CAWS 2016: robinz ([Blood]/Feral/Present) vs. Legion ([Past]/Peace/Anarchy)

Hi @Legion - GLHF! This is my first time against PPA, so it should be an experience, one way or the other!

P1T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Mad Man
Makeshift Rambaster
Bloodburn
Pillage
Charge


WORKERS
Bloodburn


NextHand

Nautical Dog
Scorch
Careless Musketeer
Bloodrage Ogre
Bombaster


Discard

Pillage
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Mad Man - ($2)
Calamandra - ($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+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Mad Man (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
Thoughts

What a strange opening hand. Normally you want one of Bloodrange Ogre or Nautical Dog in your opening hand with the red starter, or failing that at least a Bombaster. But no such luck, all are in my second hand. I only have 2 units, both of them relatively weak but with haste. I feel out of my comfort zone already, and that’s before I even think that this is my first game against the feared Past/Peace/Anarchy deck.

So what options do I have? I could spend all 3 of my gold (after playing a worker) on Bloodburn. He has no haste other than Nullcraft, so there’s no huge danger to this play - and it could be useful later for killing off Nullcraft. But that’s probably its only use - 1 damage per turn is not going to do much, and for 3 gold, as player one, with a deck that really needs to take the initiative early, it seems silly. There, that’s my worker decided.

The overall plan for this game has to be to hit him hard and fast through the early and midgame, so that he doesn’t have time to build up the full Peace Machine. I have no counters to buildings other than destroying them in combat, so I have to rush tech 2 and rely on my powerful Tech 2 units and heroes - with good Tech 1 units to keep me safe through that part of the game. I’ll definitely include a Huntress in my first tech, in order to combat Nullcraft.

Back to this turn: having ruled out and workered Bloodburn, I see two realistic choices - hero plus Mad Man, or Makeshift Rambaster to hit his base for 3. You don’t often get the chance to do the latter, so I’m quite tempted. Then what next turn? He’ll probably play Fading Argonaut or Plexus, together with possibly a hero, and/or Nullcraft. Rambaster isn’t good at breaking through that, and I have no haste in my next hand. Next turn I’d have to play worker+hero+ogre to build board, thus delaying Tech 1 till turn 3 - which might be OK, although I’d be relying on shuffle luck a little.

What of the other option? He not only has Nullcraft, but also Zane (I got way behind early on, perhaps fatally, in my round 2 game by somehow forgetting all about Zane), so there is no point putting MM in squad leader. So MM will go in Scavenger, with the hero in Squad Leader. I think I prefer this option, as I will have enough cash next turn to play Ogre (or Dog), build Tech 1, and perhaps even level up the hero.

Yes, that’s what I’ll do - the purple starter is solid but slow (apart from Nullcraft), and given my strong Tech 1s and strong heroes I think the best way to exploit that is to go for Tech 1 and heroes straight away. For that reason, I’m going to choose Calamandra as my opening hero, because Ferocity is great when I’ve got a reasonable board, which I expect to have early on, and her midband will be good protection against all the annoying bounce effects he has (Forgotten Fighter, Undo, later Prynn’s maxband). I do have to be wary of Origin story, and not overinvest in heroes - but that is even more reason to choose Calamandra, because her low-level stats are stronger, she costs less to level up, and I think Ferocity will be better than Bloodlust early on in this matchup (and I might even get use out of Behind the Ferns). So that’s decided - and unless something changes my mind, my first techs will be Ferocity and Huntress. There, I shouldn’t need to put any “thoughts” post at all next turn! :smiley:


1 Like

P2T1

[details=Secrets]

Hand : forg fighter,fading argo,mox,tinkerer,time spiral
Tech: nope
Thoughts : meh [/details]


  1. Get 5 Gold (5), tech 0 cards
  2. Worker (4)
  3. hardened mox (1)
  4. disc 3 draw 5

[details=Secrets]

Workers : 4+tinkerer
Discard : ffight,fargo,ts
New Hand : neop,tr,nullc,bs,plasmo [/details]


Board:

Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: HArdened Mox 1/1+A
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play :

  • Base : 20
  • Discard : 3
  • Deck : 0
  • Workers : 6
  • Gold: 1
  • Hand : 5

My turns certainly won’t usually be so quick - but this one was pretty straightforward.

