Should I trade for Mage Wars?

So I got an opportunity on BGG to trade my copy of Kemble's Cascade for the core set of Mage Wars. I know that in pure terms of general quality, most people would call this a great trade. My question is more about Mage Wars specifically.

I think I'd be able to sell the game to some buddies around me, since I'm actually more able to get two-player games off the ground these days, even with my class schedule. My question is more as to just how far that "core set" quality goes. Is this the kind of game that feels kind of incomplete without some of the add-ons? How extreme is the treadmill effect? I don't mind something customizable, but neither am I interested in being in a long-term gaming relationship as it were.

Any thoughts are welcome. I also would welcome any thoughts about Mage Wars in general.

The core game is complete without add-ons, although, I have thoroughly enjoyed the expansions. I would make the trade in an instant. To elaborate, I just mean that you will be fine if you never open an expansion - - most of them just introduce more mages. Unless you are playing super-competitive, there really is no need for the spell tomes.

Doug is wrong. This game is not complete out of the box. It does not come with a full-time, fully committed opponent willing to dig in to learn the game and build decks.

That said, this is a great trade that you should not miss out on. You're still ahead of the curve on Kemble's, within the next few months I bet you're going to see that game on clearance everywhere and littering math trades. Mage Wars is at least worth trying and playing around with for a while.

Learn the game, yes. But you can still easily enjoy it using the recommended decklists --so that isn't a burden if that isn't your thing (kind of like a preconstructed magic deck). There is a certain time commitment involved, but it doesn't really require any expansions to enjoy.

mage wars was awesome while I had it, but fell into the Android Netrunner trap that was talked about in another thread. The coreset is great, and better (more complete) than any of the FFG LCG coresets I've played with. I agree with Michael, its worth playing and trying for a couple months.

Well, I accepted the trade. You guys convinced me that it's worth the effort.

I admit I am totally boggled about how the expansions work. Like what's the difference between Forged in Fire, Conquest of Kumanjaro, and Druid Vs. Necromancer? Do they all just provide extra mages? Are the core spell tomes the ones that are only really necessary for competitive play?

*edit* Put a different way, I'm placing an Amazon order later this week and I wouldn't mind getting an expansion for this if I am getting one with some extra mages, less if those expansions are there to allow for customization, which I don't have a lot of interest in.

Forged in Fire and Conquest are primarily spell tome expansions. Druid vs. Necromancer and Forcemaster vs. Warlord you get new mages (the other two switch up abilities of existing mages).

Conquest and Forged are expansions themed around a particular concept. They don't introduce brand-new mages, but they include variants of existing ones and some cards to support them.

The "vs" expansions include new mages (not just variants), and include cards to support them along with new physical spellbooks. Druid vs. Necromancer is almost certainly the better of the two currently available, because the Forcemaster is considered kind of one-dimensional and the Warlord underbaked, but Forged in Fire was supposed to have helped out the Warlord concept, so I'm not 100% on that.

Since my last post is largely redundant, I'd note also that there are also "core spell tomes" (1 and 2) that are to some extent good at rounding out a base set with additional more or less valuable utility cards, such as Teleport. I think core 1 is still probably considered highly valuable if you have only one base set; my recollection is that 2 (which I do have) is not nearly as essential (if any piece of cardstock can actually be considered essential).

But that would still only be best if you were looking to build your own spellbooks, right?

Yeah.

San, if you just want basic pre-built books and Wizard variety then get Forcemaster/Warlord or Druid/Necro and skip the rest.