One of the two biggest disadvantages I’ve found to having a larger starting deck is that even with 2 copies of a lockdown spell and optimum luck, it can’t be cast every turn. You get to keep your Tech I… for the moment.
P1T5
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Dreamscape
Macciatus, The Whisperer
STARTING HAND
Brave Knight
Brave Knight
Timely Messenger
Bloom
Wither
Brick Thief
Helpful Turtle
Spark
Building Inspector
Discard
The Art of War
Manufactured Truth
The Art of War
Traffic Director
Eyes of the Chancellor
Eyes of the Chancellor
Brave Knight
Timely Messenger
Wither
Dreamscape
Macciatus, The Whisperer
Would have liked to drop both Knights here… lousy Imp… I was hoping it got teched already.
Guess I’ll use that gold build a Tower, as I don’t expect to need a Tech Lab until after my next cycle, at the earliest. Attacking doesn’t really seem worth it right now, but maybe I can bait him into overcommitting to take down Onimaru. Of course, doing so means exposing my Tech I, but I think the odds of it being prioritized over Oni, my Tower, and my Tech II are rather slim.
Skeleton trades with technician Soldier, you get a card
Replay Imp from Graveyard, discard #5 of 6 re-randomed after BK and technician draw (0)
Workers
Gargoyle, Wither, Pestering Haunt, Sacrifice the Weak
Patrol as below
Discard 1 rs Draw 3
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech1 HP: 5
Tech2 HP: 5 Finesse
Tower HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Thieving Imp (2/2+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger: Tenderfoot (1/2)
Technician: Skeleton Javelineer (1/1)
Lookout: Skeleton (1/1)
In Play:
Garth (1/1 lvl 1)
Gargoyle (0/2 indestructable)
Graveyard (3hp, holding Nimble Fencer)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
End of Turn Hand
Deteriorate
Soul Stone
Cloud Sprite
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Hmm, truth rush? Interesting. I think if I tech another Two-Step, I can put a stop to that reasonably easily. This is my worst position for sure, but I think I can manage.
…
Hmm, bit of an odd RS draw. Not going to be much to do if he breaks my tech 2!
There’s the tech 3 with a decent draw, unlikely he has Gryphons but I need to respect it. I think if I midband garth and make a skeleton, all but Bloom will give me enough to get the job done (Doom grasp does it by maxbanding Garth? or maybe not, I’d be 1g short of maxbanding AND activating garg…) okay, so 50/50 I hit, if I miss I drop Cloud Sprite and block with Garg? Sure, okay… Teching the other Cloud Sprite (we want total air superiority) and Grounded Guide, for fetching with maxband
…
Hit on two-step, let’s do that and work with what we get next.
Grounded Guide, Dark Pact
Grounded Guide, Cloud Sprite
Cloud Sprite, Two-Step
Doom Grasp, Two-Step
Nimble Fencer, Soul Stone
Gargoyle x2
Main:
Nimble Fencer from the Grave, finishes Oni, Garth to level 6 (7)
Maxband Garth, bringing a grounded guide from the grave (6)
Garth kills Newsman, you get a card
Cloud Sprite (4)
Two Step Sprite and Gargoyle (2)
Activate Gargoyle, once more trash your tech 3, your base to 16 (1)
Make a worker (0)
Workers
Doom Grasp, Gargoyle, Wither, Pestering Haunt, Sacrifice the Weak
Patrol as below
Discard 1 Draw 3
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech1 HP: 5
Tech2 HP: 5 Finesse
Tower HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Grounded Guide (4/4+1armor)
Elite: River (2+1/3 lvl 1)
Scavenger: Skeleton Javelineer (2/1)
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Garth (3/3 lvl 7)
Gargoyle (6/2 flying two step)
Cloud Sprite (6/4)
Graveyard (3hp, holding Nimble Fencer, Thieving Imp and Tenderfoot)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 1
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
End of Turn Hand
Deteriorate
Cloud Sprite
Grounded Guide
End of Turn Discard
Two Step
Dark Pact
Bloom
My Thoughts
Woohoo! Finally I get to kick some butt (which really I mean kill Onimaru). I should be fairly safely home from here, I think. No haste to worry about from him besides Timely Messenger, maybe a discord coming, but in all likelyhood probably I can just end the game off my other Grounded Guide next turn.
Helpful Turtle
Eyes of the Chancellor
Eyes of the Chancellor
Manufactured Truth
Brave Knight
Discard
Tenderfoot
Brave Knight
Brick Thief
Liberty Gryphon
Timely Messenger
Reteller of Truths
Reteller of Truths
Reputable Newsman
Liberty Gryphon
The Art of War
Dreamscape
Spectral Roc
Spectral Roc
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($17)
Rebuild Tech III
Macciatus, The Whisperer - ($15)
Traffic Director - ($14)
Building Inspector - ($13)
Sirus Quince - ($11)
Mirror Illusion - ($9)
Probably a good move by him to just take the L on the base damage and save up for Oni max or w/e it is he ends up wanting to do. Next turn I Dark Pact or Harmony, maybe Garth + Skele if I whiff or feel overly threatened.