P1T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Ferocity
Huntress


STARTING HAND
Bombaster
Bloodrage Ogre
Nautical Dog
Careless Musketeer
Scorch


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer


NextHand

Ferocity
Pillage
Nautical Dog
Charge
Scorch


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Bloodrage Ogre - ($2)
Tech 1 - ($0)

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


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Mad Man (1/1)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Calamandra lvl 1 (2/3+1A)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

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

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

See above - no further comments to make here.


P2T2

[details=Secrets]

Hand : neop,tr,nullc,bs,plasmo
Tech: booth camp+taxman
Thoughts : meh [/details]


  1. Get 6 Gold+f (7), tech 2 cards
  2. Worker (6)
  3. Battle suits (4)
  4. Tech I (2)
  5. Neo Plexus (0)
  6. disc 2 rs draw 4

[details=Secrets]

Workers : 4+tinkerer+plasmo
Discard : 0
New Hand : ts,nullc.fargo,boothc [/details]


Board:

Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: HArdened Mox 2/1+A
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician: Neo Plexus 3/2
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play : battle suits

  • Base : 20
  • Tech I: 5
  • Discard : 0
  • Deck : 3
  • Workers : 7
  • Gold: 0
  • Hand : 4

P1T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Tricycloid
Hyperion


STARTING HAND
Nautical Dog
Pillage
Scorch
Ferocity
Charge


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Pillage


NextHand

Makeshift Rambaster
Mad Man
Bombaster
Huntress


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Calamandra casts Ferocity, giving all my units Armour Piercing and Swift Strike until my next upkeep - ($3)
Mad Man suicides into Mox, striking through its armour to sideline it
Bloodrage Ogre kills Neo Plexus, taking no damage. You draw.
Nautical Dog - ($2)
Calamandra to level 3, giving all my units resist 1 - ($0)

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


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Nautical Dog (1/1+1A, armour piercing, swift strike, resist 1)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Calamandra lvl 3 (3/4)
  • Bloodrage Ogre (3/2, armour piercing, swift strike, resist 1)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

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

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

With the cards in my hand, the main part of this turn pretty much plays itself. It’s a shame Mox doesn’t die, which takes a bit of the shine off my Swift Strike - but killing Neo Plexus for no loss, and midbanding Cal, is I think pretty good, even at the cost of a card. And much better than anything else I could have done, as far as I can see. (I “have to” attack with Ogre anyway, so I might as well both actually kill something AND keep it alive.)

But I’ve spent an AGE thinking about where to patrol the Naughty Dog. I’ve flip-flopped right up until the last minute as to whether to patrol in SQL or scavenger/technician (most likely Scavenger). The issue is that, if he has no armor, he can get blasted by Nullcraft - and then Mox and Zane kill Calamandra. OK Zane dies as well, but he’d end the turn with Mox+Nullcraft+some other unit versus my solitary Ogre, and that feels pretty bad. (Don’t tell me he might not have Nullcraft. There’s no way he’s workered it, since with loads of runes from a Drill Sergeant it’s normally the finisher for PPA - and that means he has a 5/7 chance of having it in hand. I don’t like those odds.)

Now, the SQL patrol doesn’t protect her very securely either. He can always pay 3 to level Zane up to do as above - but than then starts to feel like a much better position for me. More likely, he can play Stewardess or Forgotten Fighter to bounce the Dog. But they’re also pretty expensive, especially because of Calamandra’s midband. (If he does play Stewardess he’s actually much more likely to bounce the Ogre, although that ALSO has resist 1.) So I’m coming more and more to thinking that SQL is the right option - that’s what I’ve gone for.

Next turn I will certainly worker + Tech 2 (you will see I’m already teching both the usual supects for Present Tech 2), That leaves only 2 gold, which will almost certainly be spent on the Huntress to combat his nullcraft (and you never know, Sparkshot could end up being useful as well).


