Black vs Blue: FrozenStorm & EricF experiment


Black P1 T6

9 Gold

Techs

Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Ghoul, Metamorphosis
Shadow Blade, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Bone Collector

Hand (drawn fairly, first two turns didn't really matter other than what I workered)

Metamorphosis
Cursed Ghoul
Thieving Imp
Deteriorate

Orpal Gloor (7)
Ram skeleton into Oni, peel his armor off
Metamorphosis, all my heroes maxband and +2/2 invis readyness. Garth fetches a Cursed Crow from discard (1)
Garth makes a skeleton (0)
Sacrifice that skeleton to Orpal mid, it kills scavenger duck, spreads to technician duck but not looky since I can’t pay target tax
Garth attacks and is detected, kills Onimaru and takes 5 damage
Vandy sneaks in and breaks your tech 2, your base to 12hp
skip Worker

dc3 rs d5

Workers

Graveyard, Jandra, the Negator, Summon Skeletons, Skeletal Archery, Poisonblade Rogue

SQL Orpal (4/7+1armor lvl 6 invis)

Backline
Vandy (6/7 lvl 5 invis)
Garth (5/1 lvl 7 invis)
Cursed Crow (3/3)

Base 20
Tech1 5
Tech2 5 DISEASE
Hero’s Hall 4

Hand 5
Deck 8
DC 0

9 Workers

Thoughts

3 demonz, drawing into 2x Death and Decay, have a flier on board to hit base and discard cards with… game might as well be over. Best he can do here is like Aven + MTruth + Free Speech to get that last duck to kill Garth, but Garth’s expendable. I can still beat down his board even with a Free speech to stall, all while building up my own and keeping Quince dead every other turn.

Next Hand

Cursed Crow
Death and Decay
Thieving Imp
Pestering Haunt
Metamorphosis


Well… I can Free Speech, but without a functional Tech II I can’t really do much more than that. But, I should be able to keep Quince AND my Tech II alive this round, so the grind continues:

P2, turn 6
Hand: 5
Deck: 8

Tech nothing
10 gold (12)
Quince (10)
Scribe (8)
Free Speech (6)
Spectral Aven (4)
Traffic Director (3)
Level Quince to 3 (1)
Discard 2, Draw 4. Float 1 gold

Free Speech
SQL - Spectral Aven (2/2 +1)
Elite - Scribe (1/3)
Scavenger - Traffic Director (1/1)
Tech - Mirror (1/1)
Lookout - Sparky the wonder duck (1/1)

L3 Quince (1/4)

Base - 12
Tech I - 4
Tech II Truth - 5
Tower - 4

10 workers, 1 gold
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Discard: 3

1 Like

Pretty good stall, yea.


Black P1 T7

9 Gold

Techs

Zarramonde, the Obliterator x2
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Ghoul, Metamorphosis
Shadow Blade, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Bone Collector

Hand (drawn fairly, first two turns didn't really matter other than what I workered)

Cursed Crow
Death and Decay
Thieving Imp
Pestering Haunt
Metamorphosis

Vandy kills Scribe, takes 3 damage
Orpal kills Mirror, takes 1 damage, you get a card
Thieving Imp, discard #3 of 5 (6)
Cursed Crow (3)
Worker Up (2)

dc2 d4

Workers

Metamorphosis, Graveyard, Jandra, the Negator, Summon Skeletons, Skeletal Archery, Poisonblade Rogue

SQL Cursed Crow (3/3+1armor)
Scav Garth (5/1 lvl 7)
Techn Imp (2/2)

Backline
Vandy (6/4 lvl 5 invis)
Orpal (4/6 lvl 6)
Cursed Crow (3/3)

Base 20
Tech1 5
Tech2 5 DISEASE
Hero’s Hall 4

Hand 4
Deck 4
DC 4

10 Workers
2 Gold

Thoughts

That was super solid stall from him, I’ll have to deal with the Tech 3 coming up and possibly more Free Speech. I’m drawing into my unit-based removal though, so we’ll have options, and if he doesn’t split Free Speech x2 perfect I still wreck him. He’s killing Garth regardless so I might as well get a gold out of it.

Alternate endgame for Zarra teched in, just in case the stall continues.

Drew both unit removals, very good, unless he has a Roc I should almost certainly be able to break tech 3 if he builds it.

Next Hand

Hooded Executioner
Cursed Ghoul
Shadow Blade
Death and Decay


Player 2, Turn 7
Hand: 4
Deck: 2
Discard: 5

Tech 2 cards
10 gold (11)
Quince pokes Imp for 1
Sparky trades with Garth and Imp, Quince to L5
Macciatus (9)
Tech III (4)
Free Speech (2)
//note: set a break point here in your tracking, since having this FS available is only about a 50/50. I want to do the best case first, but then see how things would turn out on the flip side
Onimaru (0)
Discard 2, Draw 2, rs, Draw 2.

