Casual: Hobusu vs robinz

Hobusu · December 7, 2016, 11:24pm

The only reason I didn’t wipe your board that turn was because doing so would have left me only discarding 1 card that turn with no unit in Technician. Obviously that didn’t end up mattering, but I let my fear of low hand get the better of me.

Looking at your thoughts, I’m not seeing much to comment on here. We already discussed forgetting about Drakk’s midband, and you’re right about Ironbark Treant probably being too passive in that position (though it might have been fine in Elite instead of Squad Leader). I probably would have made Spore Shambler the turn 1 worker, but my Green isn’t as strong as my Red nowadays, so I can’t say it was a bad choice. Getting both Centaur and Tiny Basilisk down at the same time was a huge break for you, even if I did misplay – there wasn’t really a good way to deal with them both (in hindsight, I probably should have had Drakk do some of the damage needed to take out Centaur, but that would only leave him with 1 HP, so I didn’t even consider it at the time). All in all, you were making good decisions throughout the game and I was messing up an embarrassing amount after turn 2… Really, it was my turn that was illegal, so I consider you the winner of this game (especially since I don’t see how I would have dug myself out of the hole I made).

Do you want to switch who goes first? I’m fine either way, though I tend to do better as player 1 (might be why I’m liking White, since that color really rewards going first more than any color except maybe Red).

robinz · December 7, 2016, 11:54pm

I’ve just read your thoughts too - and it’s amazing that we both felt we were behind for most of the game!

More seriously, I see that I was pretty lucky with my draws - particularly getting both my Tech 1s on turn 3 while you missed both of yours. I was surprised by your tech of War Drums - I haven’t seen that spell played much, but it seems unsuited to Red just because you’re unlikely to have many units on the board at once. As you’ll have seen from my notes, Kidnapping was what I was really afraid of - and while of course you weren’t to know exactly what I’d tech/draw and how I’d play, it strikes me as a much more generally useful spell than War Drums, particularly against Green who has pretty strong and solid Tech 1s. Of course, it’s easy to criticise in hindsight - there’s no doubt you’re a much more experienced player than me, especially in this matchup!

I’m still curious what you think I should have done at my turn 2. You seem to agree with me that Ironbark would have been the wrong play, yet my actual play went pretty spectacularly wrong. In hindsight, the changes that could have helped were either leveling up Calamandra instead of playing Young Treant, or having the Panda doing the Rampant Growth attacking instead of Calamandra. But I think the latter wouldn’t have helped (Calamandra would take 1 wound less, but would have only YT to protect her instead of YT+PP), while the former again would have left me one patroller down.

And I wasn’t going for Ferns+Basilisk as a specific combo - I just thought that stealth was good, and at that stage of the game any unit I kept alive would be a good target for it. Of course, Tiny Basilisk is the best, particularly to use on a max-level hero

Anyway, I’d love to play again, and yes I’ll try going first this time. (I’m curious why you think White is much better when going first, but I guess that discussion would take us too far afield.) I’ll post my first turn as soon as I can.

robinz · December 8, 2016, 12:11am

Here goes then - hopefully our first “real” game with no rules mistakes

P1T1

StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Rich Earth
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Spore Shambler
Playful Panda

WORKERS
Rich Earth

NextHand

Forest’s Favor
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Merfolk Prospector
Young Treant

Discard

Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Playful Panda

Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Spore Shambler - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Spore Shambler [2/3+1A, 2 + runes]
[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: 3
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 5

Thoughts

I know a lot of players seem to dislike Spore Shambler. I don’t really know any better, but I rather like it. Sure it’s expensive, but as a 2/3 for 3 it’s kind of the mirror-image of Bloodrage Ogre - and while a 2/3 is probably worse than a 3/2, it has the advantage of being able to patrol for 2 or more turns if needed, and most importantly, the flexibility to give its runes to other units, and in two different ways too!

Perhaps more importantly, it just looked like the best play from what I think was a pretty crummy opening hand. And the Shambler might get me enough defence to enable me to safely play the Prospector next turn, and play more like Green should and generate some gold! (Yeah I know I workered Rich Earth again - but I think if you don’t play it the first time you draw it then it’s better workered, and against Red I can’t afford to play it turn 1.)

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 1:02am

Warning: Wall of text below!

