Force Master vs Swarms

[sIKE]

I have read several times in the forums how weak she is against Beast Masters with swarms. I don't get it, now honestly I have yet to go up against a swarming deck so have no feel for it. It seems to me that between Wall of Pikes and Mangler Caltrops that any low level swarm would be mostly wiped out before it even got to her and then with a sweeping attack from her and pushing she would make them repeat the Pike/Caltrop damage again. What am I missing here?

Mid-level swarms would face the same challenge but be lessor in numbers....

Then there is 3 Force Field Hit and 1 Defense before any attack could even land....

Just do not get it....

[Tacullu64]

The swarms beat through her Forcefield quicker and help you gain an action advantage. It's important to keep the pressure on her or you'll lose any advantage you gained.

[sdougla2]

Flying swarms are what the FM really struggles against, since the Force Blade can't shoot up. The FM can do a fair amount of positioning to make it difficult for swarms to get at her, but your opponent can play position control cards too. If you use Wall of Pikes and Caltrops, your opponent can Force Push/Teleport you out of the zone so that their creatures have an easier time getting at you.

Forcefield is much stronger against solo and 1-2 big strategies than against swarms for the same reason that defenses are strong against a small number of attacks, but weak against a large number of attacks. It stops 3 attacks no matter how large or small, and then 1 per turn. A swarm can beat right through that.

[dexmark]

Strategy 1: Just mind control the biggest creature of your opponent then make it run after the mage.
What will happen is if the mage cannot remove mind control, he may have to get the other creatures to kill that big beast.

Strategy 2: Then if possible do mass sleep.

Strategy 3: Charm the biggest creature.

Between the 3 strategies above, that will take away a lot of action from the BM or Warlord for you to move in.

I like the Forcemaster. He is awesome but with my playstyle I have Beastmaster way up the chain.

[reddawn]

My group has tested the FM a bunch and she does not struggle with swarms for the most part.  It's very easy to kill a large swarm with a Force Wave + Wall of Fire/Pikes combo.  The key to beating the FM is using "mage only" creatures which are immune to Mind Control, Iron Golems if you're an earth Wizard or Warlord, or integrating a Mind Shield or two into most of your books.  Also, include ways to gain the Unavoidable trait, because that will force the FM to start using her Forcefield, which while very powerful is also very expensive mana-wise.

I'd really recommend using at least one Mind Shield in your aggro books.  It's extremely cost-efficient and protects against the worst offenders, like Sleep, Pacify, Charm and of course, Mind Control.

[Morachidi]

Strategy: 5?

Best put Suppression Orb (2 spellpoints for FM) in your spellbook and Mordok's Obelisk (4 spellpoints).

SO: Whenever any non-Mage creature takes a move action, its controller must first pay 1 mana.
MO: All non-Mage creaturs gain the Upkeep +1 trait.

Forcefield is great!