Sorry It’s been so long. I’ll probably be taking a few days off from codex. I just have other things I need to take care of. I’ll be back Monday at the latest, possibly before.
Edit:The forum won’t let me repost this same message in multiple threads, presumably to prevent spam, so I’m tagging it @Shadowfury333 and @Penatronic to let them know as well.
Don’t sweat it man, I’ll be out of town this weekend anyway!
yeah no hurt feelings here enjoy real life!
Heh, and here I just re-did my turn 3 in our game.
Since we’re paired in CAPS, let’s take a break from this series until we finish that game.
All good with me 
Don’t feel rushed to pick this game back up, but I’m good to keep playing whenever!
I haven’t forgotten, I’m just a bit busy right now. I’ll start this back up before long.
Player 2 Turn 4
[details=Tech StartingHand Workers]
[spoiler]TECH
Censorship Council
Injunction
STARTING HAND
Porkhand Magistrate
Manufactured Truth
Spectral Aven
The Art of War
Bluecoat Musketeer
WORKERS
Traffic Director
Jail
Bluecoat Musketeer
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=NextHand]
[spoiler]The Art of War
Guardian of the Gates
Guardian of the Gates
Arrest
Reputable Newsman
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=Discard]
[spoiler]The Art of War
Manufactured Truth
Spectral Aven
Porkhand Magistrate
Censorship Council
Injunction
[/spoiler][/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Oni Trades with Imp. You get a gold.
Bigby - ($6)
Tech II (Law) - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bigby Hayes (2/3+A)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Law)[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
[B]Gold:[/B]
[details=Thoughts]
Imp discarded my other AoW, though frankly I was probably better off not playing it anyway. My problem now is that I’m very weak against air, which I’m pretty sure is what he’s playing. I’ll have to use Injunctions and Arrests to stall his flyers until I can play an answer. I’ll probably tech elite training before my next draw.
[/details]
Okay, back in black and Vandy’s ready to party, how bout you?
[details=Starting Hand]
Summon Skeletons
Skeleton Javelineer
Dark Pact
Dark Pact
Sacrifice the Weak
Nether Drain Shadow Blade (DP)
[/details]
###Upkeep:
[details=All Teched Cards]
Metamorphosis x2
Bone Collector, Gorgon
Dark Pact, Nether Drain
Dark Pact, Shadow Blade
[/details]
###Main:
[details=Workers]
Summon Skeletons, Graveyard, Poisonblade Rogue, Jandra, the Negator, Skeletal Archery
[/details]
Patrol as below###Board Info:
####Buildings:
Base HP: 16####In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Vandy (4/5+1armor lvl 5)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:####In Play:
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
####Gold:
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Bone Collector
Pestering Haunt
Thieving Imp
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard]
Dark Pact
Nether Drain
Shadow Blade
Sacrifice the Weak
Dark Pact
[/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
Cool, he took the lapse in pressure to tech up just as suspected, and I’m free to go for mass hero pressure that only Free Speech could possibly burn. I’m opting to give up the guaranteed Meta access on future turns and instead get near-guaranteed access from hand on Turn 6, by teching 2 of them. If he does free speech, I’ll probably build Tech 3 + Lab and go for Zarra, laying Gorgon or Bone Collector.
Garth would almost be 100% safe in SQL, but Jurisdiction for elite training + max Bigby could technically kill him. I very sincerely doubt he teched Jurisdiction, but I think I’d rather Vandy just eat 1 or 2 damage if Bigby wants to suicide.
[details=ForSpectatorsOnly][spoiler]
Interesting that Frozen thinks only Free Speech will stop him. Newsman@6+Guardian seems like it’ll stop things nicely. Unfortunately, it looks like Paypr can’t play both Guardians (would be a nice wall to protect the newsman) or Newsman+Guardian+Tower without skipping a worker. (EDIT: I missed that he floated 2. That’s not bad!) I think he might need both Guardians to avoid Gorgon or Shadowblade+attacking hero or whatever Garth brings out. And he needs to keep Newsman out of patrol to avoid Shadow Blade. It’ll be vulnerable to Haunt, but that’ll take 4 turns, so it should be safe-ish.
If Paypr doesn’t play the Newsman naming 6, I’d like to request that the game be rewound to this point and try that version to see where it goes.
Nothing Paypr can do to stop Frozen going to Tech III, though. So I think the game will be lost that way in any case.
Weird how Guardian is more expensive than Boulder and can’t attack. I mean, 1 attack and the disabling thing is cute, but it doesn’t hit heroes, so in this situation it’s effectively an expensive Boulder. D.Alpha also doesn’t affect heroes. Too bad.
[/spoiler][/details]
Player 2 Turn 5
[details=Tech StartingHand Workers]
[spoiler]TECH
Free Speech
Lawbringer Gryphon
STARTING HAND
Arrest
The Art of War
Guardian of the Gates
Guardian of the Gates
Reputable Newsman
WORKERS
Traffic Director
Jail
Bluecoat Musketeer
The Art of War
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=NextHand]
[spoiler]Arrest
Free Speech
Lawful Search
Guardian of the Gates
[/spoiler][/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Reputable Newsman @ 6 - ($8)
Tower - ($5)
Guardian of the gates - ($2)
Worker - ($1)
Float ($1)
Stash 1, Discard 1, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 2
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: [I]Elite[/I]: Guardian of the Gates (2/6) [I]Scavenger[/I]: [I]Technician[/I]: [I]Lookout[/I]:[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Law)[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
[B]Gold:[/B]
[details=Thoughts]
[spoiler]I think I’m in trouble. I actually kind of like my approach as far as maxing Oni early and teching AoW. It probably wasn’t the best in this game, but I still feel like it could be viable in similar (but not the same) situations as P2 in this matchup. I think going for Law tech II was a really bad idea. Truth would have been much better (Eyes+Illusions is a decent attempt to counter Metamorphosis) and of course Peace TII is strong. I don’t remember exactly why I went with Law. Censorship Council, I suppose, but also I think I failed to notice that GotG’s ability only works on units. I think I’d have a chance if I’d teched Truth. maybe even Truth/Peace, for the option of Dreamscape+Drill Seargent. I don’t know. We’ll find out as the series continues.
