CAWS 2016 - robinz ([Blood]/Feral/Present) vs shax (Mono Red)

@shax - GLHF, I notice you haven’t started your R1 game yet, hopefully you’ll be back soon to play R2 as well :slight_smile:

P1T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Scorch
Pillage
Nautical Dog
Careless Musketeer
Charge


WORKERS
Pillage


NextHand

Mad Man
Makeshift Rambaster
Bloodburn
Bombaster
Bloodrage Ogre


Discard

Careless Musketeer
Charge
Scorch


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Nautical Dog - ($2)
Drakk Ramhorn - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Nautical Dog (1/1+1A, Frenzy 1)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Drakk lvl 1 (1/3)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 5
Thoughts

I’m sticking with Drakk over Calamandra for now, to try to keep the aggression level high - which I think is important as P1 against an opponent also playing the Red starter.

Next turn I may midband Drakk and skip Tech 1 for a turn (although I’m going to try to get to Tech 2 on time, which means T4). It would mean skipping the ogre to play Mad Man, but we’ll see if that is appealing depending on what he does. My hand this turn didn’t exactly have appealing options other than the Naughty Dog, anyway.

I wonder if I’d be better off patrolling the other way round. I don’t think he could do 4 damage to kill a SQL Drakk (and even if he could it would take a lucky draw and a big investment), and whatever damage he takes can be healed next turn by spending 3 gold, a play I’m strongly considering anyway. But even though I’d much rather be able to attack with the Nautical Dog, I’m playing scared and protecting Drakk. He can certainly kill the dog, but it would take enough of an investment that I’d still feel OK about it - and I’d still have the Mad Man to do a Frenzied attack with next turn if I do midband Drakk.


"P2T1


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Bloodburn
Bloodrage Ogre
Scorch
Nautical Dog
Bombaster


WORKERS
Bloodburn


NextHand

Charge
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster
Mad Man
Pillage


Discard

Bombaster
Nautical Dog
Scorch


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Bloodrage Ogre - ($2)
Summon zane and kill dogo - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre(3/2+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Zane (2/1)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6
    "

[details=Thoughts-fixed]I can’t think of any hand he could have that can kill Zane without skipping something vital(tech I or worker) and leave him any defenses against literally all of my haste options next turn. If Zane dies I’m betting the trade will be worth it.
Hopefully Zane took the wind out of his sails. Doggo+Draak is a greedy offensive option that’s ironically weak to high offense itself.[/details]

I can’t see your raw post code, but see here for raw turn post code that hides things properly

I can’t believe how badly I messed up my patrol on Turn 1. Believe it or not, I completely forgot about Zane!

I already feel way behind here - let’s see what I can salvage from it.

P1T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Argonaut
Centaur


STARTING HAND
Bloodrage Ogre
Bombaster
Makeshift Rambaster
Mad Man
Bloodburn


WORKERS
Pillage
Bloodburn


NextHand

Charge
Makeshift Rambaster
Nautical Dog
Scorch


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Bloodrage Ogre - ($2)
Bombaster - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Bombaster (2/2)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Drakk lvl 1 (1/3)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 4
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

My God I messed that first turn up - by simply forgetting about Zane! Now suddenly, as P1, I’m the one under all the pressure :frowning:

I have several options, but none work out at all well:

  1. The “sane” way would be to play Ogre (to SQL, to at least force him to trade his ogre for it) and build Tech 1. But then Ogres trade with each other, and he can trade MM or MR with Zane for Drakk, while having loads of gold left for Tech 1 and/or another unit. He’d have the iniative and the economy advantage - no way can I come back from that against a strong red player, which I know my opponent is.

  2. Play crazy amounts of stuff to wipe his board, to get free levels on Drakk. I spent ages on trying to do that - and the only way I have enough cash to do that is to summon and blow up Bombaster, then summon Mad Man, to wipe out the Ogre. Then Drakk kills Zane and stays alive. If I could have even one lousy gold left to midband Drakk and deal him, I’d do that. But I wouldn’t (assuming I play a worker) - so I’d have a 1/1 Drakk, on an empty board, where he can surely bring out MM or MR - after getting his own Drakk (or Jaina if he feels like it) to get free levels on. And again, he has plenty of cash left to build board. This again looks like a disaster.