Free Speech
SQL - Spectral Aven (3/3 +1)
Scavenger - L1 Onimaru (2/3)
Tech - Traffic Director (1/1)

Macciatus (3/3)
L5 Quince (1/5)

Base - 12
Tech I - 4
Tech II Truth - 5
Tech III - 5
Tower - 4

10 workers, 0 gold
Hand: 4
Deck: 8
Discard: 0

2 Likes

That’s a deadly combo draw of Macciatus + FS! I’m still killing your tech 3 but dang…


Black P1 T8

10+2 Gold + 1 scav
Choose to tech 1 card

Techs

Hooded Executioner
Zarramonde, the Obliterator x2
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Ghoul, Metamorphosis
Shadow Blade, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Bone Collector

Hand (drawn fairly, first two turns didn't really matter other than what I workered)

Hooded Executioner
Cursed Ghoul
Shadow Blade
Death and Decay
Deteriorate (techn)

Orpal kills TD, takes 2 damage, you get a card
Hooded Executioner + Boost, kills Aven (8)
A Cursed Crow kills Oni, levels fizzle, you get a gold
Vandy kills your tech 3, your base to 10hp
Other Cursed Crow hits your base to 7hp, discard a card
Cursed Ghoul, Macciatus gets -1/1 (4)
Worker Up (3)

dc2 d3 rs d1

Workers

Shadow Blade, Metamorphosis, Graveyard, Jandra, the Negator, Summon Skeletons, Skeletal Archery, Poisonblade Rogue

SQL Hooded Executioner (3/3+1armor)
Elite Cursed Ghoul (4+1/5)

Backline
Vandy (6/3 lvl 5 invis)
Orpal (4/4 lvl 6)
Cursed Crow (3/2)
Cursed Crow (3/2)

Base 20
Tech1 5
Tech2 5 DISEASE
Hero’s Hall 4

Hand 4
Deck 8
DC 0

11 Workers
3 Gold

Thoughts

Not going to tech 3, the board position of Cursed Ghoul is worth waiting til next turn. If he doesn’t Free Speech I probably just win, if he does I probably re-kill the tech 3 and get my own. It’s close but I should be in good shape.

Haunt as the spare draw, not bad not great.

Next Hand

Sacrifice the Weak
Skeleton Javelineer
Dark Pact
Pestering Haunt


P2, Turn 8
10 gold (11)
Worker (10)
Max Bigsby (4)
Day of Judgement (0)
Rebuild Tech III
Quince Pokes your Base for 1
Discard 3, Draw 5

SQL - L5 Bigsby (3/4 +1)

L5 Quince (1/5)

Base - 10
Tech I - 4
Tech II Truth - 5
Tech III - 5
Tower - 4

11 workers, 0 gold
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Discard: 7

Nice play, I did change my turn up a little though, your base is at 7hp and you should have 1 less card (we’ll assume it wasn’t judgement day)

I have lethal with my revised previous turn (edit was before you posted, so I’m not pulling anything fast), but supposing I had stuck with it, we can play on…


Black P1 T8

11+3 Gold

Techs

Hooded Executioner
Zarramonde, the Obliterator x2
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Crow, Death and Decay
Cursed Ghoul, Metamorphosis
Shadow Blade, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Bone Collector

Hand (drawn fairly, first two turns didn't really matter other than what I workered)

Hooded Executioner
Cursed Ghoul
Shadow Blade
Death and Decay
Deteriorate (techn)

Dark Pact, draw 2 my base to 17
Garth (12)
Death and Decay (4)
Orpal kills Bigby, takes 1 damage from tower, Garth to lvl 3
Vandy breaks your tech 3, your base to 5hp
Maxband Garth, grab a Cursed Crow back (0)
Pestering Haunt (0)

dc3 d5

Workers

Shadow Blade, Metamorphosis, Graveyard, Jandra, the Negator, Summon Skeletons, Skeletal Archery, Poisonblade Rogue

SQL Garth (3/4+1armor)

Backline
Vandy (6/2 lvl 5 invis)
Orpal (4/2 lvl 6)
Cursed Crow (3/3)

Base 20
Tech1 5
Tech2 5 DISEASE
Hero’s Hall 4

Hand 5
Deck 1
DC 0

11 Workers
3 Gold

Thoughts

I was only 46% for that D&D draw, but I still had the tech 3 re-brake with base going to 8 hp, and ability to tech up for Zarra next turn no problem. I’m happy to split from here and do it that way but I’d just Zarra Quince anyway, so I don’t think I’d be losing regardless.

Next Hand

Zarramonde, the Obliterator
Bone Collector
Hooded Executioner
Thieving Imp
Zarramonde, the Obliterator


You have lethal either way with a Dark Pact in hand and a second in the Codex (orpal uses up tower, Vandy hits Base for 6+2+2).

