Eye in the Sky

[Borg]

Mind's Eye is an incredible gift to any FM player.
It allows you to keep your Thoughtspores out of harm's way and gives your spells a potentially arena-wide range.

Thoughtspores were good but fragile before, now they have become scary good .

Another card that is straight up the FM's alley is Alandell, the Blue Knight.
Very high sbp cost ( 15 ) but very much worth it imo.

Alandell with an Akiro's Favor ( + 4 mana ) has a 75% Stun chance.
That's incredibly high and has major potential.
Focus this on the opposing mage and you can take away his full casts ( creatures ) and attack spells 75% of the time.
Force Pull, Force Push, Teleport, Tanglevine, Mongoose Agility can all help you focus down the opposing mage.
Preventing the opposing mage from summoning Creatures and playing Attack spells keeps your own creatures in better health at the same time. So, double win.

At the same time a Dissolve-Thoughtspore can control any Equipment that hits the table and/or a Dispel-Thoughtspore can control the Enchantment game.

Force Hammer and Invisible Fist can deal with Conjurations.
Invisible Fist is excellent at taking out incorporeal conjurations ( ... like Mind's Eye )

Overall, I think the FM now has all the tools to play a "board control" book giving her exceptional control on what she allows to stay on the board and what not, while at the same time she can be pretty aggressive and put up a lot of pressure with Alandell.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Eye in the Sky[/spellbookname]
[mage]Forcemaster[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWQ04]1 x  Galvitar, Force Blade[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ01]1 x  Dancing Scimitar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x  Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=LG01J04]3 x  Mind's Eye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]2 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=PSJ06]1 x  Pillar of Righteous Flame[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1W01]2 x  Wall of Force[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=PSC01]1 x  Alandell, the Blue Knight[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWC16]3 x  Thoughtspore[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]2 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]3 x  Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=LG01E03]2 x  Critical Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]2 x  Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE08]1 x  Mind Shield[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]2 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAPRE05]2 x  Glancing Blow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E10]1 x  Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=PSE03]2 x  Chant of Rage[/mwcard]
[mwcard=PSE11]1 x  Song of Love[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE05]1 x  Forcefield[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=LG01I01]1 x  Clear Mind[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=PSI03]1 x  Lesser Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I26]1 x  Sleep[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWA05]2 x  Invisible Fist[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]2 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]

Possible openings include
Alandell-Crystal
Thoughtspore-Mind's Eye
Thoughtspore-Crystal
Double Crystal

As always, advise and comments welcome.

PS There are so many enchantments the opposition will probably like to take out like Vampirism, Eagle Wings, Poisoned Blood, Akiro's Favor, Critical Strike, Falcon Precision etc and 3 Arcane Wards to protect them so that it is likely he may run out of dispel-abilities eventually.
At that point the Forcefield can be the game winner.

[Staeler]

As longtime opposing mage/challenger of Borg (played the game since the very beginning but never posted a thing) I can say that this is an really scary book.
I mean really, really scary.

The Thoughtspores can hit you anywhere in the Arena thanks to Mind's Eye. You won't even get close 'cause the TS's keep moving. Killing Mind's Eye is more expensive mana- and actionwise then the FM just casting another one.
In the meantime you have to fight Alandell and sometimes the Forcemaster himself. Your creatures are ignored, brought down by Alandell or send running after a flying and moving Thoughtspore on the other side of the Arena thanks to Chant of Rage. One spell that is gone from the spellbook is Sleep, which was another counter to creatures (and cast by a Thoughtspore). What's the reason you excluded it Borg?

Being stunned once or twice almost equals defeat - you are behind on answers (contesting with four actions - 2 from TS, 2 from FM). I lasted long just because Borg's dice rolls sometimes downright suck and it was his first time with the book.
My conclusion: this is a book to look at! So much I decided to make my first post (and I think that means something Borg  ).

[farkas1]

I like this book a lot wonder how well Alandell can be used with supporting all those thought spores and using the ability to spend mana for extra dice.    seems like it could be tight on mana to effectively use him.  Maybe need meditation amulet.  Idk just depends on what you want the force master to do. Have you tested it yet? 

 Smashing face with big Alandell and forcemaster is really a strong combo!  I also would like to see maybe acid ball or another rust for dealing with armor.  One or two more attack spells to throw out on the thought spores would be nice to if you could make room for it.

Again, I really like the book and minds eye is such a cool card workinf perfectly with the thought spores. 

The Force is strong!!!

[Borg]

seems like it could be tight on mana to effectively use him.  Maybe need meditation amulet.  Idk just depends on what you want the force master to do. Have you tested it yet?

