[details=Giant amount of thoughts]Hand:
Chaos Mirror
Flagstone Garrison
Stewardess of the Undone
Deck: Fading Argonaut
So I have a clean attack here of:
9 gold (10)
Zane (8)
Max Zane, killing Skeleton (3)
Zane kills Garth
Chaos Mirror Zane’s 4 ATK onto Mox (1)
Mox and Stewardess put Alhazard’s Base to 2 hp
(Tech in 2x General’s Hammer)
The primary question is what Alhazard can do in reply with his 2 ATK in play and 8 + 3 = 11 gold
If I don’t patrol anything, then the Graveyard is useless for getting extra base damage in. But Quince + Max (4 gold, since Haunt can kill Zane) + Crashbarrow (copied) + Crashbarrow + Glider would add up to 20 damage, and I don’t want to take that risk.
Still teching 2x General’s Hammer, though. And if I establish a Garrison I can flood the zone with random units and easily survive any attacks (breaking Graveyard just to be safe)
Garrison (7)
Stewardess (4)
Zane (2)
Chaos Mirror (0)
Mox kills Garth
Stewardess and Zane break Tech II
Discard 2, rs, Draw 4. Patrol with a Stewardess. Alhazard still has 11 gold, 5 cards, and 2 ATK to beat stuff up with, but at best he can have Blood Lust and/or Drakk abilities (which are probably sufficient to break Garrison & kill, say, Zane. This doesn’t leave me in a good place unless his turn is a total dud.
Mixed bag:
Zane (8)
Max to kill Skeleton (3 or 4)
Kill Garth
Chaos Mirror (1 or 2)
Mox breaks Tech II
Stewardess… hits the Base for an extra 3, putting it in 2x Hammer range
Fading Argo, to keep hasty stuff off my back (giving Alhazard an extra gold, so 14 total including Haunt -> Zane)
Discard 2, rs, Draw 4
Other mixed bag is to not play Garrison, and go:
Stewardess the Skeleton (7)
Zane (5)
Mirror (3)
Mox kills Garth
Zane & Stewardess break Tech II
… no reason to not have played Garrison, then?
So, the Garrison line leaves 2 atk in play, and lets me patrol with Stewardess. Against 11 gold: Drakk (9) + Max (4) + Crash Bomber (3) + re-play Bomber (2) + Blood Lust (0) is 1 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 4* = 15-16 total attack. Which kills my board of Garrison (4), Zane (2), Tech I (5), Stewardess (4), leaving me completely unable to mount a resistance.
The all-in line (in addition to probably losing to Free Speech), allows some number of Crashbarrows to hit my base. Quince (10 gold left). Haunt kills Zane. Max Quince (8 gold), make a mirror (6), double Cbarrow = 24 damage, which plows through a patrolling Fading Argo, or one less Barrow, leaving my base at 1, ripe for death to a Shoddy Glider.
The no patrollers but break Tech II line allows the Drakk + Blood Lust line to spend 2 less gold (meaning that it could use, say, a Javelineer or Executioner in addition to the rest) and cleanly kill both Tech buildings, the Stewardess, and Zane, even through a patrolling Argo. But, if he doesn’t have a Crash Bomber (let’s say he just has that Executioner), then having Zane at more than 1 hp will be important. Or I could break Tech II with Stewardess and Mox, not use Mirror, and have 3 gold to play another Stewardess.
Breaking it down:
For sure playing Zane (2)
Get rid of SQL skeleton: Stewardess (3) or Max Zane (5) or Mox attack
Get rid of Garth: Chaos Mirror (2) + Mox or Max Zane attacks or Max Zane (5) + Stewardess (trades)
Break Tech II: Chaos Mirror + Mox + Max Zane OR Zane + Stewardess OR Mox + Stewardess
Plan A:
Collect 9 gold (10)
Max Zane (3), shoving Skeleton to Scavenger and killing it (4)
Zane kills Garth, we both draw
Chaos Mirror (2) swapping Zane’s ATK to the Mox
Mox breaks your Tech II
Stewardess kills Pestering Haunt
Fading Argo (0)
Discard 2, rs, Draw 4
Tech - Fading Argo (3/3) [3]
Stewardess of the Undone (3/2)
Hardened Mox (2/1)
L6 Zane (4/1)
Plan B:
Collect 9 gold (10)
Garrison (7)
Stewardess, draw, bounce the SQL (4)
Zane (2)
Chaos Mirror (0) swapping Garth’s ATK to the Mox
Mox kills Garth, Zane to L3
Stewardess and Zane break the Tech II
Discard 1, rs, Draw 3
Elite - Stewardess (4/3)
Stewardess of the Undone (3/3)
Hardened Mox (2/1)
L3 Zane (2/2)
Garrison - 4
Ok, I think at least trying to get a Garrison up is the best course of action. My deck is already great if the Tech II goes down, so I need things to play if Tech I and/or Garrison go down. I could easily have just a Mox in play, without a Tech I, and facing down no patrollers (but with no Haste available). So, I think I want a replacement Garrison (because 5 patrollers blocks out Crashbarrows just fine, and it speeds me into whatever other cards I might want), and a General’s Hammer (I might need the hasty damage)
On second thought, that Garrison is just going to get blown up by anything at all, even without a Blood Lust.
time passes
Ok, coming back after sleeping on it, I can’t easily beat any sort of spell, and having a Garrison in play at least presents the possibility of Zane surviving, so we’re going to go with that play.
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