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P1T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Timely Messenger
Spark
Tenderfoot
Wither
Older Brother
WORKERS
Spark
NextHand
Bloom
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
Brick Thief
Discard
Older Brother
Tenderfoot
Wither
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Recruit Timely Messenger - ($2)
Timely Messenger hits your base for 1
Summon Vandy - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: -
[I]Elite[/I]: -
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Vandy Anadrose (2/3, Lv. 1) -
[I]Technician[/I]: -
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Timely Messenger (1/1)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Vandy Anadrose (2/3, Lv. 1)
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 20[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 0
- Disc: 3
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 5
[details=Thoughts]
My first time using Finesse instead of Blood for this deck. I’m still less comfortable as player 1. TQ+DG, or even TQ+Discord, is $ intensive, so I really don’t like not floating anything the first few turns. But, again, I hear Vandy + 1-drop is a good opener, and Messenger is almost as good as Haunt. I was tempted to go with River, because at max she makes the early game so much cheaper, but I’d probably just be tempted to overextend on cards, and that’s assuming she gets to max or lives long enough to make use of the ability.
[/details]
P2T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Tiger Cub
Ironbark Treant
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
Spore Shambler
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
NextHand
Playful Panda
Young Treant
Merfolk Prospector
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Discard
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Play Ironbark Treant - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Ironbark Treant (1/2+AA)
-
[I]Technician[/I]: -
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[I]Technician[/I]:[B]Buildings:[/B]
-
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 0
- Disc: 3
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 1
- Workers: 6
Reminder: your base should be at 19 from my Messenger. (Well, 18 after this turn, thanks to Brick Thief.)
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Interesting. This gives me a lot of options. My first instinct (aggro) is to Bloom or level Vandy, or Bloom the Messenger, and team up to take out the Treant. (Bloom would be better, as it increases her maximum hitpoints in a way that leveling does not, and I could always level her later; leveling would be better, as it grants resist 1 and sets her up to search for spells next turn.)
But he floated 1, so taking out the Treant gives him 8 gold on Turn 2, with a Zane. That’s bad news.
If I Bloom or level Vandy, she’ll be 3/4, or 3/3 after the attack, and I’ll have no blockers. He could spend 5 to bring out and level Zane to trade, and still have enough to worker and Tech I.
If I Bloom Messenger, Messenger will survive: 2/2 -> 2/1 after attack. But Vandy would be a 2/2. He could trade with Vandy for only 2, or spend 5 to level Zane, take out Vandy, and max Zane. Real bad.
Now, if I don’t take out the Treant, he’ll easily have 5 attack between the Treant and Zane. (He probably won’t level Zane in that case, as he can build board instead.)
If I Bloom or level Vandy, then put Messenger in Elite, he’ll have to either level Zane to get past it safely (skipping Tech or worker) or trade one of them with the Messenger, but the remaining one won’t have enough to take out a 4-HP Vandy, so that’s not bad. Except that he has Rampant Growth and Forest’s Favor. That Treant is then a 5/2+aa or a 4/3, which means it could safely take out my elite. If he has both, he could take out the elite with 3/3 Zane, then take out Vandy with the Rampant Treant, then have max Zane. Blech. If I put Messenger in SQL it only makes his attacks safer.
So what about playing more units? It would be Brick Thief or Turtle. Turtle in Elite is 2/2, and he pretty much has to kill him at some point to avoid healing, but that’s not an issue now. Brick Thief is much better at 2/1 with free damage.
I could do Brick Thief in SQL as a 2/2 and Messenger in Elite as 2/1, that’s a decent discouragement. Messenger in Elite and Brick Thief in Scav is probably just as good. Better, because there’s the chance of me getting $, and I need that $! Either way, Vandy is safe unless he spends all 7 of his money to max Zane, and he’s not doing that this early (I don’t think). I really like this because it doesn’t give him any free money, and my real goal is to get to Tech II as soon as possible, so I’m okay with stalling and building board. He could still midband Zane, take a gold when he takes out the Brick Thief, then Tech and worker, but I’m honestly okay with that as long as I’m also getting paid.
