I think I’m on the ropes here regardless, so I will just concede @EricF
I put myself on the back foot T1. My thought with the Imp was that it would help me win the race to T2 by slowing down Alhazard’s cycling, but patroling the way I did allowed him to catch up on cards and establish board pressure that he never relinquished. Maybe patroling to Squad Lead instead (forcing him to trade the Haunt if he wanted to kill the Imp) would have been better, but more likely I should just have gone for Garth + skeletons.