[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
So, that should have been mostly predictable, though it looks like he got weird draws, too. He didn’t draw pillage. He didn’t draw Rambaster, or he would have just hit me back with his instead of putting money into Zane. He’s obviously afraid of my pillage. I’m guessing his second hand looks something like my first hand.
I was really tired when I took my first turn, and I wish I’d waited to hear Jadiel’s thoughts after my last game. I love swinging with hasty units too much. I realize now that if I’d put out Vandy or Rook, then he’d be the one sweating his lack of defense. A T2 midband Rook could likely swing through any 1-unit patrol he sets up (and that’s what Red likes to leave in place, if anything) to take out his hero, if he didn’t patrol it. Vandy’s maybe scarier, with her ability to fetch and play Shadowblade her second turn, or max and doom a MM. Basically, by Rambasting, I ceded the first-turn pressure machine to him. In response he ceded a tiny bit of economy to me (the chance to get to Tech I built a turn before he does). I have to decide whether to take the pressure back or build up.
Option Pain: Bloodburn is tempting (earlier the better, right?), but it’d just be that and Tech I, and he’d break my Tech I, yes? (Is that so bad? Yes, I think it’s pretty bad.) I guess Bloodburn is my worker.
Option Pain 2: Tower is tempting for the same reason, but he’d either break my Tech I, or break the Tower pretty cheaply, and my investment goes to waste. He could even suicide Zane and Dog into it, not worrying about giving me levels, then pull out Arg or Rook. And if more haste stuff, maybe he could take out both.
Option 100% Aggro: I could totally kill Zane. I’d whip out Drakk, send MM to take out his NDog, and Charge my own NDog into Zane. Two free levels for Drakk. But that’s not enough to get him an extra hitpoint, and he’d then have $7 on his next turn: enough to pull out Arg or Rook and use an expensive Charge on an Ogre to kill Drakk. More importantly, even if he doesn’t, I’d be at 5 workers at the beginning of my T3. He’ll be at 7 at the beginning of his. He’d probably build Tech I at that point. And I’d have a very hard time catching up. Skipping Tech I here is okay, but skipping a worker I have learned repeatedly (the hard way) is not, unless I can take out a Tech building.
The other problem is that Lv. 2 Zane is dangerous. And I really don’t want to give him the Scavenger money, but NDog hits above his weight class, too.
Option Hero: Say I build Tech I, patrol Rook or Vandy in SQL. He maxxes Zane, shoves my hero into Tech or Scav (whatever he wants), takes it out, then gets even more cards or money. Say I try to protect them with a 1-drop in SQL. He’ll just take out the SQL with the shove, then kill the hero. He’d survive any of my heroes in Elite.
- Now, this might not be bad, since the levels would fizzle. I really just want to protect my Tech, as I’m racing to Tech II or a chance to take out his Tech I with Thunderclap and some units.
- But let’s consider that he might have a MM or Rambaster (likely), or even just his NDog if I don’t kill it. He can then take out a SQL hero with a 3/3 midband Zane, and still survive to max. Now I’m giving him free levels, and that is not okay. Even in Elite, I have to worry about Charge making it possible for him to take out my hero or without Zane lifting a finger. He could, say, Charge his dog just for the extra damage, take out SQL with midband Zane, and slam the Dog into Vandy. If I kill the Dog with MM and put my hero in elite, he’d need a charged 2-drop (4 of his 7 money) to take out my hero cleanly, but then he’d still have enough for Tech I, and Zane would be able to max Zane the following turn.
