@Mooseknuckles will be going first against @FrozenStorm for the CASS finals (not to be confused with the CAFS 2016 tournament starting Thursday. This is the culmination of the previous iteration of the Codex Asynchronous Swiss event!
1 Like
I continue to advance in this tourney via default lol. I hope Beak-or’s just on vacation or something, been absent for close to three weeks now…
Dang, kind of a bummer to advance this way. I’ll be travelling this week, so my turns will be slow or won’t happen until Sunday afternoon. After that I’ll be available as usual.
GLHF @FrozenStorm! Hoping to avenge the asskicking you gave me earlier, though I appear to be off to a similar start…
P1T1:
[details=“Thoughts”]
Not a great opening hand. Last time he played aggressively off of my greedy opening, so it feels a little bad to go down this same road. With that said, he’s likely to play Rook next turn. That will make tiger cub pretty weak, and the other plays aren’t really options.
I suppose there’s a chance I could end up going with a maxbanded Arg next turn, but I’m really hoping to play this game straight up. He can’t beat me if I can make it to T2 in reasonable shape. [/details]
Starting Hand
Tiger Cub Young Treant Spore Shambler Rich Earth Forest’s Favor
Gold (4)
Rich Earth (1)
Worker (1)
Discard 3, Draw 5
Patrol:
Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Buildings:
Units/Heroes:
Base: 20
Other: Rich Earth
Economy:
Workers: 5 + 1 float
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Discard: 3
Worker
Tiger Cub
New Hand
Merfolk Prospector Playful Panda Ironbark Treant Verdant Tree Rampant Growth
Go go Frozenstorm!!! (O^__^)O
GL HF @Mooseknuckles! I did not recall our previous match, I wouldn’t say I beat you down it was a wild game though! For those spectating, you can find it here, it was my first ever use of True Power of Storms!
Player 2, Turn 1
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Aged Sensei
Grappling Hook
Safe Attacking
Snapback
Fox Viper
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (5)
- No techs turn 1
[details=All Teched Cards]
none
[/details]
###Main:
- Garus Rook (3)
- Aged Sensei (2)
- Safe Attacking (1)
- Worker Up (0)
[details=Workers]
Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below - Discard 2 Draw 4
- Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 20
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader: -
Elite: -
Scavenger: -
Technician: -
Lookout:
####In Play:
- Rook (2/4 lvl 1)
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 1
- Disc: 2
####Gold:
- Gold: 0
- Workers: 6
[details=End of Turn Hand][spoiler]
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard]
Snapback
Grappling Hook
[/details]
[details=My Thoughts]
Planning to go early birds to catch the Arg worm 
Probably Rambasa Bros as well. I think with him limping out and cedeing the board like that, I can look for a primary win condition of maxing out Rook (nether drain is a decent answer I guess but still tough for him to deal with that), secondary of an appropriate tech 2.
[/details]
Thanks! just getting settled in here.
P1T2:
Tech
Bird Nest, Bone Collector
Starting Hand
Merfolk Prospector Playful Panda Ironbark Treant Verdant Tree Rampant Growth
Gold + f (6)
Worker (6)
Tier I (4)
Playful Panda (2)
Discard 3, rs, Draw 5
Patrol:
Leader: wisp (0/1 + a)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Buildings: Tier I - 5
Units/Heroes: Playful Panda (2/2)
Base: 20
Other: Rich Earth
Economy:
Workers: 6 + 2 float
Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Discard: 0
Worker
Verdant Tree
New Hand
Young Treant Spore Shambler Forest’s Favor Bird Nest Bone Collector
Player 2, Turn 2
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Sensei’s Advice
Fox Primus
Savior Monk
Morningstar Flagbearer
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (6)
- Tech 2 cards from codex
[details=All Teched Cards]
Rambasa Twin, Bird’s Nest
[/details]
###Main:
- Morningstar Flagbearer (3)
- Tech 1 (2)
- Sensei’s Advice on Sensei and Flagbearer (1)
- Rook kills wisp
- Aged Sensei kills Panda and survives with Safe attacking and Advice armor
- Worker Up (0)
[details=Workers]
Fox Primus, Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below
- Discard 1 Draw 1 rs Draw 2
- Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 20
- Tech 1 HP: 5
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader:
-
Elite:
-
Scavenger:
-
Technician: Flagbearer (2/2)
-
Lookout:
####In Play:
- Rook (2/4 lvl 1)
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 3
- Deck: 4
- Disc: 0
####Gold:
- Gold: 0
- Workers: 7
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Smoker
Grappling Hook
Rambasa Twin
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard]
empty
[/details]
[details=My Thoughts]
Flagbearer shuts down a lot of what his deck can do, I’m going to bring him out AND get the Panda out of the way so that on Turn 4, I’ll have a clear path to maxband Rook. I want to keep the pressure on and make sure there’s no free pass to get Might of Leaf and claw off. Really I think my deck has strong answers to his primary win conditions, and I should be in good shape.
