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Author Topic: Air Strikes - Wizard  (Read 6617 times)

Borg

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Air Strikes - Wizard
« on: October 01, 2016, 01:05:04 PM »
I'd like to try this book out as well.
As usual, comments and suggestions welcome.

UPDATED 17/10/16

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Air Strikes[/spellbookname]
[mage]Wizard (Air)[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWA01A03]2 x  Lightning Jolt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA01]4 x  Arc Lightning[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01A04]2 x  Piercing Thunderstrike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a07]2 x  Lightning Bolt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A13]2 x  Thunderbolt[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j04]2 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]2 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W01]1 x  Fog Bank[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]1 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC03]2 x  Devouring Jelly[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC08]1 x  Gargoyle Sentry[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e21]2 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]2 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]3 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]2 x  Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q17]1 x  Lightning Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]3 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]3 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q07]2 x  Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x  Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]2 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q22]1 x  Moonglow Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x  Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]4 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01I02]2 x  Disperse[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]3 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]4 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]3 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01I01]1 x  Crumble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]1 x  Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]1 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i20]1 x  Purify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAPRI05]1 x  Remove Curse[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Teleport on the Mage Wand and the most appropriate Lightning Spell on the Elemental Wand.
Use Akiro's Favor to maximise the Dazes, Stuns and die-rolls.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2016, 12:54:56 PM by Borg »
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RomeoXero

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2016, 05:42:45 PM »
Looks pretty aggressive! To that end, what's Hyugin for? You gonna have time to drop him and get any use out of him? He's pretty squishy without support, and im not sure that you've got the time to back him up if you wanna throw bolts till everything dies.
What's the opener look like?
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Borg

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2016, 04:45:27 AM »
Hi RomeoXero,

This book can start out aggressively but overall I'd take a more cautious approach and build up first.
As a somewhat standard opening I'd go for
R1 Forge - Crystal
R2 Amulet - Gargoyle - Defend or Crystal
That's 13/14 mana per turn, 3 actions and some defense.
I'd take it from there.

If you want to go offense after that you can save up some mana on R3 and go
R3 Lightning Ring - Akiro's Favor - Hawkeye
R4 Elemental wand - Nullify - Attack spell of choice

You're right about Huginn, I reckon, he doesn't fit in and there's likely no time to summon him.
Would be nice to let him handle the ( Seeking ) Dispels though but you can't have it all ;)

I replaced him with an Arcane Ring - Disarm - Leather Gloves.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2016, 04:47:41 AM by Borg »
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bigfatchef

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2016, 04:13:39 PM »
If you play with promos staff of storms might be interesting. It's one of those cards I always wanted to play but only did once it wasn't successful. But by just keeping it you gain one die plus one added to the effect for your attacks every round. Could pay out!

RomeoXero

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2016, 04:40:33 PM »
The staff would be diminishing in its returns for someone who wants to huck bolts more than once every 4 rounds. The accumulated extra dice drop off after one use, still nice but not as awesome as it seems at first. Ive seen it used but it just kinda slows you down. Lightning ring plus Hawkeye should be enough boost to those lightning spells and if you reallyREALLY need another one add marked for death.
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bigfatchef

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2016, 04:57:52 PM »
As I said it is a card that looks promising, but is at least paying out of you own and use it several rounds. If it gets dissolved it did disturb something else and leads to one less dissolve for your enemy. Many and actions are equal, but if you already used it, you are in advance.
If you can't shoot a round you earn a token. Can be seen as kind of a refund if you lose one Acton for some reason. I think it's no good plan to wait for 4 tokens. The staff gets to much a target and will get destroyed the moment before usage.
-> staff of storms was an idea I am not sure about.

I would also maybe add a wizards tower. Maybe instead of that second battle forge. Do you think you really need it?

Borg

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2016, 03:32:47 AM »
I would also maybe add a wizards tower. Maybe instead of that second battle forge. Do you think you really need it?

Hi Chef,

I didn't add a Tower because without Lightning Ring, Hawkeye ( an Akiro's Favor) the Lightning spells simply do not pack enough punch imo and I'd rather throw them another bolt myself then use that action to put the tower down.

I do think that having a back up BF is more important in this case because you want to be able to rotate/replace that gear without having to interrupt your pressure : Teleport Jelly/enemy and Strike.

On staff of storms :
- both hands are already filled with wands.
- As Romeo says, the return of the Staff would be diminishing
- last but not least, it's a promo, which I systematically exclude from my books ;)
« Last Edit: October 03, 2016, 06:41:48 AM by Borg »
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littlenog

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2016, 11:15:18 AM »
At first glance.

