GLHF @Bryce_The_Rice!
BIG GAME HUNTERS: Each player gets an extra 2 gold during each of their upkeeps.
P1T1
Starting hand: 5
Young Treant
Playful Panda
Spore Shambler
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
Thoughts
A couple of ways I can make use of the extra income here:
- Early Stampede
- Early use of Spirit of the Panda for even more gold
- SHARKS
- Early Art of War
- Double Brave Knight
Generally use more expensive cards than usual, so I don’t go down on cards. Early ultimate spells are practically out against Snapback. Long-term, easiest way to make use of the gold is to jump to Gunships while still having gold to block up, I think.
Early expensive options for Bomber:
Otherwise pretty standard, I think, or high-level heroes. Which is dangerous in itself given his spec choices.
Get paid + game - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Verdant Tree - ($3)
Captain Zane - ($1)
Zane hits your base to 18
Discard 3, draw 5
Zane L1 2/2 (haste)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Hand: 5
Merfolk Prospector
Tiger Cub
Ironbark Treant
Rich Earth
Rampant Growth
Deck: 0
Discard: 3
Young Treant
Spore Shambler
Forest’s Favor
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10
1 on board
5 in hand
0 in deck
3 in discard
1 in workers
Total: 10
Gold: 1
Workers: 5
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
P1T2
Starting hand: 5
Merfolk Prospector
Tiger Cub
Ironbark Treant
Rich Earth
Rampant Growth
Thoughts
That Flagbearer’s a good call, stops me from midbanding Zane to kill Rook, or shoving him. Nothing fancy I can do here, I’ll just tech up, and play two units so Rook can’t midband for the Zane kill. Unless he has the Hook in hand, not much I can do in that case. I’ll hedge my teching bets with a Taxman, in case I’m quickly facing maxband Rook + Birds + Earthquake.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
Get paid + float + game - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Tech I - ($5)
Ironbark Treant - ($2)
Tiger Cub - ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
Squad Leader: Ironbark Treant 1/2+3A
Technician: Tiger Cub 2/2
Zane L1 2/2 (haste)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Hand: 4
Spore Shambler
Forest’s Favor
Surprise Attack
Merfolk Prospector
Deck: 3
Young Treant
Gunpoint Taxman
Rampant Growth
Discard: 0
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 2 teched = 12
3 on board
4 in hand
3 in deck
0 in discard
2 in workers
Total: 12
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
T2: Rich Earth
P1T3
Starting hand: 4
Spore Shambler
Forest’s Favor
Surprise Attack
Merfolk Prospector
Technician draw: 1
Thoughts
Too much to ask for Bomber not to have the Hook. Sweet compensation draw, though. I think I’m best off playing the Shambler as well to rune the Treant here, try and get some use out of the Tree’s healing.
Interesting split here, depending on whether I pass the other rune to the Taxman:
- Rune, Taxman can’t be killed by maxband Rook without Hook, more likely to survive to kill Birds. Next turn, I have $9: if I tech Tech II units and have them in hand, I have $4 to play them after worker + instant Tech II. Not enough for the usual Monkey + Tank if I wanted to shoot for Gunships, but enough for an Ancient. Or MoLaC, bit risky against Grave though.
- No rune. Taxman is more easily killed, which is riskier against surely-incoming Birds. However, I have $10 next turn. Either $5 to play Disguised Monkey + Steam Tank if both in hand, or $2 left over after worker + Zane + Sharks if not. Taxman in SQL to force maxband before attack, then Shambler in either Scavenger to allow a Tower with Zane, or Technician to have more chance for the quick Tech II play. Scavenger option is probably better against Birds. It also allows Tank + Tower if I only draw that.
I think I take the first option here: I’m highly unlikely (10%) to draw two of the three cards mentioned if I’m only drawing two cards out of five, so there’s less chance of interesting alternative plays. I’d rather try to keep the Taxman alive in that case.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
T3: Disguised Monkey, Steam Tank
Get paid + game - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Gunpoint Taxman - ($5)
Spore Shambler - ($2)
Spore Shambler passes a rune to Ironbark Treant - ($1)
Ironbark Treant kills Saviour Monk, you draw, takes 2 damage
Spore Shambler passes its other rune to Gunpoint Taxman - ($0)
Discard 2, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 2
Squad Leader: Gunpoint Taxman 4/4+1A (+, anti-air, steals gold on patroller kill)
Lookout: Spore Shambler 0/1 (resist 0+1, exhaust or pay to pass + runes to units)
Ironbark Treant 4/1 (+, 2 damage)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Hand: 4
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Disguised Monkey
Deck: 3
Steam Tank
Forest’s Favor
Surprise Attack
Discard: 0
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 4 teched = 14
4 on board
4 in hand
3 in deck
0 in discard
3 in workers
Total: 14
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
T2: Rich Earth
T3: Merfolk Prospector
P1T4
Starting hand: 4
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Disguised Monkey
Thoughts
Shame to lose the Shambler here, but it’s better than losing the Taxman.
