Its nice to see the white starter, it is so rarely in play. The opposing deck is kinda interesting, it has a solid set of hastey things, but is pretty limited on anything big. Strength might be good, but really I am not excited about any of my tech 2 options. Tech 3, Ebbflow is probably my best, followed by Oathkeeper. I have some pretty good choices for heroes and spells, and I am certain grappling hook will cause him all sortsa of heartache. So then I am left with how do I deal with going down on cards, which is what grappling hook almost always does.
[details=My Notes]Okay, my gameplan looks fairly straightforward. Necro and Blood to swarm the enemy with frenzied skellingtons, with War Drums as the topper. Damage from Fire helps me to clear off annoying heroes and units. Skeletal Archery becomes nuts with Drakk midband. Also, Graveyard helps delightfully with cycling. Other fun idea: Blood Tech II with Graveyard recycling. Crashbarrow, tap, Crashbarrow.
zhavier’s gameplan seems to be to interfere with the opponent until Past Tech II, so StW should be good here. DeGrey is gonna be mega-annoying, so if zhavier goes Strength Tech II, I have to destroy it at all costs. My direct damage removal should help a lot with that.
[/details]
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Summon Garth Torken - ($2)
Garth raises a skellington - ($1)
STARTING HAND
Safe Attacking
Snapback
Grappling Hook
Smoker
Sensei’s Advice
WORKERS
Fox Viper
Sensei’s Advice
NextHand
Savior Monk
Snapback
Fox Primus
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Grappling Hook moves skeleton to Lookout
Sensei buffs Rook, who kills Garth, Rook to lvl 3
Tech 1 - ($2)
Smoker - ($1)
Safe Attacking - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, reshuffle, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Smoker 1/1+A
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Aged Sensei 1/1
Rook 2/4, lvl 3
Safe Attacking
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
I have to decide, do I kill Garth now. I can Grappling the Skeleton, and tap Sensai to kill Garth, and still have 4 gold to play with. Sensai is doomed no matter what I play when he likely deteriorates it or trades with pestering. And given he didn’t deteriorate immediately last turn, he definitely has it next hand. If I kill Garth, I make deteriorate more expensive. Stewardess and Bird’s Nest are likely to be enough to completely destroy his token spam.
[details=My Notes]Accruing that Scavenger bonus gradually will help me, especially with the recurring cards from Graveyard. Safe Attacking will be really annoying as a counter to skeletons, however. I’m hoping to take advantage of the offensive capability of skellies, if I can just get enough of them out there. Flame Arrow will help me to deal with Rook, although I might need to rely on Doom Grasp instead.
[/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Scavenger bonus - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Play Graveyard - ($5)
Pestering Haunt trades with Aged Sensei and is buried
Build Tech I - ($3)
Summon Drakk Ramhorn - ($1)
STARTING HAND
Sacrifice the Weak
Summon Skeletons
Flame Arrow
Skeletal Archery
Skeleton Javelineer
WORKERS
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra, the Negator
Summon Skeletons
NextHand
Ogre Recruiter
Bone Collector
Hooded Executioner
Thieving Imp
Deteriorate
My Notes
Keeping my options open here, just in case zhavier busts out Earthquake. What really sucks is that Smoker potentially sets up a huge Earthquake wipe, but I have to push for Tech II. I do have options remaining even if that happens, though. Thieving Imp still exists, and I can push forward my wall of skeletons to stay protected. I’m also going to be able to kill Smoker with Pestering Haunt, and I have a Heroes’ Hall to bring back Garth.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Summon Skeleton Javelineer - ($6)
Tap Graveyard, bringing Pestering Haunt back
Build Tech II – Blood - ($2)
Build Heroes’ Hall - ($0)
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Heroes’ Hall - ($5)
Smoker safely kills Pestering Haunt to graveyard
Stewardess of the Undone, bounces SQL Skeleton to oblivion - ($2)
Bird’s Nest - ($0)
Rook walks past lone patroller, kills Graveyard, discards Haunt
Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Stewardess of the Undone 2/3+A
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Bird 1/1
[I]Technician[/I]: Bird 1/1
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Smoker 1/1
Safe Attacking
Bird’s Nest
Rook 4/6, lvl 8
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
I can afford to skip tech 2 here… but I have to worry about crashbarrow graveyard. I can break Tech 2 or kill Drakk or kill Graveyard, but only 1. Graveyard will have more long term benefit and pretty much guarantees Rook lives. My tech 1 is gonna be hard to protect too, given Drakk haste options. well he has too many targets and not enough gold to deal with all of them.
