The basic plan here is to rush a 3-hero Metamorphosis, then start using Feral Strike with Setsuki’s draw power to dump high-value units while Setsuki uses Swift Strike to provoke the Tower’s invisiblity detection and allow Vandy and Calamandra to crush buildings. By not playing units directly, I can unhesitatingly make use of Barons.
Rampant Growth
Young Treant
Rich Earth
Forest’s Favor
Tiger Cub
Thoughts
Green Starter means I don’t have to play around the usual Black cards. I’m in a game position. As long as I keep him from getting too much Rich Earth value.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker
Find gold - ($6)
Tech I - ($4)
Young Treant - ($2)
Calamandra - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Young Treant (0/2A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: L1 Calamandra Moss (2/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Rich Earth
Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
Building a Tech I now, does that mean he’ll try to Treant-draw a tech card to play next turn? I guess I’ll go for it… once they’re in play, they’ll be sticky enough, and they can proactively clear threats, which is fine as long as I don’t play anything with haste. I’ll go ahead and play Calamandra even though I don’t expect ther to live, because she’s not necessary for my immediate plans and my Tech I building is.
STARTING HAND
Ironbark Treant
Gargoyle
Spore Shambler
Rampant Growth
Forest’s Favor
Verdant Tree
WORKERS
Tiger Cub
Playful Panda
Ironbark Treant
NextHand
Dark Pact
Dark Pact
Spore Shambler
Young Treant
Gargoyle
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker
Find gold - ($7)
Gargoyle - ($4)
Verdant Tree - ($2)
Heroes’ Hall - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree (0/3) Healing 1
Gargoyle (0/2) Indestructible
Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
So close to tech-drawing the 2nd Gargoyle, but no dice. Still, with buffs, 1 should be enough to take down Calamandra, though not before she can cause some more trouble. Notably, I can now summon a hero without concern of giving away levels, however, to do so would mean I might not have the optimal choice available next turn. I kind of regret workoring the Panda, it would have made useful fodder for Banefire Golem… though I suppose Murkwood Allies is a superior choice, so I guess it’s fine. For now, I’ll present a variety of targets and hope that one of them looks more interesting to Calamandra than summoning a Tiger. I’m a bit unsure what I should be teching from here on, but I figure Dark Pact is a good start to make my buildup more reliable.
Young Treant
Huntress
Forest’s Favor
Spore Shambler
Thoughts
Might of Leaf and Claw. The Green Card every Black player fears. His attackers won’t be accomplishing anything soon. I think a stalking tiger next turn would be a nice addition.
Young Treant
Huntress
Forest’s Favor
Spore Shambler
Worker
Spore Shambler
Tech
Murkwood Allies and Polymorph Squirrel
Get paid + scavenger ($9)
Find gold ($10)
Worker ($9)
Hire Huntress ($7)
Hire Arg ($5)
Maxband Arg ($1)
Calamandra and panda destroy your tech 2
Float 1 gold
Might of Leaf and Claw
Might of Leaf and Claw
Polymorph
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
No worker
Tech
Rampaging Elephant 2x
Get paid + float + scavenger ($11)
Research Might of Leaf and Claw ($8)
Research Might of Leaf and Claw ($5)
Cast Forest’s Favor on a wisp ($3)
Polymorph a Gargoyle ($0)
Playful Panda kills merfolk prospector
Calamandra kills Vandy
Buff wisp and prospector suicide into Calamandra
Arg kills Calamandra
Might of Leaf and Claw 2x activates
Remaining wisp does 10 damage to your base.
In play: Calamandra (14/15) Arg (11/13) Wisp (10/11) Playful Panda (12/11) MoLaC***** MoLaC*****
Last game I didn’t plan for Gemscout Owls (which really highlights the disadvantage of planning by memory rather than using codexcarddb) and didn’t notice the Growth spec. I was also probably too focused on levelling Vandy first to get free level-ups with Metamorphosis, which might be easier to do with Black starter than Green.