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Shad0w

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Questions from Facebook
« on: April 07, 2014, 12:21:28 PM »
From: https://www.facebook.com/MageWars/posts/659698770732885

Miki Alchemic

Mage Wars
April 5 at 12:43pm · (Long post)

 Okay, so I got Mage wars, and the Necromancer expansion. I'll briefly review the two games we played and then I would like to ask some questions based on these experiences. Newbie questions of course, so they may seem stupid to more experienced players.

 In the first game, I played Warlock VS Priestess apprentice mode to get the hang of the game. I burned my way to victory and just got there via Ghoul Rot. All my creatures were dead and it was that final bit of damage that got through and killed her.

 Question from this game:

 1) Shouldn't Stun do something other than make them miss a turn? Like lower armour, for example? I mean - it's stunned. Stationary. It should be a sitting target, easy to hurt.

 2) Shouldn't Sleep also lower the target's armour for the same reason? Also, is hurting the creature the only way to wake it up?

 The second game, we played a full Necromancer VS Druid game. I summoned Bog Queen Acolytes + the Altar of skulls early, then just got the Acolytes to put tokens on the altar until it activated. My opponent came after me almost immediately, so I put up two bone walls and cornered myself in. Naturally, with the direct damage to all of his creatures every turn, and the Acolytes repairing the walls (before they succumbed to the Altar damage themselves) it was difficult to breach.

 I also summoned wraiths and teleported them outside the walls to sit and guard, helping with the defense. The walls eventually fell, but the Altar stood firm, and other creatures were summoned to help the defense. I won comfortably, never really being under any major threat. I relatively easily dealt with anything that came my way.

 So my third question is:

 3) Did we misunderstand something? Is that really how the card works? It seems insanely powerful, slowly killing the entire living board and preventing healing. Also, does the fact that it's "poison" damage have any significance, other than differentiating the damage between who is immune to poison and who is not?

 A turtling strategy is superb if this is the case. I never even moved the Necromancer out of the starting zone. And it's not like the Druid is slow - she spreads very quickly across the board, and yet, I had enough time to settle my defenses to proceed with the win.

 4) When a creature has vigilance, does it lose guard after one creature attacks it, or does it constantly have guard on its person?

 5) Why can't incorporeal creatures move through walls? Only fliers and climbers can, but surely this is an oversight? Has this rule been amended anywhere? Because, thematically, a ghost should be able to float through a wall with no problems.

 6) If damage is taken at upkeep, but another effect says healing happens at upkeep, which comes first? Is it up to the discretion of the player with initiative?

 7) My opponent had no Line of Sight after the two walls were put up. He put vines into my "camp," (walled-off zone) but could not summon anything in there until the wall was shattered and the Line of Sight restored. Did we play this correctly?

 8) If a grey wraith (or any other creature with a special hit ability) is on guard, with his counterstrike, does he roll the d12 for his "weak" ability to take place? Or is this only done when he is attacking?
 
9) If a creature is guarding, and is attacked by a ranged creature from another zone, does it lose its guard token?

 10) Why are vines only killable with melee damage and not things like Altar of Skulls, as they are living beings?

 11) The Necromancer's special ability reads "to place on direct poison damage on that target." Shouldn't it read "to do one direct poison damage" ? Because this is confusing. It makes it seem like poison damage is separate to normal damage and should be tracked with other counters or something.

 And lastly, 12) does his ability (poison conditions) refer to weak, rot, tainted? Or is there something that is actually called poison condition? And if not, then why isn't poison a thing, where it slowly kills the creature that is poisoned?

 Apologies for the long post, but getting these things verified would mean a lot.

 We really enjoyed this game, it is easily the best I have played in a LONG time. Beats MTG a thousand times over. Such huge strategy potential, you have to be aware of a thousand things at once. Fantastic invention!

Oh, and 13) Do Spawnpoints HAVE to put a spell down during the planning phase? Or can they choose not to? Because putting a spell down if you have no intention of casting it is risky if that spawnpoint gets destroyed, as you lose the spell.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 12:25:44 PM by Shad0w »
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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2014, 12:24:39 PM »
Response from:

Alex Carroll

I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Mage Wars is my favorite game of all time because it is so strategic and thematic at the same time.

1) They worked on this game for over 5 years before it was released, making sure everything was balanced and worked perfectly together. I understand what you are saying logically, however, they spent half a decade making sure this was the best way to do it.

2) Same answer as question 1. Hurting it is the only way to wake it up unless you are the Priestess and use her ability to remove the token by paying its removal cost. But if you played apprentice mode, you didn't use their abilities, so there would be no way to remove it unless a card specifically allowed you to.

3) The card works as you say, except that it only does damage to living creatures, not conjurations. It can be powerful when activated if left alone, which is why most people try to destroy it immediately after it is cast. Otherwise it is, like you say, extremely powerful. The poison damage is only there in order for it to not affect your Necromancer, because he is immune to poison damage. I would guess that this is simply a lack of experience on your opponent's part. I'm sure s/he learned that next time the Altar comes out, s/he needs to destroy it immediately.

4) It loses the guard marker after it is attacked, just like a normal guard.

5) No, this rule is the same. Not all incorporeal creatures are "ghosts". The Grey Wraith is, and as I'm sure you noticed, he can indeed teleport through walls. There are other incorporeal creatures and cards, such as the Wall of Fire. I think you would agree that the Wall of Fire is not "ghost"-like. Instead, incorporeal means insubstantial or amorphous, which in turn makes them harder to damage.