And you have a similar line from an alternate no-free-speech turn.

Alright, back to the drawing board. I need to have a more robust defense in the turn 4/5 range, I think.

Maybe there is something where I do a T4 Tech 2, and put more of a defense up T3.

1 Like

Player 2, Turn 3 (delayed Tech II):
7 gold (14)
Worker (13)
Tower (10)
Quince (8)
Free Speech (6)
Spectral Aven (4)
Mirror (2)
Discard 1, Draw 3. Float 2 gold

Free Speech in effect
SQL - Traffic Director (1/1 +1)
Elite - Mirror (1/1)
Scavenger - L1 Quince (1/3)
Tech - Mirror (0/1)
Lookout - Spectral Aven (2/2)

Base - 17
Tech I - 4
Tower - 4

8 workers, 2 gold
Hand: 3
Deck: 1
Discard: 5

Oh I have readiness, forgot I could attack + Fetch :slight_smile: Yeah I mean playing "optimally* I should have grabbed the tech 3 instead of Ghoul on Turn 7 too, I wasn’t even considering Judgement Day and I totally should have.

GG WP, I’ll play into the new line tomorrow!

Well couldn’t wait until tomorrow, this is too interesting :slight_smile:


Black P1 T4

7 Gold

Techs

2x Metamorphosis
Shadow Blade, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Bone Collector

Hand (drawn fairly, first two turns didn't really matter other than what I workered)

Jandra, the Negator
Dark Pact
Graveyard
Sacrifice the Weak
Hooded Executioner

Graveyard (5)
Midband Vandy (3)
Imp kills TD, goes to graveyard
Skeleton kills elite mirror
Vandy kills Quince, maxbands and fizzles, you get a gold
Haunt trades with technician mirror, goes to graveyard, you get a card
Worker (2)

Workers

Jandra, the Negator, Summon Skeletons, Skeletal Archery, Poisonblade Rogue

SQL Garth (1/3+1armor lvl 1)

Techn Jav (1/1)

Backline
Vandy (4/5 lvl 5)
Graveyard (3hp, holding haunt and imp)

Base 20
Tech1 5
Hero’s Hall 4

Hand 5
Deck 3
DC 0

8 Workers
2 Gold

Thoughts

With this play, I can 90% draw into Meta or Dark Pact, 100% if he kills the Jav. That should keep him off tech 2 plenty long enough to win a tech race.

If he doesn’t kill jav AND I whiff, then I still have max Garth for a TB + use Vandy midband to fetch Soul Stone as an option, or fetching Dark Pact and digging up meta. Or just mow through his board with Deteriorate and Shadow Blade and tech up :wink: There are plenty of choices!

Or I could just end up drawing both Meta LMAO

Next Hand

Deteriorate
Shadow Blade
Bone Collector
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis


Sorry to bug, but what does it indicate when you say a hero ‘fizzles’?

“fizzle” is an old MTG term for a spell/ability that had it’s target removed, and therefore did nothing.

In this case, the max-band trigger was stopped by Free Speech.

1 Like

Mostly that you recognize a hero death as awarding levels or some trigger, but that does not benefit / apply to the current situation (or just what Eric beat me to lol)

Also, you’re not bugging anyone! Questions are welcome here, I think all of us prefer knowledge is shared and players get better :wink:

1 Like

Ah, that makes sense. So it’s not a hero-specific thing, it just applies to Vandy in this case.

This particular case is about level-up triggers having no effect under Free Speech, as my “heroes have no abilities” this turn. It could have just as easily been my Garth / Geiger / Oni / Arg / etc hitting maxband and not fetching a unit / flickering a unit / getting 3 soldiers / getting a water elemental.

Since Vandy is the one leveling up, and Free Speech took away her abilities, it is her in this specific instance that is not triggering her maxband ability (which would have been nice, I could have aced the Aven with it targeting XD)

Player 2, Turn 4
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Discard: 6

8 gold (11)
Scribe (9), rs and draw 1
Worker (8)
Tech II (4)
Aven pokes Vandy for 2 damage
Reputable Newsman (2), naming 0
Onimaru (0)
Discard 2, Draw 4

Elite - Scribe (2/3)
Technician - Onimaru (2/3)

Reputable Newsman (0/3) {naming 0}
Spectral Aven (2/2)

Base - 17
Tech I - 4
Tech II - 5
Tower - 4

9 workers, 0 gold
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Discard: 2

I’m not sure what the actual best choice for my Tech II is. I’m assuming it gets blown up here, so the choice won’t be immediately relevant. If it makes a difference in what you would do, split your sheet, and we can step through the options (starting with Truth)

What is it about truth that makes it promising vs mono black?

The tech 3 is the primary draw, truth tech 2 is pretty garbage vs black starter but if you can free speech + rush tech 3 then you can win that way