My Impressions After a Month

[Sand Goblin]

Hey all!  I've been had MW for about a month now, and I've had a lot of fun.  It's certainly refreshing for a game with such an overused theme (general fantasy) to have very unique game mechanics and such.  Mage Wars has quickly crept up my favorite games list, and just after 4 plays.  I have some impressions about this game, and I though I'd share them with you guys.  Warn me if anything I've come up with is blatantly wrong, because I want to make sure we are following the rules. 

1. Powerful cards - This game, thankfully, doesn't seem to have a power creep.  It is relatively balanced, and we haven't had any blowouts.  In fact, all of our games came down to the last wounds!  I love to see that.  Now that being said, there are obviously some cards that are a bit better that the others.  Namely, Dispel, Dissolve/Explode, Teleport, Block, Nullify, and Bear Strength are all cards that are pretty much auto include.  Everyone who I've gotten to play agrees that they feel pretty naked without these cards.  In addition, three cards in particular seem really good as well.  Sleep, Resurrection, and Power Drain are really good cards, and everyone in my group makes sure to include at least one of these cards in their deck.

2. Spawnpoints & mana conjurations - Spawnpoints and mana conjurations (Mana flower/crystal) seem to be the most important conjurations you could possibly have.  Both of the games I lost, I lost due to allowing my opponent to set up his pentagram and battle forge.  Not going to make that mistake again.  And the Beastmaster's lair, which seems to be the best spawnpoint, has been an absolute murderer.  It allowed me to basically summon bobcats, foxes, and falcons for 0 or little cost, giving me time to focus on summoning the big creatures, like the grizzly.  Mana structures seem to be essential, as low channeling means you are screwed.  In one game, the priestess used man flowers and a moonglow amulet to bring her channeling to 13.  She was pumping out creatures, and buffs, like crazy.  With help, of course, from her spawnpoint.    

3. The necessity of good equipment - Good equipment seems to be able to really make or break you.  In every game, within the first two turns, the mages have given themselves at least 2 pieces of equipment, at least one of which is a ring that provides discounts on some cards.  In addition, it seems that every mage except the wizard (due to voltaric shield and arcane zap) needs to outfit themselves with at least one weapon.  I lost my first game as a beastmaster for multiple reasons, but a major one was his lack of combat capabilities.  I didn't make that mistake again.  In the priestess game, I outfitted her with an Ivarium longbow.  When my warlock opponent summoned Adramelech, I summoned Valshalla, and they duked it out in the zone in front of my mage.  She and an archer pretty much singlehandedly killed the fire demon lord (Valshalla was agonized, but he couldn't leave such a powerful flyer alone, even with a low attack).  Good equipment seems to be the key, because all of the other spells can be greatly benefited from discounts, buffs, etc. 

[lukard]

Welcome to the Arena!

I have a few comments when it comes to Spawnpoints, Mana Generation (mana flower, mana cristal, etc.), and Equipments.


There is a big discussion about Spawnpoints and Mana Generation cards. It depends on playing style and strategy, many spellbooks do not use these cards at all, other spellbooks really require those. In other words, do not think these are absolutely necessary in every single build. Also, keep in mind that there are some good cards against conjurations (e.g.: [mwcard=FWA02] Force Hammer[/mwcard]).

You do not have to load your mage with gear, but armor 2 (at least) is very useful!

[Cnoedel]

Haha, had a bunch of fun reading your post and after my first few games I came to similar conclusions, but while i still think there are mandatory spells like teleport, dispel, dissolve and shift enchantment, I lost it with spawnpoints and mana conjurations. Mainly because they do not pay off as fast as rings do and as lukard pointed out: Easily destroyed if the enemy focuses on them.

Spawnpoints are more in my favor, Barracks and Liar to be clear here, because if I use them, I use them fast and pretty much each round to get the most effect out of them (I really like barracks giving you grunts for 1-2 Mana if you maintain your Outposts well)

My experience with Equipment is not quite there yet because i focussed more on creatures and enchantments, most times i grab a ring, some armor and a weapon that fits my mage.

Please tell us/me how your playstyle is developing!

[silverclawgrizzly]

Welcome to the arena! A few thoughts on your points.

1. There are spells you're asking for trouble if you don't include. You may not cast them every game but Dispel, Dissolve, and Teleport are the big ones. Note they're all Incantations? So I'd add a Mage Wand in there too but that's just me.

2. Spawn points are amazing. Yeah they can be attacked but there's ways to defend them too. The Lair if Harmonized spits out animals at an amazing rate and seriously helps your tempo. A Battle Forge is also a good idea.

3. Battle Forge is a good idea because you're right Equipment can make or break you. Too many times I've gone into battle without my gear and paid the price for it. Armor at least can be a huge help. We'll see what happens when Disarm hits the streets but I imagine gear is still going to be big.

[Sand Goblin]

@lukard - When we play, the crystals and flowers always come out.  Even the Warlock gets them out, and he's aggressive as all hell.  And that's funny, armor is the one thing that we don't routinely put on our mages!  We generally equip them with rings and wands, that give them good advantages.  And like I said, weapons.  Ivarium longbow has been a big help if the opponent wastes all of their dissolves/explodes on wands.  And the warlock murders things with his lash of hellfire.