I’m going to start my Techs with Ardra’s Boulder and Nimble Fencer. My plan is to add Discord and Mythmaking next time, then TQ+DG after that. Banefire Golem and EQ will be the following turn.
…And after playing it out, I drew AB and Bloom, which I’m very happy with. It might be worth going down on cards to play both next turn. A 1/7 in Elite or SQL is very nice, or I could Bloom or level Vandy, and I’ll still have 1 to worker and 1 to float.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Ardra’s Boulder
Nimble Fencer
STARTING HAND
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
Bloom
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Brick Thief
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
NextHand
Older Brother
Ardra’s Boulder
Tenderfoot
Helpful Turtle
Bloom
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Build Tech I - ($2)
Recruit Brick Thief; Your base takes another damage, putting it at 18 - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
-
[I]Elite[/I]: Timely Messenger (1+1/1)
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Brick Thief (2/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Vandy Anadrose (2/3, Lv. 1)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
-
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 3
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 6
P2T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Murkwood Allies
Bone Collector
STARTING HAND
Playful Panda
Merfolk Prospector
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Young Treant
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
NextHand
Verdant Tree
Bone Collector
Murkwood Allies
Playful Panda
Rampant Growth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Build Tech 1 - ($4)
Build a Tower - ($1)
Play Merfolk Prospector - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ironbark Treant (1/2+AAA)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
-
Base HP: 18
-
Tech I HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 3
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 7
Edit: Adding notes to Thoughts.
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Okay, he’s turtling up. Either he read my last game with Hobusu (in which case, didn’t he read my first game with Hobusu?) and knows how ridiculously aggressive I can be, or (more likely) he assumes I’m doing some version of Vandy and Friends. Which is great. My opening was designed to look like that (and transition into that if it looks doable), but that’s not my main goal. I’m really shooting for TQ+DG, with Bane-quake back-up. So stick to the plan?
I could trade the Messenger and Brick Thief into the ent’s armor, then have Vandy take it out and survive. The main advantage (besides weakening his board) is one more damage from BT to his base. And with Vandy alive behind a boulder, she should be safe one more turn, even if I don’t level her. The corpses would thicken up my deck a bit. Maybe that’s good? It could up the chances of delaying drawing Discord until TQ hits. But probably bad, because it’ll delay TQ hitting. For future reference, I’ll want 6 for TQ, 2 for River, and 2 for Discord = 10, which I’ll only have with some good floating, or 6 + 3 for Degrey, again only with some floating.
I’m worried about Cal and Behind the Ferns. Treant could be trouble. It looks like I’m getting to Tech II right after him, and then I’ll have to worry about Monkeys and Lizzos. Is his whole deck Stealth themed? I guess not Necro, but it has Wights and Catapults and Lord of Shadows. Hrrrmmmm. Also, if he teched in Nether Grasp or Doom Grasp to deal with Vandy, then I’m probably annoying him. Doom Grasp could really hurt my endgame, though.
I should also be worried about Chaos Mirror and Surprise Attack. Maybe I won’t level Vandy. I want to keep all my base ATK low for as long as possible.
Next turn I’ll have $7. I’ll spend 1 on a worker and 4 on Tech II, leaving me with 2. But if I draw my Mythmaking or Discord in addition to the Fencer, I’ll might want to play that, so I’ll need another 2. So I’m going to float 3 instead of playing Bloom.
Last time I workered the Fruit Ninja; this time it was Helpful Turtle. These were the two starter units in Neutral that EricF considered to be the worst in his Starter guide, and I’m seeing why he said so.
…After playing it out, looks like I got lucky in not drawing Discord early, but unlucky in not drawing Mythmaking early. I would have done Mythmaking for sure, but without it I’ll probably do Wither on his Prospector, Treant, or hero, or Bloom on AB, unless I can figure out a way to get great value out of Fencer right away. Down the line I might look into a leveled Vandy fetching a Soul Stone for AB. Not that it’ll help much against stealth. But a 2/8 (with Bloom and Soul Stone) or 4/10 with Mythmaking would be hilarious as an attacker.
