This is the spell book gdieckhaus used in the 2015 Gen Con Tournament.
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Westlock Angels[/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]1 x Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a11]1 x Pillar of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a01]1 x Blinding Flash[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j12]1 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j24]1 x Temple of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]4 x Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c31]1 x Samandriel, Angel of Light[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]4 x Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]2 x Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q03]1 x Crown of Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i13]1 x Group Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]
I'd like to take a closer look at this book especially since I run a very similar one ( Transfusion Priestess )
I made a comparison between this build and my current Priestess build and found out :
1- both books run exactly 58 cards
2- we have 39 cards in common totalling 84 sbp's or 70% of the book
3- 36 sbp's ( 30% ) makes for a different approach and added potential tactics
Please allow me to post my own current book here so we can make comparisons :
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a11]1 x Pillar of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKJ01]1 x Enchanter's Wardstone[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFW01]2 x Wall of Earth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]4 x Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE04]5 x Enchantment Transfusion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE02]1 x Divine Might[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]2 x Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]3 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]2 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]3 x Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]2 x Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E01]1 x Astral Anchor[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i25]1 x Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i19]1 x Piercing Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]
I see two big differences :
First, gdieckhaus uses a Battleforge while I don't.
I tried a Forge as well at some point during the book's growth but generally I found that I didn't really need one.
Using the Forge kind of forced me to add cheap Equipment cards to he book to keep the Forge active round after round but actually I found these cheap Equipment cards simply take sbp's away from other cards which I found more useful and they also drained mana from my resources every round.
Bottomline, I determined I needed only 5 equipment cards for this build with only the Ring being an automatic first round cast and everything else being situational, so a Forge was not needed.
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
Personally, I prefer a Regrowth over a Regrowth Belt in this situation as I can shift the enchantment to the Angels as well if necessary whereas the Belt is for the mage only. Just a case of increasing my options.
Crown of Protection is a nice little addition as low armor is about the only handicap the Angels have, however I consider this card only when played through a Forge ( as gdieckhaus does
)
Moreover, it allows you to always have an action in reserve when, for some reason you can't play the cards you had selected that round and you're at the risk of losing an action that round.
Then there's the matter of Armor.
gdieckhaus uses
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
while I only use the Elemental Cloak and Rhino Hide ( + Brace Yourself and Hand of Bim Shalla ) to generate Armor.
Here again, the enchantment Rhino Hide offers me the added benefit that I can Shift it to an Angel, and in the process potentially get rid of some Corrosion Counters.
I do have another strategy to stay out of harm's way however and that's Wall of Earth.
It amazes me that after all this time walls are still undervalued and their power is still not fully recognized.
For me personally ( and that just my opinion, mind you ) no book is complete without at least a pair of walls.
A wall, played at the right time can completely swing a game/battle.
In this case however, the walls can not only shield me and cut LOS from my enemies but at the same time, I keep LoS open to my Angels, so I can continue my strategy without any hindrance.
The second big difference I see lies in the number of Enchantment Transfusions 2 vs 5.
With "only" two Transfusions I assume gdieckhaus uses them primarily to protect his stack of enchantments.
The reason that I use 5 of them is because I plan to use them aggressively, meaning attacking with an Angel for 7 dice + Pierce+1 then transfusing the stack of enchantments to the other Angel to attack again with 7 dice + Pierce+1 then playing another ET on the last Angel to protect the stack until the next round ( of course Nullify and Enchanter's Wardstone play a role in defending the stack as well )
So, by adding 3 ET's ( 6 sbp's) it's possible to play a very aggressive game mode and ( try to ) end a game fast, preferably against "slow" build up players. This is a dimension I would strongly advise to incorporate.
As a side note, and this comes as something that I've picked up during my Magic playing days in the nineties :
In a two player game, like Magic and Mage Wars, there's ALWAYS an ATTACKER and a DEFENDER.
It's vital to know asap which one you are in that matchup. You're not necessarily always the same.
Therefore I think ( again just my opinion
) that every book should be able to play in a Defender and Attacker modus. ( but that's probably a topic for another thread )
Overall, it is my impression that gdieckhaus has build his book with a much more defensive playing style in mind as opposed to my build which wants to be more of the attacker.
Further proof for this theory is found in the fact that gdieckhaus' deck includes
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]4 x Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i13]1 x Group Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x Heal[/mwcard]
Whereas my book includes only 2 Healing Charms and 1 Heal.
My reasoning, if I'm about to lose an Angel ( 1 or 2 life left ), instead of investing more mana into trying to keep it alive, just cast a new one.
I cut Divine Intervention because I figured it costs way too much mana and my Walls of Earth should be cheaper and other options offering alternatives.
Samandriel was another card that got cut along the way as I found the Angels to be more effective overall for barely half the cost. I'd rather have 2 GA's than 1 Samandriel and to just keep her in the "sideboard" to come out vs dark and non-living creatures proved to be too much of a sbp investment for me ( 5 sbp's )
A couple of cards I still want to mention which I have in my book :
I can't stress enough the power of Piercing Strike.
A Piercing Strike on an enchanted Angel is 7 dice with Pierce +4.
That will usually take any Mage Tower, Battle Forge, Gravikor or Harshforge Monolith out of play in one fell swoop.
A Tanglevine at the right time has often provided me with a game swing.
Not to mention that it synergizes so well with Astral Anchor.
And last but not least : Enchanter's Wardstone.
One of the biggest threats to this book is [mwcard=MW1I21] Purge Magic[/mwcard]
Once your stack of enchantments goes beyond 4 it's probably a good idea to bring out the Wardstone to prevent the Purge. A Nullify and Enchantment Transfusion can be Seeking Dispelled anyway opening you up for a Purge. The Stone makes a Purge a very costly affair.
So, for this kind of build I think the Wardstone is really a must have.
Overall, I think gdieckhaus' Westlock Angels is already a good book but can still be improved upon.
I assume it's played rather steadily and defensively and could benefit from having an additional aggressive mode.
Nevertheless, I'd like to congratulate gdieckhaus with his third place finish at the gencon tournament.
Well done.
I can only humbly hope I gave him something to think about.
Thanks for reading.
