[Calahan]

Magic Duel only takes the base Astral path of the affected mages into consideration. Increasing Astral via boosters or communions has no affect on the magic duel mechanics. Although when it comes to the Pretender, you are of course not limited by your starting Astral level at the beginning of the game, as you can always empower to higher levels. The only fixed things regarding magic paths in the design phase are the bless effects.


Edit: The below only applies to being safe against S1 mages. Sorry for any confusion it caused. Have not edited the below as it appears in thejeff's post below.

You need a base Astral of 7 to be completely safe from Magic Duel, if my info is correct.