[CAWS20] Round1: Bomber678 [Finesse]/Anarchy/Strength vs Steve44 [Necromancy/Disease]/Discipline

Steve44 · January 7, 2021, 9:02pm

[b]P2T6[/b]

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Training Grounds
Young Lightning Dragon

STARTING HAND
Lich’s Bargain
Summon Skeletons
Deteriorate
Crypt Crawler
Plague Spitter
Poisonblade Rogue

WORKERS
Graveyard
Thieving Imp
Skeletal Archery

NextHand

Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Training Grounds
Jandra, the Negator
Nether Drain

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
skip Worker
Summon Garth Torken - ($7)
Cast Lich`s Bargain: I sacrifice a worker, base to 16 HP - ($5)
Hire Plague Spitter - ($2)
Hire Crypt Crawler - ($0)

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

Board Info:
In Patrol:

Squad Leader: Horror (3/3a) deathtouch
Elite: Plague Spitter (4/3) Anti-air, Plague touch
Scavenger: Zombie (2/2)
Technician: Skeleton (1/1)
Lookout: Rambasa Twin (3/2)

In Play:

Garth Torken (1/3) Level1
Crypt Crawler (3/3) Sparkshot

Buildings:

Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 2
Tech II HP: 5 (Discipline)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

Economy Info:
Cards:

Hand: 5
Deck: 7
Disc: 0

Gold:

Gold: 0
Workers: 8

Steve44 · January 7, 2021, 6:15pm

@Unity Hey Unity…you know, finding names is a little bit tricky for me

Unity · January 7, 2021, 6:19pm

I know

Bomber678 · January 7, 2021, 6:23pm

I’m sorry, but the Javelineer and Haunt died from Discord

Steve44 · January 7, 2021, 9:10pm

Sorry, I made a correction…I hope I didn´t overlook another fault…

Bomber678 · January 7, 2021, 9:35pm

Turn 7

Hand: Wither, Steam Tank, Brick Thief, Tenderfoot, Nimble Fencer
Tech: Surprise Attack, Disguised Monkey
Workers: Spark, Fruit Ninja, Granfalloon Flagbearer, Older Brother, Helpful Turtle, Entangling Vines

Tech 2 cards
Get paid (+$10, $10)
Summon Steam Tank ($7)
Summon Nimble Fencer ($5)
Rook kills Horror, crumbles
River kills Rambasa
Maxband River ($3)
Summon Tenderfoot ($3)
Summon Brick Thief, 1 damage to your Tech 2 ($2)
Tenderfoot and Fencer kill Plague Spitter
Discard 1, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 1

Patrol:
Squad Leader: Steam Tank (3/6+A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Brick Thief (2/1)
Lookout:

Buildings:
Tech 1: 5
Tech 2: 5
Tech 3: 5
Heroes’ Hall: 4
Units/Heroes:
Garus Rook lvl 8 (4/6) Crumbling
River Montoya lvl 5 (3/4)
Base: 20
Other:

Economy:

Workers: 10
Gold: 2
Hand: 3
Deck: 11
Discard: 0

Hand

Bird’s Nest, Pirate Gunship, Nimble Fencer

Discard

Think

Very unfortunate I didn’t have my gunship and that he had such a big board come out. Lots of different lines I could’ve taken, but I think it was very important to eliminate the big threats. Hopefully my tech 3 stays alive and I can slam gunships, but if not, I’ll get to lay down birds to start ruining his backline stuff.

Steve44 · January 8, 2021, 6:28am

[b]P2T7[/b]

StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Nether Drain
Jandra, the Negator
Poisonblade Rogue
Training Grounds
Summon Skeletons

WORKERS
Graveyard
Thieving Imp
Skeletal Archery
Jandra, the Negator

NextHand

Young Lightning Dragon
Sickness
Young Lightning Dragon
Sacrifice the Weak

Discard

Rambasa Twin
Plague Spitter
Nether Drain
Poisonblade Rogue
Summon Skeletons
Death and Decay
Spreading Plague

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Play Training Grounds - ($6)
Summon Grave - ($4)
Summon a Skeleton - ($3)
Cast Nether Drain to River Grave to Level3 - ($1)

Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4

Board Info:
In Patrol:

Squad Leader: Grave Stormborne (4/4a) Sparkshot, Readiness Level3 +1attack (TG)
Elite: Crypt Crawler (4/3) Sparkshot
Scavenger: Zombie (2/2)
Technician: Skeleton (1/1)
Lookout: Skeleton (1/1)

In Play:

Garth Torken (2/3) Level3 +1 attack (TG)
Training Grounds (4)

Buildings:

Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 2
Tech II HP: 4 (Discipline)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

Economy Info:
Cards:

Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 7

Gold:

Gold: 1
Workers: 9

Bomber678 · January 8, 2021, 8:09am

Gunship time

Turn 8

Hand: Bird’s Nest, Pirate Gunship, Nimble Fencer
Workers: Spark, Fruit Ninja, Granfalloon Flagbearer, Older Brother, Helpful Turtle, Entangling Vines

