November 21, 2024, 04:48:10 PM

Author Topic: Tinker Bells Angel  (Read 19901 times)

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Tinker Bells Angel
« on: October 08, 2014, 01:32:25 PM »
Its been a while since I posted the Blasting Banker, but now I cant wait any longer to reveal the Tink Deck :). I played it quite a few times now. Its alot of fun and it always worked like expected even though some of my opponents exactly knew what was coming (like they played Wizard and included Purge Magic or Destroy Magic in their books):

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Tinker Bells Angel[/spellbookname]
[mage]Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]1 x  Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j15]1 x  Mohktari, Great Tree of Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC06]1 x  Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]1 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c13]1 x  Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]1 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]1 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e36]4 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]5 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]2 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e12]1 x  Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]2 x  Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]2 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]2 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]1 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]3 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]5 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q02]2 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x  Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]1 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]4 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]6 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]1 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Link for Octgn Deckbuilder:
http://octgn.net/sd/charmyna/tinkerbellsangel


First, I want to thank Murphy for playing a similar Beastmaster deck (he plays many inspiring decks) and initiating my thoughts about this book! Also the name is his idea ;).

The standard opening is:

Round 1:
Mage:
Fellella
Mediation Amulet

Round 2:
Mage:
Vine Tree (treebond)
Enchanters Ring
Fellella:
Rhino Hide on Fellella

Round 3:
Mage:
Bulls Endurance on Fellella
Guardian Angel
Fellella:
Bear Strength on Angel. If your opponent saved alot of mana and might be throwing Fireballs at your Tree or Flameblasts at Fellella soon you might not need Bear Strength on the Angel. In that case an early Rhino Hide on the Angel or Divine Protection on Fellella might be better.


So the basic theory behind this build is that Enchantments in general have two weaknesses: Compared to casting a creature they cost alot mana and actions. For example, if casting a Steelclaw Grizzly you need 17 mana and one action. To get the same values (HP, Armor and Attack) by buffing a smaller creature with enchantments you need much more actions and/or mana! This tells us, that if the enchanted creature dies quickly after enchanting it, the enchant was just an action/mana sink. Therefore, you really want to make sure the enchanted creature survives long enough to make the enchants pay for themselves!
So what are the strength of enchantments? Well, you get the effect without a delay compared to creatures, and of course, the surprise element. Additionally, with enchantments you can buff a creature up to becoming an invincible dice throwing terminator!
So this deck aims at countering the increased action cost of enchantments by using Fellella. Additionally, it uses the meditation amulet to make sure there is enough mana to make use of the action advantage. Since its a nature deck, it got plenty of aggressive and, maybe even more important, defensive Enchantments to make sure the enchanted creature stays alive as long as possible.
I choose the Guardian Angel as my heavily enchanted creature because its base values are plain awesome! Inherent (undispellable) Aegis, Flying and Defence? Hell yeah! 12 life and 1 armor on top of that for only 12 mana, even better! Oh and if under pressure he can heal himself. The Angels defensiveness is unmatched by any other creature in the game. This is why its a formidable platform to spam enchantments on it! Just to give you an impression of what happens in most games: The Angel has Bear Strength, Lion Savagery, Cheetah Speed and Mongoose Agility. So thats 7 dice with piercing and theres not much to stop him from attacking. He also has Rhino Hide in case he gets attacked. If he actually gets attacked, there will be Bulls Endurance, Healing Charm and Regrowth on him quickly. For sure he has Enchantment Transfusion on him and sometimes Nullify to counter Purge Magic or Destroy Magic (since he usually has a couple hidden enchantments on him its not easy to seeking dispel the Transfusion). Actually, often Fellala or my mage got another Transfusion and Nullify on them to make sure Purge Magic fails.
This sounds as many actions needed for this right? Thats true, but it actually works better than I thought at first glance. Btw Fellella has Rhino hide and Bulls on her as well.
So in most games the Angel delivers his 7 dice Piercing attack each round, while the Opponent has a hard time to decide which target to attack. The druid and his tree are usually no good targets because they survive alot and can regenerate very quickly. If needed, the Vine Tree can be used to spawn a raptor vine or vine snapper which can guard the same round by using defend. The vine markers help alot to slow down attacking creatures and tanglevine casted by the vine tree can also be of great use for that purpose.
The opponent might attack Fellella, but the only way to give ranged attacks unavoidable is sniper shot, which many dont even include in their book. If they do, it still is mana and action inefficient. Anyway, with Rhino Hide and Bulls Endurance its not easy to kill Fellella. And if she gets attacked, there will be a healing Charm, Regrowth and maybe even divine Protection on her. At some point she might die, but then Enchantment Transfusion will make sure the invested actions and mana wont be lost. Usually, if the opponent focuses Fellella the Guardian Angel has plenty of time to cost the opponent enough mana/actions to make up for the possible loss of Fellella.