That’s just because I always feel behind unless I’ve got an overwhelming advantage. Unlike when I tried to teach a magic player a couple days ago you actually know what you’re doing for the most part, so I never quite got to that point!

I chose it partly as an experiment. If I could set up trades where my units survived, then it would get increasingly hard for you to set up good trades of your own, since unlike Drakk’s midband it doesn’t specify that the bonus is only on my turn. In hindsight I agree that Kidnapping would probably have been better, but so it goes. Still, if I’d been able to put War Drums and either Molting Firebird or Doubleshot Archer out, even with no other units that would be enough to kill almost any unit you could play – excluding Tech III, I think only Rampaging Elephant, Gigadon and Oversized Rhinoceros could take a hit from a 6 ATK flying or long-range unit, and all of those are expensive.

Looking at your options on turn 2, I’m starting to think that patrolling Ironbark Treant in Elite and Playful Panda in either Scavenger or Technician might have been a better play. That guarantees that anything short of my hero would not survive attacking either of them (except a hasted Firebat or Gunpoint Taxman I suppose, but that costs 4 gold and 2 cards). Remember that I have to attack with Bloodrage Ogre or it returns to my hand, and your job simply becomes to make both of those options be in your favor.

With that patrol, Ogre can’t remove Ironbark Treant on its own (I’d have to either midband Drakk or suicide Mad Man/Lobber), so any way I have of beating it costs either more gold than you spent or more cards than you spent to put it out. Meanwhile, it could kill Playful Panda, but that would give you back some resources and I’d still lose Ogre to something that I could have killed with a Lobber or Frenzied Mad Man. Finally, I don’t think there was any way I could have broken through both of them and still been able to kill Calamandra, meaning you could have counter attacked with her and set up more units.

I see… I never tried using that spell, simply because it relies on keeping units alive as Green.

More seriously, it can be incredibly useful, but if your opponent is able to keep your board clear it won’t help you get back in the game. I guess it’s most useful to either turn an even position into a favorable one or a favorable position into a dominant one. It can’t get you out of an unfavorable position, so you have to know when it’s safe to tech it. It payed off this time, but if I had killed the Tiny Basilisk it would have been essentially a dead card that turn.

If you haven’t already, try watching @mysticjuicer’s Codex videos. In his most recent one he talked about that specific issue, and much of what he says is backed up by EricF’s Starter Deck analysis for White (namely that it’s good when it can pick its own battles, especially because it has strong heroes, but can struggle when put on the back foot).

I’ll take my turn in just a few minutes, but those are my remaining thoughts (enough that I had to add that disclaimer at the top).

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 1:14am

Player 2 Turn 1

Starting Hand and Workers

STARTING HAND

Scorch
Mad Man
Bloodburn
Nautical Dog
Charge

WORKERS

Bloodburn

Next Hand

Makeshift Rambaster
Bloodrage Ogre
Careless Musketeer
Pillage
Bombaster

Discard

Scorch
Charge
Mad Man

Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Recruit the Nautical Dog! - ($3)
Summon Drakk - ($1)
Patrol as shown below

Float ($1)
Discard 3, draw 5

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]: Nautical Dog (1+1/1) [Frenzy 1]
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Drakk Ramhorn Lv. 1 (1/3)
[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

[details=Thoughts][spoiler]Not the best opening hand… Both of my 1-drops, none of my 2-drops. sigh

I decided what’s important is to keep in mind the action economy here. He can only attack with 1 thing, and I can’t patrol anything that would survive its attack (even Drakk if he decided to use Forest’s Favor or Rampant Growth). Thus, my goal is to make attacking undesirable, and so I put Nautical Dog in Elite. If he attacks, Spore Shambler will be left with 1 HP while it has both runes on it, meaning that he can only transfer 1 of them off it to something else. On the other hand, if he leaves it alone I can potentially get even more out of it by midbanding Drakk, so he “should” attack anyway. Let’s see what he does![/spoiler][/details]

ARMed_PIrate · December 8, 2016, 9:28am

@robinz

I’m sorry I haven’t had time to follow this thread, and just caught up. I wanted to talk about Robin’s first patrol in the first game, and Hobusu’s response.

I thought it interesting that both of you thought Robin’s patrol was safe for Cal, but Hobusu plays less aggressively than I do. Here’s what I would have done on Hobusu’s Turn 2:
Worker ($4)
Tech I ($3)
Level Drakk to 4 ($0), giving an extra Frenzy to the Nautical Dog.
Swing with Drakk at the Wisp, killing it.
Swing with double-frenzy Dog at Cal, trading, maxing Drakk.

