The Daily Deal

St. Xarol's Mace

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
The cards on St. Xarol's Mace are all over the place, both in function and power level. It's sort of healy but you really only want the Greater Heal. It's decent armor removal but really crappy damage beyond the two Sundering Strikes. As it stands, St. Xarol's Mace is an ugly duckling that no one wants aside from armor removal seekers. Even then, it's often better to ignore it altogether by running Frenzy buffs. You will do a similar amount of damage as an unbuffed attack when up against armor with bonus points if you catch a naked opponent. Sundering Strike is also not reliable enough as an answer to immunity armors like Resistant Hide. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Armor removal is important for modules like Cliffs of the Wyvern but Sundering Strike is again, not a reliable solution. It's really only good for shredding through Toughness but very few mobs carry it and a Boiling Armor removes them just as well. When there's armor involved bring a wizard. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Ripping Mace (E) , Sahagun's Sword (E) , Blackhammer (E)
The Daily Deal

Cherry Shield- Remember how I said anything with Defender's Block is worth considering? Don't consider this one too long.
Mathiam's Helm- A first turn Sprint, Team! is one of the most busted things you can do but Mathiam's Helm is the worst Sprint, Team! helmet.
Sparkling Shield- Very odd shield and not in a good way.

Notable Rares
Ebony Prayer Beads- Great card draw, especially for a rare.
Focused Electromancy- Powerful but sort of limited to buffing arcane wizards. Spark wizards would rather have Superb Electromancy.
Forceful Robes- Has Resistant Hide for wizards and slide back spells for melee. I normally don't like items with split personalities but all of the cards do something even when not against their intended matchup.

 

Forceful Robes are the best 0 Token resistant hide robes that are easy to come by (e.g. not Epic)

 

Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
If this costed a minor token I'd tell you to pick it up all day. At a major token, Smoag's Bucket of Pitch is the toughest arcane item with only Glob Of Flame or Flame Jet to use. There is no doubt it's powerful but mixing and matching other legendary items will also allow you to get Glob of Flames you need at a lower token cost. Would purchase if your optimal wizard build can afford the major token. Would not purchase if you'll need to warp your build to accommodate it.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
The major token requirement hurts even more in singleplayer. Not only does it limit your options in deck construction, it also can't be used in lower levels. Save your gold for items that can be more widely used. Besides, Glob of Flame is not what you want for speed farming. Ten damage spread over 4 turns to a single target is agonizingly slow. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Rantic's Orb Of Inner Fire (E)
The Daily Deal

Charging Boulder- Shrug It Off doesn't have enough things to answer to be useful in multiplayer and being a one shot effect isn't good enough for singleplayer.
Magnetic Shield- Decent but if you're going to be choosing between melee and magic blocks melee is the way to go. Magic tends to be lower damage so good armor is a better investment for the token.
Woodhome's Wound- Only useful for a couple of low level modules with armored mobs so not worth getting.

Notable Rares
Corpselight Charm- The major token is rough but all the cards are powerful.
Focused Electromancy- Strong item though it does compete with skills like Superb Electromancy and Electroporter Novice.
Shuddering Relic- Mass Frenzy alone makes this one of the best tokenless divine items.
Tough Leather Cap- Great team movement that you would otherwise need to play humans for.

 

However, see this:
https://twitter.com/RudolphoCH/status/596559406915006465

 

Given my limited experience with fire wizards (and in all things about CH compared to yours), i don't think that the problem with Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch is the gold token. At least for my fire wizard, who is able to upgrade one blue token to a gold one.
The problem is if one extra Glob Of Flame can have a significant impact to a game, in order to justify buying this item over Rantic's Orb Of Inner Fire.
Do you believe it does?

 

I think if you don't plan on running armor removal on your other characters then Rantic's Orb of Inner Fire is a must. Otherwise, I would rather have all burn spells to take full advantage of Firestarter.

 

Kazmir's Staff

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Multiplayer
Kazmir's Staff is one of only three staves with Freeze. Slowing everything to a crawl can be useful but the most popular race is dwarves. Against the vertically challenged that Freeze may as well be any frost spell. The Potent Sparks are great and the Flash Of Agonys can be fine but Missile Block is awful. As a wizard, your number one fear is big melee attacks. Missile Block only prevents damage from attacks that you can race against so it isn't necessary to have. However, it is quite useful against the increasingly popular Purge effects if you rely on traits and buffs.

