Good on ye! I instantly regretted not going down on cards to throw out a patroller or two, though it would have had to have been two to keep Rook from walking by. Maxing Rook was the only way you had of stopping TQ from coming out, so well-played. I was hoping you wouldn’t peek at my hand and consider just building board, maybe damaging Tech II. I also should have considered making my Tech II Demon and the Lab Str, so that I could get TQ out, even if inactive. Ah, well. This is all right. More Bloodlust!
Oh, and I’m pretty sure my base takes 2, not 1, from the dead Tech Lab.
Your base is at 19 'cause of Drakk.
P2T5
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Colossus
Banefire Golem
STARTING HAND
Jefferson DeGrey
Nautical Dog
Bloodrage Ogre
Terras Q, the Shackled
Bloodlust
Bloodlust
Jefferson DeGrey
Nautical Dog
Terras Q, the Shackled
Bloodrage Ogre
Colossus
Banefire Golem
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($12) Skip Worker
Summon Drakk Ram-a-Lam - ($10)
Recruit Joffrey DeGrey, Demonic Diplomat - ($7)
Summon Vandy and a rose - ($5)
Drakk casts Bloodlust on DeGrey and Vandy - ($3)
Level Drakk to 4 to give DeGrey Frenzy 1 - ($0) Vandy (3/3) kills Grave and survives (you draw); Vandy midbands and heals. DeGrey swings for 6 at Rook, trading his demonic undeath for one of Rook’s lives Vandy takes 1 damage from Bloodlust
Young Lightning Dragon (3/3) [Flying]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Discipline)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Right, forgot that Bloodlust works on heroes… As much as Drakk worries me, he doesn’t have Resist 1 like Vandy does, and I was guaranteed to get Snapback in my next hand. Still, depending on what’s in his hand this could go very badly…
Bloodlust
Jefferson DeGrey
Nautical Dog
Terras Q, the Shackled
Bloodrage Ogre
Colossus
Banefire Golem
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Bombaster
Bloodlust
Gargoyle
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Recruit Makeshift Rambaster - ($6)
Recruit Bombaster - ($4)
Play Charge on Bombaster - ($2)
Recruit Ardra’s Boulder - ($0) Makeshift Rambaster suicides into Vigor Adept for 2 (Drakk Frenzy), knocking off armor and dealing 1 damage Bombaster trades with Vigor Adept (Frenzy + Charge)
Patrol AB and Drakk as shown
Float ($0)
Discard 0, draw 2
[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]: Drakk Ramhorn (2/3)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Strength)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 2
Deck: 0
Disc: 12
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
[details=Thoughts]
I am in a tight spot. I should probably have played less and drawn more, but I wanted to take advantage of Drakk’s Frenzy while it was there, and neither it nor Charge would have worked on Rook. I get the feeling a dragon is about to eat my Tech II. I think I’ve lost, and it was all because of that Turn 1 killing Grave. I would have had so much more money and early units! Still… Grave’s a jerk, so I’ma say it was worth it, even if it costs me the match.
I’m going to assume that 3/4 Drakk is a mistake with this turn. Let me know if that’s wrong, of course! I think the only change would be to have Sparring Partner spar with YLD before attacking.
Player 1 Turn 7
Tech, Starting Hand and Workers
TECH
Speed of the Fox
Mind-Parry Monk
STARTING HAND
Thunderclap
Training Grounds
Snapback
Smoker
WORKERS
Fox Viper
Morningstar Flagbearer
Savior Monk
Safe Attacking
Fox Primus
Smoker
Next Hand
Aged Sensei
Young Lightning Dragon
Rambasa Twin
Discard
Vigor Adept
Thunderclap
Snapback
Speed of the Fox
Mind-Parry Monk
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9) Rook casts Thunderclap, sidelining Ardra’s Boulder - ($7)
Summon Grave - ($5) Young Lightning Dragon kills Drakk, Grave gains 2 free levels, you draw a card
Construct Training Grounds, giving my heroes +1 ATK - ($4) Rook destroys your Tech II building, your base takes 2 damage
Sparring Partner spars with Grave, giving him a +1/+1 rune
Ready Sparring Partner and spar with Young Lightning Dragon - ($2)
Ready Sparring Partner - ($0)
Patrol as shown below
Young Lightning Dragon (4/4) [Flying] {+1/+1}
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Discipline)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 5
Disc: 5
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
I’m pretty sure I’ve got this locked down now. A 5/5 hero with readiness that is not max level? A 4/4 flyer that can get up to 3 extra ATK for 1 gold each? What’s he going to do about that?