Some additional thoughts:

Kralathor can be very useful in this build: He can be spawned by the Vine Tree to save an action and you can spawn him in any zone by using vine markers, which might be good for a surprise attack at a valuable conjuration, an archer or a small creature that can be devoured easily. Rouse the Beast combined with Enchantment Transfusion and Hand of Bim-Shalla can be awesome to give Kralathor a 9 dice attack with Piercing (11 dice against Undead) just in the round he was summoned. This will hopefully give him the first growth marker and together with the transfused enchantments should make him nearly unkillable. In this phase of the game the Angel switches to a more defensive role.
Actually, sometimes it might be even better to cast Kralathor by your mage instead of the Vine Tree to surprise your opponent even more.

Here is a nice combo, which works for every mage:
If your Mage has two Armor and two Corrode tokens (or similar situation) cast and reveal Rust on your mage. That will remove the two Corrode tokens. After that use Enchantment Transfusion or Shift Enchantment to move Rust to your opponents mage or a creature you want to focus next. Mana and Spellpoint wise this might not be the best way to remove Corrode tokens, but action wise its really nice since you remove two tokens with only one extra action compared to casting Rust directly on the creature you want to focus next. With this druid its especially nice since Rust costs him only one spellpoint, Enchantment Transfusion is naturally needed in this book and you can use Fellalas action to use this combo as well.

Gorgon Archers can be nasty against this Deck because they weaken the Angel.  Btw the Angels defense shines against Gorgons, which is one of the reasons I favor the Guardian Angel over a Beastmasters Pet Falcon (which also works as a nice Tinker Bell Deck). Anyway, after eating some Weak tokens you can switch the enchants to Kralathor or a Raptor Vine and use the Angel only for defensive purposes (for which he doesnt really need any attack dice). If you are afraid of fighting multiple Gorgons it might be useful to put a second purify in this book (which is also nice against curse warlocks).

Divine Might (Edit I removed it in the latest Iteration): Considering how few etherial objects are played in most games it might be not worth including the Divine Might Enchantment. In the rare case you really want to get rid of such an object you could enchant Fellala with Bear Strength and Lion Savagery+Hand of Bimshalla (her attacks are ethereal) and use Transfusion to shift the enchants after you dont need the Ethereal trait any more. For now I included Divine Might into the book because it can be a nice suprise and helps destroying the etherial object(s) quicker as compared to the Fellala method. Still, if you want to change some cards, I would consider removing Divine Might.

Other useful spells to consider:

Retaliate: Great synergy with Melee+X from Bear Strength and Kralathors growth markers. It can also lead to Kralathor devouring even more creatures! Unfortunately, it costs the Druid 3 Spellpoints. Hence, I didnt include it (some of you might already know I'm really spellpoint conservative ;)). If you play a similar deck with the Beastmaster you might want to include Retaliate (and also Veterans Belt, which I find too Spellpoint costly for the druid considering he can be very tough even without it).

Any curse, especially Agony: You can use Fellella to cast curses while your mage does not need to move and hence is able to meditate. I found Agony the most useful curse considering the Spellpoints it costs. It excels against Creatures with multiple attacks per round. Therefore, it might be good to have two or more Agony in the book. Edit: I added another Agony and Enfeeble, because its too good against big and heavily enchanted creatures. If the Opponent tries to dispel it, just move it to his Mage or another big creature with Transfusion during the counter spell step.

Vampirism: This enchantment can be really nice if combined with Bear Strength and Lion Savagery. In general, im not a big fan of enchantments that cost 4 Spellpoints or more though, since dispelling them always gives the opponent a Spellpoint advantage (I think alot in terms of that!). Usually, I prefer including copies of 1 spellpoint enchantments instead of paying 4 spellpoints for Vampirism. For the Beastmaster Version of this deck Vampirism might be even better.

Hurl Boulder or Force Hammer:
Sometimes you really want to get rid of an annoying creature or conjuration. These spells can really turn the tide in those situations! With the Tinker Bell deck I feel like they are not needed though, because the Angels 7 dice attack and the fact that he has Cheetah Speed, Flying and Mongoose Agility if needed make sure conjurations dont annoy you for too long. Even most creatures die quickly unless they got a couple of defensive enchantments (in which case a Hurl Boulder would not do its job too good anyway).

