A Priest that works...

[Arlemus]

Temple High Guard and all the other promos are available to play on OCTGN, for those who aren't aware. You can give them a shot on there before deciding if you want to buy them off eBay.

On topic, I really appreciate the discussion in this thread. @Arlemus, I think that +5 health is enough of a bonus that it's worth putting on any creature, efficiency aside. Also I'd much rather have a 7 dice piercing 1 attack than a 4 dice piercing 1 attack, know what I mean? Yes the cleric is more efficient for the same bonuses, but in the end you have an average creature when you could have had a wrecking machine. That's how it looks to me anyway.

I thought that too at first, but the main problem with that is that you have to pay more than double the cost of a HA cleric for a HA Knight (7 mana vs 17 mana). 

That's a pretty huge mana sink, which isn't inherently bad, but (like most pet abilities) you're paying more mana for the same level creature.  This means creature control spells that pay based on level are now more effective on your massive investment, which isn't good.  It happens to be very efficient to pay 6 mana to sleep a 17 cost creature, that's only about 1/3 of your investment to shut it down, and having to wake it up when you're already starved for actions isn't something I'm too fond of  .

No one really bothers to control a HA cleric, from my experience.  I've never had anyone sleep one, it's just usually not a good play.  Initially investing in a HA cleric also leaves plenty of mana to buff the Priest, which is more important than having a HA anyway.  Paying for a massive 17 cost Knight doesn't leave you much to buff up #1.

Also, I'd much rather have a HA cleric and just summon a Knight after, if needed.  In doing that, you're getting the HA buff for minimal cost (2 mana) and diversifying your investments.  Yeah, it means you need to spend a full action summoning a knight, but now your HA has more targets to avenge off of and isn't so easily controlled.

They way I think about it, it doesn't really matter which creature the HA is on as long as it's on one of them.  It's 5 hp and +2 melee and 1 pierce no matter what, so I might as well pay as little for that as I can and if I need another creature then I need another creature .  I mean, a HA knight can wreck face, I've seen it happen, but most wise up and pick apart that huge investment.

TL;DR: Diversify.

[sIKE]

I partially agree here, I have had my Unicorn HA Sleeped before and it was very annoying. I now carry a couple of [mwcard=MW1I20]Purify's[/mwcard] in my book. Yes it an action to remove, but I feel it is worth the cost to have a wrecking machine vs. an annoyance.

I do need to test out the Assyrian Defender as an HA to see how well he works as one though.

[Arlemus]

I partially agree here, I have had my Unicorn HA Sleeped before and it was very annoying. I now carry a couple of [mwcard=MW1I20]Purify's[/mwcard] in my book. Yes it an action to remove, but I feel it is worth the cost to have a wrecking machine vs. an annoyance.

I do need to test out the Assyrian Defender as an HA to see how well he works as one though.

[mwcard=MW1I20]Purify's[/mwcard] is one of the most underused cards in the game, imo. 

I need to test him more too.  I've had one go with him and it didn't give me enough feedback to make a decision one way or the other.  I think the Defender might be for a Temple build Priestess...

[jacksmack]

Purify is very situational, and as the meta grew away from gorgon archer being the solution to everything it has become less and less useful (,which is fine).
I still like it to remove ghoul rot and poisoned blood in 1 go.

Purify handles poison.

Sleep is a psychic condition.

[sIKE]

Purify is very situational, and as the meta grew away from gorgon archer being the solution to everything it has become less and less useful (,which is fine).
I still like it to remove ghoul rot and poisoned blood in 1 go.

Purify handles poison.

Sleep is a psychic condition.

You are right, well I will take one out now and free up room for something else. I guess that Wand of Healing will go back in.

edit: added wand of healing thought

[pete2]

Hey Arlemus, thanks for the good advice ! i managed to get my first victory with the Priest !

this was the built i played with :

Mage Wars deck (built using OCTGN deckbuilder) 2/07/2014 0:00:00

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Priest

---  Attack  ---
4 Pillar of Light
2 Acid Ball
1 Fireball
1 Blinding Flash
1 Ring of Fire

---  Conjuration  ---
1 Hand of Bim-Shalla
1 Battle Forge
2 Mana Crystal
1 Tanglevine

---  Creature  ---
1 Highland Unicorn
1 Guardian Angel
1 Knight of Westlock
2 Asyran Cleric
1 Brogan Bloodstone
1 Joseph Trublood, High Cleric

