Counter-rush tactics

[FineThanks]

I got my compy of MW a couple of weeks ago and I've only played apprentice games so far (my first full game tomorrow, hopefuly).
I have a friend who is naturally very aggressive (in gaming) and he defeated 3 out of 3 by just rushing me right from the start and keepin up the pressure. I feel really lost in that kind of situation - we played warlock vs. beastmaster (him being warlock), priestess vs. wizard and beastmaster vs. wizard (me being wizard in the last two) and he just got me every time by pushing onward and on on and on till I died
Although the priestess/wizard match was the closest and longest, he still got me in the end.

Now, the thing is I've never been good at being straight-in-your-face-aggressive in games, be it video games, board games or whatever - somehow I'm more of the defensive-waiting-for-an-opening kind of guy.
Maybe it's just the apprentice mode with it's small arena and limited spells, but I really felt helpless against his aggressiveness. :O

[Note: I played a couple of apprentice games before playing with him, he never played MW in his life]

So - what do you do against extra aggressive players?

[Sausageman]

Be aggressive first
Make use of teleport and ranged spells to limit the attacks coming from him.
Do not underestimate the power of guard. Bringing out a creature and having them guard every turn can save you a boat load of hit points.
Like wise, block and reverse attack enchantments are amazing against this sort of tactic.

Above all else, remember that the object of the game is to kill your opponent. Creatures, enchantments and equipment cast by your opponent can often be a distraction. Keep your eyes on the prize

[Preacher]

Be aggressive first
Make use of teleport and ranged spells to limit the attacks coming from him.
Do not underestimate the power of guard. Bringing out a creature and having them guard every turn can save you a boat load of hit points.
Like wise, block and reverse attack enchantments are amazing against this sort of tactic.

Above all else, remember that the object of the game is to kill your opponent. Creatures, enchantments and equipment cast by your opponent can often be a distraction. Keep your eyes on the prize

Sound advice.

Also employ stuff that makes the aggressive player really pay for his tactics - even a simple Damage Barrier and things like the Suppression Orb and/or Mordok's Obelisk can swing things very much in your favour.

[dexmark]

Based on my experience playing MW for a few weeks, the best anti offense is a good defense.

The Battle Forge will help you gear up fast.

- Look at what the opponent is playing spell wise: Fire, Lightning, Air.
- You may equip the armor that reduces the attack dice of any of the damage that the weapon is dealing.
- Equip enchantments that gives your zone Aegis and Armor
- Concentrate on pinging them from a distance or having at least 1 defender (guarding) like the Knights.

I played my supe up Warlock (7 dice) + Lord (6 dice) against a priest deck (at the 5 turn).  I was even so cocky that this is game over!!! We played well. Two of my Nullify's got burned and the third time my Warlock Armor got dissolved (the one with Damage Barrier). I also dissolved her mage wand with knockdown on it.  I told the priest that I will take it easy (she started pumping armor on her) (Elemental Cloak - 2 or -1 flame, Dragon armor -2 flame, the enchantment that gives Aegis +1, Leather boots and Leather Gloves) while I am equipped with the Lash of the Warlock (with multiple gear upgrades to increase attack dice).  My Warlock can't damage her. My flying demon can't damage her either. We are pretty much useless. I had to change my strategy in getting the other non flame damage demon on her but called it quits after we ran out of time with me having only 10~15 life left while the priest only has 1 damage to her.  All she played were the 2 knights and a bunch of armor reducing stuff.  The knights rolled their defense too often.

Those damage reducers (Flame -2 are OP against Demon/Flame based Warlocks)

[piousflea]

I agree that battleforge + armor is extremely powerful vs Beatdown. Also, knights of west lock are generally really good vs Beatdown due to their high armor and defense.

That said: flame -2 is really strong against lash of fire, but did you know that you can use your basic melee attack? When you have more than one melee attack available to you, you can always choose which one to use. Against flame -2 you are better off punching with your fists.

[dexmark]

I agree that battleforge + armor is extremely powerful vs Beatdown. Also, knights of west lock are generally really good vs Beatdown due to their high armor and defense.

That said: flame -2 is really strong against lash of fire, but did you know that you can use your basic melee attack? When you have more than one melee attack available to you, you can always choose which one to use. Against flame -2 you are better off punching with your fists.

I did not know that you can choose melee if you are equipped with a main hand weapon. I am not sure about this in the rules that you can just turn off your main hand weapon. If this was the case, I should have just punch the priest versus using lash of fire.

I'll do that next time. I was really questioning that during the game.

[baronzaltor]

Drop a Temple of Light and let it fire a daze/stun beam at him every turn.    
If youre really dirty drop Temples of the Dawnbringer, which will increase the damage/daze/stun roll, as well as let you force him to reroll high damage rolls. None of those are restricted to the priestess book.

agressive beatdowns hate stun/daze.

Also a creature who is durable set to guard can cause problems

Whirling Spirit is a great guard if you're a wizard (lightning) because he's etherial, meaning he takes damage well and his attacks have a built in push (or push+daze) chance..so he can counter them right back out of the zone.

Knights of Westlock, Necropian Vampiresses, anything with good defenses and a strong attack or some sort of passive self healing will make for a solid guard.  

Theres also cheap things like Block and Tanglevine that can stumble up and stall an opponent while you do other things.

If youre a wizard, a beatdown simply cannot ignore a Gorgon Archer.  Weak tokens will ruin him, and they pile on at 4+ on an effect roll (which, if I may add, is crazy)  So if you can buy enough time to play one of those and get it in range, he will have to adjust his approach.

[baronzaltor]

I agree that battleforge + armor is extremely powerful vs Beatdown. Also, knights of west lock are generally really good vs Beatdown due to their high armor and defense.

That said: flame -2 is really strong against lash of fire, but did you know that you can use your basic melee attack? When you have more than one melee attack available to you, you can always choose which one to use. Against flame -2 you are better off punching with your fists.

I did not know that you can choose melee if you are equipped with a main hand weapon. I am not sure about this in the rules that you can just turn off your main hand weapon. If this was the case, I should have just punch the priest versus using lash of fire.

I'll do that next time. I was really questioning that during the game.

Useing the basic attack isnt turning off the weapon.  The weapon provides another attack to pick from.  The same way many creatures have multiple attacks to pick from on their card.  Equipping a weapon essentially gives you a new attack to add to your list, and you can still opt for either like any other creature.

Also, those elemental adjustments not only nerf your damage, also makes it harder to stick the burn effects too.  With armor and elemental cloak youre looking at -4 on attempts to land burns.  The lightning version and Elemental Cloak can be a life saver against all that lightning daze/stun.