Hi @James this really is a ballsy pick of yours for a competitive tournament. Even without any nerfs monoblue still is an uphill battle against most decks that have agressive start options, especially while being P2…
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
MM pings your base - ($2)
Cal - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Mad Man (1/1)
Cal (2/3, lvl1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 5
Thoughts
Yes, against many decks aven alone seems to be worth it to go for blue starter, but it just leaves such a huge gap in the ground defense line if you invest into the air…
Keeping BB & musketeer for now as I am not sure I really want to tech anything against that aven. Feels like a wasted tech slot. Musketeer in hand 2 would have been nice for that purpose, but well…
Yeah Blue is in a baaad place. I’m out of practice and making some mistakes, but Ithink I’m also re-making the case that it needs a couple of upwards tweaks on the never-played cards… i enjoy blue so am sad to have it so weak!
P2T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Arrest
Jail
Reputable Newsman
Manufactured Truth
Spectral Aven
WORKERS
Jail
NextHand
Bluecoat Musketeer
Porkhand Magistrate
Lawful Search
Traffic Director
with 2 gold to make Cal 3/4, Rambaster and Charge all possible, he definitely has 4 attack worth of swing ready next turn. So if I play a hero in SQL then they die. I would need Newsman to defend anything else. Quince behind his mirror survives one of the two things, but he can easily Rambaster and level for the kill. So I really need to play Newsman as my unit. Then what behind it? Quince is pretty useless without MT next turn- it would take 4 of my 5 gold to copy one of his hastes, and then I’m in trouble. Bigby likewise does nothing for me. Oni would let me kill a SQL Brogre, but at a trade, either straight away or on the backswing from Cal. All are vulnerable to stealth Cal anyway. Aven means I go down a card but at least have some pressure.
well, tbh: except for mono purple I don’t see a single mono colored deck to be able to perform well in a competitive tournament. Not a single one. Hence I do not agree that we have to buff monoblue such that it is possible to really compete. Otherwise we have to find a complete new balance for everything, which will just not be feasible.
about this match: nice start! That’s a combination I havn’t thought of before, which is nice! Also please do note the MM ping on your base.
this looks like a very good counter to my early pressure, but at the cost of very ineffective cycle stacking for the first tech 2 turns. goldwise he’ll have some good trades until then, but for the long run I fancy my chances. Also as expected: putting Aven in the air leaves some gaping holes on the ground. Let’s see how he plans to navigate through that.
As always: sticking to my own plan and I will not change my tech tree due to this nuisance of a single Aven.
post draw: uargs - too many cards of what I wanted to play over the next two turns in my next hand… damn!
A reasonable point, though monoblack might also be borderline viable? I guess I’ll bite the bullet either way: I think monocolours should be playable, though maybe not the “best”, so rebalancing everything would be a good thing. Additionally, I think the fact that some cards are just never played is a sad part of the game.
Agree this is hard. Disagree it’s impossible. And even if it isn’t - the way the game is played on the forums would lend itself to fairly rapid “seasons”, where bold changes are made with some frequency in an attempt to do things like save monocolour, not too much worry about perfection, and decks rise and fall keeping the game fresh with never seen before combinations.
RE this game - thanks! The theory is that i can stifle your early game by spending cards, recover, and then everything will be fine. Let’s see how it goes.
P2T2
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Brave Knight
Brave Knight
STARTING HAND
Porkhand Magistrate
Traffic Director
Bluecoat Musketeer
Lawful Search
WORKERS
Jail
Bluecoat Musketeer
NextHand
Manufactured Truth
Reputable Newsman, (0+1)/3 blocks 3
Building Inspector
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Tech I - ($4)
Porkhand - ($1)
Traffic Director - ($0)
Aven swoops and kills MM, you draw
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite: Porkhand (3)/3, impound ability
Scavenger:
Technician: Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Aven
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Heroes are still a liability v Cal. So - TD and Porkhand? TD and Tower? The former in Elite and Tech force Cal into a position that Aven can snipe, and recovers the card. the latter dies to Rambaster just for free.
That’s a very nice way of thinking! I’d be game for going through these seasons…!
