Building Inspector
Lawful Search
Manufactured Truth
Discard
Spectral Aven
Arrest
Macciatus, The Whisperer
Reteller of Truths
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Midband Bigby - ($4)
Exhaust Bigby to sideline Stewardess
Brave Knight destroys your Tech I, takes 1 damage from Tower, your base to 16
Overeager Cadet
Spectral Hound - ($3)
Float ($3)
Discard 1, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Brave Knight (3/2A)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Overeager Cadet (2/2)
[I]Technician[/I]: Traffic Director (1/1, Untargetable)
STARTING HAND
Time Spiral
Hardened Mox
Now!
Now!
Forgotten Fighter
WORKERS
Temporal Research
Plasmodium
Tinkerer
NextHand
Nullcraft
Neo Plexus
Fading Argonaut
Stewardess of the Undone
Discard
Now!
Now!
Stewardess of the undone
Time Spiral
Forgotten Fighter
Hyperion
Temporal distortion
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Rebuild tech 1
Stewardess trades with brave knight
Geiger - ($6)
Geiger casts now! on Geiger - ($5)
Geiger kills cadet and sparks the director
Geiger casts Now! to kill the hound - ($3)
Mox - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]: Hardened Mox 2/1
[B]In Play:[/B]
Battle Suits
L1 Max Geiger 2/1[3]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 5
Tower HP: 4
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 7
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
The tower opening does not seem to work super well. Iām behind on all accounts and so heās likely to go to tech 2 next turn. I was able to clear his board but he gets scav and tech bonuses and my hero is very vulnerable. With the bonuses he can probably even afford to play the lookout penalty to arrest the mox and then take out Geiger with Bigby. if im lucky, he doesnāt have arrest and Max can survive another turn to midband and heal (or he may have some other way to sideline the mox). In any case, the big problem is that I didnāt get to Bigby which means Injunction.
This is more of a mental note for me than anything else, but I think I would probably have been better casting LS on your discard that turn. I forget that I have a choiceā¦
I think Geiger is the MVP of this matchup but even he would have died last turn if you had arrest. This turn you probably have it so heās probably dead. Iāll do what i can but Iāll have to try some new ideas for the next game.
"P2T5
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Seer
Vortoss Emblem
STARTING HAND
Stewardess of the Undone
Nullcraft
Neo Plexus
Fading Argonaut
WORKERS
Temporal Research
Plasmodium
Tinkerer
Stewardess of the Undone
NextHand
Nullcraft
Hyperion
Now!
Seer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Mox hits the knight
Geiger midbands - ($6)
Geiger kills the knight
Geiger max refreshes the mox - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Fargo - ($1)
Sorry about that. I had Fargo in techn and Geiger in the back line. Thatās what happens when I keep changing my mind - I forget what I did during the turn.
So, Iāve been thinking about the play with manufactured truth and brave knight. I think there are two parts to the move:
You used MT not so that BK will gain an ability from someone else, but so that he would lose the ability he has (readiness). I hadnāt considered and itās a very clever play. Not sure how often that would be relevant - perhaps with Midori? - but itās definitely cool and kodus to you for considering it.
The way readiness works is pretty convoluted. It has a restriction regarding the number of times a unit attacks in a turn (which isnāt tied to an ability) but that restriction itself is tied to an ability (which a unit can lose). I think this ruling is weird because it means that if a unit attacks, is readied, gains readiness - it cannot attack again. I think the point of the ruling is to make sure that a unit with readiness canāt attack infinite times, which is a good reason. I think I would have ruled it āa unit that has attacked with readiness canāt attack again this turnā. To me that would make more sense but either way, I think itās kind of complicated by the fact there is no general restrictions on how many attacks you can make a turn. Most cards that I have played have some such restrictions - some only allow you to attack once every turn to end your turn, some allow each unit to attack once unless exceptions (e.g. Summoner Wars), or otherwise restrict the number of attacks (in the different kinds of challenges in Thrones) and I donāt actually remember what MtG does because I havenāt played it since the 90s. All these games have the ātap to attack ruleā and have some cards that donāt tap/kneel/exhaust to attack but that doesnāt cause a problem.
Also, had some thoughts on the match-up. I think Purple has some good options against Blue, and I donāt think itās as lopsided as our warm-up session has been so far. However, I do feel like Purple is quite restricted in its option vs. Blue because it has various counters to some of its strong options. I donāt think Iām piloting purple very well, but it seems to me that playing against Blue leads down a pretty narrow path, and with Blueās myriad ways of looking up at my hand - it makes it very easy to see whatās coming and when, so a lot of the mind games are out the window.
As I said before, I completely agree on the Readiness interaction being weird. I think youāre right that it feels strange because intuitively Readiness is an ability which does something good for your unit/hero (they can attack and patrol each turn), but the rules as they are atm mean that losing Readiness gives you an even more powerful play (attacking twice in one turn). As I said, I think it could be ruled the other way, and the powers-that-be might change their minds. However, itās also a pretty unusual scenario (although I think BK + MT is a lot less of a corner case than some of the other rulings we argue about discuss). I was hoping my āWhatās the Play?ā thread might garner some discussion, but it hasnāt, unfortunately. Codex is unusual in that it combines āfreeformā attack (like Hearthstone) with tap-to-attack mechanics, which leads to the Readiness weirdness.