Thats it for now. I hope you like this deck and enjoy adjusting it to your needs! It might also help to counter Watergate or Blasting Banker. I had some really nice games against a variation of Watergate Wizard in which this Tinker Bell Deck did really well. Against Blasting Banker I have no idea who would win, but it definitely will be an interesting match :P. Have fun and keep playing this awesome game!
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 08:33:54 AM by Charmyna »

Wildhorn

  • Superior artificial brain, feel free to call me Blaine.
  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1063
  • Banana Stickers 3
    • View Profile
    • Mage Wars Quebec
Re: Tinker Bell
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2014, 01:50:48 PM »
Your round 1 2 3 ... Bear Strength on Angel... What angel?

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bell
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2014, 01:54:54 PM »
Your round 1 2 3 ... Bear Strength on Angel... What angel?

Ups, fixed that^^. Thx for pointing this out!

Biblofilter

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 836
  • Banana Stickers 1
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bell
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2014, 02:01:22 PM »
Looks nice.

I really like using a lot of enchantments, so this seems like something i should try!

Tx for posting, as always your opening my eyes to new and interesting ideas.

(like the heavy use of enchantment transfusions)
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid
"Töten". "Alles Töten".
Best strat advice ever

gerni

  • New Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 22
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2014, 04:16:34 PM »
Gefällt mir :) Gibt's bald nen Video dazu?

I really like the idea. At first glance, I'm wondering how frequently you (can) use the Vine Tree. As far as I can see, spawning vine creatures is not central to your game plan, right? So does he primarily give you +1 channeling and the ability to bond and additional flexibility when needed (as you described with Kralathor)?

I have little experience with familiars (on the druid), but for me it seems natural to use the Vine Tree more as a "controling spawnpoint". Therefore, I am surprised that you "only" have one plant conjuration. What about multiple Tanglevines, a Stranglevine, Orchid or a Wall (LoS can be crucial)? Why did you decide not to put some more in?
Maybe you could share some more light on the Vine Tree in this book (or is it simply the fact, that it is the best tree ;) ). 

Some loose question popping into my mind:

  • How do you handle guards without slam or pushes? Is one mongoose enough?
  • Did you play versus aggressive openings a la Adramalech or a Brute swarm (strong in our meta here) do you adjust or are you safe the way you described?
  • Do you have any experience vs Necromancers? (Idol of pestilence/Deathlock)?


I'm sure I have more questions when I thought more about the book. Nice to see you posting. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Regards,
gerni
« Last Edit: October 08, 2014, 04:25:37 PM by gerni »
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2014, 06:03:57 PM »
Gefällt mir :) Gibt's bald nen Video dazu?

I really like the idea. At first glance, I'm wondering how frequently you (can) use the Vine Tree. As far as I can see, spawning vine creatures is not central to your game plan, right? So does he primarily give you +1 channeling and the ability to bond and additional flexibility when needed (as you described with Kralathor)?

I have little experience with familiars (on the druid), but for me it seems natural to use the Vine Tree more as a "controling spawnpoint". Therefore, I am surprised that you "only" have one plant conjuration. What about multiple Tanglevines, a Stranglevine, Orchid or a Wall (LoS can be crucial)? Why did you decide not to put some more in?
Maybe you could share some more light on the Vine Tree in this book (or is it simply the fact, that it is the best tree ;) ). 

Some loose question popping into my mind:

  • How do you handle guards without slam or pushes? Is one mongoose enough?
  • Did you play versus aggressive openings a la Adramalech or a Brute swarm (strong in our meta here) do you adjust or are you safe the way you described?
  • Do you have any experience vs Necromancers? (Idol of pestilence/Deathlock)?


I'm sure I have more questions when I thought more about the book. Nice to see you posting. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Regards,
gerni

Thanks for posting your questions :).
Your thoughts about the Vine Tree are quite similar to mine. First, I tried this deck with the Etherian Lifetree since I could cast it in round one and it increases the survivability of Fellella and the Angel. The downside was that I often tried to kill creatures with the Angel. The Lifetree didnt help here. Often the increased HP on Fellella isnt needed as well. Additionally, the Vine Tree costs only 2 extra mana and increases your channeling! So even if I have to cast him in 2nd round and even though I dont use his action much often (I use him like 3-4 times per  game usually) I still prefer him over Lifetree because in the situations I use his action and mana, its quite valuable.
Btw you are right about including some more controlling vine spells like tanglevine. Often one tanglevine is enough for me, hence I included just one. But, there are situations in which I wish I had more ;). This book is not fixed. I played quite some games with this deck yet, but it will still evolve with every match I play and I strongly suggest anyone who uses it to adapt it to the local meta!
Corrosive Orchid can be nice, but I prefer Dissolve because its cheaper Mana and Spellpoint wise. Often I dont feel like the Orchid itself is worth the 7 Mana because it dies too quickly or is avoided too easily.
About Walls: Some Walls can be nice for sure, but in general im not too much a fan of them. Usually I try to solve problems without them, because if the opponent finds a way to play around them they are just a mana/action sink. Btw the Vine Tree cant cast any wall that blocks LoS!