STARTING HAND
Bone Collector
Thieving Imp
Deteriorate
Hooded Executioner
Ogre Recruiter
WORKERS
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra, the Negator
Summon Skeletons
Deteriorate
NextHand
Flame Arrow
Hooded Executioner
Sacrifice the Weak
Skeletal Archery
My Notes
Whoo boy. Forgot all about Stewardess. That is gonna be hecka annoying. But at least I didn’t get an Earthquake collapse this turn. Rook still sitting there, though. (Also, I’m sad about not teching Crashbarrow…)
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Thieving Imp (you discard a card) - ($4)
Bone Collector - ($2)
Summon Jaina Stormborne - ($0)
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Hit Tech 2 and base with a bird and smoker
other bird and stewardess (safely) kill thieving imp
Earthquake, tech 1, tech 2 down, and base to 11, heroes hall to 3 - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 1, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Rook 4/6+ A, lvl 8
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Smoker 1/1
Safe Attacking
Bird’s Nest
Stewardess of the Undone 2/2
Bird 1/1
Bird 1/1
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 2
Disc: 5
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 8
Thoughts
at least I didn’t discard earthquake, and I get to hit all the things. I don’t need to destroy HH this turn,he would have to suicide to summon garth. I think it might be possible to kill Rook this turn if he suicides heroes, maybe Bloodlust. but I bet I get to wreck base again.
[details=My Notes]There’s a lot I should’ve done earlier. Nether Drain to kill Rook more easily, Skeletal Archery to fend off the bird air force, something that isn’t Flame Arrow, because Rook grows too gorram big.
I think these techs may be too little, too late.[/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Play Skeletal Archery - ($6)
Rebuild Tech I
Play Hooded Executioner, and boost; I choose to destroy Smoker (ability does not target, so no bounce) - ($1)
…crap, that’s right. Sorry, I’m not used to getting Tech-wiped by Earthquake.
I think at this point, I don’t really have a good way to come back and to protect myself. So I’ll call it here. Really, I messed up when I played into Grappling Hook, and then when I didn’t work out a good way to get rid of Rook (Flame Arrow wasn’t gonna cut it). GG!
Nether Drain is your most direct answer, but I was just gonna hope you didn’t want to suicide your heroes to get Garth out. Also you probably could have done a lot more with Drake abilities. For example, you could have maxed Drakk and ran the Bone collector into my stewardess.
Huh, good points. Thanks for the tips! I’m still learning a lot about how I can use different options at my behest. Maxing Drakk -> Bone Collector on that earlier turn is actually really really good, huh. (I didn’t think ahead to Smoker -> Earthquake, so I didn’t prioritize teching Nether Drain, as you can see.)
I think Nether Drain is a really great card to float into the deck when you don’t necessarily need anything else (and especially against ultra-strong maxband heroes like Rook), so the first or second tech cycle I usually grab one. Against things that get token summons or strong offense off of maxbanding (Arg, Onimaru, Vandy to a lesser extent) it isn’t as good, but if it allows you to combo it immediately into a kill it’s often worth having IMO.
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Rook 2/4+A, lvl 1
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Aged Sensai 1/1
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Rook 2/4+A, lvl 1
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Aged Sensai 1/1
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 20
Base HP: 20