Back after a long time, many questions

[Cowbell]

Hello all!,

I am just coming back to Mage Wars after a regrettably long hiatus, and had a few questions about the current state of affairs/what I missed (skimmed through the news section but it was surprisingly sparce for the last few years). For the record the last set I got was Druid vs Necromancer.

So first off, I am planning on getting Academy. I think it would be a nice stepping stone before I get people into Arena. I am planning on starting with the strater initially, to get a feel for it, but was wondering what people thought of the expansions. Which ones are the most fun to play, and which ones have cards that are specially good for Arena?

What is the general consensus on Domination. Is it a good alternate game mode?

Obviously getting Paladin vs Siren.

Also heard snippets about Lost Grimoire. Is this a collection of promos from before, or is it akin the the core spell tome, or just new spells not coming with Mages?

Is there news on things to come? Like a forged in fire esque set for forcemaster/wizard?

Regarding packs, how is the card distribution. I remember buying 2 copies of the core set, and I think 2 copies of Forcemaster/Warlord in order to have enough copies of spells. Are the sets including 6x level ones and 4x level 2? or is 2 sets the go to? Are the card lists posted somewhere? I remember there used to be a checklist of sorts, but I cant seem to find it through my brief perusal of the site.

Regarding errata. There was 3 cards errata'd when I was playing, Hand of Bim Shalla, and 2 others that I forget. Has there been any other errata's (I think i saw something about Wizard?) Where can you find the errata and is there some way to get the errata'd cards?

Finally regarding promos. Is the policy still that every promo will eventually be released in a set? I also saw mention of alternate art cards for Paladin and Siren if you preordered. Does that mean they wont have an alternate Mage in the future? Are these cards still available?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and answering questions!

Cheers

Cowbell

[Halewijn]

Nice to see someone come back after a break!

So first off, I am planning on getting Academy. I think it would be a nice stepping stone before I get people into Arena. I am planning on starting with the strater initially, to get a feel for it, but was wondering what people thought of the expansions. Which ones are the most fun to play, and which ones have cards that are specially good for Arena?

I really enjoy academy both as a quick pseudo-mage wars game and as an introduction, although I don't like it nearly as much as the real goods. Still, it's a very fun, quick game for when mage wars arena is just too much.

Every academy expansions contains some very nice arena cards for their respective arena counterparts. Not every single card is useful in arena, but many of them are. Some are even game changers. You should check them out.

What is the general consensus on Domination. Is it a good alternate game mode?

Personally not a fan of this mode. I know other people do enjoy it.

Obviously getting Paladin vs Siren.

You should! Great expansion!

Also heard snippets about Lost Grimoire. Is this a collection of promos from before, or is it akin the the core spell tome, or just new spells not coming with Mages?

It's a combination between old promo's and new spells (without mages) There are no existing spells in the set.

Is there news on things to come? Like a forged in fire esque set for forcemaster/wizard?

Apart from Academy warlord and Academy forcemaster: No.

Regarding packs, how is the card distribution. I remember buying 2 copies of the core set, and I think 2 copies of Forcemaster/Warlord in order to have enough copies of spells. Are the sets including 6x level ones and 4x level 2? or is 2 sets the go to? Are the card lists posted somewhere? I remember there used to be a checklist of sorts, but I cant seem to find it through my brief perusal of the site.

I believe a rule of thumb for number of spells in a set:
Level 1: 3x
Higher level: 2x
Epic/mage only: 1x

Might not always be correct.

Regarding errata. There was 3 cards errata'd when I was playing, Hand of Bim Shalla, and 2 others that I forget. Has there been any other errata's (I think i saw something about Wizard?) Where can you find the errata and is there some way to get the errata'd cards?

There are probably some rewordings but nothing major apart from the wizard and the wizard tower.

Finally regarding promos. Is the policy still that every promo will eventually be released in a set? I also saw mention of alternate art cards for Paladin and Siren if you preordered. Does that mean they wont have an alternate Mage in the future? Are these cards still available?

Still the same policy! No idea if the alternate art is available.

[jacksmack]

# of allowed copies in Academy and arena different.

For arena expansions i believe the copy count is:
level 1 = 6
level 2 and higher = 4
Exceptions: Mage only, Unique, epic, Legendary. I dont have the counts for these, and they could possibly wary.

In academy i'm much more unsure of, but my guess is this:
lvl 1 = 3
lvl 2 and higher = 2
Same exceptions as arena.

My recommendation is to just get a single of every expansion. If that's too little for you, then double the academy sets so you can put in 6 disciples (which i assume at some point will get nerfed anyway.)
Getting a single of the arena expansions should be plenty to make 2 rock solid books (not from same mage type ie 2 x warlord.)