Gen Con Academy pre releases

[wtcannonjr]

This is what it says in the ruling about swarms:
[…] Creatures with the swarm trait cannot gaurd and Cannot be targeted or affected by non-attack spells that do not specifically target swarm creatures.  […]

Given the wording of the second clause in this sentence, one could make the case that Etherian Life Tree or Idol of Pestilence do not affect swarms. Spells with terms like "All Living Objects" or "All Objects" would not affect a creature with the swarm trait since they lack the specific target reference to the swarm trait. i.e. "All Living Objects" is a general targeting term rather than a specific targeting term like "all swarm creatures". Some examples in the rules would have been nice to clarify the intent of this interaction.

With this interpretation all the Conjuration spells currently in Arena would not affect a creature with the swarm trait since the trait did not exist until now. Does this interpretation help lower the OP nature of swarm creatures?

Another house rule - simply remove the 'Critical Damage' attack trait. Is this trait inherent to all swarms or just the Killer Bees? Without the Critical Damage trait a swarm drops to a more realistic power-level creature with a different type of resilience to attacks, but most damage will be done to unarmored creatures.

Sorry, man. If you interpret the rules this way you also eliminate any attacks against the swarm because no creature's attack bar specifically targets swarms.

The swarm trait rules specifically address how attacks are handled by covering zone attacks and all other attacks as separate cases. Thus, IMO all attacks fall under the "specifically target swarm creatures" wording.

From the recent discussion here, it seems like different interpretations of swarms may have existed among playtesters. Is there still a mechanism other than the forums for the playtesters to seek clarification on rules/cards AFTER publication? If so, this may be a time to use that process.

[Iudicium86]

I think the swarm concept with only getting 1 dmg per hit if its not a zone attack is a bad idea. Not for acadamy but for areana. Killerbees for 7 mana with 4x1 die critical dmg AND FLYING ... that sucks ... veteran belt is a good solution but once desolved you are fresh meat for them and you can not protect your creatures.

For the fire elemental story:
The bees attack is not ethereal and fire elemental is incorporal so only 1dmgs on the dice count. So far that seems ok that it doesn’t kill the fire elemental so easily...

But:
Zombies killed by little stings? Come on ... Or an iron golem? WTF?  Can you imagine bees trying to sting an iron block?

Yeah, because first thing I think about when watching any zombie apocalypse movie is "Man, if only there were some bees around yeah?"

[zzzPAXzzz]

I think the wording for this trait is just strange and way too complicated to fully understand. If even “experienced mage wars players” like us misunderstand this trait how could they publish something so confusing. Even if it sounds weird, IMO it would have been better with the simple wording swarms are « non living », take only 1 dmg per Hit (except AoE), roll 1 extra die for each Life left, psy immune ...

[Beldin]

Seriously though, the more these swarms are discussed, the more I wonder how they pass through playtest. They are super cool in theory, but it feels like there are some oversights here.

It has to be remembered that each playtester is a voice within a forum (a super secret one which only we see), much like here. We play with versions of the cards and give our feedback on the designed cards, however it is upto the designers to modify those cards and the final versions ultimately fit the image of the set that they want to create.

[Santar]

Thanks Falcas1 we have much more images of new cards and stat's cards of Druid and Elementalist. You can find all information here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1T1d01MDzYmbFkx7tjUFVloRCklAIKkJ7

[Karadox]

hmm.... Blowgun and no Poisoned darts? makes no sense to me

Is this an error on the Card or does the elementalist really have 43 spelbook points?

[jacksmack]

Thanks Falcas1 we have much more images of new cards and stat's cards of Druid and Elementalist. You can find all information here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1T1d01MDzYmbFkx7tjUFVloRCklAIKkJ7

Only wish for Christmas is now an arena elementalist!

Looks really cool!

(But corrode removal seems very easy now - maybe “bankers” will be the new thing again.)

[exid]

well, i love this "swarm" trait. the idea to have many tiny creatures in one is complicated and beautifull: so MW!
but they seem to have balanced it badly... that not usual in this game...

should be errated quickly.

[Robintheboywonder]

Any official word on what Melting trait is. 2 frost creatures have it and deep freeze nullifies melting. Not sure what it is, could be 2 damage per upkeep.

[Puddnhead]

Any official word on what Melting trait is. 2 frost creatures have it and deep freeze nullifies melting. Not sure what it is, could be 2 damage per upkeep.

You are correct.  Melting X = X damage during upkeep (might be X life lost, but for non-living it doesn't matter)

[jacksmack]

Cant be that alone puddin.

Is it for Living it doesn’t matter?

[Puddnhead]

Cant be that alone puddin.

Is it for Living it doesn’t matter?

No, Living it matters a ton.  You can Heal damage.  You can't Heal lost life.  For Non-living you can't heal them anyway so it doesn't matter if it's damage or lost life.

Pretty sure melting is just another way of implementing dissipate.

[Santar]

Add last new cards!
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1T1d01MDzYmbFkx7tjUFVloRCklAIKkJ7

[TucsonDoug]

I'm a touch disappointed that the Tar Trap and Frost Trap target creatures directly, rather than targeting a zone like other trap enchantments.

[Kelanen]

I'm a touch disappointed that the Tar Trap and Frost Trap target creatures directly, rather than targeting a zone like other trap enchantments.

Academy only has a single Zone... and with one exception, Traps can';t target a Zone with enemy creatures in it. What you are looking for are Arena cards, not Academy.