Categorizing Power Levels of Spells in Mage Wars

[IndyPendant]

Heh.  Injecting a bit of humour there, with Teleport.  That is a rather long list of cards to read through, after all. ; )

The problems I see with Samara Tree are myriad: it requires a prohibitive investment in mana for the rather minor benefits it provides; the much-better Vine Tree can cast the Seedling Pods as well; you rarely if ever have enough mana to make both trees truly useful; since they're Conjurations, more than one Pod can't be stacked in the same zone at the same time; it telegraphs to the opponent that Something Bad Is Coming In That Zone; and you rarely want to use more than 2-4 Seedling Pods in a typical game anyway (making the Cantrip aspect irrelevant).

[webcatcher]

Psyloks are indeed terribe but not beyond hope.
All of these poor cards can be resuscitated if there was a will to do so
For example, imagine if this card came out...

Psychic Sensitivity, Cost 2+3, Enchant Creature, Range 0-2, Mind 1, Curse
This creature loses any Psychic Immunity
Psychic attacks gain +1 attack die against this creature

I have also argued in the past for cards which negate psychic immunity. It was controversial.

[Alexander West]

Circle of Fire:  I actually think this is one of the most important spells in the game.  I think without considering interaction from an opponent, level 1 creature swarm falls just behind wall of thorns + push in how quickly you can kill an opponent clocking in easily on turn 4.  (Wall push kills on turn 3.)  Circle of Fire is by far the best way to kill a swarm of Hawks or Foxes, and as such is a spell I'm always thinking about splashing as a "silver bullet" for that kind of opponent.  In the new druid metagame, I suspect it also offers some opportunities for real coups against plant pits.

[Zuberi]

I believe most if not all holy attack spells (well atm we have only two: Pillar of Light, Blinding Flash) are by far too inefficient in general.

I agree with this in general, but a Pillar of Light is actually very good in the hands of a Priest because you can use Malakai's Fire with it. Then we can compare Pillar of Light to other level 1 attack spells, like say Arc Lightning. I will be paying 1 extra mana for the Pillar (with Malakai's Fire) but I will do more damage on average, have a better chance at applying an effect, and have a longer range than the Arc Lightning. However the Arc Lightning is unavoidable. I'd say the Pillar has become quite viable.

[BoomFrog]

Repulse at least doesn't have the extra cost for passage attacks pushes, so I imagine its best use is for defending a corner with passage attacks walls surrounding you. Maybe a popup sniper force master who could tanglevine grimson the repulse the hordes back through walls of fire?

[webcatcher]

I think the opposite,  actually.  I think repulse only works well in a square in the middle of the arena.  This is because if you're next to a wall some of the creatures in the zone will be pushed and some will be wall bashed and you have no control over which. Repulse is an interesting,  thematic card and I like it in theory, but in practice it won't work as well as mongoose agility or a self teleport.

[Kharhaz]

[mwcard=MW1J02] Animal Kinship[/mwcard]


How about this one, does anyone use this? Personally I feel like it is very situational - you have to be playing multiple types of creatures when it's often better to just focus on one or two (wolves + bear). And if you're doing that the other totems work better. Maybe Deckbuilder considered this for his pre-DvN Tempo Beastmaster book?

I have always had a man crush on AK. The most important thing about it is that the source of the buff is not preventable by blocking LoS, nullify, etc. It is the ultimate gravy boat card for the BM, and will be even better the day we get a cheap bear cub and little lizard added to the BM's quick cast pool

[applepi]

I used destroy magic in a battle!!! 

It got agony, ghoul rot, and enfeeble off my forcemaster, and vampirism ad bear strength off the enemy warlock.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I think the opposite,  actually.  I think repulse only works well in a square in the middle of the arena.  This is because if you're next to a wall some of the creatures in the zone will be pushed and some will be wall bashed and you have no control over which. Repulse is an interesting,  thematic card and I like it in theory, but in practice it won't work as well as mongoose agility or a self teleport.

On the contrary, for only four mana it's definitely worth the price. It's not just a matter of which creatures, but how many. Less threats to deal with at once. Mongoose agility and teleporting yourself is useful. However, if you are restrained or slow, or if there's an enemy nullify on you, it's helpful to use repulse since it targets the zone rather than you or the creatures being pushed.