Transfusion Priestess

[Borg]

It started with an idea, but then the results turned out to be even better than expected.

For starters, here's the book :

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Transfusion Priestess[/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]3 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]4 x  Wall of Earth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]4 x  Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]2 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]2 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]6 x  Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]2 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]3 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]3 x  Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x  Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x  Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]1 x  Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]2 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]1 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x  Heal[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

The book wants to exploit Enchantment Transfusion to its full capacity.

From a defensive standpoint : ET allows you to protect a stack of enchantments by giving you "instant" speed to transfer the stack of enchantments to another creature should something tragic happen to the stack bearer.

From an offensive standpoint : ET allows you to attack with TWO fully equipped creatures even though you have cast all those enchantments only once thus giving you an enormous action, mana and power advantage.

The ideal Creature for the Priestess to use this strategy on is of course the Guardian Angel.
I'm not going to go over all that creature's positives here as I reckon they're already known by all here.
One important point to mention here though, is that the GA is a flyer and that means that the Priestess has line of sight to them at all times, even when behind a wall.

And that's where our secondary strategy comes in : getting the most out of our Walls of Earth.

For starters, they are immune to the most prolific ranged damage elements in the game : Fire and Lightning making them a nightmare to get rid of for Mages specializing in that element.

Second, they are cheap to cast at only 5 mana and hold up relatively well with 8 life.

But third and most important, the Priestess is going to use them defensively by moving over and around them - with the help of her Eagleclaw Boots - to completely stay out of melee contact while at the same time being able to keep line of sight to her Angels open and thus continue her offense unhindered as well.

Possible tactics with the walls include :
- wall the Priestess/enemy mage off and simply continue your strategy
- Trick an enemy flyer into a walled off zone then play your Maim Wings on it and leave it there to rot ( I see you Adramelech, here kitty, kitty )

The Priestess can afford to take a hit or two during the early turns while she's setting up both Angels and the Enchantment stack as she will be able to evade enemy contact and heal in consequent turns.

And let's not forget her Restore and Divine Reward skills, meaning any condition counters can be dealt with swiftly if necessary.

The opening strategy goes like this :

R1-20 : Avenging Angel - Enchanter's Ring

R2-16 : cast on Angel FD cheetah Speed - FD Lion Savagery

- move Priestess closer to enemy mage, if advisable, so that the following angel can be cast in cheetah speed striking range. Try to move your Priestess as such that 1 wall can block line of sight to your Priestess as opposed to staying diagonally vs the opposing mage.
- double move Angel to NC or if possible attack, the Angel can double move and attack with 5 dice and Pierce+1 at this point

R3-23 : FD Bear Strength - FD Enchantment Transfusion
- assuming we haven't attacked yet in round two, attack with Angel, reveal BS,LS,CS : 7 dice, Pierce+1

R4-21 : Avenging Angel - Rouse the Beast
- Attack with your enchanted Angel : 7 dice, Pierce+1 (14 dice )
- Transfuse the enchantments to the second angel and attack again : 7 dice, Pierce+1 (21 dice )

R5-13 : Wall of Earth - Enchantment Transfusion
- move your Priestess in a defensive position and cast the wall to block her from the enemy
- make two attacks again : 2 x 7 dice, Pierce+1 (35 dice)

From this point on, the Priestess should play "hard to get" while continuing her support of the Angels.
If one goes down, no problem, just cast a new one.

edit and spellcheck will be for later, go to go now.

Love to hear your input.

[wtcannonjr]

Have you considered using the priest instead?

A gray angel with Holy Avenger can increase your attack ability.

[Borg]

Have you considered using the priest instead?

A gray angel with Holy Avenger can increase your attack ability.

I did.

The Priest has :
- the Holy Avenger advantage you mentioned but
- channels only 9 mana
- his daze/light attack is wasted since you're planning to stay out of conflict
- his Malakai's Fire skill is wasted, unless you want to use mediocre Light ranged Spells ( for which you may not have the actions nor mana )
- but most importantly, if you use 1 Angel + the Priest, this strategy doesn't work as you have only your QC to work with and that should be your Transfusion spell, so you can't really develop your enchantments any further nor respond to enemy spells once you start hacking.

The Priestess however has :
- higher channeling
- can still put to use all her skills
- has easy condition removal
- doesn't waste any special melee attack

Overall, I'd say the Priestess has more advantages and no disadvantages from this strategy.

[Biblofilter]

You might even try to do variation with:

Straywood Beastmaster
Johktari Beastmaster
Druid

Change some of the healing to nature: Regrowth belt, Regrowth, Renewing Spring etc.

Especially Druid with level 1 water might will be cheaper spellpointwise., even the Beastmasters might be cheaper.

