The Tainted Beastmaster (Johktari)

[chameleo]

Hey everyone!

My favorite part in every RPG and customizable game was to make up new builds and spellbooks etc... So here is another spellbook I made!

The core of this build is a lot of cards that have a Restrained effect comboed with the Giant Wolf Spider to make the best of of his Tainted attack (being 5+ against restrained targets). It gives a lot of control, but in its core it's a pretty aggressive build.
I've only played it a couple of times so far (and it's been a while too), so it needs more tweaking, there are quite some cards there I don't really need (and the ones I do are taken by my other books )
Also, I don't have DvN, otherwise I would throw in a raptor or two to spice things up. I guess a similiar build would work really well with the Druid, but I don't have one so...

So here are the cards:

Equipment:
2xHunting Bow
1xReflex Boots
1xEagleclaw Boots
1xBearskin
1xColossus Belt
1xDispel Wand

Conjurations:
2xQuicksand
3xTanglevine
2xWall of Thorns
2xMangler Caltrops
2xManaflower

Creatures:
2xGiant Wolf Spider
1xGalador
1xDwarf Panzergarde

Enchantments:
1xBlock
1xNullify
1xFalcon Precision
1xBear Strength
1xCheetah Speed
2xHawkeye
1xRetaliate
1xRegrowth
2xRhino Hide
1xBull Endurance
1xCobra Reflexes
1xArmor Ward
1xForce Hold
1xSpiked Pit
1xEnchantment Transfusion

Incantations:
2xDissolve
2xSniper Shot
2xHeal
1xForce Push
1xBattle Fury
1xRouse the Beast

Attack spells:
1xJet Stream
2xArc Lightning
2xSurging Wave
1xGeyser

----

Some notes about the card choices:

• I've tried to make a rather balanced and versatile mix of defenee and offense, hence such choices as the Panzergard and the other defensive stuff
• You might have noticed I have quite a large collection of low level attack spells... What they have in common is that all of the are a)Unavoidable and b)may cause Daze. That is mostly to pass through guards, defense rolls and other things that stop me from tainting.
• This build is mostly around focusing the mage with the spiders to get as many Tainted tokens on him as possible, while controlling the arena as much as possible and doing ranged damage. Hence, I would love a raptor in this book.

The opening strategy is usually something like Spider+Bear Strength (or some other buff) on turn one, followed on turn 2 by a mana flower and the rest depends on the opponent.

I know I'm missing some stuff here, mostly because I don't want to take them out from my other books, but probably there are some I didn't think of.

[aquestrion]

I ran a warlock with the spider and zombies in it combined with tanglevine and battle furys to double dip the taints, also rise again on spider to prolong life.....(this does not work on the  necro)

[sIKE]

I really like the idea behind this book, I have taken and put my own spin on it....

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 4/1/2014 12:00:00 AM

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Beastmaster (Johktari)

---  Attack  ---
2 Arc Lightning
1 Fireball
1 Geyser
1 Hurl Boulder
1 Jet Stream
1 Surging Wave

---  Conjuration  ---
2 Mana Flower
2 Mangler Caltrops
1 Quicksand
1 Tanglevine
2 Wall of Thorns

---  Creature  ---
1 Dwarf Panzergarde
1 Fellella, Pixie Familiar
1 Galador, Protector of Straywood
2 Giant Wolf Spider
1 Timber Wolf

---  Enchantment  ---
1 Armor Ward
1 Bear Strength
1 Block
1 Cheetah Speed
1 Falcon Precision
1 Force Hold
2 Hawkeye
3 Nullify
1 Retaliate
1 Regrowth
1 Rhino Hide
1 Spiked Pit

---  Equipment  ---
1 Colossus Belt
1 Dispel Wand
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
1 Eagleclaw Boots
1 Hunting Bow
1 Ivarium Longbow
1 Morning Star
1 Storm Drake Hide
1 Wand of Healing

---  Incantation  ---
1 Battle Fury
3 Dissolve
1 Force Push
1 Rouse the Beast

I have added in a bit of fire (zombies/druid) and my favorite finisher in the Attack category. Sticking with the Unavoidable trend I added in the Morningstar Promo and changed up the armor to better meet the match-ups I expect. I chose to carry both bow types for a cheap cast cost if the Hunting Bow gets Dissolved. I dropped the Heals for the Heal Wand (note the Wands will not work if the Bows are equipped). You can only wear one pair of boots and don't foresee the chance to change them out so I stuff with the Unmovable ones, as one of the themes here is Unavoidable so defenses really don't real good in that environment. I also added Fella, I haven't used her much but she is mainly there to get the Enchantments out. Might add in a Harmonize and a Shift Enchantment later if it would be useful. Added a Wolf in to have a cheap creature to get out.

[chameleo]

Have you noticed you removed almost all the restraining spells? That's kinda against the whole idea 

[sIKE]

Have you noticed you removed almost all the restraining spells? That's kinda against the whole idea 

I haven't removed any of the restraining spells, just reduced there number that I carry. I will go back over your book vs. mine and try to get more of those back in.