I just realized that the answer to Doom Grasp on my TQ is Flagbearer. Even though he’s crappy and expensive, if I keep him on the back line, he should protect TQ long enough to do his thing. Bonus: he’ll suck up any Rampant Growth (or Spore Shambler, for that matter, though I think it likely the Shambler’s been workered).
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Discord
Mythmaking
STARTING HAND
Older Brother
Helpful Turtle
Tenderfoot
Ardra’s Boulder
Bloom
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
NextHand
Wither
Bloom
Older Brother
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Nimble Fencer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Recruit Ardra’s Boulder - ($3)
Float ($3)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ardra’s Boulder (0/6+a)
-
[I]Elite[/I]: Timely Messenger (1+1/1)
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Brick Thief (2/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Vandy Anadrose (2/3, Lv. 1)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
-
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 3
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 3
- Workers: 7
P2T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Behind the Ferns
Bone Collector
STARTING HAND
Verdant Tree
Bone Collector
Murkwood Allies
Rampant Growth
Playful Panda
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
NextHand
Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Bone Collector
Tiger Cub
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Exhaust Prospector - ($7)
Play Bone Collector - ($5)
Play Playful Panda - ($3)
Play Calamandra - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ironbark Treant (1/2+AAA)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Wisp (0/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]: Bone Collector (3/3)
[B]In Play:[/B] - Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
- Playful Panda (2/2)
- L1 Calamandra (2/3)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 18
-
Tech I HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 3
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 1
- Workers: 8
Edit: noting that you should get a gold due to Scav.
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Whew! I thought he’d build his Tech II Anarchy here. If he had done that and played a Centaur, I’d have been really scared of a Chaos Mirrored Monkey or Centaur with 15 ATK from TQ. But it’s just Cal. Let’s see. Behind the Ferns would make everything on his board stealthy. 2 cards would make Cal Stealthy. So I might need to build a Tower instead of a Tech Lab this turn. I’m regretting not taking out the Treant last turn.
I don’t see a way to make my Tech last through his Ferns. Even if I spend 3 on a Tower, he could use it up with the wisp or prospector unless I do some real damage now.
Let’s see: I could max Vandy for 4, doom my Brick Thief or Messenger and his… Bone Collector? That would keep it from getting Stealth. Thief and Messenger take out Treant. That leaves… Prospector, Panda, and Cal (who could get leveled) to take out my Tech, and that’s enough. Hell, he could max Cal and play BtF for 6 total, and then he only needs one unit to do it.
Okay, say I doom his Panda. Vandy and Messenger take out Treant. Brick Thief trades with BC. He still has Stealthy Cal and Prospector (and maybe wisp if he drew Rampant Growth).
I sure wish I had Discord now. Kill the Prospector and Wisp. But I’d have to Vandy-fetch a pact for that, and summon River, and then I’d be down on atk power to take out the rest.
I can’t build my Tech II this turn. That’s terrible. This will mess with my whole cycle. I’m going to hold off on the TQ+DG tech. Maybe another Discord and Dark Pact for now.
Okay. Now how to stop Cal? If I can do 5, the Treant is gone (say, Bloomed max Vandy for $6). Then the Bone Collector trades with my doomed Messenger. Wither for $2 would let Brick Thief take out Cal, if I can get through the Wisp. But I’d still need $2 more for Fencer to take out the wisp, so no worker.
Another way: Wither the Treant, take it out with Max Vandy, still $6. Doomed Messenger trades with BC, Brick Thief takes out Wisp. Fencer for $2 can do 2 to Cal, not enough. I need the extra $2 for Bloom.
Well, these seem to be my best options to avoid Ferns. I’d have to skip my worker, go down on cards, and whiff the free levels. But I can doom his Prospector while I’m at it, forcing him to choose between money and damaging my Boulder. Ugh. I dub the Cstick, ruiner of best-laid plans. Well, as long as I’m maxxing Vandy, I’ll tech in Meta instead of Discord.
