How essential is teleport?

[barriecritzer]

It is not necessary to have teleport in your spell book to win, but because the card is so diverse and helpful in so many different situations that I think every spell book should have at least 1 in them. It is especially helpful if you are playing a spell book with a lot of slow creatures in it.

[Sylex]

How do I feel about Teleport???

Well to be honest, I probably fall into the "gotta run 2" category. While I do believe it's not essential per se, I would say that in my own experience I have never felt like I had too many, or when I played it, that it wasn't good. The fact is it's a one of a kind spell right now, and what it can do is pretty awesome. I mean it has so many different applications just by having freedom of movement. It's such a simple thing, but in this game it's so critical to be able to blink around the arena at will before you even take an action, or just blank a Tanglevine, or other conjuration that aims to keep you in one spot. Hell, I'm already feeling like Superman just typing about it.

I do feel that it should have been a Mind school spell instead of Arcane due to telepathy and teleporting being an act of the mind......BUT...... someone had to go and just make sure Arcane was going to have this little gem (as if the Arcane school needed any help...AHEM *cough*)

So essentially the question is.....Do you want to be able to do what Teleport lets you do, or not? If not, then don't bother, but if so .......well you're just gonna have to fork over dem points

I think the effect of Teleport could easily be transferred thematically to the other schools if that would be good for the game, but that question is better left to the people with bigger game brains than my own.

"Shadowstep....your favorite spell now with 100% MORE DARK MAGIC!"

Oh, shut up Wizards! I can dream :p

[Sailor Vulcan]

I disagree. A mind school version of teleport should warp the mage to the location of a mind up to 2 maybe 3 zones away, not anywhere in the arena that you feel like. In the forcemasters case you'll usually want that to be the enemy mage.

[lettucemode]

I posted this in the General Discussion thread, but IMO a Mind School version of Teleport shouldn't be a teleport in theme, but rather the revealing of a trick you played on the opponent's mind.

I Was Over Here The Whole Time Haha Fooled You
Mana cost X, targets Creature and Zone, 0-2
Teleport target creature to target zone. X = 4 (or 5) mana per zone moved from its current zone. If any damage, condition markers, or enchantments were placed on target creature this round, remove or destroy them.

As for Teleport itself, my local meta doesn't use them much except if running a lot of slow creatures. Any Teleport Wands are terminated with extreme prejudice however.

[Alexander West]

The answer is that Teleport is very good, because it's useful, slightly undercosted, and versatile.

Most attack/incantation spells that do damage offer a return of ~1 damage per mana.  By teleporting an otherwise safe creature, or a creature otherwise unable to attack, damage is gained at the rate of the creature's attack ability.  When this happens, it is often to a golem, hydra, or bear, which all hit for 6-9 dice of damage on a slow attack.  @1 space that can be a 2-3:1 ratio, and @2 spaces can be 1-1.5:1, still very good.  This can get even more ridiculous when a single target is moved to a space with multiple creatures that couldn't get to it.  Now we multiply our ratio by the number of creatures.  A golem or plant "pit" waiting can easily dish out 30+ damage in a single turn.

On the flip side, healing is worth about 1 mana per healing die.  When a slow creature is teleported away it loses ~1 attack per square moved, and a regular creature without fast loses ~1 attack per 2 squares moved.  Spending 6 mana against something like a Silverclaw Grizzly prevents 5-7 dice of damage.  Now, factoring in armor or other defenses, this is only okay for healing.  However, keep in mind this is one of many modes to choose from!  Having a damage prevention choice is solid, and we're only paying a small premium over Block!  (And if we teleport a Slow creature, forget it.  We've hit mana efficiency gold!)

Finally, there are spells like Tanglevine and Quicksand that are broken by a teleport.  This can be fine when it's just 3 mana trading for 5 and 2L mana, but really ridiculous when they can also derive another advantage out of the teleport in addition to breaking the conjuration.

Also, sometimes moving is just useful. 

Teleport's by no means essential.  It just offers some really powerful returns on your mana, which can be hard to pass up. 

[Sylex]

Most attack/incantation spells that do damage offer a return of ~1 damage per mana.  By teleporting an otherwise safe creature, or a creature otherwise unable to attack, damage is gained at the rate of the creature's attack ability.  When this happens, it is often to a golem, hydra, or bear, which all hit for 6-9 dice of damage on a slow attack.  @1 space that can be a 2-3:1 ratio, and @2 spaces can be 1-1.5:1, still very good.  This can get even more ridiculous when a single target is moved to a space with multiple creatures that couldn't get to it.  Now we multiply our ratio by the number of creatures.  A golem or plant "pit" waiting can easily dish out 30+ damage in a single turn.

