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    • Lost Lands Part 2 Mage Class Spoilers



      Greetings, players of Shadow Era. It's Gondorian here, Shadow Era TCG Head Designer, and I'm back to continue our new spoiler series for Lost Lands part 2, which will be focusing on each of our seven classes in turn. Last time, we had a look at the Hunter class, and before that it was the Warrior class. This week, it's the Mages that we hope will enchant you.

      Without further ado, let's take a look:


      Popsickle - 2cc Mage Ally - Undead - 1ice/4HP - 0: Popsickle attacks target opposing frozen ally if able.

      Subdue - 3cc Mage Attachment Ability - Attach to target opposing ally. That ally has Sustain 1HP and -2 attack. Allies adjacent to that ally have -1 attack.

      Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.

      Leash of Life - 3cc Mage Artifact - While an ally is adjacent to your hero, that ally has immunity to enemy attachments and +1 health and its abilities cost 2 less resources to activate.

      Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.

      Tempest Runebearer - 3cc Mage Ally - 1electric/5HP - Ability damage to Tempest Runebearer is reduced by 1. While ability damage has been dealt this turn, Tempest Runebearer has +2 attack.

      Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.


      After looking over these cards, I hope you will agree we have come a long way in terms of marking out a clearer identity and direction for the class, with the idea of original magical spells becoming much more prominent. More specifically, three cards are focused on invoking transformations (joining Wand of Izikus and Transmogrification Curse) and two others represent localised bespoke ongoing effects (joining Consuming Fear, Incendiary Curse and Stoneskin).

      Some might say that this could be a bad thing - that cards like Fireball, Lightning Strike and Supernova will always be the signature Mage cards and we should stick to making more cards like that. Whilst I agree those cards will likely remain popular for years to come (and I like how easy it would be to code other variations of X damage for Y cost!), relying on similar cards for class identity severely limits how much generically useful ability damage and negative effects can be given to other classes without blurring the lines between classes too much. There's also a potential balance issue of creating too much redundancy and consistency for ability damage cards. So it's for these reasons, and the noble cause of just being more interesting, that we've been pushing the idea that our Mage Heroes have progressively learned more inventive and varied ways to dominate the battlefield.

      With all the magic out the way, we round out the seven new cards with two rather different allies: one that does ice damage and interacts with frozen allies; the other does electric damage and is intended to find its way into many Mage decks due to the combination of stats and abilities.

      Random fact: Popsickle is the first Undead ally that Humans have access to for deck-building (outside of Meltdown mode).

      If this doesn't seem like enough new allies for Mages to use, the aforementioned transformation abilities can get you quite a variety onto the battlefield! I don't know about you, but I really enjoy seeing some of our item artwork on cards in ally form (e.g. Thoughtful Investment, Tome of Knowledge). If this is the kind of thing that conjures a smile on your face, be sure to share your personal favourites and any you are looking forward to seeing when these cards are released.

      As with the previous spoilers, I'd like to close by thanking you for your patience since Lost Lands Part 1 was released, and emphasise that we are revealing cards from Lost Lands Part 2 now without artwork to offer everyone a better opportunity to get involved with shaping their final form. Your feedback on how you think they will impact the game (whether that be their power level or fun factor or something else) and any ideas you have for their artwork are most welcome.

      Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time, where we will be weighing up what the Rogue class has to offer us.


      This article was originally published in forum thread: Lost Lands Part 2 Mage Class Spoilers started by Gondorian
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      Comments 44 Comments
      1. Kip thorp's Avatar
        Kip thorp -
        As a Mage loving player, I'm pretty excited to see these new cards in play! Looks like we might have more themed decks on the way. Heavy on the Ice it looks like.
      1. Demnchi's Avatar
        Demnchi -
        Mages this time! I'm a little out of it, but I'ma go ahead with my usual thing anyways.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post


        Popsickle - 2cc Mage Ally - Undead - 1ice/4HP - 0: Popsickle attacks target opposing frozen ally if able.
        A 2 drop for the Ice Theme that's durable. His ability actually seems neat as he can essentially attack twice so long as there is a frozen opposing ally.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Subdue - 3cc Mage Attachment Ability - Attach to target opposing ally. That ally has Sustain 1HP and -2 attack. Allies adjacent to that ally have -1 attack.
        Adjacent? This seems a bit weird to me since you can't really direct that too much. Anyways, seems okay if you would rather keep opposing allies around rather than killing them off (Stalactitan could be one example). Although, Sustain 1HP I assume is for the ally and not the opposing hero (there really should be a difference notated between those two).

