Category: blog

Babbling Rook #4 – Changes (AKA: Oh Boy, Here I Go Posting Again)

Posted on by rookwhitehallow

Why hello there,

Been a while, hasn’t it? Last time I got to sit down and write one of these I was kicking myself for taking…. 6 months. Between babbles. Yeah.

So obviously stuff has been weird for the past couple of years. I wrote Babbling Rook #3 – Spellball Wizard in February of 2020 as I was getting really hyped to go to NLCC Spring 2020. Oh, what a fool I was. It became very, very hard for me to muster any energy for anything Amtgard related because while I appreciate A&S and the other aspects of our game just fine- I’m a battlegamer at heart. I like playing battlegames, I like reeving battlegames, and I like designing battlegames (Though I haven’t gotten the opportunity to RUN many battlegames.) And if there’s one thing that the pandemic managed to quite thoroughly shut down for the past couple of years, it was the ability to safely conduct Amtgard Battlegames. Pair that with the fact that I moved to a different town about an hour’s drive to my nearest holding and it’s pretty easy to see why I’ve been in a sort of hibernation.

Well to that I say NO MORE! I have been to precisely one (1) post-pandemic Amtgard Campout and it’s rekindled my love of the game such that I’m going to be trying to double that by the end of the year. AND I still have more things to say about Wizard. And maybe some other stuff to say about other things. We’ll see. Regardless, I wanted to sit down and write this all out because making this blog for the ten or so of you who actually read it brings me a great deal of joy, and I wanted to take stock and explain how I might be changing things around here if I can actually continue keeping up on updating this, as well as go over some changes to my circumstances. Lastly, so I can continue calling this a WIZARD blog, I want to go over some of the V9 Changes, as of V8.5 Spicy Edition- of which there are many, some of which have more of an effect on our class than others. If you want, you can search TL;DR to skip past all the weird personal nonsense and get right to the wizard business.

Rook’s Personal Nonsense

The biggest thing that changes a bit of how this blog is going to be written moving forward is I am now a Paragon Wizard.

Scroll by the one and only Dame Cat Viserion Tendragon.

They ambushed me with it during the latter days of the pandemic. As I’m eager to mention, I was actually given the most anticipated award of my Amtgard career while I was fast asleep, before being handed a Walker in the Middle (The second most anticipated award of my Amtgard career.) for dessert. For those of you who know me personally, you might agree that this is the single most “me” way to receive an award ever. I’ve been both a Paragon Wizard and a Walker for about a year and a half now, and I still don’t feel like I have fully “grown into” both titles, so I’m continuing to strive towards improvement to become worthy of them. Unfortunately, (Or perhaps, fortunately) for all of you, this means that I now have Opinions™ about Paragonhood in general, which I would like to eventually write about. So a few future Babbles might be about the path to Paragonhood or something like that, as well as me documenting how I feel I’ve been doing in trying to live up to those titles. My current goal after attaining Paragonhood is to try to become the undisputed best Wizard in all of Blackspire, an extraordinarily silly goal especially considering it’s incredibly in vogue to take getting your Paragonhood as a sign that you should probably go play something else for a bit. Not me though. I think that if viewed a certain way, one can view Paragonhood as less of the final goal demonstrating mastery of a class, and more as a promotion to a new level of competition. To me at least, to be a Paragon of a given class is to constantly have to be aware of any changes to the greater ecosystem that might affect that class, while striving to mentor others towards paragonhood and, of course, to be the very best the class can offer. This could be anything from noticing how an ability being changed on a different class affects your class’ viability and power, to keeping track of trends in your local kingdom’s metagame to plan your strategies accordingly. Paragonhood, like Knighthood, is not just a destination, it should be viewed as a constant, ongoing project. To me, at least. You might think of it differently, and that’s okay. Regardless, I hope you all humor me in taking the imaginary LARP title WAAAAY too seriously as I strive to ASCEND BEYOND THE LIMITS OF MERE PARAGONHOOD.