  3. I could go for an uneasy kind of middle road, leaving his board intact, but skipping Tech 1 - all in order to provide some protection for Drakk, in the shape of Mad Man (or Bombaster, but that unit is liable to just die, so I’ll put it in Scavenger and go for the cheaper one). Killing both my patrollers will give him no problem, but at least it will wipe his own board (unless he levels Zane first, which is very possible), and won’t leave enough to kill Drakk. Oh, except - let’s see now, 3 gold to level Zane, 1 gold for his own MM or MR, and he kills Drakk cleanly AND maxes Zane. (The max level bonus fizzles, but that’s not much consolation.) And he still has 2 gold left. So that’s also no good. But I can avoid that particular nightmare by spending the extra gold and sticking Bombaster in Scavenger. He can still level Zane to clear my patrol and leave Zane alive, but at least Drakk stays there.

  4. I can’t believe I’m even contemplating skipping a worker on turn 2 - but I could play as in 2) above, and skip the worker in order to be able to level Drakk. He’d be 2/3, and he’d have an empty board. It might actually be better than a lot of the nightmares above, but it doesn’t exactly leave me leading on the board, and I’d get crushed due to my smaller economy.

So it has to be 3) above, with Bombaster patrolling. It’s the only thing that avoids complete and instant disaster. There is still no truly good way to patrol though. I would like at least one of my two units in SQL, even though he can kill both with what is on the board - otherwise he could play Bombaster or Scorch to kill one, then have Zane kill the remaining patroller and have Ogre kill Drakk. So I either have no unit in Scavenger, which seems silly when I’m strapped for cash, or none in Elite - giving him the option of levelling Zane up to kill my Bombaster while staying alive. But since the second keeps Drakk alive, that is better I think. I’m going to need a good draw next turn to get back in this though. (And that one looks pretty good, all things considered.) I need to start taking (even) more care at turn 1 in future!


Unfortunately, you need to put a blank line before the {details=Summary}This text will be hidden{/details} content. See Here

"P2T2


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Detonate
Lobber


STARTING HAND
Mad Man
Charge
Pillage
Makeshift Rambaster
Careless Musketeer


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer


NextHand

Pillage
Detonate
Makeshift Rambaster
Bloodrage Ogre
Lobber


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Tech I - ($4)
Ogres trade
Midband zane and kill bombaster, both get gold. - ($2)
Pillage, your gold is mine and 1 base damage.
Max Zane - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Zane (4/4)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 5
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7
    "

[details=thoughts]so I couldn’t resist playing with detonate and gunning for a bigger economy advantage then I already have. I managed to not delay my Tech I or go down on cards while keeping his board relatively nonthreatening.

Thanks to pillage, he only has 6 gold to work with. 1 for worker & 2 for Tech I means he has 3 gold to deal 4 damage to Zane. I’m not sure that’s possible. I think I’m going to run away to flying ships of doom from here. [/details]

P1T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Tricycloid
Immortal


STARTING HAND
Scorch
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Nautical Dog


WORKERS
Pillage
Bloodburn
Scorch


NextHand

Mad Man
Centaur
Argonaut
Careless Musketeer


Discard

Bloodrage Ogre
Bombaster
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Tricycloid
Immortal


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid (after getting gold from Scavenger and having it stolen straight back) - ($6)
Tech 1 - ($4)
worker - ($3)
Nautical Dog - ($2)

Float ($2)
Discard 2, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]: Drakk lvl 1 (1+1/3)
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Nautical Dog (1/1)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 19
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 6
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 2
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

So, pretty much as expected - except he had Pillage too to steal my gold. I’m definitely in a massive hole.

