Holy cats! 116 new cards. That's awesome. When this set comes out, Mage Wars will have a new release that isn't an accessory, promo, or reprint. The product release for this game is a refreshing pace compared to most CCGs and LCGs, which in my opinion are at such a whirlwind pace that I can neither justify the time nor financial commitment to keep up with them. I personally can't afford to play much more than biweekly, but it's refreshing to see the same plays are viable that have been around forever (e.g. Force Push through Wall of Thorns, Hurl Boulder, blah blah etc) suggesting there hasn't been too much power creep over the years.
116 cards with many of them being new spells, means this should really change up spell book design. This is more than just an alternate rule set with some tiles and a handful of cards thrown in.
While I commend the new variant on play, the refreshingly reasonable release of product for this game is great for players like me (e.g. 30+ with young families, mortgage payments, etc). I mean, there are still a large number of promos that have been out for well over a YEAR that you could go crazy trying to collect, but I'm happy that they aren't needed to play and will be released in sets eventually. One of the only weird things is we still don't have Frost spells... but you can clearly see Frost damage symbols on some of the Battlegrounds: Domination tiles, so we'll finally have a use for things like that Bearskin armor though! So awesome...
I think this game is slowing picking up pace, which is great because it's finally getting more popular in my area. With this and the Academy expansion / play mode, I hope the game will finally get the recognition it deserves.
Sorry for the rant, I just really love this game, and the evolution in gameplay and new product and play modes has me really excited!