Too Cool for Skulls

[reyda]

Altar of Skulls. Man, what a card. It's hard to get it going, but once powered up, it can be devastating. Finite Life and direct poison damage to every living creature on the board. The tricky part : your mage has to survive long enough to make it happen. Good luck with that.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Too Cool for Skulls[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Necromancer Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by some dumb oaf[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack (3)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]1 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration (8)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNJ01]1 x Altar of Skulls[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]4 x Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J22]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature (14)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC01]1 x Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C32]2 x Skeletal Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC15]6 x Skeletal Minion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC14]2 x Skeletal Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC09]1 x Plague Zombie[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC07]1 x Mort[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC02]1 x Deathfang[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment (18)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNE02]1 x Rise Again[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E14]2 x Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]2 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E02]1 x Plagued[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]2 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E25]1 x Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E04]1 x Chains of Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]1 x Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]3 x Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E22]1 x Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment (8)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ05]1 x Libro Mortuos[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ02]1 x Death Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q19]2 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ10]1 x Meditation Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q05]1 x Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation (17)[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI05]1 x Unholy Resurgence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI03]6 x Reassemble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]1 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI13]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]2 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I25]2 x Shift Enchantment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI08]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Opening looks like this :
T1 (20) : QC Death Ring (-5), FC Acolyte of the Bog Queen (-5)
T2 (20) : QC Altar of Skulls (-9), FC Libro Mortuos (-9), the Acolyte prays to the Altar.
T3 (12 + 1) : Deploy Minion (-4), QC Brace Yourself (-2), FC Curse / Rhino Hide / Skeletal Sentry / Meditation Amulet, more praying by the Acolyte.
T4+ : Try to survive, keep your Acolyte alive, put up walls to protect her and your Altar, send your skeletons as cannon fodder to distract the enemy (or have them guard the Altar). Hide like the coward you are, you spineless Necromancer.

There are plenty of reconstructs and walls. Reconstruct with the Death Ring discount costs only 3 mana for a whopping 6 dice of healing. That's insanely efficient, and you most likely should always have one planned (or put on a wand, if you fear you'll run out). Try to save some mana by meditating whenever you can afford it, to be able to cast a Drain Soul before the Altar is completed. Also, try not to die. This is essential to the strategy.

Like most of my books, this one is weak to rush strategies. Mages running Non Living creatures can also be a problem, and facing another Necro will give hilarious results. For him. You won't be laughing much, I promise. Still, the book has its qualities. Once everything is Finite Life, your mage can Lifebond two damage each upkeep to the Altar, ignoring range and LoS. If Mort is in the same zone as the Altar, he'll reconstruct that damage right away, free of charge. The Acolyte, before dying to the poison damage for which she worked so hard, will also remove two damage from the Altar every turn if she has nothing better to do. That way, the initial damage you certainly took can be mitigated for a while. There's also the ol' Sacrifice-your-Eternal-Servant-Plague-Zombie-to-Rot-Everything-in-the-Zone-and-Reanimate-it trick (SESPZREZRT, for those in the know) that never gets old.

The downside : you'll feel like a dirty, dirty coward all game long, running and hiding behind your walls and waiting for your opponent to miserably collapse, out of healing options and ridden with disease. If you weren't killed right off the bat by an opponent who figured that your strategy takes about 48 turns to complete, and that maybe throwing stuff at your face might be a good idea.

Thoughts welcome!

[Ravepig]

I actually had great luck with Alter of Skulls, but for a different reason. I got the alter in play very soon, which then forced my opponent to rush prematurely. I was able to get a swarm on the board while he was focused taking the alter out. By time he destroyed the alter, my skeletal minions rushed taking out his mage quite easily. Don't know that I would use that same book a second time, but it was fun.

[Brian VanAlstyne]

Would it be worth it to add another cleric in case the one gets taken out so you can keep adding skulls that way?

[iNano78]

Altar of Skulls is one of those Timmy cards that looks amazing but only works in very specific circumstances that almost never present themselves*.  It could be amazing against a living creature swarm (e.g. Beastmaster focused on Lair + Falcons or Wolves, or  Warlord with Barracks/Armory/other outposts determined to run a Goblin swarm) that spends a lot of time ignoring you and building up. But against an aggressive Mage that runs few creatures (eg everything else), or an opponent that reacts to what you're doing (eg not a beginner), it's pretty terrible. It takes a lot of early mana and a ton of actions and 8 rounds to get essentially a Ghoul Rot + Poison Blood on the opposing Mage (albeit, ones that aren't easily Dispeled). An aggressive or reactive Mage will ignore the Altar and go for your throat. It's usually pretty easy to kill the opponent before the Altar triggers, and even if it does, it's only 2 damage per round (and maybe 2 damage to a buffed buddy). An early Idol of Pestilence will generally do more damage in the long run, especially if followed by Poison Blood - and it isn't nearly as action, mana, or time dependent.

In other words, it depends on your Arena opponent cooperating by either giving you cheap creatures to kill or ignoring you long enough for it to trigger. If your opponent ignores it, charges at you and doesn't summon cheap creatures, it was a waste of points, mana and actions.

