Black lacks upgrade/building removal; efficient +1/+1 rune distribution is a strong defense against Disease’s -1/-1 runes; and producing large numbers of units is a good defense against sacrifice weakest effects. So, I’ll aim for Bone Collectors to generate tokens and try to quickly ramp up with Blooming Ancients and MoLaCs. For the moment, though, I’ll aim to offset this card loss by relying on Garth to set up defense.
Yikes, Jandra as well? Erm… gotta go with StW, I guess, as I can’t rely on units to protect Garth in the face of mono-Black’s removal options. Hopefully I get a chance to tech up before triggering Garth’s maxband… but even if I don’t, I can use Nether Drain to bring him back down to midband, so I’ll try to not hesitate to maxband for healing if the situation calls for it.
Summon Skeletons
Nether Drain
Skeletal Archery
Bone Collector
Bone Collector
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Tech I - ($4)
Summon Skeletons - ($1)
Skeleton - ($0)
Haunt damages Tech I
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Skeleton (1/1A)
Elite:
Scavenger: Skeleton (1/1)
Technician: Skeleton (1/1)
Lookout: Skeleton (1/1) Resist 1
In Play:
L4 Garth Torken (2/2) [2 damage]
Pestering Haunt (1/1) Unstoppable
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
Now Baron, lol, that’s even worse… and no StW to fall back on this time. Attacking is no longer an option, and digging for StW is very likely to fail and leave me in an untenable position. I have to just throw out Skeletons, I guess… At least I can push back a little with the Haunt, maybe get him to spend gold on a Tower…
Get paid + float ($8)
Worker ($7)
Hire Thieving Imp ($4) Discard card number 1
Baron kills Squad Lead and Lookout Bony Bois
Hire Vandy ($2)
Deteriorate Pestering Haunt
Midband Vandy ($0)
STARTING HAND
Nether Drain
Graveyard
Skeleton Javelineer
Deteriorate
Sacrifice the Weak
WORKERS
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra, the Negator
Thieving Imp
NextHand
Pestering Haunt
Nether Drain
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Deteriorate Imp
Garth kills Imp
Expensive Nether Drain from Vandy to Garth - ($6)
Maxband Garth, fetch Collector - ($5)
Graveyard - ($3)
Sacrifice Skeleton to draw
Sacrifice the Weak - ($1)
Skeleton - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 0, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Bone Collector (3/3A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Skeleton (1/1)
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3)
L7 Garth Torken (3/4)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
Boo, Imp stole the card I wanted to worker. Going for Elms over MoLaCs because my position feels unstable and I’m not confident about being able to charge up MoLaCs in the near future. … On second thought, I’ll try out Rickety Mines instead, as I’m hurting for gold and Artisan Mantis can repair base damage later.
WORKERS
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra, the Negator
Thieving Imp
Pestering Haunt
NextHand
Rickety Mine
Summon Skeletons
Sacrifice the Weak
Discard
Nether Drain
Blooming Elm
Might of Leaf and Claw
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Bone Collector and Skeleton kill Vandy
Tech II: Growth - ($3)
Skeleton - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L7 Garth Torken (3/4A)
Elite:
Scavenger: Skeleton (1/1)
Technician: Skeleton (1/1)
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3)
Bone Collector (3/1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Growth)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 6
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Not sure anymore if I should be aiming for MoLaC or Elm; guess I’ll split the difference. Holding back on teching in Ancients so they’ll be available for maxband fetches. I’d consider Kidnapping if it looked like he were going for bigger Demons, but against Necromancy spec, I’m less worried. I guess Wight could be an issue, but… if he starts picking off heroes, I can just Tech Lab into Necromancy and start using Resurrectors to bring them back. Resurrectors… maybe I should think twice about killing Vandy? Nah, she’s too much of a threat to just leave alone, and besides, without haste it’d take 3 turns to go from a Resurrector to a Metamorphosis… plenty of time to push back, and I’m already running Nether Drain to boot.
Bone Collector
Skeleton Javelineer
Deteriorate
Thieving Imp
Necromancer
Worker
Skeleton Javelineer
Tech
Skeletal Lord 2X
Get paid ($9)
Worker ($8)
Hire Garth ($6)
Garth raises a Bony Boi ($5)
Garth sacrifices a Bony Boi to draw
Hire Thieving Imp ($2) you discard card number 3
Hire Bone Collector ($0)
Deteriorate Bone Collector.
Nether Drain
Blooming Elm
Might of Leaf and Claw
Sacrifice the Weak
Blooming Elm
Might of Leaf and Claw
Summon Skeletons
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($11)
Sacrifice Skeleton to draw
Worker - ($10)
Sacrifice Skeleton to draw
Bone Collector - ($8)
Bone Collector from Graveyard - ($6)
Rickety Mine - ($4)
Skeleton - ($3)
Sacrifice Skeleton to draw
Rickety Mine - ($1)
Garth kills Imp
Float ($1)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Bone Collector (3/3A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Bone Collector (3/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3)
Rickety Mine (3)
Rickety Mine (3)
L7 Garth Torken (3/2)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Growth)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 0
Disc: 7
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 10
Thoughts
I’d kinda like to pull a Nether Drain and shift 2 of Garth’s levels to Argagarg to set up for another fetch, and even if that doesn’t pan out, I have too much gold for my paltry hand size… guess I should burn through some Skeletons. Teching in more non-unit cards, still holding my good units in reserve for fetch opportunities. Workering the Javelineer draw because it’s not a competitive choice to dig out of the Graveyard, plus it’d just make it easier to overflow. Taking the Imp kill with Garth because it’s better than letting it choose what to attack, and to ensure it doesn’t go into a newly played Graveyard next turn, though I’m starting to wonder if his Graveyard isn’t already a worker by now.
No tech
Get paid ($10)
Hire Vandy ($8)
Cast Dark Pact. I draw 2
Hire Corpse Catapult ($5)
Hire Corpse Catapult ($2)
Raise Bony Boi ($1)
Bone Collector and a Bony Boi trade with your Squad Leader Bony Boi. Another Bony Boi arrives and the Catapults get 2 runes
Worker ($0)
Squad leader: Bony Boi (1/1)
Elite: Vandy (2/3)
Scavenger: Bony Boi (1/1)
Technician: Bony Boi (1/1)
In play: Garth (1/3) Corpse Catapult (1/4)** Corpse Catapult (1/4)**
Base: 16
Tech 1: 4
Tech 2: 5
11 workers
Hand: 4
Deck: 2
Discard: 5
New Hand
Necromancer
Summon Skeletons
Sacrifice the Weak
Twilight Baron
Nether Drain
Sacrifice the Weak
Rickety Mine
Skeletal Archery
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($11)
Argagarg Garg - ($9)
Deteriorate SQL
Skeleton, sacrifice to draw, triggers reshuffle - ($8)
Nether Drain from Garth to Argagarg - ($7)
Bone Collector kills Scavenger
Sacrifice Skeleton to draw
Might of Leaf and Claw - ($4)
Garth kills Technician
Sacrifice the Weak, Wisp and a Catapult die - ($2)
Mine for gold, explosion! - ($5)
Mine for gold, safe! - ($8)
Bone Collector from Graveyard - ($6)
Maxband Argagarg - ($4)
Tech Lab: Necromancy - ($3)
Float ($3)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Water Elemental (3/4A) Anti-air
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Bone Collector (3/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Might of Leaf and Claw [1 growth]
Graveyard (3)
Rickety Mine (3)
L5 Argagarg Garg (1/5)
L5 Garth Torken (2/1)
Bone Collector (3/2)
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Growth)
Tech Lab HP: 4 (Necromancy)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 5
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 3
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Those catapults need to die, and fast… but I can’t kill them this turn without some seriously lucky draws. Hmm… maybe best to just rush out as many buildings as possible, as quickly as possible, and just outpace them until I can break through? I don’t think teching in a spell to deal with them is going to work very well. I can’t afford to avoid teching in units anymore, so it’s time to go for Ancients. Going for the Tech Lab so I can get some Necromancers to accelerate Skeleton production, though that’s more of a long-term investment, as I expect my Tech II to be blasted by the remaining Catapult.