I’m not sure it’s the best play, and it doesn’t thin the deck as much, but I love having maxxed heroes out by the end of Turn 2. The extra Haste on Turn 3 might have led to interesting Musketeer or Bombaster plays, or maybe even BRO again.

robinz · December 8, 2016, 10:10am

No need to apologise for the wall of text, it’s all good stuff for me to think about. I’ve ended up doing my own wall in response :

Thanks for saying that I “actually know what I’m doing”. I certainly don’t feel that I do most of the time, and I’m pretty sure if the likes of EricF were to look at my play he’d find all sorts of things wrong with it! But I have been reading and thinking quite a lot about the game. My first f2f games against @Fenrir on Sunday really opened my eyes to how much there was to think about in this game and how hard it is to make decent decisions in a real-life game - I played 4 and lost 4, getting utterly destroyed in at least 2 of the games. I think the PBF format suits me because you get to make a plan on the spreadsheet, go away from it, then come back and stare at it for a while thinking “what are the risks here? can I do better?”. I hope that if I play more PBF games it will improve and speed up my decision-making so that I can be more competitive in F2F games without taking forever. (I have horrible Analysis Paralysis in all sorts of games.)

You mentioning your trying to teach a Magic player the other day brings me to mention something that may surprise you: I’ve actually never played Magic before, nor any other combat-oriented card game. That’s in part because most of them are CCGs or LCGs, which I have no desire to get into because of the heavy costs, and also because I’d have no-one to really play them against. (I really shouldn’t have bought Codex, but I am an admirer of Sirlin’s previous games even though I also don’t get to play them, and was intrigued enough by the previews that I decided to get it anyway.) In some ways that lack of experience in similar games probably makes the learning experience harder - but perhaps in some ways it could be an advantage because I guess regular Magic players would have a lot of ingrained ideas that might not apply so well to Codex.

Enough philosophy, back to discussing our game!

War Drums: I guess what you say makes sense. You’re right that just a couple of units out with a flyer and War Drums could have been pretty scary (although as you’ll have seen, I was planning to go for flyers myself). And, as you explained in your thoughts during the game, that’s what made you go Fire for Tech 2 rather than anything else - even though I was scared of Blood Tech 2 more. I’m actually intrigued by the decision of which spec to go with at Tech 2 - it feels like something you should decide based on what your opponent goes for, but since you’ll often be needing to build Tech 2 at turn 3 or 4 you won’t have very many pointers (one player won’t know their opponent’s Tech 2 choice yet). I might start a thread to discuss that when I’m not at work and I have a bit of time.

On my turn 2 patrol: yeah that could have worked. There’s really a lot to think about in how to patrol, with a lot more to that decision than meets the eye. I probably need to get away from my instinctive reflex of “put your biggest available body in Squad Leader”. I think I was just scared about Ogre attacking (since, as you said, you basically have to do that), as well as Drakk and the Nautical Dog. I’ve not really thought about using the patrol zone to force you into bad trades - to be honest, apart from obvious examples (like trading a 2-cost for a 4-cost or something), it’s not clear to me at this stage what trades are favourable and which ones aren’t. Again, that really deserves to be the topic of a separate thread!

Behind the Ferns: you’re right that it’s no use if you wipe my board. But I think that’s true of a lot of the Green spells - certainily of Ferocity and Dinosize. I’ve got to assume that at some stage I’ll have a unit still alive at the start of my turn, or I’m basically assuming I’ve lost before even really starting the game! And I think Codex is relatively forgiving at letting you tech cards which aren’t guaranteed to be useful when you draw them - you’re very rarely going to want to play everything from your hand in any case. That’s why you can destroy Tech buildings and kill heroes, and get rewarded for them, without necessarily completely locking the opponent down. Having said that, looking back at that first game there’s no doubt I was lucky in drawing things at the right time.

I think I did watch the start of that mysticjuicer video which you describe, but I wasn’t really listening too closely so I must have missed that part of the analysis. I’ll try to re-watch it at some point (although I don’t think White is a colour I’ll play a lot of - I quite like the look of Ninjutsu, but I’m not sure the other White specs match my preferred playstyle). And I’ve certainly read EricF’s starting deck analysis - again I don’t remember getting that message, but it was a while ago when I last read it.