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.
        At first I wrote a whole speal about why this card seemed bad until I realized you could use it as Weapon Removal (i thought it was only friendly weapons at first). It went from a dud to a stud in no time flat! Turning your opponent's weapon into a readied ally seems great. Although, that's the assumption that you gain control of it?

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Leash of Life - 3cc Mage Artifact - While an ally is adjacent to your hero, that ally has immunity to enemy attachments and +1 health and its abilities cost 2 less resources to activate.
        I really like the effect this card has. Again, the Adjacency thing is odd for Shadow Era but w.e. The fact that their abilities can cost 2 less resources opens up some more potential in a few allies we haven't seen in awhile. I like it.

        EDIT: The more I think about this card, the more I love it. Looking over all the allies, there are quite a number of them that could be a lot greater thanks to the +1 health and the ability cost reduction (of course the immunity to enemy attachments is fantastic too). Gravebone in particular would love to have this around as it makes it that much easier to come back from an empty board with his ability. Cards like Plasma Behemoth and Ogloth are looking much better for our Skeleton friend imo!

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.
        Cool idea (pun intended). Playing 3cc to at some point plopp down a 2/5 protector is great. Also has Synergy with Lyth's Ridge and Stalactitan.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Tempest Runebearer - 3cc Mage Ally - 1electric/5HP - Ability damage to Tempest Runebearer is reduced by 1. While ability damage has been dealt this turn, Tempest Runebearer has +2 attack.
        Not too shabby. If you run a lot of spells or are playing Eladwen, Nishaven, or Majiya you could get some decent trades with this guy. Not to mention all the other little ways to deal just one ability damage (such as Krygon). It also punishes ability damage from your opponent by making it harder to trade with unless you hold off on your own ability damage first.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.
        Freezing all allies is pretty good, even if for just one turn. Guess were going all out on Ice atm huh? Wish one of these cards did a bit more with Ice damage itself seeing as Lyth's Ridge is currently the only thing. Oh well, maybe we'll see a weapon/armor or something.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post


        After looking over these cards, I hope you will agree we have come a long way in terms of marking out a clearer identity and direction for the class, with the idea of original magical spells becoming much more prominent. More specifically, three cards are focused on invoking transformations (joining Wand of Izikus and Transmogrification Curse) and two others represent localised bespoke ongoing effects (joining Consuming Fear, Incendiary Curse and Stoneskin).

        Some might say that this could be a bad thing - that cards like Fireball, Lightning Strike and Supernova will always be the signature Mage cards and we should stick to making more cards like that. Whilst I agree those cards will likely remain popular for years to come (and I like how easy it would be to code other variations of X damage for Y cost!), relying on similar cards for class identity severely limits how much generically useful ability damage and negative effects can be given to other classes without blurring the lines between classes too much. There's also a potential balance issue of creating too much redundancy and consistency for ability damage cards. So it's for these reasons, and the noble cause of just being more interesting, that we've been pushing the idea that our Mage Heroes have progressively learned more inventive and varied ways to dominate the battlefield.

        With all the magic out the way, we round out the seven new cards with two rather different allies: one that does ice damage and interacts with frozen allies; the other does electric damage and is intended to find its way into many Mage decks due to the combination of stats and abilities.

        Random fact: Popsickle is the first Undead ally that Humans have access to for deck-building (outside of Meltdown mode).
        lol, I could just see SOMEONE trying to make an Eladwen deck where you use Bone Sabre to get as many attacks off your Popsicle as possible.

        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post

        If this doesn't seem like enough new allies for Mages to use, the aforementioned transformation abilities can get you quite a variety onto the battlefield! I don't know about you, but I really enjoy seeing some of our item artwork on cards in ally form (e.g. Thoughtful Investment, Tome of Knowledge). If this is the kind of thing that conjures a smile on your face, be sure to share your personal favourites and any you are looking forward to seeing when these cards are released.