Option 90% Aggro: Hrmm. I could use Bombaster to take out NDog. 3-for-1 is a pretty uneven trade. MM trades with Zane, and that’s 1-for-3, so we’re back to parity (sure, if you completely ignore his Scav bonus and the 2-cost Rambaster he killed). BUT, I get to worker and have 1 to play with, and he feels like his level in Zane was wasted. Take that! Of course, he could just pillage that 1 if I float it (though it might not be worth it without Zane, and definitely wouldn’t be if he can’t get a pirate into play). If I want to avoid the pillage, I’d have to go down on cards a lot to play an NDog of my own, or build a… Tech Lab? I could always build one for Strength as a feint, to make him think I’m heading for TQ+DG. Heck. DeGrey is good against Arg, so having that option available might not be terrible. I definitely wouldn’t have Tech I next turn, so I might want to skip units this cycle and tech in just spells? (Bloodlust and Thunderclap, maybe?). Or, because I’m going down on cards, I could hope I don’t draw into my Tech I units early? Either way, he’ll have minimal haste to work with, so I’ll be able to get a hero out next turn with Tech I. Maybe a HH, too, if I float and he doesn’t pillage me.
Option Unit Patrol: No matter how I patrol, Zane could easily take out one and NDog the other (one for free if he max-bands). Avoiding the shove means my 1-drops are more valuable hasted into his Dog (Mad Man, then), even if he gets the money (which he’ll get by shoving anyway, if he really wants it). Bombaster and NDog as patrollers? Or Bombaster and kill his NDog with MM? Or NDog and MM patrol, but I build a Tech Lab? Anything short of charge+BRO, and I don’t think he’d be able to take out my Tech I, especially if I ran BBaster in SQL, and either popped his NDog or patrolled my own. Well… If I just patrolled, he could take out BBaster with midband Zane, max to shove the NDog to death, then send his NDog and a Rambaster to take my tech. So his NDog needs to die. But if I just patrol BBaster, he could max to shove it, get it to 1, MM to take it out ($4 spent), take out my Tech with Zane and Rambaster ($6) spent and have 1 to worker. I don’t think he’d do that, because he wants his own Tech I. But it’d be hard for me to do much in response with my own 6$. If I go with this, I think I’d be teching in some combo of Crashbomber, Twilight Baron, Gargoyle, Bloodlust, and Thunderclap. Baron might be better than Gargoyle here, as it actually takes out attackers while hitting base. I don’t like it’s downside, but I’m not sure it’ll survive long to matter.
I think I’m opting for the 90% Aggro option. Kill all heroes and units. Maximum Anarchy! He’ll like that. It steals momentum back to my side, since he won’t have a hasty hero, and Charge becomes too expensive; he’ll drop a defensive hero and build Tech, giving me time to build tech next turn.
So, do I go down on cards to slow my draws and keep pressure up with NDog in Scav or Technician? Do I build a Tech Lab? Do I float and hope for the big build next turn? Going down on cards that far this early seems bad. And if he has MM I’ll likely get the card or the money back, but not both. So nix that. I love the Tech Lab idea, 'cause mindgames. He might be surprised by the eventual Blood choice. But the chance to build a HH next turn (or play something else useful) seems worth the risk of pillage, and I don’t think it’s worth the cost without Zane. So we’ll all float on, okaaaay. And we’ll all float on, all right.
Oh, and, note for the future: Kidnapping will be too expensive this early, but I’ll definitely want it later in the game. He’s going to be dropping tons of stuff I want on my side.
And after the draw… Nuts. No Bloodlust and no Rambaster and no MM. But if I for some dumb reason abandon my perfectly good hero+building plan, this is a great hand to pillage with. I doubt he’ll float anything, but we’ll see.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
STARTING HAND
Bombaster
Charge
Bloodburn
Mad Man
Nautical Dog
WORKERS
Scorch
Bloodburn
NextHand
Pillage
Bombaster
Bloodrage Ogre
Careless Musketeer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Recruit Bombaster - ($3)
Bombaster suicides to take our your Dog; you gain $1 - ($2)
Recruit Mad Man - ($1)
Mad Man trades with Zane
Float ($1)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
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[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
-
[B]Buildings:[/B]
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Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 6
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
- Gold: 1
- Workers: 6
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 20
[I]Technician[/I]: