Thoughtspore success stories

[Borg]

Hi all,

I'd love to hear about some Thoughtspore success stories you've witnessed or been part of :

More specifically, besides the obvious Acid Ball, Teleport or Dispel ...

1- were there any other "unusual" attacks/incantations that you have seen put to effective use on a Thoughtspore
2- What mage did the opposition play
3- do you have any suggestions as to what might be a good attack/incantation choice for Thoughtspore versus a certain Mage match-up ?

Thanks in advance.

[iNano78]

Not particularly exotic or unusual, but a [mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard] Spore can fly around and take out conjurations, including ones that have been walled in... and once that's done, can contribute to damaging creatures including the opposing mage.  I've used it myself to take out key conjurations, and I've had it used against me to take out literally all of my conjurations systematically.

A [mwcard=MW1I26]Sleep[/mwcard] Spore can be really annoying for a lot of mages.  Somebody recently posted about walling in the opposing mage with your Forcemaster while a Sleep-spore puts every potential threat/guard to sleep.

[mwcard=FWI06]Power Strike[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1I02]Battle Fury[/mwcard] could be useful for buffing your mage, but they're pretty one-dimensional.

And any of the various [mwcard=MW1I12]Force Push[/mwcard] options are very versatile.  They can be used to move the opposing mage closer, move opposing creatures away (or closer), or moving your Forcemaster wherever she needs to be (e.g. within striking distance or to get unhindered for regrouping purposes or to set up a [mwcard=FWI04]Force Wave[/mwcard], etc).  And it also doubles as a Nullify/Reverse Magic test, and can be used to throw a creature/mage against a wall for a 3-dice attack if no better use presents itself (which might trigger a Reverse Attack?).

[Borg]

Not particularly exotic or unusual, but a [mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard] Spore can fly around and take out conjurations, including ones that have been walled in... and once that's done, can contribute to damaging creatures including the opposing mage.  I've used it myself to take out key conjurations, and I've had it used against me to take out literally all of my conjurations systematically.

Ok, maybe somewhat on the expensive side but does sound like a good card to keep in mind when you're facing a Warlord.

A [mwcard=MW1I26]Sleep[/mwcard] Spore can be really annoying for a lot of mages. Somebody recently posted about walling in the opposing mage with your Forcemaster while a Sleep-spore puts every potential threat/guard to sleep.

Yes, I read that post too
I found out you need to carefully monitor your mana when trying to set that up. It's 13 mana already for the double Wall of Bones + the Sleep mana + any possible Force Pull/Push. Not simple ... but when it works ...

Sleep is also very good if you can effectively "lure" an opposing creature towards your Spore and then surprise him with the Sleep spell, leaving the creature incapacitated in a spot where it becomes difficult for the opposing mage to awaken it.

[mwcard=FWI06]Power Strike[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1I02]Battle Fury[/mwcard] could be useful for buffing your mage, but they're pretty one-dimensional.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't like Battle Fury for my Forcemaster as it's only a 4 dice attack ( with Pierce +2 granted ) with Galvitar for 5 mana and even worse, you always have to activate your Spore before your Forcemaster to get the effect and often times that order of play doesn't work out. "Phoning in" your play is usually not a good idea.

A card that falls in this same category ( = play before Master activates ) and which I've been giving some thought is [mwcard=MW1I19] Piercing Strike[/mwcard]

Together with Galvitar this gives you Pierce +5 for your quick attack for just 2 mana, no need for Acid Ball anymore there ...
Even your double strike becomes something to fear : a + melee strike with Piercing +3 and another attack for 4 dice to boost. Don't know how it actually plays out though as I haven't tried this yet but does seem to have potential imho.

And any of the various [mwcard=MW1I12]Force Push[/mwcard] options are very versatile.  They can be used to move the opposing mage closer, move opposing creatures away (or closer), or moving your Forcemaster wherever she needs to be (e.g. within striking distance or to get unhindered for regrouping purposes or to set up a [mwcard=FWI04]Force Wave[/mwcard], etc).  And it also doubles as a Nullify/Reverse Magic test, and can be used to throw a creature/mage against a wall for a 3-dice attack if no better use presents itself (which might trigger a Reverse Attack?).