Regarding the match-up, I think youāre talking about spec options? I think this matchup is one which is pretty likely to go to Tech II, as neither color has the resources to end the game at Tech I. For Blue, I would say that both Truth and Law work pretty well, and lead nicely to a Tech III Truth game plan. Peace is very risky, as if Purple steals your garrisons, and you canāt capitalise on the 1-2 turns of massive draw that you get, you probably lose. However, Iām not sure how risky it is (does it work half of the time? Most of the time? 99% of the time?).
Blueās biggest weakness (in my opinion) is that it has no way of dealing with heroes at all. However, Purple really struggles to exploit this weakness, as itās heroes are all very supportive in nature, and it relies on units to deal all itās damage. Present and Future are dangerous because Blue can potentially get access to your heavy hitters (through Community Service or Quince shenanigans). Past is weak to disable plays, and itās difficult to stop Blueās units getting through to the back line to shut down the Rememberers.
It feels to me like Blue is forced onto the offensive, but maybe thatās just in our gamesā¦
I played my entire turn and thought āhmm, maybe Iām hanging in there in this one.ā Then I realized I donāt yet have tech 2. Then I realized I canāt even suicide Geiger if I wanted, so no Prynn for me. My turn then became a lot more sad but here we go. I teched really weird cards this game, I donāt know what I was thinking.
"P2T6
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Tricycloid
Immortal
STARTING HAND
Now!
Hyperion
Nullcraft
Seer
Neo Plexus
WORKERS
Temporal Research
Plasmodium
Tinkerer
Stewardess of the Undone
Seer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
Geiger and Nullcraft take out the Hound - ($7)
Now! on Roc - ($6)
Tech 2 Present - ($2)
Mox kills the Cadet
Plexus - ($0)
As for the match-up, I was mostly thinking in terms of specific units - Argonaut is one of the best tech I units in the game, but you have a starter deck card that you will never worker which lets you have an Argonaut for 2 when I pay 3 for it. And you donāt even have to commit, you have all the flexibility in the world to spam 1-cost units and hold on to Manufactured Truth with Stash. So I basically canāt really use Argonaut or Gilded Glaxx, and that gives your Brave Knight supreme reign. For the same reason Nullcraft and Plasmodium, two very strong starter deck card (especially NC) are pretty useless. By playing NC, I give you haste. Likewise with Hyperion in the later game when Quince can midband easily. So I think a lot of the go-to plays are out of question, and so I have less to work with. I still think Present and Future can be dangerous (the problem with Past is that if you go peace, your engine will work much faster than mine) but itās hard for me to surprise you when you can look at my hand regularly, and the danger of Community Service is, as you said, huge.
But Iāve been thinking about it. I have some other ideas to try. Maybe we should just start our series of games after this one - I donāt know that thereās anymore āwarm-upā to be had, we are where we probably will be for a while.
STARTING HAND
Vortoss Emblem
Forgotten Fighter
Temporal Distortion
WORKERS
Temporal Research
Plasmodium
Tinkerer
Stewardess of the Undone
Seer
NextHand
Now!
Stewardess of the Undone
Forgotten Fighter
Time Spiral
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($10)
Max Prynn, trash the Whisperer - ($2)
Vortos Emblem on the Reteller of Truth, she goes back to hand
Nullcraft kills the mirror
Plexus and Mox kill SQL hound
Prynn exiles the other Hound, he dies when targeted but so does Prynn and the Whisperer returns
Vir - ($0)
Liberty Gryphon
Liberty Gryphon
Spectral Roc
Community Service
Overeager Cadet
Discard
Manufactured Truth
Traffic Director
Injunction
Arrest
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid + scav - ($11)
Worker - ($10)
Quince makes a mirror - ($8)
Quince midbands mirror into a Nullcraft - ($6)
Mirrored Nullcraft deals 2 to Vir
Quince kills Vir
Bigby and Macciatus destroy Tech II, your base to 14
Traffic Director - ($5)
Quince casts Manufactured Truth turns TD into Nullcraft - ($4)
Manufactured Nullcraft trades with Nullcraft
Quince makes a mirror - ($2)
Reteller of Truths - ($0)
Quince maxband copies Reteller
Mirrored Nullcraft is trashed at end of turn
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Brave Knight (3/2A)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Overeager Cadet (2/2)
[I]Technician[/I]: Traffic Director (1/1, Untargetable)
[I]Lookout[/I]: Spectral Hound (3/3)
Base HP: 20
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Brave Knight (3/2A)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Overeager Cadet (2/2)
[I]Technician[/I]: Traffic Director (1/1, Untargetable)
[I]Lookout[/I]: Spectral Hound (3/3)
Base HP: 20