My only hope of getting out of it is to rush to Tech 2 - so failing to build Tech 1 this turn is not an option. Nor is failing to build Tech 2 next turn. After paying for my worker (Scorch, since I can’t even use it this turn), that only leaves me 3 gold. I could Charge the dog, but that wouldn’t do much - I could suicide it into Zane, and then trade Drakk for Zane, but what good would that really do? I’m not giving him first play on an empty board when he has haste, including no doubt a Lobber or two.

So, I’m going defensive for at least a turn - a pretty pitiful position as P1 with this deck, but that’s what my terrible T1 patrol decision has done for me. I may yet reap the rewards later, with a bit of luck. I’ve decided that I no longer care if Drakk lives or dies, since I don’t have the cash to get him to midband any time soon. So I’ve patrolled him in Elite to eat more of Zane’s face if he attacks that way, and the Dog - well, where? Clearly scavenger and technician are the only sensible choices - but which?

Now, when I first asked myself this question, I’d gratutitously brought out my Makeshift Rambaster for 3 damage on his base - because that’s an opportunity you don’t often get. But that makes the above question impossible to answer. I’d be down to no gold, with 7 workers - needing next turn a minimum of: worker (else I have to wait another turn for Tech 2), Tech 2, and one of my 3-cost Tech 1s, which costs 8! That means I’d need it in scavenger. But he might have redrawn pillage - or he might recognise the situation and just refuse to kill it, if he hasn’t drawn Pillage. Meanwhile I’d only be drawing 3 next turn, and needing to play one and worker one. And I need to start giving myself a chance of drawing my Tech 2s.

So I have to cancel my silly macho play of Rambaster. This way I’m getting 9 gold next turn (minus any pillaging, hopefully he doesn’t pillage me for 2), and 4 cards, plus a very likely 5th. I might draw one of my Tech 2s too early, but one of my conclusions from my crushing defeat in Round 1 was that I was much too worried about accidents like that. It improves my cycling and makes me see all my cards that big more often over the course of the game. So I don’t care about that.

Unfortunately Present has expensive Tech 2s, and I’ve chosen 2 of the priciest - but I think I need them: an Immortal will slow him down considerably if I can get it out, and Tricycloid, as everyone knows, is just great. I think it has to be Present, because Blood won’t help me keep units on the board in the face of his aggression, and Feral is just so much weaker than the other two (crucially having no haste). So it’s Present Tech 2 next turn, and I’ll probably start teching some of Calamandra’s spells.


"P2T3


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Maximum anarchy
Maximum anarchy


STARTING HAND
Pillage
Bloodrage Ogre
Makeshift Rambaster
Lobber
Detonate
Mad Man(tech draw)


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster


NextHand

Scorch
Charge
Nautical Dog


Discard

Pillage
Mad Man
Maximum anarchy
Maximum anarchy


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Detonate trash a worker and itself - ($3)
Zane Kills Doggo, we both draw.
Pillage, 1 gold and 1 base damage
Summon Bloodrage ogre - ($1)
Summon Lobber - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre(3/2+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Lobber(2/2)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Zane (4/3)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 1
  • Disc: 4
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 8
    "
thoughts

I skipped a hero kill because I think Draak is a pretty nonthreatening hero on such a measley allowence. This also allows me to defend Zane and build a board. My goal now is to tech up at lightning speed since I still haven’t missed the window for ASAP tech III. To cover the loss of board tempo from all this plus detonate I am banking on Maximum anarchy,

P1T4


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Ferocity
Warp Gate Disciple


STARTING HAND
Centaur
Argonaut
Mad Man
Careless Musketeer
Immortal <- technician draw


WORKERS
Pillage
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer


NextHand

Charge
Nautical Dog
Bloodrage Ogre
Makeshift Rambaster


Discard

Immortal
Mad Man
Ferocity
Warp Gate Disciple


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float, minus pillaged gold - ($7)
reshuffle and draw 1 from technician’s death
worker - ($6)
Centaur - ($3)
Argonaut - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Centaur (3/4+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Argonaut (3/4)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Drakk lvl 1 (1/3)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 18
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 2
  • Disc: 4
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

My first reaction to seeing his turn was “ick”. I didn’t expect Detonate, because I’ve always thought of it as a horribly inefficient spell, unless your opponent is relying on building cards. But there’s no doubt whatsoever that losing a worker hurts when you were rushing to build Tech 2, and are about to draw into a load of Tech 2 stuff.