P2T3

[details=Secrets]

Hand : ts,nullc.fargo,boothc+ffight(tech)+taxman (bc)
Tech: garrison+cadet
Thoughts : meh [/details]


  1. Get 7 Gold (7), tech 2 cards
  2. Worker (6)
  3. Tech II peace (4)
  4. Onimaru (2)
  5. mox kills nautical dog
  6. booth camp mox, i draw 1 (1)
  7. disc 4 draw 1 rs draw 4

[details=Secrets]

Workers : 5+tinkerer+plasmo+time s
Discard : 0
New Hand : tempr,neop,ffight,taxm,garrison [/details]


Board:

Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: Onimaru 2/3+A
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play : battle suits HArdened Mox 3/2

  • Base : 20
  • Tech I: 5
  • Tech II Peace: 5
  • Discard : 0
  • Deck : 4
  • Workers : 8
  • Gold: 1
  • Hand : 5

I’m not sure what a “booth camp” is, but it sounds like a fun place. Much more so than a boot camp, anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

P1T4


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Hyperion
Feral Strike


STARTING HAND
Huntress
Bombaster
Makeshift Rambaster
Mad Man


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Pillage
Bombaster


NextHand

Charge
Scorch
Ferocity
Hyperion


Discard

Nautical Dog
Mad Man
Huntress
Makeshift Rambaster
Hyperion
Feral Strike


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Tech 2 Present - ($2)
Mad Man, suicides to remove Onimaru’s armour - ($1)
Calamandra kills onimaru, levels to max and heals
ogre does 3 damage to your Tech 2

Float ($1)
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]
  • max Calamandra (4/5)
  • Bloodrage Ogre (3/2, resist 1)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Present)

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

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 1
  • Disc: 6
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 1
  • Workers: 8
Thoughts

So the General has appeared - just in time for me to quickly dispatch him in order to max Calamandra for free. OK, not really free at all, because I’ve spent a gold and a card on Mad man, and ended up with no patrol. But I think it’s important to kill the General, to stop him attacking me for 3 next turn, not to mention sending Mox (or other units) to boot camp again (or his other units, or mine to sideline them), and delaying the absolute monster that midband or max Onimaru is. And I wanted to max Cal anyway.

It’s just a shame I was 1 gold short of either patrolling Huntress, or (the more appealing option if I could afford it) sending Rambaster in to finish off his Tech 2. (Yeah, regretting not patrolling the Dog in scavenger now, although if it saved Cal for a turn it was worth it.) As it is, he will kill my Ogre with Mox - but at least then he can’t patrol it again.

I’m watched enough PPA games - although not studied them in detail - to know his general plan now. He’ll drop a garrison, and a bunch of cheap Tech 1 units (cadets, and perhaps Vystari) to draw loads of cards and build up a big board of cheap guys. Meanwhile, he will keep using Boot Camp to power up his units, possibly including the Mox. Eventually he’ll drop a drill seargent or two (presumably at a point where he can afford to lose the Mox), shove a load of runes onto Nullcraft, and win. Meanwhile he has Zane+Sharks, or Prynn with Origin Story/Undo - and Stewardesses - to slow me down.

Other than BC not being available to him for T4, I’ve not really done a lot to prevent that. But I still feel in good shape. His Tech 2 has only 2 HP, so will be relatively easy to break if I need to (if Cal doesn’t get OSed, I can always dump 2 cards for stealth if I need to - something which will be easier to do once I have Hyperions up and running). Because Hyperion is I think really important here, I’m teching a second one, despite my preference for keeping one in the codex to use for FS or WGD. I’m teching Feral Strike too, beacuse I have to try in case he doesn’t draw OS (or hasn’t teched it, but I’d be surprised if he hasn’t, particularly of he’s also gone for Stewardess). If he kills Ogre with Mox and then does Prynn+OS, I’ll be quite sad - although at least he won’t have 3 gold left to play the Garrison too (or he has to skip the worker). I think Cal is key to this - if she is still there next turn I can pull an invisible Stalking Tiger out without going down on cards, if that’s better than what I have available in hand.