[/details]
P1T3:
[details=“Thoughts”]Lucky of me to draw both of my techs here. As expected, I’m behind, but I should be able to close some of that gap this turn.
Flagbearer doesn’t really scare me. I don’t think it’s actually a counter to the things that I want to do. He can make it so I can’t move runes around, but that’s fine. Just playing blooming ancient and spamming minions should be enough to beat him. It does cause me to tech nether drain here over doom grasp, though.
I like that I’ve forced him to drop his hand size so low. If he doesn’t draw bird nest here he’s going to be in big trouble, and he only has a 1/3 chance, assuming that he teched one copy. My best guess is that he went rambasta twins + bird nest.
I’m able to flood the patrol zone here, which should make it awkward for him. He’s going to have to draw sensei’s advice if he wants to take down my bone collector or rook here, and even that would drop him down another card. If he’s not able to do that, he’ll be forced to go on the defensive for a turn, which isn’t where he wants to be in this matchup.
The nut draw for him is probably twins + bird nest, but even that puts him down to 0 cards or forces him to skip a worker. [/details]
Tech
Bone Collector, Nether Drain
Starting Hand
Young Treant Spore Shambler Forest’s Favor Bird Nest Bone Collector
Gold + f (8)
Young Treant (6)
Worker (6)
Bone Collector (4)
Rook (2)
Bird Nest (0)
Discard 2, Draw 2, rs, Draw 2
Patrol:
Leader: Young Treant (0/2 + a)
Elite: Bird #1 (2/1)
Scavenger: Bone Collector (3/3)
Technician: Level 1 Rook (2/4)
Lookout: Bird #2 (1/1)
Buildings: Tier I - 5
Units/Heroes:
Base: 20
Other: Rich Earth, Bird Nest
Economy:
Workers: 7
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Discard: 0
Worker
Ironbark Treant
New Hand
Rampant Growth Merfolk Prospector Nether Drain Forest’s Favor
Player 2, Turn 3
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Smoker
Grappling Hook
Rambasa Twin
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (7)
- Tech 2 cards from codex
[details=All Teched Cards]
Earthquake x2
Rambasa Twin, Bird’s Nest
[/details]
###Main:
- Rambasa Twins (3)
- Rook gets a buff from Sensei and kills the Young Treant, visibly annoyed he doesn’t get to hit a better target
- Worker Up (2)
[details=Workers]
Smoker, Fox Primus, Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below
- Discard 1 Draw 3
- Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 20
- Tech 1 HP: 5
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader: Rambasa Mario (3/2+1armor)
-
Elite:
-
Scavenger: Flagbearer (2/2)
-
Technician: Rambasa Luigi (3/2)
-
Lookout:
####In Play:
- Rook (2/4 lvl 1)
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 3
- Deck: 1
- Disc: 3
####Gold:
- Gold: 2
- Workers: 8
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Bird’s Nest
Snapback
Savior Monk
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard]
Earthquake
Earthquake
Grappling Hook
[/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
What a draw for him! I can’t afford a tower right now either, b/c I need my Rambasa homies. Birds are going to get a nice trade for him, sucks for me, not at all what I expected with all that gold he floated, bad read…
Teching in Earthquake as that’s still going to be the plan. Want to wait on deciding on a tech 2, so I’m going to go ahead and tech both of them, even though I won’t be using both next cycle in all likelihood.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T4:
[details=“Thoughts”]Pretty straightforward play here - the only real choice is between midbanding Rook and going to T2. I’m opting for the midband because it seems unlikely that I’ll need T2 next turn (even though I got unlucky and drew the BA). Birds are a big part of my plan this game, so it seems worth it to reach for a kill on his Rook. Hopefully this strands his bird nest. Having a twin eat my damaged level 3 Rook would have been really bad value.
