Well, this is kind of awful. It looks like Nekoatl’s going for some mass weenie game plan, but can still threaten Garth and Graveyard into Crashbarrows. He’s got no anti-air outside of Skeleton Archery and Shoddy Glider, though. The former can get reclaimed, and the latter I needn’t worry about for a while. So a Birds + Balance airborne wrecking ball is an option, but I need to get it out the gate quickly before Bone Collectors and Hooded Executioners start racking up kills and Skeletons. Probably more quickly than I can handle. Thunderclap could be good for hitting Collectors through Skeletons, too. I’m torn between Rook for Birds and Thunderclap, and Midori for midband and early Rampant Growths and Forest Favors to help deal with Necromancy I. Or I could go for early Kidnapping? The timing’s a bit awkward for that as Player 1, but between that and Crash Bomber my chances against Collectors and weenies might not be too terrible. Then I can ensure haste for Mimics, too. No, leave Kidnapping until at least Turn 3 to ensure a good drop, and start with Crash Bomber and Birds. Hopefully the Bomber and Green starters should be enough to hold off Collectors for a turn or two while I get the Birds set up, and Rook have enough health to help out too. I’d like to get Drakk out too pretty quickly, don’t want Garth to Doom Grasp Rook and leave me with nothing to work with. Putting the Prospector in Lookout instead of Scavenger, I don’t think I need the extra gold next turn so I might as well make Nekoatl pay if he wants to Deteriorate it.
Strength means DeGrey, so I can’t rely on a Skeleton army. Balance means MoLaC isn’t viable, and Elms would likely be trashed. Rook isn’t as much of a threat thanks to Nether Drain, however. It’s tempting to Deteriorate the Merfolk here, but that wouldn’t leave me with enough gold to protect Garth from a midband Rook.
STARTING HAND
Rampant Growth
Spore Shambler
Tiger Cub
Young Treant
Verdant Tree
WORKERS
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
NextHand
Young Treant
Spore Shambler
Rampant Growth
Merfolk Prospector
Forest’s Favor
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Tiger Cub - ($2)
Tech I - ($0)
Rook kills Skeleton, takes 1 damage
Merfolk Prospector trades with Skeleton Javelineer, you draw
Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tiger Cub 2/2+1A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Rook L1 2/3 (1 damage)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
Skipping the extra income from Prospector to get the Skeletons under control. No screwing around. Especially not with a Pestering Haunt out. He could use Sacrifice the Weak and midband Garth for a Rook kill, but he has to delay Tech I to do so, so I doubt he’ll bother if he’s going for weenies.
… Bah, drew neither teched card. I might have to midband Rook to hit things.
STARTING HAND
Thieving Imp
Graveyard
Summon Skeletons
Jandra, the Negator
Poisonblade Rogue
WORKERS
Skeletal Archery
Summon Skeletons
NextHand
Nether Drain
Jandra, the Negator
Doom Grasp
Poisonblade Rogue
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Thieving Imp, discard #1 of 5 - ($2)
Graveyard - ($0)
Haunt reduces your base to 19 HP
Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Thieving Imp (2/2A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: L1 Garth Torken (1/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3)
Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
I didn’t expect him to trade his Merfolk, and am curious why he chose to. Maybe he’s trying to minimize my available patrollers? Well, against Rook after turn 3, I need $3+ patrollers because of Thunderclap, so Thieving Imp is up, and I’ll try to use the Graveyard to replay him, since Pandas can’t patrol immediately. This means skipping my Tech I for this reshuffle, but it’s good to get some aggressive Necromancy spells into my cycle for taking down Rook anyway, so I’m not bothered by it.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Skip worker!
Rampant Growth on Tiger Cub - ($3)
Forest Favor, Rook gets a rune - ($0)
Tiger Cub kills Thieving Imp, it goes to graveyard, takes 2A damage
Rook kills Garth, you draw, takes 1 damage, hits level 3
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Rook L1 3/3 (+, 2 damage)
Tiger Cub 2/2
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 7
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
No Tech I for Nekoatl makes me suspect an incoming Lich’s Bargain. And I’ve set myself up with the hero that’s least helpful against that - no Moment’s Peace, no Kidnapping.
Build a Heroes’ Hall, and tech in Moment’s Peace or Kidnapping.
Midband Rook, tech in Thunderclap. Maxband Rook would be nice against Horrors, but Garth can just Nether Drain him. Midband can wait until I see a good attack, I think.
Play Spore Shambler. I won’t draw the cards I tech in this turn, but I can set up Tiger Cub with 3 attack and health, which is better for dealing with Horrors.
