The Johktari RUSHmaster

[sdougla2]

Why would you play Wall of Thorns on a border of your own zone? I don't see how Fast helps the Johktari Beastmaster with this at all. You have an advantage in terms of repositioning later, but you'll still eat 20 dice of attacks and you're not really in any better position than another mage for pushing them through their own Wall of Thorns.

[sIKE]

And a Wizard with a Wizards Tower will try to start with a Surging Wave and go for three pushes.....

[echephron]

I find it interesting how the book only has 10 nature spellpoints

[Knabbmaster]

The easiest way (I think) to beat this is to first drop armor on yourself and then try to out damage your opponent. The fast trait sure is useful when you are the aggressor but if it is a race it dosen't help nearly as much.

[Intangible0]

The easiest way (I think) to beat this is to first drop armor on yourself and then try to out damage your opponent. The fast trait sure is useful when you are the aggressor but if it is a race it dosen't help nearly as much.

I agree, this is definitely a step in the right direction. I guess it means that spell books should consider having enough attack spells to counter such a strategy.

[Knabbmaster]

For everyone that plan too use wall of thorns and force push against this strategy should notice that most mages will get killed by four attack spells. Even though the wall of thorns deliver more dice of damage than hurl boulder it still requires the same amount of actions too kill your opponent. Therefor it will only work half the times (depending on who starts with initiative) and I really recommend that you have a better counter too the Rushmaster than that.

[Coshade]

I think there are also more ways in a mages school to counter the book. Not everyone wants lots of attack spells or WOT.

The Holy mage can have an easy solution of a Battle Forge that gives you leather armor, then you have 4 heals (maybe 2 minor, 2 heals). Since healing is more effective then attack spells you can keep up with the healing and use the Battle Forge to gain the extra advantage.

[Cnoedel]

So this Rushmaster is pretty nice and in theory I struggle against it too.

I am thinking of an "average" playstyle that can be pulled off with a standard spellbook because getting even more aggressiv then this book is nearly impossible since this book is build to be as aggro as possible.

If you play blind against it, you will loose the first time for sure i guess! Reverse Attack is not avaiable in any of my books so i'd choose Block instead (which i always have 2 in each book). It won't prevent all of the damage but you get quite a mana advantage on which you can build on. Maybe you can create a small window to gain action advantage since the rushmaster is solo without any familiar/spawnpoint. The match is going to be long and difficult but after you got rid of the akiros favor (which is in my opinion key to the fatality of this book) and dissolve any elemental wand the rushmaster will sooner or later run out of stamina (attackspells )

It is in no way easy and unprepared quite impossible but if you know what you are up to i guess you can turn the odds in your favor - even if the rushmaster knows your book, it just becomes a huge game of psychologie but aggro i all aggro can do so you have got to have patience.

I am missing serious game experience so please some of the more veteran players or even Intangible himself comment on my thoughts and if this is possible

[sdougla2]

I don't think I would necessarily lose against this the first time I played against it. Playing 2 enchantments turn 1 is a pretty big signal that your opponent is probably planning something really aggressive, and playing a chest piece or a Brace Yourself before getting hit with those 2 Hurl Boulders turn 2 will drastically reduce the pressure you find yourself under. If you spend some time thinking about what the most aggressive options are, what the signals for those openings are, and how you can mitigate them, I think you'll find that you don't need to deviate as far from your standard openings as you think in order to be reasonably safe. Block will go a long way because it both gives you a mana advantage and drastically slows the rate of incoming damage. Plus, once you've seen that your opponent is being hyper aggressive, you'll have a better idea of what you should be doing.

[Wildhorn]

I would not really struggle against that book. A simple Brace Yourself (I have at least 1 in all my books and I tend to cast it quite early, especially when the opponent rush toward me) will reduce by a big deal the initial damage. Also, an Intercept guard will reduce by half the damage output of the rushmaster.

[sIKE]

I would not really struggle against that book. A simple Brace Yourself (I have at least 1 in all my books and I tend to cast it quite early, especially when the opponent rush toward me) will reduce by a big deal the initial damage. Also, an Intercept guard will reduce by half the damage output of the rushmaster.

QFT - Brace Yourself and Intercept takes the steam out of the Rush. Now you have to have them, and as with any book you might enjoy success but as with all things with this game their are counters that will make it less successful. I don't count the couple of real strong Wizard builds in this equation though....

[Knabbmaster]

I would not really struggle against that book. A simple Brace Yourself (I have at least 1 in all my books and I tend to cast it quite early, especially when the opponent rush toward me) will reduce by a big deal the initial damage. Also, an Intercept guard will reduce by half the damage output of the rushmaster.

The next question you must ask yourself is "what is the rushmasters counter too this?". Vs intercept guards it is possible too use teleport or knockdown. I you cast brace yourself the opponent will wait until it's gone and then keep shooting boulders.

[sdougla2]

Once you have a creature or economy advantage over the Rushmaster, anything that extends the game tends to work to your advantage. Yes, they can wait another turn before throwing the second boulder at you if you reveal Brace Yourself, but forcing them to wait before attacking you still tends to work in your favor. Besides, you can respond by taking other defensive measures, and it gives your investments time to accrue value, whereas the Rushmaster doesn't have any creatures.

Similarly, forcing the Rushmaster to spend actions and mana on Teleport drastically slows down the rate at which she can deal damage. You don't NEED a creature with Intercept in order to be able to beat the Rushmaster, but they can certainly slow her down.

[MageHorst]

Once you have a creature or economy advantage over the Rushmaster, anything that extends the game tends to work to your advantage.

I absolutely agree - and in this respect, the Rushmaster isn't that different from other aggressive spellbooks which don't bother to put up any mid-/late-game advantages. Anything that prolongs your end helps you to win because at some point (and usually, you can put your finger on a specific round), the rusher runs out of puff.

[Bjorne]

Hi, my son plays a Johktari that starts shooting with a bow with 5 dice from turn 2. I find that even more annoying since all I do to prevent it (intercept, walls, pushes) cost me mana while his 5 dice attacks are "free".