        As with the previous spoilers, I'd like to close by thanking you for your patience since Lost Lands Part 1 was released, and emphasise that we are revealing cards from Lost Lands Part 2 now without artwork to offer everyone a better opportunity to get involved with shaping their final form. Your feedback on how you think they will impact the game (whether that be their power level or fun factor or something else) and any ideas you have for their artwork are most welcome.

        Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time, where we will be weighing up what the Rogue class has to offer us.
        At first I was a bit disappointed reading through these, but after thinking about them they seem like good additions. Especially since they are more for Mage decks that want to use Allies. Looking forward to them.
      1. se_'s Avatar
        se_ -
        Quote Originally Posted by Kip thorp View Post
        As a Mage loving player, I'm pretty excited to see these new cards in play! Looks like we might have more themed decks on the way. Heavy on the Ice it looks like.
        Brainless Eladwen?
      1. highmystica's Avatar
        highmystica -
        Liking it ... Popsickle - Love the name. I think though maybe it should start life out as an artifact because he is rather durable for 2cc, besides the name makes it sound like an artifact. I will laugh if the artwork ends up being winter grim reaper themed armed with a popsickle ...
      1. Storknest's Avatar
        Storknest -
        Well I can say this.

        I have a Mage Ice/Frozen deck, will not say who.
        Popsickle, I will have to try it in replacement for the existing 2cc ally to see who is better.
        Living Ice Wall, unsure if I would make room for it, I figure it lasts 1 turn. That may be intent for all I know.
        Suspended Animation almost makes me consider trying to get to turn 8 for a combo with Shatter Ice.

        I also have an electric deck but cannot see putting Tempest Runebearer in place of an existing 3cc ally. Not saying it is bad, just not for that deck. Is it for non-electric themed deck? I could see it for 1 Mage now filling a third 3cc ally slot.

        There's something about Subdue I don't like, just too late to figure it out.

        I do like Disarming Personality and it is baitable so not too strong. Curious how it affects Amber (strong hero) and Logan (weak hero).
      1. Kylt's Avatar
        Kylt -
        Subdue is op. It's max 5hp swing for 3cc on the turn it's played, and nullify several cards for one. It leaches 1HP every turn so cost damage ratio gets greater. Also it's nasty when you get to subdue multiple allies. You could choose to -1, -3, -3, -1 or -1, -2,-2,-2, -1 (5 allies) or -1, -2, -1, -1, -2, -1 (6 allies!!) with just 2 subdue.

        Other cards look underwhelming and not good enough to be played in my opinion. Except maybe Tempest Lunebearer that is good with t4 krygon for shadow Mage.

        Living ice wall is underpowered. It's mostly 3cc 0/5 protector ally which is not threatening enough. Only good point is that it can turn into an ally whenever you want (e.g. With board wipe) but that's not good enough imo.

        I think disarming personality should enable to turn opponent weapon into ally you control, just as Demnchi said. As I read it, it doesn't change the controller of the weapon and it's really not useful for a 3cc ability if it works that way.

        Suspended animation is good enough to justify 4 frying pan in a deck. It could be op.
      1. dejvo's Avatar
        dejvo -
        Thanks for these spoilers, can you please clarify some things:
        Subdue - who gets the sustain damage, you, opponent or ally?
        what does adjacent mean? The next one (from both sides) or the one on the right (looking from owner of that ally)?
        Disarming personality - who owns the readied ally? If I cast it on opp weapon do I get an ally?
      1. Catalina's Avatar
        Catalina -
        Oh yes *,* Can't wait to play my beloved Mage Decks with the new cards. Brainless Eladwen here we go again
      1. Ross013's Avatar
        Ross013 -
        Quote Originally Posted by dejvo View Post
        Thanks for these spoilers, can you please clarify some things:
        Subdue - who gets the sustain damage, you, opponent or ally?
        what does adjacent mean? The next one (from both sides) or the one on the right (looking from owner of that ally)?
        Disarming personality - who owns the readied ally? If I cast it on opp weapon do I get an ally?
        Sustain always damages the controller of the ally

        Adjacent means either side

        The controller of the weapon gets the ally
      1. Gondorian's Avatar
        Gondorian -
        Quote Originally Posted by Ross013 View Post
        Sustain always damages the controller of the ally

        Adjacent means either side

        The controller of the weapon gets the ally
        Nice work, Ross. 3 out of 3 correct.