Add to that that he’s built a huge board, which I certainly can’t attack into with any hope of a good outcome (I can midband Drakk and send Mad Man at him, but that doesn’t even kill the Ogre). So I’m forced to go defensive - again.

But, reflecting on it overnight - I really don’t think this is so bad. After all, one of the strengths of my codex, although not the flashiest, is its access to big and solid Tech 1s. And after playing both Centaur and Argonaut, with one in Squad Leader, the tables are turned - there is literally NO WAY he can efficiently attack into that. Oh, he can kill them both - but there’s no way he will. He needs to suicide both of his units to get rid of Centaur, and then sacrifice Zane to kill the Argonaut. That not only gets me another gold back (which he can’t Pillage now), I get to level Drakk up twice for free, meaning that next turn I can use my 9 gold (7 workers + 1 float + 1 more since this is under the assumption he kills everything) to midband Drakk and play another unit (I have to draw at least one of my Tech 0s), and still have at least 4 left to play another one or (more likely) send Drakk to max. EDIT: this was wrong on many levels, one because as Eric pointed out I’d give myself 1 gold too much, and also because I’d somehow forgotten I need to spend 4 gold on Tech 2.

As I said, there’s no way he’ll possibly do that. In fact, given how inefficient it is for him to attack me, I expect him to build Tech 2, worker, and perhaps play ONE more unit - but not attack at all. (Except he has to attack with the Ogre or it returns to his hand, which I think just gives him more of a problem.) I don’t see how his 3 cards in hand can change that - none of his Tech 0s will materially change the sitution, and he can only have starting deck cards in hand (as I’ve already seen both of his T2 techs, and he didn’t reshufflelast turn). So I can swing with my big units, which will probably be profitable, especially if I can afford to midband Drakk first.

Teching in a WGD to try for some shenanigans next cycle once I have my Tech 2 - I’ve not tried to use it before, because 4 Gold for a 1/1 unit which you have to protect for a turn just seems like something that should very rarely work. But I hope to have decent defence by the time I draw it (although it depends on my shuffle luck a little), and I’ll hopefully have a maxband Drakk to mean I can use its ability straight away! My other tech is Ferocity, because I want Calamandra as soon as I’ve got Tech 2, for her great stats and amazing spells (not to mention that her midband resist 1 to everything will punish a fire-heavy strategy) - and Ferocity is certainly the best if you can establish some kind of board. And I have good chances of doing that now.

So I’ve turned the corner for pessimist to optimism. I expect my illusions will be rudely shatter on his next turn - but I can’t see how at the moment. Perhaps a scorch to then trade just the ogre for Centaur, but that won’t worry me unduly. And my next draw looks very fortunate indeed…


It looks like you didn’t account for your Trashed worker when calculating your income, but my math could be wrong?

2 float - 1 Pillage + 6 workers at the start of your turn = 7 gold, not 8.

If that is true, then just reduce your float to 0 and carry on.

1 Like

@EricF - you’re right, thanks for catching that.

I deleted a worker from the spreadsheet and thought that was enough. I completely missed that it had already calculated my income based on a now incorrect worker count. So @Shax - I’m now not floating (does that mean I’m sinking?)

1 Like

@shax - gentle nudge to get this game back on (I believe Wednesday is the deadline?)