* - That said, Altar of Skulls (and one Acolyte) has been amazing for me in 3-way Domination. It's a major threat that either must be dealt with ASAP or effectively wipes the table in the mid game, since it generally only takes 4-5 turns to become active in a format where cheap creature swarms rule and creatures (including Sslaks) are guaranteed to be dying left, right and centre.   While your opponents are dealing with the Altar, you're free to pick up orbs relatively uncontested. If they don't, Altar triggers early and single-handedly wipes out their armies. It's a win-win!

[reyda]

Would it be worth it to add another cleric in case the one gets taken out so you can keep adding skulls that way?

Probably! A skeletal minion could be dropped to make room for it. Taking the time to cast it is the problem, however.

Altar of Skulls is one of those Timmy cards that looks amazing but only works in very specific circumstances that almost never present themselves*.
[...]
In other words, it depends on your Arena opponent cooperating by either giving you cheap creatures to kill or ignoring you long enough for it to trigger. If your opponent ignores it, charges at you and doesn't summon cheap creatures, it was a waste of points, mana and actions.

That's absolutely correct. Reconstruct + Wall of Bones can help a bit here, by efficiently soaking up enemy hits. Your mage can also tank for a while, with the cheap armor included. Honestly, this is a bit of a goofy spellbook, but it is very satisfying to pull off.

* - That said, Altar of Skulls (and one Acolyte) has been amazing for me in 3-way Domination. It's a major threat that either must be dealt with ASAP or effectively wipes the table in the mid game, since it generally only takes 4-5 turns to become active in a format where cheap creature swarms rule and creatures (including Sslaks) are guaranteed to be dying left, right and centre.   While your opponents are dealing with the Altar, you're free to pick up orbs relatively uncontested. If they don't, Altar triggers early and single-handedly wipes out their armies. It's a win-win!

I forgot to mention it in my first post, but yeah, multiplayer Domination is where this book should really shine. I'd add a V'Tar Force Sentry and remove an incantation or two to make room for it. I happen to mostly play 3-way Domination in the too rare opportunties I have to play mage wars in person, it's probably going to be the next book I'll bring.

[vlad3theimpaler]

Would it be worth it to add another cleric in case the one gets taken out so you can keep adding skulls that way?

I prefer having a Rise Again or Animate Dead to reanimate the cleric instead.  It's more versatile than another copy of the cleric if you're only going to have one in play at a time anyway, and bringing it back as a zombie means that the alter of skull won't kill your cleric once it's active.

[iNano78]

Would it be worth it to add another cleric in case the one gets taken out so you can keep adding skulls that way?

I prefer having a Rise Again or Animate Dead to reanimate the cleric instead.  It's more versatile than another copy of the cleric if you're only going to have one in play at a time anyway, and bringing it back as a zombie means that the alter of skull won't kill your cleric once it's active.

[mwcard=DNE02]Rise Again[/mwcard] - 3 sbp; 5 mana; quick action while the Acolyte is alive; gives you a Zombie Acolyte with 6 hp remaining.
[mwcard=DNI01]Animate Dead[/mwcard] - 3 sbp; 3 mana; full action after the Acolyte is dead; gives you a Zombie Acolyte with 6 hp remaining.
[mwcard=DNC01]Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard] - 1 sbp, 5 mana; full action whenever; gives you a fully functional Acolyte with 7 hp remaining.
 (e.g. nothing stops you from having 2 Acolytes in play if you suspect your first might die soon, and you don't have to save mana for Rise Again "just in case", then why not plan a fresh Acolyte?).

Also, a Zombie Acolyte gains Bloodthirsty +0 (and Slow), so it's often forced to attack with 2 dice rather than performing its other possible actions.  I'd rather have another Acolyte in my book than waste the sbp on Rise/Animate - or conversely, I'd prefer to spend a valuable Rise/Animate on a better target than an Acolyte.

[vlad3theimpaler]

Would it be worth it to add another cleric in case the one gets taken out so you can keep adding skulls that way?

I prefer having a Rise Again or Animate Dead to reanimate the cleric instead.  It's more versatile than another copy of the cleric if you're only going to have one in play at a time anyway, and bringing it back as a zombie means that the alter of skull won't kill your cleric once it's active.

[mwcard=DNE02]Rise Again[/mwcard] - 3 sbp; 5 mana; quick action while the Acolyte is alive; gives you a Zombie Acolyte with 6 hp remaining.
[mwcard=DNI01]Animate Dead[/mwcard] - 3 sbp; 3 mana; full action after the Acolyte is dead; gives you a Zombie Acolyte with 6 hp remaining.
[mwcard=DNC01]Acolyte of the Bog Queen[/mwcard] - 1 sbp, 5 mana; full action whenever; gives you a fully functional Acolyte with 7 hp remaining.
 (e.g. nothing stops you from having 2 Acolytes in play if you suspect your first might die soon, and you don't have to save mana for Rise Again "just in case", then why not plan a fresh Acolyte?).

Also, a Zombie Acolyte gains Bloodthirsty +0 (and Slow), so it's often forced to attack with 2 dice rather than performing its other possible actions.  I'd rather have another Acolyte in my book than waste the sbp on Rise/Animate - or conversely, I'd prefer to spend a valuable Rise/Animate on a better target than an Acolyte.

That's a good poitn aobut the spellbook points, which I had forgotten about.  (It's been a while since I actually got to play.)  But I still think that bringing the acolyte back as an undead so that the Altar doesn't damage it is pretty useful.