On the plus side in this matchup I’ve plenty of cheap illusion busters (Grappling Hook, Sensei’s Advice, Bloodlust). Negative is that Voidblocker gives him a great answer to Blood aggro. Maybe game plan should be Tech2 Discipline, look to Bloodlust YLDs and Bone Collectors, then Tech Lab into Blood if things are going well.
GLHF! You were also P2 against Grave last game, so I guess it was a toss-up. I guess being prepared to be P2 against Grave is what this tournament is all about. You didn’t have to draw that Sensei for T1 though…
"P2T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Poisonblade Rogue
Skeleton Javelineer
Sacrifice the Weak
Jandra, the Negator
Deteriorate
Deteriorate
Jandra, the Negator
Sacrifice the Weak
Skeleton Javelineer
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Vandy - ($2)
Vandy Deteriorates the old teacher
Midband Vandy - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: L3 Vandy 3/4A, resist 1
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 4
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
Someone better than me is welcomed to tell me whether it would have been better to play the Javelineer and patrol him, saving Vandy behind the lines or (as I did) midbanding Vandy to what I hope is a safe position (given white starter, it seems to me he can only midband Grave for more damage) and place the pressure back at him.
With both of us putting $$ into leveling heros, this is going to work out badly for one of us. I’ve some advantage as P1 and with Grave’s sword and SnapBack to call on --though Vandy’s resist adds to the cost, and I have to watch out for StW and Shadow Blade. Teching Reversal to give another route to a hero kill, as well as a Bone Collector.
For some reason, this already feels pretty terrible and we just started. If he has reversal, he kills Vandy. I think that’s the only way? I considered maxing Vandy to doom the smoker and the imp, putting a bigger wall in the patrol and making Vandy stronger. But I think that this will just force his hand to max Grave and sword Vandy, leaving the Imp to his doom, in which case I’m left with nothing and he has a maxed Grave on the board. So let’s hope he didn’t tech Reversal.
@zhavier Think I’ve seen this discussion previously, but just to check – when Imp discard card number is specified (eg #4 here), is the convention to refer to the card order in the “Next Hand” tab on the previous turn’s post, or the different order in the spreadsheet “Hand” column?
The next hand and the current hand shown in the spreadsheet should be the same unless you had a technician draw, which would reshuffle the cards in hand. The thing that is different is the starting hand marked in the next post. My opinion is the convention should be what is shown in the hand column of the spreadsheet. Of course it’s all honor system.
The sheet is programmed to draw x cards, then shuffle what is shown in your hand, then when generating the post next hand shows the shuffled set of cards. Meanwhile, the starting hand shown in the next post shows the order in which the cards were drawn. A spectator would be able to identify the 2 cards drawn from the deck before the reshuffle, and then the 3 cards drawn after, and then a technician card, and then flagstone Garrison draws when looking at a starting hand listing just on the order of the cards.
I used to not shuffle the next hand listing, but decided to shuffle it because otherwise someone could try to pick a number in order to hit the cards drawn after a reshuffle, or before, depending on the situation. It’s like shuffling your hand before letting someone pick from it.
[details=Discard][spoiler]
Fox Primus
Reversal
Smoker
Snapback
Crashbarrow
Bloodlust
[/spoiler][/details]
Discard to Imp
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Reversal kills Imp, you draw - ($2)
Smoker and Grave kill Vandy, Grave to lvl 5
Bone Collector - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bone Collector (3/3 + 1)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Grave lvl 5 (3/1)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 1
Disc: 6
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Fortunate for me Imp discard missed both my techs, so Reversal pays off with a hero kill. Think it’s worth going down to 3 cards to get Bone Collector out. I can get a card back next turn by levelling Grave instead of playing from hand, and later on can use Garth or Martial Mastery to help with cycling.
Going for Blood, as Discipline doesn’t match well against Future (Hive > YLD and Kidnapping, Assimilation > Training Grounds).
Edit to last turn’s Thoughts – Sensei’s Advice can’t target opponent’s units so not an illusion buster, though Grappling Hook and Bloodlust still good.
Summon Skeletons
Dark Pact
Jandra, the Negator
Sacrifice the Weak
Deteriorate
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
I didn’t actually have a float - ($7)
Vir - ($5)
Vir sacrifices the weak collector - ($2)
Spectral Hound - ($1)
Worker - ($0)
Vir peeks
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: L1 Vir 2/3
[I]Technician[/I]: Spectral Hound 3/3
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I patrolled Vir and Imp in bonus slots because neither is likely to survive. Grave can kill both but will have to attack one after maxing and then chuck a sword. He’ll still have Grave on the board with 2 damage, but not gain levels for any other heroes and I’ll get bonuses. He’ll probably summon somthing else like another BC. He can grappling hook one of them but he’s already low on cards. I’m teching spells for Vandy assuming that Vir doesn’t survive. The idea is to dark pact, hopefully shadow blade + imp can put pressure on his already low hand. I’m expecting him to play martial mastery and perhaps Rambasa Twin and try to keep the pressure on. I considered playing the Haunt here. Would go down in cards, which isn’t awful. Would gain some board presence but not sure exactly what that would gain me so I opted not to. drawing the hound off that tech draw was crucial.
[/spoiler][/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Grappling Hook pops Spectral Hound, you draw
Grave to max - ($4)
Grave kills Vir, you gain $1
Tech 2 Blood - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 2
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Grave lvl 7 (4/3) [with sword]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Bad patrolling by me, should have thought of patrolling Bone Collector in tech slot in case of StW. I’m popping the Hound with Grappling Hook, though leaves me stuck on 3 cards. Alternative would be to use Grave’s Sword, but seems too valuable to use to save a card. Though I may regret this if hit with more discards from Imp/Shadow Blade.
