CAFS 2016: cstick ([Demonology]/Law/Anarchy) vs. Drakona ([Fire]/Blood/Finesse)

@Drakona

Nice to meet you. GLHF!

P1T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Jandra, the Negator
Thieving Imp
Skeleton Javelineer
Deteriorate
Graveyard


WORKERS
Graveyard


NextHand

Skeletal Archery
Sacrifice the Weak
Pestering Haunt
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue


Thoughts

Hmm. This hand is okay, but I’m not a fan of the next one. I’m expecting her T1 to be BRO in SQL + hero. Neither Jandra nor Imp match up well against BRO in squad leader, so I’ll open with Vandy + Jav.

Discard

Deteriorate
Thieving Imp
Jandra, the Negator


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Play Vandy - ($1)
Play Skeleton Javelineer - ($0)

Discard 3, draw 5


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: L1 Vandy (2/3 + A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Skeleton Javelineer (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

Hello and nice to meet you, too! GL HF!

I have literally just printed the cards you’ll be using, and I have to go to work. I’ll be with you this evening. :slight_smile:

Actually, what the heck. Let’s get this show started.

Wow – very cool deck. It does everything, doesn’t it? :slight_smile:

[details=Thoughts]Wow, demonology is cool. I wanna play demonology. Law is evil. I don’t wanna play against Law.

I see a huge array of late game strategies, like huge, more monkey wrenches for machines than I can count, and a lot of power from some of those demons. Nice Tier 1s. I don’t see a lot of ways to snipe heroes, though – just that Gargoyle. Which admittedly is probably more than enough.

I had wanted to do some sort of charging firebird rush against the first complicated deck I had to deal with, but I think against this deck, I’d just get my Tech 2 Injuncted. Probably a bad plan to go all in on any one thing.

I’m thinking my best bet is some form of zergling rush. No way I’ll do well if we get down to midgame tricks and traps. If we live to tech 2, I like Finesse . . . it is a machine, but a lot of it has haste, and a lot of the cogs work well individually and are at different tech levels. If he winds up using Law stuff to deal with it, hey, at least he’s not playing demons, and a power fight with demons might actually be kinda fun. If he goes Anarchy, I guess I will just bury my head in the sand and wait for the flying pigs or whatever . . . :wink:

Actually I kinda hope I get to see the Sanatarium/Torrasque thing. I mean, not, but . . . that’s cool.
[/details]

Starting Hand

Pillage, Scorch, Careless Musketeer, Bombaster, Mad Man

Worker

Careless Musketeer.

Actions

  • Collect 5 gold (5)
  • Worker (4)
  • Bombaster (2)
  • Drakk (0)
  • Discard 3, Draw 5

Patrol:
SQL: Bombaster (2/2 + 1A)
Elite:
Scav:
Tecn: Drakk (1/3)
Lookout:

[details=Patrol Thoughts]The skellie and Vandie can take out the Bombaster for free, advantage 1 card. Well Vandy has to heal, but I bet she was going to level anyway. I don’t see a better way to do this, though.

Does having something in Techn help me from a rush perspective? I think it improves my odds of drawing my first round of tech on turn 3, but I’m not sure all the things that could happen. Not that Drakk is likely to die or anything. [/details]

Buildings:

  • Base: 20

Economy:
Cards:

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Discard: 3
    Gold:
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6

Hey, I like this posting format. Really easy to read.

P1T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis


STARTING HAND
Skeletal Archery
Sacrifice the Weak
Pestering Haunt
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue


WORKERS
Graveyard
Skeletal Archery


NextHand

Deteriorate
Metamorphosis
Thieving Imp
Sacrifice the Weak


Thoughts

Okay, I could kill the bombaster with Vandy + Jav without either dying, then patrol with PB Rogue and build Tech 1. Or I could midband Vandy to heal her instead of doing one of those things.

OR I could play sac the weak, kill drakk, and get maxband Vandy. That seems good. Can I set up Metamorphosis? Maybe. I’ll need 8 gold to Meta + Hero, and I’ll need to spend another 3 for the Heroes’ Hall before that. Next turn, I spend 4 on worker + HH. I need to float at least 1 to turn 4, so I have 1 spare gold to defend myself. That’s not much, but I have Pestering Haunt this turn, and hopefully Deteriorate and/or Skeleton Javelineer to help out next turn. I’m going to go for it.