Oh, and to become slightly less bad at tournament reeving. So I don’t feel like a total hack when I say that I am in fact a Walker in the Middle because I just happen to be really good at knowing how Battlegame rules work.

Oh, oh. And I’m a Squire now. My knight got knighted last November and much celebration was had by all.

Crazy what a chip on your shoulder can get you to do, huh?

TL;DR – Rooks a Paragon Wizard! Yay! Rook now has opinions about Paragonhood he would like to share! Yay? The blog may not be SOLELY about Wizards but will try to keep a broad focus towards Battlegaming in Amtgard! Yay!

V8.5 Spicy: The Good and The Bad (We’re Skipping The Ugly)

Alright, personal nonsense aside let us get to the nonsense you may or may not have clicked on here to see! AMTGARD, V8.5 SPICY CHANGELOG

I want to start out by saying the V9 team is in an unenviable position. Truthfully, Amtgard should be receiving rules updates and revisions far more frequently than it actually does and Amtgard Version 9 seems to be hotly anticipated by slightly embittered tryhards like yours truly who are getting a little fed up with certain aspects of V8. I think a lot of the changes that have been made so far are steps in the right direction, and I’m really looking forward to what the next set of playtest rules brings. I think there are a lot of intelligent and talented people working on V9 (And also Sej) and with enough luck and work, V9 can be something truly awesome. That being said, let’s have a look at the changes being brought to Wizard in V8.5 Spicy.

Oh…

So I’ll tell you the truth. My first reaction when checking the V8.5 changelog for updates on my favorite class in the whole wide world was actually excitement followed swiftly by disappointment. An overwhelming number of changes in Spicy are minor wording things (The addition of gender-neutral language is deeply appreciated, thank you.) but man it was nice to see Force Barrier actually get a bit of attention. Once upon a time, a 2nd level Rook took that spell to his first large-scale battlegame, a raid on his very home park, and proudly used it to defend himself against an overextended skeleton he did not have the tools to deal with because Flame school spells that don’t suck are for people who can manage to hit 3rd level. So I FROZE MYSELF for 30 seconds since it was also too early for me to have Swift-Teleport as an easy exit option and managed to hold out till help came. And then the realization sunk in that I had spent close to 10% of my points on a spell that saved me a SINGLE LIFE, and probably wasn’t even guaranteed to do that. Maybe in a shatter battle that would have been worth it, but not here.

I’ve played around with the new Force Barrier at PacWar, and while I can’t say it’s now a list-defining staple like Icy Blast or Fireball, I think the small change of making it per life has actually bumped the spell up to being viable. This statement is especially true if A. You want to run a greedier list by taking a slightly less consistent escape option to free up some points at a higher level. and B. You believe in the power of friendship. Let me explain. Your best bet for getting caught out of position as a Wizard is to take 1 Swift, and 1 Teleport. 1 point of 4th level metamagic that can flex into a cheeky Swift Shatter or Swift Release on a key target, and 1 point of 2nd level magic for my favorite spell in the entire game which you can use to try to position deep into a backline, or swiftly teleport away. Not to mention you can teleport SOMEONE ELSE into the enemy backline if you’ve already used your Swift for a given life. You have a couple of other janky fringe options (Swift casting Astral Intervention on yourself comes to mind, and I’m sure there are a couple others) but most of them involve expending multiple points of higher-level magic which could be used on cool stuff like more crowd control and murder, or alternatively allows you to be more flexible with how you use your Swift metamagic and the Teleport spell you’ve taken out of habit because you have an extra contingency plan. The new and improved Force Barrier costs a single point of magic at 1st level and comes back on a per-life basis, making it ideal for surviving stuff you otherwise would not survive. This is however provided you have a team that can spot where you are and come to support you during that 30-second window where only those with a Release or a Shatter can touch you, otherwise, you’ve done little but stagger your death count by an extra 30 seconds. It’s super easy to consider Force Barrier a worse version of a Druid’s Stoneform, which it totally is, but I also think it’s a bit more helpful to think of the spell as a sort of reverse True Grit of all things. Both spells are used to avert death, but leave you in the vulnerable Frozen state for 30 seconds after use, meaning if you don’t have friends to back you up you can basically guarantee you’re about to get slaughtered the second you come out if someone doesn’t Release or Shatter you first. After playing around with it some, I think the spell might seriously have some legs now if you think your team can recognize what you’re trying to do and properly peel for you. I for one think it’s pretty incredible that something as small as a change in a spell’s frequency can completely change its viability in most lists, and you’ll probably see me continuing to try to make Force Barrier work until I get sick of it.