[sIKE]

There are a couple of goodies in Forged in Fire that I want to add in but cant reveal at this point to help with the Necro and his minions.

[echephron]

I thought about doing a similar druid thing, but i'll try to make a beastmaster version. after trying to throw a book together, I gave up and would rather talk strategy.
you could hang back and make 2-3 spiders, a pit trap, then teleport him in.
using the spider webbing seems like a wasted opportunity at a tainted condition.
battlefury to get more chances at tainted
make you spiders flying if they get hurt
forcewave the guards away, then put up a wall between them. the mage will stay still due to unmoveable. too bad spiders dont climb.
force crush sounds better than force hold since its 2 damage at 1 more mana every turn
maybe mongoose agility to get around guards that you cant restrain or push out.

[chameleo]

Excellent ideas, thanks I'll see if I can incorporate some

[sIKE]

There are a couple of goodies in Forged in Fire that I want to add in but cant reveal at this point to help with the Necro and his minions.

If you didn't guess Ignite might be one of those that might work well in this book, even with the 3x cost.

[Myrddin]

Really interesting idea. Another possibility here is Jinx: when facing this sort of attack, the tanglevined opponent may be tempted to teleport away, use a cheap flame attack to take out the vine etc. Jinxing them could really ruin their day.

With my ranged build, I use poisoned blood and/or deathlock. The idea is to make the bleed conditions very painful indeed. Given that you have some pricey stuff here and that your opponent might be trying to dispel quite a lot (force holds etc), I'd be tempted to go with a poisoned blood or two. Keep them on the back foot.

[chameleo]

Great ideas guys, thanks

I've played a few more games with it and here are some issues I found with this book so far:
- Not enough creatures... Especially when fighting a spellbook with a lot of creatures, at some point I run out of creatures and he overwhelms me. Waiting to throw in the raptor when I get DvN and maybe something else.
- Not enough upfront burst. I open with a spider with Cheetah Speed and Bear Strength and with a Hunter Bow on myself and I can take the other mage down like 20 hit point, but from then on it's much harder.
- Some stuff feels really dedundant, like the Spiked Pit, Eagleclaw Boots and Mangler Caltrops; while I feel I'm really missing other stuff like Dispel and Teleport (Some of them are just due to not having enough cards for all my books ).
- The book is fairly low on mana and I don't really get to use the Mana Flowers because I feel like it's mostly holding me back from being aggressive (which is what this book is about). This also means I should dump some expensive spells I never get to use and switch them for cheaper ones.

And lastly, I'm beginning to fear that this book can be easily contered with some purifies and other poison removing spells...

Having said all that, I'm pretty happy with how this concept is working out. It still needs more work, but it's a really fun little book which can be really annoing and frustrating for your opponents

[sIKE]

@chemleo

Would you say you are moving closer to my version of your book, it has more creatures, fewer spiked pits etc. and more staples?

I like your idea of the Raptor...I have updated my book above took out the Fireball for a Flameblast and added in the Raptor.

I really like the idea behind this book, I have taken and put my own spin on it....

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]OCTGN Deck[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Beastmaster (Johktari) Spellbook inspired by chameleo's[/mage]
[mage] Tainted Johktari Beastmaster built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA01]2 x Arc Lightning[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]1 x Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A08]1 x Geyser[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A09]1 x Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J13]2 x Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ06]2 x Mangler Caltrops[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWJ07]1 x Quicksand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ11]1 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W04]2 x Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC07]1 x Dwarf Panzergarde[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C13]1 x Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC03]1 x Galador, Protector of Straywood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC09]2 x Giant Wolf Spider[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC16]1 x Spitting Raptor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C38]1 x Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]1 x Armor Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E01]1 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E02]1 x Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E05]1 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E16]1 x Force Hold[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E21]2 x Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]3 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E33]1 x Retaliate[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E32]1 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E36]1 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE05]1 x Spiked Pit[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ03]1 x Colossus Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ05]1 x Dispel Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ02]1 x Hunting Bow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q13]1 x Ivarium Longbow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ06]1 x Morning Star[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1I02]1 x Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI08]3 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI17]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I23]1 x Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


I have added in a bit of fire (zombies/druid) and my favorite finisher in the Attack category. Sticking with the Unavoidable trend I added in the Morningstar Promo and changed up the armor to better meet the match-ups I expect. I chose to carry both bow types for a cheap cast cost if the Hunting Bow gets Dissolved. I dropped the Heals for the Heal Wand (note the Wands will not work if the Bows are equipped). You can only wear one pair of boots and don't foresee the chance to change them out so I stuff with the Unmovable ones, as one of the themes here is Unavoidable so defenses really don't real good in that environment. I also added Fella, I haven't used her much but she is mainly there to get the Enchantments out. Might add in a Harmonize and a Shift Enchantment later if it would be useful. Added a Wolf in to have a cheap creature to get out.