Enchantment Transfusion and Guardian Angel is a nice combo.

[Schwenkgott]

A long time ago, i played against someone, using the same strategie with the Wizard and his gremlins. I think, it's more effective in this combination, because gremlins are cheap and hit harder than the Angel.
In the end, the strategy can be countered in many ways.

[Borg]

A long time ago, i played against someone, using the same strategie with the Wizard and his gremlins. I think, it's more effective in this combination, because gremlins are cheap and hit harder than the Angel.

Gremlins are cheaper indeed and hit harder due to their Pierce +1
but they are also rather fragile at only 7 life vs the Angels 12 life + Aegis.

Mana isn't really a problem either during this build up so the Angels are very affordable.

Angels can also stay out of harms way better due to their Flying trait
whereas everybody can take a swing at the Gremlins, meaning the strategy is easier to maintain with Angels.

Gremlins, at 7 life are not that difficult to "one shot", so I think it's quite possible to take out 2 full health Gremlins in 1 round and thereby killing the entire set up in 1 round while it seems almost impossible IMO to take out two full health Angels in 1 round.

Once the Gremlins have taken some damage, the engine is in serious danger of collapsing whereas the Angels can heal themselves and still can very much stay out of contact without any effort due to their Flying.

In short, Gremlins are cheaper and pack a little more punch but that engine is easier to break up
whereas Angels cost more, hit slightly less but are much more reliable to keep the engine going imo.

In the end, it's a matter of choice.

In the end, the strategy can be countered in many ways.

Every strategy is supposed to have counters in Mage Wars, not otherwise the game would get dull real fast.
The hardest counter I can think of is a seeking Dispel on a Mage Wand.

[Sailor Vulcan]

A long time ago, i played against someone, using the same strategie with the Wizard and his gremlins. I think, it's more effective in this combination, because gremlins are cheap and hit harder than the Angel.

Gremlins are cheaper indeed and hit harder due to their Pierce +1
but they are also rather fragile at only 7 life vs the Angels 12 life + Aegis.

Mana isn't really a problem either during this build up so the Angels are very affordable.

Angels can also stay out of harms way better due to their Flying trait
whereas everybody can take a swing at the Gremlins, meaning the strategy is easier to maintain with Angels.

Gremlins, at 7 life are not that difficult to "one shot", so I think it's quite possible to take out 2 full health Gremlins in 1 round and thereby killing the entire set up in 1 round while it seems almost impossible IMO to take out two full health Angels in 1 round.

Once the Gremlins have taken some damage, the engine is in serious danger of collapsing whereas the Angels can heal themselves and still can very much stay out of contact without any effort due to their Flying.

In short, Gremlins are cheaper and pack a little more punch but that engine is easier to break up
whereas Angels cost more, hit slightly less but are much more reliable to keep the engine going imo.

In the end, it's a matter of choice.

In the end, the strategy can be countered in many ways.

Every strategy is supposed to have counters in Mage Wars, not otherwise the game would get dull real fast.
The hardest counter I can think of is a seeking Dispel on a Mage Wand.

Different strategies in mage wars have different advantages and disadvantages. Entire spellbook designs usually don't hard-counter each other. If your entire strategy is hard-countered by something, that usually just means that you didn't design your spellbook to cover all its weaknesses.

[Borg]

Different strategies in mage wars have different advantages and disadvantages. Entire spellbook designs usually don't hard-counter each other. If your entire strategy is hard-countered by something, that usually just means that you didn't design your spellbook to cover all its weaknesses.

I think you misunderstood my point.

I didn't say that the entire book goes up in smoke when someone puts a Seeking Dispel on a Wand, I was just pointing out that that can seriously disrupt it, just to illustrate Schwenkgott's point that "the strategy can be countered"

EVERY book has trouble with something ...

If it did happen I would ( try to ) Dissolve the Wand or if that doesn't work for some reason just skip the Enchantment Transfusion engine and load up the second Angel individually.

The Transfusion engine saves you actions and mana and gives you speed but the book can be played without it as well.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Ah. Gotcha.

[DaveW]

I was trying to imagine playing against this set-up. I had two thoughts beyond "I have nothing that would work well against this." My thoughts were:

1) I so can't wait for Gravikor. Sitck it NC and ignore flyers for as long as it lives.
    and
2) I am putting a Harshforge Monolith in every book from here on out. I am not kidding.

[Biblofilter]

I was trying to imagine playing against this set-up. I had two thoughts beyond "I have nothing that would work well against this." My thoughts were:

1) I so can't wait for Gravikor. Sitck it NC and ignore flyers for as long as it lives.
    and
2) I am putting a Harshforge Monolith in every book from here on out. I am not kidding.

 
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