I’m guessing he’ll make a maxband setsuki play this turn, which will be awkward for me to deal with. Snapback will be pretty tempting for him if he drew it, but even if he snaps out Garth and kills it, it won’t hurt me much. If he does that I’ll probably stay T1 for yet another turn, going shambler + buff birds(5), arg + midband (9), pay penalty to attack setsuki and eat it with birds (11). [/details]
Tech
Blooming Ancient, Lich’s Bargain
Starting Hand
Rampant Growth Merfolk Prospector Nether Drain Forest’s Favor
Gold (7)
Worker (7)
Rook to level 3 (5)
Bone Collector trades with bro #1, leaves a skeleton behind
Rook kills flagbearer, you gain a gold
Rampant Growth on Bird #1 (2)
Birds kill your Rook, my Rook midbands
Discard 2, Draw 3, rs, Draw 1
Patrol:
Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger: skeleton (1/1)
Technician:
Lookout:
Buildings: Tier I - 5
Units/Heroes: Bird #1 (1/1), Bird #2 (1/1), Level 5 Rook (3/5)
Base: 20
Other: Rich Earth, Bird Nest
Economy:
Workers: 8 + 2 float
Hand: 4
Deck: 6
Discard: 0
Worker
Forest’s Favor
New Hand
Bone Collector Playful Panda Spore Shambler Blooming Ancient
I really outsmarted myself on turn 2 #overAnalyzed
Player 2, Turn 4
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Bird’s Nest
Snapback
Savior Monk
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (8+2float+1scav)
- Tech 2 cards from codex
[details=All Teched Cards]
Doubling Barbarian, Jefferson Degrey
Earthquake x2
Rambasa Twin, Bird’s Nest
[/details]
###Main:
- Tech 2 - Strength (7)
- Tower (4)
- Grave (2)
- Aged Sensei gives a Shifu stick smack to the skeleton, you get 1g
- Worker Up (1)
[details=Workers]
Savior Monk, Smoker, Fox Primus, Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below
- Discard 2 Draw 1 rs Draw 3
- Float 1g, Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 20
- Tech 1 HP: 5
- Tech 2 HP: 5
- Tower HP: 4
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader: Grave (2/3+1armor lvl 1)
-
Elite:
-
Scavenger:
-
Technician: Rambasa Luigi (3/2)
-
Lookout:
####In Play:
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 5
- Disc: 0
####Gold:
- Gold: 1
- Workers: 9
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Sensei’s Advice
Bird’s Nest
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Morningstar Flagbearer
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard][spoiler]
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
Maybe unlikely I use either earthquake next cycle, man he’s all over me early despite that soft Rich Earth opening… I wish I would have gone with the early Rook midband on turn 2 to kill that Panda, but alas that floated gold really looked like a Doom Grasp play to me!
Teching in an alternate plan to the token spam in DeGrey, and a Doubling Barb who can double as either a solid SQL or a beefy beatstick. I’m bringing out Grave and throwing him to wolves primarily because I want him to invest in Rook, it only further justifies a snapback play for me. With no hero’s hall, I don’t have to worry about Arg buffs or Doom Grasps for awhile, so it’s fine that he killed the Flagbearer for now.
I’m going to have to grind with him at tech 2 for awhile, but I still feel good about my deck’s answers to his. Next tech will likely be Versatile Style and another Doubling Barb, maaaaybe Oathkeeper if I think it will come to that, and then I think I’ll keep the thin deck as an advantage to make my draws solid. Safe attacking’s primary use not getting a lot of play, though it bought a good trade here and always thin that deck, kids!
And just as I say all that, I don’t draw the one thing left in the deck I want to worker (Grappling Hook) or the Snapback. I do draw the DeGrey though. I may end up skipping worker next turn, as teching a few more tech 2 or Mythmaking might not be terrible and I really want to keep both Flagbearer and Sensei’s Advice. I could worker Bird’s nest and just tech another copy next cycle I suppose, maybe I’ll end up doing that!
[/spoiler][/details]
Yeah, flagbearer feels pretty weak to me in general. It’s pretty rare that it can actually block your opponent.
P1T5:
[details=“Thoughts”]I’m feeling good about my chances here. Him going strength means that I’m not going to make my birds huge unless I’m confident I can keep his T2 disabled. I’m not really afraid of any of the T2 units besides DeGrey, as none of them can mess with a big blooming ancient. If he tries to go T3 strength he’ll get wrecked by doom grasp.
