OK, Rook and all his (rather good) spells… If I get Quince out, and he isn’t killed, then Free Speech might be useful. How to defend him though… that’s the question…
It’ll cost me 3 to arrest Primus. Patrol with Quince.
Leaves him with Sensei + Rook + Smoker Vs Newsman.
If I put Newsman in SQL
Even with Sensei’s advice he can’t use Smoker and Aged Sensei to knock over Newsman.
Midband Rook + Aged Sensei would kill newsman.
Smoker can’t kill qunice so yay, problem solved.
Only I’m left with only Quince on the board against Mid Rook + Aged Sensei + Smoker. And Primus is back T4.
And overeager cadets would be perhaps the quickest way to catch up to his board… spectral hounds are risky because I won’t necessarily have newsman to block grappling hooks. But that means building Tech I and sloating $1. Which I just don’t think I’ll be able to defend. I know I’ll have Quince, so maybe 2x dreamscape to try and pull some illusions trickery. I’ll have to get pretty lucky with my next hand, but it’s something different and I don’t have too many other options here.
Overall… I hate it. Quince survives T2, but it might be GG by T4. Arresting Primus for 3 really just doesn’t let me catch up enough here, but I see no other way to prevent midband Rook from murdering Quince. And if he’s holding Thunderclap then there’s nothing to be done.
I think Newsman and Quince is too passive a start against white. I have also made some tech choice errors - which certainly hasn’t helped things. Not sure there’s a lot of value in playing this out.
P2T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Overeager Cadet
Brave Knight
STARTING HAND
Dreamscape
Porkhand Magistrate
Bluecoat Musketeer
Lawful Search
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Construct Tech I building - ($5)
Play Porkhand Magistrate - ($2)
Play Bluecoat Musketeer - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Porkhand Magistrate (2/3+A)
Elite:
Scavenger: Bluecoat Musketeer (1/2, Long-range)
Technician: L1 - Sirus Quince (1/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Aven (2/2, Flying, Illusion)
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 1
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
OK, lol, meant to tech 2x Hallucination last turn, not 2x Dreamscape. In my defense, they’re pretty similar (almost to the point of being redundant), aaand neither are super useful to me here, as it turns out. If I was holding 2x Hallucinations I could potentially kill off two of his units, but that’d leave me too low on funds to field a patrol. The thinking was to tech spells as I knew Quince would survive, and I would be skipping Tech I. But the spells are… not simple to execute.
So, what can I do? Honestly, Quince is dead here, so playing a channeling spell that I can not immediately benefit from isn’t a great use of my cashola.
Tower would be nice, but it’s not safe against a levelled Rook. Porky + Musketeer it is.
I can’t say I totally disagree, I don’t like your chances here, and am fine if you wanna scoop and run it back as P1. In case not though here’s where I’m going with things
Yeah, I’m going to call this one. GG WP! Arrest on Primus was the only way I could see to prevent Quince from being sacked T2. Learning that Quince is not a great early game choice - though very tempting for those extra bodies against all of white’s 1-drop starter cards.
Let’s try this again.
P1T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Bluecoat Musketeer
Traffic Director
Manufactured Truth
Reputable Newsman
Jail
WORKERS
Jail
NextHand
Arrest
Building Inspector
Spectral Aven
Lawful Search
Porkhand Magistrate
Discard
Manufactured Truth
Bluecoat Musketeer
Reputable Newsman
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Summon General Onimaru (2/3, Frenzy 1) - ($1)
Play Traffic Director (1/1, Untargetable) - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Traffic Director (1/1+A, Untargetable)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L1 - General Onimaru (2/3, Frezy 1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 5
Thoughts
OK, my 1-drops are split between T1 and T2 hands, which is nice. Would like to be a bit more aggressive here, and these might be good starting hands to try that.
Indeed, while Quince seems deceptively good for the free body early, he’s only really useful if you can stick a Tower as well and just stall behind stuff. Counter-pressure is expensive early for Blue, so Aven is really key (+MTruth to get other things to mock the Aven), as is Oni (legit scary).
I’m gonna go Grave this time, and dare Oni to trade, as that’s a win for me. He could try to go maxband, but I can just snapback to make that a pretty bad trade. Would be better if I had Smoker or Savior Monk to back 'em up
Definitely feel like I have more effective options available with this start. Will give the General a chance to get involved here and see how it goes.
P1T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Boot Camp
Overeager Cadet
STARTING HAND
Arrest
Building Inspector
Lawful Search
Porkhand Magistrate
Spectral Aven
WORKERS
Jail
Lawful Search
NextHand
Spectral Aven
Bluecoat Musketeer
Building Inspector
Boot Camp
Manufactured Truth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Promote the General to 5th level, midbanding - ($0)
General Onimaru defeats Grave Stromborne, suffering 3 damage in the battle. General to 7th.