I would drop the Battle Forges and get Thunderbolts.  +4 daze range 3 Lightning Spell.

Get a Hamonize for 1 sbp.  14 Channel With Crystals and Amulet.

Suppression cloak instead of the 2 elemental cloaks your good on armor with glove + pants + body armor.

Lightning is the lower dice pool of damage spells Hawk eye and the ring just brings you to par.  You really want the daze and stun effects which Thunderbolt give quit reliable.

No Rust and no Acid Blast your going to have to eat though what ever armor you opponent puts on.

Wall of Fog is great when you need LoS blocked.

That is it till I get home and can take a closer look at the spell list.


Borg

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2016, 01:01:27 PM »
I would drop the Battle Forges and get Thunderbolts.  +4 daze range 3 Lightning Spell.

I think I need that third action from the Forge, desperately.

Thunderbolts are not an every turn spell at 10 mana and can easily be stopped by a Cloak of Shadows or wall or Interceptor.

Suppression cloak instead of the 2 elemental cloaks your good on armor with glove + pants + body armor.

The Elemental Cloaks + 2 armors are there to give me an edge vs Fire or Lightning opponents.
Combined I can get -4 Fire or -4 Lightning. That'll draw someone to me.

Suppression Cloak is only effective imo when used in combination with other cost-effects and vs a melee swarm.
It does nothing vs ranged and little vs a buddy.

No Rust and no Acid Blast your going to have to eat though what ever armor you opponent puts on.

That's the Jellies job ... and Piercing Thunderstrike.

As a side note, I like how the Jellies can still reconstruct with a Deathlock out.
Makes for a nice combination.

Wall of Fog is great when you need LoS blocked.

Correct and a reminder that I broke my own rule of thumb : every book needs at least a pair of walls.

Thanks for your input littlenog.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2016, 03:15:45 PM by Borg »
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Ravepig

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2016, 09:12:33 PM »
Trying this book Saturday morning- I'll let you know how it goes. My buddy will throw his standard guardian angels at me- thinking the teleport wand will come in handy.
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jacksmack

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2016, 03:28:13 AM »
I see 2 not counted benefits.

Against a armored targets and/or voltaric shield / veterans belt you need big attacks. Staff can help with that.
(see one of the many dice math threads)

Which leads me to the next... there will be rounds where you wont be attacking with lightning spells.
In those rounds Lightning ring and if no ranged spell at all (acid balls) even hawkeye will not benefit you -  where as Lightning stick will accumulate a charge for you.


I must admit i have never tried the staff. But i still think there is more too it than just being an expensive hawkeye.

Borg

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2016, 05:52:05 AM »
I'd like to try it out vs a live opponent as well.
There are always more books that I want to play than live games that are available.

I'm interested to hear your feedback, Ravepig.
I do expect this book to still change substantially after several plays.

Essentially you want your opponent out of Teleports, then pin him down in the company of 1 or 2 jellies
so eventually I can still see Tanglevine, Spiked Pit, even Teleport Trap being added to this book while the Lightning part gets trimmed down.
I probably can cut a ring, one or even two Elemental wands, a few Attack spells ...

jacksmack makes two interesting points and is correct that there will be rounds without lightning spells.
It may even turn out that the book is trying to do too much, positioning the enemy mage or your Jellies with the Teleport wand AND playing Lightning Spells.
Maybe I'll have to make a choice, going the Jelly way or the Lightning way to be more effective. I don't know (yet).
So, it seems to me that the Staff of Storms could eventually be useful ( when it gets legal :) and the Elemental Wand may not be needed.
More questions than answers atm.
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Ravepig

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2016, 01:42:32 PM »
Battle Report as promised:

First, off, my opponent and I agreed to a 90 minute match with a timed one minute planning period. Just as we approached the 90 minute mark, I finished his Priestess off using this book. Here are a couple key points: 

1. The most damage I carried at any point in the game was 7. Some of this had to do with some poor combat choices on his part I think. I had the the Gargoyle Sentry and both Jellies out at one point all in the same zone, and I think my Jellies freaked him out enough that he focused almost all his attacks for at least 3 to 4 rounds on the Jellies. I either guarded with the Jellies, or attacked his mage if she didn't have a creature guarding.

