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Author Topic: Best pound for pound creature  (Read 5995 times)

blivenbo

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Best pound for pound creature
« on: February 05, 2014, 07:14:23 AM »
Hello and thank you anyone for reading my post. I've been looking through the strategy and tactics forums for awhile now and have noticed there has not been a discusiion on what the best pound for pound creature is.

I see creatures as broken down into three groups you have the fatties which are the large level 4 and higher creatures that pack some huge dmg and life. Next there is the mid-range creatures with from lvl 3-4 cards like dire wolf which can be very good. Then finally I see the small weenie creatures that are lvl 1-2. My premise is this: " which creature would you argue is the best creature within the the aforementioned schism of three tiers of creature.

I have only played about ten games and have limited knowledge of Mage Wars and its many different creatures although I have access to all of the cards now I was wondering what creatures does everyone consider to be best. Is devouring jelly better than Iron golem now for kill zone? IS gorgon archer better than wolf spider from creature control? Which is better feral bobcat or bitterwood fox.... Just a thought what does everyone think mana cost vs dice output is the way to rank creatures or should someone stay with their favorite in school creatures. I just thought a convo about people opinions as to the best creatures in Mage Wars would be a welcomed addition to this massive thread. Well anyways thanks for reading this little post and please reply if you want to weigh in on your favorite creature. Cheers!!

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Wildhorn

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2014, 08:40:13 AM »
Steelclaw Grizzly
Necropian Vampiress
Iron Golem
Ooze
Adramelech
Blue Grimlin
Thunderift Falcon
Timber Wolf

Zuberi

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2014, 11:20:42 AM »
There have actually been several discussions on this previously, where people have attempted to extrapolate mathematically which creature is the best. The most notable one i can think of recently was extremely controversial. The main difficulty, I believe is in agreeing on the relative value of different traits.

Arcane Wonders probably has an agreed upon model for this, but we players have had a hard time figuring it out with the limited data available to us. Especially since you can't judge a creature in a vacuum. The value of it's traits are largely determined by what cards are used to support it and what cards are used to combat it.

I think if you want to start a legitimate discussion on this subject, and not just an opinion piece, we should start by clearly defining the topic of conversation. You mention dividing creatures into three classes based on level, however you have overlap with level 4 creatures being both mid ranged and fatties. What distinguishes it from one or the other? You then ask which creature is best, and I would really really need to know what you mean by that before I could give an answer. Do you mean which one has the most damage output? The hardest to kill? The most versatile? Are you measuring this against their mana cost? Which traits do you consider better and why?

That last question really deserves a topic all to itself. My point is, you have asked a really vague and open ended question that lacks agreed upon figures with which to evaluate the responses. It is mostly going to be pure opinion unless you redefine the discussion and setup rules for us to operate under.

Alexander West

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2014, 11:31:22 AM »
Offensive output > defensive ability because only one summon can be attacked at a time.  Therefore, only the defense of your worst defensive creature matters at any given time.  However, it is important to have relatively consistent defenses over all your creatures, or else it is easy for opponent to cherry pick your easier to destroy critters.

My list is just about general purpose creatures, and sort of assumes that they are just fighting with little to no support.  There are a lot of creatures that fill specialist roles, or with support from other cards get significantly better.

Best 4:
Steelclaw Grizzly
Sir Corazin, Blademaster

Best 3:
Knight of Westlock
Devouring Jelly

Best 2:
Timber Wolf

Best 1:
Thunderift Falcon (Flying is an amazing defense)
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silverclawgrizzly

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2014, 12:59:44 PM »
My favorites(and I don't care about the math):

Steelclaw Grizzly(duh)
Brogan Bloodstone
Cervere, The Forest Stalker
Necropian Vampiress
Timber Wolf
Thunderift Falcon
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sIKE

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2014, 01:20:23 PM »
And when you look at things individually and not as a whole things can appear one way (strong) then in another way weak.

Example:
Best 1:
[mwcard=MW1C37] Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard](Flying is an amazing defense)
When Gravikor gets released this is the natural counter to him and all flyers. And Flying is awesome until you have to attack a creature with a Defense and the Counterstrike either kills him or leave him with 1 Life.
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barriecritzer

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2014, 01:35:06 PM »
Raptor vine should definitely be on this list.

blivenbo

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2014, 11:07:56 PM »
Thank you everyone for your opinions and posts I guess as zuberi put it my premise was pretty vague. I was trying to start a dscussion where there were not set parameters defining each attribute of each card and discussing what people saw as the "best" for themselves but you are right there should be some defining characteristics to use and group the creatures into.... I differ the selection of defining parameters to more experienced players what do you think defining criteria should be? I was looking through the cards and noticed that certain creatures are really on top of their area like gorgon archer being very good at big creature mitigation it can shut down a steelclaw grizzly if played correctly and giving it flying is just sick, but in my opinion the best creature that is expensive is the steelclaw grizzly so I was wondering how everyone else felt what creature is the most efficient  at fulfilling their niche like gorgon archer as I see it being the best in mitigating big creatures and reducing their effectiveness I hope I am getting my point acrossed and not being to vague this time as I am new to the forum thanks for the reads and replies.
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Zuberi

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2014, 03:42:10 PM »
I won't venture to call him the best, but my favorite creature is [mwcard=MW1C06] Brogan Bloodstone[/mwcard]. Unavoidable and Piercing +3 makes his attacks really consistent. They might not be the most powerful attacks in the game, but you can count on them getting through. He also has decent survivability and a very moderate mana cost. His one drawback is the Lightning +2 which is situational but very annoying when it comes up.

barriecritzer

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2014, 11:34:25 AM »
Personally I am a big fan of any creature that has vampirism as an ability. I have had a lot of games where I had creatures survive 3 or more rounds than they normally would have because of vampirism. One of my friends played his first game about a week ago and learned just how annoying Adramelech with vampirism can be.

aquestrion

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #10 on: February 07, 2014, 10:50:26 PM »
Gkiant wolf spider, he is best served with battle fury and tanglevines

blivenbo

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2014, 11:07:44 PM »
my favorite is plague zombie best when combined with sacrificial altar and eternal servant
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Sylex

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2014, 12:27:36 AM »
OK, I'm no mathematician but here's my top 5 in order of what has been the most useful and cost effective to ME personally

1. Devouring Jelly
2. Silverclaw Grizzly
3. Iron Golem
4. Knights of Westlock
5. Blue Gremlin

It was a toss up between the Gremlin and the Falcon but for one more mana, a single Gremlin usually does more work for me than a single Falcon. To me the Falcons greatness only shines in numbers or if they DON'T have an answer to flyers.

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Re: Best pound for pound creature
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2014, 08:25:21 PM »
I really like the [mwcard=MW1C03] Dark Pact Slayer[/mwcard].  Plenty of life, good armor and Piercing +2 is fantastic for 13 mana.  Love these guys!
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