Mana is tight, that is correct, Farkas1. That is also the reason that cards like for example Sleep, Force Hold and Mind Control didn't make the final cut. Their cost/upkeep is simply too high to play besides the main strategy.

I've played it twice already ( with positive results ) and feel like I don't need a Meditation Amulet.

I want the FM to be able to move around and make use of his Force Pull to help Alandell hit the main target (enemy mage) preferable every round and QC the Eye in the right zone immediately before activating the Thoughtspore.

The most important decision to make early on is to have the "best" counter on your first Thoughtspore.
If your opponent opens up with a Battle Forge, a Dissolve-Thoughtspore is likely to be an excellent counter.
If your opponent opens up with an Enchanter's Ring or Ring of Curses, a Dispel-Thoughtspore is more like it.

The key to having "enough" mana is having a round (now and then) where you spend very little mana.
There will be rounds where the Thoughtspores do not need to cast their spell(s)
Times that you'll only use your Force Pull + an attack

With a Crystal and 2 Thoughtspores on board you generate 13 mana/turn.
Minus 4 for Alandell, that leaves you 9 to work with, that's doable so far in my experience.

I also would like to see maybe acid ball or another rust for dealing with armor.  One or two more attack spells to throw out on the thought spores would be nice to if you could make room for it.

I like to conserve mana as much as possible for this book for the reasons mentioned above.
So instead of spending 2sbp's and 5 mana on an Acid Ball to hit 1 target I'd rather spend those 2 sbp's and 5 mana on a Critical Strike which I can use every round and against different targets.
That 1 Rust is there solely to play on the enemy mage in case the 3 Piercing from the Critical Strike would not be enough ( alternatively it can be used as a Nullify trigger. )

I looked at several other Attack spells, mainly Arc Lightning, Fireblast , Jet Stream and Hurl Rock but decided the first three are situational and sbp's are very tight and I prefer Invisible Fist over Hurl Rock here because they cost only 1 sbp and I can get 2 IF for 1 HR.
What eventually completely won me over to Invisible Fist is the fact that it is Ethereal damage and as such an excellent counter in a mirror game vs Incorporeal Mind's Eyes.

[Biblofilter]

Mind Eyes is something i really want to try myself.

Flying wands are pretty amazing - now they can hit from above

Alandell seems really strong - only having the "pleasure" of playing against him up to now.

Pillar of Righteous Flame is a card i think should be in this book (actually in any book) but what to take out?
2x Forcehammer
Vampiric ?
Forcefield ??
Eagle Wings

Everything would hurt, but i would make room.

My own version just have 4 Thoughtspores and a Toolbox of attack spells. Plan is to gear up and wait for the opponent to come to you, gear up and the smash face.

Yours seems stronger and certainly you have put more thought into it.

Never seem to be able to put a Battleforge in a FM book - its the "enchantmanet/dispel exhausting" thing your talking about. And it might be that the days where FM had 40 mana and nothing to do with it are over.

Anyway: another scary FM book from you

[bigfatchef]

I also run such a book with slight differences.
I only have 2 spores and a second chance enchantment to resummon one of them without needing a full action. Do you think you find the time to summon all 4 and alandell? The problem I see here is mana. Those already living spores want to cast spells and need mana. Also alandell wants your mana to be fully empowered. And casting those mind's eyes also need mana.
I found out that even 2 minds eyes with 2 spores seemed too much. One of both spores always is in range or saves mana anyways.
With alandell I have the main issue that I never find mana for him, so I switched to necropian vampiress for her survivability. You would save a eagle wing 4 sbp for something else

[Borg]

Pillar of Righteous Flame is a card i think should be in this book (actually in any book) but what to take out?

Oh man, what a card for this book. Such potential for a FM.
Force Pull is 1 mana and 0 sbp's for a 4 (or 6) dice ethereal attack with Daze/Burn chance.
Force Push, 3 mana and 1 sbp is still a very good deal.
FM has all the tools in school to maximise the damage output of this card.

Thank you for pointing this one out to me.
In my defense, I have to say I'm still working my way through all the PvS and LG1 goodies and this one escaped my attention ....... till now

Never seem to be able to put a Battleforge in a FM book

I had BF in my earliest FM builds but I've gone Equipment low since the Spiked Pit version.

Currently I just stick to the "bare essentials", Galvitar, Scimitar and a Wand of Healing.
I even dropped the armor piece with Critical Strike out.

I considered using Hand of Bim Shalla instead of an armor piece as it gives me a lot more possibilities (though 1 less armor ) but it didn't make the final cut. It's still an option though.