@Cnoedel - That has held true for weaker conjurations, like the Holy temple, but not for the better ones, like Lair.  In the case of the Holy temple, well, the priestess does not cast a lot of creatures quickly.  And her creatures tend to be expensive.  That makes the Spawnpoint often only a big help in limited situations.  But with the Lair, killing it is near impossible.  Or rather, killing it is fairly easy, but killing it without basically putting yourself at a huge disadvantage is very hard.  The Beastmaster is basically able to summon a creature every other turn from that thing for only a few mana, every turn with harmonize.  So, if you attack it, it just summons a bunch of stuff to kill the attackers.  Equipment is pretty important , as a well outfitted mage is really threatening.  Warlocks with a fireball wand and a Lash, paired with a piece of armor, a fireshaper ring, and Moloch's torment is scary to deal with. 

My playstyle is high aggro with powerful, fast moving creatures. Personally, my favorite Mages out of the core set are the Beasmaster and the Warlock, in that order.  My copy of Necromancer vs. Druid  is coming soon, and I can't wait.  I don't mind slowing down for the necromancer, who seems like he can sustain a really good offensive push given some time. 

@silverclawgrizzly - Sometimes I pack Mage Wands, but the problem is, wands that have those sorts of spells bound to them tend to be the first target for dissolves.  Now, granted, most of my games have been against the Warlock, where I had to save my nullifies for curses.  I want to try a Mage Wand with teleport with my Beastmaster, to teleport  ,my own creatures forward and pull enemy creatures into death traps.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Yeah wands do tend to draw a lot of Dissolve aggro. The Teleport Wand trick is pretty sweet, dragging an opposing mage into a big pack of dangerous critters is a lot of fun for sure. Alternatively I like to run up with a Cheetah Speed enhanced Beast Master, smack something, then Teleport back out of there.

[blackirishguilt]

It's one of the things I like about the Wizard...he comes with a built in weapon and armor that can't be countered or removed.  Makes him very newb friendly and gives you more time to build your Channeling to get to the powerhouse spells really early.  I haven't played it yet but Mana acceleration + Mana denial is something that calls to me as a powerful combination. 

[sIKE]

It's one of the things I like about the Wizard...he comes with a built in weapon and armor that can't be countered or removed.  Makes him very newb friendly and gives you more time to build your Channeling to get to the powerhouse spells really early.  I haven't played it yet but Mana acceleration + Mana denial is something that calls to me as a powerful combination.

A well played Wizard makes for quite a tough opponent. Given time and no play errors, they are very very tough mages to beat. But aren't they all?

[sdougla2]

1. Yes, the difference in power between individual cards is much narrower than in games like Magic where some cards are effectively trash and some cards are stupidly strong. I don't use Block or Nullify nearly as much now as I did when I started playing. They're nice to have, but I don't think that they're mandatory by any means. Teleport, Dispel, and Dissolve are all pretty important though. I never really use Resurrection. I'd rather include another creature so that I don't have to spend the extra mana, and so I can have them both out at the same time.

2. You can get by without mana generators or spawnpoints, but it depends on how you want to play. The key is to come up with a coherent game plan. I tend to prefer playing with slightly improved channeling. Getting my channeling up to 11-12 makes me more comfortable, but I've won plenty of games where I didn't do anything to boost my channeling.

3. A weapon is not actually as necessary as many new players think. Often, Bear Strength is a better boost to damage than the weapon is anyway. Bows add a ranged attack option, which can be valuable, and Galvitar can drastically improve your damage output, but a Mage Staff or Staff of Beasts doesn't boost damage output as well as a Bear Strength. Lash of Hellfire is a pretty significant boost to damage output if your opponent doesn't have Flame -2, but that's a pretty big if.

You don't actually need your mage to engage in direct combat. You can use your mage in more of a support role if you want. I've had success with both methods, mage as combatant, and mage as support.

[Sand Goblin]

When I said I think it's important for a Mage to have a weapon, I meant for protection, not actual combat.  My problem was that my beastmaster was pummeled in he first game, and couldn't do very much himself.  So I think it's very important that every mage outfit themselves with at least one weapon.  Bear Strength is a great card that you should use on a unit that will be directly in the combat.  So, playing it on your Mage could be a great play, or a bad one.  Playing it on the Warlock, for example, is a good play.  playing it on the Straywood BM or Priestess, not so good.  I'd rather save it for a Grizzly/Gorilla/Cevere, or Brogan/Samadriel/Valshalla.

[sdougla2]

Bear Strength can be a fantastic play on a Straywood Beastmaster. It just depends on how you're playing him.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Beast Masters my favorite mage. He comes in basically two flavors with me so far: Sit back and let the critters do the killing by using some combination of swarming and using big guns OR Hey I'm a Nature Mage and have access to cheap amazing buffs! Lets go murdering things myself. Both methods work, but remember it's easier to kill a grizzly bear than it is a mage. So cast a grizzly bear and buff your mage so they have to do both!