Okay, my new hand seems good. I didn’t draw both Metamorphosis, and I have Deteriorate. We’ll see what happens.

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Play Sacrifice the Weak: I sac Javelineer, you sac Bombaster - ($2)
Midband Vandy - ($0)
Vandy kills Drakk and maxbands - ($0)
Play Pestering Haunt - ($0)

Discard 2, reshuffle, 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]
  • Pestering Haunt
  • L5 Vandy (4/5)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 19

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

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 5
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6

LOL! Well okay then! :smiley:

  • Bombaster goes in the discard, now at 4. Reshuffle, draw one card.
Draw

Pillage. Foo, why couldn’t it be the Mad Man?

[details=Thoughts]I was kinda wondering if that would happen. I was like, well he doesn’t have any units with haste, but there is this one card . . . but I dunno why you’d pay two to kill a two gold unit. LOL. Didn’t think it through. Oh well. Hey, at least he cleared his board. :smiley:

I wonder if that’s worth watching out for again. Or Vandy could grab Shadow Blade . . . do I even have anything worth killing with it at this point? Hmm. Remember not to patrol expensive things. Man, I bet Sacrifice the Weak is a GREAT card later. Like, you could even kill a tech 3 with that thing if it was the last unit left! Engine of vile death and destruction, black is. I like.

Hmm, maxband Vandy. Does that mean the metamorphosis thing is happening? Not with more than one hero next turn at any rate. Let me grab . . . flame arrow, to be able to drop heroes if that comes up, and a Nimble Fencer to keep stabbing things with.

Let me run an actual timeline on that. Not to scare myself into overreacting, just because I keep getting the timelines wrong. Let’s see. If she casts metamorphosis next turn, she hits whatever she wants for 7, I build a tower my next turn (might have flame arrow in my hand then, that would suck… probably teching the other copy though), she hits the patrol line this time, I use the tower and the spell and some random hasted thing for 1 damage. That seems . . . kinda painful, but not the end of the world. Timeline works at least.

I wish I had a way to kill Vandy. All of a sudden I miss Zane, he would’ve been able to. Not that it would necessarily have been a good idea, but I do miss the crazy a bit. Ahh well.
[/details]

Tech

Flame Arrow, Nimble Fencer

Starting Hand

Makeshift Rambaster, Charge, Bloodburn, Nautical Dog, Bloodrage Ogre, Pillage

Worker

Pillage

Actions:

  • Collect 6 gold (6)
  • Worker (5)
  • Makeshift Rambaster (3)
  • Rambaster hits your base for 3 (3)
  • Bloodrage Ogre (1)
  • Tech 1 (0)
  • Discard 3, draw 3, rs, draw 2

Patrol:
SQL:
Elite:
Scav:
Tech: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2)
Lookout:

Patrol Thoughts

Okay this time it helps. So, Vandy can kill him outright no matter where I put him, and the haunt doesn’t make a difference no matter what. Vandy’s out of healing at least, so I could put this guy in Elite to be a bigger deterrent, but Vandy at 2 + metamorphosis, Flame Arrow can still drop . . . which I think is all I care about. He could die to Shadow Blade, I guess. Seems like a waste of time. Don’t really see anything else. Maybe he’ll live to attack. :smiley:

In Play:

  • Makeshift Rambaster (1/2)

Buildings:
Base: 20 hp
Tech 1: 5 hp

Economy:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Draw: 3
Discard: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7

Next Hand

Mad Man, Bombaster, Scorch, Charge, Nimble Fencer

Board State

Workers: Pillage, Careless Musketeer
Discard: empty
Draw: Bloodburn, Flame Arrow, Nautical Dog

P1T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Dark Pact
Surprise Attack


STARTING HAND
Deteriorate
Metamorphosis
Thieving Imp
Sacrifice the Weak


WORKERS
Graveyard
Skeletal Archery
Metamorphosis


NextHand

Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Metamorphosis
Skeleton Javelineer


Discard

Deteriorate
Pestering Haunt
Sacrifice the Weak
Thieving Imp
Dark Pact
Surprise Attack


Thoughts

Sweet, I can trade for Bloodrage Ogre. That leaves her with just a 1/2 to try and kill Vandy with. I can only think of two ways for her to stop Metamorphosis. First, she could play Drakk and a unit with 2 or 3 attack, then bloodlust them. Drakk does 2, the other unit does 3 or 4, and the Rambaster does the last point if necessary. I don’t think this is very likely, and even if it happens, I think I’m still ahead. The other possibility is that she uses Pillage to steal my gold. She would have to play a pirate as well, because I can still Meta with just the one gold floating. At that point, depending on her board, I might have to abandon the Metamorphosis plan, but I could also play Bigby to stash it for next turn.