About your other questions:
1. Usually one Mongoose, Tanglevine and Teleport is enough against guards. Often, the opponent doesnt have enough dispels left when it comes to Mongoose. And if i feel like i really dont want to loose mongoose I can still use Enchantment Transfusion to save it. Then again, another mongoose wouldnt hurt since its so cheap.
2. I havent played against Adramelech or Brute swarm with this Deck. Adramelech is for sure threatening for the Vine Tree so it will be a challenging game. With a falcon Precision Adramelech will be also very dangerous for Fellella! Against Adramelech it might be useful to include at least 3 Agony because they hurt his sweeping attack exceptionally well. So with Fellella you could reapply Agony a couple of times to gain an action advantage (and mana if using wardstone). You could protect the Tree with the Guardian Angel so Adramelech will hit him for only 1 Dice and the Tree for 4 dice (or your druid for 2 dice if you guard with him as well). So I would hope that by reducing Adramelechs damage output and slowly dealing damage to him via counterattacks (maybe supported by a Rust on Adra) its possible to kill him before the tree dies or at least to kill him shortly after the tree died.
Im not too afraid of Brute swarm btw. If they attack the tree they dont benefit from bloodthirsty +2. Attacking the druid is usually not a good idea as well because they are lumbering and hindered by the vine markers (so Zombie Frenzy doesnt help). If the Necro wants to make sure his Brutes keep hitting the Druid he will need quite a couple Teleport and even more actions because Fellalla can Nullify the Druid. With this build im not too afraid of Deathlock and Idol because the Angel and maybe a Vine Snapper or Raptor Vine spawned on top of a conjuration deals with them quickly if unprotected. Sure, he can use the Zombie Brutes to guard, but then his Brutes wont damage the Druid/Tree and I might just choose another target or use Mongoose/Tanglevine. If the Necro uses the promo Gravikor or Maim Wings and hence his Brutes are able to attack the Guardian Angel after it already got damaged by Idol of Pestilence this can be quite difficult to handle. In such a situation it might be really useful to have a Force Hammer or Hurl Boulder against Gravikor (and I would dispel Maim Wings ASAP)!
So yeah both situations which you described can be quite challenging for this deck and it will depend on who finds the better answer in a given board situation as it always does in a good game. This deck has enough flexibility to often find a good answer though :).

Edit to question 2: After thinking a while how I would play against Adramelech I came to the conclusion that Mohktari might be the better choice as a tree against aggressive builds. Against those builds my Druid, Fellella and the Guardian Angel will often stay in the Trees zone or in its vicinity. So Mohktari essetially saves 2-3 actions and 11-16 Mana for 2-3 regrowth! You will never save so many Mana and actions with the Vine Tree in such games! Actually, even in games against slow opponents Mohktari will save the Regrowth on the Druid and Fellella, which is worth 2 actions and 11 Mana! Thinking about Vine Tree, in most games it saved me 2-3 actions and 6-10 Mana during the most important first 5-8 rounds of the game. Since Mohktari gains a similar advantage without a delay I consider removing the Vine Tree completely and playing Mohktari every game. I need to test that first though. Its also very important to note that Mohktari is the only tree so far with 2 base armor. So as a treebonded Tree he will have 12 Life and 3 Armor! That one extra armor is quite worth something, especially against Adramelech! A downside of Mohktari is that he is legendary though. So you cant be sure to play him early in the game. Hence, it might be best to include Mohktari and the Vine Tree in this deck just in case. They are both very solid conjurations anyway.
So back to Adramelech. I would choose the following opening:

Round 1 (19 Mana on Mage):
Mage:
Fellella (12 Mana)
Meditation Amulet (4 Mana)

Round 2 (12 Mana on Mage, 1 Mana on Fellella):
Mage prepares Mohktari and Agony. If the Opponent casts Adramelech (I guess he moved twice in round 1), move a zone with the Druid and cast hidden Agony on Adra (2 Mana). Use the Quickcast for Mohktari (8 Mana).
Fellella: Cast Rhino Hide on Fellella (1 Mana from Druid, 1 Mana from Fellella)