        To elaborate on those answers:

        Sustain is always something paid by the controller of the card that has the Sustain on it. In the case of "Sustain 1HP", it means their hero takes 1 unpreventable damage. (Yes, that should be in the rule book by now.)

        Adjacent means immediately next to that card. Yes, we don't have ways to move cards around once they have been played (yet), but it's still worth adding to the game at this point anyway, I think.

        By default, whenever an item converts from one type to another, the controller does not change. If the controller changes, we always specify that.
      1. qaz92zaq's Avatar
        qaz92zaq -
        I'm curious who will be the person to break suspended animation. A freeze all enemies is potentially very OP for mage the question will be getting items into your (or your opponent's) graveyard.

        I second Kylt and say FRYING PAN ARAMIA RUSH!


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
      1. Demnchi's Avatar
        Demnchi -
        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
        Nice work, Ross. 3 out of 3 correct.

        To elaborate on those answers:

        Sustain is always something paid by the controller of the card that has the Sustain on it. In the case of "Sustain 1HP", it means their hero takes 1 unpreventable damage. (Yes, that should be in the rule book by now.)

        Adjacent means immediately next to that card. Yes, we don't have ways to move cards around once they have been played (yet), but it's still worth adding to the game at this point anyway, I think.

        By default, whenever an item converts from one type to another, the controller does not change. If the controller changes, we always specify that.
        In that case:

        Disarming Personality - This card costs a bit too much since it specifies weapons and if used on opposing weapons they get an ally out of it that will be usable the following turn. You need to spend 3cc on a weapon and have the ability to deal 2-4 damage based on its remaining durability to kill the ally you just gave them. While I don't think the card is useless, I'm not as sold on its usefulness as I was. Using it on your own weapons currently doesn't look like it will work out either unless mages get a weapon that works extremely well with this card. If they get that, then it could be a great card that has an option to be used as weapon removal, which would be great to see.

        Subdue - Since 1HP refers to the hero's health, this card actually seems pretty good. Dealing 1 damage a turn per subdue while slowing opposing allies' damage seems strong to me.
      1. neratza713's Avatar
        neratza713 -
        Popsickle - 2cc Mage Ally - Undead - 1ice/4HP - 0: Popsickle attacks target opposing frozen ally if able.
        -nothing too great, a nice t2 drop for ice-themed decks, which is good.

        Subdue - 3cc Mage Attachment Ability - Attach to target opposing ally. That ally has Sustain 1HP and -2 attack. Allies adjacent to that ally have -1 attack.
        -this card seems the best of this bunch. Control mages do not exist since cotc. Using a card to control is a huge loss of tempo, but this card nerfs both up to 3 allies and dot the hero. Very good. Using a control mage with subdue, consuming fear and...maybe lakmire can be a thing?

        Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.
        -at last a good id card for mages. Its low cost comes with a free ally for the opponent. Do you have time to change the wording of dagger of fate to '' If a card was discarded from anywhere this turn, Dagger of Fate has +2 attack until the end of your turn. Against opposing heroes it deals 1 damage.'' ? PRETTY PLEASE!!! Else it will only be used against weapon-based heroes.

        Leash of Life - 3cc Mage Artifact - While an ally is adjacent to your hero, that ally has immunity to enemy attachments and +1 health and its abilities cost 2 less resources to activate.
        -seems promising.

        Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.
        -mediocre at best. A free ally for aramia every 4 turns. AT LEAST make it 4/5 and frozen, so that cards like Rejuvenating Ritual might see some play.

        Tempest Runebearer - 3cc Mage Ally - 1electric/5HP - Ability damage to Tempest Runebearer is reduced by 1. While ability damage has been dealt this turn, Tempest Runebearer has +2 attack.
        -solid t3 ally for shadow mages.

        Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.
        -seems promising.
      1. tman507's Avatar
        tman507 -
        Popsickle - 2cc Mage Ally - Undead - 1ice/4HP - 0: Popsickle attacks target opposing frozen ally if able.

        Love the name, and seems like a nice durable little ally. Not sure how useful the ability will be, but will be interested to try it out.

        Subdue - 3cc Mage Attachment Ability - Attach to target opposing ally. That ally has Sustain 1HP and -2 attack. Allies adjacent to that ally have -1 attack.