If I get to play Metamorphosis next turn, I almost certainly win.

I teched just one Dark Pact for the 20% chance that I didn’t draw Metamorphosis in my new hand. In that case, I could have paid a gold and gotten the other Dark Pact from my codex in order to draw and play the Metamorphosis.

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Build a Heroes’ Hall (paying the multicolor penalty) - ($2)
Deteriorate your Bloodrage Ogre - ($2)
Pestering Haunt trades with Bloodrage Ogre - ($2)

Discard 2, draw 4


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: L5 Vandy (4/5 + A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 16
  • :heart: Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

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

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 1
  • Disc: 6
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 2
  • Workers: 7

Ooo. Zane. Nice synergy with Metamorphosis.

  • Discarded BRO. Technician slot gives me a draw.
Drawn

Bloodburn. GAH. WHY COULD IT NOT HAVE BEEN FLAME ARROW.

Starting Hand

Mad Man, Charge, Bombaster, Scorch, Nimble Fencer, Bloodburn

[details=Thoughts]A Heroes’ Hall before tech 1 and a maxband Vandy! Gorsh guys, I wonder what he’s up to. Wish I’d drawn the Flame Arrow instead of the Fencer, I coulda nipped this in the bud.

So let me think. I would do just about anything to kill Vandy here, but I don’t see a way. I could do it if I still had the BRO. I could do it if I had 8 gold. I could do it if I had drawn Flame Arrow. I could do it if I had a hero already out. I can’t do it.

Well, let’s limit the damage. So obviously I’m building a tower. Obviously I’m building a patroller for Vandy to hit. Bombaster seems like a solid choice, and Vandy’s hitting him would ready her for the Flame Arrow (but Zane will probably do it). Plus that way I don’t reveal the Nimble Fencer, which I’m sure will be a big surprise. Ok, let’s see, two invisible things, and he still has three gold. Could get hit with sacrifice the weak or shadow blade to clear the board. Not deteriorate too, at least, he just played that and didn’t reshuffle. I want at least one of these guys to hit a patroller, so I better have two. One of them will get through. Can’t help that anyway. Probably Vandy. I wonder whether she’ll break my tower or my tech? Or just go for my base? Can’t help any of that, but it’s not like I’m massively relying on the tech next turn, so that’s something. It’s just kinda nice to have. I’ll put the weaker patroller in techn to discourage Zane getting a free card.

Clearly I need to tech another copy of Flame Arrow to hold me until this blows over. Or maybe Ember Sparks? I’m not sure I can count on these guys patrolling, but I guess I’m guaranteed Flame Arrow next turn and Ember Sparks would be more useful in more different situations. And plus once there’s only one of them, the tower should keep them out.

Man, what a setback. I wish I’d done two copies of Flame Arrow when I saw that max Vandy – note to self, tech two copies of important things. Part of me wants to do a Lobber to stick with the hasty theme, but I’m feeling the Crash Bomber more for the guaranteed base damage.

All right, well here goes! Exciting! Let’s see if I can survive![/details]

Tech

Crash Bomber, Ember Sparks

Worker

Bloodburn. That’s what you get for coming up in the draw when I needed something else, jerk.

Actions:

  • Collect 7 gold (7)
  • Worker (6)
  • Tower (3)
  • Bombaster (1)
  • Mad Man (0)
  • Discard 3, draw 2, rs, draw 3

Patrol:
SQL: Bombaster (2/2 + 1A)
Elite:
Scav:
Tecn: Mad Man (1/1)
Lookout:

Also In Play:
Makeshift Rambaster, 1/2

Buildings:
Base: 20 hp
Tech 1: 5 hp
Tower: 4 hp

Economy:
Cards
Hand: 5
Draw: 3
Discard: 0
Gold
Gold: 0
Workers: 8

Next Hand

Nautical Dog, Flame Arrow, Scorch, Crash Bomber, Nimble Fencer

Board State

Workers: Careless Musketeer, Pillage, Bloodburn
Discard: Empty
Draw: Bloodrage Ogre, Charge, Ember Sparks

Uh Oh

Zane’s maxband. I thought I’d found and accounted all the ways to kill a 1 hp unit, but I overlooked that one. Shoulda patrolled something heavier. Maybe Drakk. I’m in trouble.

