Card of the week! Episode Deux

[RomeoXero]

Hey there folks!  It's time to highlight another card for the mage wars world. This week's card is Mind Shield. Its been around since FvW, and to be honest i dont see it get much play. And that's intresting to me.
 I personally like to have a mind shield around in my buddy build books. Nothing sucks more than a mind control or a sleep turning the tables on that buffed up grizzly bear that you were hoping to stomp over your enemy with.
Now there are some issues with it in any match-up that's not a force master. It only works on psychic spells so without an FM you won't see many mind controls, charms, and such. But you might run into a sleep, or a passify at any time.
It's niftiest feature is probably that it isn't a mandatory reveal,  so you can stack a nullify on top of it if  you're so inclined. So without a seeking dispel or reveal magic there's no getting rid of it. It can also be used during the counter spell step and gain you a ton on mana advantage.  Ill take 2 sp and 2 mana to stop a mind control post cast any day.

It's problems are with its niche uses, it's tough to drop 2sp on something you might never use. I mean worst case scenario you use it to probe for a nullify, lol.

What do you guys think? Have you got any tricky uses for this interesting spell? Or massive failures? Those are fun too!
Let me know your opinions.

[exid]

we play anouncing the mages befor the game, therefor I know when I will meet a force master... and even than I don't allways get a mind shield!

mind control is very bad but very expensive. I prefer to have mana and dispel that can be used in other situations!
but I sometimes take a mind shield for the surprise of breaking my friend's strategy.

[wtcannonjr]

This spell might see more play now that Siren and songs are in the mix. This adds more reasons to use mind shield as a counterspell.

[bigfatchef]

For many purposes clear mind is the better choice. Its a reaction instead of prevention. The usage is different so it all depends on Strategie and setup what to prefer

[Kelanen]

I used to play with Mind Shield a lot in Buddy-build strategies, but it's often not used in the right match-ups and hardly ever in the wrong - it was tuned out of every build.

The problem is that Mind Control and Charm aren't strong cards. Countering Sleep is the most use you usually get, but that's hard to predict.

It was a niche card that was totally sidelined by the always useful Arcane Ward (and Arcane Ward plus a Clear mind is streets better!). Siren will increase it's usefulness, but not by nearly enough to make it playable I think.

Not to mention that if ever a card cried out for Novice it would be this one.

[RomeoXero]

Just for clarity im going to be focusing on non promo cards for card of the week. Clear mind is awesome, but its not released yet. My other issue with clear mind is that although its nice to be able to one shot those spells off in a reactionary response, it still costs you all of the mana they spent on the spell. Mind shield stops the spell dead after the mana i s spent.  Leaving your creature un molested and your mana pool untouched.

[Halewijn]

yeah, novice would have been good. It's indeed very awesome that it is not a mandatory reveal.

Still, I like the card in my buddy builds. I strongly disagree about Mind control/charm not being strong. They can both be very powerful when played correctly.

Arcane ward won't let you cast enchantments or incantations on your own creature. For that reason alone, arcane ward is not even an option for my buddy builds.

[farkas1]

Have never used it but could see its potential in running buddy builds.  Like the fact its 2 to cast and 0 to reveal.  Again like someone has already said this may see more use with the songs and the PvS expansion. 

Also protect against psychic attacks which currently there is 0 psychic attack spells.  does psylok attack count? And would be canceled? Just not very many creatures using psychic attacks. 

Either case the Wizard and Forcemaster alt expansion may determine the amount mind shield is used and necessary for the future meta.

[exid]

Also protect against psychic attacks which currently there is 0 psychic attack spells.  does psylok attack count? And would be canceled? Just not very many creatures using psychic attacks. 

non-spell psychic attack can be cancelled.

[Kelanen]

Just for clarity im going to be focusing on non promo cards for card of the week. Clear mind is awesome, but its not released yet.

That's fair enough for you, but I have more than a dozen of them, everyone else I play with has them, and we all use promos barring tournaments - so for me it's very much a factor.

My other issue with clear mind is that although its nice to be able to one shot those spells off in a reactionary response, it still costs you all of the mana they spent on the spell. Mind shield stops the spell dead after the mana is spent. Leaving your creature un molested and your mana pool untouched.

