So I'm thinking I should put some undead in with my Warlock.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I'm planning to revise my Warlock book by adding in a few skeleton creatures. Maybe a Deathfang for fast cheap(well compared to most demons) attacker and a Skeleton Archer to take the place of my Flaming Hellion as it's just a superior range character. I don't use the Gate to Hell or Pentagram much, what disadvantages will I be facing by putting the undead in my deck? I mean other than the smell. Right now I have 3 Hellfire Imps, 2 Dark Pact Slayers, a Flaming Hellion, and a Necropian Vampiress. The Dark Pact Slayer is my Blood Reaver of choice. My Warlock fights with few creatures usually. Though now that the card isn't being used by one of the new players in our group I could put the Lord of Fire in there too I suppose.

[Boocheck]

Only limitation i can see is that you will not be able to heal them or use some enchanteme that are targeting "living creatures" only.

[silverclawgrizzly]

The healing had occurred to me. The enchantments did not, thank you. Bout the only thing I could put on them would be a Reverse Attack maybe.

[IndyPendant]

Well, you can 'heal' them, and it's probably worth including one cheap Reassemble in the book if you're going to add more than two skeletons.  The heal just wouldn't apply to non-skeletons.

[webcatcher]

I've got a friend who plays a curse warlock. He doesn't have any actual creatures with the undead subtype, but he lays a lot of "rise again" curses on my creatures.

[DeckBuilder]

@Silverclaw

I would not mix Living with Nonliving.
The designers obviously intended Zombies to be a potential Warlock option (Rise Again, Ziggurat etc)
I don't see what advantages it gives Warlock, who has made his bed in the Living camp of the schism

Warlock's issue is DvN brought 2 popular mages
He has his Fire training advantages against a Druid
He has huge disadvantages against a Necromancer
Additionally, Jellies appear in all Wizard builds now
Nonliving stuffs Warlock almost as much as Jokhtari

However, that's something I've already discussed with you in another thread
I'm more concerned that you actually have cards like...
Flaming Hellion
Pentagram
Gate to Hell !!! (surely a jest?)

I'm sure there must be plenty of net books out there; you obviously pay no heed!
Looking at my saved book lists, I only seem to have my very early Warlock build.
I will list it as it shows where the Warlock starts (and most builds remain similar)


FIRST WARLOCK BOOK (1 Core Set only)
   
   EQUIPMENT
1   Demonhide Armour
1   Dragonscale Hauberk
1   Elemental Cloak
1   Enchanter's Ring
1   Fireshaper's Ring
1   Gauntlet's of Strength
1   Helm of Fear
1   Lash of Hellfire
1   Leather Boots
1   Mage Staff
1   Moloch's Torment
1   Regrowth Belt
   
   CONJURATIONS
1   Battle Forge
2   Mana Crystal
   
   CREATURES
1   Adramelech, Lord of Fire
2   Dark Pact Slayer
1   Necropian Vampiress
   
   ENCHANTMENTS
3   Agony
3   Bear Strength
1   Cheetah Speed
1   Death Link
2   Enfeeble
2   Ghoul Rot
1   Magebane
1   Marked for Death
1   Mongoose Agility
1   Nullify
2   Poisoned Blood
2   Regrowth
2   Retaliate
1   Rhino Hide
2   Vampirism
   
   INCANTATIONS
1   Battle Fury
3   Dispel
3   Dissolve
3   Teleport
   
   ATTACKS
3   Fireball
2   Flameblast


Now I'm not saying it's a strong build but most Warlock builds remain variations on the above
Seriously, I would guess that 90% of competitive Warlock books have 3 of above 4 creatures
The sad thing is, when everyone had only 1 Core Set cards, Warlock was a formidable mage
Unfortunately the meta changed, the Wizard overtook and Undead/Jellies was his death knell

With 2nd Core Set, I can run 2x Dragonscale, 0x Demonhide; I add 1x Circle of Fire vs. Druid
I can run 2x Lash, 4x Dissolve vs. Flame -2 equipment about, Cloak of Shadows vs. Wizard etc
Your Dark Pact Reaper is best against a Flame -X mage while your Warlock culls other targets
Alternatively I'd go down a more Curse route with Sectarus but Necromancer kills this strategy

Enfeeble is one example of many schizophrenic themes in a Warlock
Bestowing Slow (must reveal before first move) is a powerful effect
However it suits a ranged build while Warlock is more a melee build

Curse Weaving is another schizophrenic trait, encouraging culling enemy creatures = board control
But the more effective strategy is to focus on your win condition hence target enemy mage primarily
Curses and Burn are both slow kill effects yet a Warlock lacks the staying power to play Mid Range

And then there are issues brought up in my Warlock vs. Necromancer thread

In short, the Warlock used to be possibly the most aggressive mage with 1 Core Set
But this was more down to his access of Dark and Fire spells (and a few good cards)
However the meta has moved horrendously against him, revealing flaws in his design

It's no coincidence that Forged In Fire is keen to help out 2 mages who are hurting bad
It's great you are having fun playing the Warlock, Silverclaw, that's all that's important
But if you want to win more (especially if you play Necromancer frequently), I'd switch...

[silverclawgrizzly]

Actually Deck as I mentioned in an earlier post I do not use the Pentagram or the Gate to Hell. I even mention it here again in this post Yeah I got a Flaming Hellion in my book but I haven't cast it recently and I even state the reason for the Skeleton Archer is to replace the Hellion. Yes I own physical copies of the cards but what am I suppose to do burn them?

In terms of deck books I look at them but never use them.

In terms of winning I actually do that more often than not lately. But I could give two flips about it at this stage in my Mage Wars development. Much rather have a good game where I lose and learn than just stomping some one and getting nothing else.