If I read later that he didn’t even have Behind the Ferns, I’m going to be mad at myself for not risking it and sticking to my guns. Well, next turn I’ll have a hasted Tenderfoot and a Mythmaking to work with.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T4
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Metamorphosis
Dark Pact
STARTING HAND
Nimble Fencer
Wither
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Older Brother
Bloom
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
NextHand
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Tenderfoot
Discord
Mythmaking
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Skip worker
Vandy to max, dooming Timely Messenger and Merfolk Prospector with +2/+2 - ($6)
Vandy casts Bloom on herself - ($4)
Vandy (now 5/6) takes out Treant, taking 1 from the tree and 1 from the Tower
Doomed Messenger trades with Bone Collector
Recruit Nimble Fencer - ($2)
Nimble Fencer takes out Wisp, but takes 1 from the Tower, and you get $1
Vandy casts Wither on Calamandra, making her a 1/2 - ($0)
Brick Thief trades with Cal, and your Tech I building takes 1 damage from his attack; free levels fizzle
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ardra’s Boulder (0/6+a)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Vandy Anadrose (5/4, Resist 1, Lv. 5) {includes +1/+1 rune}
- Nimble Fencer (2/2)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
-
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 7
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 7
P2T4
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Chaos Mirror
Steam Tank
STARTING HAND
Forest’s Favor
Tiger Cub
Young Treant
Bone Collector
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
NextHand
Behind the Ferns
Murkwood Allies
Chaos Mirror
Rampant Growth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float + Scavenger - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
Play Garth - ($7)
Summon Skeleton - ($6)
Play Bone Collector - ($4)
Build Tech 2: Anarchy - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Playful Panda (2/2+A)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Skeleton (1/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]: Merfolk Prospector (it dies at the start of your turn, so I’ll draw a card)
-
[I]Lookout[/I]: L1 Garth (1/3)
[B]In Play:[/B] - Bone Collector (3/3)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 18
-
Tech I HP: 4
-
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 5
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 9
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
I don’t see any good way to get use out of Vandy’s size.
If I play Tech II and Mythmaking, that’s all I do. If he has Behind the Ferns, then he can play Cal next turn and send everything through, probably with a Lizzo. If he doesn’t, the Lizzo can kill Vandy, but Tech II would be safe. Which won’t help me for a full cycle, except to play my second hero. So a Heroes’ Hall is better. But it’s useless if Vandy doesn’t survive.
I could build a Tower to keep the Lizzo from taking out Vandy. But then I’m stuck with no other heroes to hit with Meta.
I’m realizing how much I backed myself into a corner by Blooming Vandy. I can’t even kill her.
I could pour all my money into fetching and Metamorphosizing Vandy now. Then I’ll have a 7/8 that he will detect and easily kill with his Lizzo and swarm.
I think this is game, but I guess we’ll try to stall.
Okay, decent odds I’ll survive until next turn. Less sanguine that Vandy will survive until I can get another hero out. Teching Jefferson to deal with tokens (assuming I can even get Tech II up) and Banefire Golem as a surprise. Screw TQ. That guy’s trouble.
