I was going to go for the @lettucemode opening(max Arg) but ended up chickening out. Normally here I’d try and rush birds, but I think he’s going to go for a skeletal archery counterplay, so I’m going the bone collector route. We’ll see if this works out.
P1T2:
Tech
Bone Collector x2
Starting Hand
Young Treant Ironbark Treant Spore Shambler Forest’s Favor
Gold + scav (6)
Young Treant (4)
Worker (4)
Tier I (2)
Rook (0)
Discard 3, rs, Draw 5
Patrol:
Leader: Level 1 Rook (2/4 + a)
Elite:
Scavenger: Young Treant (0/2)
Technician:
Lookout:
I don’t see any anti-token plan for Gr/Ne/St except for Strength II and De Grey, meaning that the unstoppable Growth II should be delayed enough for my own late game plan to settle. Anyway DeGrey won’t hit the board before turn 6 (unless any maxband Garth is involved), so I should have some time to cleanse any board I should face. If needed I can midband Garth and turn my army into some draw. [/details]
[details=Hand]Lich’s Bargain, Deteriorate, Poisonblade Rogue
Tech 2x Pirate Gang Commander
I just pray I won’t face some trick I haven’t seen and lose my little token army. Now I know I’ll get double Drain on next turn, I’ll just have Garth maxband and summon a skeletal lord, so my skeleton army can join the fray and not die from tower. If needed, I may sac some tokens and draw into a Pirate Gang Commander, although that would require some luck and/or a third Lich’s Bargain (but well, why not ? Mooseknuckles’s deck has no way to deal direct damage). [/details]
Collect 7 gold + scav (8)
Worker (7)
Skeleton token (6)
Tech II - Necromancy (2)
Lich’s Bargain (0)
Horror trades with Bone Collector
Pestering Haunt trades with hidden Bone Collector
Garth kills Scav skeleton, taking 2 damage (1+1 from tower)
I made a mistake here by teching double DeGrey. I should have left one available for Garth to maxband in, but I realized this after I had drawn. Even though I got lucky and drew DeGrey, I think I’m still screwed. He’s likely going to play skeletal lord, break my T2, and leave nothing but skeletons for my Rook to go against. My path to a comeback involves being able to buff birds enough that they can kill the skeletal lord, but I didn’t draw spore shambler or rampant growth.
Tech
DeGrey x2
Starting Hand
See last turn, forgot to copy
Gold + f + scav (11)
Worker (11)
Tech II - Strength (7)
Bird Nest (5)
Playful Panda (3)
Rook kills Zombie
Discard 1, rs, Draw 3
Patrol:
Leader: Young Treant (0/2 + a)
Elite:
Scavenger: Bird #1 (1/1)
Technician: wisp (0/1)
Lookout: Bird #2 (1/1)
[details=Hand]Lich’s Bargain, Deteriorate, Poisonblade Rogue
Tech 2x Skeletal Lord
I must protect myself against Doom Grasp hitting Skeletal Lord, so I favor breaking the Tower instead of killing Bird and Panda, even if that means a potential buffed bird hitting Skeletal Lord. At least I’d keep 4 skeletons. [/details]
Collect 7 gold (7)
Skeleton token (6)
2x Nether Drain from Rook to Garth, (4) Rook is now 2/2 and lvl 1. Garth lvl 5
Garth maxbands, bringing a Skeletal Lord from discard (2)
Summon Quince (0)
Garth kills Young Treant, taking 1 damage from tower
1 skeletons kills wisp, taking 1 damage from tower
2 other skeletons destroy tower, taking 1 damage back
a 4th skeleton kills Rook, while a 5th kills lookout bird, Quince ups to lvl 3
Horror and the 6th skeleton destroy your tech II
GG
I’m just really sad not to have finished the game with a Pirate Gang Commander !
I felt like, just as you predicted, my best option was to build my own token army with Skeletal Archery. After I saw you followed another option, I realized you had no real option to counter a legion of tiny skeletons, except tower. So I made an exception to my usual Blood tech II route and went for Skeletal Lord. Seems it worked !