https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOxd2xvK9-g Shameless plug for my channel, thought this video could be some use here, so the most common posters seem to focus on Wandering Deliberations. Let me know what you think!
I listened to it. It's not bad, but I vastly prefer reading Tacticas. You can go over specfic parts easier and normally finish reading them much faster. Your strategies are well thought out. If you write this up, I will gladly put it in the Tactica Index. While I agree with your notions on when to swap spells and what lores to swap for, I disagree with you on the "how many" part. I don't know if it's just my playing style, but in my opinion, if you swap four or more High Magic spells out you probably shouldn't be using High Magic. If you want to load up on Light (or any other lore) why not just take that one? If you want a bit of everything WD Slann seem pretty efficient.
High magic is a tourney lore, as nex says: if you are swapping 4 you might as well have picked that lore to begin with. What makes High Magic hard to use is the definition of "succesfully cast". if it wasnt only the spells that go through, but just those you dont fail cast, it would be way more reliable, also for premade matchups. I still put my money on it for one of the best lores for us, since I in a tourney rolled for Comet in heavens, got it, and then later rolled on shadow in hopes of getting pit, and got it My O&G opponent wasnt thrilled for his artillery line, nor for his trolls
I'm a big fan of taking high, but I agree with Scalanex in that I rarely swap out more than a couple of spells. It does allow you to be very situational with your lore choices but most of the time I stick with a majority of high spells throughout the game, there have been a few games where I have simply not swapped anything (out of choice rather than failure to cast) because I didn't need to.
The main reason I take high magic instead of my preferred lore is two-fold. 1) My preferred lore is Light magic, which doesn't have much to do turns 1 and 2, High magic has Walk, and Firey Convo, and I have time to swap before combat starts and I need those Light buffs. 2) Against Some opponents, Light magic isnt useful, or I really need that searing doom/spirit leech. High magic allows me to have my Speed and Birona's as well as those utility spells, which no other Lore choice would do. Basically, taking high and then swapping to a lore rather than just taking that lore can allow you to patch up weaknesses that lore choice might have. Thats why I would only take it in place of a combat focused lore like Light, Life, Shadow, or possibly Metal.
Just a question about generating a new spell: Say you pick Lore of Light for instance, do we roll with 4 dice and pick the one we like or just one dice? Because if we're only allowed to use one dice it's quite hard to get what you want, such as those you mentioned.
You normaly roll you spells one at a time on one die, so yea this is no exceptin, you only get one roll, you can get what you rolled or take the default spell.
That's how I've been playing in, making it quite hard to actually get what you want and not just a signature spell.
@pinktaco Thats why I say to focus on a single lore, its much easier to get the spell you want if there are several of them and you get 3-4 spells
That's also partly the reason why I tend to swap out only a couple of spells, its really useful for those situations where there is a spell that would be useful but the signature is also useful (metal immediately springs to mind).
You all might think that I may be doing it wrong, but I tend to leave it up to my opponent to dictate the number of spells I switch out. If the battle calls for it, I don't see any harm in dropping a bunch of High Magic stuff. Typically, I drop 3 spells per battle. The psychological effect of this on the other player is often priceless, even for having only generated mere signature spells. It can turn your opponent's otherwise perfect positioning & coordination to a devastating trap. As a rule, I always pick up Spirit Leech. I haven't gone a single battle without doing that, and it's never done me wrong. At its worst, it draws a lot of dispel die. At its best, it lengthens your magic phase & takes monsters/characters off the board. But, I've also had battles where I've dropped upwards of 5 spells. I've had battles where I've generated almost every spell from a single lore. I remember adopting more & more of the Lore of Fire against High Elves as one game progressed, something that a lot of people seem to consider heresy. Man, the look on my opponent's face when I started my turn 5 magic phase by casting turbo'd Fulminating Flame Cage with three dice on his very static & shooty Sea Guard. He said, "Uhh.. Yeah, they're not moving anyway. I'll save my dice." I then proceeded to draw out his dispel die as usual, 'til I had 2 to his 0. For the first time in the entire game, I casted Wind Blast on them with my Lv 2 Priest. I thought he'd flip the table when most of 'em dropped dead from that combo. D6 S4 with the initial cast, D6 S3 with Wind Blast, unit-wide S4 from Flame Cage exploding due to movement. All of that for one dice less than Fiery Convocation. The first time they moved in the game, they were running off the table. Ahh, fond memories. 8) Ack! Got sidetracked. Sorry. Anyway, I think it boils down to the situation & how your opponent is playing every single time. No right or wrong way of doing it, only right or wrong spells, and right or wrong timing. *shrug*
So I have 10 tourney games and zero non tourney games with lore master high slann. The highest number of spells I have switched out in a game is 2. Most games it is only one. I know this is a small sample size, but the talk of switching 3 or 4 spells a game I find curious. Looking realistically there are five magic phases you can switch a spell out and be useful. Throw in an opponents scroll and that drops to 4. you would need a dominate roll on winds to really push through more then one spell a turn, and even a channel slann will not get that as many times as we like. Throw in dice being spent on spells you switch out and the opportunity to switch spells drops as the game progress's. Let's not mention IF that drains the pool and ends magic phases early. You could dribble spells out but you risk not meeting a casting value. High risk strategy and allows opponent to truly stop the spells that are important to him. Not sure how you dribble Fiery Convication out either. To realistically get that spel off you need to throw five dice. That is going to eat mostly your phase. Finally, there are some solid spells in the lore switching that many out in the hopes of getting that perfect spell to counter your opponent leads me to believe that there are design flaws in the base list. Btw. I always switch out for Beasts first. Way sans make Saurus rock solid while savage makes a Cowboy terrifying Hinge
@ Ixt: Hilarious, the combo of Flame Cage and Wind Blast. Another sneaky use for Lore of Heavens! I really like taking High Magic, and try to come up with a magic plan ahead of each game. Against Orcs & Goblins, for example, I want to cast Arcane Unforging and Tempest in the first two turns, and swap them for Shadow magic. As D43m0nsp4wn said, I want a lore that has spells I want, but also has a good signature. With Shadow magic, I'm hoping for Withering or Enfeebling (Pit of Shades would be ok, too), but if I don't get one of those, I'll take Miasma and use it in combination with Hand of Glory. If I cast a Walk Between Worlds early in the game, I'll keep it, but if I cast it mid-game I'll swap it for whatever Lore has a useful signature spell for our match-up. In theory, Fiery Convocation is a good one to drop early in the game, but with the size of the infantry blocks my regular O&G opponent brings, I pretty much blast him with it as often and as long as I can. On average, I probably switch out 2 spells/game, but have ranged from 0-4.
That's why I usually switch into the lore of light, the only spell I wouldn't want is banishment after turn 2-3.