I only have 2 spores and a second chance enchantment to resummon one of them without needing a full action. Do you think you find the time to summon all 4 and alandell?

A Second Chance instead of a Thoughtspore is certainly an option but it has a few drawbacks imo :

1- When to play it ?
Play it too soon and it may get seeking dispelled ( even more so when your opponent has played you before and knows you have this spell ) or it may even turn out to be a wasted action and mana ( if the TS remains alive throughout the game ).
Play it too late and your Thoughtspore may be destroyed before you can put the SC on it.

2- Mana shortage.
Mana being tight as it is, this makes it even tougher, as you now constantly have to keep 8 mana available to resurrect your TS should it go down. Worst case scenario, your TS goes down when you have less than 8 mana available. That would be a heavy loss.
As a side note : could this be the reason you don't find sufficient mana for Alandell ?

So, I simply like to play it safe ( and cheap ) and avoid these potential problems by adding a third TS instead of a Second Chance. It's a full action again if I ever need it but I don't have to worry about the points made above.

Do I plan to play all 4 in a game ?
Certainly not.
One : for sure.
A second one : likely. Somewhat later.

With the third and fourth TS available I just want to maximise my back-up abilities since this is part of the main strategy and I don't want the loss of my initial or even second Thoughtspore to be the end of that strategy.
Having enough back-up also allows you to focus your actions somewhat less on "keeping the TS alive at all cost" and more on other "urgent" actions to be taken.

However, I do want to try with just 3 Thoughtspores ( cutting the 4th to help pay for Pillar of Righteous Flame ) It may be enough, we'll see.
The Mind's Eyes I don't want to go below three atm as I think that these cards are going to draw a lot of attention going forward. Expect to lose at least one.

With alandell I have the main issue that I never find mana for him, so I switched to necropian vampiress for her survivability.

Necropian Vampiress is obviously an excellent buddy for the FM but that 75% Stun Chance of Alandell ( with Akiro's Favour ) is really what I would like to exploit here as a 1-2 punch in combination with Mind's eye.

As a side note : Akiro's Favour's reroll effect is also better ( read : more reliable ) the more dice you roll at once.
Rolling 8 dice with Akiro's Favour will generally yield good results ( the more dice you roll the more likely you'll get an average result. The fewer dice you roll - say 3 or 4 - the more "swingy" the results are. Roll 50 dice in one go and very likely you'll end up with close to 50 damage too. )

And it might be that the days where FM had 40 mana and nothing to do with it are over.

QFT.
FM has evolved from a "pure aggressive mage only" to a mage who can play a variety of strategies..
Look for FM to win the next GenCon

Thank you both, you always give me things to think and talk about with your replies.
Much appreciated.

[bigfatchef]

Thank you both, you always give me things to think and talk about with your replies.
Much appreciated.

Thank you, too. Some of your flight will definitely find their way into my book. I like many of your ideas by the way!

Something else:
I have 2 decoys in my book and thinking about a third. You can just scare people and fake them and pop nullies.
Fake a forcefield, fake a null, fake sometging under a spore, fake a trap-pit, fake astral anchor, fake arcane ward... It is the most useful and versatile little helpercard for a forcaster out there.
You should add one or two.

[Borg]

Thank you both, you always give me things to think and talk about with your replies.
Much appreciated.

Thank you, too. Some of your flight will definitely find their way into my book. I like many of your ideas by the way!

Something else:
I have 2 decoys in my book and thinking about a third. You can just scare people and fake them and pop nullies.
Fake a forcefield, fake a null, fake sometging under a spore, fake a trap-pit, fake astral anchor, fake arcane ward... It is the most useful and versatile little helpercard for a forcaster out there.
You should add one or two.

I agree.
I replaced the original Decoy for a third Arcane Ward but going over the spell list again I think I'd prefer a Decoy over the Dodge for all the reasons you mentioned above.
Thanks

[bigfatchef]

About Alandell:
I had a similar idea but with Paladin. I wanted to stun the enemy right from the beginning. The opening was
T1 Alandell, fd akiros favor
T2 fd divine intervention, double move nc. Alandell beam to enemy mage and hits already in T2
T3 onwards you have enough mana for akiro reveal and buff. And you are in range to support.

It's a fun opening, but what I learned i that a stunned mage can still cat qcs as normal and most mages start with mana- or action generaters. They can still cast a forge, a temple, and so on. So the effect is not as huge as I expected it to be.
How do you feel about that? Or how is it working for you until now?