As well as a second Crashbarrow, teching Martial Mastery to thin what could be a painfully slow next cycle.
…
Drawn a useless hand – Snapback, Sensei, Sensei’s Advice. Will be tempting to skip a worker to max Garth for Twins or Ogre Recruiter from tech.
STARTING HAND
Dark Pact
Deteriorate
Summon Skeletons
Jandra, the Negator
Sacrifice the Weak
Thieving Imp
Spectral Hound
Skeleton Javelineer
WORKERS
Poisonblade Rogue
Skeletal Archery
Graveyard
Jandra, the Negator
NextHand
Dark Pact
Skeleton Javelineer
Summon Skeletons
Pestering Haunt
Shadow Blade
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Scav and techn draw - ($8)
Vandy - ($6)
Vandy makes a dark pact, my base to 18
Thieving Imp, discard #1 - ($3)
Vandy summons Skeletons - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 4, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Imp 2/2A
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Skeleton 1/1
[I]Technician[/I]: Skeleton 1/1
[I]Lookout[/I]: L1 Vandy 2/3
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 5
Deck: 6
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
He did what I expected from him but more efficiently than I was hoping - using the hook instead of the sword. I’m behind on board presence and he was able to put up tech 2 which means that Crashbarrow are coming and he can summon a second hero next turn, get free levels off a Vandy kill and probably even maintain the board. I’m hitting him on cards because he’s low. Hopefully he doesn’t have two crashbarrows left. He might skip a worker too. I’m playing for time becuase I’m behind and it seems like my only shot is try to stall. Against overpower hasted units, the best I can do is having lots of small units so I’m trying to fill my patrol zone, get bonuses and get by.
[/spoiler][/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Garth - ($5)
Grave kills Imp
Grave’s Sword kills Vandy, Garth to lvl 3 - ($4)
Garth to max, summon Rambasa Twins from discard - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Garth lvl 7 (3/4 + 1)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Rambasa Twin (3/2)
[I]Technician[/I]: Rambasa Twin (3/2)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Grave lvl 7 (4/1)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 6
Disc: 3
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Not pleased for the forced discard. But he’s done me a favour playing out a hero, as the free levels from sword kill give me a decent turn from my dud draw, max Garth to summon Twins without skipping worker.
[details=NextHand][spoiler]
Bone Collector
Reversal
Martial Mastery
Crashbarrow
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=Discard][spoiler]
Sensei’s Advice
Snapback
Kidnapping
Bloodlust
Crashbarrow
Smoker
Fox Primus
Shoddy Glider
Land Octopus
[/spoiler][/details]
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Garth makes and sacs a Skelly for draw - ($8)
Grave trades with SQL Skelly, sparkshot kills elite Skelly, Vir to lvl 3
Drakk - ($6)
Drakk casts Bloodlust on himself and Hound (pops) - ($3)
Garth kills Javelineer, you gain $1
Crashbarrow kills Vir, overpowers 3 to your Tech2, Drakk to lvl 3 - ($0)
Drakk breaks Tech2, your Base to 16HP
Twins break Tech1, your Base to 14HP
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Garth lvl 7 (3/3)
Drakk lvl 3 (1/2)
Rambasa Twin (3/2)
Rambasa Twin (3/2)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 9
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
[details=Thoughts][spoiler]
Good draw from starting Skeleton sac --Bloodlust (would also have been happy with the other Crashbarrow, Grappling Hook or Martial Mastery). Along with Crashbarrow in hand, get to break both Tech 1 + 2.
When we both played and midbanded our good combat hero early on, one of us was going to get a decisive hero kill pretty quickly – with the odds likely favouring me as P1 and with Reversal / Sword / Grappling Hook tricks available. Hard for you to get back in after I got the T3 Reversal draw. A unit-only open would have been safer. Or possibly play just Deteriorate T1 and save your $$ to play and max Vir on T2 to summon the Mech token, think I’ve seen @Jadiel do this as P2 Purple against a strong opening Hero. (Edit: maybe this only works as mono-Purple, since with multicolour penalty you’d need to delay Tech1 build.)
Also think that Imp can be a problem play when the opponent can kill it straight away with his Hero. Leaves you having paid $3 for the discard – very expensive, and happened twice in the game. Even more so when opponent has Heroes that level up well (eg Grave, Garth, Rook), since that gives a good way to recover hand size. You also had bad luck that both times you played the Spectral Hound I had a cheap targeting spell to hand.
Good luck in your next game, and a break from P1 Grave !
It was certainly double-edged, and the draws could have gone your way for a Hero kill. But then you’d have been best teching Shadow Blade to make it more likely.
I teched it in turn 3, when Vandy was out, thinking I could come back for it in turn 4. I even had dark pact to dig for it and didn’t get it on the dig, though you weren’t patrolling at that time. You probably wouldn’t have patrolled with Grave if you didn’t kill Vandy, which you did.
Note that if you’d have maxxed Vandy early on, targeting the Smoker would have bounced it back to hand instead of dooming it properly. Might have been worth it.
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Grave lvl 1 (2/3 + 1)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Aged Sensei (1/1)
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Grave lvl 1 (2/3 + 1)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Aged Sensei (1/1)
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
Base HP: 20
Base HP: 20