You’re absolutely right. That was a leftover from an alternate version the turn that I ended up changing around, but I forgot to undo the HP from leveling. Thanks!
My turn is:
Play Mad Man, suicide to knock the armor off Sparring Partner.
Play Mythmaking. Kill Sparring Partner with 2/8 Ardra’s Boulder. 'Cause I don’t like him.
Play Garbage Crook, Imposter Golem. Level him to 6.
Concede.
I have nothing that can deal with YLD at this point, so you’d be taking out my tech every turn with his lightning (cough fire cough) breathing ability. Well-played! I’m going to read over your thoughts now to see what it was like on your side. (:
Good game! You had a good plan with Terras Q and DeGrey, but I think I probably would have destroyed your Tech Lab even if I hadn’t seen your hand. I was explaining a bit about this game to some friends yesterday, and that’s when I realized what your plan most likely was. I told them what each of the pieces was, and said “You know what? Since I know I’m going to be looking at his hand when I actually take my turn, let’s go ahead and look now and see if I’m right.” The rest is history, of course.
From my end, it looked like you didn’t have much of a fall-back plan if you failed to get the combo lined up… Is that accurate? I don’t recall seeing anything except DeGrey from Strength Tech II that whole game. I’m not sure whether Demonology would have been a better Tech II pick, but either way it didn’t seem to matter that much (it became a question of immediate pain vs stronger but delayed pain). I’m going to look through your thoughts and tech choices too, since you were kind enough to provide them!
You’re absolutely right! I went all-in on TQ+DG. The plan was to play Ardra’s Boulder and Mythmaking as soon as I hit Tech I (going down on cards, but probably popping the boulder in Technician just in case), but killing Grave meant not playing Tech I when I should have, so I drew AB and Mythmaking too early. This actually hurt me more than was obvious: Mythmaking makes DeGrey way more effective than he already is, even if I hadn’t gotten TQ out.
I started teching in some golems of various sorts, because I love them (Colossus is just beautiful, and Banefire combos well with Earthquake), but I never would have had a chance to play them.
I actually teched in Gargoyle when the YLD came out, though I should have done so as soon as you selected Discipline Tech II. Actually, I should have teched in Whitestar Grappler. That would have been great for taking out YLDs, wouldn’t it?
Thanks very much for getting me confident with forum play! I’m still making mistakes almost every turn, but they’re not quite as severe, and I feel like I have a good handle on the spreadsheet. (:
Yeah, especially since you knew that your Tech I plan had fallen through, you probably should have gone for a more general strategy that just happened to include the threat of Terras Q. Gargoyle would have helped, and throws are cheap, so Whitestar Grappler would have worked too (seriously, how does he grab a dragon out of the sky).
I think I would have been a bit more scared of [Blood]/Demonology/Finesse, since you wouldn’t have to build a vulnerable Tech Lab to get the combo working, Discord is a strong spell in the early game even if it never gets used for the combo, Two Step would make Terras Q even more terrifying and give a bonus to another unit of your choice, and Nimble Fencer is good for putting pressure on the opponent early (similar to Lobber in mono-red).
Even sticking with your current codex, I think having your Tech II be Demonology might have worked better if you wanted to get Terras Q active (and have the Tech Lab be Strength). That way you could use a Banefire Golem to remove the Warlocks by having it sacrifice itself if nothing else is available. This strategy is interesting enough that I’d like to play against you again and see what options I have to stop it if you don’t cripple yourself early on. Are you up for Round Two?
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Recruit Mad Man - ($2) Mad Man attacks your base for 1
Summon Vandedede, Demonic Penguin - ($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)
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Mad Man (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
[details=Thoughts]
I here Vandy and a unit is a good opening. (Hah. That’s terrible.)
[/details]
And yeah, I’ve thought about replacing Blood with Finesse entirely, as Finesse has some haste but gives me two completely separate routes to TQ. I like DeGrey a little better just because he’s so great with Mythmaking. If I took Blood out, I’d probably lead with Black Starter to take advantage of Jandra.