Thanks again for the pointers, and also to @ARMed_PIrate. I’m glad you didn’t see the play he describes - wipe my board without going down on cards, double ouch!

I’ll try to take my turn in our new game later today.

robinz · December 8, 2016, 11:33am

OK, on with the game!

P1T2

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Tiny Basilisk
Gemscout Owl

STARTING HAND
Ironbark Treant
Young Treant
Merfolk Prospector
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor

WORKERS
Rich Earth
Ironbark Treant

NextHand

Rampant Growth
Tiny Basilisk
Tiger Cub
Playful Panda
Gemscout Owl

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Merfolk Prospector - ($3)
Calamandra - ($1)
Tech 1 - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Spore Shambler [2/3+1A, 2 + runes]
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Merfolk Prospector [1/1]
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Calamandra lv. 1 [2/3]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 6

Thoughts

I’ve decided to play a bit differently this game - for variety’s sake if nothing else. Also because, as P1, there’s not quite so much pressure on me right from the start. Combined with the fact that P1 has smaller economy, going down the gold-producing route feels like it might work. He can certainly kill the Shambler, but that will take out/injure 2 of his units even if he midbands Drakk first. (Although - why do things only occur to me when I’ve finalised the turn? - he could take off Shambler’s armor with Drakk first, then midband Drakk to heal him before swinging with the Dog. Should really have noticed that before drawing my new hand, because I’m sure he will.) If he kills the prospector, at least I got 1 gold for it. I’m trying the Owl this game, as a cheap and hard-to-remove source of gold (who combos with Circle of Life and Wandering Mimic later in the game) - and teching cheap things in general. This might allow me to aggressively level heroes more, something which the last game taught me the value of - as well as perhaps be able to go for some more expensive Tech 2 options.

I haven’t yet decided which Tech 2 spec I’ll go for (I of course can’t build Tech 2 until turn 4 anyway, but I should probably start teching for it next turn), but I haven’t ruled any of them out!

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 4:07pm

Player 2 Turn 2

Tech, Starting Hand and Workers

TECH

Crash Bomber
Crash Bomber

STARTING HAND

Bloodrage Ogre
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster
Pillage
Bombaster

WORKERS

Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer

Next Hand

Crash Bomber
Mad Man
Pillage
Nautical Dog

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Build Tech I - ($5)
Recruit Bloodrage Ogre - ($3)
Recruit Bombaster - ($1)
Ignite Bombaster to remove Spore Shambler’s armor and deal 1 damage
Nautical Dog trades with Spore Shambler

Float ($1)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Drakk Ramhorn Lv. 1 (1/3)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 7

[details=Thoughts][spoiler]I don’t like spending so much to get rid of Spore Shambler, but if it gets a +1/+1 rune onto Calamandra…

I’m going for a different strategy this game. Next turn I’ll probably build a Tower and play Crash Bomber (so even when he has a board he’ll be less likely to attack), and then go into either Blood or Anarchy on the turn after that (depending on whether I want to stall for Tech III or if I think I can close it out before that would matter).[/spoiler][/details]

robinz · December 8, 2016, 10:10pm

Once again I drew both my first Techs on turn 3 - but I’m really not convinced they were the right choices

P1T3

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Circle of Life
Centaur

STARTING HAND
Tiny Basilisk
Tiger Cub
Rampant Growth
Playful Panda
Gemscout Owl

WORKERS
Rich Earth
Ironbark Treant
Playful Panda

NextHand

Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Verdant Tree

Discard

Spore Shambler
Rampant Growth
Circle of Life
Centaur

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
tap Prospector for 1 gold - ($6)
Tiny Basilisk - ($4)
Gemscout Owl - ($3)
Tiger Cub - ($1)

Float ($1)
Discard 1, draw 3

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Tiny Basilisk [1/2, deathtouch, unattackable by tech 0]
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Tiger Cub [2/2]
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Calamandra lv. 1 [2/3]
Merfolk Prospector [1/1]
Gemscout Owl [resist 1]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 3
Deck: 0
Disc: 4
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 7

Thoughts

I’m glad he didn’t kill everything while midbanding Drakk, as I belatedly noticed while typing the thoughts on my last turn. Not sure whether he missed it or had his reasons for not wanting to.