That aside, I’m a little bummed the only thing that got touched on Wizard was Force Barrier. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a cool change that definitely makes an oft-neglected spell into a somewhat reliable pick for me but MAN do some of the other changes make our lives more difficult. I’d like to go into further detail on how precisely some of these changes will affect the broader metagame for Wizards, but since I just spent 700 words talking about a FIRST LEVEL SPELL (Half of which was my stupid little anecdote but shut up.) I’m going to try to summarize things super rapid-fire style here. Keep in mind that some of these changes might get entire Babbles written about them if I get the time/motivation.

The Good – Changes that directly or indirectly help Wizards

  • Paladin and Anti-Paladin are now accessible to the entire player base! This is good for the game as a whole, but it also gives us two new flavors of big armored buddies to hide behind as we sling spellballs and verbals.
  • Insult now ends prematurely when the caster dies, making a Warrior or Bard insulting you slightly less obnoxious. The same goes for stuff like Terror, Awe, etc. This is an objectively good change.
  • And uhhhhh… Aforementioned Force Barrier Change!

The Bad – Changes that directly or indirectly make Wizard harder to play

  • Paladin and Anti-Paladin are now accessible to the entire player base! I seriously might write an entire Babble on how to interact with these classes, because their immunities, armor, and the Paladin’s Pro Magic in particular make them a bit tricky to handle cleanly.
  • Scouts now get Adaptive Protection instead of Adaptive Blessing 1/Life at 6th Level. The meta for this has yet to shake out, but a Scout running around with Protection Against Sorcery is pretty powerful when it comes to dealing with a Wizard since it stops most of our powerful verbals, our most powerful spell ball, and our primary way of interacting with their Shadowstep. That being said, it only covers one school of magic, meaning you can adapt to the school they pick each life and select the right tool for the job. Rough time for Warlock players though, who for their grievous sin of forgoing any and all offensive sorcery spells may find themselves shut out of their best kill spells and unable to kill a Scout with Flame school spell balls due to their armor soaking at least one Fireball/Lightning Bolt.
  • The frequency for Imbued Shield has gone up from 1/Refresh to 2/Refresh for Healers, meaning there’s probably going to be more of those. Sphere gets through it, but other spell balls do not. (I guess Phase technically does, but it doesn’t do anything to shields.) It should be noted that if an enemy healer is rocking Warder, that makes each purchase of Imbued Shields 4 uses, rather than 2. I don’t know a whole lot about the Healer metagame, but I know that Imbued Shield sees some play already in my Kingdom, so this probably means we’ll see even more.
  • Monks get their heavy thrown earlier. This means more thrown weapons on the field. Usually not great for us as one of the most efficient methods of Wizard removal is “apply ranged projectile to unenchanted squishy bits”. This isn’t awful, but it is something to watch out for.
  • Druid got buffed. Twice. Somehow. This is not horrendously bad for Wizards as a whole but I’m a bit bewildered that the opportunity cost of playing the best class in the game has gone down just a little bit more.