P.S. I came really close to playing Porkhand instead of Bigby last turn. I think I’d still be in decent shape if I’d done that.
[/spoiler][/details]
Lol forgot about Newsman and I’m off cycle for StW / Dark Pact, guess Plan B it is then!
[details=Starting Hand]
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Bone Collector
Pestering Haunt
Thieving Imp
[/details]
###Upkeep:
[details=All Teched Cards]
Zarramonde, the Obliterator x2
Metamorphosis x2
Bone Collector, Gorgon
Dark Pact, Nether Drain
Dark Pact, Shadow Blade
[/details]
###Main:
[details=Workers]
Pestering Haunt, Summon Skeletons, Graveyard, Poisonblade Rogue, Jandra, the Negator, Skeletal Archery
[/details]
Patrol as below###Board Info:
####Buildings:
Base HP: 16####In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Skeleton Javelineer (1/1+1armor) Elite: Scavenger: Technician: Bone Collector (3/3) Lookout:####In Play:
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
####Gold:
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Gorgon
Deteriorate
Metamorphosis
Dark Pact
Metamorphosis
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard][spoiler]
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
Well, I never said I was particularly smart or clever… Forgot about Newsman and I am without my usual Newsman answer. Still though, that’s a very soft board to be against, pretty beatable. Easy to just tech up and “win fairly”, so let’s go ahead and do that.
He only has two ready “attackers” (only if he didn’t already worker MTruth.) If I patrol Garth, it might give away free levels but it guarantees me access to both my “Win Conditions” so that seems a reasonably choice. On the other hand, does he have enough gold to break that patrol AND my tech lab AND build his tech 3? Judgement Day kills all his stuff too, so yea, BC + Jav is a solid defense, and he’s got a fat cycle to chew so he’s got little ability to reactionarily tech.
Meanwhile, I’m for sure drawing Gorgon, am 96% to draw one of Meta, Zarra, or Dark Pact, 50% to draw any one of them individually, 30% to draw StW, so I’d say I have pretty strong access to ending the game in short order 
…
I think that’s GG. I’ve got nothing that can attack, so eventually ZZara’s coming, and unless you have the worst draws in history, it will be turn after next, and that’s if I play Free speech this turn to stop your Dark Pact (I played Lawful Search to check your current hand). I have no way to stop him coming, so I think I can concede.
I have to say, though, I’m not convinced my opening was as ridiculous as you claimed. I think it probably wasn’t good in this case, but could have been if the board had been slightly different (e.g. you hadn’t played Haunt, electing to keep your hand size at 5). If Oni has 2 hp instead of 1 on the following turn, it’s much better because Nether Drain isn’t really a threat (it doesn’t take away the buff or the first strike, and while it prevents AoW twice in a row, it also gives the blue player access to a heal and 3 soldiers for 2 gold). Even in this game, I think I got my value out of it, simply because you didn’t draw ND on turn 4. I think the bigger mistake was teching for Law tech II rather than Peace or Truth. I believe I could have had a chance with one of those, especially Truth. What do you think? Anyways, let’s queue up the next game! Shall we switch colors or order or both?
For instance I think My turn 2 would have been better against this:
Yeah, I realized too late that Guardian wasn’t as good as I thought. If I’d realized it didn’t affect heroes, I probably would have gone for a different TII spec, although it also would have been better if Oni had 1 more hit point, which would have allowed me to stay on the AoW train a little longer. with Oni to counter heroes, Guardian might not be so bad, but I still think it was a bad choice. Particularly against Disease TII, since Abomination also turns it into effectively a weak boulder.
I think Truth is really tricky, though, too. Yeah, you get Eyes to contend with Demons (though it doesn’t stop them being big as hell), but any of your illusions just die to Vandy’s maxband; it grants her a target that completely negates her downside, and gives her the bonus of plain dying. Throw in Shadow Blade, and the fact that he can bring in Orpal (instead of Garth, or in addition w/ HH or Tech III), and Orpal’s midband kills 1 illusion per turn. If you have a real unit, Orpal’s midband (+some damage if necessary) can kill that, and his demon maxband will take out 2 illusions. Then there’s Deteriorate. Basically, Black has as much unit targetting as any other spec, and cheaper.
I think maybe the answer was Tech Lab Turn 4 so that you had Law+Truth or Peace+Truth, just to get Eyes and Haste Gryphon, but get your Tech II units from the other. I doubt it would have won you this game (since it seemed like there was nothing you could do to prevent him getting to ZZTop before you got to Gryphon.
If I’d had the haste Gryphon, though, getting to it second is fine, even preferred. I mean, you’re probably right about Truth, but there’s always Macciatus, who I feel is a must if you’re going to go for Truth against black. I like the Peace+Truth lab idea. Really, probably nothing would have worked as well as I’d want it to after his T3. As I’ve said, the whole P2T2 maxband Oni+ 2x AoW is substantially better if Oni has more than 1 hp, and doesn’t have to fear ND. I think you probably have to break 2 tech buildings with Oni to justify it.
Correct me if I am wrong, maxband Orpal cannot kill three illusions in one shot because when you target an illusion with his midband ability, the illusion will die BEFORE receiving the -1 rune thus not triggering thr maxband ability.
@ARMed_PIrate did specify that the first unit that dies has to be real (i.e. not an illusion).