Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Skip Worker!
Drakk Ramhorn - ($6)
Bloodlust on Drakk and Crash Bomber - ($4)
Crash Bomber trades with Tax Collector Bloodlust on Grave and Savior Monk
Drakk suicides into Grave for 2 damage, your base to 18, levels fizzle
Tech II Balance - ($0) Grave and Savior Monk die of lust, you draw
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Balance)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 9
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
Defenders: 4, 3hero | 2, 1heals
Attack: 2+1 Bomber, 1 Drakk for 2 gold, 1+1 for 2 gold twice, 1 for 4 gold and heal Drakk (2 gold with Grave dying)
Just enough to clear the patrol and Savior Monk.
Can I get away with lusting Drakk twice, hitting the Tax Collector then midbanding him to survive with 1 HP? He can’t through the Tax Collector by himself, so no.
Attack Tax Collector with both, Bomber does extra damage to Grave. Lust Grave twice so he dies at end of turn. Does that midband Drakk before he dies too? I don’t know. Anyway, this leaves the Partner and the Monk alive.
Kill Tax Collector with lusted Bomber, Attack Grave with lusted Drakk, Lust Grave and Monk so they die. The better option, I think: Drakk’s spells are spent for next turn.
Right, I just need to survive the next turn. There’s only a Sparring Partner left on the board, so hopefully I’m fine.
EDIT: Hmm, the former option would’ve killed the Monk too, because I wouldn’t have to put Bloodlust on the Bomber. So ending with a 2/2 midband Drakk on the board and 2 float was an option, and I’m going into a weak hand with a spare turn to build Tech II. That would’ve been great, I’ll ask Nekoatl at the end about the trigger order.
@Nekoatl could I change my turn order a bit? I’m drawing into the same cards either way, but I think I’ve got a slightly better option here. (Actually, I’d be drawing less because I’d be adding a worker.)
Hmm, actually it depends. Suppose that I had Drakk at level 2, and both Drakk and Grave die of Bloodlust at the end of the turn, does Drakk die, or go to midband then take lust damage?
Ugh, I did not need to deal with Rambasa Twins right now. However, he has brought Injunction out on a turn where I have no Tech II in hand, so if he hasn’t drawn into another one I’ve just dodged a nasty bullet.
Time to block up. 7 gold gets me either a tower with Argagarg and Galina/Tiger Cub, or Argagarg + Galina + Cub + Heroes’ Hall, or max Arg + Water Elemental + Galina. I get 3/3/4 blockers, but it’s more like 3/2/3 looking at which blockers can do at least 2 damage. Going with the latter, I can’t afford to go too down on cards here if I want to hit Tech II units in time. Injunction can still leave my Tech II doomed, though.
… Great hand if my Tech II survives and isn’t disabled, otherwise it’s game.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + scavenger - ($10)
Skip worker!
Drakk Ramhorn - ($8)
Dothram Horselord - ($5)
Bloodlust on Horselord and backline Insurance Agent - ($3)
Midband Drakk - ($0)
Galina trades with Insurance Agent
Horselord kills Grave and and destroys your Tech III, you draw, your base to 17, takes 2 damage, Drakk hits level 6 (maxband) Insurance Agent dies of lust, Horselord takes 1 lust damage
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Drakk L6 3/4+1A (1 to your base if killed)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Dothram Horselord 6/2 (overpower, 3 damage)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Balance)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
OK, I’ve got enough for Horselord, Lust, Drakk, and something for 3 gold, either midband Drakk or putting down a Basilisk.
Defence: 3 3h | 5h 2 1 2c
Attack: 7 horselord 1 Drakk 2 Galina 1 Bloodlust, then 2 (midband). Total 13, so theoretically enough to clear the patrol and either kill two backliners, or one backliner and the Tech III building. Let’s assume I’m midbanding Drakk. Then
Galina kills SQL
Horselord kills Grave and deals 5 to either Bigby or Tech III
Either Agent is killed with Lust, or Lust Drakk and do 4 damage to Rambasa Twin
Nekoatl’s left with either 8 or 5 attack, depending on whether I kill Bigby. Problem is, I think I have to take the Tech III down. That leaves me with 6/9 attack on the board compared to his 8, so I’ll probably lose control. I’ve got a turn without worrying about Insurance Agents, at least.