I’ve been lucky to once again draw both my first techs on turn 3 - but this turn took me quite a bit of time, and I’m still not sure I got it right. It probably goes to show my tech decision wasn’t very good!

Basically I’ve got a lot on the board, and lots of ways to get gold, but not much that can securely protect Calamandra. This necessitated the Tiger Cub play, as well as the obvious move of getting both my Tech 1s down. The way I’ve patrolled it will take him both a lucky hand and a big investment to kill Calamandra - as well as almost certainly an extra card. (I really hope it’s not Circle of Life, unless of course he kills Calamandra.)

I actually considered levelling Calamandra twice, doing the discard-2-cards thing, and killing Drakk with her, to get her to maxband. The only problem is that it would leave me with no patrollers other than the Basilisk, which Tech 0s can ignore. I decided I couldn’t guarantee she lived, even as a 4/5, and if she didn’t then I’d be pretty much sunk. Plus going down to zero cards is something you should only do if it gets you a pretty huge play. Killing a level 1 hero doesn’t really qualify, I don’t think.

I’m delaying Tech 2 again, because I want to get more Tech 1 guys down and I hope to get Tech 2 stuff other ways - through Circle of Life, Calamandra’s maxband and perhaps Feral Strike. (I nearly teched the latter instead of Circle of Life, but decided to leave it another cycle because there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to play it.) Next turn, when I should have plenty of gold but not many cards, I expect to do Tech 2 + level Calamandra (or perhaps Midori if Cala gets killed), and then either a Tower or another unit. Still not sure what spec I’m going to choose for Tech 2 - but he may give be some direction if he builds his Tech 2 this turn.

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 10:23pm

Found two lines of play that kill Calamandra. Trying to decide which is better, given that I’m already down on cards… I have to ride a bus soon, but I should have my turn up within the hour if all goes well.

robinz · December 8, 2016, 10:26pm

Ouch, I thought it would take a pretty lucky hand to do that. I can still cope if you do, but I’m shocked that you genuinely have 2 ways…

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 10:32pm

To make it clearer, one way involves the inability of Tiny Basilisk to block Tech 0 units (that one leaves Basilisk, Prospector and Owl alive) and the other has me max Drakk to give something from my hand Haste (that one leaves only the Owl).

The problem is that the first one has a risk of you killing Drakk in return (if your hand would allow it, it should be obvious how) but the other one leaves me only discarding 1 card if I hire a worker. Or rather, they both have me discard 1 and draw 3, but the first way leaves a Tech I in Technician.

robinz · December 8, 2016, 10:39pm

Well, I’ll wait to see what you do (And yes, I did consider that Basilisk doesn’t block Tech 0s when I planned my turn. That’s a really rather annoying downside, although without it Basilisk would clearly be too strong for a 2-cost Tech 1.) There’s no point me wasting effort trying to reconstruct what hand would allow the plays you describe - but based on the summary you’ve given, I would have thought the second way was clearly better for you (killing more stuff and maxing Drakk). Don’t forget I went down to 1 card last turn as well (albeit I knew I was very likely to draw a 4th).

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 10:44pm

Ah, but killing Calamandra will max Drakk anyway. The difference is that if I max him before that I can give haste to something, whereas if I wait I’ll miss the chance because I have to play a unit to kill Tiger Cub.

I totally forgot I haven’t leveled Drakk this game… Both ways still work, but they take more gold than I’d realized. I’m now considering a different way, but leaving Calamandra alive makes me nervous.

There are upsides to “unattackable by Tech 0,” like if I didn’t have a Tech I in hand to either attack or block it I’d be very sad right now…

Hobusu · December 8, 2016, 11:17pm

Player 2 Turn 3

Tech, Starting Hand and Workers

TECH

Kidnapping
Captured Bugblatter

STARTING HAND

Crash Bomber
Mad Man
Nautical Dog
Pillage

WORKERS

Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog

Next Hand

Crash Bomber
Makeshift Rambaster
Scorch

Discard

Bloodrage Ogre
Mad Man
Pillage
Kidnapping
Captured Bugblatter

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Recruit Mad Man - ($6)
Level Drakk to Lv. 4 - ($3)
Mad Man ignores Tiny Basilisk and trades with Tiger Cub, you draw a card
Bloodrage Ogre also ignores Tiny Basilisk (it must feel so lonely!) and trades with Calamandra, Drakk gains 2 free levels
Recruit Crash Bomber - ($2)
Patrol as shown below

