Card of the week:
Tanglevine
Tanglevine is a pretty unassuming card. It’s from the core set, which is by no means a slight against the card. Rather, it’s been so long since the core set has come it, it seems that we oft forget this cards in place of shinier, newer iterations of old favorites. This is a main reason I want to bring Tanglevine back to your attention. It’s a five mana quick action conjuration with 8 life, no armor, and all it does is sit there, stopping something from moving. Sure it’s a decent card, but why is it card of the week worthy? Well, for three main reasons, all of which we will go into today. Tanglevine is efficient, aggressive, and subtle in so many ways that it is a card that can be used even as utility in virtually every book!
Let’s start with the most basic observation, an analyzation of card stats to determine efficiency. The card costs 5 mana. Pretty cheap, but it’s about half a round’s worth of mana, so it isn’t something you can just cast willy-nilly. It’s also a quick action, which is awesome because we can combine with other actions and still move during our mage’s turn, which is incredibly efficient as far as sheer action strength is concerned. Now, the HUGE reason it’s so efficient, is that the card eats actions for the opponent. Casting it opening QC at the right time can shut down the opponent’s turn almost completely. They have to spend at least an action getting rid of the tanglevine. And if it’s an attack, that’s their colored action marker, and that’s an entire round that has been basically forgone to deal with the 5 mana threat that you threw out there. To think of this in terms of net gain and net loss, it does not out and out say “Gain an action” on the card, but that’s what it has the power to do, and in a game where every action counts, this little card suddenly becomes very powerful.
Now, for those of you Mages out there that haven’t had a chance to check out my thoughts on Go as it compares to Mage Wars, there is an idea I put across in those thoughts that I want to mention here today. That is the concept of sente and gote. Briefly, sente is an action that a player makes that must be reacted to. Gote is an action that a player makes that can be ignored with no ill consequence. My reasoning for bringing this up is that Tanglevine is such a card that, in the right context, is a sente threat with such overwhelming power as to change the flow of time. However, in the wrong context, Tanglevine is a gote threat. How does one definitively differentiate the situations? It comes down to how your opponent is going to need his actions. There are many mages that can just sit in the same zone and continue to do their own thing for most of the game, and in those cases, Tanglevine becomes an accessory to the opponent and thus backfired, taking your action and mana while having no real net gain to the board. At best, tanglevine becomes something they only deal with when it is most convenient for them. This is never something you want to give the opponent. If they know what you are doing, they can plan against it as effectively as possible. You don’t want to give them that option. Therefore, Tanglevine is a Sente threat during two circumstances:
1. When the opponent is trying to be aggressive.
2. When you are trying to be aggressive.
Starting with the first situation listed, Tanglevine can be a great way to shut down aggression. Many of these hyper aggressive books cannot afford to lose a round doing something other than hitting your face, so buying time with a tanglevine can be that breathing room you need to re-stabilize. Often, pairing a tanglevine with a wall can be the ultimate show stopper to turn the tide in your favor. Combining these two things does take planning, however, so be patient. The best time to do this is right before you are at half-life. At least, in my thought processes, this seems to be the perfect time for the opponent to hammer you with double lvl 2 spell. Offsetting that aggression by using your initiative to tanglevine and gtfo gives you the time you need to get some good defenses down. The second scenario I have listed up there is also a fantastic time to make use of the beautiful tangle of organic roping we call tangle vine. At the end of a turn that the opponent has had initiative, throw them a tanglevine! Then, you can QC lvl 2 and action a lvl 2 spell for an insane amount of damage, and they are still dealing with the tanglevine! Even if they teleported, you should be able to get right within range of them. Not only that, you forced them to spend a card that was potentially incredibly powerful later on for a mediocre conjuration destruction spell now. If you are using a more creature heavy approach, tanglevine them opening QC. That why you give your creatures an almost free round of striking while they try and deal with that tanglevine. To sum up when you use tanglevine, as the last action of a round, or as the first. There are exceptions, of course, but generally these are two very strong times to drop a sente threat. Utilizing the right timing with the right card will bring your game to a higher level.
But let’s talk about quite possibly my favorite part about Tanglevine. It’s a lvl 1 spell!! There are a lot of strong threats in Mage Wars that are at least lvl 2 or higher, but it’s rare to see a lvl 1 spell be so powerful. Because it’s nature, that means it can fit into a lot of spellbooks for a very small cost. Putting one into a book is almost nothing. It’s incredibly versatile, too. Shutting down a powerhouse creature they have, removing that pesky counterattacker for a round. The uses are endless.
If you haven’t played around with this card already, I really encourage you to do so! It’s got some incredibly interesting applications, but you want to make sure you get that timing right before you take it into any kind of serious setting, because the timing is the most critical part of this card. It’s what can give you the most tempo, but also take it away. So, go play!
On a side note, I would like to start doing a card of the week every week! If you guys like what you see here today and want more, please, for the love of Grizzly, let me know! As well, any comments, criticisms, or questions you may have are more than welcome. Thank you all for reading, and happy Roaring!
