(Casual) Nopethebard vs FrozenStorm

No I haven’t played Lich’s bargain. So I guess I’m still at 18 hp.
P1T6

Summary

Hand
Lich’s Bargain
Hooded executioner
Thieving imp
No worker
Tech Shadow blade and doom grasp

Bone collector dies
Get paid ($8)
Vandy uses her midband ability discard a card and pull metamorphosis from the Codex. ($7)
Cast Metamorphosis ($1)
Garth is maxband and puts a Twilight Baron into play
Summon skeleton ($0)
Squad leader: Twilight baron
Technician: skeleton
In play: Vandy and Garth
8 workers
Hand: 3
Deck: 1
Discard: 9

Dark Pact. Dark Pact does 2 to your base, Lich’s Bargain does 4 (and trashes a worker)

Game 1, Player 2, Turn 6

P1 Nightmare vs P2 Red

Starting Hand

Pillage
Nautical Dog
Ember Sparks

Events of Turn:


Upkeep:

  • Get Gold (10+1float)
  • No techs (for now)
All Teched Cards

Molting Firebird, Ember Sparks
Hotter Fire, Molting Firebird
Hotter Fire, Lobber
Ember Sparks, Lobber


Main:

  • Ember Sparks, hit Twilight Baron for 2, base for 1 (now at 17), and skeleton for 1, killing it, you get a card (8)
  • Maxband Drakk (3)
  • Nautical Dog, hasted from Drakk, double frenzy kills Twilight Baron (2)
  • Jaina breaks your tech1, your base to 15
  • Lobbers trade with Garth (spotted by tower), Jaina to level 6
  • Jaina to max (1)
Workers

Makeshift Rambaster, Bloodburn, Scorch, Careless Musketeer

  • :pspurpleshield: Patrol as below
  • Discard 2 Draw 4
  • Tech 2 cards before my next turn

Board Info:

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • Tech1 HP: 5
  • Tech2 HP: 5 FIRE
  • Tower HP: 4

In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader:
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :pspig: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician: Drakk (3/4 lvl 6)
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play:

  • Jaina (4/3 lvl 7)
  • Hotter Fire

Economy Info:

Cards:

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 3
  • Disc: 5

Gold:

  • Gold: 1
  • Workers: 10

End of Turn Hand

Molting Firebird
Hotter Fire
Molting Firebird

End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts

That was somewhat expected. Despite the kinda mediocre draw, I can do some big damage with this. He likely kills Drakk back, but I can insta-gib tech1 with a Hotter Fire or Ember Sparks or Firebird + Charge draw all the same (shoot, with Ember Sparks I can get the HH, which is probably better). And Zane can come party too, which is never bad. I’ll tech some ground cover nexxt turn if it makes sense, if not nbd

woah Hotter Fire and Both Firebirds, that’s some lockdown right there


Is Garth dead?

Aye, 6 hp against 2x(2atk+1frenzy from Drakk) lobbers, they equalized his demonized behind

In that case I think I’m screwed. GG!

What should I have done differently?

My best guess is that I overcommitted to my metamorphosis strategy.

GG WP! I can look at your techs to see where I think you went wrong, what I can say just from what I saw hit the table is where are the fencers, River spells, dark pacts and shadow blades? I expected to see more immediate pressure

It does help hindsight analysis, both for yourself and others, if you add more context to each post (what’s all your teched cards? what did you worker? what’s the board state in terms of damage on heroes, buildings in play / damage to them, etc, what were your thoughts for that turn?)

Ok so reading back a little bit, my thoughts are as follows:

T2

  • This is way too early to tech Meta. You would have been much better off here with some combo of Dark Pact, Shadow Blade, Nimble Fencer, or Bone Collector. The goal of a Meta gameplan is to dominate the board while having room to Hero’s Hall and Maxband Vandy. This is very doable, but not by turn 3/4. The goal of a Meta gameplan is to get to Tech2 + Hero’s Hall + Maxband Vandy on turn 5-7, and force the opponent choose between dealing with Demon heroes or the summoned Tech 2 units + whatever units you keep around on the board (with Black spells and Dark Pact, it isn’t super hard to set this up. We can swap sides and decks here and I’ll show ya). This deck wins on punishing early game pressure. A botched tech choice like this buys me enough space to get my own game plan rolling, and more or less costs you the game IMO. Turn 2 is a really critical turn in Codex, and where the majority of new players shoot themselves in the foot.
  • 2x Gargoyle also would have been a fine tech choice to start with here, but you’d want the tech1 built then also, instead of going Graveyard (graveyard this early is for Fencers). You’d be aiming to drop them + Get a hero’s hall or chump blocker like Jav, Jandra, or Imp over turns 3/4, and bring in Two Step for total air superiority

T3

  • Soul Stone + BC is also a fine tech choice in isolation, but it’s a turn late; if that Meta on T2 was a Dark Pact, it’d be fine.
  • With two Tech1 units in your deck, you should be building Tech 1 here, not hero’s hall.