And that’s most of the changes that seem to impact us. I wish it didn’t seem like it’s mostly me continuously complaining that we should be seeing some sort of buff, but I can see the reasoning behind all of these changes and think they are all good for the health of the game as a whole. More spells, abilities, and classes being viable broadens the overall metagame and makes things more varied and fun, and I definitely think an approach of being generous with buffs and conservative with nerfs will serve V9 well. I think V8 as it stands has some abilities that create toxic play patterns, but the bigger issue at hand is that so many abilities just aren’t useful or compelling enough to be worth taking or using when compared to the available alternatives.

That’s all for now! I will hopefully be getting a couple more of these out sometime in the next century. Hope you all enjoyed my crazed rambling, and I’ll be seeing you all next time.

This is Squire Rook S. Whitehallow, Paragon Wizard, signing off.

The Babbling Rook #2 – Spellball Wizard

Posted on by rookwhitehallow

Spellballs are arguably one of the most versatile tools in a Wizard’s arsenal. They offer a more sustainable method of dispatching the enemy team than per refresh verbal spells and allow you to respond faster to an incoming threat than most verbals. This isn’t to say they are the be all end all of the class, though judging by its design Wizard certainly can be viewed as the “spellball class”. Each spellball has its strengths and weaknesses however, and it’s important to remember which classes flat out possess an immunity to your magic. With that, I’ll start moving down the list by level, explaining each spellball and what situation its good in.

Forcebolt:  The first spellball available to wizards. While not as flashy as the other balls on this list, I argue that any list that runs spellballs should not forgo Forcebolts. For a single point of magic at first level, you get three spellballs which can be charged faster than any spellball in the game, as the incantation is just “Forcebolt” three times (Unique to this spell only). On a hit, it will either deal one wound to a valid hit location, destroy a weapon struck, or do one armor breaking hit to any armor it comes into contact with. Now in a lot of instances, I argue that armor breaking and weapon destroying aren’t that good, but in a few circumstances it can be downright devastating, such as destroying someone’s polearm, or the weapon of another caster in a one on one battle. There’s also not much more annoying than forcing a class that doesn’t have access to Mend (Mind you, only 5 classes don’t, two of which are exclusive to knights) to have to run to a teammate to repair their weapon. The armor breaking aspect of Forcebolt isn’t necessarily that useful, as a lot of your more heavily armored opponents will likely be running around in Ancestral Armor. That being said, destroying a Barbarian, Scout, or Bard’s armor in a line fight may free up an opportunity for a teammate to score a kill.  The most use I personally see out of Forcebolt is as a low cost, low risk ball to punish people who aren’t aware of their surroundings. Monks can negate spellballs by blocking with their weapons or an open hand, but if they’re in the middle of a line fight and aren’t enchanted, a Forcebolt to the chest is an easy kill if they’re not paying attention. A fun thing to do with Forcebolts is use them to destroy a Monk’s weapon(s) while they’re in Sanctuary so they have to run to a teammate for a Mend or another weapon. All and all a reliable spellball with a low cost for good value.

Suppression Bolt: I think a lot of people sleep on Suppression Bolt as a spell, and I can’t really blame them. It’s a subdual spell, which a lot of things have/can be given immunity to, and it’s effect doesn’t effectively stun/murder people. However, I tend to take a Suppression Bolt whenever I can because it effectively stops one of your opponents from playing a class game for 60 whole seconds. And it’s engulfing!  So that Dervish Bard or enemy Wizard who’s been giving you grief most of the game? You can shut them up and open a window for either you or your team to kill them. Furthermore, like Break Concentration (Which is another must take on any list that allows it) Suppression Bolt has some serious applications as a clutch spell that stops an enemy from getting back up from a Healer, or prevents one of your allies from getting stunned or killed. Word of warning though, it doesn’t actually stop Bard’s from continuing to chant, or prevent enchantment abilities from being activated.