P1T4


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Surprise Attack
Dark Pact


STARTING HAND
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Metamorphosis
Skeleton Javelineer


WORKERS
Graveyard
Skeletal Archery
Metamorphosis
Poisonblade Rogue


NextHand

Jandra, the Negator
Dark Pact
Surprise Attack
Skeleton Javelineer


Thoughts

This seems really strong. I’m breaking the tower here so my heroes don’t eat a flame arrow or some hasty attacks. I think her only chance here is a base race, but I can kill her way faster.

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Play Zane - ($6)
Play Metamorphosis - ($0)
Zane maxbands and pushes Mad Man to elite, killing it - ($0)
Zane kills the Bombaster and uses up the tower’s detection - ($0)
Vandy breaks the tower - ($0)

Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 3


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

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: L5 Demon Vandy (6/7 + A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • L6 Demon Zane (6/3)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 16
  • :heart: Heroes’ Hall HP: 4

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

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

Wait, is Vandy’s maxband thing optional? I thought effects like that were compulsory.

Vandy maxbanded on turn 2, when there weren’t any units in play. So it didn’t do anything.

Ah, of course. My bad. Thanks.

Really nicely executed. I literally spent two hours thinking of all the ways you might run it, and you still did something better than what I came up with. Delightful. :slight_smile:

I think I’m probably going to be too far behind to catch up at this point – just rebuilding the tower every turn is going to be expensive, and keeping those demons running takes no further investment from you. Still, I’m curious to see it play out for another turn or two. This has been most instructive.


Drawn Card

Ember Sparks

[details=Thoughts]So – crap. I didn’t carefully think through the consequences of the tower being broken, let alone it staying broken. I thought – patrol the heroes, I can kill them with my own units, don’t patrol them, I’ll detect the weaker and kill it and the other will have trouble getting in. I would’ve rather not had it happen, but it didn’t sound so bad. But I neglected that with the tower broken, my spells won’t target. And having to rebuild it takes money I would really like to use to do damage to Vandy right now. Adding insult to injury, I don’t even have the money to cast my spell and bring back the tower. So that was never going to work. Bah.

I still feel like nuking the base with Jaina while this goes on might not be a horrible response, and I’m curious how long he can keep it up. Crash bombers and technicians don’t put me so far behind in a card and hp race, I don’t think. I’ll probably end up way behind eventually, but what the heck, let’s see what happens. I’ll want to be careful about all the sneaky ways he has to kill units, and patrol as many as I can, as heavy as I can. Watch out for free kills with deteriorate. Let’s run this another turn and see what happens. The cleverness is kind of awesome to see anyway. :slight_smile:

Tech – what do I need to support this? Well, assuming he keeps hitting my tower and not my tech . . . more hasted or general 2/2 options really seems like what I want to wear those demons down.
[/details]

Tech

Bloodlust, Nimble Fencer

Starting Hand

Nautical Dog, Flame Arrow, Scorch, Crash Bomber, Nimble Fencer, Ember Sparks

Worker

Scorch

Actions:

  • Collect 8 gold (8)
  • Worker (7)
  • Rebuild Tower (4)
  • Crash Bomber (3)
  • Nimble Fencer (1)
  • Nautical Dog (0)
  • Discard 3, draw 2, rs, draw 3

Patrol:
SQL: Crash Bomber (2/2 + 1A)
Elite:
Scav:
Tecn: Nimble Fencer (2/3)
Look:

Other:
Makeshift Rambaster: 1/2
Nautical Dog: 1/1

Buildings:
Base: 18 hp
Tech 1: 5 hp
Tower: 4 hp

Economy:
Cards
Hand: 5
Discard: 0
Draw: 4
Gold
Gold: 0
Workers: 9

Next Hand

Bloodrage Ogre, Charge, Flame Arrow, Bloodlust, Ember Sparks. That . . . literally could not have gone worse as far as getting units to put on the line. Still got heroes though. Bloodlust + BRO + I dunno, Nautical Dog, could probably hit pretty hard, and Drakk is a free point of damage to the base. Not that I expect to be allowed a free swing at those demons again.