Singleplayer
Having 4 multi-target spells is great. However, you are paying for a Freeze that is of limited use. Like all single target spells, using Freeze on one enemy will not help against the rest of the mobs. Most of the maps with low enemy counts have mobs that already have slow base movements. Look out for items with Cone Of Cold if you are seeking encumber effects to slow multiple targets. You will know whether or not Missile Block will have any use but it is still a dead card in many modules.

Peon's prescription for prodigious players- Kazmir's Staff has an odd assortment of cards of varying value. Unless dwarves somehow see significantly less play encumber effects will remain relatively unplayable. Missile Block is the worst type of block to have against an unknown enemy and it isn't even that great for a wizard when you do expect magic and projectile attacks. The biggest draws are the Potent Sparks for multiplayer and Flash of Agonys for singleplayer, both of which can be found on more focused staves. Would not recommend purchasing Kazmir's Staff.

Substitutes
Sub-zero Staff (R) : Freeze
Silver Fir Staff (E) , Voltstaff (E) , Black Walnut Staff (E) , Greenspark Staff (R), Staff Of Billows (R) , Staff Of Peril (E) : Linear spark
Mindsplinter Staff (E) , Staff Of Pain (E) : Flash of Agony
The Daily Deal

The dwarven menace has died down considerably and cold spells do wonders against step attack packing elves but one Freeze does not a cold staff make.

Quick Buckler- Flimsy Block is decent against control spells and dead to almost everything else. Wedge Shield is much better.
Rockshard Robes- One of the best tokenless Resistant Hide robes.
True Mail- Armor is one of the last things warriors spend tokens on. Most go for extra mobility but double Reliable Mail will do a lot of work.

Notable Rares
Focused Bruising- Great buff for a very underused archetype.
Healthy Trickery- Healing Dash makes this especially good on vamps with Talented Healer.
Staff Of Winter- Speaking of cold staves, if you're looking for a good one you've found it.
Trainee Command- One of the few playable tokenless human skills.

 

Elemer's Pine Staff

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
The two copies of Subtle Parry are what makes Elemer's Pine Staff stand out from most staves. Your wizard gets slightly better at surviving against melee characters at the cost of having 2 useless cards against opposing wizards. That may be the right call when you expect to face a lot of melee teams but the problem with Elemer's Pine Staff is that it doesn't go far enough. If you're going to put in stuff for a particular matchup, it better swing the odds heavily in you favor. That's why I prefer Staff Of Chask. Pushback Parry is not only more reliable but also punishes step attacks, which melee characters will lead off with more often than not. Sure, Punishing Bolt's short range is not so great against wizards but by playing a melee block staff you're already essentially giving up on that matchup. You're banking on facing more melee parties so make your melee matchup fantastic and leave Elemer's Pine Staff to the sissies with a fear of commitment. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
I'm not a fan of blocks that don't draw cards in singleplayer. If you're getting attacked by stuff that triggers the card draw on Subtle Parry, odds are you don't need blocks in the first place. Most of the time, you're better off drawing action cards over blocks on melee characters so adding blocks to wizards is out of the question. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Silver Fir Staff (E) , Voltstaff (E)
The Daily Deal

Pendent Of Artax- Little Zap is awful. Glob Of Flame and Telekinesis are great but they generally don't go on the same wizard.
Staff Of Soot- Smoke Bomb staves overcharge you for the wizard hoser...so you can have some spells that don't work with them. Ember Burst is especially egregious since you need to burn yourself if used in the midst of a Smoke Bomb. Only acceptable if you need the arcane item slots for other cards.
Xalanen's Boots- Skipping Boots are better.

Notable Rares
Burnished Plates- Especially useful for vamps to get around armor.
Ebony Prayer Beads- Great card draw.
Goat Boots- The go to boots for tokenless trait cycling.
Storm Circlet- As cheap as Firestorm gets.

 

Staff Of Soot is great for stacking a dedicated smoke wizard to the max in SP. MP, not so much.

 

I don't think Staff Of Soot's card are a unharmonic mixture, ofc best magic to damage within smoke are cones or firestorm, but Ember Burst lets you reach enemies within the smoke while you are relatively safe outside. And if you consider to really add firestorm to the mix, chances are good your character brings the armor to negate a little selfdamaging firework, if range 2 has to happen.

 

Another substitute you can use for Kazmir's Staff is Forval's Teak Staff (has both a Freeze and Potent Sparks). I actually tended to use the two together when I only had one Kazmir's; I still might even with two.