Round 3 (11 Mana on Mage, 1 Mana on Fellella):
Prepare Bulls Endurance and Leather Boots with Druid, Divine Protection with Fellella.
In this Opening there is not enough Mana on Druid to cast Angel this turn and the Mana is needed to reveal the enchants on Fellella in case she is attacked by Adramelech this round (the opponent could use Teleport+Falcon Precision).
Druid uses Quickcast for Bulls Endurance on Fellella (2 Mana).
If the Opponent has Ini, he might attack Fellella with Adramelech first. In that case the Druid is able to reveal Agony (3 Mana), Rhino Hide (2 Mana) and even Bulls Endurance if Adramelech rolls really lucky (3 Mana)! In this Situation the Druid can use Meditation Amulet in this round while Fellella casts Divine Protection on her. Next Round the Druid will dispel Falcon Precision and cast Enchantment Transfusion on Fellella while Fellella casts Healing Charm on her. So in this Situation Fellella will have 10 Life, 2 Armor, Awesome Defense, Aegis and Regeneration on her! Adramelech wont kill her even if the Opponent uses both his actions to recast Falcon Precision and to dispel Agony.
If Adramelech attacks the Druid in Round 3, move to Mohktaris Zone and cast Leather Boots. Next Upkeep Phase the Druid will heal 4 damage (2 from Regen, 2 from Lifebond), so being hit by Adramelech wont mean alot to him.
Depending on what Adramelech attacks the druid should be able to cast the Angel in Round 4 or 5 after which he can start attacking Adra.

Instead of casting Agony on Adra the Druid can also cast Enfeeble on Adra. Next round cast Transfusion on Adra as well and reveal Enfeeble. If the opponent tries to dispel Enfeeble move it to his mage. That way he has to pay 6 mana while you pay 4 mana for Transfusion and Enfeeble on his Mage is really annoying for him! If you want cast Transfusion on his Mage again but he might stay out of range of Adra when he dispels it next time so you would need to move Enfeeble to one of your creatures and then with another Transfusion to Adra, so that is not too efficient. In the end it will depend on the actual position on the board whether or not its worth to cast a Transfusion on his Mage to protect Enfeeble.

With this Opening the Angel arrives late but due to Mohktari and Agony/Enfeeble you significantly reduce Adramelechs damage potential. Once the Angel is out, Adramelech will be hindered. This allows Fellella to stay at save range unless Adra has Mongoose Agility+Cheetah Speed which I guess would cost the Opponent too much actions/mana at the beginning to keep up. Against Adra it really helps that Mohktari has 3 Armor and that your Mage gains Regrowth so he will be able to use Lifebond without accumulating damage! Its important though to be aware of fire Zone attacks. Hence Fellella should only be in the same Zone as Mohktari and the Druid if the Regeneration is really needed. I dont say this is a save counter versus Adramelech, but at least from theorycrafting I think it will work better compared to the Vine Tree opening and I think this opening isnt too shabby against Adra.

If you expect your opponent to play aggressive you could also cast Meditation Amulet in Round 1 and instead of casting Fellella, use it to meditate! That way you see what your Opponent does and you will be able to adapt. If he moves twice, he might cast Adramelech or a similar threat. So you might not want to cast Fellella, because she might need too many of your and her Actions to let her survive in this situation. Instead you can cast Guardian Angel and Mohktari in Round 2.  Buffed by Bear Strength and Mohktari and thanks to his inherent healing via guarding the Angel should be able to compete well against Adramelech!
If your expectation was wrong, you can still cast Fellella and Mohktari in Round 2. That way you will have lost one Mana and one of Fellellas actions compared to the Opening in which Fellella is cast in Round 1. But this loss might be worth the Flexibility you gained.

Edit3:
If you play with Promos or if it gets released one day you can also use Gravikor against Adramelech. The reason I think that would be good is the vine markers: You can teleport Adra away with a teleport wand and he will be hindered for 2-3 rounds. Additionally you can cast Nullify on your Mage with Fellala to make your Opponent pay even more actions for dissovling the mage wand. If you got enough time you could cast Nullify and Transfusion on Fellella to make sure your Mage Wand survives even longer, but that might not work in Reality because you need your actions for other stuff. If you know that in your local meta you will face Adramelech or other fire creatures quite often you might also consider including a Firebrand Imp into this deck for only two spellpoints. He has Flame Immunity, which makes him a formidable guard against Adramelech. That will not protect Fellella unless you remove Adramelechs Flying trait, but it will protect your Druid and Tree.