2. I kept the Priestess within 1 - 10 health of death almost the entire game. At one point she was down to 1 health, and had I not made the horrible, HORRIBLE mistake of forgetting about my wizard's basic melee attack she would have been defeated at the one hour mark- I fretted about this mistake the entire rest of the game and one I will never make again. Just glad I did win else this mistake would have bugged me all day! 

3. This win was with the Priestess healing herself probably a total of 40+ health over the duration of the game, which started to kind of annoy me a bit. The second big mistake i made was misplacing Deathlock. I definitely cast at the right moment, but I cast it one zone too close. Had I moved my mage and placed it just one zone further away, the game would have been over around the one hour mark.

That said, here are few things I am going to change based on my opponent's play:

1. Replace both Fog Banks with Rolling Fog. I know Fog Bank is cheaper to cast if just casting one, but I think they would only last one round, where as Rolling Fog would give me three rounds, if the purpose is truly to defend against ranged attacks. Needless to say, I didn't cast them at all.

2. Replace Cheetah speed with Poisoned Blood. This is probably just from my mistake of misplacing Deathlock, but this would have been a great back up and would have bought me at least two additional actions before the priestess could have healed herself- which even with misplacing Deathlock, would have won the game around the one hour mark.

3. Remove 1 Mage Wand and 1 Dissolve for 1 Thunderbolt. Towards end-game, I lacked a spell that had that little extra bite. As many times as I had my enemy 2 - 3 measly health from death, Thunderbolt may just have provided that something little extra to finish her off.

Undecided: I'm a little undecided on Voltaic Discharge vs. Electrify. I decided to keep Voltaic Discharge in my book for another try, but because of creature placement, I wound up staggering two of my own creatures without any means to remove the condition. Again, I had used this spell as a closer, and came up 2 short, so if you have suggestions for playing this differently, please let me know!

Overall, this book is solid- and even though I made two big mistakes, those two mistakes were really my only mistakes, so I do feel like my game-play is improving. With the few changes I made for next time, I think I can shave 10- 20 minutes off the time to victory.


Thanks for the book- had a lot of fun this morning.

P.S. As a bonus, we snuck in a quick game of Conquest- it came down to just a few units at the very last planet, but I wound up winning that too- all in all, had two great victories on this rainy Saturday morning.
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Borg

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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2016, 10:48:33 AM »
Thank you for the feedback, Ravepig.

Rolling Fog :
I've never used this card so far.
I don't know if it's really necessary to have three rounds of Obscured or if it's worth spending 7 mana on it but I would be interested to hear how it works out.

Contrary to Rolling Fog, Fog Bank can cut LoS to a creature that is adjacent to you and/or your creature(s) and thus protect you against close-up ranged attacks and potentially either force your opponent to enter your zone if he wants to target you, or waste at least one attack on it, or move to a different position.
Lots of possibilities really with a cheap card to block LoS which still allows passage.

I've also added a Wall of Bones because being able to block LoS and passage remains a very strong tactical manoeuvre imo. Just last week, a WoB was the play that tipped a battle in my favour and allowed me to win.

Voltaic Discharge :
You're completely correct to put question marks around this card.
It was supposed to play a similar role as Ring of Fire for the Adramelech Warlock but RoF doesn't target the caster, Voltaic Discharge on the other hand does, and the warlock's creatures ( Hellion and Slayer ) are either immune or "resistant" to fire Damage whereas the Wizard's creatures are not immune nor resistant to Lightning.
So I removed the card and didn't even replace it by Electrify because there's no synergy with the creatures.

Cheetah Speed :
This is a card I often like to use as a counter to Enfeeble, if for no other reason, but since the Wizard has no problem Dispelling and fastmoving around may not be his highest priority I guess these 2 sbp's can be saved.

Thunderbolt :
Good points about this card. Littlenog already suggested to add this too.
I wasn't sure about it ( certainly not in place of the Battle Forges ) but you might indeed need something with a little more bang towards the end and the range 3 could also be useful to outrange your opponent and thus draw him to you.
I'm not sure how many Lightning Bolts are really necessary for this build ( how many did you use in your game ? ) so I replaced two LB's for two Thunderbolts.

I also removed 1 Lightning Ring.
Updated the book in the opening post.

Thanks again for trying this book out and reporting about your game.
Glad you enjoyed it.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2016, 01:03:07 PM by Borg »
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Re: Air Strikes - Wizard
« Reply #14 on: November 18, 2016, 08:24:03 AM »
I gave your updated spell book a run last night. Played against a siren and I managed to win even though just barely. After playing last night I don't think this one is exactly my play style but I think I can definitely tweak it to something more to it and the meta in the area I play in.