by lindyhopfan
pconnor wrote:
I would note, for the amount of cards you receive, it would be a closer price comparison to look at 2 Core Sets vs 1 Core Set + 3 Tomes.
This is true. Therefore the more interesting comparison is between what you get if you buy two core sets vs if you buy 1 core set, 2 copies of core tome 1, and one copy of core tome 2. This makes more sense than getting a second copy of core tome 2 because there are a number of cards in that set that are specific to a particular mage and are limited to one copy.
With Base game + 2 Copies of Core Tome 1 and 1 copy of Core Tome 2 you'd get the following over someone that went with 2 base games:
1 Animal Kinship
1 Battle Fury
1 Bull Endurance
1 Charge
1 Circle of Lightning
1 Darkpact Slayer
1 Deflection Bracers
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
1 Drain Power
1 Elemental Wand
1 Fog Bank
1 Force Hold
1 Force Orb
1 Force Push
1 Force Sword
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Ghoul Rot
1 Group Heal
2 Hand of Bim-Shalla
1 Ivarium Longbow
3 Jinx
1 Leather Boots
1 Mage Staff
1 Maim Wings
1 Mountain Gorilla
1 Necropian Vampiress
1 Perfect Strike
1 Piercing Strike
3 Purify
1 Rajan's Fury
1 Regrowth
2 Regrowth Belt
1 Reverse Attack
1 Reverse Magic
1 Rouse The Beast
3 Shift Enchantment
1 Skeletal Sentry
1 Sleep
1 Steal Enchantment
1 Teleport
1 Temple of the Dawnbreaker
1 Thunderbolt
1 Tooth & Nail
1 Vampiric Strike
1 Wall of Thorns
1 Whirling Spirit
With two Base games you get the following over someone that went with base + 2 copies of core 1 + 1 copy of core 2:
1 Agony
2 Asyran Cleric
1 Battle Forge
2 Bitterwood Fox
1 Blinding Flash
1 Block
1 Call of the Wild
1 Chain Lightning
1 Chains of Agony
1 Cheetah Speed
1 Cobra Reflexes
1 Dark Pact Slayer
1 Darkfenne Bat
1 Darkfenne Hydra
2 Decoy
2 Dispel
3 Dissolve
1 Electrify
1 Elemental Cloak
1 Emerald Tegu
1 Essence Drain
1 Fireball
1 Firebrand Imp
1 Firestorm
1 Harmonize
1 Highland Unicorn
1 Knight of Westlock
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Mana Crystal
2 Mana Flower
1 Mana Leech
2 Minor Heal
1 Moonglow Amulet
1 Nullify
1 Pillar of Light
1 Ring of Fire
1 Tanglevine
1 Timber Wolf
The cards you get extra copies of if you buy the tomes look more useful to me. Plus you can always buy a second copy of core tome 2 later if you want a second copy of some of the more powerful and unique spells. You can also buy the extra spellbooks and/or the 4 player expansion pack later if you want multiplayer.
The biggest thing I would get if I got the two core sets that I will miss otherwise is the ability to play mirror matchups. If you really want the mirror matchups or if you want to be able to get up and running with multiplayer right away (I'm planning to play this 2 player only), then get the 2 core sets. Keep in mind that if you invest in setting yourself up to be able to play the mirror matchups with the base mages you may find yourself sorely tempted to get two copies of each of the mage expansions as well. Knowing that I won't be able to afford to get two copies of each expansion down the road makes me want to let go of my desire to be able to do mirror matchups and go the spell tome route for now.