Card of the Week #2
Battle Forge
This week, we are going to be discussing a staple In the Mage Wars universe, a card that has been used since the games release and will continue to be used ad nauseam. The card, of course, is Battle Forge. Now, why is this card so popular? Why are there so many books that use this card specifically as an opening? Today on Card of the Week, let’s dive in into the fiery hotness (redundant is redundant) that is Battle Forge.
So, let’s start by talking about the card itself. You could be the new guy that isn’t as familiar with the cards, and that’s totally OK. That’s what we are here for, to fuel that addiction to the full throttle excitement that is Mage Wars. Battle Forge is a fire/war conjuration that costs 8 to cast, has four armor, 6 life, and 1 channeling. It’s got this channeling because it is… a SPAWNPOINT. And not just your garden variety, run of the mill Pentagram. No, this little guy drops equipment on the regular i.e. every round. Cheap spawnpoint? Great! Buy why?
Spawnpoints are wonderful for one main reason: Action advantage. Without spawnpoints, the Mage is able to take two casting actions a round. This isn’t bad, but on average, only allows for 20-40 cards to be cast a game, with 20 rounds being the high end of most games today. This may seem like a lot, but let’s think about this. Your opponent doesn’t have a spawnpoint, you do. You deploy a piece of equipment every round. Now, instead of 20-40, you’re getting 30-60 casts per game. This is a vast advantage over the opponent. Now, of course you probably won’t have that many pieces of equipment in your spellbook, but the example does leave behind the thought that spawnpoints are a lot more powerful than on the face of things. But enough about just spawnpoints in general… let’s get back to the Forge of Doom. Or Battle Forge. What have you.
The reason Battle Forge is just so powerful is that is so incredibly versatile. No, seriously. There isn’t a mage to date that hasn’t made good use of Battle Forge at some point. The main reason for this is that there is a wealth of equipment to choose from. In fact, the one thing that all books have in common, if anything, is that they all have equipment in some amount. It’s when your book gets to that critical mass of about 8 pieces of equipment that one starts to think about Battle Forge. The reason the low end is 8 is because that’s how pieces of equipment the Battle Forge needs to produce to break even. I’m ignoring the idea that Battle Forge can sit and gain mana over multiple rounds as that really ruins that advantage you have of having a spawnpoint. There are different thought processes about this of course, but if you simply wanted a higher channeling, there are much cheaper options to do so. The reason it is played so much is so we can have extra actions during the critical building moments of the game.
Battle Forge is also extremely prominent because it complements two strategies with extreme effectiveness. Aggressive, solo mage or big buddy builds LOVE BF because they can cast all of the equipment they need to beat face quickly so that they can go on the offensive. It is the same reasoning that turtling loves BF so much. In addition, control builds can use BF to hand pick the defenses they need each round without planning it or spending the action. Ever squandered a planned force push by deploying an eagleclaw boots? Thems the beats.
I feel like I should point out that Battle Forge also has some really interesting possibilities. For example, you can switch out wands, effectively changing the spellbound spell, without wasting the quick action. And getting additional action advantage OVER the already wonderful advantage inherent in spawnpoints? I’ll take it. Or, running 3 wispwillow amulets and a mana flower instead of 2 mana flowers? Paying 1 mana for a 6 round channeler with a Harmed up Battle Forge is just so sexy.
There are some weaknesses of the Battle Forge, however. The first, and the most damning is the mana cost of using BF. It’s not cheap. You can mitigate that by using cheap equipment, but the better equipment is more expensive but also worth having. If you are going to play with Battle Forge, you are going to need to budget your mana for the first half of the game. The other factor that can be pretty harmful against the BF is that it’s really easy to tech and kill it. Surging wave rolls for a million against it, is cheap in spellbook points, and is cheap to cast. And there isn’t really a way to protect BF from it! You can cast a creature with intercept, but chances are you won’t have that much mana to work with anyways. You can cast a wall, but again, this is mana intensive and doesn’t really defend the BF while at the same time limiting its range. The best way to defend against BF rush is to take advantage of them attacking your weak point and attack theirs. The only time BF rush is effective is if it’s done extremely early on. After about 3 rounds, the advantage of BF is done, and there is time better spent doing something else. So, if it’s early like it should be, it is easily telegraphed. Moving to NC after BF is cast is a hard tell that they will be surging next round. Take advantage of that knowledge. Beat their face in, or just capitalize on their lack of investment on the board. You will be having a lot more mana to work with, so get some of those creatures out, tanglevine them after the wave, and smash face. Punish them with your knowledge of their plan. In essence, if your BF becomes a target, you will know. Use that.
A question I often see come up and a common mistake newer players will make is the placement of Battle Forge. It’s pretty easy, actually. Don’t place it in the center zone. Force the opponent to make it over to your side to attack your engine. Don’t play it out there in the open unless you have a huge reason to do that. This greediness is okay against newer players, but veterans of the game will punish that greediness with a vengeance. Don’t get in that habit. So, that leaves three zones you can cast BF in. The starting zone, the zone directly above you and the zone directly to your left. What this comes down to is the strategy you have. If you are aggressive, to the left of you is best because them attacking it, at best, puts them 2 zones away from your starting zone. As well, your effective BF casting range will put you at most 2 zones away from the opponent. Perfect level 2 spell range. If you are slower build, directly above you is a better play because your effective range covers your entire half of the board and the NC of the opponents side of the board, allowing you to build your engine without having to worry about getting in the opponent’s line of fire.
The point I want to touch on before we close here is a question that was asked on the forums and brought up a few interesting possibilities to my mind. The question was, should you include 2 Battle Forges in your book, ever? And right now, we are going to ignore the SB cost of having two BF in your book because that is irrelevant. Would you include two Battle Forges in your book if you could? It’s non unique, so it’s fine. Something like turn 1 Battle Forge, Battle Forge? I think this is an incredibly entertaining idea and I would love to see a book that could make it work. I think DWL or JBM would be in the best position to make this work as the JBM has the ability to start hitting fast and hard, and the DWL can manipulate equipment pretty much at will. You would also need something like 16 pieces of equipment to make even limited use of your BF? That’s a little much, even for me. Then again, if I had the ability to switch equipment at the beginning of the round, I would totally do so if I could afford it. You would also need an effect 10-11 channelling, which is definitely possible for the cheap with the advent of Wispwillow amulet.
So, to kind of close things up here, Battle Forge is an incredibly versatile conjuration that can be used in any number of ways. In addition, this card is STILL being explored, even though it’s a core set card! It’s a card that constantly gives me new ideas and possibilities, and plenty of books to build around! So, pull out those cherished Battle Forges, and let’s try something new with this Card of the Week.