I wish I had Savior Monk in that hand… At least if I had to use a 1-drop, it was one of the best in the game. Anyway, now that I know what his strategy is, how am I going to deal with it? I’ll have to find an answer to that question soon.
Thanks, @Hobusu. That’s good to know, and I’ll keep it in mind in the future.
P1T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Crash Bomber
Ardra’s Boulder
STARTING HAND
Scorch
Pillage
Charge
Bombaster
Makeshift Rambaster
WORKERS
Bloodburn
Pillage
NextHand
Mad Man
Careless Musketeer
Scorch
Makeshift Rambaster
Nautical Dog
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4) Vandy casts Scorch on Rook to knock off armor and deal 1 - ($0) Mad Man runs madly into Rook’s fist for 1, dying Vandy attacks Rook for 2, killing him and survives, leveling to 3, midbanding, and healing
[details=Thoughts]
I skipped my Tech, because who needs Tech I? Especially when you can kill Rook, add Resist to Vandy, and set her up to tutor for spells.
I really wanted to Pillage, since he left that gold floating, but it costs Vandy 2 to cast; blech. I really wanted to keep Pillage, since I’m teching in another Pirate this game (first time trying that out with this deck!), increasing its utility. But ultimately, Pillage makes me go down a card when also playing units, it costs 2 when not using Drakk, and Rambaster can deal more damage if a building is exposed, so I chose to keep the Rambaster in deck.
Of course, skipping Tech means I can’t play the CB or the AB I just teched… but looks like I lucked into not drawing them anyway!
this is so wrong. Tech II requires a tech I building, that will not be completed until the end of turn.
Hence u can never build/rebuild multiple tech buildings in the same turn unless u have verdant tree and u can tap it for its effect.
I can see how it would be confusing on quick read-through. If it wasn’t a casual I would have gone back and edited the previous turn. (:
And while I’m posting non-turn stuff, additional
[details=Thoughts]
[spoiler]
I’m trying to figure out what Hobusu will do. Let’s see if I’m right. I’m thinking he has to get rid of Vandy or things will be progressively nasty. So I predict:
Gain $6+$1 float
Skip Worker and Tech I OR Skip Tech I and Worker ($6)
Either Grave (to Patrol) or Sets (if not) ($4), though I think Grave is more likely against my aggressive start.
Snapback Vandy for Drakk ($0, thanks to Resist)
Patrol the Sensei?
If he patrols Grave, I can take him out with a combo of Scorch, MM, and Rambaster, to level Drakk, going down on cards, but with enough for a worker or tech myself. Tech would be nice, as I’m likely to draw into a AB or CB.
Maybe he’ll put Sensei in SQL and Grave in Elite or Scav or Technician? If he puts Grave in Elite, I’d have to play the MM, the Rambaster, the Scorch, and swing with Drakk to wipe his board, but Drakk’d survive if I sent him at the Sensei.
I think I really have to worry about Sets and Speed of the Fox.
How did I let that happen…? At least next turn I have two different ways of dealing with it. I’ll need to remember that Vandy has Resist 1 now, but she’s not invincible.
[spoiler]That was a smart patrol and tower on his part. I can’t break his Tech I or even Tower this turn. Sad.
I see five possible plays here:
Skip Worker, Build Tech I. Pull out Shadow Blade to get rid of the Savior (knocking him down a card), have MM trade with Sensei (giving him a card).
Same as above, but play worker, don’t play MM, leave him with his Sensei, and he doesn’t draw, putting him at 4 cards.
Skip Worker, Build Tech 1. Scorch the Savior, have MM trade with Sensei (he draws to 6), have Vandy smack Tech I or Tower for 3 (and take 1, but she might heal next turn).
Same as above, but play the worker, don’t play the MM, leave him with Sensei, and have Vandy patrol.
Same as 4, but have Vandy take out the Sensei, taking 2 damage.
The version where Vandy hits a building does damage, but not enough to take out a building (though it could leave Tower vulnerable to next turn’s Charged Crash Bomber.) And it puts Vandy at 3, leaving her vulnerable to Speed of the Fox. I don’t want Vandy low on life, 'cause Sets could take her out easy at Lv 4, then hit 6.
I want to get to Tech II at some point (Gliders and Barrows and Octopi, yo! Maybe a Colossus if I Tech Lab). So I really shouldn’t go down in workers, and that gets rid of option 1 and 3
Wiping the board leaves less room for tricks than patrolling, but if he drew Speed of the Fox, then taking out Vandy is trivial on Option 5, which also gives him 6 cards. 6 cards no good. That’s out.