Tech 0 cards
Get paid (+$10, $12)
Summon Nimble Fencer ($10)
Summon Captain Zeno Zane ($8)
Summon Pirate Gunship ($2)
Cast Bird’s Nest ($0)
Gunship destroys Grave, Obliterates Skeletons, you draw, River maxbands
Brick Thief trades with Zombie, deals 1 damage to your base
River trades with Crypt Crawler, Garth gains 2 levels
Rook (4) Fencer (2) Steam Tank (7) and Captain Zane (2) deal 15 damage to your base, destroying it
Discard 0, draw 2

Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:

Buildings:
Tech 1: 5
Tech 2: 5
Tech 3: 5
Heroes’ Hall: 4
Units/Heroes:
Steam Tank (3/6)
Nimble Fencer (2/3)
Bird (1/1)
Bird (1/1)
Pirate Gunship (7/6)
Garus Rook lvl 8 (4/6) Crumbling
Captain Zeno Zane (2/2)
Base: 20
Other:
Bird’s Nest

Economy:

Workers: 10
Gold: 0
Hand: 2
Deck: 9
Discard: 1

Hand

Gunpoint Taxman, Pirate Gunship

Discard

Brick Thief

Think

I did it.

@FrozenStorm Check maths/not accidentally cheating/etc

Gg pal. Gunship OP.

Steve44 · January 8, 2021, 2:08pm

@Bomber678 GG WP!! I have to practise a lot, you play definitely a few levels above me! Thanks for the lesson. Congrats!

Bomber678 · January 8, 2021, 2:14pm

Heh, in some ways. I think offence is way easier than defence. I reckon I’d struggle facing down what I put you through.
You still had me worried with that big drop turn 6!

zhavier · January 8, 2021, 8:17pm

I don’t think its a big deal, but Steve44, when you have to correct your turn, even a minor correction, its important to reshuffle and draw a new next hand during tournament play.

Also, Codex is definitely designed with offense preferred, imo.

Steve44 · January 10, 2021, 7:56pm

@zhavier

bansa · January 11, 2021, 12:42am

I’m curious what would be considered as offense preferred design. Not having instant response cards is one that I can think of, but I believe that exclusion was necessary for asynchronous gameplay.

My understanding is that new design features in Codex have emphasis on defense. Patrol zone not only replaces the instants but also takes the game to another level of complexity. Tower is another good example of addition that bolsters line of defense. Worker/Tech Building system is a highlight of defense/build up oriented game design and is what really distinguishes Codex from other MTG type of games.

That being said, offense still wins you the game not defense. I think this is just the nature of the win condition. A truly defense preferred design would require different approach to the win con. There is just so much to talk about here but since it is not the post for such discussion, to keep it short, my impression on Codex is that it successfully implemented some key defense/build up oriented game designs and they are very meaty and satisfying that I’m still digesting it years after I’m introduced to the game.

zhavier · January 11, 2021, 12:48pm

It is more that most of the defense strategies, which i mean as delaying to tech 2 or 3 without impacting your enemies board very much, are weaker than strategies that are aggressive in the early game. Offense in the early game is stronger than any of the defensive options in the early game.

bansa · January 13, 2021, 6:14am

Totally agree on this and it explains the apparent P1 advantage. Now that I think about it again, I feel that base HP being 20 is a big factor in strong early aggression. MTG gives P2 a card advantage in attempt for P1-P2 balance and Codex gives P2 a gold/tech advantage. I think card advantage weighs more and is prolly the reason for heavier P1 advantage in Codex. Base HP again I think is tied to this equation.

That being said, I absolutely feel the same way with @Bomber678 about defense being much harder than offense especially the patrol choices as P2. And for this very reason, I think there is still much room to improve on P2 turns as a community and I believe we can close the gap in P1-P2 disparity.

Bomber678 · January 13, 2021, 6:19am

Yeah player one really can just “play threats”, and it’s not that hard. Responding to threats is very difficult, because it requires prediction and a lot of skill

bansa · January 13, 2021, 7:01am

Absolutely, and you bring up a good point on a topic I was a bit hesitant to share thoughts as it is totally subjective. Based on my experience so far, I believe below are the three areas that really set the top players apart from us. I kind of wanted to keep this to myself selfishly, but I also want to improve with everyone on this forum, so here they are:

Tech Choices - This is prolly the most obvious. Obvious doesn’t make it any easy though. Tech choices are extremely difficult as @Bomber678 noted because it requires prediction and experience.
Patrol Choices - This I feel deserves more attention. I lose so many games just by bad patrol lines. You make one mistake against the top players and yea we all know what happens next.
Timing of Reshuffle - This is the big reveal. You and I wonder how does he have the needed cards in hand every single time? No, they are not cheating. They are timing the reshuffle precisely and this is the secret to the next level.

As you probably noticed, all of above is a concept that doesn’t exist in MTG and this is why any attempt to translate the MTG logics over to Codex is not successful.
Codex is just simply far superior game that really can’t be compared to any of games in genre.

Sorry guys @FrozenStorm, @zhavier and @EricF if I revealed too much of secret We all are working hard to bring you guys some challenging matches.
Either that or you prolly are thinking this guy has no idea why we are better

Bomber678 · January 13, 2021, 6:59am

This is a good post

Bomber678 · January 13, 2021, 7:03am

Please make a thread about this because I think it’s a great thing to talk about, and I have some thoughts

bansa · January 13, 2021, 7:21am

I can try. Not sure what to do though. I’ll take a pass at it. Thread created.