the magic phase has been (slightly) neutered even more, now it's harder to cast your spells. TBH, the magic phase in 8th was fascinating (so much fun to build your lists arond it) but also too swingy for my tastes. I miss the magic pool, but not that handful of OP spells
I love the magic phase in 8th. Not perfect, but tactical and brilliantly fun. You're right that there were a small handful of spells that should have been toned down. Lizardmen were more affected than most due to their abysmally poor initiative.
Yep, that was basically the real issue with the magic phase and the reason for its undeserved bad reputation.
I have a mixed feeling on the magic phase. Some spells are very high end, pit of shades or regrowth, but are needed for how the edition was made. My complaint is the lack of balance as some armies such as the Tomb Kings get a, IMO, rubbish number six spell and it activity makes people avoid the spell lore as they want the higher value spells. My group was competitive but wanted balance and allowed me to use the Return of the Golden Age spell instead of the str 4 large template spell. So much better value and made me want to take two spell casters on that lore to make sure I'd get it. Normally I'd take one and then go for light.
one of the worst offender was purple sun. Too strong agains armies as Ogre kingdom, Dwarfs, lizardmen, almost worthless vs elves. A spell so badly balanced is a big no from a design pov
Yeah, that 6th spell for the TK is pretty weak. I always swap it out for the signature. So if that spell were appropriately tweaked, you'd be happy with the rest of the 8th edition magic phase?
I agree on the Purple Sun, but if that were tweaked, I think The Dwellers Below spell would also have to be toned down.