First play with the Priest

[Ravepig]

Prior to PVS, the only mage I had not played to date was the Priest. Not sure why I shied away from him- perhaps I just found the other mages more interesting. That said, I was on a mission to complete my goal of having at least one victory for every mage (excluding PVS at this point), and only the Priest remained. So, this weekend I had my first run with the Priest, and I have to say he was surprisingly fun to play. Building a book using cards from both the Academy and PVS set, it seems that the Priest is much more complete now as I had quite a few tools at my disposal.

When my buddies and I play, we don't announce which mage we are bringing to the table- we do a "mage reveal" as the game begins. I had no idea what my buddy was bringing, and he had no idea what I was bringing. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw him reveal the necro because of course, my mage would have +2 dice to several attack rolls.

The necro did a slow build up of a zombie hoard in one zone- I kept him restricted to one zone thanks to a couple Consecrated Ground spells (I think that's the name of the zone spell). As I moved in with my mage and two buffed Guardian Angels, he cast two walls to protect his zone from my mage, hoping to buy himself some time.

So, I decided to take a huge risk as I didn't want his swarm to become too powerful and difficult to manage. I teleported my mage to his zombie hoard zone- it would either pay off big time, or I would end up dead in two turns. I immediately cast the holy spell that is a zone attack with the potential to daze or stun opponents (can't recall the spell name). The spell only rolls 2 dice per creature, but I had the holy ring and hawkeye on my mage giving him +2 dice, and then another +2 dice against each undead in that one zone. Having stunned or dazed most of his creatures, I only took 7 damage that one round. During the next round, I cast that same spell again, and this time, I finished off most of his hoard, and those that did remain wound up dazed or stunned. But knowing his zombies were slow, I then followed up by using my quickcast to use minor teleport to teleport one zone away from his now stunned mage and a couple dazed and confused zombies. At this point, I had destroyed or severely wounded most of his zombie hoard, not to mention, got lucky with the effect die, stunning his mage twice, limiting his actions. All that damage to my enemy, and my mage only suffered 7 damage!

I then moved my two guardian angels who prepared to finish the job. While I didn't kill my opponent's mage outright, the two rounds proved to be too catastrophic to my opponent's strategy and he conceded.

The Priest was a lot of fun to play- my opinion of the Priest has definitely changed.

My opponent did tell me he was one turn away from having cast Astral Anchor. You snooze you lose.

The bonus was that we had time for a second game. We played his Warlord vs. my Warlock, to which I won by turn four due to some really really lucky dice rolls. 2-0 in 2.5 hours. It was a victorious day!

[Kelanen]

I immediately cast the holy spell that is a zone attack with the potential to daze or stun opponents (can't recall the spell name). The spell only rolls 2 dice per creature, but I had the holy ring and hawkeye on my mage giving him +2 dice, and then another +2 dice against each undead in that one zone.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

[Ravepig]

I immediately cast the holy spell that is a zone attack with the potential to daze or stun opponents (can't recall the spell name). The spell only rolls 2 dice per creature, but I had the holy ring and hawkeye on my mage giving him +2 dice, and then another +2 dice against each undead in that one zone.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

I had to look up the name of the card, so I could give you the reference- the spell was blinding flash, which is both a ranged attack and a zone attack, so I'm assuming it was played correctly. It would have helped if I had actually named the spell in my overview.

[jacksmack]

Check the codex for *ranged + x*.

It does not benefit zone attacks.

[Ravepig]

Check the codex for *ranged + x*.

It does not benefit zone attacks.

So that's confusing then- because Blinding Flash has BOTH the ranged icon AND the zone attack icon.

[iNano78]

I immediately cast the holy spell that is a zone attack with the potential to daze or stun opponents (can't recall the spell name). The spell only rolls 2 dice per creature, but I had the holy ring and hawkeye on my mage giving him +2 dice, and then another +2 dice against each undead in that one zone.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

I had to look up the name of the card, so I could give you the reference- the spell was blinding flash, which is both a ranged attack and a zone attack, so I'm assuming it was played correctly. It would have helped if I had actually named the spell in my overview.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks (including Blinding Flash) are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

Now, the new temple in PvS gives an enemy creature Light +1, so you would roll an extra die and add +1 to the effect die when rolling against that creature, but as the FAQ says, Ranged +1 doesn't work with Zone attacks.

P.S. All zone attacks have a ranged symbol on them. That's to distinguish from melee... but it still doesn't get ranged bonuses. Giving Ranged bonuses to zone attacks would be overpowered. Similarly, Trample doesn't benefit from Melee +X bonuses, even though Trample attacks have a melee symbol.

[bigfatchef]

All Zone attacks also have a ranged attack symbol i think. As long as target is the zone and you also see the square zone attack symbol - they are zone attacks. Thus they don't get +dice from hawkeye

[Ravepig]

I immediately cast the holy spell that is a zone attack with the potential to daze or stun opponents (can't recall the spell name). The spell only rolls 2 dice per creature, but I had the holy ring and hawkeye on my mage giving him +2 dice, and then another +2 dice against each undead in that one zone.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

I had to look up the name of the card, so I could give you the reference- the spell was blinding flash, which is both a ranged attack and a zone attack, so I'm assuming it was played correctly. It would have helped if I had actually named the spell in my overview.

Sorry that doesn't work - zone attacks (including Blinding Flash) are not boosted by +Ranged so neither the ring nor Hawkeye would have any effect...

Now, the new temple in PvS gives an enemy creature Light +1, so you would roll an extra die and add +1 to the effect die when rolling against that creature, but as the FAQ says, Ranged +1 doesn't work with Zone attacks.