Another good answer to big creatures is Enfeeble. Sure it can be dispelled which costs the opponent only 2 Spellpoints, but against that you can use Transfusion to somehow counter the Dispel! Enfeeble on a Mage is often as annoying as it is on Adramelech and since this book got plenty Transfusion this is quite a natural move.

Edit 4:
Im still a noob ;). I just realized Maim Wings is a lvl 1 enchantment. Somehow I thought it is lvl 2 similar to Eagle Wings. Hence, I guess its a good idea to have one Maim Wings in this book which you can use against any big flyer like Adramelech who might be able to kill Fellella efficiently. Maim Wings also helps against Adra because he will be hindered by the Vine Markers. Sure the opponent might dispel Maim Wings, but you can use Enchantment Transfusion to move Maim Wings to Fellella because then the Druid/Angel will be able to protect her with guard. If you want you can transfuse Maim Wings back to Adra or just Enfeeble/Agony Adra.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 10:31:14 AM by Charmyna »

Borg

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 571
  • Banana Stickers 3
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2014, 03:27:27 AM »
Lately, I've been adding [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] to quite a few of my Books especially my near enchantmentless Beastmaster deck, specifically to counter the overuse of enchantments of many books.
It looks like Harshforge Monolith could hurt this deck real bad all at once or am I seeing this wrong ?
  • Favourite Mage: Salenia Forcemaster

zorro

  • Jr. Mage
  • **
  • Posts: 87
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2014, 03:39:52 AM »
Have you considered adding Brace Yourself? An enchantment for 1 spell point, that may have a similar impact as Bull endurance for less mana cost.
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2014, 05:43:55 AM »
Lately, I've been adding [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] to quite a few of my Books especially my near enchantmentless Beastmaster deck, specifically to counter the overuse of enchantments of many books.
It looks like Harshforge Monolith could hurt this deck real bad all at once or am I seeing this wrong ?

Harshforge is for sure nice against my build! So far noone used it against me. Since it effect has only range 1, my Mage and Fellella should be able to stay out of range. If the Harshforge is played during the last QC phase, I might not be able to avoid its effect though, so it might cost me 10+ mana during the next upkeep round. This is more than the Monolith cost itself (6 mana) and considering I have only 10 Channeling, if I spent all my mana in the previous round I might not be able to pay the upkeep for all enchants. So yeah it will be a really good spell to use against this deck. If more players will start using it, I might include Mana Prism in this deck. It will not completely counter Harshforge Monolith but will make it hurt less. The downside will be that I would need to cast Mana Prism before Monolith has been cast which doesnt seem to be a really good move since the opponent might not cast the Monolith at all after that. Then again Mana Prism helps against other stuff as well. In the end, I need to see how it works in a real game ;).

Have you considered adding Brace Yourself? An enchantment for 1 spell point, that may have a similar impact as Bull endurance for less mana cost.

I have considered it, but since I usually use Rhino Hide on Fellella and the Angel, I doubt that additional Armor will save the creature from 4 damage. Btw Bulls Endurance is also favourable because if the creature dies at some point, you can still use Transfusion (unless the Opponent was lucky and seeking dispelled it) to move Bulls to another creature. This cant be done with Brace Yourself. Another reason is that the damage you absorbed by Bulls can be regenerated. For all these reasons I prefer to have another cheap nature enchant instead of brace yourself. Dont get me wrong - Brace Yourself is a nice card for every non nature Mage! Just a nature mage got access to so many 1 spellpoint enchantments that I think there is a better option than brace yourself in nearly every situation.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 05:47:44 AM by Charmyna »

Borg

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 571
  • Banana Stickers 3
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2014, 07:58:47 AM »
Lately, I've been adding [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] to quite a few of my Books especially my near enchantmentless Beastmaster deck, specifically to counter the overuse of enchantments of many books.
It looks like Harshforge Monolith could hurt this deck real bad all at once or am I seeing this wrong ?

