[MMM1] WARM-UP: Green (Andreas) vs Black (Nekoatl)

Hello @Andreas, I look forward to playing with you. I’ll start us off.

"P1T1


StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]STARTING HAND
Deteriorate
Skeleton Javelineer
Thieving Imp
Skeletal Archery
Graveyard


WORKERS
Skeletal Archery

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Poisonblade Rogue
Pestering Haunt
Jandra, the Negator
Summon Skeletons
Sacrifice the Weak

----------[/spoiler]

Discard

[spoiler]Deteriorate
Graveyard
Thieving Imp

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Vandy Anadrose - ($1)
Skeleton Javelineer - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Vandy Anadrose (2/3) Sparkshot
  • Skeleton Javelineer (1/1) [javelin]
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 5
Thoughts

Growth is the natural counter to Disease, nature reclaims can easily, efficiently, and permanently remove 2 of Skeletal Archery, Graveyard, Shrines, and Labs, hampering any Black spec, the only way Black can remove the $3 tier II Might of Leaf and Claw is with the Legendary $10 tier III Zarramonde, and Artisan Mantis’s strong repair makes Demonology’s base HP sacrifices more dangerous. I probably just need to play aggressively and try to keep the board clear, though Moment’s Peace could make that difficult. On the other hand, Green is fairly weak on card draw, having only the tier 0 Young Treant, so a discard strategy may be effective. Also, Green has no global unit removal, meaning mass Skeletons might work, although that’s rather iffy considering Green’s capacity for mass unit production and enhancement. For now, I’ll start with a standard Vandy opening and see how things progress.

"

Hello Nekoatl, nice to see you drop in =)

FYI- I won’t be available until next week after the holiday. The holiday has kept me busy and strapped to endless tasks for preparing my home for a big family weekend. I’m only managing to speculate the tourney games going on here in the meantime.

Things will get rolling next week if that is alright. Look forward to playing with you.

There’s no rush, but thanks for letting me know. Enjoy the holiday, and we’ll get started whenever you’re ready.

1 Like

Alright, here we go. I had an interesting opener here. Let’s play a couple warm-ups and take it from there. Gl Hf

"P2T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Young Treant
Tiger Cub
Merfolk Prospector
Spore Shambler
Forest’s Favor


WORKERS
Spore Shambler


NextHand

Verdant Tree
Rich Earth
Rampant Growth
Playful Panda
Ironbark Treant


Discard

Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Tiger Cub


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Merfolk prospector - ($3)

Float ($3)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Merfolk Prospector
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 3
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

Not a great opening split here-- young treant is a better T2 card from what I understand, and playful panda would’ve been more useful here for T1. By playing MP, I can count on having 10 gold next turn (6+scav +3 float), which effectively allows me to max argarg, play playful panda, worker and build tech 1. I think this is my best opener. Generally, my initial thoughts for this match up is Molac is the obvious strategy for me given he has no upgrade removal, with it being easier as P2; balance is another option, possibly better as P1? Also, not sure how I will hold up against black’s initial aggression and card advantage without going down on cards myself to have enough chump blockers and keep up. Max Argarg and Cala seem like some answers. Let’s find out!

"

Sounds good. GL HF

"P1T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]TECH
Soul Stone
Shadow Blade


STARTING HAND
Sacrifice the Weak
Jandra, the Negator
Poisonblade Rogue
Pestering Haunt
Summon Skeletons


WORKERS
Skeletal Archery
Summon Skeletons

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Graveyard
Deteriorate
Poisonblade Rogue
Thieving Imp

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Tech I - ($3)
Pestering Haunt
Vandy kills Merfolk, you get $1
Javelineer bites your base for 1
Jandra, the Negator - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Vandy Anadrose (2/2) Sparkshot
  • Skeleton Javelineer (1/1) [javelin]
  • Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
  • Jandra, the Negator (3/3) Overpower
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 3
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

Trying to build on my momentum.

