Queen City Beast Master

[silverclawgrizzly]

This is the current spell book I'm running with my primary mage. It's a pretty straight forward Straywood Beast Master book with a few alterations from the norm I guess. It serves me pretty well against Wizards, Priestesses, Druids, Necromancers, Force Masters, Warlords, and other Beast Masters locally. I don't get to fight many Warlocks very often, there are some around I just don't get many matches against them sadly. Locally it's considered a pretty solid book but there's obviously room for tinkering.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Queen City Beast Master[/spellbookname]
[mage]Beastmaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWJ08]1 x  Renewing Spring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ03]1 x  Etherian Lifetree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j10]1 x  Lair[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]1 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J01]1 x  Rajan's Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]1 x  Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]3 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]1 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c14]1 x  Feral Bobcat[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x  Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c04]4 x  Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c38]2 x  Timber Wolf[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]4 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c34]1 x  Steelclaw Grizzly[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]1 x  Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]2 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]1 x  Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e34]1 x  Reverse Attack[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]1 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q18]1 x  Mage Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q25]1 x  Ring of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q02]1 x  Bearskin[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i21]1 x  Purge Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

BTW at Gen Con I'm coming for YOU Laddinface!!! This is the book I intend to use.....with possible slight modifications like dropping a bobcat.

[rodriguekhalil]

There was recently a thread about using Piercing Strike on an already buffed Cervere. That's the best weapon a beastmaster can have against pretty much anything with a lot of armor (Battle Forge, Anvil Throne with a Runed armor, etc.). It gives you a cheap Force Hammer (one spellbook point instead of four and 2 mana cost instead of 9 for the same amount of dice).

I think it would be a very good use for your book: 8 dice with piercing +3 is very good! 

My 0.02$

[Coshade]

I like the book. I had a bunch of questions! Since there is no explanation on how the book works, I'll just question a lot of things

1) Walls - I notice you have 1 Wall of Bones - why? ---> Wall of Bones is my favorite wall with high HP and low mana cost. Just curious why you would include it in this book.

You have 1 Wall of Thorns, a Mage Wand, and a Force Push ---> I see the combo you are going for, but don't you think it's not enough commitment? If you open with a lair are you sure you can pull off the combo? Just curious as it seems like you have a very specific set of actions (acid ball/dissolve into mage wand wall of thorns, into force push/ force push with initiative advantage). Is there a hope they won't have armor so you can do this action? Is this a last resort hoping for all crits to win a game you are way behind in?

2) This may relate to WOT ---> What do you do against rush builds? People that do a Rushmaster tactic or double move wizard tower/Hurl Boulder tactic? I know you have a contingency and I want to hear what it is!

3) I see you have 2 Mana Flowers. Do you think you will cast both of those? It seems like with the Lair and one Flower you should be set. I'm curious how often you cast both of them.

4) Bulld Endurance - Do you normally cast this on yourself or your creatures? I've looked at this card a lot and always fear a dispel killing things off.

5) I'm curious about your incantations. You have a low amount of dissolves/dispels. How would you deal with books like the Blasting Banker or an Anvil Throne Warlord. Have you been finding that the Elemental Wand/Acid Ball is enough to deal with high armor? How often does the wand get dissolved?

[silverclawgrizzly]

Good questions here are my answers.

1. I do have a Wall of Bones. I had two Walls of Thorns but those things are extremely easy to destroy. I put the Wall of Bones in to give myself at least some breathing room at times. It keeps Wizard Towers off my Lair basically.

2. I play an Earth Wizard a lot. As in one of my two roommates uses an Earth Wizard as his primary mage. Here's the plan use Armor, my one Block, and my Reverse Attack as well as my ability to slowly re-build with Regrowth to "weather the storm" until I can get enough creates to pester the enemy mage that he has to abandon me or risk immediate death. The Marked for Death will make people stop for a second and Dispel which isn't an action that's hitting me. I also use the Cheetah Speed/Mongoose Agility tactic with my Teleports to get out of the way a lot. Basically I can "swarm shield" well enough that ignoring my critters is just NOT an option.

3. It happens on occasion. About %70 of the time I use one Mana Flower and indeed I'm normally good. However when I do get the second out then I do very well indeed. It's amazing how much a difference it'll make. If it looks like my opponent is settling in...my other roommate is a Priestess for example, then both Mana Flowers come out.

4. Creature cast. It goes on Cervere. No other creature in my book elicits as much hatred as the panther. Honestly with a minimum of effort I can make the average opponent use A LOT of resources to bring down the big cat while the rest of my forces can go about important business.

5. Acid ball is for armor, with Akiro's Favor that's generally fine. I fight an Anvil Throne Warlord on occasion but have never lost to one. Nobody uses the Blasting Banker in my area so I couldn't say. In general we don't take spell books from online. I admit I have a fairly common book in many ways but I have added a few twists of my own.
Dissolve is for wands and other crap that gets on my nerves. Against Force Masters I try to keep a Dissolve Wand. The rest of the time the wand is a Teleport Wand to kill range creatures by dragging them to my horde. I stay out of the way a lot of the time and use about two squares of creatures as buffers. The wand COULD be dissolved easy of course and it happens a fair amount but I generally get some good work out of it before hand. I accept it's going to go away and just try to get as much use out of it as possible before that happens.