Argagarg. I missed my Dark Pact draw. Unfortunate. But Brick Thief’s back to poke his Tech II. Once he kills Vandy somehow, I should be able to have enough $ to max Rook and keep him around a turn, maybe in time to EQ? Or maybe save Vandy long enough to Metamorph him first? Doubtful, but possible.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T5
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Banefire Golem
STARTING HAND
Tenderfoot
Mythmaking
Discord
Granfalloon Flagbearer
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
Granfalloon Flagbearer
NextHand
Timely Messenger
Brick Thief
Bloom
Discard
Tenderfoot
Nimble Fencer
Discord
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Banefire Golem
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Your Prospector dies, and you draw
Build Tower - ($3)
Upgrade with Mythmaking - ($1)
Recruit Tenderfoot (haste from Fencer) - ($0)
Tenderfoot suicides into Panda to knock off armor
Fencer trades with Panda
Vandy takes out Garth, taking 1 from him and 1 from your Tower in return; levels fizzle again
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]: Ardra’s Boulder (2/8)
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Vandy Anadrose (5/2, Resist 1, Lv. 5) {includes +1/+1 rune}
- Mythmaking
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
-
Tech I HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 3
- Deck: 4
- Disc: 5
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 8
P2T5
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Pirate Gunship
Pirate Gunship
STARTING HAND
Behind the Ferns
Murkwood Allies
Rampant Growth
Chaos Mirror
Young Treant
Bone Collector
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
NextHand
Pirate Gunship
Tiger Cub
Steam Tank
Ironbark Treant
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Play Calamandra - ($7)
Play Behind the Ferns - ($5)
Skeleton runs into Ardra’s Boulder and uses up the Tower’s detection
Bone Collector trades with Vandy, Calamandra midbands, I get a skeleton
Play Young Treant - ($3)
Play Bone Collector - ($1)
Hire a worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Young Treant (0/2+A)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Skeleton (1/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]: Bone Collector (3/3)
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Behind the Ferns
- L3 Calamandra (3/4)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 18
-
Tech I HP: 4
-
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 6
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 10
P1T6
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Earthquake
Earthquake
STARTING HAND
Timely Messenger
Brick Thief
Bloom
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
Granfalloon Flagbearer
NextHand
Older Brother
Metamorphosis
Dark Pact
Wither
Discard
Tenderfoot
Nimble Fencer
Discord
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Banefire Golem
Bloom
Timely Messenger
Earthquake
Earthquake
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Build Tech II (Strength) - ($3)
Recruit Brick Thief; Your Tech II takes 1 - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ardra’s Boulder (2/7+a)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Brick Thief (2/1)
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Mythmaking
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
-
Tech I HP: 5
-
Tech II HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 0
- Disc: 9
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 1
- Workers: 8
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
If he has another Behind the Ferns, that’s it. If he draws Lizzo, things look bad. I’ve been poking at his buildings, so he knows EQ is coming, but he also knows I’m threatening TQ+Discord if he doesn’t deal with my Tech II. So let’s build the Tech II. The worker will give me enough to max Rook next turn, and I might be able to hold on to him long enough to EQ. If I still have my Tech II by then, I could bring out River as well?
D’oh! I forgot to build my Heroe’s Hall! (I would have razed the tower for it, but it’s probably worth it.) Too bad. I already drew and saw my new hand.
[/spoiler]
[/details]
Did you forget to draw a card from your Young Treant?
If you did, and you want to roll back and re-do the drawing and shuffling, I’m okay with it. If you play the rest of the turn exactly the same, then I’ll keep my turn the same. If you play differently based on what you drew, I’ll re-take my turn.
Don’t worry, I didn’t miss the Treant draw. My handsize over the course of the turn:
Start: 4
Technician: +1
Behind the Ferns: -1
Young Treant: -1, then +1
Bone Collector: -1
Worker: -1
Which leaves me at 2 cards before the discard step.
P2T6
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Tiger Cub
Ironbark Treant
Steam Tank
Pirate Gunship
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
NextHand
Murkwood Allies
Pirate Gunship
Playful Panda
Chaos Mirror
Merfolk Prospector
Discard
Ironbark Treant
Tiger Cub
Pirate Gunship
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($10)
Play Steam Tank - ($7)
Calamandra hits Boulder
Skeleton runs into the Boulder and uses up the Tower’s Detection
Bone Collector hits your base for 3 and makes a skeleton
Maxband Calamandra - ($5)
Build Tech 3 - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Steam Tank (3/6+A)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Young Treant (0/2)
-
[I]Technician[/I]: Skeleton (1/1)
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Behind the Ferns
- L5 Calamandra (4/5)
- Bone Collector (3/3)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 18
-
Tech I HP: 4
-
Tech II HP: 4 (Anarchy)
-
Tech III HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 1
- Disc: 3
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 10
1 Like
Edits: I realized that I might have wanted AB in Technician and moved him there. Then realized I had already seen my next hand, which would make it pretty serious cheating, so moved him back to SQL where he was.
