Just to clarify, was it decided that players can use starting cards from any color regardless of which specs their codex has? That didn’t come up last game if I recall correctly, but this time you have Bloom without a Neutral spec (this could be replaced with Forest’s Favor) and Reputable Newsman without a Blue spec.
Yes, there is no rule restricting starter cards to those of the hero colors, and this is deliberate. Allowing cards from all 7 starters allows for more strategies than restricting the choices to match the heroes, and these variant rules are all about allowing players to experiment with strategies that aren’t normally possible. This might lead to certain cards being picked more often, but I think players will naturally gravitate towards certain favorite cards regardless, so I’m not too worried about that right now.
Last game, we both chose to stick to cards that wouldn’t burden us with a multicolor penalty, but that’s not a concern for me this time around.
Graveyard
Wither
Bloom
Sacrifice the Weak
Tenderfoot
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (4)
Tech 2 cards in (except turn 1)
All Teched Cards
Main:
Vandy (2)
Tenderfoot (1)
Worker (0)
Workers
Bloom
Patrol as below
Discard 3 Draw 4 rs Draw 1
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Vandy (2/3+1armor lvl 1)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Tenderfoot (1/2)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 5
End of Turn Hand
Deteriorate
Thieving Imp
Pestering Haunt
Timely Messenger
Sacrifice the Weak
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
This is going to be a much tougher series. Let’s see how I do against the Legendary hoarde! I’m definitely going to want Sac the Weak this time, so let’s have Bloom be the worker casualty
Graveyard
Wither
Sacrifice the Weak
Timely Messenger (discarded)
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (6)
Tech 2 cards in (except turn 1)
All Teched Cards
Nimble Fencer, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Shadow Blade
Main:
Haunt pings your tech1 to 4hp
River (4)
Graveyard (2)
Tech 1 (1)
Worker (0)
Workers
Wither, Thieving Imp, Bloom
Patrol as below
Discard 1 Draw 3
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech1 HP: 5
Hero’s Hall HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tenderfoot (1/2+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger: River (2/3 lvl 1)
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Vandy (3/1 lvl 3)
Pestering Haunt (1/1)
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 0
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
End of Turn Hand
Shadow Blade
Dark Pact
Deteriorate
End of Turn Discard
Timely Messenger
Nimble Fencer
Hooded Executioner
Sacrifice the Weak
My Thoughts
I think the goal here is going to be be as aggressive as possible next turn while teching up and Maxbanding Vandy, but should the need arise to delay tech 2 a turn, I think that will be reasonable. I’m likely teching the other Dark Pact and another Hoodie next turn (perhaps a Starlet), but we shall see. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to simply max vandy and use River as a blocker while teching up on Demonology, and planning to Meta + Garth for a lone Dozer. I should be able to do work with that
Shadow Blade
Dark Pact
Deteriorate
Hooded Executioner + Sacrifice the Weak
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (7)
Tech 2 cards in (except turn 1)
All Teched Cards
Dark Pact, Star-Crossed Starlet
Nimble Fencer, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Shadow Blade
Main:
Dark Pact, rs Draw 2
Maxband Vandy, Dooming Tenderfoot and Jandra (5)
Tenderfoot kills Imp
Sacrifice the Weak, Jandra leaves, Tenderfoot to graveyard, you get a card (3)
Vandy breaks your tech 1, your base to 17
River and Haunt smack your base to 14
Resurrect Tenderfoot (2)
Worker (1)
Workers
Shadow Blade, Wither, Thieving Imp, Bloom
Patrol as below
Discard 2 Draw 4
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech1 HP: 5
Hero’s Hall HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tenderfoot (1/2+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Vandy (4/5 lvl 5)
River (2/3 lvl 1)
Pestering Haunt (1/1)
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 8
End of Turn Hand
Dark Pact
Timely Messenger
Nimble Fencer
Star-Crossed Starlet
End of Turn Discard
Dark Pact
Sacrifice the Weak
Hooded Executioner
Deteriorate
My Thoughts
Well one thing going for a first tech Mythmaking and no other blockers against StW is: risky. Teching the other Dark Pact, and I think it’s better to have Starlet in the deck than another Hoodie, despite the immediately RS usefulness of the Hoodie. I’m 80% to hit at least one of Hoodie, StW or Dark Pact on a draw 2 of 6, I’d rather keep the deck more dangerous into next turn.