"

And here I was hoping you’d not have Jandra.

"P2T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Tiny basilisk
Centaur


STARTING HAND
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Rampant Growth
Ironbark Treant
Rich Earth


WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth


NextHand

Tiny basilisk
Merfolk Prospector
Rampant Growth
Verdant Tree
Young Treant


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Worker + Scav
Max Argagarg - ($3)
Playful panda - ($1)
Tech I - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Argagarg lvl 5 (1/5+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Wisp (0/1)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Wisp (0/1)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]: Water Elemental (3/3)
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Playful panda (2/2, E)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 19

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 4
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

Unfortunately he had Jandra which gives him a pretty strong board presence here. I’m patrolling as best as I can, at least I think. Teching a basilisk with hopes of getting at his hero, and centaur for a strong body. Let’s hope he gets a bad draw T3 (no DP, BC-- which I’m expecting his first 2 techs to be, or deteriorate).

"

No such luck, I’m afraid.

"P1T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]TECH
Dark Pact
Bone Collector


STARTING HAND
Deteriorate
Poisonblade Rogue
Thieving Imp
Graveyard


WORKERS
Skeletal Archery
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Soul Stone
Shadow Blade
Sacrifice the Weak

----------[/spoiler]

Discard

[spoiler]Deteriorate
Graveyard
Dark Pact
Bone Collector

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Level Vandy x2 - ($4)
Vandy and Jandra kill Argagarg, Doom Javelineer and Panda
Javelineer throws his javelin at Elemental, momentarily preserving his unlife
Haunt spooks Scavanger, you get $1
Deteriorate Technician, you draw 1
Thieving Imp, discard #5 of 6 - ($1)
Worker - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Thieving Imp (2/2)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • L5 Vandy Anadrose (4/5) Sparkshot, Resist 1
  • Skeleton Javelineer (3/3) doomed
  • Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
  • Jandra, the Negator (3/2) Overpower [1dmg]
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 4
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

Green has lots of stat boosting, so I’m trying to keep the board clear to protect Vandy and Jandra.

"

Starting to look bad.

"P2T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Centaur
Murkwood Allies


STARTING HAND
Merfolk Prospector
Verdant Tree
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Tiny basilisk
Forest’s Favor


WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree


NextHand

Ironbark Treant
Rampant Growth
Centaur
Tiger Cub


Tech 2 card(s)
Scav + Techn bonus - ($1)
Discard 5/6
Get Paid - ($8)
Midori - ($6)
Tiny Basilisk - ($4)
Merfolk Prospector - ($3)
Tower - ($0)
My panda kills your Imp, and sits patiently on the side awaiting the inevitable; you draw 1

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Midori (2/3+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Tiny Basilisk (1/2, unattackable by tech 0 units)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]: Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Doomed Playful panda (4/2)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 19
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tower HP: 4

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 4
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 8
Thoughts

Building a tower to respect the Meta threat, although I doubt he’s teched it since without a hero’s hall, it loses some value. Teching murk wood allies to build up a board, and can be helpful if I go Molac route, or not.

"

Yeah, Vandy seems a bit OP…

"P1T4


Tech StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]TECH
Bone Collector
Dark Pact


STARTING HAND
Shadow Blade
Sacrifice the Weak
Soul Stone
Deteriorate


WORKERS
Skeletal Archery
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Thieving Imp
Bone Collector
Graveyard
Dark Pact

----------[/spoiler]

Discard

[spoiler]Skeleton Javelineer
Soul Stone
Pestering Haunt
Shadow Blade
Deteriorate
Sacrifice the Weak
Bone Collector
Dark Pact

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Doom takes effect
Soul Stone: Jandra - ($5)
Jandra trades with Midori, is killed by tower and saved by Soul Stone
Haunt trades with Merfolk
Shadow Blade: Basilisk, discard #2 of 4 and gain $1 - ($2)
Vandy breaks Tower, takes 1 damage, reduces your base to 17 HP
Heroes Hall - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • L5 Vandy Anadrose (4/4) Sparkshot, Resist 1 [1dmg]
  • Jandra, the Negator (3/3) Overpower
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 8
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

This turn could have been a bit messy if not for those Demonology spells, but I guess I lucked out.