Twilight Baron
Deteriorate
Sacrifice the Weak
Necromancer
Summon Skeletons
No worker
No tech
Get paid + scavenger ($12)
Tap Catapult to smash your tech 2
Raise a Bony Boi ($11)
Midband Vandy ($9)
Sac Elemental and a Bony Boi ($7)
Vandy Kills the technician
My Garth Kills yours and gains 2 levels
Maxband Garth. The Corpse Catapult moves again! ($3)
Summon Skeletons ($0)
Squad leader: Bony Boi (1/1)
Technician: Bony Boi (1/1)
In play: Vandy (3/1) Garth (3/4) Corpse Catapult (1/4)* Corpse Catapult (1/4)
Base: 16
Tech 1: 4
Tech 2: 5
11 workers
Hand: 5
Deck: 6
Discard: 0
New Hand
Skeletal Lord
Summon Skeletons
Bone Collector
Deteriorate
Dark Pact
Thieving Imp
Bone Collector
Dark Pact
Summon Skeletons
Skeletal Lord
Deteriorate
No worker
No tech
Get paid ($11)
Hire Orpal ($9)
Maxband Orpal ($4)
Raise a Bony Boi ($3)
Sacrifice the Bony boi to give squad lead Bone Collector -1/-1
Garth Kills him
-1/-1 to scavenger Bony Boi and Bone Collector. They die
Deteriorate Technician Bony Boi
Catapult kills Lookout Bony Boi
Catapult hits your base
Summon a bunch of Bony Bois ($0)
Nether Drain
Artisan Mantis
Blooming Elm
Blooming Ancient
Might of Leaf and Claw
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float + Scavenger - ($20)
Argagarg suicides into Orpal
Drakk Ramhorn, maxband - ($13)
Blooming Ancient, hasty - ($9)
Garth Torken - ($7)
Nether Drain from Orpal to my Garth - ($6)
Bone Collector from Graveyard - ($4)
Ancient kills Orpal, losing both +1/+1 runes and activating MoLaC
Maxband Garth, fetch Artisan Mantis, repair my base - ($2)
Skeleton - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Artisan Mantis (9/10A) Frenzy 1
Elite:
Scavenger: Bone Collector (8/8) Frenzy 1
Technician: Skeleton (6/6) Frenzy 1
Lookout:
In Play:
Might of Leaf and Claw [5 growth]
Graveyard (3)
Rickety Mine (3)
L6 Drakk Ramhorn (8/9) 1 base damage if killed
L7 Garth Torken (8/9)
Blooming Ancient (8/13) Haste, frenzy 1 [2+]
In Graveyard:
Bone Collector
Buildings:
Base HP: 13
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Growth)
Tech Lab HP: 4 (Necromancy)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Interesting that he chose to blast my base instead of my Tech II. I should probably be worried about that, but I’m more happy that I can put these tech II cards in my hand to use. Any further Mine use is incredibly risky, and should be considered a last resort.
I thought I had established Checkmate. Guess not.
P1t10
Hand
Sacrifice the Weak
Twilight Baron
Twilight Baron
Skeletal Lord
Necromancer
No worker
Tech
Dark Pact
Tech 1 card
Get paid ($11)
Catapults reduce your base to 1HP
Hire Twilight Baron ($7)
Hire the other one, too ($3)
Raise a Bony Boi ($2)
Sacrifice the Weak ($0) we each lose a Bony Boi