[MMM1] Game 10: P1 Blue (Nekoatl) vs P2 Black (FrozenStorm)

If buffing Blue, there are the 5 things I’d try, in this order:

  1. Redesign Lawful Search to be a $0 upgrade with “(1), Sacrifice Lawful Search to draw a card, then choose one: Look at an opponent’s hand. Look at an opponent’s discard pile.” and “When Lawful Search leaves play, draw a card.” This would give Blue a 50% chance of being able to determine if a hero can safely be played on turn 2 and would generally help Blue’s consistency at being able to detect and respond to threats, especially when choosing a gold value to block with Newsman.

  2. Reduce Jurisdiction to $1 and/or add “you may either discard the spell or return it to your codex.” While the idea of being able to play Free Speech with Bigby when Quince is unavailable seems solid in theory, the $2 increase is a burden that Blue can seldom afford, and being limited to spells still in the codex is beyond awkward.

  3. Make Boot Camp able to target Onimaru. Blue has no other way of removing -1/-1 runes from Onimaru than to let him die, and he’s very expensive to level up.

  4. Make at least one spell, probably Judgment Day, able to affect tech III units. As it stands, Blue’s answer to tech III threats is through prevention, but it’s not competitive enough in the early and mid game to be able to do so without falling behind. Having an effective board clear would give Blue a chance to make a comeback if it loses the race to tech III.

  5. Change Stash to read “You can set aside a card during the draw/discard step. If you do, draw 1 less card and add the stashed card to your hand during your next upkeep.” This is solely to protect the stashed card against forced discard.

I disagree with FrozenStorm’s suggestion of replacing Dreamscape or Hallucination. I think they’re both important parts of Sirus’s kit, even though I never managed to use them successfully here. Also, tech I illusions are dirt cheap, so I think it’s fair that they’re easy to dispel. Spectral Aven and Mirror Illusions are a different story, as losing one to Deteriorate is a $2 swing in Black’s favor at a time when Blue is desperate for gold, but I hesitate to buff the Aven because early flying is powerful. Maybe Sirus could create Mirror Illusions for $1 instead of $2, but I’m not sure that would be fair considering their potential power. Maybe if using his other abilities to transform them cost $1 also, it would balance out.

If nerfing Black, I think Vandy is the biggest offender. It’s the combination of her ability to efficiently ramp up her stats and Deteriorate/Sacrifice’s ability to clear patrollers that makes playing a blue hero on turn 2 so dangerous. That, in turn, increases Blue’s reliance on card plays which, in the face of Blacks’ multiple discard options, makes it easy for turn 1 Black to completely suppress Blue. I’m not sure what the best way to nerf her would be, but the first thing I’d try would be to make her level at 1-3/4-5/6 to slow down that initial rush.

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