Stats
Type: Equipment
Subtype(s): Necro, Tome
Mana Cost : 10
Casting Type : Quick Action
Range : 0-2
Target : Mage
Level : Dark 3
Defense : N/a
Channeling : 1
Armor : N/a
Health : N/a
Equipment Slot : Weapon or Shield
Traits : Spawnpoint, Epic, Necromancer Only.
Special Text : During the Deployment Phase, Libro Mortuos may summon one undead creature into your zone. If Libro Mortuos is destroyed, you may lose 3 Life to return it to your spellbook instead of the discard pile.
Strengths
1) Moves around with your Mage, allowing you to deploy directly into his zone.
2) Pairs VERY nicely with Death Ring.
3) Works great with Meditation Amulet
Weaknesses
1) Being an equipment card, it is vulnerable to Dissolve or Explode or Steal Equipment (although I doubt Steal Equipment would ever be used on it). This weakness means you must be careful how you move your Necromancer throughout the Arena, making sure you don't get in range for any of those spells. Having an Armor Ward might not be a bad idea, but it costs 5 spellbook points for the Necromancer, so that's debatable. I haven't used it with him for that exact reason, but perhaps you'll want to.
2) There are some situations where you wouldn't want to summon a creature into your Mage's zone. Usually you do, but perhaps you stayed in your starting corner and wanted a spawnpoint in your NC so you could spawn in front of your Necro. Well, Libro is useless for that.
So, as I mentioned before, this is the ONLY equipment spawnpoint in the game (for now, I bet there will be a couple more in the future for Mages that are yet to be released). This makes it unique. It isn't stuck in one zone where it is forced to summon creatures there the whole match. No, no, it moves around with your Mage and always summons them right into his zone. That's AMAZING.
As I mentioned in the strengths, Death Ring works very well with it. It's an auto-include in any Necromancer spellbook, even if your strategy doesn't involve Libro. The ring allows you to pay 1 less mana up to twice per round when the Necro, or a spawnpoint he controls, casts a Necro or Undead spell, For the cost of 5 mana, this card has the potential to pay off in under 3 rounds if the Necromancer casts 2 of those card types per round.
This ring itself is also unique in a few ways. It costs 3 more mana than the other rings we have seen so far that give discounts. But this is for two reasons. 1) It works up to twice per round. The others only work once a round. 2) As mentioned before, it also applies when a spawnpoint you control casts that type of spell. The other rings state that the Mage itself has to cast the spell in order to receive the discount.
Another card I like to use in tandem with Libro and the Death Ring is the Meditation Amulet. Now, I know I might get some backlash from this, cause there are people who don't like this card, but I think it works amazingly with the Necromancer.
For those who don't know, it is an equipment card that allows you to take a full action to "Meditate" and gain 3 mana. So basically what I do is use my deployment to get out creatures, use my QC to cast either equipment, enchantments, attack spells or incantations, depending on the situation, and then I use my FC to meditate and get back some mana that I just spent.
This allows you to get lots of mana per turn and lets you cast more expensive spells. I know we've all been in the situation where we needed 1 or 2 more mana to cast what we really wanted. Well, with this card, you can plan accordingly and have that extra mana. Of course, there are drawbacks here as well. When you meditate, you are using your FC. That means you cannot take any move actions. If you want to move without using a spell to push or teleport yourself, you can't meditate.
Here is what I do almost every time with my Necromancer spellbooks:
Turn 1: 20 mana
QC: Death Ring (15 mana). Get this out first so you can start using its discount right away.
FC: Libro Mortuos (6 mana. Yes, the book is a Necro spell, so you get a discount). Depending on the overall strategy of your book, you might move one zone and then cast the Libro, or you might stay in your starting corner and cast it.
Turn 2: 16 (1) mana
Deployment: Whatever you want as long as it isn't terribly expensive. Make sure you have at least 4 mana left after deployment so you can...
QC: Meditation Amulet (costs 4 mana). You want to get this out right away as well so you can start getting back some mana. Of course, if you are facing an Ultra-Aggro style Mage (Forcemaster, etc) that is charging right at you, this isn't the best idea. Cast some armor instead. But if your opponent is sitting back building up their mana supply as well, cast this so you can...
FC: Meditate! Get some mana back.
Turn 3: At least 13 (1) mana, probably more
Deployment: Again, whatever you want. Again, save at least 4 mana though, but this time you'll...
QC: Harmonize. On yourself. NOT on Libro. Then it becomes an even bigger Dissolve target than it already is (and it's already a huge target for it).
FC: Meditate some more.
This is the basis of how I would usually do it. Of course, any of this could change depending on what my opponent is doing as well.
That's it for Libro, if you have any questions or feedback, please leave them in the comments below!