Harshforge is for sure nice against my build! So far noone used it against me. Since it effect has only range 1, my Mage and Fellella should be able to stay out of range. If the Harshforge is played during the last QC phase, I might not be able to avoid its effect though, so it might cost me 10+ mana during the next upkeep round. This is more than the Monolith cost itself (6 mana) and considering I have only 10 Channeling, if I spent all my mana in the previous round I might not be able to pay the upkeep for all enchants. So yeah it will be a really good spell to use against this deck. If more players will start using it, I might include Mana Prism in this deck. It will not completely counter Harshforge Monolith but will make it hurt less. The downside will be that I would need to cast Mana Prism before Monolith has been cast which doesnt seem to be a really good move since the opponent might not cast the Monolith at all after that. Then again Mana Prism helps against other stuff as well. In the end, I need to see how it works in a real game ;).
Range is (luckily) only one for the Monolith :) (otherwise it would be way too powerful imo) but played in a centre zone it still covers 5 zones and of course the Monolith player will for sure carry some Force Pushes/Teleports to push the main enchantment carrier back into the Monolith's zone of effect during final quickcast of the following turn. Getting out of this stranglehold can be quite painful in the end, either let go of a number of enchantments ( meaning lost mana and actions in the process ) or continuing the fight with a minimum of mana ( not a great option either ).
  • Favourite Mage: Salenia Forcemaster

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2014, 08:09:34 AM »
Lately, I've been adding [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ01]Harshforge Monolith[/mwcard] to quite a few of my Books especially my near enchantmentless Beastmaster deck, specifically to counter the overuse of enchantments of many books.
It looks like Harshforge Monolith could hurt this deck real bad all at once or am I seeing this wrong ?

Harshforge is for sure nice against my build! So far noone used it against me. Since it effect has only range 1, my Mage and Fellella should be able to stay out of range. If the Harshforge is played during the last QC phase, I might not be able to avoid its effect though, so it might cost me 10+ mana during the next upkeep round. This is more than the Monolith cost itself (6 mana) and considering I have only 10 Channeling, if I spent all my mana in the previous round I might not be able to pay the upkeep for all enchants. So yeah it will be a really good spell to use against this deck. If more players will start using it, I might include Mana Prism in this deck. It will not completely counter Harshforge Monolith but will make it hurt less. The downside will be that I would need to cast Mana Prism before Monolith has been cast which doesnt seem to be a really good move since the opponent might not cast the Monolith at all after that. Then again Mana Prism helps against other stuff as well. In the end, I need to see how it works in a real game ;).
Range is (luckily) only one for the Monolith :) (otherwise it would be way too powerful imo) but played in a centre zone it still covers 5 zones and of course the Monolith player will for sure carry some Force Pushes/Teleports to push the main enchantment carrier back into the Monolith's zone of effect during final quickcast of the following turn. Getting out of this stranglehold can be quite painful in the end, either let go of a number of enchantments ( meaning lost mana and actions in the process ) or continuing the fight with a minimum of mana ( not a great option either ).

Yeah it will be annoying. How annoying will depend on the positioning of the Monolith. Since the opponent wants maximum effect right after it has been cast, he might not cast it in one of the central zones and he might not even cast it in the zone of the angel but an adjacent one. Since the angel has fast and Flying he should be able to move far away from the Monolith and still attack in the next round. So the opponent would need a teleport to bring the angel back into the monolith reach. A teleport costs many spellpoints and mana though so im not too afraid of that. Then again, it might be better to just kill the Monolith ASAP instead of fleeing with the Angel. So it might be good to attack with the angel then use transfusion to move Bear Streangth and Lion Savagery on another Creature and attack again. It will all depend on the board situation.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 08:11:45 AM by Charmyna »

Borg

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 571
  • Banana Stickers 3
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2014, 08:37:33 AM »
You're correct in that the Monolith is not always cast in a centre zone, because often those zones are already taken by another Zone Exclusive Conjuration or the game situation dictates that the Monolith is cast in another zone for immediate maximum effect.

I like to keep my Beastmaster and preferably also the opposing Mage in an overlapping zone though, so as to force my opponent to bring his ( enchanted) creatures into the affected zones or be unable to melee attack my Mage.

Needless to say, Force Pushes and Eagleclaw Boots play a pivotal part in the battle as well.

I'll post the entire book tonight, Charmyna, just in case you're interested, I'd be obliged if you'd take a look at it ;)
  • Favourite Mage: Salenia Forcemaster

Laddinfance

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 4646
  • Banana Stickers 2
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2014, 08:43:14 AM »
Charmyna - It's great to see another spellbook from you. I've been working on my own Fellella book for a while now, but never really cracked it. Though I am curious why the one Thunderift Falcon?

Charmyna

  • Playtester
  • Full Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 172
  • Banana Stickers 1
  • Dark Destroyer
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2014, 09:00:48 AM »
You're correct in that the Monolith is not always cast in a centre zone, because often those zones are already taken by another Zone Exclusive Conjuration or the game situation dictates that the Monolith is cast in another zone for immediate maximum effect.

I like to keep my Beastmaster and preferably also the opposing Mage in an overlapping zone though, so as to force my opponent to bring his ( enchanted) creatures into the affected zones or be unable to melee attack my Mage.

