That’s too tempting to pass up, even if I have to derail my plans a bit to make it happen.
P1T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Kidnapping
Kidnapping
STARTING HAND
Bombaster
Pillage
Mad Man
Charge
Scorch
WORKERS
XXX
XXX
NextHand
Careless Musketeer
Kidnapping
Nautical Dog
Pillage
Scorch
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Drakk Ramhorn - ($3)
Bombaster - ($1)
Dog trades with Fox
Pillage steals $2, your base to 18 - ($2)
Ogre drops your base to 15
Worker - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L1 Drakk Ramhorn (1/3A) Explosive
Elite:
Scavenger: Bombaster (2/2) Self-destruct
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Bloodrage Ogre (3/2) Aggressive
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 6
Thoughts
Mmm, I really wanna steal $2, and I really wanna trade Mad Man for that Ninja, but despite being able to afford both, I can’t do so without dipping into the red, which of course is not an option. Guess I should hold the Mad Man in reserve, I’ll have more options going forward that way. I think I’ll take Kidnapping, it can be really efficient if I manage to trade 2 of his guys with each other, and it should nicely complement my other aggression options.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Nautical Dog - ($5)
Careless Musketeer - ($3)
Tech I - ($1)
Ogre trades with Monk
Drakk kills Smoker
Bombaster reduces your base to 13 HP
I won’t get my teched cards until T5, so I may as well go straight for tech II units. I’m at risk of retaliation by spell at this point, so I need to take that into account when setting my patrol. Suprise Attack would require him to skip a worker… more likely I’m facing Shuriken Hail and/or Speed of the Fox. IPN is also possible, but that could be taken by Kidnapping and potentially tweaked into a trade by managing my unit count, although doing that would delay my Tech II building… still, my tech I units aren’t exciting, and my tech 0 units aren’t going away, so I think it’s worth aiming straight for Tech II. Since I’ve already chipped away 1/4 of his base HP, and since I have cards that directly damage his base, I think I’ll try to focus it down directly rather than picking on his other tech buildings, which means Bugblatter is the tech II unit of choice.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Kidnapping, Fuzz Cuddles turns traitor! - ($3)
Careless Musketeer and Fuzz Cuddles trade with Taxman
Mad Man trades with Fox Viper - ($2)
Makeshift Rambaster - ($0)
Drakk drops your base to 12 HP
Bombaster drops your base to 10 HP
Dog drops your base to 8 HP
Rambaster drops your base to 5 HP
If I want to maintain my board advantage here, I need to postpone my Tech II, so I’ll go for Crash Bombers in keeping with my theme of base destruction.
Well I did tech and draw Surprise Attack, so I can temporarily derail this train, but I can’t stop it from reaching it’s destination XD GG WP! Roll us again, gambler
Yeah, with Crash Bombers and Captured Bugblatters waiting in the wings, I can’t imagine how to hold on to those remaining base HP. GG WP. I rolled [Strength]/Necromancy/Balance for myself and [Ninjutsu]/Anarchy/Necromancy for you, but feel free to mulligan that if you don’t want something so similar to what you just played.
No base damage suggests quickly rushing Lich’s Bargain, though my opponent also has that option… and I have Jefferson DeGrey. Owls may be the best opener for me, aiming for Circle of Life for T4-T5. He can build his Tech II on T3, and follow up with damage-proof Sanatoriums or Fox’s Den School on T4, so I should probably proactively tech both Nature Reclaims (or Corpse Catapult… or maybe even Wandering Mimic) and immediately build a Tower if I see him spec into Ninjutsu. Doom Grasp and Nether Drain are effective, so buying hero levels early is risky at best, although the idea of amassing skeletons and dropping a midband Midori on T5 is kinda tempting… especially since I have means of removing his Safe Attacking and he doesn’t have means of removing mine. On the other hand, he has access to Skeleton Lords, and can play them a turn sooner than I can. Well, I can delay many of these decisions until T2… for now, I should just efficiently select a high-value card to play. I can safely postpone playing a hero. Flagbearer is pretty much only useful for thwarting Doom Grasp, and I can hold off on that. Let’s go with Sensei for now, it’s useful and cheap… which should help to discourage Death Rites and Maximum Anarchy, as well as keeping my options open.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Safe Attacking - ($5)
Tech I - ($3)
Float ($3)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger: Aged Sensei (1/1) Buffs stuff
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Safe Attacking
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 3
Workers: 6
Thoughts
An interesting option for me would be to build an army of Skeletons, cast Death Rites, and follow-up with Jefferson DeGray. I’d clear out both players’ tokens, then further wipe out one non-token unit for each of my dead tokens. However, that would require getting Garth to maxband, likely using up the fetch on a Tech I unit, having him not get Nether Drained, and drawing both Death Rites and DeGray on T5. There are plently of ways that could go wrong. Well, it looks like he’s investing in tokens, and if that continues, I should probably just drop Garth and fetch DeGray in the same turn, avoiding tokens of my own. That being the case, I think Owls are my best option. I was worried he might rush Detonate to delay my tech progress, but if he’s leading with Garth, that’s probably not the case.
With all this extra gold, I’d be tempted to consider a Surplus, if not facing Ninjutsu. Although, I’m starting to suspect he’s aiming to cheat in a tech III unit via Skeletal Lord. If that’s his plan, he’ll need Bone Collectors to do so before I have a chance to DeGrey. If he does manage to bring in a Gunship, however, I’ll be in major trouble. If he drops a Bone Collector and builds a Tech II: Necro next turn, that’ll be a 5 alarm fire. And how will I respond…? I think Moment’s Peace might be my best bet.