Well, you did delay my infinite combo, and it was probably worth handing me control of a damaged Horselord to take out Grave and a tech building. However, I think you should have smashed the Tech II instead of the Tech III, as that would also have stopped the Rememberer from fetching an Ebbflow Archon, but would have further prevented it from fetching anything else. I forgot to note on my spreadsheet the damage from Drakk’s turn 5 suicide attack, so my base is actually down to 16 HP now.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($18)
Rebuild Tech III
Rememberer - ($13)
Seer, remove from Rememberer, remembers Rememberer - ($12)
Snapback, replace Drakk with Argagarg, you get a Wisp - ($9)
Rambasa Twin and Sparring Partner break Tech II
Maxband Bigby - ($7)
Bigby draws a card
Injunction, Tech I disabled - ($4)
Morningstar Flagbearer - ($1)
GG, I’m out of tricks here. I agree about hitting Tech II, and now I’m looking back at the turn I should have played the Fairie Dragon instead, you’d have had a bigger board but it would’ve been able to stick.
I’m a bit stuck on what to do in this match, to be honest. I think I’ve basically got two options to deal with the Insurance Agents:
Polymorph Squirrel, then kill the insured unit. Highly dependant on draw.
Put on the pressure before Tech II. I’ve been getting a bit better at that, I think, but I feel like I’m running up against the Green starter’s limits.
GG. Of all the builds that @Penatronic steamrolled me with when I first started playing on the forums, the Insurance Agent / Rambasa Twin combo was the one I felt most overwhelmed by, so I’m sure toppling this build is no easy challenge. The gold efficiency makes rapidly climbing the tech ladder relatively easy and late game card costs largely irrelevant. I think your strongest counter is probably Kidnapping the Insurance Agents and trading them into something so you get the gold and card draw, but that only works if I don’t kill the insured unit in the same turn I insure it… which makes it important to kill the Rambasa Twins before they get a chance to attack. More generally, though, I think you need more burst damage to take down priority targets, e.g. Dinosize a Wisp to kill Grave, but that’s expensive and I’m wary of it, meaning there’s usually some cannon fodder in the way.
Ultimately, to have a chance of competing economically, you might need to take advantage of more of Green’s gold production. Even if I immediately used Versatile Style to clear Rich Earth, it’s an even trade if you recruited a free worker in the turn you played it, I’d have to spend a tech choice if I want to clear it, and most likely I wouldn’t be able to clear it immediately so you’d come out with a gold advantage in the trade. Also, early Gemscout Owls quickly pay for themselves and are ideal for powering Circle of Life which notably does not require a matching Tech building to be in play. I saw you try to use Galina Glimmer, but she only really shines if you’ve already managed to build some board presence.
I put Galina in as another cheap attack unit on top of the Bombers, to make sure I fired off decent Bloodlusts, rather for her ability. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to play Green when I’d prefer to be the aggressor, but I find it hard to work out the economic approach here, simply because of the high early threat of Grave, combined with Midori being my only decent combat hero. I did consider Kidnapping, but it always feels like I’ve got more urgent things to tech, especially when I’m suiciding Drakk as soon as he arrives. I don’t know, maybe I just need to go back and practise MonoGreen, or switch to other starters for a while. Or give up on trying to stop Grave from balling.
Anyway, happy to go another round and see if I can mix up the early game somehow.
OK, let’s just open with Birds and an Owl and see how far we get with a hard air push. It feels weird not putting Rook in patrol, but I think this is the only way to stop Grappling Hook allowing Sensei to boost a midband Grave and allow a hero kill, while still being able to afford Tech I.
STARTING HAND
Snapback
Fox Primus
Safe Attacking
Smoker
Savior Monk
WORKERS
Fox Viper
Smoker
NextHand
Grappling Hook
Morningstar Flagbearer
Safe Attacking
Snapback
Fox Primus
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Tech I - ($2)
Savior Monk - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Savior Monk (2/2A) Healing 1
Elite: Aged Sensei (2/1)
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L1 Grave Stormborne (2/3) Sparkshot
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
If his Treant only had 2 points of armor, it’d be easy to deal with, but as is, I’m in a tight spot. Where’s my Grappling Hook when I need it? Oh well, I can still defend Grave effectively, or so it would appear. Also, I noticed he’s wised up to my single Tax Collector ways and has started to float gold on turns when my solo Tax Collector is in play, so I’ll double up this time to keep him guessing.
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
Base HP: 20