Not always - It's used explicitly before Reveal costs are paid, so that big expensive Mind Control which was your initial example is actually only costing them the same 2 mana your Mind Shield cost. Smaller figures, but the same for Charm and all the Songs... Sleep is the only time that you are going to be up, and only by a handful of mana, and as noted above, that's a hard play to predict (or even predict if it's in their book).

If Mind Shield cost the opponent their reveal mana, then yes it would be an excellent niche card. A 'sideboard' card worth playing.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Just for clarity im going to be focusing on non promo cards for card of the week. Clear mind is awesome, but its not released yet.

That's fair enough for you, but I have more than a dozen of them, everyone else I play with has them, and we all use promos barring tournaments - so for me it's very much a factor.

My other issue with clear mind is that although its nice to be able to one shot those spells off in a reactionary response, it still costs you all of the mana they spent on the spell. Mind shield stops the spell dead after the mana is spent. Leaving your creature un molested and your mana pool untouched.

Not always - It's used explicitly before Reveal costs are paid, so that big expensive Mind Control which was your initial example is actually only costing them the same 2 mana your Mind Shield cost. Smaller figures, but the same for Charm and all the Songs... Sleep is the only time that you are going to be up, and only by a handful of mana, and as noted above, that's a hard play to predict (or even predict if it's in their book).

If Mind Shield cost the opponent their reveal mana, then yes it would be an excellent niche card. A 'sideboard' card worth playing.

Spell points are important too. If I can use two spell points and two mana to make opponent forcemaster lose 6 spell points then I have come out ahead. If they choose not to use their mind control at all because they realize the face down is or might be a mind shield, then that's 6 spell points that are not being of any use to them. And if they seeking dispel the mind shield before using mind control that means that they've used 4 mana and 8 spell points to get a mind control onto a creature face down. And this is before they've even paid the reveal cost for mind control.


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[iNano78]

Sleep is the only time that you are going to be up, and only by a handful of mana, and as noted above, that's a hard play to predict (or even predict if it's in their book).

Sleep is easy to see coming once it's bound to a Thoughtspore or Mage Wand... but as for other examples above, only useful vs Forcemaster.

I'd like to see Card of the Week go back to focusing on staple spells - why they're so good, what books started using them before they caught on and became staples (if applicable), and unorthodox/creative/flexible uses. That was the spirit of the Tanglevine and Seeking Dispel episodes. Niche cards that I've never seen used aren't as interesting to me. And unlike Kaelanen, my group doesn't have dozens of copies of many promos, so I'd prefer to stick with cards that are available retail rather than "had to be in the right place at the right time."

[bigfatchef]

Sleep is the only time that you are going to be up, and only by a handful of mana, and as noted above, that's a hard play to predict (or even predict if it's in their book).

Sleep is easy to see coming once it's bound to a Thoughtspore or Mage Wand... but as for other examples above, only useful vs Forcemaster.

I'd like to see Card of the Week go back to focusing on staple spells - why they're so good, what books started using them before they caught on and became staples (if applicable), and unorthodox/creative/flexible uses. That was the spirit of the Tanglevine and Seeking Dispel episodes. Niche cards that I've never seen used aren't as interesting to me. And unlike Kaelanen, my group doesn't have dozens of copies of many promos, so I'd prefer to stick with cards that are available retail rather than "had to be in the right place at the right time."

To talk about dispel or dissolve isn't really necessary. About nullify would be quite long but not mindchanging.
I would prefer inteteresting staples that are less obvious in their usage pr maybe have huge pros AND cons to discuss:
- veterans belt
- decoy
- purge magic
- battle forge
- wardstone
- akiros favor

[Halewijn]

I prefer topics about niche cards, like mind shield, over the obvious good cards. It's already known (Seeking) dispel, force push, teleport, tanglevine, dissolve, ... are very good, so I don't find those discussions interesting.

[Kelanen]

Spell points are important too. If I can use two spell points and two mana to make opponent forcemaster lose 6 spell points then I have come out ahead.

If you are facing someone that puts Mind Control in their book you are already 6sbp ahead...