Yes, Force Push seems a great choice vs a Wizard to trigger his Voltaric Shield if nothing else.

[iNano78]

[mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard] ...

Ok, maybe somewhat on the expensive side but does sound like a good card to keep in mind when you're facing a Warlord.

Or Druid.  Or to take out the turn-1 Battle Forge + Mana Crystal your opponent was depending on.

[mwcard=FWI06]Power Strike[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1I02]Battle Fury[/mwcard] could be useful for buffing your mage, but they're pretty one-dimensional.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't like Battle Fury for my Forcemaster as it's only a 4 dice attack ( with Pierce +2 granted ) with Galvitar for 5 mana and even worse, you always have to activate your Spore before your Forcemaster to get the effect and often times that order of play doesn't work out. "Phoning in" your play is usually not a good idea.

A card that falls in this same category ( = play before Master activates ) and which I've been giving some thought is [mwcard=MW1I19] Piercing Strike[/mwcard]

Together with Galvitar this gives you Pierce +5 for your quick attack for just 2 mana, no need for Acid Ball anymore there ...
Even your double strike becomes something to fear : a + melee strike with Piercing +3 and another attack for 4 dice to boost. Don't know how it actually plays out though as I haven't tried this yet but does seem to have potential imho.

I don't think you're missing anything.  Battle Fury isn't great because it's only a 4-dice attack.  But if you can get 3 (including Doublestrike) attacks out of your Forcemaster each turn before your opponent has a chance to armour-up, you might be able to race to victory.  Meanwhile, Power Strike adds 2 dice to your first (most heavily buffed) attack for 2 mana, which is pretty efficient - but as you said, you're telegraphing your next move.  Also, beware of Reverse Attack - especially considering your first attack is probably also buffed by [mwcard=MW1E01]Bear Strength[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1Q11]Gauntlets of Strength[/mwcard], etc!

In any case, I find the mana cost/efficiency isn't too much of a factor for the Forcemaster, especially later in the match (after she is properly outfitted, often via a Battle Forge) as the Forcemaster is often engaged in melee combat, and her quick-cast is usually spent on something cheap (typically Push effects including her mage ability, or Teleport, or Dispel/Disarm/Dissolve) so she can afford to fuel a Thoughtspore's Force Hammer or similar - unless you plan on running several Thoughtspores, in which case you might just want the much cheaper Invisible Fist for dealing with Incorporeal/Flying creatures, or for that extra 4-dice attack at the opposing mage (and to avoid Reverse Attacks targeting your Forcemaster).

But overall, Teleport or Force Push are probably best. Oh, and another use for Push is repeatedly shoving creatures/mage through a Wall of Thorns - especially since the Thoughtspore doesn't have LoS issues.  You could use your Forcemaster's quick-cast to Push the opposing mage through in one direction, then have your Thoughtspore push him back through before attacking with your mage!

[Schwenkgott]

The promos Lightningstrike or Flamestrike on the spore could be interesting for a melee forcemaster.

[krj]

i don't play Forcemaster often, but last time i've used 2 Thoughtspores, one with Force Hammer and second with Force Push, and i think it was my fastest win ever (i usaually don't play aggro so my regular opponent wasn't prepared for this at all )

[echephron]

back in the days before acid ball my enemy put dissolve on a thoughtspore. that was annoying for me since i had no way to kill the spore.
a ring of fire on a thoughtspore sounds fun if you can keep the guy alive long enough.
ive done minor heal on a thoughtspore when i've had multiple. never odn surging wave put that could be ok.

I wouldn't recommend Flank Attack on a thoughtspore...

[Sailor Vulcan]

I wouldn't recommend Flank Attack on a thoughtspore...

I would. In team play if you teamed up with a warlord.