I do appreciate the advice and hehe I am listening Deck

[DeckBuilder]

Oops, taken the wrong way (I'd forgotten you had wisely given up on those 2 Portals so sorry)

I CAN see advantages in playing Skeleton Knight and Archer if you often play against Zombies
So go try it out, it's better than the Hellion (how can they cost it the same as Dark Pact Slayer?)
But it will make you realise the Nonliving route of the 10 Channel Necromancer is much stronger

I'm impressed you do so well against the Necromancer
Your top tier Clix training reveals your tactical acumen

[silverclawgrizzly]

Oops, taken the wrong way (I'd forgotten you had wisely given up on those 2 Portals so sorry)

I CAN see advantages in playing Skeleton Knight and Archer if you often play against Zombies
So go try it out, it's better than the Hellion (how can they cost it the same as Dark Pact Slayer?)
But it will make you realise the Nonliving route of the 10 Channel Necromancer is much stronger

I'm impressed you do so well against the Necromancer
Your top tier Clix training reveals your tactical acumen

Wanna know what clix has taught me that I can use in Mage Wars?

1. Mobility wins matches. This is a war game basically. Oh it's not Warhammer certainly but you're still moving units around a map and taking shots. You got range, melee, and artillery pieces. In war, in actual real life war, mobility will win battles if you can get your troops where they need to be. Same thing here. Cheetah Speed and Mongoose Agility are god sends. Flying is awesome but sometimes a liability, mostly awesome. Teleport is nice but moving for free without it costing you mana is better.

2. You don't win matches reacting to what the other player does. You win matches making the other guy react to you. Don't worry about what the other mage is planning, focus on what you're planning. Take the initiative and keep the pressure on. Don't let up for a second because that's what your opponent expects you to do? Know why they expect that? Cause that's what they'd do and look where that's gotten them.

3. Nothing is too big it can't be beaten if you just shut up and get on it. Big giant strategies have lots of parts that make them work. So start taking out those parts one by one. It works as great as taking apart somebodies car engine piece by piece, you'll see results FAST! Know how each Mage is suppose to work, then prevent that from happening. The "unbeatable" becomes "beatable" when we stop sitting around talking about how it's going to beat us and START talking about how we're going to beat it.

4. If you can't improvise and adapt then you're going to lose. Don't make a spell book that does only one thing super well. Your opponent is probably not a moron and can probably tell what that one thing is suppose to be pretty quick. What are you going to do if they somehow prevent that one thing from happening. Leave back doors and options in your build.

5. If they can't see you they can't hit you. Hero Clix has Stealth, Barrier, terrain, and hiding behind Aunt May so Thor doesn't go down. Mage Wars has walls, the Cloak of Shadows, and a few other tricks. Range is a super important strategy in any battle, yeah the map is smaller on a Mage Wars map than a clix map, but then your best range is a 3 and even that's hard to pull off on a quick action/cast. The Art of War tells us that we should fear the opponent with superior range for they may strike us when we can't strike back. Negate that advantage with a well timed wall or if you're dark put on your cloak to even the odds.

6. If you can't fun with this game and grow the community around you then you just wasted $64.00 buying it. The #1 most important thing you can do as a player is get other people playing and build up a good player base. Not only will this validate your game purchase but it will make you a better player as you have different people to test yourself against. The definition of a "good" player isn't someone who wins lots of matches. That's the definition of a "skilled" player. A good player contributes to his local scene and makes it better by just being part of it.

[webcatcher]

Very insightful. The comparisons between our collective favorite game and MtG are so common it always warms my heart to see someone applying experience from something different.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Thank you Webcatcher! I can't play MtG to save my life(hence why I invested so much in clix lol) but I can certainly see where there are similarities between it and MW. However I would add that MW plays like a hybrid child of MtG and HC....except there are no hard to find and thus expensive rare pieces. Very fascinating game.

[Sylex]

I would say that adding a few undead wouldn't be a bad idea just for fun. I don't think there is anything you can do with the Warlock right now with the current cards that is gonna make him equal to everything, but I don't see why having a few unliving creatures would hurt, other than what you sacrifice to put them there.

That's one thing about MtG that MW doesn't have is a sideboard. Unless you play best 2 out of 3, you can't really prepare for a specific opponent. You have to try and squeeze every answer to everything into one book.

Having to cover all your bases really limits you to what you can actually accomplish. Not to mention you have to put all those "must have" arcane spells in every book too.

[silverclawgrizzly]

What's a side board in regards to MtG?

Hehehe I found a fun way to "fake" having Nullifies and what not. Just put an Enchantment face down on your mage and leave it there. People generally believe it's a counter and react accordingly thus freeing up your actual counters for later when they matter. So long as that meddlesome Huggin doesn't rat you out....

[Sylex]

In MtG a match consists of three rounds. So you want to win best 2 out of three. A sideboard consists of 15 cards that you may swap out after a round to prepare for what your opponent is playing.

Since MW is just a single round in comparison, you have to prepare for everything all at once. So it behooves you to have something with reach, something that can deal with unliving and living creatures, Incoporeal creatures, curses, conditions, and all manner of things that could swing the tide in your opponents favor.

Making a spell book is different from deckbuilding in MtG in terms of how much I can focus on my strategy, instead of focusing on so many "what ifs".

That's not a bad thing per se, I'm just pointing out a difference. In MW, it works great because you do only have ONE shot at life or death and if you didn't come prepared, you're gonna feel the sting. I love that about this game. You better bring it or else.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Oh man clix has no such thing either lol. How long is a MtG match? MW tends to go for upwards to an hour or so, that may be why.