Needless to say, Force Pushes and Eagleclaw Boots play a pivotal part in the battle as well.

I'll post the entire book tonight, Charmyna, just in case you're interested, I'd be obliged if you'd take a look at it ;)

Sure, im happy to do that :).

Charmyna - It's great to see another spellbook from you. I've been working on my own Fellella book for a while now, but never really cracked it. Though I am curious why the one Thunderift Falcon?

Good Question :). Im not too sure about that Falcon. I never used it so far. The idea is that I can cast him if i feel like my angel is going to die soon and I need a cheap flying creature to transer his enchants to. With all the defensive enchants I hope the Falcon would live long enough till I can cast Kralathor and once the Falcon dies move the enchants to him. For now thats just theorycrafting though.
Instead of moving the enchants to the Falcon I could move them to Fellella, but then I would either make no use of the aggressive enchants or wont use her ability to cast enchantments each round. So I prefer moving the enchants to  Falcon. Additionally, at the time the Angel is going to die both, the Angel and Fellella, usually have a Rhino Hide and Bulls Endurance on them. Hence, I could not move those enchants to Fellella. Instead I could move them to my Druid, but then again I would need to attack with him to make use of the aggressive enchants, which I often dont want to. And for the Druid its more difficult to make use of Lion Savagery as compared to flying units.
Oh and a nice idea of Murphy was to feed the falcon to Kralathor to make sure that guy stays on the board^^. I might do that if the Falcon already got damaged and has no enchants on him :P.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 09:07:56 AM by Charmyna »

BoomFrog

  • Full Mage
  • ***
  • Posts: 222
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Tinker Bells Angel
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2014, 10:32:44 AM »
Hi Charmyna, your book is very similar in strategy to my Druid - Predetor book.  I play a vampiress as my enchantment bearer instead of a guardian angel, and I skip the meditation amulet and Fellella.  I love Fellelle and wish she worked better but I think you are overpaying for her benefits.  Instead of a meditation amulet you could just be using your druid's main actions to cast a second enchantment.

The Efficacy of Fellella:
Fellella requires 2 enchants as a preemptive defense but she can play them on herself and she channels so lets say she costs 12+1+1 = 14 mana.  She doesn't start benefiting you until 3 rounds after she is summoned (she's busy protecting herself the first two rounds.)  Her benefit is to allow your mage to use their main action for something else, which we will say is worth about 3 mana since you can be attacking, meditating, or guarding.  Plus he channeling she is benefiting you 4 mana a round which means if you play her round 1 she was a net benefit on round 7.  Really I'd say break even round 7 because she cost you 2 channeling by delaying your tree.  This is not even considering the cost of meditation amulet which is 4 + an action, so delays her break even point by 2 more rounds.

I don't know about you but that is too late of a pay-off for me.  There is some benefit from action compression, that you can cast 3 spells in one turn which sometimes the burst is worthwhile, but I still don't feel it's worth it.  I recommend you try the book with turn 1: tree+enchanter's ring, turn 2: Angel+enchant.  I think it will be a much faster and even more powerful opening.

Angel vs Vampiress:
If you were facing a hugely enchanted monster creature, what would you dispel first Divine Protection+Cobra Reflexes or Vampirism+Bear Strength?  With modular add on enchantments you can customize your creature to the situation so the base creature starts to not matter, however the vampiress can reach a higher maximum strength and I'd say the ability to choose not to fly can be quite valuable because if the enemy tries to target your creature you can guard her with your druid.  Lastly Angel is innately defensive which is situational, but vampiress is aggressive which is always useful.  Bear Str is almost always one of the first 2 enchants I put on.

Their mana efficiency is roughly the same (within 2 mana), depending on how you value the vampiress' optional flying.  Math for the math inclined:

Angel+Bear Str+Vampirism + 1/2xRhino Hide+3/4xBull's Endurance = Vampire + 5/6xCobra Reflexes + Divine Protection + Eagle Wings. 

13+5+6+2+3.75 = 29.75 mana for monster angel, and 16+5.83+4+6 = 31.83 mana for monster Vampiress.  You could argue the vampiress deserves a discount because you don't need to fly 6 times in most games, usually twice is enough so her innate fly is more efficient then casting eagle wings.

P.S. I know you love low SP costs, but Akiro's favor is amazing on an enchanted monster creature.  You get to leave it facedown most of the time and only flip it after seeing the dice roll went sour, and it only cost 3 mana total.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2014, 10:36:45 AM by BoomFrog »