[Borg]

One spell that is gone from the spellbook is Sleep, which was another counter to creatures (and cast by a Thoughtspore). What's the reason you excluded it Borg?

Wow, now that is a surprise ... after all those years we've been playing, my regular sparring partner has decided to start posting as well

It's nice to see you here, M., welcome.

About Sleep :
The SleepSpore was indeed very effective in our second game but I took it out anyway because imo
1- it requires too much mana to put higher lvl creatures to sleep, especially with Alandell already requiring so much of your mana.
2- outright destroying an opposing creature seems often a better solution than putting it to sleep
3- Against Psychic Immune opposition, Sleep is 2 wasted sbp's.

However ... It can be a quite powerful combo to Stun the mage and put to sleep his buddy during the same round.
Now you make me doubt this again ...

So, you cannot be 100% sure there won't be a Sleep included next time we play

About Alandell:
I had a similar idea but with Paladin. I wanted to stun the enemy right from the beginning. The opening was
T1 Alandell, fd akiros favor
T2 fd divine intervention, double move nc. Alandell beam to enemy mage and hits already in T2
T3 onwards you have enough mana for akiro reveal and buff. And you are in range to support.

It's a fun opening, but what I learned i that a stunned mage can still cat qcs as normal and most mages start with mana- or action generaters. They can still cast a forge, a temple, and so on. So the effect is not as huge as I expected it to be.
How do you feel about that? Or how is it working for you until now?

I don't mind the opponent playing a Forge as I can counter that with a DissolveSpore.
Paladin does not have that option, however and that makes for a big difference imo.

If the opponent brings out a Spawn Point, I'd suggest to take that out first and asap.

Mana generators I wouldn't worry about, just keep hitting the opposing mage, he can have all the mana he wants.

The T2 Divine Intervention tactic is strong of course but also very risky because you are committing yourself to a very aggressive strategy at that point and time is against you from that point on. You better finish the job quickly. If you don't, you're in trouble.

The FM and Spores otoh allow you to go more reactive, requiring less early commitment and seem to be the safer way to go. ( I haven't played Paladin/Alandell yet, so that's just an opinion )

I tried some more openings for the FM and I like a double-Crystal opening as well really.
It puts you straight at 12 channeling, gives you 22 mana at the start of T2 and you've had T1 to get an idea of what your opponent is going to do. And obviously, more channeling is more fuel for Alandell-Spore engine as well.

[Borg]

Made a major update to book in the opening post.

I removed Vampirism and Eagle Wings for a total of 8 sbp's as I think I can compensate their loss and get more overall out of
Minor Healing
Leather Chausses
Hand of Bim Shalla
Song of Love
Sleep ( yes, it's back )

Reasons ;
- I checked all Flyers (with grga's SBB) and it turns out there are NO psychic Immune, non-living Flyers out there.
So Sleep could be a good counter there. The second mana crystal I added helps in that regard.

- I figured I needed some extra armor.
Enter the chausses and Hand of Bim Shalla.
I prefer HoBM over a classic piece of armor as it costs me the same amount of sbp's : 2 and is 1 mana cheaper than most. It does give only 1 armor instead of 2 but it can be used on Alandell and the Spores too. On top of that it can heal and boost an attack. So I prefer its versatility vs a straight up +1 armor.

Song of Love costs 1 sbp vs Vampirism's 4 sbp's and can prevent damage as opposed to healing it.

A Minor Heal Spore is a possibility. I don't know yet how much this is going to come up and vs which opponent but I'm willing to include it atm to have a regular healing option available. We'll see where this goes.

Overall, I got a few spells in which I really wanted to make room for.

EDIT : Upon further review, Vampirism is just too good to leave out, so
Vampirism for Minor Heal and Dissolve

[iNano78]

- I checked all Flyers (with grga's SBB) and it turns out there are NO psychic Immune, non-living Flyers out there.

It's possible to make a Living, Flying, Psychic Immune creature:

• Knight of the Red Helm + Eagle Wings... 
• Mana Leech + Eagle Wings...   
• Giant Wolf Spider + Eagle Wings... 
• Sslak or Usslak + Eagle Wings... 

[Borg]

- I checked all Flyers (with grga's SBB) and it turns out there are NO psychic Immune, non-living Flyers out there.

It's possible to make a Living, Flying, Psychic Immune creature:

• Knight of the Red Helm + Eagle Wings... 
• Mana Leech + Eagle Wings...   
• Giant Wolf Spider + Eagle Wings... 
• Sslak or Usslak + Eagle Wings... 

Possible alright, just not very likely to ever meet one of those