Float ($2)
Discard 1, draw 3

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Crash Bomber (2/2+a) [1 to base on death]
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Drakk Ramhorn Lv. 6 (3/4)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 3
Deck: 2
Disc: 5
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 2
Workers: 8

Thoughts

I decided that leaving Calamandra alive was too big a risk, but so was going down on cards with no way to regain them. Thus the play here: While it’s unlikely he’ll kill my Technician, this also minimizes the chance that Drakk dies. Couldn’t afford Tech II this turn, but I’m going Blood for sure.

robinz · December 9, 2016, 12:52am

This is, one might argue, a gutsy turn. It could simply be insane. But I think it will annoy you, which is nice too (It will also definitely be my last turn before tomorrow.)

P1T4

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Faerie Dragon
Wandering Mimic

STARTING HAND
Verdant Tree
Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth [technician draw]

WORKERS
Rich Earth
Ironbark Treant
Playful Panda
Verdant Tree

NextHand

Circle of Life
Centaur
Tiger Cub
Spore Shambler

Discard

Rampant Growth
Tiny Basilisk
Forest’s Favor
Young Treant
Faerie Dragon
Wandering Mimic

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
reshuffle and draw 1 due to the Technician Cub’s death
Gemscout Owl finds 1 gold in upkeep - ($8)
summon Midori - ($6)
Midori casts Rampant Growth on Merfolk Prospector - ($4)
Propsector kills Crash Bomber, taking no damage. My base takes 1 damage, to 19.
Tiny Basilisk trades with Drakk, Midori gains 2 free levels (to level 3) My base takes 1 more damage (to 18), and you draw a card.
Midori to midband (which sadly doesn’t buff anything, but at least it makes him stronger) - ($2)

Float ($2)
Discard 2, draw 4

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Midori lv. 5 [3/4]
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Merfolk Prospector [1/1]
Gemscout Owl [0/1, Flying, Resist 1]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 6
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 2
Workers: 8

Thoughts

There was me, talking about building Tech 2 this turn. But the opportunity to kill Drakk was too good to miss, especially while staying at 4 cards. I didn’t see it at first because I woodenly tapped Merfolk for the money, before I realised I could do something far more exciting.

The only problem is that Midori is the only guy I have left who can protect me. At least by midbanding him and putting him in Squad Leader I make it less likely that he can be killed. My opponent has an empty board, after all. But it’s still pretty likely he can do it, with either Zane+Surprise Attack or, more realistically, Zane+Charge+(something with 2+ ATK, likely Lobber). If this happens, it would be annoying, but I would still feel slightly ahead. He’d spend a lot of gold and cards and would lose all the stuff he attacks with, while I would at least have stuff on the board, even if not great stuff for combat. And if Midori is alive next turn, even if severely injured, I can max him to heal him and go attack with him as a dragon! And also cast Circle of Life to turn the Owl into something very strong. Perhaps an Oversized Rhino to synergise with the midband, and provide ground protection while I go with fliers.

I absolutely MUST build Tech 2 next turn. If for nothing else, then to be able to get 2 heroes out. It was tempting to tech Final Showdown and/or Feral Strike, but I simply can’t predict when I might have a max-level hero on the board, or which one. So I’ve gone with 2 units, following the Balance strategy I started last game but never actually got to play. Wandering Mimic will already be a flier due to the Owl, so that’s great. So I must build Balance Tech 2 next turn, whatever else.

It’s annoying that I had to float 2 gold, but there’s nothing sensible to do with it. Levelling Midori is clearly pointless, and a complete waste if he does get killed. Hopefully he’s workered Pillage Playing Young Treant is no good when I can’t play whatever I might draw, most of which I would really want to play next turn. I actually considered Verdant Tree, to be able to get a second hero already next turn, but it’s generally a weak play and doesn’t justify going down a card and 2 gold. I’d have been more inclined to try it if I thought the healing might be relevant, but so far things have always just died in a single turn! I suppose I could build Heroes’ Hall, but I dunno, maybe I’m better just saving up for more stuff next turn (please no Pillage or hasted Taxman!).

