Charlotte area Necromancer

[JasonBourneZombie]

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Simple swarm Necromancer[/spellbookname]
[mage]Necromancer[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ04]1 x  Graveyard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j11]1 x  Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j20]1 x  Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]2 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ13]1 x  Ziggurat of Undeath[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC23]6 x  Zombie Crawler[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC19]4 x  Venomous Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC22]2 x  Zombie Brute[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC08]2 x  Unstable Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]2 x  Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC11]2 x  Ravenous Ghoul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c01]1 x  Adramelech, Lord of Fire[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e19]1 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE03]2 x  Arcane Corruption[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e24]1 x  Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]2 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x  Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q05]1 x  Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x  Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q18]1 x  Mage Staff[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]1 x  Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i08]1 x  Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI06]3 x  Zombie Frenzy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI01]1 x  Animate Dead[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


This is my most used spellbook and favorite Mage. It's a very simple spellbook that relies on brute force creatures and finesse on the mage's part. Obviously, this isn't a spellbook where your Mage is supposed to get close to the action, but you can still be of use if the action comes to you.

Only cards really worth pointing out are the adremalech and nature enchantments. Those are part of an early game rush against warlords and Druids.

Typical opening plays are:

First turn, double mana crystal.
Second turn, harmonized graveyard.
Third turn, harmonized libro mortuos and zombie crawler from the graveyard.
Fourth turn, death ring and whatever else I want.

Against Druids, necromancers, warlords, or forcemasters, lead with larger creatures or skip enchanting the spawn points.

[Edit]:remembered a few changes I made recently.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I play against this book a lot. It's well unliving proof that the "You must have blah blah blah cards to be effective" argument is bunk. It's done very well locally indeed.

[rodriguekhalil]

   I always wondered if a double spawnpoint system worked.

Do you actually deploy a creature from both spawnpoints every turn?  If not, is it worth playing both spawnpoints?

Also, how often do you get to play four full turns of mana saving? It seems to me that very few mages will allow you to do so. An intermediate to advanced player would get to you and start heavy damage well before you are ready to get out any creature.

I would love to be proved wrong though... I've only ever theorized on such a book.

[JasonBourneZombie]

Not always every turn, though it does depend on what you are deploying. Deploying two crawlers a turn with the ring on is easy, only two mana out of pocket total. Medium size zombies are harder to deploy at 12 mana for both after reduction. If you pair a crawler with a larger zombie every turn, it's very easy to continuously deploy two each turn at about 9 mana out of pocket. Throw in the graveyard's special ability, and you get further reductions. It's kind of fun to see a Mage fend off adremalech only for me to turn around and say, "And that puts 6 mana on my graveyard."

I very frequently get four full turns of mana saving. It is usually an earth wizard or warlord that forces me to delay a second spawn point. Against a zombie necromancer, most have to weigh the likelihood that I won't just cast a frenzy and send everything at them, or start casting drain spells.

It's worth noting that you can play the death ring, deploy two crawlers, and hard cast a third on turn 4 for a total of 4 zombies on the field. It's not entirely 4 full turns of mana saving.

[Erebus]

I'm drafting a necromancer book and I feel like x2 Crystal, Libro, and Graveyard is a huge hit to one's mana pool. You've played this book a lot I think, so I'm curious as to how often you can really get this full build up. Do you adjust which spawnpoints and how many crystals you use based on how long you think you can survive into the late game?

[JasonBourneZombie]

Yes, I do. If I know that the player or their mage's build has a tendency to rush hard, I scale back on early development to deploy an offense of my own or a strong deterrent. The book runs well against the forcemaster sometimes, since you can deploy on the run when you have to. When all else fails and the enemy starts chasing you, cheetah speed and mongoose agility will let you run around the field dropping zombies as you go.

[TheIronDruid]

As someone who has played against this build with a Priest built to dish out holy damage, i ultimately lost because of how many creatures he was able to get out and how quickly they came out. Double spawnpoint was not fun to play against.

[JasonBourneZombie]

Now, looking through other posts, I seem to be in the minority for play style. How and how well do other necromancer books do without a second spawn point?

