Pushy Wizard (Air)

[Alexander West]

I have applied the Philosophy of Fire to making a very aggressive Air Wizard.  The fundamental plan is to crash the opponent through as many Walls of Thorns while they are wearing as little as possible.

The ideal opening is something like Cheetah Speed + move + Mage Tower NC.  Then on T2 have init, and pull off the move + Wall of Thorns + Force Push + Jet Stream to score ~20 damage. 

Has anyone tried Whirling Spirit + Wall of Thorns?  Any opinion on its efficacy?  Is it actually possible to use Acid Ball + Dissolve + Dispel to keep an opponent reasonably defenseless?  Is Huginn worth the time to summon him?  Are the wands worth it in a book this aggressive?

The Book:

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 2/18/2014 12:00:00 AM

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Wizard(Air)

---  Attack  ---
3 Acid Ball
2 Hurl Boulder
1 Fireball
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Geyser
2 Jet Stream

---  Conjuration  ---
6 Wall of Thorns
1 Deathlock
1 Idol of Pestilence
1 Wizard's Tower
1 Archer's Watchtower

---  Creature  ---
2 Whirling Spirit
1 Grimson Deadeye, Sniper
1 Huginn, Raven Familiar

---  Enchantment  ---
1 Hawkeye
1 Cheetah Speed
1 Rhino Hide
1 Nullify

---  Equipment  ---
1 Mage Wand
1 Elemental Wand
2 Eagleclaw Boots
1 Storm Drake Hide

---  Incantation  ---
4 Dissolve
4 Dispel
1 Purge Magic
1 Heal
1 Purify
6 Force Push
2 Teleport

[DeckBuilder]

I like the build

It combines 2 tried-and-tested elements

AIR WIZARD PUSH STRATEGY

Walls of Thorns
Poison Gas Clouds
Whirling Spirits
Wizard's Tower (Jet Stream)
Elemental Wand (Jet Stream)
Huginn (aerial Force Push)

and

POP-UP SNIPER

Grimson
Archer's Watchtower
Blocks LOS Wall (usually Steel but in this case Thorns)


Both of the above have been tried but maybe not together (or at least not published on this forum)

It's a clever meld, AW - you should call this thread "The Philosophy of Wind"?

However, a couple of meta issues makes it less than optimal these days

(1) Wall of Thorns hurt bad by Veteran's Belt

The hardest builds will have something like...
Forge + High Armour + Veteran's Belt + Rhino Hide + Regrowth + Healing Wand (or Priestess) vs. Corrode
4 Armour + Veteran's Belt nerfs Wall of Thorns (minimal damage if any)
I appreciate you have Acid Ball against this

(2) Air Wizard has been hurt by the anti-poison meta

Because Poison Gas Cloud was such a good weapon with the Push strategy
They still create zones of hindering and are great against Living builds but unreliable
I know you don't play them probably for these reasons but all mages are Living

(3) Fire is a popular element with Plants and Resilience

Walls of Thorns can be burnt down quite easily, if Deathlock is in play


However, that's all nitpicking.
I think it's a great build, a clever melding of 2 good strategies


The last time I played Air Wizard (around Xmas!), I played this fun Spirits + Jelly Pit build


Air Wizard Control

Equipment (18)
1 Arcane Ring (1)
1 Elemental Cloak (1)
1 Dragonscale Hauberk (2)
1 Leather Gloves (1)
1 Leather Boots (1)
1 Moonglow Amulet (2)
2 Mage Wand (4)
1 Elemental Wand (2)
1 Veteran's Belt (2)
1 Healing Wand (2)

Conjurations (20)
1 Battle Forge (4)
2 Mana Crystal (2)
1 Wizard's Tower (2)
2 Poison Gas Cloud [4]
4 Bloodspine Walls [8]

Creatures (28)
4 Devouring Jelly (12)
2 Thornlasher [8]
2 Whirling Spirit [8]

Enchantments (12)
2 Harmonize (2)
1 Rhino Hide (2)
1 Regrowth (2)
1 Divine Protection (2)
4 Nullify (4)

Incantations (28)
4 Dispel (4)
1 Purge Magic (3)
1 Seeking Dispel (1)
4 Dissolve [8]
4 Teleport [8]
1 Force Wave (2)
1 Force Push (2)

Attacks (14)
2 Jet Stream (2)
2 Acid Ball (4)
1 Lightning Bolt (2)
1 Fireball (4)
1 Surging Wave (2)


(Edit: wrote this at work, got back home, checked my Excel, few cards wrong so changed)


It's not great, it was a fun quickly built idea
The advantage the Bloodspines had over Thorns was that there was no LOS blocking
Which for Wizard is quite important

After seeing your build, I think there's definite advantages in your build


Thanks for the post and I hope my fun build provoked ideas too
Because your build certainly got my mind thinking...

[MageHorst]

I've worked on something similar some time ago, the main idea being to have 2 Whirling Spirits out and a handful of Walls for some thorny/fiery/pikey pushing. What might go well with this basic are:

- Flying Gorgon Archer in order to weaken enemies who pose a threat to the Whirling Spirits (since it is hard to protect them the usual ways: armour, healing...)
- Blue Gremlins because they can be made fast and teleport through your walls for just one mana.
- Maybe some traps to make the push even more painful.

[sIKE]

Main thing you will need to be careful of, is to not fall victim of your own Wall of Thorns since I see no armor here. As always this is one of those books that will work once or twice and then your opponent will figure out a strategy to disrupt this play.

[Artemus Maximus]

Thanks for the ideas :-) my air wizard is similar w/ air pushes, pit traps, poison clouds, and walls of pikes, devouring jellies teleporting in, andd mana denial classics.