Image result for mtg art entangle

Entangle: I would argue that Entangle is one of the weaker early level spellballs, especially since we Wizards get an upgrade to it later on. It’s subdual, so Barbarians are immune to it, and it causes an engulfing stopped effect, so you hit the person, their weapon(s), their garb, or their shield, and they’re unable to move their feet but can still act freely.  During this window, you should probably be trying to keep anyone with a Release off your victim and either handle them yourself, or call for a hand. Or run! Stopping someone without a Release in the middle of the battlefield or a ways away from the objective is just as good as legging them and running, if not better. At lower levels, it’s harder to follow through on a stopped opponent, but not impossible. Heat Weapon and Forcebolts become your friends, as you can stay at a safe range and get rid of their weapon(s). When stopped, you should also check to see if your victim has an enchantment worth dispeling, and take it as an easy opportunity to do so. Entangle also helps fuel your first two spell kill combo at earlier levels, so I suggest newer wizards take it, as well as anyone running an evoker build. Otherwise, maybe consider dumping some higher level points into…

Iceball:  Iceball is good.  It’s plain good. Yes it’s still subdual, but the frozen state is arguably better than killing people in a lot of situations. For one point of magic at level three you get TWO of these suckers that when thrown are an engulfing frozen effect.  Frozen, as you may know prevents your opponent from moving, acting, speaking (other than declaring their states and counting down), and combos wonderfully with a spell at level 4 called Shatter. It also lasts for 60 seconds, like all spellball effects, and sometimes (But let’s be honest, it’s most of the time) freezing someone for 60 seconds is just as good as killing them. Good spell, just don’t get too cocky with the engulfing effect as it is perfectly valid for someone to drop their shield perpendicular to the ground to block the spellball. As soon as they drop their shield, it’s considered a terrain effect and the spellball discharges without any effect. So yeah, beware that.

Image result for mtg lightning bolt

Lightning Bolt: Lightning Bolt is Wizard’s exclusive, better version of Entangle. It’s flame school, meaning it’s much harder to get immunity to, it still has its engulfing stopped effect for 60 whole seconds. However, since Wizard is awesome, our upgraded Entangle also destroys weapons, breaks (Non-Ancestral) armor, and causes a wound if you hit a valid location. This ball is simple and good, and you should consider running one or two to deal with Barbarians. Fun fact, if you kill a Barbarian while they’re stopped by this, they remain stopped if they activate Fight After Death.

Reduce to Ashes - Shadows over Innistrad Art

Fireball: Level 4 is a really good level for Wizards. You gain access to the Swift metamagic, allowing you to Swift-Teleport away from any bad situation (More on why Teleport is great in a future post), Suppress Aura as a RANGE 50’ SUPPRESSION VERBAL which lasts for 30 seconds. Icy Blast and Shatter are spells I suggest pretty much every Wizard takes Experienced the second they gain access to both spells for bigger fights as it’s a truly ridiculous two spell kill combo that you can continue to leverage as you hit higher levels with spells like Steal Life Essence or getting Confidence from a Bard. Dimensional Rift is a kill spell that works on Insubstantial, allowing you to make Assassins and people Teleporting feel bad about their life decisions, and while I’m personally not so hot on Wounding and Destroy Armor I recognize their value in some lists (Such as running a Warlock list). Fireball is still consistent though, giving you a chance to destroy a shield, a weapon, some armor, or a person. It’s another flame school spellball, meaning not many people are immune to it and there’s something viscerally satisfying about hucking a wounds kill projectile at someone, so I’d definitely say that this spell is pretty integral to Wizard’s class fantasy. That being said, I think if you’ve freshly hit level 4, consider taking some of the other really cool spells available at this level, such as Icy Blast/Shatter or D-Rift.  Fireball offers the consistency that other spellballs do, but it can also be blocked by as little as one measly point of armor, and I don’t view its ability to destroy weapons and shields as particularly relevant due to the fact that pretty much everybody either has a Mend, has an ability that functions like a Mend, or has a friend who has a Mend. That being said, remember that destroyed strap shields count as a valid hit location, so feel free to use Fireball to make an opening for either an ally, or yourself by Swifting another spellball or by casting sword. On an unarmored opponent though, maybe consider just using Forcebolt? If you beam them in the chest, it’s still a kill and you’re not down one of your more powerful spellballs. Speaking of powerful spellballs…

Image result for mtg dack fayden
I struggled to find an image of Phasebolt, so enjoy a picture of the greatest thief in the multiverse throwing magic.