 

Illusion

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Illusory Barrier is obviously best against wizards but if you combine it with enough copies of Telekinesis you can keep melee characters at bay too. Cards like Gusts Of War do not work as well as you can only slide enemy characters back on top of your walls instead of teleporting them back behind them, requiring 2 movements instead of 1 to claw their way back. While Illusion is a very powerful item, it is also high risk. Control wizards usually don't have damaging attacks on their arcane items. By playing Illusion, your wizard cuts back on 5 additional attacks in favor of speed bumps. Should the rest of your team die, you are basically limited to victory point wins, which can be very difficult depending on the map. Illusion is definitely an item that you need to build around and it is not for everyone. If you like running up and smacking people Illusion is not for you. If you like trapping your opponents and laughing maniacally while they squirm around like rats in a maze you might want to spend some more time with your therapist. Also, you'll want to pick Illusion up.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Control strategies can be crucial for ensuring victories in quests where you are massively handicapped but it blows for regular play. If your goal is farming items your best bet is to dish out as much damage as you can. Illusory Barrier can help your characters live longer but that shouldn't be your primary goal. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
None
The Daily Deal

I didn't mention it earlier but Illusion is incredible in Death March league. Flanking Move into Illusory Barrier and you've pretty much won if they don't have answers.

Inkdark Halberd- Not enough priest spells for a regular priest and not enough vamp attacks for a vamp. The other attacks aren't so hot either.
Noral's Cleansing Relic- There are plenty of cheap Cleansing items if you just want the effect in singleplayer. It is too narrow to play in a non-Volcano deck in multiplayer.
Novice Evasion- Elves already get Dashes. Why put 2 more bad ones into your deck?

Notable Rares
Ironcurse Robes- One of the few Reliable Mail robes.
Rageblood Dagger- One of the best double minor token weapons.
Smoke Pin- Best Smoke Bomb item.
St. Xarol's Axe- Good divine weapon for low level modules.

 

Juniper's Jumper

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
So you've got all these spiffy Harnesses now but what are you going to buff? All the best armors are found on the heavy armor slot and that has conveniently been taken. You are stuck with stuff like Shimmering Aura (ewwww) or armors that at best turn into Reliable Mails (already found on helmets and boots). The two best armors available to buff are Officer's Harness and Spiked Mail, both of which give very tiny returns compared to things like Barbed Platemail. If you want to play around with Enchanted Harness and friends, get them on helmets and boots so you have access to the good stuff on heavy armors. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Same deal as above except I would further add that you should avoid spending tokens on armor altogether. When you use tokens on armor, you are more than likely taking away tokens that should be going towards weapons instead. When you do have tokens to spare, just go for stuff with Reliable Mail like True Mail and skip all the fancy Harnesses. Would not Purchase.

Substitutes
Catherine's Cardigan, Blake's Blazer, Peter Peter's Wife Beater
The Daily Deal

Lightfoot Robes- Have you ever been playing an elf wizard with Evasion and Flanking Move boots and thought to yourself "Gee, I sure wish there was a way to get more Flanking Moves?" Yeah, me neither, but this is how you'd do it.
Spiked Platemail- Gauntlets Of The Giant is better.
Wlakwa's Boots- Very strong boots but I generally prefer Sliding Boots.

Notable Rares
Focused Pyromancy- Near autoinclude for burning wizards.
Forceful Robes- One of the tokenless robes.

 

This might be my next MP build, actually. I eagerly await my rating tumbling 400 points.

 

Sundersong

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Sundering Strike is a useful card but similar to Unnerving Strike in that it will simply be an 8 damage card a lot of the time. While Sundering Strike has the added benefit of removing Toughness, it also has the potential to whiff if the armor doesn't trigger. It is ok to have a couple copies of Sundering Strike as insurance against Reliable Mail or Enchanted Harness stacking but when you put a bunch together on a double major token weapon it is underpowered for the cost. Go with more cost effective alternatives for armor removal and reserve major tokens for damage or more powerful effects. Alternatively, you can just play high damage or penetrating attacks and buffs to make armor negligible. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Sundersong can be amazing for facing down Blizkenripper who draws armor and Toughness just about every turn. Wyverns can also have nasty armor though they are semi-ranged making Sundering Strikes more difficult to land. Since you need armor to trigger, it is not reliable enough armor removal for just about anything else in the high level modules. If armor is giving you fits bring a wizard packing a few Akon's Amulets. Boiling Armor gets rid of everything no questions asked. Sundersong is unreliable armor removal that lowers your damage output and can only be used in high level modules. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
White Katana (E) , Petochl's Sword (E)
The Daily Deal

