Thoughts about the Priestess

[Obsidian Soul]

So, I was wondering what people thought about the Priestess now that we are in the sixth year of Mage Wars.  One of the base mages, she is the premier healer mage, though she does have competition from the Paladin and Priest.  She is also my favorite mage.

In my mind, the Priestess has two strengths: healing and protection.  With her special abilities, she can easily achieve 40 life in a game.  With her healing, she can easily survive taking 60 points of damage in a game.  With cards like Circle of Protection, Consecrated Ground, Eye for an Eye, and the Pillar, she does not terribly care or worry about being swarmed, as she can usually recover from the damage within a turn or two while her enemies cannot.

In addition, her creatures are generally powerful and, if expensive, tend to punch above their weight limit and have surprising synergy, which anyone who has gone up against two Knights of Westlock backed up by two Guardian Angels can agree with.  While a number of her legendary creatures tend to be too expensive, such as the majority of the named angels, her non-legendary creatures tend to be solid.  I think that she is still a competitive mage, but what do you think?

[silverclawgrizzly]

So I don't think there's any doubt the Priestess remains competitive. The biggest challenge I see new players have with the mage is the balance between defense and offense. It's too easy to fall into a trap of just wanting to hide in a hole hoping your enemy is nice enough to kill themself. Especially as of late you need offense tactics like Crusade Griffins, Temple of Light, etc.

[wtcannonjr]

So I don't think there's any doubt the Priestess remains competitive. The biggest challenge I see new players have with the mage is the balance between defense and offense. It's too easy to fall into a trap of just wanting to hide in a hole hoping your enemy is nice enough to kill themself. Especially as of late you need offense tactics like Crusade Griffins, Temple of Light, etc.

Agreed. This is a common issue with new players until they understand the risks better and how to manage them using aggressive play. The Priestess is most effective when modeled after a Wonder Woman styled character who can heal and restore her creatures in the midst of battle.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I think that's the best way I've ever heard that put actually wtcannonjr. A strong warrior who can provide the best support in the game. Well said.

I'll note it's not just the Priestess new players hesitate with but her strong defense capabilities almost invite it.

[Reddicediaries]

I tend to find many people overate the priestess over the other two holy mages.

Training wise the paladin is better, that's just a fact (as of now). And to be honest, I don't think Divine Reward and Restore plus the 10 channeling is as good as level two war training, Divine Challenge, and Auras.

Whenever I see people play the priest like the priestess (no cheap Holy Avenger, meditation amulet with Temple of Asyra) I cry because if you are not making use out of a mages abilities/training, why are you playing that mage?

That being said, she is very strong, even if I rarely lose to her with paladin.

[Brian VanAlstyne]

Yes, you are the best Paladin player of all-time and all other holy mages bow before you. Now, to be honest, the Auras are 70% worthless and almost never get played unless you're just wasting time before death or killing your opponent.

[Reddicediaries]

Yes, you are the best Paladin player of all-time and all other holy mages bow before you. Now, to be honest, the Auras are 70% worthless and almost never get played unless you're just wasting time before death or killing your opponent.

I may be the best paladin player of all time, I may not be, doesn't matter to me.

Basically, I think the fact that the paladin has better access to offensive weapons like Ballista and Izimbilla boosts him over the priestess. If you use challenge, it can basically act like an aggressive heal if that makes sense. Since you have a higher chance of killing your target, the damage your creatures will take is reduced. I view this as more valuable than gaining one permanent life.

[silverclawgrizzly]

We can debate the pros and cons of the Paladin later. Suffice to say I don't see Ballista as being the end all be all.

[Reddicediaries]

We can debate the pros and cons of the Paladin later. Suffice to say I don't see Ballista as being the end all be all.

While my comment is more revolved around answering how I see the priestess as viable as compared to the paladin, I do see your point and concede I could have been more on topic. Apologies.

[werner]

Even when I play Priestess, I tend not to "trade dice" using healing to mitigate direct-dmg(rushdown). Instead, I've cut way back on healing spellbookpoints in trade for things like Pillar of Righteous Flame and more Knights! In the name of an armor-theme, I've added Tegu as well... cheap way (SBP(s)) to get some budget "curses" into my Priestess build without paying triple-cost.

[farkas1]

I think with the likes of eye for and eye, pillar, griffins, allandell, and other PVS cards priestess is really strong.  Having channel 10 helps support high mana cost abilities like allandell’s attack.   

Werner I really like the idea of  Holy DOT dealer and tegu would be pretty sweet.  It reminds me of an older idea I have toyed around with using giant wolf spiders in some of my holy books.  Taint is nasty and can quickly stack with With the help of tangle vine.  Also the great thing you already have in school  spells to deal with undead and non-living things..  so it does not hurt as much SBP wise. 

[Enti]

"Thoughts on the Priestess"

Her primary and most obvious (and probably intended) way to play her is the following:

Get high armor creatures on the board and never let them die. Focus down the dice the enemy has (aka get boardcontrol) and once you have 2,3,4 Knights of Westlock and the enemy has lost their creatures and their spawnpoint you start killing the mage.
If you have the 2 mana-rings you only need to spend 1 mana! to avoid 2 dmg and heal 2 dmg. (Divine reversal). And "healing 4 dmg" for 1 mana on a 3 armor creature and getting 1 additional maximum-life as well... that's just insane - if you don't wait too long. Because once your enemy has 20-30 dice on the board every turn those 4 heal don't do that much..

But luckily there are at least 2 additionally strong ways to play the Priestess. That's the beauty of MW... :3

[Beldin]

Personally I wouldn't waste actions on a spawn point unless I was 90+% sure that I could destroy it in a single turn. Other than Battle Forge and Libro Mortis then I mostly just ignore the spawn point and only deal with problem objects, as a spawn point holds useless mana if it's controller has nothing to cast out of it.

Additionally Battle Forge removal using swell et al creates a interesting situation where you are damned if do and damned if you do not destroy it. This is due to the fact that only above average rolls destroy it with a single spell and using 2 actions gives your opponent tempo.

[DaveW]

And then if you roll like I do, a double swell doesn't even destroy the Forge... even with a Hawkeye on.

[wtcannonjr]

I sometimes find adding threats to board locations and walls are cheaper ways to limit the benefits of a Battle Forge rather than spending attack actions to destroy it. This combines nicely when your strategy uses walls that block line of sight in an offensive way as well.