Playful Panda
Ironbark Treant
Spore Shambler
Rampant Growth
Rich Earth
Thoughts
OK, Rich Earth in the opening hand, which is nice. zhavier hits Tech I first this time, though, so I might quickly run into trouble. Workering Ironbark Treant, it won’t do much good if zhavier’s going for Tiny Basilisks too this time. Let’s see if all these starting Wisps can threaten to punish his low-board start.
Tiger Cub
Young Treant
Forest’s Favour
Verdant Tree
Thoughts
I could bring out midband Drakk to kill off Calamandra, but I’d be delaying Turn 1 to do so. I’d have 3/4+1A Drakk vs. 2/2 Playful Panda when zhavier’s on 7 gold, and I can expect a Tiny Basilisk. Let’s not do that. I’ll just use Young Treant for a cleaner reshuffle, that leaves me with very little counter-attack damage but getting Tech I cards down early is probably going to be really important here.
Passing on killing a Wisp to have Panda in patrol instead of Tiger Cub. That could prove to be a mistake, but I’m hoping it’s worth threatening midband Midori if zhavier doesn’t get a Tiny Basilisk down.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Rickety Mine, Tiny Basilisk
Get paid - (6)
Worker
Tech I - (4)
Young Treant, I draw - (2)
Merfolk Prospector
Tiger Cub - (0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
Young Treant 0/2+1A (can’t attack) Playful Panda 2/2
Tiger Cub 2/2
Wisp #1 0/1
Wisp #2 0/1
Rich Earth (workers cost no gold; 10+ workers: exhaust to summon a Wisp)
Don’t tech up. Mine, Basilisk, midband Midori, kill all of zhavier’s Tech 0 units with a single Wisp loss. I patrol with Midori and Basilisk. If Basilisk goes in front, zhavier probably deals with it comfortably by trading Basilisks, and levelling / buffing Cal. That leaves him with 6 gold and 2 cards, so he could tech up but wouldn’t have much of a board on the next turn. I’d only have my Panda + Cub left, though, so that might not be too bad for him. Alternatively, I put Midori in front, so I probably lose the buff, but he needs to hit Midori with the Basilisk or put Rampant Growth on Cal. If he has it, I’m in trouble. If he doesn’t, Basilisk trades with Midori, but then he has to deal with my Basilisk. OK, let’s leave one Wisp at home to go in front, then zhavier needs to do Cal -> Wisp, Bas -> Bas, and I think he can’t reach Midori without using stealth. His Wisps aren’t too dangerous while Cal is his only hero, and he can’t easily sacrifice her into my Basilisk either with a Wisp in the way, so no easy sneaking in Drakk/Midori.
Tech up. Mine, Basilisk, 2 gold on something, maybe Rook to sit in front of my Basilisk? Sit tight.
Don’t tech up. Take midband Drakk instead of midband Midori, but then I can’t kill the Panda with a single Wisp.
Option 1, I guess? I don’t like the likely response, but I think it’s the best I’ve got.
Teching into Tech II now, since my cycle is pretty slow now.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker
Tap mine go boom - ($11)
basilisk kills wisp
cal kills basilisk
Drakk - ($6)
tiger cub - ($4)
bloodlust tiger cub and your panda - ($2)
Verdant Tree - ($0)
Tiger Cub trades with Midori, Drakk to Max
Well, this sucks. I can’t reach zhavier’s Drakk without delaying Tech II, but I have no Tech I units to block with if he hastes a Tiny Basilisk. I’ll try and delay with Spore Shambler, in Elite with a Tower so he can make Mimics trade.
Young Treant
Wandering Mimic
Tiny Basilisk
Rampant Growth
Thoughts
It might be worth trying to draw the Bloodlust with Young Treant here. If I do get it, I can do Bloodlust on both Drakks, Mimic kills Cal, Drakk damages Tech II. If not, I either have two Balance II units to work with, or I put down several lower-tech units. There’s a chance that I draw the Dragon when I don’t want to start flying, though. I’ll just have to take the risk.
Teching the second Mimic. I’m not sure what else, the other Tiny Basilisk? Bloodlust? Chameleon? Circle of Life? Maybe Circle of Life to keep myself flexible, I might be able to get by without another round of teching.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Rickety Mine, Tiny Basilisk
T3: Potent Basilisk, Wandering Mimic
T4: Bloodlust, Faerie Dragon
T5: Circle of Life, Wandering Mimic
Get paid + float - (10)
Young Treant, I draw - (8)
Potent Basilisk
Thoughts
That’ll do, I can’t kill zhavier’s heroes but I can destroy his Rich Earth and be difficult to attack. I have Faerie Dragon ready to play next turn, to kill off any stragglers, at least if zhavier doesn’t bring out Potent Basilisk + Wandering Mimic immediately. There’s a good chance he has Bloodlust in hand again, so I might be facing a lot of attackers at once. Maybe I put the Basilisk in front, so it can take a single frenzied Mimic? If it dies, it goes into the reshuffle.
Midband Drakk, Faerie Dragon, Bloodlust on Faerie Dragon + something. Dragon kills Basilisk, Mimic kills something. I can’t destroy both Verdant Tree and Tech II, which is unfortunate because the Mine probably means that zhavier is gunning for Tyrannosaurus Rex. He has enough gold to build Tech III and a Rex this turn, but he’d have had to tech it in on Turn 4, which I highly doubt. So, I’ve got a grace turn, and I can focus on whittling down his board.
Given the above, I think I have the Mimic kill Midori, then I Bloodlust Drakk and have him kill Calamandra. That’s a complete hero wipe, so no way for zhavier to hit back. It does give him a Technician draw, hopefully he doesn’t draw well for Tech II units. It also lets me save some gold on Drakk levels, so I can bring in Midori too. Hopefully that’s enough air presence to quickly snowball before zhavier can play a T-Rex.
Teched cards: 0
T2: Rickety Mine, Tiny Basilisk
T3: Potent Basilisk, Wandering Mimic
T4: Bloodlust, Faerie Dragon
T5: Circle of Life, Wandering Mimic
Get paid + scavenger - (11)
Drakk Ramhorn - (9)
Faerie Dragon, no feather rune, Wandering Mimic takes to the air - (5)
Bloodlust on Drakk and Faerie Dragon - (3)
Wandering Mimic kills Midori, you draw, Drakk hits level 3
Midband Drakk - (2)
Faerie Dragon kills Potent Basilisk
Drakk kills Calamandra, hits level 6 (maxband)
Master Midori - (0)
Discard 1, reshuffle, draw 3
Faerie Dragon and Drakk take lust damage
Young Treant 0/2+1A Midori L1 2/3
Drakk L6 3/3 (dies: 1 to your base; units get frenzy +1; first unit played from hand gets haste; 1 damage)
Wandering Mimic 4/4 (copying flying; copies flying, overpower, haste, sparkshot, untargetable, and stealth)
Faerie Dragon 4/1 (flying; 1 damage)
Base HP: 17 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Balance) Tower HP: 4
Hand: 3
Wandering Mimic
Potent Basilisk
Rich Earth
Deck: 6
Spore Shambler
Tiger Cub
Circle of Life
Tiny Basilisk
Bloodlust
Playful Panda
Discard: 0
Trash: 1 (opponent-viewable)
Rickety Mine
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 8 teched = 18
1 in trash
3 on board
3 in hand
6 in deck
0 in discard
5 in workers
Total: 18
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
5 x start
T1: Ironbark Treant
T2: Verdant Tree
T3: Forest’s Favour
T4: Merfolk Prospector
T5: Rampant Growth
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
Base HP: 20
Wisp 