Phase Bolt:  I love Phase Bolt, to the point where it’s usually the “default” spellball I carry around in my hand charged. It ignores any and all enchantments, including those granted as traits. Phase Bolt is an important, must take spell for anyone looking to not get creamed in the Wizard vs. Monk matchup, as it ignores their Magic Ball Block and Sanctuary abilities. You can also take Heat Weapon, but I personally hate that spell and believe that Phase Bolt has far more applications, is easier to cast, and has fewer counterplay options. It also ignores Ancestral Armor, allowing you to conveniently pop any unarmored player with an Ironskin, Stoneskin, or Barkskin, and you can hypothetically use it to soften up a AA Warrior’s armor thanks to the fact that it’s armor breaking (Though there’s a better spellball available for this). It also doesn’t procc Gift of Air, making it invaluable in a Wizard vs Wizard showdown where your opponent has said very annoying enchantment.  All and all, this is a solid choice that should be ran in most lists that can take it.

Sphere of Annihilation: Say it with me kids. Sphere. Is. Hype. For the high cost of two points of sixth level magic, you get Finger of Death on a Stick™.  It ignores armor (And by extension Ancestral Armor), ignores enchantments, destroys weapons, destroys shields, destroys hopes, destroys dreams, and kills any player hit, leaving them cursed and forcing some poor enemy Healer to Greater Release and Rez or Greater Resurrect your victim. One of the amazing things about Sphere that you ought to know is that thanks to its wording, specifically that “A player hit is killed” so long as you’re technically hitting them, even if it’s not a valid location for a wound they’re dead and cursed, do not pass GO, do not collect 200$. Furthermore, abilities and enchantments that might save your victim, such as Blessing Against Wounds which work on lesser spellballs such as Fireball because it prevents the wound that is Wounds Kill don’t function against awesome power that is Sphere. Just as icing on the cake however, a Warrior cannot True Grit after being killed with a Sphere of Annihilation, similar to how if you’re fast enough, Steal Life Essence is capable of denying them the same ability through inflicting the Cursed state. Barbarians killed with a Sphere of Annihilation can still Fight After Death, but hey, you can’t win them all, plus a well built Wizard will carry at least a couple other answers for Barbarians. Another thing to add is that while the price seems steep, most of Wizard’s bread and butter spells are actually at 4th and 5th level.  So, you’re probably going to find yourself only taking maybe 4 points of magic at the highest level, and that’s usually only if you’ve taken on an archetype. In summary, Sphere is awesome and you should run it the second you get it, unless you’re super keen on playing battlemage.

And that’s spellballs! Technically speaking there is also Abeyance, but I’m rating Wizard spellballs here. In conclusion, your spellballs are your workhorses, they’re consistent and are capable of both killing players, holding objectives, and making space for your team. Pretty much every ball has its use, and you should try to include a couple of them in every list you run, unless you’re running Battlemage.

Challenge Question Answer:

Q: A Warrior with 5 points of Ancestral Armor and enchanted with Golem is frozen with an Icy Blast. While frozen, can you cast Dispel Magic at them?

A: Yes, though the frozen state specifically says that the person can only be affected by spells and abilities that affect states in general or the frozen state in specific, Dispel Magic specifically states that it works on individuals who are frozen or insubstantial, so dispel away.

Challenge Question: If you throw a Phase Bolt at someone with Blessing Against Wounds and hit their arm, do they take a wound?