I’m pretty sure this is game. Do you have the Gunship?
P1T7
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Thunderclap
Thunderclap
STARTING HAND
Dark Pact
Metamorphosis
Older Brother
Wither
WORKERS
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Helpful Turtle
Granfalloon Flagbearer
NextHand
Banefire Golem
Older Brother
Wither
Brick Thief
Tenderfoot
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Skip worker
Brick Thief attacks your Steam Tank, doing 1 damage after armor, and doing 1 damage to your Tech III
Summon and max Rook - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 4, reshuffle, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Ardra’s Boulder (2/4+a)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B] - Mythmaking
- Garus Rook (4/6, Lv. 8, Two Lives)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 17
-
Tech I HP: 5
-
Tech II HP: 5
-
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 11
- Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 8
[details=Thoughts]
I’m fairly sure this is game. Even if he didn’t draw the Gunship this turn, I also didn’t draw either of my EQs, or the Thunderclaps I teched in this turn. I drew the Banefire! But I went Strength because I thought DeGrey would be more important against his tokens. :b
[/details]
Yes.
P2T7
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Murkwood Allies
Merfolk Prospector
Pirate Gunship
Chaos Mirror
Playful Panda
WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($10)
Play Pirate Gunship - ($4)
Gunship hits your base for 7, and obliterates the Boulder
Steam Tank and Calamandra destroy your base
GG. I read some of your thoughts. My opinion is that you should have been more aggressive with Vandy in the first couple of turns. Your strategy seemed to be to try and turtle up and build a board until Tech 2, and set up some strength + demonology shenanigans. However, as player two, I had a natural economic advantage, which shines the most in games like this where neither player attacks very much. This is compounded by the fact that the green starter is particularly well suited to board development, while none of your cards besides Ardra’s Boulder (and Rook, but he didn’t come out) are better than average in this sort of situation. I think you would have had more success using Vandy’s natural aggressiveness to capitalize on your player 1 advantage.
2 Likes
Good game, and thanks!
I think you’re definitely right. There were early times when I could have taken out the Treant, or leveled Vandy, and probably should have. I found my decisions seriously warped by Zane’s presence in your toolbox, even though you never brought him out. I kept worrying about him swinging in at Vandy or pulling out Chaos Mirror.
I thought that having Discord/DeGrey/Terras Q in the same deck signaled TQ shenanigans pretty clearly (and a few turns in I got terrified of Chaos Mirror hitting TQ, especially tacked onto something with Stealth or Overpower).
But in retrospect, your deck signals stealth shenanigans pretty clearly. It doesn’t have to do that. But so much of it can.
Most of all, I drastically underestimated Cal, and Behind the Ferns especially. I didn’t even realize BtF was a channeled spell until after my last turn when @Hobusu pointed it out to me.
It makes me wonder what my deck can do to deal with stealth. Is it, as you said, just play more aggressively and try to never let you get to the point where you have a protected Cal or a lasting Tech II? Should I have built a tower earlier? (Does tower even really help when you’re sending a stealth swarm? It clearly didn’t in those last few turns.)
I’m impressed with how flexible your deck is. If I went too aggressive, you’d have Zane (and eventually Anarchy’s haste stuff) to punish me for it. If I’m too slow, green’s econ engine grants a gradual and substantial advantage. And Garth creates instant defense and has hard answers to leveled heroes (through Nether Drain and Doom Grasp). Doom Grasp could also have taken out my TQ (if I’d ever gotten there).
I’m used to this deck with Blood instead of Finesse; the idea was that Discord would open another avenue to unshackling TQ, and Finesse still has some haste, though not as much. I definitely feel like I have a hard time playing P1 with either version of the deck, and I’m not sure how to get the most out of Vandy in either situation, but I was missing Red’s extra aggro.