Traffic Director trades with Aged Sensei.
Midband Oni, kill grave, and have Traffic Director trade with Aged Sensei. Leaves me enough for a worker, but not enough for Tech I. I can tech some Oni spells, and will be able to maxband Oni for further board control in subsequent turns.
Play Aven, and Building Inspector. Hand size drops, but it puts the squeeze on him building Tech I. Then I can worker and build my own Tech I. He’s obliged to play Primus (or build Tower) to counter Aven.
Dunno, seems like killing Grave while I have the chance may be worth letting him Tech up ahead of me. Let’s try option 1, wanted to try a more aggressive approach.
Ah, just realised Snapback could be in the offing. But $2 to summon a hero, and $4 to cast it (with Oni in Lookout) is prohibitive. I’ll have to make a point of maxbanding Oni next turn to avoid that T3.
STARTING HAND
Boot Camp
Manufactured Truth
Spectral Aven
Building Inspector
Bluecoat Musketeer
WORKERS
Jail
Lawful Search
Bluecoat Musketeer
NextHand
Manufactured Truth
Porkhand Magistrate
Arrest
Traffic Director
Discard
Boot Camp
Flagstone Garrison
Flagstone Garrison
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Begin constructing Tech I building - ($4)
Play Spectral Aven (2/2, Flying Illusion) - ($2)
Play Building Inspector (1/1) - ($1)
Float ($1)
Stash 1, Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L1 - Bigby Hayes (2/3+A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Building Inspector (1/1)
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Aven (2/2, Flying Illusion)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 2
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Seems like Bigby be will be in play for a turn or two, and I’m tempted to tech Injunction to slow White down a bit here. But of course, there’s an opportunity cost to that, and ultimately, Injunction isn’t a game winner. I’ll just commit to the Peace engine.
Huge holiday season weekend here prevented me from posting until now. Feels like I’ve got a shot at getting ahead on Tech buildings here, so I’ll try that.
P1T4
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Drill Sergeant
Overeager Cadet
STARTING HANDManufactured Truth
Arrest
Porkhand Magistrate
Traffic Director
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Begin constructing Tech II building… PEACE! - ($3)
Play Traffic Director - ($2)
Summon Sirus Qunice (1/3) - ($0)
Spectral Aven swoops at Rook, inflicting 2 damage.
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Traffic Director (1/1+A, Untargetable)
Elite: Mirror (0+1/1, Illusion)
Scavenger:
Technician: Building Inspector (1/1)
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Aven (2/2, Flying Illusion)
L1 - Sirus Qunice (1/3)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Peace)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
Seems like a good opportunity to Tech up, and might give me a turn to get the Peace engine working before Frozen can catch up tech-wise.
Really wanted to get Porky out, but I like having the extra bodies that Traffic Director + Quince (+ mirror) gives me. Just going to make it hard for Rook to use his midband ability.
I don’t love workering Arrest, but Manufactured Truth is going to be more useful with Peace, and I want to keep Porky to ensure I’ve got plenty of units.
Derp BI prevented teching up last turn so I’m a little behind… So index a little more towards Earthquaking (especially w/ Garrisons imminent). Hidden Ninja would compliment that plan nicely to help birds sneak in, so I’ll go with that.
Manufactured Truth
Porkhand Magistrate
Flagstone Garrison
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Build a Flagstone Garrison - ($5)
Play Overeager Cadet (2/2), draw one.
Play Reputable Newsman (0/3), draw one - ($3)
Play Overeager Cadet (2/2), draw one.
According to Quince’s Manufactured Truth, the Mirror was infact a Savior Monk all along. - ($2)
“Savior Monk” trades with Savior Monk. You draw one.
Worker - ($1)
Not exactly a flood, but it does extend my board. Doesn’t feel quite right to discard Drill Sergeant here, but it was the last card I drew and I only had $3 left when it came into my hand. Better, I think, to keep up on workers, and sit tight, should be able to draw (at least) one out of my deck next turn.
Gonna try blocking something other than Grappling Hook with Newsman. Gotta try different things here.
Right you are! Thank you for catching that. I think this might even be my first time casting it - I’ll just float the extra $1. I’ll edit my turn above to fix the error.
Squad Leader: Mirror (0/1+A, Illusion)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Reputable Newsman (0/3, blocking $0 cost spells)
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
Base HP: 20
Patrol as below
Base HP: 20
Squad Leader: Aged Sensei (1/1+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout: Fox Primus (2/2)
Spectral Aven (2/2, Flying Illusion)