        Very interesting. Like the new adjacent mechanic, will be harder to manage in SE as opposed to something like Hearthstone, since you can't chose the postion of allies here, but give something Sustain and weaken a whole segment of the opponent's board is nice.

        Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.

        Love that it can be used both ways, although can't think of too many weapons available to Mages that you'd really want to use this on for your own side. As a weapon removal against your opponent, is obviously not as good as a Focused Prayer or Smashing Blow as it gives them an ally, so obviously works best if you have a way to kill the ally too, which I guess is the idea, as Mages generally can more easily kill allies. Is easier than trying to wear down the weapon of durability though I'd imagine.

        Leash of Life - 3cc Mage Artifact - While an ally is adjacent to your hero, that ally has immunity to enemy attachments and +1 health and its abilities cost 2 less resources to activate.

        First card I think to reduce the cost of an ally's activated ability, which is quite neat. Could work in freeze Mage with Stalactitan I guess, make him freeze something for 1cc. That is really the main element of this card to me, the +1 HP is nice, the attachment immunity is just kind of a bonus that won't always even happen.

        Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.

        So you can technically summon it as your 3cc ally, but you'd lose major tempo that way. Trying to think of way you could re-freeze it to give it protector again, or I don't know, just play another one. Kind of also wish that maybe it could at least defend while frozen, cause seems that by the time you got more guys out that could be behind the protector, he'd just be unfrozen by that time.

        Tempest Runebearer - 3cc Mage Ally - 1electric/5HP - Ability damage to Tempest Runebearer is reduced by 1. While ability damage has been dealt this turn, Tempest Runebearer has +2 attack.

        Is fine I guess. Obviously lots of ways Mages can deal ability damage, and also works if opponent does ability damage. So is nice if you can always trigger that, but otherwise is just sorta meh.

        Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.

        This would be super crazy, but of course you have to have the first part go off in order to get the big freeze, so if no items in any graveyard=no freeze, so would be best in something were you have your own items to trigger it. Would like this to be a way make Shatter Ice useful, but that would be an 8 cost combo, so not very cost effective.
      1. alfa666's Avatar
        alfa666 -
        I can see a very nice theme going on with Disarming Personality - Subdue - Suspended Animation - Shatter Ice: this would let you exile any weapon after you used it to weaken the opposing ally line up.

        But since Focused Prayer and Smashing Blow are so much more powerful for the same cc, I would like to have Disarming Personality target armours as well.
      1. Gondorian's Avatar
        Gondorian -
        Quote Originally Posted by alfa666 View Post
        I can see a very nice theme going on with Disarming Personality - Subdue - Suspended Animation - Shatter Ice: this would let you exile any weapon after you used it to weaken the opposing ally line up.

        But since Focused Prayer and Smashing Blow are so much more powerful for the same cc, I would like to have Disarming Personality target armours as well.
        Well, item destruction is meant to be a Mage weakness (not so much for flavor but balance). They've now gained this other way of dealing with weapons (which can also work offensively to convert their own weapons to allies), but the armor weakness has intentionally remained. Considering they have so much ability damage available, getting rid of armors is not so important to them, right?
      1. tman507's Avatar
        tman507 -
        Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
        Considering they have so much ability damage available, getting rid of armors is not so important to them, right?
        Unless that armor is Spelleater Bands, lol. It's still down to old LLN for that I suppose.
      1. Alendar's Avatar
        Alendar -
        Great cards!

        But when Thoughtful Investment is dead even if it was an ally without abilites - it will destroy the resouce anyway.(what we can't say about clockwork solder that will die without abilites.)
      1. Brotherwolfe's Avatar
        Brotherwolfe -
        After reading the spoilers for Hunters and Warriors, I get the feeling that Mages didn`t get as much love. Subdue its a decent new card, but wouldn`t be surprised if it gets nerfed soon.
      1. Gondorian's Avatar
        Gondorian -
        Quote Originally Posted by Alendar View Post
        Great cards!

        But when Thoughtful Investment is dead even if it was an ally without abilites - it will destroy the resouce anyway.(what we can't say about clockwork solder that will die without abilites.)
        If it has no abilities then the text is treated as blank, so it won't destroy a resource when it dies as an ally. You can already try this via Wand of Izikus.
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