by Koz1120
Hemlockaaa wrote:
I don't have the game yet, but I'm very interested and close to purchasing. This is one of my concerns though.
I'm excited about the large variety of cards, but do people generally create a "perfect" spellbook for each Mage which rarely changes?
Since I'm likely only playing against the same opponent, wouldn't it get a bit repetitive?
I'm excited about the large variety of cards, but do people generally create a "perfect" spellbook for each Mage which rarely changes?
Since I'm likely only playing against the same opponent, wouldn't it get a bit repetitive?
This seems to be a concern for a lot of people (and for good reason). It is funny though how quickly people assume that a dominant deck emerging is inevitable. I just had a conversation with a guy over the weekend who knew next to nothing about the game and the first thing that came out of his mouth was "well, a dominant deck will emerge and that's what everyone will play". Lol.
Anyway, this game has some unique mechanics that actually work against the emergence of a dominant deck. In CCG games a dominant deck tends to emerge because the deck in question has two things going for it. The first is that it is consistent (i.e. it draws into it's power cards reliably or contains enough strong cards that it does well regardless of draw). The second is that it is difficult to counter, either because there is not an adequate counter in the environment or because the cards that can counter the deck are not reliable enough to include in deck design (i.e. so specific in what they counter that they are often dead cards, or can't be counted on to be drawn at the correct time).
In Mage Wars everything has a counter, and you always have what you need when you want it. You never have to worry about drawing cards that you can't use, or drawing it at the wrong time. What this means is that if any "dominant" deck were to emerge, people would just include cards that counter that specific strategy in their builds. Then, as the strategy becomes countered, people will go back to their design to adapt the strategy to account for the counters...and the process will repeat. What this will likely create is a dynamic environment where decks are often changing to adapt to what others are doing.
At least that's my perspective based on years of tournament experience in card games.
IMO, the best builds will be fairly well rounded so that they can adapt to different strategies and have different paths to victory. Unpredictability and versatility should win the day every time vs one-dimensional builds that rely on one thing to win (like say Lash + Battle Fury).