"P2T4 Sorry for the delay


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Pirate gunship
disguised monkey


STARTING HAND
Charge
Nautical Dog
Scorch


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge


NextHand

Maximum anarchy
Bombaster
Pillage


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Tech II Anarchy - ($3)
Cast scorch on centaur - ($0)
Ogre trades with centaur
Zane trades with Argonaut, we both get gold, Draak to 3. - ($1)

Float ($1)
Discard 1, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 2


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]:
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Lobber(2/2)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 3
  • Deck: 7
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 1
  • Workers: 9
    "
thoughts

What a horridly awkward position. Ogre can’t be kept around for defense but doesn’t trade very efficiently. Between Argonaut and Draak alone I can’t imagine Zane surviving and so I wasted two techs on maximum anarchy(I drew one!). Even with his newfound wealth it should be very hard(impossible?) to break my tech II and afford his own. If I can get Tech III up next turn without the board going to total shit then I think everything is still ok.

1 Like

I’m not trying to pressure you by playing quick deliberately here - it’s just that there aren’t too many sensible options for me with an empty board :wink:

P1T5


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Behind the Ferns
Hyperion


STARTING HAND
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Bloodrage Ogre
Nautical Dog


WORKERS
Pillage
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog


NextHand

Hyperion
Bombaster
Tricycloid
Immortal


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + scavenger - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Tech 2 Present - ($3)
Bloodrage Ogre - ($1)
Drakk to midband - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 2


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • Drakk lvl 4 (2/3)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 18
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Present)

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 8
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 8
Thoughts

So he did go for the “sacrifice loads to clear my board” line. And, as my edit above showed, that doesn’t put me in the world’s greatest position. I still feel like I might just be ahead here, since he’s gone down to 3 cards in hand - but it’s very hard for me to judge.

I don’t see an alternative to building Tech 2 here. I clearly have MANY ways of clearing his Lobber out of the way, but don’t have the cash to generate the 5 damage to his tech building that would be the only way to maybe just about justify all this investment. So I’ve just gone with tech 2 and sticking my biggest unit in squad leader. I am after all about to draw into a load of big Tech 2 units, as well as Calamandra spells that, unless he kills Drakk (which is very possible but which I can’t assume he will), I also can’t play without a Tech 2. Killing Lobber here seems counterproductive in that it will let him draw a card, and it can only do 2 attack or 1 building damage.

So I have to hope that he can’t break my Tech 2 with his 3 cards in hand. He can do 1 damage with Lobber, and if he has a Chameleon Lizzo in hand, or a Monkey+Fire spell (there may be other possibilities too) he can do the other 4. But that’s something I have to chance. None of these options for him care about what I’m patrolling with, so it would be counterproductive to skip Tech 2 and play some patrollers (killing his lobber too) only to go down on cards and have him break Tech 1!

Note that I can’t afford to midband Drakk now, unless I play Nautical Dog instead of Ogre. This seems a weak play, given that there is no real advantage to Drakk’s midband until I can attack on my next turn (other than doing more damage to his unit if he does attacks Drakk). Indeed, I’ve actually workered the Dog - initially I workered the Rambaster, but I think it’s better to keep that. I shouldn’t need a Frenzied 1/1 much past this point, particularly if I get midband Drakk, and the Rambaster seems a good card to have around when I can see two things being likely in the upcoming play: a need to break his Tech 2/Tech 3, and him not having many patrollers.

The biggest concern I have now has to be if he races for Tech 3 and gunships. It occurs to me now that my Immortal will not make the blindest bit of difference to that - other than being able to smash his Tech building in one shot if I can clear the patrollers. I’ve certainly got plenty of firepower in the Present Tech 2 options and Calamandra spells that I’m teching - although thanks to his worker trashing I’m very restricted in what I can afford to play each turn! (I only noticed when deciding what to tech that for some unknown reason I haven’t teched a Hyperion yet, so that’s gone in. BtF too for “easy” tech building destruction. A second Hyperion would arguably be better, but I could do with at least some cheap cards, and I can’t rely on my Tech 2 being operational either.)

So I have no idea who’s ahead in this game now - a large amount depends on what his 3 cards are. The worst case for me is if he breaks Tech 2 but leaves Drakk alive - then depending on my draw I may have to suicide Drakk to get Calamandra out to play a strong spell.