This aggressive use of your resource “hand size” is quite a thing. I now have both tech 1 units online and a perfectly stacked next cycle in case I choose to tech up next turn. That’s probably the biggest difference. But yeah, with scribes this can also be taken care of rather quickly. But let me take care of that aven of yours first
Tech 2 card(s)
technician draw
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
BB - ($2)
Cal trades porky
two hounds - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 1
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Spectral Hound (3/3)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Spectral Hound (3/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Bloodburn *
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
would have never guessed that he would go down on cards while allowing me to draw a sixth one… that’s going to be crippling for him in terms of cycle speed
even if I again run into boot camp I should be fine now (which I seriously doubt)
Porkhand (3)/3, impound ability
Manufactured Truth
Boot Camp
Scribe
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Bigby - ($4)
Manufactured Truth, my TD becomes and Aven - ($3)
Pair of Avens safely kill your lead Hound
Level Bigby to 3 - ($1)
Building Inspector - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 0, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Bigby L3 2/4A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Building Inspector 1/1 tax
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Aven
Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 2
Disc: 4
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I can kill the front Hound with an MT on my TD. With three gold left, though, it is hard to defend the new hero. the options are level Quincenor Bigby, SQL, so he would need to add 2 to his swing (easy enough with MM, rambaster, or charge) or quince and double mirror (one gets BB’d, the other MM’d, Hound runs through). So what leaves me better? more cards have to be spent to kill the frontline hero, though in that case I do lose my Aven. But if he summons a hero to take advantage, he won’t have enough left to tech up. Especially if I use the BI as well… let’s follow through on this bad idea, shall we?
I like that attitude of yours. I’m very inclined in my games to go into this direction as well, but moby keeps on bringing me down to the basics to respect the strategy and not only look for the best tactical approach, which helps A LOT for actually winning games
Tech 2 card(s)
BB + 1 rune, total #2
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
BB pops aven
dog - ($5)
expensive tech 2 - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Nautical Dog (1/1)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Spectral Hound (3/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Bloodburn *
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Truth)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
he’s still two cards in deck away from his second RS, while I expect to get my third one this turn and next turn I have the card advantage from reteller online, while he has crippled his hand… This game is already over before it started for real…
I’m going to tech, then tap Bigby to pop your Hound, so you draw, and then play Lawful Search. Can you tell me what extra card I see before I continue?
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Lawful Search, draw, search your hand - ($7)
Brave Knight - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Heroes Hall - ($1)
TD unstoppable-y does 1 to your Tech II
Float ($1)
Discard 0, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 1
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Brave Knight 3/3A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Building Inspector 1/1 tax
Lookout:
In Play:
Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Bigby L3 2/4A
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 7
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
Thoughts
so his next turn is play Macciatus, one or two Retellers, Worker probably Brogre or maybe Madman. He can’t kill my SQL Knight even if I don’t kill the Dog. Or, I can offer the trade with Tech Knight. Either way - in two turns, he is going to have a BIG swing. Next turn a tech up is mandatory, as is another Knight, which at baseline leaves only 1 gold. But he has no Pillage, so I could save one and get a Heroes Hall ready to keep defending until I can get ways to kill Macciatus.
Manufactured Truth
Brave Knight 3/3A
Porkhand (3)/3, impound ability
Discard
Building Inspector 1/1 tax
Injunction
Air Hammer
Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Scribe, draw - ($8)
Tap Bigby to sideline your front Reteller
Knight and TD kill second Reteller, teller retold, you draw, Knight runs away
Play… Brave Knight! - ($5)
Overeager Cadet
Worker - ($4)
Tech II - Peace - ($0)
TD trades Dog, you get gold
Sorry but that’s not possible as it is not a tech 0 or tech 1 unit
Also TD seems to have traded himself twice
edit: also please do note that knight’s effect is a replacement effect, hence it will not die from combat and will not grant a technician “when dies” bonus. You’ll probably want to reconsider where you patrol with that knight of yours.
