Cal+Prospector with Tiger/Panda and Rampant Growth in T2 split is about as good as I could hope for really. Only difficult was worker decision. YT is essential vs Black starter and Shambler is key to many lines. Verdant Tree is really good in a tight game for that bonus 3HP to a Tech building. That leaves FF as the worker, not ideal but acceptable.
Verdant Tree
Young Treant
Playful Panda
Rich Earth
Rampant Growth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Prospect for gold - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Expensive Tech I - ($3)
Midband Calamandra - ($1)
Calamandra kills Imp, takes 2
Float ($1)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L3 Calamandra Moss 3/2 [My units have Resist 1]
Merfolk Prospector 1/1
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 6
Thoughts
I don’t suppose I’ll get to keep the prospector but every turn Calamandra keeps Vandy off the board the better I’ll feel. Double Spartner seems like the best Tech for me. Calamandra Maxband is my way to summon Rambasas
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Pestering Haunt trades with Prospector
Play Skeleton Javelineer - ($5)
Build Tech 1 - ($3)
Float ($3)
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite: Skeleton Javelineer (2/1) (javelin rune)
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 3
Workers: 7
Thoughts
I could play a hero or even build tower this turn, but I don’t think I need to commit to either of those now, and can just float and hope to tech up next turn.
This seems like probably a very silly line but I couldn’t resist the early tech break!
P1T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Bloodlust
Martial Mastery
STARTING HAND
Young Treant
Rich Earth →
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Rampant Growth
YT Draw → Sparring Partner
WORKERS
Forest’s Favor
Ironbark Treant
Rich Earth
NextHand
Sparring Partner
Spore Shambler
Discard
Merfolk Prospector
Rampant Growth
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Bloodlust
Martial Mastery
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($7)
Young Treant, I draw 1 card - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Rampant Growth Calamandra - ($2)
Discard 2 cards, Calamandra gets Stealth this turn
Calamandra breaks Tech I, your base to 18
Sparring Partner - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 0, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Sparring Partner 2/2A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Young Treant 0/2 [Can’t Attack]
Lookout:
In Play:
L3 Calamandra Moss 3/2 [My units have Resist 1]
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 1
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 7
Thoughts
This is a mad line but he didn’t build a Tower so I guess I try it and see how it plays out! With all that gold stockpiled I’m very happy to disrupt his Tech progression. Young Treant protects Spartner from StW unless he does something weird with Vandy maxband. Plan is to maxband Calamandra and start summoning Tigers of various stripes. Probably best to try and support that with Drakk/Grave spells and plan to build a HH. Martial Mastery will help with card draw and Bloodlust for Haste seem like the obvious choices.
Maybe I should have built the Tower last turn. I actually think this is fine though. He’s way down on cards, and I can build Tower and produce a bunch of chump blockers. I’m probably playing Baron and teching up next turn. With Baron coming down, I don’t want to start teching tech 2 units just yet, so I’ll go for Dark Pact and a Basilisk.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Maxband Calamandra - ($5)
Exhaust Calamandra, summon Rambasa Twin from Codex, arrives with other Twin - ($1)
Exhaust Sparring Partner, +1/+1 rune on Rambasa
2nd Sparring Partner - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 0, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 1
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Rambasa Twin 4/3A [+]
Elite:
Scavenger: Sparring Partner 2/2
Technician: Rambasa Twin 3/2
Lookout:
In Play:
L5 Calamandra Moss 4/5 [My units have Resist 1]
Young Treant 0/2 [Can’t Attack]
Sparring Partner 2/2
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 7
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
So I guess I press my advantage and exponentiate my board with Calamandra. I want a HH up ASAP to maintain the pressure. Best that I tech some more units to abuse with Spartner buffs.
Okay, I was thinking that Basilisks would line up well against Tigers, but didn’t think about Rambasa Twin. Normally I like Balance Tech 2 with this deck, but I don’t have Lobbers already in the deck and I fear Kidnapping. I’ll try Demonology, and tech Voidblockers hoping to go up to Tech 3 or use Metamorphosis. I don’t mind teching the Voidblockers since Baron is very likely to die here.