I always type my “thoughts” before doing my discard/draw - I find it’s a good way to catch anything stupid before I “lock it in” by drawing. It means I can get pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised by seeing my next hand - and in this case it’s most definitely unpleasant! If he breaks Tech 2 I’m reduced to just playing a Bombaster and levelling a hero (and workering one of my Tech 2s!), and even if he doesn’t I can only play 1 of my 3 really good units. On the plus side he can’t break tech 2 while also having many patrollers, and if he keeps staying low on cards it’s bound to give him a poor turn at some point (I hope).

Final thought: should I have patrolled Ogre in Scavenger instead of Technician, to help with my gold shortage? Possibly, but Lobber for Ogre is still a good trade for P2 to make, and I’d rather have him to attack with next turn if possible.


oops, just realised I didn’t notice I got a gold from Argonaut dying. It doesn’t make a big difference though - I’ll just spend it to midband Drakk rather than getting it pillaged (will edit now) :slight_smile:

"P2T5


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Pirate gunship
Disguised monkey


STARTING HAND
Bombaster
Maximum anarchy
Pillage


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Maximum anarchy


NextHand

Pirate gunship
Scorch
Maximum anarchy
Mad Man


Discard

Pillage
Bombaster
Pirate gunship
Disguised monkey


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
Tech III - ($4)
Summon Draak & Jaina - ($0)

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Lobber(2/2+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]: Jaina(2/3)
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: Draak(1/3)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
  • :heart: Tech III HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 3
  • Disc: 4
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 10
    "
    Whoops, I’m terrible at editing in my buildings.
Thoughts

Used heroes to preserve my hand size and increase chances of drawing gunship. Three things is a lot to punch through with a small board, so my tech III should be fine. Crossing fingers anyways.

Move coming later this evening, in the meantime:

thoughts for spectators

Dang that is the perfect patrol zone. Just ONE HP less on any of his 3 patrollers and I could break his Tech 3 this turn. (max Drakk, Ogre and Drakk kill 2 patrollers, play Tricycloid, then if one had just 2HP I could take 2 shots to kill it then use my hasty frenzied Tricycloid to break Tech 3. Unfortunately, I need all 3 shots whatever order I do things in, so it will only have 4ATK left, counting the frenzy.

As if that isn’t bad enough, he’s made it VERY hard, due to my cash shortage, to benefit from the free levels in killing one of his heroes. The only way to do that would be for Ogre to trade with Lobber (which is fine, I’ll have to do that anyway) then play Cal, then Hyperion to kill one of the heroes for the free levels.

So I’m 99.999% certain I can’t break Tech 3 this turn. I need 4 separate attacks, and only have 2 units/heroes on the board, without enough money to play 2 - except Bombaster, but that doesn’t help - a hasted Tricycloid is the only conceivable way it could work. And as observed above, I’m 1 damage short :rage:

So now I have to figure out the best play, given that he will have an active Tech 3 next turn. For a start, I must NOT kill Drakk, because that gives him an extra chance to draw into a gunship if he hasn’t already. (I’m expecting he teched 2 on T4, which means he has 2 across the 11 cards in his hand, deck and discard. I make that about a 62% chance of having at least one in a 4-card hand, if I didn’t make a mistake.) There are 2 different considerations here:

  1. how to best maximise my board presence in such a way as to be definitely able to break Tech 3 next turn (and subsequently), if he doesn’t have a gunship

  2. how best to survive if he DOES have one. Believe it or not, I have a possible “hail mary” if he does - draw my WGD, haste it with Drakk, oh hang on, I was about to say “send 2 shoddy gliders to kill it”, but of course WGD only gets me one unit from my codex (was getting confused with Feral Strike, which I haven’t even teched). Even if I draw WGD next turn there’s no way I get to use him twice (he’ll get obliterated the turn after he arrives). And I don’t have Ready or Not either.

OK, so it just comes down to keeping fingers crossed, and finding the best unit to play if I get lucky. Not sure yet which of Immortal and Hyperion is better. (And if he doesn’t have a gunship he’ll probably be able to play all sorts of tech 2 nonsense and max Drakk… Definitely not looking good.)