I only just realised (after drawing, so too late to change now imo), that he can bring Zane in to kill Cal in combination with Mox. That’s annoying, although not devastating. If he breaks Tech 2 it would be though. Oops.

[some later thoughts on this: that wouldn’t be so bad, Zane wouldn’t survive the attack, and Mox would be exhausted. I’d still have Ogre, and Cal to attack with OR - likely to be better - pull a Tiger out with. Likewise, if he kills Cal, I get a Hyperion out. So I’m definitely not in bad shape - but I won’t know for sure until I see what he does!]

I’ll also be very sad if he goes with Zane and sharks - but I think it’s a bit too early for him to have committed to an expensive plan like that. (Here’s hoping.)

So, the plan in a nutshell is: hit him hard with big guys (and Tricycloid shots) so he can’t recover and set up his engine.


P2T4

[details=Secrets]

Hand : tempr,neop,ffight,taxm,garrison Garrison:fargo,
Tech: garrison+sarge
Thoughts : meh [/details]


  1. Get 8 Gold+f (9), tech 2 cards
  2. Worker (8)
  3. flagstone garrison (5)
  4. gunpoint taxman (3)
  5. zane (1) and mox kill ur tech II base takes 2
  6. disc 3 draw 3 rs draw 2

[details=Secrets]

Workers : 5+tinkerer+plasmo+time s+ffight
Discard : 0
New Hand : nullc,cadet,bc,fargo,garrison [/details]


Board:

Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: taxman 3/3+A
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play : battle suits HArdened Mox 3/2, zane 2/2, Garrison 4

  • Base : 20
  • Tech I: 5
  • Tech II Peace: 2
  • Discard : 0
  • Deck : 3
  • Workers : 9
  • Gold: 1
  • Hand : 5
late thoughts

So ok, imho is mostly game. He did a very bad mistake remaining wide open, now i will 100% kill his tech II every turn. I was dubious at start if kill cala or tech II, then i remembered that cala’s ult is useless without tech buildings so 2 birds with 1 stone, i am much more afraid of hyperions than cala. Now, to kill taxman would require either charge on ogre or attack with cala. Then he has 2 choices, kill zane or my tech II. both are bad since killing my tech lets me full of cheao stuff to invade the board with, so no harm in that. if he kills zane, then my tech II is up and running and i can bring a DS and maybe a NC for some huge pain. Also zane +mox with no guard (he has only 4 cards, with a lil bit of luck are crap like ND or MM, spells or even better tech II) are guaranteed to re kill the tech 2 while i pump my board. Mox +NC with just 1 rune is enough to re break tech II tho. So that is why imho is game.

Robin’s last turn isn’t quite legal, as bloodrage ogre needs to either attack or return to hand

dude it attacked my tech II :confused:

1 Like

Oh I missed that, apologies! Carry on :wink:

1 Like

P1T5


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Kidnapping
Bloodlust


STARTING HAND
Scorch
Ferocity
Hyperion
Charge


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Pillage
Bombaster
Scorch


NextHand

Mad Man
Ferocity
Makeshift Rambaster
Tricycloid


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
rebuild Tech 2
worker - ($8)
Calamandra exhausts to play a Stalking Tiger from my codex - ($4)
Calamandra casts Ferocity again - ($2)
Bloodrage Ogre kills Taxman

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


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Stalking Tiger (4/4+1A, invisible, resist 1, armour piercing, swift strike)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Bloodrage Ogre (3/2, resist 1, armour piercing, swift strike)
  • max Calamandra (4/5)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 18
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Present)

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

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 8
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 2
  • Workers: 9
Thoughts

So, as I realised - he could kill Calamandra OR break Tech 2, but whichever he does lets me still do plenty of stuff. He chose to dodge my Hyperion for at least a turn - but instead he gets a Ferocious Ogre and a new Tiger.