…
Naw this looks okay, I’ll be able to deteriorate something, ram Haunt into something else, and get a dancer in the process, plus tech 1. Probably teching Fencer + a spell, Shadow Blade or Discord or Two Step
Haunt trades with Lookout, revives from the graveyard
Tech 1 (1)
Worker (0)
Workers
Bloom, Sacrifice the Weak, Skeleton Javelineer
Patrol as below
Discard 1 Draw 2 rs Draw 1
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: Dancer (0/1+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout: Tenderfoot (1/2)
In Play:
Vandy (2/3 lvl 1)
River (2/3 lvl 1)
Pestering Haunt (1/1)
Harmony
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
End of Turn Hand
Thieving Imp
Dark Pact
Deteriorate
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
I’m vulnerable to Arrest + something else by doing it, but I’m laying the harmony anyway. Should be fine, I’ll tech another Dark Pact just in case he breaks in and kills Vandy. Fencer will be the complement.
Star-Crossed Starlet x2
Nimble Fencer, Dark Pact
Dark Pact, Harmony
Main:
Dark Pact, draw 2 base to 18, I get a dancer
Dark Pact, draw 1 rs draw 1, base to 16, I get a dancer
Nimble Fencer (5)
Star-Crossed Starlet, slams Oni goes to graveyard (3)
Starlet resurrects and dunks Oni, back to graveyard again, Vandy to level 3 (1)
Deteriorate Soldier, you get a gold I get a dancer
Vandy kills Newsman
River, Tenderfoot and Fencer break your tech 1, your base to 14
Haunt hits your base to 13
Worker (0)
Workers
Theiving Imp, Bloom, Sacrifice the Weak, Skeleton Javelineer
Patrol as below
Discard 1 Draw 2 rs Draw 1
Tech 2 cards before my next turn
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech1 HP: 5
Hero’s Hall HP: 4
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Dancer (0/1+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger: Dancer (0/1)
Technician:
Lookout: Dancer (0/1)
In Play:
Vandy (3/4 lvl 1)
River (2/3 lvl 1)
Tenderfoot (1/2)
Nimble Fencer (2/3)
Pestering Haunt (1/1)
Harmony
Graveyard (3hp, holding Star-Crossed Starlet)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
End of Turn Hand
Dark Pact
Star-Crossed Starlet
Wither
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
GET DUNKED! Keeping Vandy alive here means I can double tech Starlets and draw them guaranteed for a total wipe of his board. This game is over already.
If I had drawn one of my Discords, I’d have played it out, but yeah, I’ll resign it here, GG. Discussion time!
So, yeah, this matchup felt really similar to a standard Blue vs. Black game, though somewhat less frustrating, as the Neutral cards gave some tools to help break through on occasion.
Big deck disadvantages: harder to spam a spell turn after turn, slower to course correct / adapt to opponent’s strategies due to the longer cycle time, seeing cards come up less frequently can tempt to play cards at suboptimal times (recommend resisting that temptation).
Having more Tech 0 cards and basic spells overall didn’t feel like a disadvantage, though it did take a bit of getting used to (picking stronger / more expensive tech cards seemed to help, in general, though that could be specific to this particular starter, since I loaded up on $1 units). In particular, it’s generally hard to play units without tech buildings in the mid- to late- game as Tech 0 units tend to become worker fodder, but having more of them in deck made it so that I (almost?) never felt completely locked out of options, so that was kind of nice.
Build-specific advantages of a big starter can be nice, but capitalizing on them seems rather risky, as if your opponent’s build is strong vs. your main strategy, you’re stuck with the extra cards even if they don’t work well with the available alternative approaches. I wouldn’t say choosing a big deck is strictly bad, but it’s a gamble, so I don’t recommend it for most situations.
I think it would have been about as brutal if we were using standard Black and Blue starters, but yeah, I can’t think of many situations where I’d want a deck this big. I would like to try it again sometime with different factions, though, before giving up on the idea completely.
Agreed, that went better for you than I expected, but in this matchup the fat deck is really problematic. I’m able to react and pressure way too hard to risk the draw inconsistency.
Meanwhile, dropping the almost auto-workers from my deck and adding Tenderfoot makes Nightmare even scarier. Bloom and Wither would be more helpful if you didn’t also have them, they mostly served as workers for me in this series, but I do think they offer good things to this deck against it’s biggest struggle (Miracle Grow). I’m not sure I want to change up my deck but I’ll think on it, if anything I’m considering dropping one of those two spells for Timely Messenger.
I don’t think I want less cards, as it’s pretty rough as it is selecting workers, especially if I whiff any of the cards I typically worker ( Bloom, Wither, StW in this matchup, with Jav, Imp, and Haunt being okay selections). Tenderfoot, Graveyard, and Deteriorate are really critical to this deck
When you’re ready with your next deck trial post a new thread and I’ll finalize my decision (without checking yours, of course).