I have an extremely high chance of conceding next turn, but just in case…

P1T6


Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Hyperion
Ready or Not


STARTING HAND
Tricycloid
Bombaster
Immortal
Hyperion


WORKERS
Pillage
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
Bombaster


NextHand

Warp Gate Disciple
Behind the Ferns
Ferocity
Centaur


Discard

Immortal
Hyperion
Hyperion
Ready or Not


Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
worker - ($7)
Geiger - ($5)
Tricycloid - ($0)
Tricycloid fires 3 times at Jaina, killing her. You get a gold, Drakk to maxband.
Drakk kills lobber, taking 2 damage
Bloodrage Ogre kills your Drakk, taking 1 damage. My base to 17, Geiger to level 3. You draw (gulp).

Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Tricycloid (3/3+1A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]: lvl 3 Geiger (2/4)
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]
  • max Drakk (3/2)
  • Bloodrage Ogre (3/1)
    [B]Buildings:[/B]
  • :heart: Base HP: 17
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Present)

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 4
  • Deck: 4
  • Disc: 4
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 9
Thoughts

Well, it comes to this. In all probability I’m simply dead (or as good as) next turn when one of his gunships comes out. I have to hope to be lucky, but also then set myself up to be able to kill his Tech 3 every turn, even if my own Tech 2 gets destroyed.

So in the end I did decide to give him his card by killing Drakk. He has a lot of gold, letting him get a maxed - or even midband - Drakk is just too dangerous. I’ve managed to spend all 8 gold (with no Scavenger, so no pillaging for him - let’s stick with minor victories here ;)) and got a solid defence as well as possibilities for next turn whatever he breaks/kills (this is all of under the rather unlikely assumption of no gunship in his hand, remember). I brought Geiger in rather than Calamandra because it gives be more options - if Geiger dies I can play Cal and cast any of her spells that I may draw, while if he lives I get to do a desparation draw with his midband or send him to max and flicker something. I wouldn’t have quite as many options (chiefly Geiger’s midband) if I went for Cal.

There’s no point dwelling on this more, because I expect I’m simply as dead as a very dead thing - and even if he has no gunship I don’t exactly feel like overwhelming favourite :frowning:


"P2T6


StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Pirate gunship
Maximum anarchy
Scorch
Mad Man
Bloodrage Ogre


WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Makeshift Rambaster
Charge
Maximum anarchy


NextHand

Pillage
Nautical Dog
Bloodrage Ogre
disguised monkey
Pirate gunship


Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid+ scav - ($11)
Pirate gunship - ($5)
Attack with gunship, tricycloid and ogre die. Gunship destroys tech II, 2 base damage
Summon Zane - ($3)
Cast scorch on geiger - ($0)
Trade zane with geiger, you draw

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 3


[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]

  • :psblueshield: [I]Squad Leader[/I]: Pirate gunship(7/6+A)
  • :psfist: [I]Elite[/I]:
  • :ps_: [I]Scavenger[/I]:
  • :pschip: [I]Technician[/I]:
  • :target: [I]Lookout[/I]:
    [B]In Play:[/B]

[B]Buildings:[/B]

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5
  • :heart: Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
  • :heart: Tech III HP: 5

[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 6
  • Disc: 0
    [B]Gold:[/B]
  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 10
    "
Thoughts

successful tech III defense. Dumped resources into killing Geiger to prevent any maxband shenanigans from turning this around.

GG, there’s no way I can stop a gunship.

WP - I messed up so badly in this game, and you capitalised well. I got obscenely lucky draws on T3/T4, but Present Tech 2 is too gold-hungry for me to cope with it as P1 when you kept Pillaging me and also trashed a worker.

Most of all I have learned that I need something to counter a Tech 3 rush! Although I was only 1 damage away from being able to destroy your Tech 3 last turn :confused:

Good luck in the rest of the tourmanent. This is my third loss in 3 games (I expected no more), and I will enjoy watching everyone else battle to the end :smiley:

nearly forgot to tag @EricF

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