I’m holding off on teching the second BA, since I don’t have to decide right away. It’s possible that I’ll want to tech it in two turns so that I can grab it immediately with Garth. The win condition here is big blooming ancients with a blooming elm for overpower.
He’ll have to snapback my Rook here, but he’ll have to sink an additional card if he wants to kill the hero that pops out. His best turn here is probably DeGrey + Rook + snapback + grappling hook. That would make my next turn pretty lame, but it involves him having 3 specific cards and also puts him at 2 or 3 cards in hand (depending if he workers). [/details]
Tech
Blooming Elm, Doom Grasp
Starting Hand
Bone Collector Playful Panda Spore Shambler Blooming Ancient
Gold + f + scav (11)
Worker (11)
Tier II Growth (7)
Spore Shambler (4)
Transfer a rune to each bird (2)
Rook to level 6 (1)
Birds kill Grave, Rook maxbands
Rook breaks your tower, your base takes 2 damage
Discard 2, Draw 4
Patrol:
Leader: Spore Shambler (0/1 + a)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Buildings: Tier I - 5, Tier II (Growth) - 5
Units/Heroes: Bird #1 (2/1), Bird #2 (2/1), Level 8 Rook (4/5)
Base: 20
Other: Rich Earth, Bird Nest
Economy:
Workers: 9 + 1 float
Hand: 4
Deck: 2
Discard: 4
Worker
Playful Panda 
New Hand
Young Treant Bone Collector Lich’s Bargain Rampant Growth
It’s also worth noting that I drew both of my teched cards on turn 3, which is always really rough for P2 to handle…
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Indeed it is. You’ll see in my thoughts why I did it, I think it was probably the right call still, just a bad beat 
going to bed, next turn tomorrow! We’ve got good momentum right now, I think this’ll be a fun finals to look at for people despite the fact that I am primarily in it on account of people conceding!
Sounds good! To be clear, I wasn’t criticizing your play, just saying that I haven’t been able to make him work…
No i didn’t take it as a criticism I have gotten extreme use out of him in certain situations, but those situations do not come up against a lot of decks. Growth and peace both are weak to it though, I’ll say that much!
Player 2, Turn 5
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Sensei’s Advice
Bird’s Nest
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Morningstar Flagbearer
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (9+1float)
- Tech 2 cards from codex
[details=All Teched Cards]
Versatile Style, Degrey
Doubling Barbarbarian, Jefferson Degrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Earthquake x2
Rambasa Twin, Bird’s Nest
[/details]
###Main:
- Setsuki Hiruki (8)
- Rook (6)
- Jefferson Degrey, your buff birds go pop (3)
- Bird’s Nest (1)
- Luigi kills your Spore Shambler
- Aged Sensei pings your tech 2 to 4hp
- Skip Worker (1)
[details=Workers]
Savior Monk, Smoker, Fox Primus, Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below
- Discard 2 Draw 4
- Float 1g, Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 18
- Tech 1 HP: 5
- Tech 2 HP: 5
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader:
-
Elite:
-
Scavenger: Tweetie Bird (1/1)
-
Technician: Degrey (4/3)
-
Lookout: Big Bird (1/1)
####In Play:
- Rook (2/4 lvl 1)
- Setsuki (1/3 lvl 1)
- Rambasa Luigi (3/2)
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
- Bird’s Nest
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 1
- Disc: 4
####Gold:
- Gold: 1
- Workers: 9
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Grappling Hook
Earthquake
Snapback
Earthquake
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard]
Versatile Style
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Morningstar Flagbearer
Sensei’s Advice
[/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
Wow, this will be a huge turnaround on board! I have all the right counters to Growth in my deck, so he’s playing right into my techs, and while I am skipping a worker here, I can deal with teching in two more cards that I could use (another Versatile Style, another Doubling Barbarbarian, which I JUST NOTICED TODAY is BARBARbarian, it’s doubled get it?? lolol)
- I have flagbearer to stop +1/1 shenanigans from Ancient, and Doubling Barb to block big attacks from the ancient directly
- I have versatile style to stop Might of Leaf and Claw
- I have Earthquake to beat Blooming elm and Tech 3
- Oversized Rhino… Maybe I tech Mythmaking + Boulder or Grappler + Doubling Barb as my last techs? Birds can help soften him up?
Finally, I’m in the driver’s seat, even an earthquake won’t hurt too bad, and unless he has Entangling vines or Doom Grasp in hand and wants to use them on Degrey, I should be able to win in ~3 or 4 turns is my guess.