Hobusu · December 9, 2016, 2:16am

You didn’t leave me much to work with, that’s for sure…

Player 2 Turn 4

Tech, Starting Hand and Workers

TECH

Crashbarrow
Shoddy Glider

STARTING HAND

Scorch
Makeshift Rambaster
Crash Bomber
Charge

WORKERS

Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
Scorch

Next Hand

Pillage
Mad Man
Crashbarrow
Bombaster

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
Build Blood Tech II - ($5)
Recruit Crash Bomber - ($4)

Float ($4)
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 3

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Crash Bomber (2/2)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 4
Deck: 7
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 4
Workers: 9

Thoughts

Didn’t do much this turn, but if he’s not careful I’ll be set up to blow him out next turn. We’ll see what he does…

robinz · December 9, 2016, 12:03pm

P1T5

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Final Showdown
Wandering Mimic

STARTING HAND
Tiger Cub
Centaur
Circle of Life
Spore Shambler

WORKERS
Rich Earth
Ironbark Treant
Playful Panda
Verdant Tree
Spore Shambler

NextHand

Centaur
Wandering Mimic
Gemscout Owl
Tiny Basilisk

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
get gold from Owl and Prospector - ($11)
Midori casts Circle of Life on Gemscout Owl - Owl goes to discard, and is replaced by an Oversized Rhinoceros from my Codex! - ($8)
Midori to max level, becoming a dragon! - ($5)
Build tech 2 - Balance - ($1)
Midori breathes fire all over Crash Bomber, taking no damage. My base to 17, you draw a card.

Float ($1)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Oversized Rhinoceros [8/9+1A, due to Midori midband]
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Merfolk Prospector [1/1]
max Midori [4/5, Flying on my turn]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 17
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Balance)

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 4
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 9

Thoughts

Well, in many ways this was obviously a great turn. I’m VERY pleased he didn’t manage to kill Midori. But I’m still disappointed. What I thought I was going to do was to buff Midori and use him to break his Tech 2. Even if it would mean missing my own Tech 2, the ability to destroy his and more or less guarantee doing so every single turn would be a game winner.

But I can’t buff Midori with the cards I had (I also can’t with the one in my next hand, although I can get a Mimic out who’ll have Flying on my turn). I thought at first I could do it with Spore Shambler, but then checked the card text - that only works on units Oh well, he can become a worker, and I’ll get my Tech 2 built instead.

My main decision was whether to bother killing Crash Bomber. I’ve got a huge Rhino in the way of him killing my good stuff (admittedly one which, if it does, will probably become a worker when I draw it next), which even a Crashbarrow or a Charged Land Octopus can’t get rid of on their own. I didn’t want to give him the card, because he’ll be drawing into some really good stuff - but in the end I decided it was better to clear his board, and delay the Rhino being taken down.

My biggest worry is Shoddy Gliders - 2 of those can kill Midori But I’ve definitely got a huge advantage. He’ll have trouble filling the patrol zone, and if he concentrates on killing Midori I can swing the Rhino at him. I do regret not having Midori attack his Tech 2, because if he did I could almost certainly burn it down next turn. Now I definitely can’t. But I still can’t complain about how the game is going

Hobusu · December 9, 2016, 11:36pm

Player 2 Turn 5

Tech, Starting Hand and Workers

TECH

Surprise Attack
Pirate-Gang Commander

STARTING HAND

Bombaster
Crashbarrow
Pillage
Mad Man
Captured Bugblatter (technician)

WORKERS

Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
Scorch
Mad Man

Next Hand

Bloodrage Ogre
Shoddy Glider
Charge
Makeshift Rambaster

Discard

Crash Bomber
Crashbarrow
Pillage
Bombaster
Surprise Attack
Pirate-Gang Commander

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($13)
Worker - ($12)
Recruit Captured Bugblatter - ($9)
Recruit Crashbarrow - ($6)
Build Tech III - ($1)
Crashbarrow does 5 damage to Rhino (after armor) and dies, your base takes 1 damage

Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4

[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Captured Bugblatter (4/2)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Tech III HP

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

Hand: 4
Deck: 2
Disc: 6
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 10

Thoughts

I think he has this won, especially since I wasn’t able to draw Kidnapping… I have a 50% chance of getting it if he kills my Bugblatter, and I’ve specifically set up the damage on it so I can probably trade it and one of his other units into each other with Kidnapping. Went to Tech III as a bit of a diversion. If he breaks Tech II next turn it won’t affect much, and if he breaks Tech III instead it affects nothing. Either way, next turn I can summon 2 heroes and do things with them.