[iNano78]

Last night my Forcemaster went 3-0 (although I very nearly lost the second match, down to 1 hit point, opponent had initiative and tried to Flameblast me with his quick-cast, but I flipped up my Forcefield to absorb it, then he Dispeled my Forcefield with his first action, but then I struck with Galvitar + Dancing Scimitar for the win before he could carry out another attack).  In each match, I tried a different flavour of Thoughspore:

- 1st match was against a Warlord who wanted to divide the arena with walls to provide time to build conjurations.  I spellbinded [mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard] and kept one-shotting his Walls of Earth, which he replaced with Walls of Steel, but it wasn't enough.  I had an Invisible Stalker running around to deal damage to some of his creatures, and later I brought in a second Thoughtspore with Acid Ball (to neutralize his Leather Gloves/Boots + Harshforge Plate + Veteran's Belt) and eventually hunted him down for the win.

- 2nd match was against a Warlock whose favourite play is Force Push through Wall of Fire.  I forgot that [mwcard=DNA01]Acid Ball[/mwcard] wasn't "hydro," but managed to use it effectively anyway to keep the opposing mage's armour corroded and scored a fair bit of damage in the process.

- 3rd match I was against the same Warlock and I decided to play dirty.  The Warlock decided to go more creature-heavy, so I countered with [mwcard=MW1I26]Sleep[/mwcard]-Spore!  He should have Fireballed my Spore ASAP but instead chose to ignore it... to his detriment.

[SharkBait]

I had some pretty good luck the other night using the first two turns to cast 2 Jet-stream spores. I wouldn't normally recommend doing this, but I wanted to try the idea out. I was against a Johktari Beastmaster. Long story short, after dispatching the wolverine that was summoned, I pushed the JBM into a corner and walled the corner off from one side to keep the JBM from getting away. Blasts of jet stream pushing the JBM into the wall (5 dice total) plus a full Galvitar + bear strength round or two ended the match. It was a fun idea, though next time I need to position my spores better so that I can push the mage back and forth through a wall and end in my forcemaster's zone for a double strike.

[coyotecloudchasr]

Loved that pic of all the slept creatures.  A sleeping Lord of Fire and buffed Dark Pact Slayer pains my warlock heart.

I did want to mention that I recently learned from a search on these forums that the extra Battle Fury quick attack gets the bonuses of your first attack since it restarts the attack action, which I use to advantage with my buffed Warlock.  Therefore if you've buffed your Forcemaster then the spore's Battle Fury gives you an extra attack that could be a lot more than just 4 dice.

[sdougla2]

There was an errata to Battle Fury so that it now counts as part of the same attack action and does not benefit from melee +X bonuses that affected the first attack. As such, the second attack would only be 4 dice normally, though you could do something like reveal a Bear Strength after the first attack in order to boost the second attack to 6 dice.

[coyotecloudchasr]

Ah, thank you for clarifying.  Bummer I won't get that extra damage, but it does seem to be consistent with making all Command cards less useful than just casting a Hurl Rock.  For the relevant Forcemaster discussion then clearly there are more useful cards for the Thoughtspore, such as Force Push, Sleep....or Hurl Rock

 For my Warlock I guess I'll be swapping out Mage Wand + Battle Fury to Elemental Wand + Flameblast.

[sdougla2]

A Warlock can also just run 6 Flameblasts if you have the cards for it. It only costs 6 spellbook points, and that way you don't have to spend an action and 5 mana to play the Elemental Wand.

Battle Fury will be more useful in Domination, since ranged attacks cannot be use to touch orbs.

Overall, Battle Fury is better the stronger your base creatures. With Adramelech, Lord of Fire, Battle Fury is pretty strong regardless of format. With a bunch of Firebrand Imps, not so much. It's more situational than Flameblast, but also potentially stronger with the right creatures. It's okay with Galvitar, but I would honestly stick with attack spells, and it's not good enough to justify putting on a Thoughtspore partially because of the timing. Quick casting it right before you attack is the way you want to play it, but casting it with Thoughtspore gives your opponent a chance to respond. Before the errata, the extra power offered by Battle Fury made it the strongest offensive option for a Thoughtspore, but since the errata it's just not efficient enough to make up for the timing issue.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Sacred ground...fortified position...astral anchor...wall of force...thoughtspore... acid ball...force hammer...surging wave...seeking dispel...force pull...guard...

All aggressors shall fall before you...