Rambasa Twins were expected, even if I haven’t prepared for them very well. Having a bunch of units with 4 attack is overkill for Twins, and exactly the wrong rune balance for taking on Rook. Still, Twins + maxband Rook meant no Tech II this turn. I’m more surprised at the lack of Birds, maybe Bomber just whiffed.
Only drew the Monkey, so I have an interesting decision here. Do I go for Tech II + Monkey + hero, or I delay Tech II, and hide my spec choice until I’m hitting Tech III the following turn?
- Tech II. Taxman kills SQL Twin, Monkey efficiently trades with Flagbearer. Treant blocks at 2/2+3A or 3/2+2A, depending on how worried I am about Sensei’s Advice on the remaining Twin. Hero can come in to stop Rook roaming free, doesn’t have to be Zane since I can bring him in next turn with Tech II up. Better than bringing in Zane to trade with Twin, since this way I can force them back to codex. End result: Treant + Hero on patrol, 1HP Taxman healing behind (enough to kill non-Elite Bird next turn, trade with anything else), against 3/2 Twin and maxband Rook. 4 card hand vs. 3 card hand, and I have Tech advantage.
- No Tech II. Not many options in my hand, unless I play Young Treant. That gets me either a Tech II unit I can’t play, a spell I have to kill the Flagbearer to play, or a Surprise Attack I could no longer afford without skipping a worker, so no good result. No good options in hand either apart from Tiger Cub. Flagbearer makes interesting Zane plays harder, best I can do is Treant trades with Twin, maxband Zane to shove Flagbearer to Scavenger, Zane kills Scavenger, Taxman kills Technician. That leaves me with 4 gold before worker, so I could worker and block with Tiger Cub only. So Rook probably kills something. Either he takes damage so is easier to kill with what’s left, or he destroys the Tree, which leaves me pretty stuffed. Or Rook patrols and Bomber techs up, with 5 gold to spare. End result: 2/2 Cub in patrol, 2 HP Zane and 1 HP Taxman healing behind, against maxband Rook. 4 card hand vs. 4 card hand, equal on Tech, I have 1 gold in float. Backline/Tree can be hit by Rook, Twins can return.
Uh, I’ll put the tradeoffs in a table, I’m too tired to compare those end results by flipping back and forth:
| Status |
Tech |
No Tech |
| Patrol |
2/2+3A SQL Treant, non-Zane Hero |
2/2 Tiger Cub |
| Backline |
1HP Taxman, Tree |
1HP Taxman, 2HP Zane, Tree |
| Tech advantage? |
Yes |
No |
| Tech choice revealed? |
Yes |
No |
| Enemies |
3/2 Twin, 4/5x2 Rook |
4/5x2 Rook |
| Twins can return? |
No |
Yes |
| Bomber’s hand size |
3 cards |
4 cards |
| Float |
0 gold |
1 gold |
| Worst immediate response |
Snapback, Rook kills Zane, 5 gold and 1 card to play |
Rook hits backline, 5 gold and 2 cards to play |
I reckon the Tech II is better in most circumstances here, mostly because it leaves Bomber low on hand size just before his second reshuffle.
Tech choices: Vanilla choice is the other Monkey and Tank. I’m drawing one reshuffle card out of six, so drawing most reshuffle cards for Turn 6, when I hope to build Tech III. To build it and play a Gunship, I’d need to float 2 gold the turn before, leaving me 8 gold to use, enough for worker + Zane + Sharks. That might be fine, I’ll risk teching both Gunships now.
