Ah yes, this is true, but still though - your opponent shouldn't get much more than 1 spell off with an average magic phase, although truth be told I haven't quite looked at how they can boost their magic.
he wasnt really decked out with items or anything, we had really strong magic phases almost every round which contributed 7-12 dice usually which is definitely above average. he had a lvl 4 vs my 2 lvl 2s (one was the stigyosaur(love that guy!) and a little lvl 2 of heavens with my scroll) basically he would cast 2 spells a turn say he gets 9 dice, he would 4 dice cursed blades bubble basically guaranteed to get it, everyone heals and gets kb the spell is only a 10+ in the bubble version, knowing i would have to save my 5 dice to dispell smiting or risk getting double tapped from his whole army, one turn i scrolled it, but every other turn he was getting both spells. this was at 1500 so in a 2500 pt game could probably use more defensive items. the big trouble maker was the casket tho since its shooting now you cant defend against it killed my stygiosaur and steg by turn 4 with one or two wounds from his other shooting. over the course of the game i think i pumped 5 wounds into it focusing all shooting on it that could reach it, but it never had more than 2 on it at a time. again at the end it was a draw so not really broken op or anything that was just the stuff that it didnt seem like there was effective counter-play for.
I think that Lore of Heavens is a bit of a crappy matchup against UD, however it can be pretty nifty when combined with a Chief with that Serpent Bow. Just get your -1 to hit spell off, alot of people tend to let that one go off in favor of trying to dispel something like Stone Skin. I use the reroll on the Serpent Bow in case I would fail to hit/wound. Not sure if the rerolls granted by Lore of Heavens stack though. I just give my scroll caddy lvl 1-2 of heavens which is combined with a Pathmaster Lore of Nature Skink High Priest.
yea i rolled 3/4 on heavens which is definitely not optimal vs UD, same spells from wilderness would have been much more useful at least in that matchup.
The casket is basically a cannon that wounds based on leadership. If you want to be more safe try the ETC 2015 maps, they're balanced for these kind of things. I can find them for you if you want
probably when we play vs magic-dependant armies we should go with a defensive configuration: cuatl disciplines and the black cube can help
i think next time ill take a binding scroll as well as a dispel one. since smiting is the only spell he has that is actually scary and fairly low casting value, just let him get it like turn 2 and bind it for a turn then dispel scroll it the turn after and hope they have been whittled down enough to beat in combat. I don't really like gearing a list towards a specific enemy race tho.
Gah.. I find the Arcane items rather lackluster due to them being bound by "Bearer". I suppose the scroll of binding is nifty because not only are you removing a spell for the next magic phase, but your opponent will have less spells to cast which makes it easier for you to choose which spell to dispel. For instance an opponent might have 2 magic missiles and 2 augments, once engaged in close combat you can use the scroll of binding and just dispel the other augment. Perhaps a bit situational in that specific case, but it's a nice added Bonus.