If I leave Sensei alive, then he doesn’t have enough damage with Speed of the Fox and Sensei to take out my Tech I, but he can take out Vandy. But with Shadow Blade, he’ll be down to 4 cards. So that’s Option 2.
Option 4 (Patrol Vandy) grants armor, but Speed of the Fox grants armor-piercing (the Trace-Buster-Buster!). So she’ll die this way, too. And it leaves him with 5 cards.
It looks like with bad luck, Vandy’s dead no matter what. So we’ll go with Option 2, which has a chance of discarding Speed of the Fox and still gets me what I want. (Not wiping the board goes against all my instincts!)[/spoiler][/details]
P1T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Bloodlust
Mythmaking
STARTING HAND
Scorch
Makeshift Rambaster
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
Mad Man
The farther into this game we go, the more I realize just how much White prefers going first. Though it could just be that mistake I made…
Player 2 Turn 3
Tech, Starting Hand and Workers
TECH
Glorious Ninja
Porcupine
STARTING HAND
Reversal Morningstar Flagbearer (Discarded by Shadow Blade) (I don’t know why the starting hand gets shuffled between posts) (Go and look at last turn’s “next hand” if you don’t believe this was #4)
Safe Attacking
Snapback
Sensei’s Advice
WORKERS
Smoker
Fox Viper
Reversal
Next Hand
Sparring Partner
Fox Primus
Grappling Hook
Savior Monk
Morningstar Flagbearer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Summon Rook - ($4)
Build Ninjutsu Tech II - ($0)
Patrol as shown below
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Aged Sensei (1/1+a)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Garus Rook Lv. 1 (2/4)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Ninjutsu)
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I really wanted to use Snapback, but considering Resist 1 and how I wouldn’t gain that much board presence, I decided to go ahead and build Tech II instead. Patrolling Rook in Technician so if he dies I can quickly get more tech cards into my deck (and increase odds of getting a Tech II unit). Went with Ninjutsu because Porcupine. Also Glorious Ninja, but if he maxes Vandy it needs either 1 damage on her first or Sensei’s Advice to get Swift Strike benefits.
Edit: Adding just a bit to thoughts, fixing Vandy’s stats, and adding stats to Ardra’s Boulder
P1T4
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Shoddy Glider
Shoddy Glider
STARTING HAND
Crash Bomber
Ardra’s Boulder
Charge
Bloodrage Ogre
Bombaster
WORKERS
Bloodburn
Pillage
Careless Musketeer
Bombaster
NextHand
Bloodrage Ogre
Nautical Dog
Shoddy Glider
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6) Vandy attacks SQL Sensei, killing it, taking 1 from it and 1 from the tower
Recruit Crash Bomber - ($5)
Vandy casts expensive Charge on Crash Bomber - ($2) Crash Bomber, now 3/2, suicides on Rook, bringing him to 1, and on death deals another 1 to Rook, killing him; you draw, Vandy levels to Max and heals, and doom fizzles, which is my new band name
Recruit Ardra’s Boulder - ($0)
[details=Thoughts]
The correct move here is probably just to play Ardra’s Boulder, maybe take out the Sensei, and build my Tech II. But I haven’t been floating gold, so I wouldn’t have enough for Tech Lab, and if I tech in DG+TQ now, I might draw them but not have enough gold/specs to play them. Instead I’m going to try out Tech II (Blood), but not this turn. That means next turn. But I still want to get some Tech II’s into the cycle for next turn. So I’m teching Blood’s cheapest, the Gliders, in the hopes that I won’t draw more than 1 for this hand… And I drew 1. If he Glorious Ninjas my AB away, I’ll have 4 cards, and hopefully I won’t draw the other Glider.
I decided to go with my first instinct (aggro, of course) mostly because Rook is much easier to kill now than later.
I had a really hard time deciding between workering Bloodrage Ogre and Bombaster. Bombaster is effectively a 3/2 Haste for 3, while BRO is a 3/2 non-haste for 2. I decided with Charge and Bloodlust in the deck to stick with the cheaper BRO.
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Drakk Ramhorn (2/3)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 18
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Drakk Ramhorn (2/3)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 18
[I]Technician[/I]: Sparring Partner (2/2)
Base HP: 20