[/spoiler][/details]
P1T6:
[details=“Thoughts”]DeGrey ended up hurting me more than I’d expect. I think he can come back here if he draws another one. DeGrey + maxband setsuki(w/ aged sensei) lets him trade in his twin for blooming ancient. He doesn’t have the gold to snapback if he does that, though, so both of my heroes would survive. It will be interesting to see after the game how worried about earthquake he is.
I don’t love killing DeGrey and giving him a card, but I feel compelled to get some value out of Rook. If I leave him in patrol he’s really vulnerable to snapback.
One update on a previous note - doom grasp can’t target T3 units, so if he goes T3 I’ll have to tech in enveloping vines. Even still he’d be able to sideline my patrollers.
The plan from here is the same - make huge blooming ancients and win on gold advantage [/details]
Tech
Blooming Ancient, Doom Grasp
Starting Hand
Young Treant Bone Collector Lich’s Bargain Rampant Growth Merfolk Prospector(from skele)
Gold + f, resummon birds (10)
Garth, maxband him to grab blooming ancient from discard pile (2)
Lich’s Bargain (0)
sacrifice the skeleton to draw a card
worker (0)
Rook kills DeGrey, goes down to 1hp. He still has his shell. You draw a card.
Discard 3, Draw 1, rs, Draw 4
Patrol:
Leader: Bird #1 (1/1)
Elite: Zombie (3/2)
Scavenger: Horror (3/3)
Technician: Bird #2 (1/1)
Lookout: Blooming Ancient w 3 runes (5/7)
Buildings: Tier I - 5, Tier II (Growth) - 4
Units/Heroes: Level 8 Rook (4/1), Level 7 Garth (3/4)
Base: 16
Other: Rich Earth, Bird Nest
Economy:
Workers: 9
Hand: 5
Deck: 6
Discard: 0
Worker
Rampant Growth
New Hand
Bone Collector Lich’s Bargain Merfolk Prospector Doom Grasp Nether Drain
Player 2, Turn 6
P1 Growth/Necro/Strength vs P2 Mono-White
[details=Starting Hand]
Grappling Hook
Earthquake
Snapback
Earthquake
Doubling Barbarbarian (technician)
[/details]
##Events of Turn:
###Upkeep:
- Get Gold (9+1float)
- Draw 1 for Technician
- Tech 2 cards from codex
[details=All Teched Cards]
Ardra’s Boulder, Mythmaking
Versatile Style, Degrey
Doubling Barbarbarian, Jefferson Degrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Earthquake x2
Rambasa Twin, Bird’s Nest
[/details]
###Main:
- Midband Setsuki (7)
- Doubling Barbarbarian (4)
- Luigi and Rook ram the Ancient, no levels to gain on your Rook and Garth, my bird’s nest to discard
- Sets swift strikes the giant Ancient down
- Snapback Rook for Arg, you get your wisp, bird’s nest to discard (1)
- Big bird gets a buff from Aged Sensei, takes down your SQL Bird
- Worker Up (0)
[details=Workers]
Grappling Hook, Savior Monk, Smoker, Fox Primus, Fox Viper
[/details]
-
Patrol as below
- Discard 2 rs Draw 4
- Tech 2 cards after your turn
###Board Info:
####Buildings:
-
Base HP: 18
- Tech 1 HP: 5
- Tech 2 HP: 5
####In Patrol:
-
Squad Leader: Tweetie Bird (1/1)
-
Elite:
-
Scavenger:
-
Technician: Doubling Barbarbarian (3/5)
-
Lookout:
####In Play:
- Big Bird (1/1)
- Setsuki (2/3 lvl 4)
- Aged Sensei (1/1)
- Safe Attacking
###Economy Info:
####Cards:
- Hand: 4
- Deck: 7
- Disc: 0
####Gold:
- Gold: 0
- Workers: 10
[details=End of Turn Hand]
Bird’s Nest
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat
Mythmaking
[/details]
[details=End of Turn Discard][spoiler]
[/spoiler][/details]
[details=My Thoughts][spoiler]
Lich’s Bargain I have a good answer to, but not in my hand… I’ve gotta worker now to keep this deck thin, because I’m going to need a lot of token kills. I gotta get rid of the Ancient before it gets out of hand too, and make sure I can’t get earthquaked (though it wouldn’t be the worst thing I guess). Purely erasing the board advantage he gets with Lich’s Bargain is going to be hard… I may at some point have to try for a base race of some kind.