I considered instead maxbanding Vandy to attack the Tiger, since I can doom the Treant for free and get some other attacks in, but decided against it.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + Scav - ($10)
Play Voidblocker - ($7)
Midband Vandy - ($5)
Discard and get Soul Stone to hand - ($4)
Soul Stone Voidblocker - ($2)
Worker - ($1)
L5 Calamandra Moss 5/1 [+, My units have Resist 1]
L1 Grave Stormborne 2/3 [Sparkshot]
Stalking Tiger 4/4 [Invisible while Calamandra lives]
Sparring Partner 2/2
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 7
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Soulstone Voidblocker is pretty tough to get through, but I have the advantage of not really caring what happens to my Rambasas. Tech II Blood to get access to Drakk. Not workering or playing cards to recover my hand size for Calamandra Stealth. My only issue will be Jaina appearing with Flame Arrow to spoil my fun
Martial Mastery
Shoddy Glider
Centaur
Playful Panda
Bloodlust
Sparring Partner
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Martial Mastery, discard and draw 1, reshuffle and draw 1, look at your hand - ($8)
Drakk+Midband, my units have Frenzy 1 - ($3)
Shoddy Glider, trades with Tower, your base to 14 - ($2)
Invisible Frenzied Tiger breaks Tech III, your base to 12
Discard 2 cards, Calamandra has Stealth this turn
Calamandra breaks Tech II, your base to 10
Frenzied Rambasa trades into SQL, removes Soulstone, returns to codex, exhaust Treant
Bloodlust Huntress and Spartner - ($0)
Frenzied Bloodlusted Huntress kills SQL, takes 2, exhaust Drakk
Frenzied Bloodlusted Spartner trades with Vandy, Grave midbands, you draw
Huntress takes 1 damage at end of turn
L5 Calamandra Moss 5/1 [+, My units have Resist 1]
L4 Drakk Ramhorn 2/3 [My units have Frenzy 1]
Stalking Tiger 4/4 [Invisible while Calamandra lives]
Huntress 4/1 [+, Anti-Air, Sparkshot]
Young Treant 0/2 [Can’t Attack]
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 2
Deck: 8
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
I hadn’t realised before this turn that Bloodlust and Drakk Midband combined give +2 attack. That fact makes this patrol way easier to deal with than it first appeared. That double tech break normally would be the end but with Moment’s Peace in hand he at least has some ability to try and stall my attack, though three heroes makes it not very effective.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Maxband Grave, sword Voidblocker
Exhaust Calamandra, summon Rambasas from codex - ($4)
Bloodlust Rambasas - ($2)
1st Rambasa trades with Baron, returns to codex
Maxband Drakk - ($0)
Drakk kills Jaina, takes 3
Frenzied Tiger and Bloodlusted Frenzied 2nd Rambasa hit your base for 10 damage, destroying it!
(Rambasa dies at end of turn, goes to discard)
Float ($0)
Discard 0, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L5 Calamandra Moss 5/1 [+, My units have Resist 1]
L7 Grave Stormborne 4/5 [Sparkshot, Readiness]
L6 Drakk Ramhorn 3/1 [My units have Frenzy 1]
Stalking Tiger 4/3 [Invisible while Calamandra lives]
Get Paid - ($9)
Max Grave, exhaust and sword Voidblocker - ($5)
Huntress trades with Baron, you gain 1 gold
Max Drakk, kills Jaina, takes 3, levels whiff - ($3)
Calamandra and Frenzied Tiger hit your base for 10, destroying it!
GG for real this time! Sorry for the mistake! If you want a runback just fire up a P1 turn.
Martial Mastery
Shoddy Glider
Sparring Partner
Bloodlust
Centaur
Playful Panda
Huntress
Bloodlust
Verdant Tree
Kidnapping
Reversal
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Exhaust Calamandra, summon Rambasas - ($5)
Bloodlust Rambasa and Tiger - ($3)
Bloodlusted Frenzied Rambasa suicides into Voidblocker and returns to codex, deals 4 after armour, exhaust Treant,
Drakk trades with Voidblocker, Jaina to level 3, exhuast 2nd Rambasa
Grave readily kills Jaina, takes 3, Grave to level 5, you draw 1 card
Maxband Grave, exhaust and sword Baron, you gain 1 gold - ($1)
Bloodlusted but no longer Frenzied Tiger breaks Tech II, takes 1 from Tower, your base to 8
Skip Worker
Float ($1)
Discard 1, draw 3
Tiger takes 1 damage at end of turn
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L5 Calamandra Moss 5/1 [+, My units have Resist 1]
L7 Grave Stormborne 4/5 [Sparkshot, Readiness]
Stalking Tiger 4/2 [Invisible while Calamandra lives]
Rambasa Twin 3/2
Young Treant 0/2 [Can’t Attack]
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 4
Disc: 11
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Not over yet, but he has no access to Jaina spells or Tech II and I have hasted Blood units incoming. Obviously this is a stall to Tech III situation and I’m expecting Moment’s Peace this coming turn. In order to break his Tech II I had to trade in Drakk. I can’t draw his spells anyway and I’ve only got low value haste candidates so it’s not the biggest loss. I am concerned about how my turn goes if he stalls me and I have to trade Calamandra. Maybe I just build up a load of units instead if that happens. Skipped a worker to recover some hand size. I’d much prefer to worker Prospector than Tree if given the chance.
Voidblocker (2/6+A)
Twilight Baron (4/4)
Moment’s Peace
Zarramonde, the Obliterator
Zarramonde, the Obliterator
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid + Scav - ($12)
Play Vandy - ($10)
Play Tiny Basilisk - ($8)
Play Tiny Basilisk - ($6)
Maxband Vandy, dooming a basilisk and treant - ($1)
Worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tiny Basilisk (3/4+A) (doomed)
Elite:
Scavenger: Tiny Basilisk (1/2)
Technician: L5 Vandy (4/5)
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 7
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Demonology)
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 12
Thoughts
I live! And I think I have a solid patrol for this turn as well. Unfortunately, I’ve probably taken too much base damage to come back, because next turn he can use tower’s detection with Tiger, have Cal hit my base to 2, and use Drakk + Crash bombers to finish me off. We’ll see what happens.
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger: Merfolk Prospector 1/1
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20