EDIT: Putting in Argagarg instead of Onimaru: less offense, but Snapback’s the only card that lets Rook get through to the backline, and it would also let him bring in Zane and kill him. Wisp in patrol instead of Oni stops that. Unless Bomber’s teched Grappling Vines, but I doubt it, and playing that and Snapback leaves him with no cards to play to board after worker, so Vines shouldn’t stop the Zane train.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
T3: Disguised Monkey, Steam Tank
T4: 2 x Pirate Gunship
Get paid + game - ($9)
Ironbark Treant heals to 2 HP / 1 damage
Worker - ($8)
Instant Tech II: Anarchy - ($4)
Argagarg Garg, Wisp arrives - ($2)
Disguised Monkey - ($0)
Disguised Monkey takes advantage of its stealth and trades with SQL Rambasa Twin 
Twin goes to codex
Gunpoint Taxman kills Morningstar Flagbearer, takes 3 damage
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
Squad Leader: Ironbark Treant 2/2+3A (+, 1 damage)
Elite: Wisp 1+0/1
Argagarg L1 1/3
Gunpoint Taxman 4/1 (+, anti-air, steals gold on patroller kill, 3 damage)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Hand: 4
Steam Tank
Forest’s Favor
Surprise Attack
Spore Shambler
Deck: 5
Pirate Gunship
Pirate Gunship
Disguised Monkey
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Discard: 0
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 6 teched = 16
3 on board
4 in hand
5 in deck
0 in discard
4 in workers
Total: 16
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
T2: Rich Earth
T3: Merfolk Prospector
T4: Tiger Cub
Just swapped out Onimaru for Argagarg and redrawn my post-reshuffle card, hope that’s OK.
Going to have to earn yourself a big board here.
P1T5
Starting hand: 4
Steam Tank
Forest’s Favor
Surprise Attack
Spore Shambler
Thoughts
Oh, Peace. OK. Detonate might be pretty viable with the extra gold if I’ve got Gunships out first, so we’ll see how that works out for him.
Surprise Attack lets me clear a bunch of patrollers here. Taxman can steal that float, and Gunships cost 6 gold when I thought they cost 7, so I can do more here than I thought.
Either way, the main threat will be Grave casting Versatile Style to disable the Gunships: it’s a whopping 5 gold per turn but the extra income means Bomber could still build a decent board on top of that once Garrisons are down. Not something I can prevent being cast ahead of time. There could also be Air Hammers incoming, but I’d be surprised to see them before next cycle. Just got to hope the Anarchy choice caught Bomber by surprise.
Given the above, I don’t know whether I want to bother killing Rook here. I’d need to deal at least 15 damage overall. 8 from Zane + Sharks (Won’t need Zane for spells next turn, he can recover in time to draw Detonate), can get that from current board but need to be careful about the order.
- Kill Rook. Worker, Zane, Surprise Attack. Shark kills Twin, Zane and Treant crumble Rook, Shark and Taxman kills Rook and steal a gold. I have 3 gold, need to float 1. So I just maxband Argagarg for the Water Elemental to block. He could also boost the Wisp to trade with the Smoker. Or boost the Smoker to bounce it, but I want to leave Bomber’s hand low. I’m left with Water Elemental + maxband Arg + Tree against a Sparring Partner, so my tree should be fine unless there’s a Reversal or Boot Camp incoming. Maybe I leave the Smoker alone, so I can block with the Wisp and Argagarg as well, then that doesn’t help unless there’s two of them, but then Bomber has nothing for board again. Alternatively, I don’t maxband Argagarg either, so I have two extra gold to also play a Monkey / Rampant Growth next turn.
- Don’t kill Rook. Issue is that I want to leave the Partner alone to keep Bomber’s hand small, so Surprise Attack isn’t so useful. I probably go with Steam Tank + maxband Argagarg for 7 gold, leaving 2 gold for float. Tank, maxband Argagarg, Elemental, Wisp, Treant, and Taxman to patrol with, no way Bomber could get through that. Keeps my Tree / disabled Gunships safe, but I could be facing a massive ground attack next turn if Bomber’s drawn a Garrison this turn, and Rook would then have a decent chance to use his midband and sneak though to hit something valuable. Take a rune from Partner, then Versatile Style lets him kill a Gunship, for example.
Not sure what’s best, so I’ll default to the aggressive option. Maxbanding Argagarg to be safe, the Smoker could hit the Tree but that’s fine. Glad I don’t have to worry about Hidden Ninja! The Wisp is this turn’s Lookout weenie to stop other patrollers being Hooked there.
Teching in double Detonate: Zane will recover in time for me to reshuffle and draw them, and trash the Garrisons before Bomber’s engine gets out of control, so I should be in a decent position.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
T3: Disguised Monkey, Steam Tank
T4: 2 x Pirate Gunship
T5: 2 x Detonate
Get paid + game - ($10)
Gunpoint Taxman heals to 2 HP / 2 damage
Ironbark Treant heals to 3 HP / 0 damage
Worker - ($9)
Captain Zane - ($7)
Surprise Attack, Sharks arrive - ($2)
Shark #1 trades with Rambasa Twin, Twin goes to codex
Ironbark Treant and Zane suicide into Rook, Rook crumbles, levels fizzle
Shark #2 and Gunpoint Taxman trade with Rook, I take your gold, Argagarg hits midband - ($3)
Maxband Argagarg, Water Elemental arrives - ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4
Squad Leader: Argagarg L5 1/5+1A
Technician: Water Elemental 3/3 (anti-air)
Lookout: Wisp 0/1 (resist 0+1)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Hand: 4
Pirate Gunship
Disguised Monkey
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Deck: 1
Discard: 7
Detonate
Detonate
Surprise Attack
Ironbark Treant
Gunpoint Taxman
Steam Tank
Spore Shambler
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 8 teched = 18
1 on board
4 in hand
1 in deck
7 in discard
5 in workers
Total: 18
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
T2: Rich Earth
T3: Merfolk Prospector
T4: Tiger Cub
T5: Forest’s Favor
Why not? But hey, no need to worry about sharks any more. Here comes our bigger boat.