"

Sorry for the delay. It’s been a busy holiday! Happy new year to you. Let’s pick up shall we?

"P2T4


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Molac
Murkwood allies


STARTING HAND
Ironbark Treant
Centaur
Tiger Cub
Rampant Growth


WORKERS
Spore Shambler
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Tiger Cub


NextHand

Murkwood Allies
Forest’s Favor
Centaur


Discard

Playful panda
Rampant Growth
Ironbark Treant
Molac
Murkwood allies


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Playful panda dies from doom, to discard
Tower breaks, my base to 17
Scav bonus - ($9)
Discard #2/4
Centaur - ($6)
Argagarg, summons wisp - ($4)
Tower - ($1)
Worker - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Centaur (3/4+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Argagarg lvl 1 (1/3)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]: Wisp (0/1)
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 17
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tower HP: 4

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 1
  • Disc: 5
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 9
Thoughts

Game plan will be Molac here, even though I am behind on board presence. Still feel I have a chance to pull it off. Teching another Murkwood for increased bang for buck due to low card hand size, and also for lots of small bodies which will stand up well to Shadow blade and soul stone, and help Molac activate. I’m expecting argagarg to either die next turn, or I plan to sacrifice him likely… in order to bring out Calamandra. Will need to rely heavily on cala. If he brings out a Garth and maxes for Baron, that could spell bad news with soul stone and overpower, which now I realize he’ll probably go for that, since he’s low on econ to build a tech 2, maybe ? I’m rebuilding tower here to to set up for trades with Centaur, and protect against possible meta, which looks like he’s lining up for with HH.

"

Happy New Year, and welcome back.

"P1T5


Tech StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]TECH
Sickness
Sickness


STARTING HAND
Graveyard
Thieving Imp
Dark Pact
Bone Collector
Sickness
Dark Pact
Bone Collector
Pestering Haunt


WORKERS
Skeletal Archery
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Pestering Haunt

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Deteriorate
Sickness
Soul Stone
Sacrifice the Weak
Shadow Blade

----------[/spoiler]

Discard

[spoiler]Dark Pact
Dark Pact
Sickness
Graveyard
Thieving Imp
Bone Collector

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Dark Pact: my base to 18
Dark Pact: my base to 16
Worker - ($6)
Orpal Gloor - ($4)
Sickness: Centaur and Argagarg - ($2)
Vandy kills Centaur
Jandra kills Argagarg
Bone Collector - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bone Collector (3/3A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]: L3 Orpal Gloor (2/3)
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • L5 Vandy Anadrose (4/1) Sparkshot, Resist 1 [4dmg]
  • Jandra, the Negator (3/2) Overpower [1dmg]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 16
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 1
  • Disc: 6
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 8
Thoughts

Teching x2 Sickness to maximimze my chance of being able to weaken the Centaur.

"

Don’t forget my tower; Vandy should be 4/1 and Jandra 3/2.

Also, Jandra has 1 overpower, I assume you want it to hit the wisp ?

Anyway, I don’t think there’s anyway for me to crawl back from this one. Too far behind. Any suggestions ?

Right… I took the Tower into account when planning the turn, but forgot about it while executing the turn.

You do seem to be in a rough spot. I think of Green as very much a “win more” color, so I’ve been trying to keep you from establishing a board presence. The only way I can think of to turn things around would be to use Basilisks, maybe cheating in a Potent or two with Circle of Life, but it might be too late for even that to save you. If you want to start a new game, that’s fine with me.