[Borg]

Hi,

I like the book as well.

My suggestions :

I would replace the Decoy with a Piercing Strike. That's a huge upgrade imo.

Transfusion Enchantment & Shift Enchantment are also very useful in a book that uses plenty of enchantments.
They allow you to save actions and mana which would otherwise go to waste

I also kind of miss a Rust. Very useful on the opposing mage, may draw a dispel and can be used to get Corrosion counters off own creatures and then Shift to opponent.

Not sure why you need a second Cheetah Speed. Do you find yourself casting this twice a game ?

Geyser is a card I include with my Beastmaster, certainly after losing a game due to continuous burns

I also think if there's any mage who doesn't need Acid Ball, it's a nature mage.
I had 2 acid ball's in my book as well originally but took them out for 1 Tooth and Nail and 1 Rajan's Fury.
The totems are just much more effective overall.

fyi, I'll just copy and paste from my thread where I explain my reasoning behind it
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=15466.0

quote :
originally the book had 2 Acid Ball. It's a cheap, effective spell. But not effective enough for this book.
( "only" two copies because I figured I didn't want to play this spell more than twice anyway )

Acid Ball allows you to reduce the armor of 1 object but that still leaves every other opposing object intact armorwise, so you will still run into trouble when trying to take out other armored objects.

I figured Acid Ball didn't have the LASTING effect I was looking for, it wasn't worth one of the Beastmaster's PREMIUM actions.
Tooth and Nail however, even though it costs two mana more - but mana should not be a show stopper remember, solves this problem.
It has the LASTING effect I'm looking for : it gives ALL my Animals Pierce+1 at ALL times against ALL targets.
Now that's the kind of spell worth casting.

So, in essence, my two Tooth and Nails spells were replacements for Acid Ball and I didn't plan to cast more than two of them either because :
Cervere and Pet already get Pierce +1 from Lion Savagery
1 Tooth and Nail addition gives them Pierce +2
And Rust essentially makes this Pierce +4

That's when I started thinking about the second copy of Tooth and Nail.
I figured that this second copy could potentially be a waste of SBP's if I didn't need more than Pierce +4. ( on the enemy mage of course )

How could I get the same lasting Pierce +1 effect but from another card ?
Enter Rajan's Fury.
Adding a die to your roll has very much the same effect as reducing an opponent's armor by 1 and this card will certainly not be a waste in my spellbook either as it is still functional even if my opponent has no armor left.

So, Tooth and Nail guarantees you the Pierce +1, while Rajan's Fury does not - your extra die may come up a blank, but then RF also has the potential to roll two damage instead of the "average 1".

In the end, the two copies of Acid Ball ended up being replaced by 1 Tooth and Nail and 1 Rajan's Fury.
That's the reasoning behind them.
End Quote.

Of course, you may be planning to stick the Acid ball on an Elemental Wand but I think that takes a lot of mana and more importantly actions. I can see this book wanting/needing to use its actions for more pressing matters and not finding the time to use an extra acid ball. Tooth and nail solves this problem in large part with just 1 action and continues to be effective thereafter vs every object.

T&N is like a more powerful version of Acid ball imo, but with the restriction it's only useable by animals, so if you play animals ...

[silverclawgrizzly]

The benefit of Acid Ball over Tooth and Nail, and believe me I've played with them both, is that Acid Ball does damage by itself. Yes it's a quick cast, and yes I put it on my wand normally, but against targets without armor it's guaranteed damage, normally two guaranteed damage in fact before the attack dice even come into play. It also helps against flyers and lets me have something of a range game. Perfect example:

Last game I played was two days ago against an Earth Wizard. His gargoyle was of course on Guard so I Acid Balled it and did a small amount with my attack dice and got ride of his armor. Of course while guarding he gets +3 which I can't do jack about but with the 0 armor I sent in some falcons to tear his flying butt up. The enemy mage Teleported him out of the zone and brought the other gargoyle up to hinder my birds. I really wanted the original dead before it had a chance to recover as this wizard packs some Minor Heals on a wand sometimes. Thus I ran up and hit it with another Acid Ball the next turn. It had no armor so when I rolled a 5 on the effect dice that was 2 auto damage, and the damage from the attack dice was enough to kill him. Mind you I put Hawkeye and Akiros favor on my mage to make sure I can deal damage with the Acid Balls.

As for the Cheetah Speeds 1 is for me, 1 is for my bear or wolves. Most everything in my book is already fast and I like to keep the pressure on enemy mages. The Decoy is to pop Nullifies plain and simple. I don't worry about losing my Enchantments when creatures die, I normally have two of the big ones. The only exception that goes on a creature is Regenerate which goes on Cervere and if he dies then the loss of the Regenerate is the least of my concerns though he does normally act as a hate magnet so usually I'm ok when/if he does eventually fall.

I can see the benefits of Tooth n Nail, another Beast Master locally has two in her book, and against a Warlord I'd be very inclined to want it. Acid Balls are helping me however for the moment.