P.S. All zone attacks have a ranged symbol on them. That's to distinguish from melee... but it still doesn't get ranged bonuses. Giving Ranged bonuses to zone attacks would be overpowered. Similarly, Trample doesn't benefit from Melee +X bonuses, even though Trample attacks have a melee symbol.

Fair enough- so then what is the purpose of having both icons on the card then? Is it to say that the caster may choose to use it as one OR the other? If that's the case, the card should specifically call that out with an "or." If that's not the case, then I don't see the point of having both icons?

As I've mentioned in prior posts, I've only been playing about 10 months now, and this is my first time with the Priest, and first time using Blinding Flash. I understand if the codex says Ranged +X cannot be used for zone attacks, but when the card has both icons, it is misleading- especially to new players. I see the ranged icon and I assume it benefits from ranged modifiers. Any clarification would be most appreciated!

[Ravepig]

All Zone attacks also have a ranged attack symbol i think. As long as target is the zone and you also see the square zone attack symbol - they are zone attacks. Thus they don't get +dice from hawkeye

Thanks for the clarification- well, I will have to tell my buddy so we can rematch then. I don't consider it a win if we didn't play correctly!

[jacksmack]

Check the codex for *ranged + x*.

It does not benefit zone attacks.

So that's confusing then- because Blinding Flash has BOTH the ranged icon AND the zone attack icon.

I dont see how this is confusing after reading the codex entry (found in the end of the rulebook) for both
ranged and Ranged +X.

Motorized vehicles pays toll on highway, company owned cars never pays toll = Taxi drives for free on highway.

[Ravepig]

Check the codex for *ranged + x*.

It does not benefit zone attacks.

So that's confusing then- because Blinding Flash has BOTH the ranged icon AND the zone attack icon.

I dont see how this is confusing after reading the codex entry (found in the end of the rulebook) for both
ranged and Ranged +X.

Motorized vehicles pays toll on highway, company owned cars never pays toll = Taxi drives for free on highway.

I'm glad you don't find it confusing. I would say for new or inexperienced players it is confusing. I've got a guy at the table who's a 20 year veteran of MTG, understands card games extremely well, and also thought I played that attack spell correctly. The attack spell has both icons so we both assumed it was both ranged and zone. It was a mistake. Yes, I found it confusing- and honestly still do. I don't understand the point of having both icons on the card if the ranged icon literally means nothing. If it doesn't add any purpose to the card, there is no point in having it on the card as it only clutters and confuses things (just my opinion though)- I do appreciate bigfatchef for pointing out that all zone attacks have the ranged icon- didn't notice that, but in reviewing different attack spells, I do see that now. 

Still, posting my experience only benefited us as we will make sure to play Zone Attack spells correctly in the future. I will also let my buddy know we need a rematch to be fair. Again, we've played once or twice a month for about 10 months, so we are not as well-versed in the rules as many veteran players, which is one reason why I love this community- sharing mage wars experiences, and learning as we do.

These kinds of conversations will also only help me continue to build the mage wars community in my area with a higher degree of confidence, which is my ultimate goal, so I definitely appreciate everyone's comments and feedback.

[Halewijn]

I agree that it is confusing. Nevertheless it makes sense that hawkeye (better aiming at targets) doesn't help you for blasting zones.

You could argue this doesn't count for the ring, but then again this would make the ring unbalanced since it should probably work for all of the attacks. (thus none is better)

[iNano78]

It is both Ranged and Zone. But as the FAQ/Codex says, Ranged +X bonuses don't apply to Zone attacks. Similarly, only the first attack of a Melee attack action can benefit from Melee +X. Similarly, only the first attack of a Ranged attack action that has more than 1 target (e.g. Sweeping, Doublestrike, Triplestrike) benefits from Ranged +1. Similarly, Trample attacks don't benefit from ANY Melee +X bonuses, despite having a Melee symbol.

Yes, it's unintuitive and/or confusing to some (most?) people. Yes, it would be preferable to some if the Ranged and Melee symbols weren't used in situations where Ranged and Melee bonuses don't apply (e.g. if the Ranged/Melee symbols were left off of Zone/Trample attacks). But for better or worse, that's the precedent that Mage Wars has stuck with, and the FAQ/Codex are pretty clear about how to rule it, even if the opposite would seem to be more intuitive based on the core rules and symbology used in the game in the absence of the FAQ/Codex. And it makes sense from a power level perspective: If you could apply Ranged +1 or Melee +1 on several dice rolls within a single attack, it would be MUCH more powerful on such an attack (e.g. [mwcard=FWC10]Ludwig Boltstorm[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1C09]Darkfenne Hydra[/mwcard] or with Zone attacks), and should cost more to work with those attacks. Instead, Melee +X was ruled to only work with the first attack and not at all on Trample, and Ranged +X was ruled to only work on the first for multiple strikes and Sweeping and to not work at all on Zone attacks.

*edit* Fixed creature reference. Got Grimson Deadeye and Ludwig Bolstorm mixed up.

[Ravepig]

I agree that it is confusing. Nevertheless it makes sense that hawkeye (better aiming at targets) doesn't help you for blasting zones.

You could argue this doesn't count for the ring, but then again this would make the ring unbalanced since it should probably work for all of the attacks. (thus none is better)

Oh, I agree- the rule itself makes total sense. Especially with Hawkeye as you pointed out why.

[Ravepig]

And, I might add- even had I known that rule with the ring/Hawkeye- I think I still would have made the same move- Even with 2 less dice, the daze/stun effect was what I was ultimately going for anyhow so that I could move my guardian angels into the zone knowing most of his creatures were either dazed or stunned with my mage one zone away ready to sling more attack spells.