Board State

Workers: Careless Musketeer, Pillage, Bloodburn, Scorch
Discard: empty
Draw: Nimble Fencer, Bombaster, Mad Man

A couple of things:

It looks like you drew a technician card? If you did, you shouldn’t have, because the way Zane’s maxband works is that he pushes the unit to a patrol slot, then it takes damage. Since the Mad Man got pushed to elite, you wouldn’t draw.

You played 3 cards + a worker, so I’m not sure how you’re discarding 3 to draw 5.

Your Makeshift Rambaster and your just-played Nautical Dog seem to have disappeared.

Your buildings have also disappeared. Your base is at 18.

Oh dear. I did screw up the technician draw.

Well, let’s see. The card I drew was one I didn’t play, and it wound up in the discard, reshuffled, and back in my hand. I think if I just take it out of my hand and put it in the draw pile, that’s the same as taking the turn over and doing it right . . . right? I think the only actual effect the mistake had is that I have five cards in my hand now and I should have four, given the number of actions I took last turn. I can do it over from scratch with all the draws and such if that isn’t a reasonable fix – I just don’t want to do that if it isn’t appropriate, since I got a terrible draw for my hand at the end. :wink:

Let me edit the other sections back in for the moment. I just missed them in the template.

Realistically you’re going to win, and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to concede, especially if sorting the mistake out is any trouble. Even if you do nothing other than what you just did, I can’t realistically stop that attack faster than two or three turns, and I suspect you have other ways to slow me down in that, and I will be WAY behind by the time it’s dealt with. I am mainly still playing because I want to see the mechanics of how the attack is sustained. It’s been a delight so far. :slight_smile:

I think it’s reasonable to ask @EricF about the best way to correct the turn.

Works for me! I went and looked at the tournament rules, and I think they say I should retake the turn – but I’m game for whatever seems fair.

I would suggest you retake the turn. Reconstruct the 3 cards that were left in your deck and the 5 in hand, and play the turn over. When you go to draw your next hand, re-randomize the results.

1 Like

Roger that! Sorry for the mess. 'Twas a long day yesterday, and I really have no excuse for the part of my brain that thought such things as that Vandy would maxband from casting her own ult. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Apparently that’s not the only thing I screwed up. Somehow I managed to play four cards from six and discard 3…

So sorry. Will try to do it right this time.

P2 T4 Do over -

Thoughts

May as well fix the tech while I’m here. Bloodlust was a dumb idea, I need units. I severely regret my earlier tech choices thinking spells were what I needed to deal with this . . . they’re really, really not.

Man! I managed to screw up the cards, too! Note to self, playing Codex after 11 PM, I’m going to embarrass myself. Very sorry. Play the Nautical Dog and go down to 1 card? I do need units bad, but the Rambaster should suck up a Sacrifice, and I’d really like something bigger than the dog so Deteriorate can’t kill it. Almost everything in the discard is a bigger unit. Seems reasonable to roll the dice.

Tech

Lobber, Nimble Fencer

Starting Hand

Nautical Dog, Flame Arrow, Scorch, Crash Bomber, Nimble Fencer

Worker

Scorch

Actions:

  • Collect 8 gold (8)
  • Worker (7)
  • Rebuild Tower (4)
  • Crash Bomber (3)
  • Nimble Fencer (1)
  • Float 1 gold
  • Discard 2, draw 3, rs, draw 1
Reshuffle Draw

reshuffle, c’mon draw a bigger unit . . . Flame Arrow. You know, I probably deserve that. :wink: There’s still the technician. I don’t think he can move it. I suppose he might just ignore it, which would also be okay. Shadow Blade seems like the worst case scenario, and honestly if I draw a card and discard one at random, I think that works out in my favor. So I’ll still probably get another unit before next turn.

Patrol:
SQL: Crash Bomber (2/2 + 1A)
Elite:
Scav:
Tecn: Nimble Fencer (2/3)
Look:

Other:
Makeshift Rambaster: 1/2

Buildings:
Base: 18 hp
Tech 1: 5 hp
Tower: 4 hp

Economy:
Cards
Hand: 4
Discard: 0
Draw: 5
Gold
Gold: 1
Workers: 9

Next Hand

Bloodrage Ogre, Charge, Ember Sparks, Flame Arrow

Board State

Workers: Careless Musketeer, Pillage, Bloodburn, Scorch
Discard: empty
Draw: Nimble Fencer, Bombaster, Mad Man, Nautical Dog, Lobber