My necromancer build has the benefit of outswarming most everyone I play against which, when you cast a Frenzy, comes quite in handy. How do other necromancer books settle a game? 

[gerni]

The problem I see when playing two (creature) spawn points:

• slow setup (takes lots of actions)
• expensive setup (lots of mana)
• expensive if you want to use it every round
• if you use all spawn points every round, your mage has limited mana to act flexible

Now, that holds for every mage. The Necro is special, since he has two creature spawn points. A zombie Necro is even more special, because he has no reliable guards  and interceptors(since bloodthirsty and/or pest) plus the Necro has no inherent defense (well he is immune to poison) which makes him weak to direct attacks. So you have to spend actions to brace yourself (hehe). In my opinion you simply can not achieve that properly with a two spawn point setup since you don't have the mana. What i  can see working is a forge/creature spawn point and a meditation amulet.

[JasonBourneZombie]

The thing is, you don't absolutely have to cast two, or even one a turn if tactics call for it. The mana return you get from the spawn points is still there. If you can't shape the game to keep yourself protected, (didn't put on the cloak, armor, set up a wall, use your zombies to attack inbound enemies, etc) the spawn points allow freedom of movement until you get forced to commit to an action and will likely still be there next turn with more mana on them. Take a breather and cast drain life on something attacking you, wall yourself off, or whatever you think will stop the current issue.

As far as zombies being bloodthirsty pests, while that's true, that is baked into the mana cost and ability set. If you want capable guards, you play as the priest/ess or warlords. Forcing a Mage to fight or counter most of the creatures who come his way is the calling card of forcemasters as well, so I've always just had zombies engage, usually under a frenzy, whatever comes my way.

Doesn't always work, but is about as reliable as most builds.

[Coshade]

This is an interesting build! I can really see what your groups meta prefers by looking at this book. Do you play on OCTGN? I'd love to test a few of my books against this.

Personally I prefer the double mana crystal into death ring Libro. The Graveyard I find slows down the game way to much. I run a skelly Necromancer book though. I have a lot of problems with your book for rushing. I feel that books like the Rushmaster would be really difficult for you to defend against.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Coshade oddly enough he's the only reliable zombie Necromancer in our area. The other two Necromancers, myself included, play skeletons.

This book has had trouble in the past with a local Earth Wizard same as my Queen City Beast Master. Looking at this book it's a little different from most of the other local ones.

I agree a strong rush gives this book fits, then every book has the paper to it's rock.

[Intangible0]

The main critique I have, that has nothing to do with other books, revolves on the amount of creatures you have.

I feel you have too many and not enough versatility. It only takes so many dice of damage to kill the enemy mage.

If one stick of dynamite is enough to clear the cave entrance then why use 5 sticks?

[SharkBait]

Because isn't 5 sticks WAY more fun?

instead of boom, you get

BOOOM

I'm kind of curious to see how my books would do since I tend to play a much faster style. However, I really like the look of this one. It's giving me a few ideas for the necro book I've started to construct.

In what situations have you actually found it useful to play Adramalech? Is he an early drop for you, or a nail in the proverbial coffin?

[gerni]

The thing is, you don't absolutely have to cast two, or even one a turn if tactics call for it. The mana return you get from the spawn points is still there. If you can't shape the game to keep yourself protected, (didn't put on the cloak, armor, set up a wall, use your zombies to attack inbound enemies, etc) the spawn points allow freedom of movement until you get forced to commit to an action and will likely still be there next turn with more mana on them. Take a breather and cast drain life on something attacking you, wall yourself off, or whatever you think will stop the current issue.

The thing is, I don't see this book being able to "stop the current issue" in case of a rushing mage. You have two sources of armor, only one dissolve and no acid balls to get rid of enemy armor. In my experience you would simply lose the damage race against armor stacking opponents or mages with inherent defensive abilities, such as Wizard, Druid or Forcemaster that attack + attack spell, or attack with spells twice (the rushmaster being an extreme example). The only option i see, may be hiding behind walls.

As a side note, i think Libro + Harmonize is not a good combination, since Disolve is so effective against it.

This is just my point of view and it is not my intention to sound harsh . My local meta seems to be completely different from yours, so take what i said with a grain of salt.