Skip worker, boost Tiger Cub and Rook, kill Thieving Imp and Garth. Rune for Rook, Growth for Cub, then both survive with a good amount of health.
Hmm, that last option is pretty tempting. I’ll get hit with the Imp for more hand damage, but it leaves Nekoatl with no Garth for Lich’s Bargain and no Tech I, and I could have breathing room to get out Birds, and maybe an early Tech II. Am I worried about his other heroes at the moment? I don’t think so, not as much. Planning to build a Heroes’ Hall next turn for a quick Drakk, then I don’t need to worry about Nether Drain and Doom Grasp as much.
Sacrifice the Weak
Deteriorate
Giant Panda
Doom Grasp
Skeleton Javelineer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Thieving Imp from Graveyard, discard #2 of 4 - ($5)
Jandra, the Negator - ($2)
Expensive Tech I - ($0)
Haunt reduces your base to 18 HP
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Jandra, the Negator (3/3A) Overpower
Elite:
Scavenger: Thieving Imp (2/2)
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3)
Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
No reshuffle, so Rampant Growth is not a threat, and he can’t use the Tiger to reduce me to a single patroller for Rook to slip by and break the Graveyard. Very happy to see that worker skip; over time it’ll be an advantage for me. Died: Garth
Losing Bird’s Nest to the Imp is rough. I’ll just have to kill everything so Nekoatl doesn’t have too much to protect Colletors or Horrors next turn. Crash Bomber should help get through what he does have. Teching in Desperation to deal with the high levels of hand drain I’m pushing through, and a DeGrey to deal with token spam, because it’s a long time before my next reshuffle.
… Not a great draw, and Nekoatl’s drawn a lot of his deck. This doesn’t look good.
I can’t procrastinate on devising an endgame plan much longer. I’m worried about having my units stolen, so I guess I’ll aim for units that don’t survive long enough for that to happen. I don’t like teching in cards beyond my current tech level, but I don’t see much immediate value from the available spells and Tech I units, so I’ll accept some temporarily dead cards for the sake of a stronger deck Soon™. Hopefully it’ll catch my opponent off guard. Died: Garth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Tech II Strength - ($2)
Master Midori - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Midori L1 2/3+1A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Crash Bomber 2/2 (1 to your base on death)
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Strength)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I can’t worker, give Crash Bomber enough runes to kill Garth, and bring in a hero, so I think it’s best to block and tech up this turn.
Going for Strength on the theory that Nekoatl’s going for Crashbarrow spam instead of the weenie spam: I haven’t seen any teched units yet, so I reckon he’s saving up for Tech II. Grapplers trade evenly with Crashbarrows, and can take down Collectors and Horrors without being killed in return, so they seem like the best place to start.
… Not a great hand for Desperation, but it could be the best one to worker.
Rook’s dead if a Crashbarrow comes out, might as well put the levels on Midori. Putting him in Squad Leader means overpower + Skeleton + Haunt still kills Midori, but if he does survive I could try for some flying attacks, get that Graveyard down.
Another great Imp discard. With such a small hand, I don’t think another round of teching makes much difference at this point, so I’ll play the Panda to get the Wisp to block, then I don’t block with Drakk and whiff Kidnapping when he gets killed. Killing Nekoatl’s technician Wisp to make Doom Grasp a bit more costly, and the Shoddy Glider’s in the Graveyard so marginally less chance of giving him a game-winning assault hand. Bringing in Barbarbarians to block against Crashbarrows and survive.
Technician: Drakk L6 3/4 (1 to your base on death, units have frenzy +1, first unit from hand gets haste)
Lookout:
In Play:
Midori L6 4/2 (+, 3 damage)
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Strength)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 14
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Hmm, Thunderclap and a ton of gold mean I can get out 12 damage after applying frenzy, which is not enough to kill both heroes and a building. It’s enough to kill both heroes and a non-Elemental patroller, though, which I have to kill after Thunderclap anyway. The choice is between killing Argagarg or destroying Tech II. Argagarg and the units can kill Rook without help, leaving a Crashbarrow to kill everything else, and that’s without accounting for the possibility of a Stampede, so I think I have to go for him. This way, he needs an extra 7 damage, so just a Crashbarrow still leaves Midori alive. Lets me put both blocking heroes on high retaliation damage because of the bonus levels, too.
… OK, not too bad a hand, Kidnapping lets me keep the momentum going if Drakk survives, otherwise Grappler’s a decent blocker. His attack’s not as useful against Blood II, but it’ll be helpful if more Pandas or Horrors come out.