Flagstone Spy
Porkhand (3)/3, impound ability
Manufactured Truth
Discard
Building Inspector 1/1 tax
Injunction
Air Hammer
Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Brave Knight 3/3A
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Scribe, draw - ($8)
Bigby and Knight trade with front Reteller, Knight runs away, Teller retold
TD trades with dog
Play… Brave Knight! - ($5)
Overeager Cadet
Worker - ($4)
Tech II - Peace - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: BN 3/3A Cowardly
Elite: Overeager Cadet 3/2
Scavenger:
Technician: Scribe 1/3
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5
Heroes Hall
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 2
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Ack on that Bigby error. So - do I trade him in to still kill a Reteller, or instead draw one less card patrolling my Knight? Next turn, I will be probably playing a hero anyway. Also - I get the feeling Rocs are going to be a big problem in my future.
Nautical Dog (1/1)
Spectral Roc (4/5)
Spectral Hound (3/3)
Desperation
Tech 2 card(s)
return reteller to hand, BB to #4
Get Paid + float + scavenger - ($11)
Worker - ($10)
Quince - ($8)
hound - ($7)
extra mirror - ($5)
Tech 3 - ($0)
BB pings Cadet
Reteller “kills” knight
whisperer kills scribe, you draw
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Spectral Hound (4/4)
Elite:
Scavenger: mirror 1/2
Technician: mirror 1/2
Lookout:
In Play:
Bloodburn ***
Macciatus, The Whisperer (3/2)
Reteller of Truths (4/1)
Quince (1/3, lvl1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 4 (Truth)
Tech III HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 6
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
okay that hand recovery really is impressive, but with the new version of Garrison I don’t have to fear that he’s able to recover. Also my evasive horde is about to chime in with neckbreaking speed
Traffic Director, 1/1 warrant to attack buildings
Lawful Search
Boot Camp
Air Hammer
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($10)
Knight - ($7)
Quince - ($5)
Porky - ($2)
Manufacture Truth - create Porkhand Cadet - ($1)
Porkhand Cadet taps to disable your Hound, you draw - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Porkhand 2/3A, impound ability
Elite: Quince L1 1/3
Scavenger:
Technician: Mirror 0/1
Lookout: Brave Knight 3/3 Cowardly
In Play:
Overeager Cadet 3/2
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Peace)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
I’ve lost here. Whilst I don’t think the strategy is completely baseless, bottom decking both Knights in the first reshuffle was bad and the hand loss opened me up to that. JD won’t save me from T3, so teching another Injunction. Spy cannot even be played without catastrophic Tech Loss (two 4/4 mirrors kill Porky, Quince, BB pings mirror, leaves 7 damage to come) so I need to replay the Knight instead until I get breathing room. Which I won’t!
Spectral Tiger (5/5)
Liberty Gryphon (5/5)
Reteller of Truths (4/4)
Liberty Gryphon (5/5)
Mad Man (1/1)
Discard
Desperation
Reteller of Truths (4/1)
Makeshift Rambaster (1/2)
Tech 0 card(s)
draw a card from porky
Get Paid - ($10)
maxband quince - ($6)
roc, mirror copies - ($2)
worker - ($1)
mirror breaks tech 2, your base to 17
BB kills Cadet (was pinged already last turn)
hound, mirror copies - ($0)
hound mirror kills SL
Quince kills mirror, you draw
reteller trades knight, both return to hand
whisperer looks at quince and decides to sit this one out
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Spectral Roc (5/6)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout: Spectral Hound (4/4) - mirrored
In Play:
Bloodburn ****
Macciatus, The Whisperer (3/2)
Quince (1/5, lvl5)
mirror roc 5/6
mirror hound 4/2
Spectral Hound (4/4)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 4 (Truth)
Tech III HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 3
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 11
Thoughts
tbh I’m disappointed that I’m not able to make that desperation work with the porky draw LOL
You are of course right about sensible fundamentals being a much better strategy overall, and I fell flat on my face here to prove it! However… I also think my P2 chances against you with a normal “optimal” strategy were still bad. If i had drawn a Brave knight T3 to start my hand recover then, it might have been different. I had 2 cards in 6 plus the chance of drawing Lawful Search to do it. Instead they were both bottom decked. So I feel I played to an out, if not the best one
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