6) It is at the discretion of the person whom the effects are happening to.

7) I think he could have summoned something there, but I'm not sure about this one.

8) It takes place whenever he makes that attack.

9) No, it keeps its guard token. Melee attacks remove them.

10) Probably balance issues. The altar would be way overpowered if it affected everything.

11) It's the same thing.

12) Yes, it refers to weak, rot, and tainted. The poison conditions have a skull and crossbones on the tokens.

13) No, they don't have to, but there is no reason not to. Spawnpoints cast during the deployment phase, which means they wouldn't be able to be destroyed until after that phase. The cards aren't directly attached to the spawnpoint anyway, so you don't lose them if it gets destroyed.
"Darth come prove to meet you are worthy of the fighting for your school in the arena and not just another scholar to be discarded like an worn out rag doll"


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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2014, 12:26:29 PM »
Miki Alchemic

Thank you so much for the answers, you helped clear a few things up. I am glad we played everything correctly.

Except for 13. You do lose the spell if it gets destroyed. That's why it's risky putting down a spell if you have no intention of using it via the spawnpoint. Here's the official video for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvGA8X_3sd4

What I want to know is do you HAVE to assign a spell to it if you have no intention of using that spell? Or can you just leave a spawnpoint with no spells assigned to it if you know it will be destroyed that turn?
"Darth come prove to meet you are worthy of the fighting for your school in the arena and not just another scholar to be discarded like an worn out rag doll"


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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2014, 12:26:55 PM »
Miki Alchemic
Okay, I think I found it:

"Some creatures (called “Familiars”) and objects (like
“Spawnpoints”) have the ability to cast spells. You may
choose one spell for each of these objects at this time. Place
these spells face down next to the creature or object."

Since it says "you MAY choose one spell for each....." then it can't be mandatory. It's optional. This is the only thing we played wrong, in that case. We assigned spells to the spawnpoint as a compulsory thing.

But yeah, the spell definitely gets destroyed if the spawnpoint does.
"Darth come prove to meet you are worthy of the fighting for your school in the arena and not just another scholar to be discarded like an worn out rag doll"


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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2014, 12:27:20 PM »
Alex Carroll Hmm I never realized that. I guess I've never run into that situation. Another reason why I love this game, I am constantly learning things I didn't know  But yes you are correct. It isn't mandatory, it's your choice.
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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2014, 12:27:45 PM »
Miki Alchemic Information sharing is what it's all about.. Just to verify for point 8, does the special effect hit take place on a counterstrike or not? You weren't too clear in your initial answer.
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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2014, 12:28:01 PM »
Alex Carroll It does. As long as the counterstrike you are making is using the attack with the special effect. This matters b/c a counterstrike is always the "quick" attack, not the "full" attack. So as long as the quick attack has a special effect, then yes, it occurs.
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Lord0fWinter

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2014, 12:34:22 PM »
I hope most of my answers were correct :P I learned something myself out of that.
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Zuberi

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2014, 12:40:35 PM »
I would like to add a few things, though I'm not sure if I should add them here or to facebook, lol.

Question 2: [mwcard=DNQ09]Wand of Healing[/mwcard] can also remove stun and sleep.

Question 3: Remember that you can only add one skull token to the [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard] per round no matter how many clerics you have. I suspect you may have missed this ruling. This means that (unless you are also killing creatures) it will take you a minimum of 8 rounds to activate the altar. That should be plenty of time for your opponent to respond to it.

Question 7: He can not summon a creature through a vine marker without line of sight.

Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2014, 12:41:38 PM »
Have not read it yet but wanted it on the forum so we could look it over respond and give the community the info.
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Shad0w

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2014, 12:42:23 PM »
I would like to add a few things, though I'm not sure if I should add them here or to facebook, lol.

Question 2: [mwcard=DNQ09]Wand of Healing[/mwcard] can also remove stun and sleep.

Question 3: Remember that you can only add one skull token to the [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard] per round no matter how many clerics you have. I suspect you may have missed this ruling. This means that (unless you are also killing creatures) it will take you a minimum of 8 rounds to activate the altar. That should be plenty of time for your opponent to respond to it.

Question 7: He can not summon a creature through a vine marker without line of sight.

Keep it here long rules Qs like this would get lost on FB
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Lord0fWinter

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2014, 12:45:20 PM »
Question 7: He can not summon a creature through a vine marker without line of sight.

I looked this up after I had posted and thought I had edited my answer. Guess not. Thanks for catching it!
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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2014, 01:00:16 PM »
I want to add about point 13:

Unlike Familiar, if spawnpoint chosen card is not cast durig Deployment Phase, it returns immediatly to the spellbook, so no risk to lose it if it get destroyed.

I recently checked it in rulebook to specificaly know this.

Lord0fWinter

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2014, 01:04:04 PM »
I want to add about point 13:

Unlike Familiar, if spawnpoint chosen card is not cast durig Deployment Phase, it returns immediatly to the spellbook, so no risk to lose it if it get destroyed.

I recently checked it in rulebook to specificaly know this.

That's what I thought at first, but it is incorrect. From the rulebook "If you do not (or cannot) cast the spell, it returns to your spellbook at the beginning of the NEXT Planning Phase. If a Spawnpoint is destroyed, any spell still assigned to it is also destroyed."
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Zuberi

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Re: Questions from Facebook
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2014, 01:11:20 PM »
Lord0fWinter is correct. Page 16 of the English Rulebook v3.0 states exactly that. The spell is returned during the next planning phase and if the spawnpoint gets destroyed before then, you lose the spell as well.