Devouring jellies really helped speed up the end game for me.

The wind spirits for me always seem to push only half the time when i want them too (whatever the actual probability is), but Gale Force Ring really helps a bound Jet Stream Wand.

Its certainly fun to play with this type of book if youre the type who really likes to control and dictate the tempo of the match, but apprently can be aggravating to play against if unprepared...i think ive put my friends on tilt a few times against this book, which probably led to poor decisions on their part. Which was good for me of course, and fine because they knew the rules and are competetive, but i probably wouldnt play this book against someone newish...or my 8 yo daughter just yet  :-)

[Alexander West]

Main thing you will need to be careful of, is to not fall victim of your own Wall of Thorns since I see no armor here. As always this is one of those books that will work once or twice and then your opponent will figure out a strategy to disrupt this play.

What armor do you think would be useful beyond the 1 Rhino Hide, 1 Sky Drake Hide, and 2 Eagleclaw Boots?

I agree that every book can be countered if the opponent specifically engineers their strategy to beat it.  (This is why I personally always have a variety of books with a different strategy and rotate through them to keep opponents on their toes.)  I am curious how you might attack this book?

[Kharhaz]

I am curious how you might attack this book?

With gust-o?

[sIKE]

Main thing you will need to be careful of, is to not fall victim of your own Wall of Thorns since I see no armor here. As always this is one of those books that will work once or twice and then your opponent will figure out a strategy to disrupt this play.

What armor do you think would be useful beyond the 1 Rhino Hide, 1 Sky Drake Hide, and 2 Eagleclaw Boots?

I agree that every book can be countered if the opponent specifically engineers their strategy to beat it.  (This is why I personally always have a variety of books with a different strategy and rotate through them to keep opponents on their toes.)  I am curious how you might attack this book?

What I was referring too was:

The ideal opening is something like Cheetah Speed + move + Mage Tower NC.  Then on T2 have init, and pull off the move + Wall of Thorns + Force Push + Jet Stream to score ~20 damage. 

You also have no armor in this scenario, and a pair of eagle claw boots prepared by your opponent can cause havoc, with the plan as you have it, yes during your init you can push the other mage but he can then Eagle Claw Boots and then move up one to get LoS on you and wait till Final QC and hit you with a Tele to the WoT zone, it is then your turn for the Push Push fun next round.

[Alexander West]

With gust-o?

LOL.  I wish I could give you gold, or whatever these "Banana Sticker" things I see are.  Perfect answer. 

[Alexander West]

It's a clever meld, AW - you should call this thread "The Philosophy of Wind"?

However, a couple of meta issues makes it less than optimal these days

(1) Wall of Thorns hurt bad by Veteran's Belt

The hardest builds will have something like...
Forge + High Armour + Veteran's Belt + Rhino Hide + Regrowth + Healing Wand (or Priestess) vs. Corrode
4 Armour + Veteran's Belt nerfs Wall of Thorns (minimal damage if any)
I appreciate you have Acid Ball against this

(2) Air Wizard has been hurt by the anti-poison meta

Because Poison Gas Cloud was such a good weapon with the Push strategy
They still create zones of hindering and are great against Living builds but unreliable
I know you don't play them probably for these reasons but all mages are Living

(3) Fire is a popular element with Plants and Resilience

Walls of Thorns can be burnt down quite easily, if Deathlock is in play...

Thanks DeckBuilder, I'm glad you enjoyed the post and appreciate your feedback!

1) As far as Veteran's Belt goes, I think I *want* my opponent to cast it.  Then I can attack their armor pieces with Acid Ball and Dissolve, and the result is that the Veteran's Belt is "dead" without ever having to spend mana or an action against it directly.  Though, I think against a Priestess this would be bad news for me, and maybe with an increase in Purify running around I'm on the wrong side of the armor game.  Hmm...  Food for thought.

2) I don't like Poison Cloud very much anyway.  It doesn't do enough damage for its cost unless you're trying to kill multiple targets.  However, I care mainly about just the other mage.  The 2nd big plus of a Force Push/Wall strategy is it is very easy to separate a mage from his supporting pieces.

3) The pro-Fire meta is definitely a downer for Wall of Thorns.  Even without Deathlock, Flameblast is pretty likely to destroy a wall heads up.  My only solace is that the two spells cost the same mana, so I'm hoping I get some use out of my wall before it goes up in flames.  I do sort of hope though that some opponents might get obsessed with dealing with the walls, and then I can just change up to normal damage spells/creatures.

I played a few more games, and my biggest concern is now:

4) Lack of action parity with Battleforge.  A player on defense with a forge can play 3 defensive spells a turn, and unless one of them can be answered by Acid Ball (and therefore Tower), I need to summon Huginn to keep up on actions to erode those defenses.  Huginn does pay for himself in actions, but if the opponent has an efficient way to kill him, its a huge tempo and (possibly) resource loss.  I guess if I am being beaten on actions, I probably need to summon creatures?

[BoomFrog]

"maybe with an increase in Purify running around I'm on the wrong side of the armor game."

Just an FYI, corrode is an acid counter, not poison so purify doesn't remove it. Only priestess, healing wand, spring of renewal and swapping armor can remove corrode.

[Alexander West]

"maybe with an increase in Purify running around I'm on the wrong side of the armor game."

Just an FYI, corrode is an acid counter, not poison so purify doesn't remove it. Only priestess, healing wand, spring of renewal and swapping armor can remove corrode.

Ahh, excellent.  Thanks.  Corrode forever!