Jandra, the Negator
Thieving Imp
Deteriorate
Skeleton Javelineer
Summon Skeletons
Thoughts
I expect to get flattened. This may not be Nightmare, but from my one time playing a deck with Necromancy + Bashing it can be surprisingly effective. Garth fetching Bashing II can keep you pretty flexible if you want to be, but it seemed like it could struggle to come back from behind. Troq’s a much nastier Metamorphosis partner than River, too.
Grave or Vandy should be my best early heroes, both for aggression and for their damage spells. I’m not really familiar with Vandy yet, but I’ll start with her. Do I play the Javelineer, or save a gold and have 3 gold to play with next turn? I don’t have use for the extra gold, but I can threaten Sacrifice the Weak. Either way, I could also build Graveyard Heroes’ Hall instead, but that might be losing too much tempo if I don’t play Javelineer. I’ll play it.
Poisonblade Rogue
Skeletal Archery
Sacrifice the Weak
Graveyard
Pestering Haunt
Thoughts
I can only kill EricF’s Vandy by maxbanding my own, so no free levels, and he could then devote his first techs to dealing with a lone maxband Vandy. Seems like a really bad idea against Garth, I’d be skipping Tech I too so no good way to deal with Lich’s Bargain. Midband Vandy in Squad Leader should be safe this turn. Javelineer can just go in in Lookout again, unless I’d rather have extra gold instead.
I was planning to go with Gargoyle + Shadow Blade, which seems fine against Vandy. I am a little worried about Lich’s Bargain, though, even if EricF can’t cast it right now he might sacrifice Vandy without warning. Maybe Abomination is enough of a disincentive, though, and I don’t dare go for a hero rush against Necromancy anyway. Might be OK with Mind-Parry Monk, actually, but I doubt I’ll get breathing room for that.
Doom / Soul Stone on Gargoyle might be a decent disincentive for Lich’s Bargain, but I need some setup to get to that point. I’ll tech as planned, might need Disease spells sharp-ish depending on what happens.
Scavenger Javelineer dying would let me do Shadow Blade + Heroes’ Hall, is that good? Probably not, I’d be left with just Vandy (and Haunt?) on board and I want to avoid that. Making Haunt a more tempting target than Javelineer might be good, maybe I just keep it in Lookout.
6 gold (6)
Worker (5)
Hero’s Hall (3)
Tech I (2)
Deteriorate your Skeleton (1)
…yeah, black mirror is hard… didn’t actually have that Jav in hand
Discard 3, rs, Draw 5. Float 1 gold.
Should have put the Javelineer in Scavenger, then I’d be able to build a Heroes’ Hall. Well, never mind. Shadow Blade Vandy, doomed Haunt does 1 damage to Tech I or Heroes’ Hall. Maybe the latter if EricF’s down to 3 cards in hand, even if Dark Pact will help him recover later. Maybe it’s worth putting in a Carrion Curse, so he can’t? Might help to catch a Lich’s Bargain, if I’m lucky.
Next turn might not be doing much. Only decent play I’m guaranteed to draw is Sacrifice the Weak, which leaves 1 gold left over if I build Tech II, 3 gold if I build Heroes’ Hall. I suppose I play a 3-gold card if I draw one, but I might want to favour 1-gold cards for teching in this turn.
What am I worried about, apart from Garth’s spells? Reversal means I might want some cheap chump blockers, so Sparring Partner or Crypt Crawler might be a good idea. Or I try to quick-leap to Tech II, since I probably want a second hero anyway. Oh, Rambasa Twin might be good to quickly get Vandy some company? Or Sickness, to make sure Gargoyle can take out a Horror?
Let’s say Sparring Partner, in case I draw it next turn and don’t draw a 3-gold card. Then I could put in a Tech II card, just in case. Not sure which spec, though. Discipline if I want to go for hero victory, but Abomination might also be nice if I’m expecting Lich’s Bargain. I don’t have many other Tech II options for crowd control. Voidblocker / Blackhand Dozer, sort of? Banefire Golem, but I don’t have many cheap units to sacrifice to it. Plague Lab, but would only fire once without Orpal spells / maxband Grave. Basically nothing in Discipline II.
Maybe I just tech in the other Gargoyle, to set up for Horror sniping? Yeah, then I can mitigate the drawbacks if I get to play Metamorphosis.
Get paid - (6)
Worker - (5)
Vandy hits your Vandy to 2, takes 3 damage
Expensive Shadow Blade, your Vandy dies, you discard card 5 of 5, my Vandy hits level 5 (maxband), Pestering Haunt is doomed - (1)
Pestering Haunt hits your Tech I to 4
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
Vandy L5 4/5 (sparkshot; resist 1; 1g + exhaust: fetch Demonology spell)
Pestering Haunt 1/3 (Doomed: +2 health, dies at next upkeep; unstoppable; can’t patrol or be sacrificed; attack capped at 1)
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5
Hand: 5
Deteriorate
Skeleton Javelineer
Graveyard
Sacrifice the Weak
Poisonblade Rogue
I don’t know the answer to that, I am not sure where @EricF went. Given his track record on the site I’m inclined to wait until tomorrow even though by the letter I should have called this by now
Fair enough, hope things are OK.
If you feel like playing this out some time then let me know, it looked to be an interesting one from my perspective.
Spoiler-ish notes
Hard to say, but I might have made a big mistake not putting Javelineer in Scavenger. Getting off the Shadow Blade and Heroes’ Hall would have been amazing.
Skeleton Javelineer 1/1 (resist 0+1; javelin; lose javelin: gain long range that turn)
Base HP: 20
Vandy L3 3/4+1A (sparkshot; resist 1; 1g + exhaust: fetch Demonology spell)