Apprentice Ferocity- The second best tokenless dwarf skill, even for wizards by virtue of having cycling traits. Depending on how many other copies of Reliable Mail your dwarf has Apprentice Ferocity may even be preferable over Raging Battler.
Oakenheart Shield- A more expensive less useful Steel-Rimmed Buckler.
Ztoli Idol- There are few situations you'd want Wings Of Faith, especially considering all characters have access to Flight Aura. For leagues where Fly is necessary you're going to want Golden Wings or Eixtl's Winged Mail to get more out of your tokens.

Notable Rares
Emberfloat Mantle- Easy pickup if you don't have Firehide Robes. Even if you're not a Firestorm or burning wizard, Sparkling Cloth Armor plus trait on tokenless robes is great too.
Rod Of Winds- I'm surprised and relieved I don't see more Whirlwind Enemies going around.
White Halberd- Inspiration might not be the biggest card draw spell but it is immediate and triggers Altruism.
Xipil's Ring- Despite sitting next to two crappy cone spells, Volcano is so good for farming that pretty much any item with it is fair game. If you're like me, you probably don't have 12 copies of Magma Scepter either so Xipil's Ring will have to do.

 

Sundersong

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Sundering Strike is a useful card but similar to Unnerving Strike in that it will simply be an 8 damage card a lot of the time. While Sundering Strike has the added benefit of removing Toughness, it also has the potential to whiff if the armor doesn't trigger. It is ok to have a couple copies of Sundering Strike as insurance against Reliable Mail or Enchanted Harness stacking but when you put a bunch together on a double major token weapon it is underpowered for the cost. Go with more cost effective alternatives for armor removal and reserve major tokens for damage or more powerful effects. Alternatively, you can just play high damage or penetrating attacks and buffs to make armor negligible. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Sundersong can be amazing for facing down Blizkenripper who draws armor and Toughness just about every turn. Wyverns can also have nasty armor though they are semi-ranged making Sundering Strikes more difficult to land. Since you need armor to trigger, it is not reliable enough armor removal for just about anything else in the high level modules. If armor is giving you fits bring a wizard packing a few Akon's Amulets. Boiling Armor gets rid of everything no questions asked. Sundersong is unreliable armor removal that lowers your damage output and can only be used in high level modules. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
White Katana (E) , Petochl's Sword (E)
The Daily Deal

Firehide Robes- Best Firestorm/burning wizard robes.
Oliver's Boots- Shimmering Aura sucks and Rushing Aura is a bad Quickness Aura.
Wedge Shield- Boosts your odds against wizards but you will be at a disadvantage when facing off against Parry or Defender's Block.

Notable Rares
None. Cut Randi some slack. He's a veteran of the Sharkbear incursion who deserves a 3 day weekend.

 

Kelvin's Chunk Of Ice

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Cone Of Cold can be tricky to use if you care about encumbering your own characters but that wide range also makes it very hard to play around. Cone of Cold is also the only cold spell available on arcane items. Slowing down multiple characters on the opposing team is powerful but not something you want to draw multiples of. Add that to a major token cost and you have an item that a lot of wizards can't afford to run. Most people that want a few extra cold spells opt for one of the minor token double Cone of Cold items. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Encumber doesn't do anything against zombie hoards. Goblins have magic blocks for days. Oozes have long range attacks. Encumbering en masse is great in theory but there just aren't many good uses for Cone of Cold. Plus, it takes up valuable Firestorm/Volcano slots. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Hasek's Icy Ring (E) , Hylithia's Wand (E) , Xochu's Icy Circlet (E)
The Daily Deal

Bullseye Shield- Drawing cards from a tokenless shield is great but it isn't something you would throw on against an unknown opponent.
Chadwick's Clogs- Shimmering Aura sucks and Vira's Shoes are nearly the same but tokenless.
Dark Chain Shirt- Best tokenless divine armor for armor.

Notable Rares
Perfect Command- The number one reason to play a human support character. Slap one of these on and you'll be ambushing things in no time.
Slippery Shield- Great way to add mobility without diluting the rest of the deck.
Vampire's Blade- One of the best vamp weapons.

 

Sander's Force Mirror

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Based on power level alone, Force Cone is weaker than control spells that allow you to choose where targets end up. The more walls or impassable terrain a map has the worse it gets. However, Force Cone has two qualities that no other control spell has both of. It is able to hit multiple targets and you can get multiple copies per token spent. There's also a slight advantage in not being a targeted spell but that isn't going to be relevant often. Being so map dependent, Sander's Force Mirror is not going to be better than something like Ring Of Appropriation most of the time so I would not prioritize it highly. However, if there's one place Force Cone shines it's Death March league. You never have to worry about walls getting in the way and you can shove any number of opposing characters away from the victory point without worrying about Smoke Bombs or Illusory Barriers. Pick it up if you plan on grinding Death March leagues or have a lot of spare gold. Would not purchase otherwise.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Force Cone is amazing for keeping mobs without blocks at bay but at the end of the day it's still a control spell. Every copy of Force Cone you put into your deck takes a place that should go to a hard working Firestorm instead. Playing keep away is nice but killing everything outright is better. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Ring Of Appropriation (E)
The Daily Deal

Cleansing Diamond- Great at what it does but Cleansing effects are narrow and easy to come by.
Corian's Boots- If you're going for Officer's Harness synergies this is the best tokenless boots to get them but Corian's Boots isn't particularly exciting on it's own.
Sparkling Shield- Icy Block and Dodge are not strong enough to justify running Clumsy Chop.

Notable Rares
Hexagon Shield- Tokenless shield with strong blocks. A little weak against wizards of the non-Ironwood variety but hopefully the token you saved makes up for it.

 

Xemu's Staff
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
There are very few playable tokenless staves. Xemu's Staff is not one of them. Short Perplexing Ray, Flame Spit, and to some extent Firestorm are playable but they are nowhere near good enough to make up for the filler cards. To top it all off, you lose one of the greatest advantages of playing wizards in blanking melee only blocks. When it comes to staves just spring for the tokens. There are much better tokenless options in every other slot. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
All you really want is the Firestorm but there are already 2 better tokenless options in Staff Of The Inferno and Mullik's Blisterstaff. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Cottonwood Staff (E): Tokenless
Staff Of The Inferno (E): Firestorm

Cleansing Diamond- Card draw is great but Cleansing effects are dead too often.
Healing Hand Mace- For the priest who moonlights as a warrior. Team Heals isn't always the best but the attacks more than make up for it.
Quick Buckler- Wedge Shield is better.

Notable Rares
Buckler Of Protection- Great all purpose blocks with some card draw attached.
Enormous Mattock- Make sure you have a way to neutralize Large Weapon and you've got yourself big attacks and a way to rip through the your deck.
Rageblood Dagger- One of the best double minor token weapons.

 

Forval's Chain

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Short Perplexing Ray is not commonly used. A random discard is not worth giving up position from moving a step away when you can increase the distance to 2 or more squares by moving the enemy instead. Cards like Winds Of War and Telekinesis also combo with Path Of Knives much better. Both Short Perplexing Ray and Path of Knives are fairly easy to get on cheaper items so there's no reason to splurge on Forval's Chain. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Path of Knives is pretty good at killing unarmored mobs with big movement cards since they ignore the presence of attachments. Unfortunately, there are very few instances where there are few enough mobs for single target spells to be effective and they have anything bigger than a Walk. Even then, you are using two cards, Path of Knives plus movement or slide spell, to get damage through when you could just use a couple of burn spells instead. Short Perplexing Ray is awful in singleplayer. Movement matters less so you'll usually only care about the discard, but mobs with shared hands and large hands on bosses make random discards insignificant. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Booming Ring (E), Blood Locket (R) , Sarigo's Rod (E)
The Daily Deal

Flexible Tactics- Lateral Thinking is one of those cards you build around and to some extent the same is true for Advanced Battlefield Training. While the best options for those cards cost a major token, Flexible Tactics doesn't lend itself to any particular strategy.
Plates Of Ixicha- Arrogant Armor is too often a buff repellent than an debuff hoser. There are better sources of Quickness Aura or better yet Energizing Move.
St. Voral's Charm- Not vampy enough for vamps and the heals are too weak for a healer.

Notable Rares
Focused Piety- Card draw is good and Altruism is one of the best ways to get overwhelming card advantage.
Smoke Pin- Best Smoke Bomb item.