T4

  • Lich’s Bargain is not a good compliment to a Meta gambit. You’re planning to wipe the board clear of units with Meta, you don’t want to waste your base and workers (especially against Red, who can legitimately base race you) just to destroy them all with Meta. Hooded Exec is for P2 mostly, too expensive for a Meta gambit.

T5

  • I don’t think it really makes sense to Doom the BC. I think you would have been better off maxing Vandy first, and then bringing out BC and Soul Stone-ing it. Sure, I will knock the Soul Stone clear off, but I’m less likely to kill BC afterwards, giving you something good to hit back with.

T6

  • At this point, you sort of need to tech up. You need to draw the Meta so that you can attack with it through the tower also, and break my Tower or Tech 2 (preferably the tower, so that I can’t hit back). I probably would have built tech2 for Demonz and played Lich’s Bargain + Hoodie, teched Blackhand Dozer and / or Voidblocker, and hoped all those units was a meaty enough patrol to keep Garth and Vandy alive. With the Horror in Lookout and Hoodie in SQL, it woulda been close for sure. Then next turn (assuming a scav death) you have just enough gold to attack with whatever units are left, then River + Meta, and start hitting things with Garth and Vandy. You fetch the Dozer to sit in SQL, break the tower, and lay all the heroes in backline. Then I am forced to rebuild tower or basically just straight up lose the game.

Thank you. Do you want to start another game?

Yea that’s cool with me, what decks you wanna play with / against?

I think I’ll go back to Mono White. Play the deck you want to play. I rolled a 41.

lol I rolled 7. I am considering playing Past/Future/Finesse for the tournament, let’s give that a go.

I recommend you check out some games I’ve played on the Nightmare deck though. This one in particular was a super fun game to track. This one is another that shows why Vandy + Garth >> Vandy + other heroes, and this one that I lost is a great demonstration of the deck’s greatest weakness (no upgrade removal means the game is on a countdown to extinction as soon as MoLaC hits the table)

So you go ahead and take P1T1, gl hf!

GlHf!
P1T1

Summary

Hand
Smoker
Fox Viper
Snapback
Fox Primus
Aged Sensei
Workers fox Viper

Get paid ($4)
Worker ($3)
Hire Aged Sensei ($2)
Hire Setsuki ($0)
Squad leader: aged Sensei
In play: Setsuki
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Discard: 3

New hand

Sensei’s advice
Savior monk
Morningstar Flagbearer
Safe attacking
Grappling hook

Thoughts

Let’s do some Sets pressure and set up mass ninja.

GL HF @Nopethebard!

Game 2, Player 2, Turn 1

P1 White vs P2 Off-Purple

Starting Hand

Time Spiral
Tinkerer
Plasmodium
Battle Suits
Neo Plexus

Events of Turn:


Upkeep:

  • Get Gold (5)
  • Tech 2 cards in (except for turn 1)
All Teched Cards

Main:

  • Plasmodium (3)
  • Tech 1 (2)
  • Worker (1)
Workers

Neo Plexus

  • :pspurpleshield: Patrol as below
  • Discard 3 Draw 5
  • Tech 2 cards before my next turn

Board Info:

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • Tech1 HP: 5

In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader:
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :pspig: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play:

  • Plasmodium (forecast 3)

Economy Info:

Cards:

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3

Gold:

  • Gold: 1
  • Workers: 6

End of Turn Hand

Forgotten Fighter
Temporal Research
Fading Argonaut
Hardened Mox
Nullcraft

End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts

I’m gonna try something funky here… I can go Prynn + TR + and tech Seers or KotCs next turn. I need to build tech1 now to do it though. Fuck it let’s do that XD


P1t2

Summary

Hand
Sensei’s advice
Savior monk
Morningstar Flagbearer
Safe attacking
Grappling hook
Workers Sensei’s advice
Tech Speed of the Fox and Inverse power ninja

Get paid ($5)
Worker ($4)
Tech 1 ($3)
Setsuki to midband ($0)
Aged Sensei buffs Setsuki.
Setsuki does 3 damage to the tech 1 building.
In play: Setsuki and Aged Sensei
6 workers
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Discard: 0

New hand

Smoker
Snapback
Inverse power ninja
Grappling hook
Speed of the Fox

Thoughts

Going into ninja rush. Better capitalize on no patrol.