See kids....you really WILL need to use math one day

[Sailor Vulcan]

I posted this in the General Discussion thread, but IMO a Mind School version of Teleport shouldn't be a teleport in theme, but rather the revealing of a trick you played on the opponent's mind.

I Was Over Here The Whole Time Haha Fooled You
Mana cost X, targets Creature and Zone, 0-2
Teleport target creature to target zone. X = 4 (or 5) mana per zone moved from its current zone. If any damage, condition markers, or enchantments were placed on target creature this round, remove or destroy them.

As for Teleport itself, my local meta doesn't use them much except if running a lot of slow creatures. Any Teleport Wands are terminated with extreme prejudice however.

This card should be en enchantment, not incantation.

[Wildhorn]

Errata "Epic" to Teleport... Problem solved. Because seriously... That spell is epic. Low mana cost to move whatever creature you want to pretty much anywhere in the arena (depending of where you stand).

By the same way it would reduce the power of Wizard because most of its Slow creature would be put back inline because right now, Slow is not really a draw back when you can put the creature where you want anyway.

[barriecritzer]

epic to teleport would annoy a lot of players. I do agree that something needs to be done to make slow actually mean something in this game.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I posted this in the General Discussion thread, but IMO a Mind School version of Teleport shouldn't be a teleport in theme, but rather the revealing of a trick you played on the opponent's mind.

I Was Over Here The Whole Time Haha Fooled You
Mana cost X, targets Creature and Zone, 0-2
Teleport target creature to target zone. X = 4 (or 5) mana per zone moved from its current zone. If any damage, condition markers, or enchantments were placed on target creature this round, remove or destroy them.

As for Teleport itself, my local meta doesn't use them much except if running a lot of slow creatures. Any Teleport Wands are terminated with extreme prejudice however.

This card should be en enchantment, not incantation.

Sorry I wasn't clear, it was late. I meant that the Illusion Teleport needs to be a mandatory zone enchant. Otherwise the enemy mage wouldn't believe you when you said you were "over here the whole time, haha." They'll just think you used a regular teleport and cast an afterimage spell, and they won't be anywhere near as frightened or impressed.

[piousflea]

Teleport was always strong, but I think it only became "overpowered" in the DvN era. So many creatures are Slow, Lumbering or Rooted, being able to move things with Teleport is vital.

[Charmyna]

I was a very strong supporter of a couple teleports in every spellbook for a long time. But, now I'm thinking there might be builds that dont need at least two copies. Lets say, if you're a solo mage with a lot of defensive equips+enchants it doesnt hurt to get teleported that much (especially not if you have 6 armor and a veterans belt from DvN expansion). Still, teleport is useful to get out of tanglevine quickly and to keep chasing your opponent if he tries to teleport out of range of your attacks.
What I have in mind is something like my Blasting Banker build. It relies on many defensive stuff on your mage to survive long enough for building up 30-40 mana and banking actions via hidden enchants. It works perfectly and in the majority of games I dont even have to use teleport.
I guess most builds that rely on heavily equipping/enchanting the mage arent that vulnurable to teleport. I'm wondering when the Octgn meta or the meta meta in this forum will evolve to those builds ...

[jacksmack]

There will be many matches where you dont use a teleport at all.

But there will be situations where  its an auto loss not having it.
Thats why its mandatory.

Getting seperated from your creatures (enemy teleport) and tanglevined in a kill zone and you just need that teleport desperately.

To sum it up - Teleport is essential to have in spellbook, but its not essential to use it every game.

[Boocheck]

My Warlord would sign any kind of petition about "epicking" Teleport. Problem is, he cannot write (now i see reason behind tripple arcane cost )

Epic teleport or novice teleport could be (by my opinion) a solution, but my guess is that guys from arcanewonders are working on it or was not able to solve it yet.

Teleport wand or 2-4 teleports in our local meta is a must.  I will not write here, how warlord with X dispels, teleports, mana prism and seeking dispels is sad panda compared to wizard. But as someone stated, DvN creates an enviroment when you have to teleport or you would be teleported

[Matt.dog]

scan popular tome cards that you need more of for multiple decks. print, cut, and place in sleeve with some other random card.  Now you don't have some chintzy handwriting on a piece of paper.  I have a deck made for every mage except warlord, I would have to buy like 8 tomes and have ridiculous fire logs of unused cards just to have enough of a select popular few.