…
Nice, got the StW. I can now use Tenderfoot + Vandy max to kill Imp, StW to move the double-buffed Jandra, and smash his buildings while setting up Meta threat and utilizing my Graveyard to put tenderfoot back in card free. He’ll be forced to tower + Arg mid/max just to force me to draw for the chance of re-breaking his tech 1 with a Meta. This is oppressive
In retrospect, I should have reversed the positions of those patrollers… I forgot StW was in his starter. Now, I’m in an awkward position, where I need to defend my base, but I can’t expect to be able to play Tech I units, and I don’t know if Argagarg will survive, which makes teching useful spells difficult, to say the least. I guess my best move is to split my techs between Argagarg and Vandy.
Dark Pact
Timely Messenger
Nimble Fencer
Star-Crossed Starlet
Deteriorate + Sacrifice the Weak
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (8+1float)
Tech 2 cards in (except turn 1)
All Teched Cards
Metamorphosis, Star-Crossed Starlet
Dark Pact, Star-Crossed Starlet
Nimble Fencer, Hooded Executioner
Dark Pact, Shadow Blade
Main:
Dark Pact, rs Draw 2
Deteriorate Wisp
Haunt hits Arg and Vandy finishes Arg, River to level 3
Nimble Fencer (7)
Star-Crossed Starlet, trades with Elemental, you get 1g (5)
Maxband River, she and Tenderfoot break your tower, your base to 12 (3)
Replay Starlet from the grave, she and Fencer break your tech 1, yor base to 10 (1)
Worker (0)
Workers
Shadow Blade, Wither, Thieving Imp, Bloom
Patrol as below
Discard 2 Draw 4
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech1 HP: 5
Hero’s Hall HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Vandy (4/3 lvl 5)
Star-Crossed Starlet (3/2)
Nimble Fencer (2/3)
Tenderfoot (1/1)
River (3/3 lvl 5)
Graveyard (3hp, holding Haunt)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 8
End of Turn Hand
End of Turn Discard
Dark Pact
Sacrifice the Weak
Hooded Executioner
Deteriorate
My Thoughts
I don’t think I want to tech both Metas, so I’ll take the 50/50 draw for it, and if I whiff just try to break the tech 1 the old fashioned way. I’ve got plenty of haste, I’ll add another Starlet for even more hasty damage.
…
No luck this time, but Deteriorate and StW are pretty reasonable runners up. I can work with that. Can’t quite destroy base, but he has no real recourse to defend next turn. This should be GG
I think the best thing to do here is to just accept the one-turn of invisibility to go straight at his base and Dark Pact him, then protect Demon Vandy for a draw or two to try and get the other Dark Pact. Shouldn’t be too hard but we’ll see
Jandra, the Negator (8/7) Overpower, doomed [1 damage] {Soul Stone}
Buildings:
Base HP: 2
Tech I HP: 5
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Too bad I can’t afford a Tech II this turn, and I’ll probably die to another Dark Pact turn after next. I can’t afford to skimp on defense now, though, so I’ll just have to trust my fate to the shuffler.
(Sorry for the mulligan, but after chewing on the possibilities, I want to put more thought into my opening strategy. Will post a turn 1 after my tournament game is finished.)
Sacrifice the Weak makes it difficult to play expensive units right off the bat (Thieving Imp as Scavenger would be a favorable trade by 1 card, but I would be ceding board control, and that card would likely not make a difference so early), so I basically open with either Argagarg, Vandy, or Reputable Newsman. Reputable Newsman has the problem that he presents no threat on his own and dies if Jandra’s killed in combat, so I basically need an established board, preferably with a hero, to protect him. I think Vandy’s the best choice, both for early aggression potential and to Soul Stone Jandra. Maybe I should just go for a Metamorphosis of my own, though with Nether Drain on his side, I’d be at a disadvantage in that race, so probably better not to.