I didn’t have many other options this turn other than what I’ve done. After killing the Taxman, I could have chosen to break his Garrison (or Tech 2, but Garrison seems clearly better, given his gameplan, and the facts that he can’t rebuild Garrison for free and it had more HP) with Calamandra. But then I’d have no patrol and he breaks Tech 2 again, so that doesn’t get me anywhere. The great thing is that, by playing the tiger before casting Ferocity, it gets Swift Strike too, so there’s no way he’s going to bother atacking it with anything other than Mox this turn - even sharks are useless. (Checks codexcardDB for what kind of buffs peace can give things - yep, definitely no swift strike.)

It’s a shame I didn’t have enough cash to play Charge! on the tiger. (Could break his tech 2 or garrison, or kill Zane.) It would have been fun, and I could still do it by skipping a worker, but I feel like that might have been a mistake.

I have no experience playing Feral tech 2, so I don’t know which tiger is better. Judging by cost, Predator Tiger is better (I’m “overpaying” by 1 on Stalking Tiger, as its nominal cost is 3) - and the ability to trash his workers is very good. But with Garrison in play I’m expecting his patrol to be filled with tech 1s in short order, so I won’t get to use the ability much. So it has to be the Stalker, which is invisible as long as I keep Calamandra in play, and even if I can’t can pick off any units he has hiding behind the patrol zone (like a Drill Sergeant).

He can of course use Origin Story, but I’ve got no way around that whatever I do. I’ve had MORE than enough value from her already. It would make the tiger no longer invisible, but OS doesn’t prevent me resummoning her next turn to make it invisible again! So I feel like I’m considerably ahead now, barring a bad draw, if he doesn’t have OS - and if he does I’m still reasonably happy. Which is strange playing a strong player like Legion who’s also very familiar with PPA - so I’m sure I’m about to get a rude awakening!

On seeing my next draw - wow, Ferocity again? This is looking very good…


1 Like

dude Taxman has armor, so he survives

I know he has. Ferocity gives my units Armour Piercing.

P2T5 forgot about armor piercing, my bad

[details=Secrets]

Hand : nullc,cadet,bc,fargo,garrison Garrison:sarge+tr+neop+cadet,vystari+taxman
Tech: cadet+vystari
Thoughts : meh [/details]


  1. Get 9 Gold+f (10), tech 2 cards
  2. Garrison (7)
  3. Cadet draw 2
  4. Mox hits tiger for 2 dmg past its armor
  5. sarge (4) draw 1 rs draw 1, trash mox
  6. cadet draw last 2 cards 1 rune
  7. nullcraft (2) 2 runes
  8. calypso vystari (1) 3 runes
  9. Worker (0)
  10. 1 rune on Nullcraft who safely kills the tiger. ZAne hits ur base for another 2 dmgs
  11. disc 4 draw 4 no meaning in reshuffling

[details=Secrets]

Workers : 5+tinkerer+plasmo+time s+ffight+taxman
Discard : 0
New Hand : bc,fargo,tr,neop [/details]


Board:

Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: cadet 3/2+A
  • :psfist: Elite: sergent 7/5 edit: forgot he is a soldier too
  • :ps_: Scavenger: cadet 3/2
  • :exhaust: Technician: vystary 3/2
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play : battle suits, zane 2/2, Garrison 4, Garrison 4, zane 2/2, nullcraft 2/2

  • Base : 20
  • Tech I: 5
  • Tech II Peace: 2
  • Discard : 0
  • Deck : 0
  • Workers : 10
  • Gold: 0
  • Hand : 4

no offense, mate, imo is game

Yeah, you could be right - didn’t expect you to explode into life quite so quickly! (Wish I’d destroyed your garrison or tech 2 last turn now.)

Not going to concede until I’ve looked at my options though. Just one question: what do you mean by “disc 4 draw 4 no meaning in reshuffling”. You have 3 cards left in your deck, so why couldn’t you draw a 5th card?

And isn’t your sergeant a 7/6, (3/3 with 3 runes plus BS)?

simply that i forgot to update. I had discrad 4, 0 cards in deck 0 in discard. Hence i redrew the 4 i just discarded.

1 Like

sarge is 7/5 cuz he gave 1 rune to nc so is 5/5 + 1 point attack from BS+1 from elite is 7/5

1 Like