Mage Wars > Mages

flipping the channeling paradigm

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zot:
most people generally agree there are certain mages that are top tier compared to other mages. there is disagreement on who is strongest among those top mages, but the list overall is consistent enough. I think it is more than simply a mage that has 10 channel is by definition stronger than all others. some are strong because of their stat card abilities and/or training and the 10 channel is just a huge bonus.

below is the list that are mostly considered to be strong compared to the remaining mages. of course there are considerations such as timed events, or unlimited time, but these are mostly the best mages.

in no particular order:
wizard, necro, priestess, and druid

I propose some testing for inverting the environment. what if the paladin, straywood bm, and the above mages channel 9 (druid perhaps 8 ) instead and all other mages were set to channel 10? would people's opinions about who is stronger change significantly? no question the above mages have strong abilities. would reducing their base channeling balance them out enough with the increase on the rest of the mages help level the competition to be a lot closer than it currently is?

just something to induce some deep discussion (rather than have this devolve into a tier rant of any kind) and provoke some thoughtful comparisons. would this channel change make most of the mages more competitive ly even overall, rather than simply saying all mages channel 10? raising the channel bar for everyone to be equal  such as the next admw event does not change the strong abilities of the top mages. so rather than raising everyone up, consider having them essentially swap places channelwise. does that help the lower strength mages get enough of a competitive boost - generally?

it seems interesting to me. and I know how much the mage channels influences the decision people make when deciding on which mage to play in a serious competition.

DaveW:
I would take issue with this on a thematic basis. Two specifics: I can't see a Wizard having less innate channeling than any other mage, and neither warlord should channel more than any other mage due to their lack of training / affinity / whatever with the arcane arts.

Also, on a comfort level... as for me, a change in channeling or starting mana of any mage that I play would require me to rethink openings and potentially redesign books... something that I don't want to have to do... especially if it "feels" wrong that the mage is being forced to channel something other than what it "should."

Arkdeniz:
I don't think these mages are stronger because of their 10% extra channelling.

If they are stronger (and my experience is that this is not proven at my table at least) it would be down to other factors:

Wizard and its cheap access to the arcane school toolbox.
Necromancer and Druid for their action economy
Priestess for its combo of actions and abilities (especially condition removal)

All up I would rate action generation as more important than mana generation. If I can do 4 actions on my turn and you can do 2, then in more games than not I will beat you. Zot's implicit suggestion that the next best mages are Straywood and Pally - both good action generators - and not the other 10 channel Forcemaster may well back that up.

Yes, that extra 1 mana each turn is useful in getting those action generators out in the first place, but it represents a margin of 10%. It is not decisive in and of itself, given the sheer number of variables in this game.

So, Zot, to answer your question, I would be interested in seeing the results of your testing. I would hypothesise that you won't find much difference in win rates.

Taking away all spawnpoints, on the other hand, may lead to a total inversion of the 'tier this or that' paradigm.

Knabbmaster:
Mages are the last thing that you should ever buff/nerf IMO. Nefring/buffing cards and adding new mages are much better.

If I only play nercomancer and a nerf came I would not be able to run ANY of my old strats which is depressing enough to quit the game. However if a nerf came to brute or idol that would solve the same problem without killing the innocent skeltal or reanimation builds.

Now adding new mages is ofc not something we can do, alhtough I would prefer having a third (good) warlord (BM, warlock,...) introduced rather than messing with the old ones.

Before actually anwsering your question I would like to point out that the league format is not the best for testing since it makes the gaps between mages grow. Normally a FM could beat my wizard but if I cut anti-melee cards but in the league you can't trick anyone the same way and since you can prepp for everything it is about being efficent.

My tier list would change if you increased channeling (no shit). If you do the increase the paladin would be VERY good while the Forcemaster would suffer for the first time. And if you swap chaneling the Necromancer and Siren might be the only mages who keep thier spots. For example a BM + lair would get the same mana than wizard  + gate.

Currently I belive that the Necromancer is too strong and that the best ways of beating him is to play wizard or cheese. But if you nerf the necro he just gets crushed by pillar (instantly kills alomst any necro creature aside form brute). And if necro becomes bad mass eco builds don't really have any good counters left.

So I whish that pillar gets a MASSIVE nerf and Zombie necromancer gets a decent nerf as well.
The following card would also be nice
7 mana, conjuration, dark lvl 2. 'Whenever ANY object gains mana deal 2 damage to it.
But that's not in our controll.

I would also welcome buffs to spawnpoints and familiars of the other mages. (sersyrix, sectarus, barracks, echo...)

Somewhat easier is banning cards, but just like your solution that isn't very fun in my opinion.

zot:
note this was just a suggested format for some playtesting to see if the top mages getting lowered channeling and raising the channel on the others would even the field some or not. not proposing long term changes to the mages, just seeing if in practice this makes games more competitive overall or not no matter what the matchup is.

like mentioned, the high channel combined with great abilities matters. I think that if those top mages had their channel cut from round 1, they suffer enough that games are closer. it could be that the ranking does not change much, but it could. just as an example, with 19 starting mana necro cannot do book/ring. and wizard creatures are pretty expensive for the high level ones. but having less mana may mean that he is forced to use more smaller creatures.

just would like to see if anyone would be interested in playing some games over time to see if the power balance flattens out or not. I believe that the current strong mages may not have been balanced enough from the beginning. so this is a curiousity thing for me.

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