---  Enchantment  ---
1 Mongoose Agility
2 Nullify
2 Cheetah Speed
1 Falcon Precision
1 Harmonize
1 Maim Wings
1 Critical Strike
2 Bear Strength
2 Rhino Hide
1 Regrowth
1 Healing Charm
1 Divine Protection

---  Equipment  ---
1 Eagleclaw Boots
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
2 Dawnbreaker Ring
1 Regrowth Belt
2 Staff of Asyra
1 Leather Boots
1 Enchanter's Ring
1 Elemental Wand
1 Leather Gloves

---  Incantation  ---
2 Dissolve
1 Battle Fury
3 Dispel
1 Teleport
1 Force Push
1 Heal


i played against an aggro beastmaster..but i was even more aggro than him.  I really "pillared" him !  i even played the three opening rounds as you suggested.  His opening rounds were built around steelclaw grizzly..he got him out in the second or third round, with a rouse the beast...Fortunately i had a HA cleric on guard at the time his grizzly could strike, which immediately took 11 damage ! cleric was instant dead, but i could go on using my pillars on his mage ! After that i took a bit of a risk staying out without other creatures to support me, but i kept beating on him, with a bear strength on me for melee and a pillar bind to elemental wand for ranged.
i got a bit stressed when he put a sleep on my mage, but he damaged me with his grizzly ( only 3 damage with 7 dice !), so after that i could react.  In my turn i teleported in his mage's zone to get out of grizzly's claws and to beat him again !
He also kept damaging me, but he was getting more because he didn't have any armor ! the attrition war ended in my favor when i was cornered and i had ini : i QC'ed a ring of fire on his mage and grizzly and in FA i gave him the final blow with my melee attack ! game over BM !
I was amazed that i could do so much damage with my mage. On the other hand, i normally prefer to play more creatures, but in some way i felt i had to use my mana on attacks, and not on getting creatures out...a little bet which gave me victory !

[jacksmack]

Gz with the win.

Sounds like a good game. Nice comeback from insta losing you HA.

I love to read game reports, gief moar



A few mistakes i noticed:
Mages can't be the target of sleep. They are also not affected by mass sleep.

Ring of Fire is a Full Action spell. The quick cast marker cannot be used for such spell.

[klaymen]

He put Sleep on your mage? Isn't that only on non-mage creatures or am I confusing it with something else?

Edit: oh, yes. Jacksmack wrote before I have posted.

[pete2]

woow..good call jacksmack ! we did notice that my opponent made an error with the sleep on me during gameplay, but i didn't notice the error with the ring of fire...guess that makes it even...should think about this next time we play though...

[pete2]

however, at the moment i cast the ring, i just needed 2 damage to kill him..during FA of that turn, i inflicted a whole lot more damage...excuses....

[jacksmack]

however, at the moment i cast the ring, i just needed 2 damage to kill him..during FA of that turn, i inflicted a whole lot more damage...excuses....

Well... Unless said ring of fire killed a guard which enabled you to melee attack the mage WHILE dealing damage to the mage then i would for the sake of it consider the ring of fire a weaker fireball, or slighty stronger flame blast and the outcome would more or less be the same.

Minor errors happens once in a while.

[pete2]

however, at the moment i cast the ring, i just needed 2 damage to kill him..during FA of that turn, i inflicted a whole lot more damage...excuses....

Well... Unless said ring of fire killed a guard which enabled you to melee attack the mage WHILE dealing damage to the mage then i would for the sake of it consider the ring of fire a weaker fireball, or slighty stronger flame blast and the outcome would more or less be the same.

Minor errors happens once in a while.

...there were no creats on guard at that time so...the error did not have that much consequences...

...this really happened in the heat of the fight, and nor me, nor my opponent noticed it..i do pack a flameblast, but i already used it during the game...i will keep this in mind though !

[sIKE]

Fortunately i had a HA cleric on guard at the time his grizzly could strike, which immediately took 11 damage ! cleric was instant dead

This is why I prefer a bit stronger creature as a HA. The [mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]Guardian Angel[/mwcard] makes a great mage guard as she heals when she guards, she has a defense, and between the Armor and Aegis she typically is really hard to kill. A HA cleric in addition to the Angel would be quite wicked.

[BoomFrog]

If you are worried about sleep on your HA then put in mind shield. Now there is an underused card.

[jacksmack]

If you are worried about sleep on your HA then put in mind shield. Now there is an underused card.

now there is a card that should have been novice.