Good ideas, the circle of life plan didn’t cross my mind. I was thinking of teching a basilisk with centaur the first tech, although I think I was hoping instead for stronger bodies with 2 centaurs to hold up a board presence.

I think with green vs black, green will need to survive the initial pressure in order to have a chance, and vice versa for black.

I’ll start us off a new game

"P1T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Tiger Cub
Merfolk Prospector
Ironbark Treant
Rampant Growth
Playful Panda


WORKERS
Ironbark Treant


NextHand

Rich Earth
Spore Shambler
Young Treant
Forest’s Favor
Verdant Tree


Discard

Playful Panda
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Calamandra - ($1)
Merfolk Prospector - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Calamandra lvl 1 (2/3+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 5
    "

You’re probably right. I think Black has more potential to turn a game around to its favor, but in the face of Green’s superior snowballing ability, Black might not have a chance to put its potential to use.

"P2T1


StartingHand Workers

[spoiler]STARTING HAND
Pestering Haunt
Poisonblade Rogue
Sacrifice the Weak
Deteriorate
Summon Skeletons


WORKERS
Summon Skeletons

----------[/spoiler]

NextHand

[spoiler]Jandra, the Negator
Skeletal Archery
Thieving Imp

----------[/spoiler]

Discard

[spoiler]Deteriorate
Sacrifice the Weak

----------[/spoiler]

Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Orpal Gloor - ($2)
Deteroirate: Merfolk, you get $1
Pestering Haunt
Poisonblade Rogue - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]: L1 Orpal Gloor (2/3)
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
  • Poisonblade Rogue (2/1)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 2
  • Disc: 2
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

I’m going to try overextending, with the intent of recovering hand size later. Not sure if it’s a bad idea, but now is the time for experiments.

"

"P1T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Tiny Basilisk
Centaur


STARTING HAND
Young Treant
Rich Earth
Verdant Tree
Spore Shambler
Forest’s Favor


WORKERS
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree


NextHand

Young Treant
Merfolk Prospector (1/1)
Forest’s Favor
Tiny Basilisk
Rampant Growth


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Midband Cala, Cala takes out Orpal, levels with -1/-1 dmg runes removed (I believe they get removed as they are considered dmg, which heals upon leveling?) - ($2)
Tech I - ($1)

Float ($1)
Discard 4, reshuffle, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Calamandra (4/5)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 5
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 1
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

Not sure I understand the Orpal Play here. Garth seems would have been a reasonable option. He could potentially take out my tech I with max vandy although that would doom one of his units which is fine with me. I was debating ferocity vs centaur as a tech here, decided to play it safe and choose the centaur. Tiny basilisk seems to be a great P1T2 choice for this match up

"

I’m rather certain that -1/-1 runes aren’t removed by any healing effects, including when a hero levels up. Consider Sirlin’s ruling on -1/-1 runes on indestructible units: “If an indestructible thing has 0 HP because of having -1/-1 runes, it will remain exhausted forever. If it gets any damage or attachments in this state, immediately remove the damage and/or attachments.” If -1/-1 runes were considered damage while in play, they would be removed from Indestructible units that would die. The deals damage as -1/-1 runes mechanic basically means that they are dealing combat damage, and that combat damage can be mitigated by armor and trigger abilities as normal, but the consequence of that damage is the placement of -1/-1 runes instead of damage chits. When a healing effect refers to removing damage, it’s talking about removing damage chits, not any runes that were placed as the consequence of combat damage. Do you want to make changes your turn?

1 Like

From the ruling page for the Healing X ability (which should work on the same things as healing via leveling a hero):

Damage is always recorded on an object in the form of damage chits. Healing is able to remove those damage chits. Healing is not able to increase the maximum HP of something. Healing does not interact with -1/-1 runes, either. All it does is remove damage chits from things that have them. — Sirlin

Thus, I agree with Nekoatl’s reasoning about how “deals damage in the form of -1/-1 runes” works.

1 Like