawnpoints. If you plan on using spawnpoints, you want to cast them Turn 1 so they can pump out a creature as early as possible. It is generally a good idea to cast Harmonize on spawnpoints too.

Openings can be very daunting, but if you do enough experimenting you should be able to figure out what works and what doesn't. Good luck!

[webcatcher]

Good article. One question about it - there seems to be little love for spawn points and I'm not sure why. To take the simplest example, the Beast Master's Lair starts making a mana profit on its 8th turn (sort of a long time, sure), but it also buys you a free action when summoning. That seems like a good deal when compared with the mana flower/crystal, which turns a profit on its 6th turn and accrues no additional benefit.

[MrSaucy]

Good article. One question about it - there seems to be little love for spawn points and I'm not sure why. To take the simplest example, the Beast Master's Lair starts making a mana profit on its 8th turn (sort of a long time, sure), but it also buys you a free action when summoning. That seems like a good deal when compared with the mana flower/crystal, which turns a profit on its 6th turn and accrues no additional benefit.

Reasons I don't like spawnpoints:
1. They usually require harmonize to be helpful (there goes 1 full turn spent just on a spawnpoint)
2. They take a very long time to break even (as you stated), and can easily be destroyed before they DO break even.
3. They are expensive, especially early in the game when you would rather save your mana to summon a strong creature.
4.  Playing spawnpoints makes it difficult to exert early pressure.
5. Actions are more important than mana in the opening.

Try playing with and without spawnpoints and see which one you prefer. Also, some spawnpoints are absolutely awful while others are playable.

Whenever I played Beastmaster I went without a spawnpoint. Actions aren't a huge deal when you can summon level 1 creatures with your quickcast.

[The Dude]

I was like you only my saucy friend, and I wholeheartedly agree about the male beast master, I also feel that he does not actually need a spawnpoint to do well, but they are far from bad. With a lair and a meditation amulet I can have a falcon and a bear out by turn 3. Yes I am wasting the first round on lair plus harmonize, as well as my entire mana supply, but in that action I'm telling people that I am going to depend on this conjuration to win the game, when in reality, the lair only matters for the first few rounds. This strategy of baiting the opponents game plan is comparable to another book I have and do talk about a lot, that book being my earth wizard, which instead of using a spawnpoint, uses a combination of grimson + watchtower to force the opponent to come out and deal with him or die. Using the lair, in conjunction with the meditation amulet, I am able to effectively turtle while forcing the opponent to answer my lair either by becoming aggressive or by sending creatures of their own in with. Since I am not able to take advantage to the johktaris fast ability while using amulet, I am letting my opponent come within range of the bow instead of me having to lose safety of my conjuration and starting square to do it. So, the lair becomes a dual purpose card when used the right way, not only being an action production engine on it's own, but also a way to speed the game to mid game as quickly as possible. Turn 1 lair just does it well, better than any other spawnpoint to date.

We can also examine the gate to voltari engine as we'll, but I do not think it is as good yet because of the lack of creature variety it has. Right now the best way to use gate to voltari and harmonize is for blue gremlins, but I think even then it's better to cast them rather than deploy them. But tomato tomato.