I’ll bet against any Vandy suicide + Zane/Sharks blowing down my graveyard, as I believe cstick’s plan being an early tech II - maybe did he tech 2x ‘any tech II thing’ and kept disc 2 dr 4 in order to probably draw one on T4 ? That might be a pain, but unless he draws two anarchy stealth-hasters, that shouldn’t stop me from playing my own crashbarrows on T5…
Anyway, that he prefers building tech I instead of heroes’ hall seems to show he opts for an early tech II instead of a hero agression.
[/details]
Did I guess right ? Either cstick drew none of his teched cards, or he teched Anarchy II things and probably has one in hand for next turn.
Clearly I can’t do much this turn, having only tech 0 units (either StW or Deteriorate would’ve let me kill Vandy, at least).
So, shall I protect my graveyard against monkeys/lizzos with a Tower, or build Tech II ?
I hope cstick doesn’t have a double monkey in hand and will have to choose between Garth and Graveyard. In that case, supposing I draw a crashbarrow (crossing fingers), either I can replay it from graveyard, or summon it back with Garth’s maxband, supposing I’ll have some hero kill (very probable if he plays agressive Anarchy II units).
If ever things go wrong and my tech II breaks, teching 2x Lich’s Bargain should provide some protection if combined with a Tower
[/details]
Collect 7 gold (7)
Worker (6)
Bone Collector and skeleton trade with Jandra, creating a skeleton token
Graveyard taps, bringing back a Bone Collector (4)
Tech II - Blood (0)
Hmmm, I wonder what’s happening. Did cstick tech DP and Sanitarium on T2 ? Or did he tech another thing, finding it useless, and topdecking Sanatorium ? But in that case, why playing that and not another blocker ?
I’ll just blast everything down then… My draws were pretty good on that game (even my dead draw on last turn didn’t matter much for what I know).
Workering Lich’s Bargain 'cause if I want to play one, it will be the one I’ll have next turn, and that probably won’t happen anyway.
[/details]
Collect 8 gold (8)
Worker (7)
Crashbarrow (4)
Crashbarrow trades with Vandy and Thieving Imp, going to Graveyard. Garth lvl 3
Graveyard taps, playing Crashbarrow (1)
Garth kills Lookout skeleton, taking 1 damage
Thieving Imp kills Scav skeleton, taking 1 damage
Crashbarrow kills Techn skeleton, overpowers 5 onto your tech II
Bone Collector and Skeleton token destroy your Sanatorium. BC creates another skeleton token
Garth creates a Skeleton token (0)
Sorry for being offline for a while. I’ll go ahead and concede here; there’s not much I can do from this position. @EricF
I ended up taking a pretty bad line this game. Typically, I either try to be proactive with my heroes early and threaten Metamorphosis, or drag the game out until Tech 3. I didn’t like my chances of getting to tech 3 against Crashbarrows, and I was hesitant to use my heroes aggressively and go for Metamorphosis for fear of Nether Drain (along with Free Speech and Doom Grasp). So, I decided to try and rush Tech 2. I knew I ideally needed to shut down your tech 2 to keep Crashbarrows from coming through. My hope was that I could use Sanatorium to jam multiple stealthy things a turn while also having enough gold to get Zane through. This was a turn too slow though, and I should have known that in advance.
In general, even though I’ve been playing it for a while, I’m still not very comfortable playing heavily in Tech 2 with this deck. Between RACE and this tournament, I’m now 8-3 with the deck, and every game that I’ve won has been through either getting an early advantage at Tech 1 or winning with Gunships. So when the flow of the game dictates that I should try and win in Tech 2, it’s unfamiliar territory for me, and I’m not sure what path to take. Honestly, I’m not really happy with any of my specs at Tech 2, and consider it a weakness of the deck. For example, in this game, I was able to build my Tech 2 and play a Tech 2 card a turn before you did. In this case, I squandered it by playing a card that didn’t do anything, but even if I had teched differently and played a real card instead, I think I still would have been pretty far behind.
In retrospect, though, I don’t think I should have rushed Tech 2 at all. I was too scared of Nether Drain to invest in my heroes, which I think was a mistake. I think I should have just build a Heroes’ Hall on turn 2 and teched a spell (probably shadow blade) instead. This way, I could have had access to Zane on turn 3 to try and keep your board under control.
Sorry for rambling. Good game, and good luck in the rest of the tournament. I look forward to playing you soon in RACE 3.
Another problem with the solution you chose is it was somehow predictable, knowing the turn you planned and the one you played. By building tech I instead of Heroes’ Hall (or both) on turn 2, you gave me a hint of your plan - either fighting my tech I with yours, but that’s not what your deck is designed for, or rush tech II for cheap, good units in Anarchy (Demon tech II seems too weak to Doom Grasp imho). I didn’t foresee the Sanatorium thing, but I guessed you wanted to use your extra worker.
Maybe rushing tech II wasn’t that a bad idea, but maybe playing some walling stuff such as Steam Tank/Voidblocker on turn 4 would’ve been a better idea, or countering my Graveyard-crashbarrow with your own Graveyard-Monkey plan ? Easier to say, though.
Good luck to you for the rest of this tournament, and see you soon, fellow hare