Are you at all interested in another go-round to see if I can learn to get a handle on things?
Or do you want to go test your deck against a more experienced opponent?
1 Like
I’ve definitely felt the same way playing against Zane before. You have to be careful about setting up your patrol zone so that you don’t get blown out. However, he can be kind of inefficient at killing things on his own, and is better at setting up kills for units already on the board. So if you keep the opponent’s board mostly clear, it will often be difficult for them to set up advantageous trades, even with Zane.
I do like this deck so far, and agree with your comments about its flexibility. I definitely want to play it more to explore what I can do.
To some extent, having Discord/DeGrey/Terras Q does signal that Terras Q is an available plan. As your opponent, though, I can’t just assume that you’re playing into that plan from turn one. You have a number of other options available, like Earthquake, or Birds/Barbarbarian + Two-Step, or Metamorphosis, or even Harmony + Dark Pact. From turn 1, I basically was forced to focus on playing around Vandy, because of how dangerous she is, and how easy it can be for her to take over the game. Part of what makes Vandy so good is that she can hit max level for cheap, and as long as she’s at max level and you are able to play another hero, you can pursue another game plan while threatening to play another hero and tutor for Metamorphosis without even having to commit to teching it.
Against stealth, a tower will usually do most of the work. In anarchy tech 2, it can be hard to even line up two units with stealth in the same turn to get past a tower in the first place. Against Behind the Ferns, killing Calamandra is good, but killing most of my small units should also neuter the threat. Having more efficient units that the stealth things also helps. If you had, for example, some Whitestar Grapplers, I could have snuck some units past them, but unless I actually destroyed your base, I would still need to be able to kill them.
I’d be happy to play another game. This time, I’ll go first:
P1T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Playful Panda
Spore Shambler
Merfolk Prospector
Verdant Tree
Ironbark Treant
WORKERS
Verdant Tree
NextHand
Rich Earth
Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Discard
Ironbark Treant
Playful Panda
Spore Shambler
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Play Merfolk Prospector - ($2)
Play Calamandra - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]: L1 Calamandra (2/3)
[B]In Play:[/B] - Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
[B]Buildings:[/B] -
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 0
- Disc: 3
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 5
1 Like
P2T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Wither
Older Brother
Helpful Turtle
Tenderfoot
WORKERS
Granfalloon Flagbearer
NextHand
Timely Messenger
Bloom
Brick Thief
Spark
Fruit Ninja
Discard
Wither
Helpful Turtle
Tenderfoot
Older Brother
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Recruit Garus Rook - ($2)
Rook casts Wither on Merfolk Prospector, turning him into dried fish flakes - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
-
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Garus Rook, Lv. 1 (2/4)
-
[I]Elite[/I]:
-
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
-
[I]Technician[/I]:
-
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
-
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
- Hand: 5
- Deck: 0
- Disc: 4
[B]Gold:[/B] - Gold: 0
- Workers: 6
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
I’m going to try something weird. I thought about taking advantage of my $ to build Tech 1 and Heroes’ hall, undefended. That would be really weird, but maybe too musket-in-the-face even for me.
I decided to try out cstick’s suggestion of Birds (and eventually Barbarian) + Two Step. So I will want that Heroes’ hall soon.
But for now, drawing Wither in my opening hand, and him with a hero out right away, I’m going to see if I can bog him down by neutering his hero. There’s no limit to how many -1/-1 runes it can put on something, so I’m going to try to play it whenever it comes up and keep Cal weak, but cluttering up the hero spot so Garth and Zane can’t come out. It won’t stop her from casting spells to do exactly what cstick did last game, but if I need to pick her off at an opportune time, say, with birds, it should be easy to do so. Cloud Sprites might eventually be fun, too. I wonder if I’ll go STR or FIN.
Edit: Right. Lookout does something. I’ve just switched it to the Prospector, making it a legal play. Hurt my economy to hurt his economy!
[/spoiler]
[/details]
Calamandra has resist 1, because she’s in Lookout.