Game 2, Player 2, Turn 2

P1 White vs P2 Off-Purple

Starting Hand

Forgotten Fighter
Temporal Research
Fading Argonaut
Hardened Mox
Nullcraft
KotC + BS (TR)

Events of Turn:


Upkeep:

  • Get Gold (6+1float)
  • Tech 2 cards in (except for turn 1)
All Teched Cards

Knight of the Conclave x2


Main:

  • Prynn (5)
  • Temporal Research, rs draw 2 (3)
  • Knight of the Conclave
  • Fading Argonaut (1)
  • Worker (0)
Workers

Forgotten Fighter, Neo Plexus

  • :pspurpleshield: Patrol as below
  • Discard 3 Draw 3 rs Draw 2
  • Tech 2 cards before my next turn

Board Info:

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • Tech1 HP: 2

In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader: Fading Argonaut (2/3+1armor fade 3)
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :pspig: Scavenger:
  • :exhaust: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play:

  • Prynn (1/3 lvl 1 fade 4)
  • Plasmodium (forecast 2)
  • Knight of the Conclave (forecast 3)

Economy Info:

Cards:

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 2
  • Disc: 0

Gold:

  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7

End of Turn Hand

Knight of the Conclave
Time Spiral
Tinkerer
Battle Suits
Hardened Mox

End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts

I think I’m better off going for KotC here, and then Seers after. Even if I were to draw 2x seer (or Time Spiral), I would have to skip worker to kill Sets with Plasmo, and I think I should be pretty safe with Fargo out front


P1t3

Summary

Hand
Smoker
Snapback
Inverse power ninja
Grappling hook
Speed of the Fox
Workers smoker
Tech Fox’s Den Students and Hidden Ninja

Get paid ($6)
Worker ($5)
Max Setsuki ($3)
Hire Inverse power ninja ($0)
Aged Sensei buffs Setsuki
Setsuki kills fading argonaut.
Squad leader: inverse power ninja
In play: aged Sensei and max Setsuki
7 workers
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Discard: 0

New hand

Grappling hook
Savior monk
Safe attacking
Fox Primus
Morningstar Flagbearer

Thoughts

Tempo is mine. Let’s keep it up!

Game 2, Player 2, Turn 3

P1 White vs P2 Off-Purple

Starting Hand

Knight of the Conclave
Time Spiral
Tinkerer
Battle Suits
Hardened Mox

Events of Turn:


Upkeep:

  • Get Gold (7)
  • Tech 2 cards in (except for turn 1)
All Teched Cards

Unphase x2
Knight of the Conclave x2


Main:

  • Knight of the Conclave
  • Tinkerer (5)
  • Worker (4)
  • Tech 2 Future (0)
Workers

Hardened Mox, Forgotten Fighter, Neo Plexus

  • :pspurpleshield: Patrol as below
  • Discard 2 Draw 2 rs Draw 2
  • Tech 2 cards before my next turn

Board Info:

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • Tech1 HP: 2
  • Tech2 HP: 5 FUTURE

In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader:
  • :psfist: Elite:
  • :pspig: Scavenger: Prynn (1/3 lvl 1 fade 3)
  • :exhaust: Technician: Tinkerer (1/2)
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play:

  • Plasmodium (forecast 1)
  • Knight of the Conclave (forecast 2)
  • Knight of the Conclave (forecast 3)

Economy Info:

Cards:

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 3
  • Disc: 0

Gold:

  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 8

End of Turn Hand

Temporal Research
Nullcraft
Unphase
Time Spiral

End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts

Woof, IPN + max sets… At least those two don’t play super well together… Assuming he is going for FDS, and I am going to be pretty unable to handle blocking it… the smart choice here seems to be tech up and give him something to stealthily snipe at. I’ll tech 2x Unphase, and as long as I can draw one (which with 8 gold I can Vir + TR + Unphase + pay sets killing tax with Plasmo, so I should be able to do that unless I totally bottom deck both of them), I get the kill and can proceed with an advantage.


P1t4

Summary

Hand
Grappling hook
Savior monk
Safe attacking
Fox Primus
Morningstar Flagbearer
Tech Fox’s Den Students and glorious ninja

Draw 2 cards

Draws

Fox’s Den Students
Hidden Ninja

Get paid ($7)
No worker
Grappling hook moves Prynn to Lookout
Inverse power ninja kills Prynn. Levels fizzle.
Hire fox Primus ($4)
Cast Fox’s Den Students ($0) Inverse power ninja dies of embarrassment.
Aged Sensei buffs token ninja Don.
Token Ninja Don, and Fox Primus, destroys tech 2. Your base takes 2 damage.
Mike does 1 damage to your tech 1 building.
Setsuki kills tinkerer. You draw a card.
Scavenger: token ninja Ralph
Technician: token ninja Leonardo
In play: Setsuki, token ninja Don and Mike, Aged Sensei, fox primus.
7 workers
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Discard: 0

Thoughts

Am I winning?! I really hope I didn’t make a rules mistake…