P1T6
Starting hand: 4
Pirate Gunship
Disguised Monkey
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Thoughts
Pretty happy with how these last few draws have gone, I even got the Gunship split. Versatile Style doesn’t remove flying from its disabled target, so Rook wasn’t as dangerous as I thought. I’m running pretty low on ground patrollers, though, so if Bomber has decent spells in hand I could get overrun here. I could tech in some decent patrollers – Tank and Brave Knight shine here, with Onimaru’s Soldiers to protect against removal – but I think I just shove in two copies of General’s Hammer and try to end the game next turn.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
T3: Disguised Monkey, Steam Tank
T4: 2 x Pirate Gunship
T5: 2 x Detonate
T6: 2 x General’s Hammer
Get paid + game + float - ($12)
Worker - ($11)
Instant Tech III - ($6)
Pirate Gunship - ($0)
Pirate Gunship destroys Tech II, your base to 16, Elite and backline Solders die, takes 1 damage
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 4
Squad Leader: Argagarg L5 1/5+1A
Technician: Water Elemental 3/3 (anti-air)
Pirate Gunship 7/5 (flying , haste, long-range, resist 2, obliterate 2, 1 damage)
Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Tech III HP: 5
Hand: 4
Pirate Gunship
Detonate
Ironbark Treant
Spore Shambler
Deck: 8
Detonate
Surprise Attack
Gunpoint Taxman
Steam Tank
General’s Hammer
General’s Hammer
Disguised Monkey
Rampant Growth
Discard: 0
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 10 teched = 20
2 on board
4 in hand
8 in deck
0 in discard
6 in workers
Total: 20
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
4 x start
T1: Playful Panda
T2: Rich Earth
T3: Merfolk Prospector
T4: Tiger Cub
T5: Forest’s Favor
T6: Young Treant
P1T7
Starting hand: 4
Pirate Gunship
Detonate
Ironbark Treant
Spore Shambler
Teched cards: 0
T2: Gunpoint Taxman, Surprise Attack
T3: Disguised Monkey, Steam Tank
T4: 2 x Pirate Gunship
T5: 2 x Detonate
T6: 2 x General’s Hammer
Get paid + game - ($12)
Pirate Gunship heals to 6 HP / 0 damage
Pirate Gunship #1 hits your base to 9, Soldier and Smoker die, you get a gold, takes 1 damage
Captain Zane - ($10)
Maxband Zane, shove Onimaru to Scavenger, hit him to 4 HP - ($5)
Zane trades with Onimaru, we get gold, levels fizzle - ($6)
Pirate Gunship #2 - ($0)
Pirate Gunship #2 hits your base to 2, Saviour Monk and Flagbearer die, you draw, takes 1 damage
Water Elemental destroys your base, GG!
Pirate Gunship #1 7/5 (flying , haste, long-range, resist 2, obliterate 2, 1 damage)
Pirate Gunship #2 7/5 (flying , haste, long-range, resist 2, obliterate 2, 1 damage)
Water Elemental 3/2 (anti-air, 1 damage)
Verdant Tree HP: 2 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly, 1 damage)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Tech III HP: 5
Well played, friend. @zhavier
2 Likes
Well you know what they say
Gg. You finally got your win on me
1 Like
Beat you in the Chad/Reiker game last time, I think? Good to know I can repeat it, though.
I’m curious why you teched Sparring Partner so early, it seemed like a very low-cost card to be teching on a map like this, especially if your only hero was nearly maxed so couldn’t be an alternative gold sink.
In theory, sparring partner could be a great gold sink, spamming +1 Runes.
1 Like
Sure, but that seems more useful once you have Garrisons up and have more targets to rune. Early on, I was expecting immediately-expensive cards like Twins and Brave Knight.
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Verdant Tree HP: 3 (healing 1, tech buildings build/rebuild instantly)
Squad Leader: Garus Rook (2/4+A)
Elite:
Scavenger: Morningstar Flagbearer (2/2)
Technician:
Lookout:
Technician: Tiger Cub 2/2
Twin goes to codex