It didn’t end up mattering, but I thought it was amusing that he was trying to do both.
Player 2 Turn 1
Starting Hand and Workers
STARTING HAND
Bombaster
Scorch
Charge
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
WORKERS
Scorch
Next Hand
Mad Man
Makeshift Rambaster
Pillage
Bloodburn
Discard
Charge
Careless Musketeer
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Recruit Bombaster - ($2)
Recruit the Nautical Dog! - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]:
[I]Elite[/I]: Bombaster (2+1/2)
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]: Nautical Dog (1/1) (Frenzy 1)
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 2
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 1
Workers: 6
[details=Thoughts]Wish I had Ogre instead of Bombaster so I could put it in Lookout… Too risky to put a hero out right now, but hopefully the threat of Zane will keep him from doing anything too crazy. His codex seems to be “replace the weakest part of mono-blue with Finesse” build similar to what PtW.dec does with mono-black… But it also uses the neutral starter, which has Bloom and Wither (hence why it’s too risky to put a hero out right now). The change doesn’t add any upgrade removal, though, so MoLaC is still plan A. I expect the Peace Engine as the obvious play, so the challenge is to get MoLaC active before all the pieces of that come together. [/details]
Heroes’ Hall, huh? That sounds like he wants River out right away, but what would he want her for? Most likely either Discord or Two-Step, both of which help keep units alive after attacking. This may be a mistake, but I get the feeling that his Tech I is just lip-service to the normal tech progression and he’s really only teched one or both of those spells for his next turn – which means there won’t be any new units attacking (since Messenger is the only hasty unit he has without higher tech levels). If I’m right, I should remove one of the potential attackers this turn so he has a harder time getting to my own Tech I building. Both spells cost enough that after worker he’ll only have $1 left, and he won’t have a unit that costs that in hand, so Two Step won’t even work… So with my luck I’m expecting that he didn’t tech Two Step at all and/or he got a Tech I unit or two.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
Recruit Gunpoint Taxman - ($4)
Zane casts Charge on Taxman, giving him +1 ATK and haste this turn - ($2) Taxman kills River, stealing $1 from your reserves and taking 2 damage; Zane gains 2 free levels - ($3)
Recruit Makeshift Rambaster - ($1) Rambaster and Zane destroy your Tech I; your Base takes 2 damage
Recruit the Nautical Dog! - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 1
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Nautical Dog (1/1+a) (Frenzy 1)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]:
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Captain Zane Lv. 3 (2/1) (Haste)
Gunpoint Taxman (3/1) (Anti-air)
Makeshift Rambaster (1/2) (+2 ATK vs buildings)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 3
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I’d originally planned to tech up this turn, but when the opportunity to take out either two heroes or a hero and a tech building presents itself… I decided on removing his Tech I over Onimaru, despite how scary Oni is, in order to delay his own tech progression a turn. Don’t want him getting funny ideas about building Garrisons before I can do anything about them, now do we? May regret that if he can find a way to break my Tech I, though… Teching both copies of MoLaC to guarantee that one of them gets into the hand after next – the first turn I could play one. That said, unless I desparately need the gold for something else, I’m planning to go Anarchy Tech II with a Growth Tech Lab since I only want MoLaC from the Growth path and I want all the haste and stealth of Anarchy (the latter especially to punish the Heroes’ Hall play, since now he’ll have to raze that if he wants a Tower later). This way gives the option of transitioning from Plan A into a Gunships-based Plan B.
Might of Leaf and Claw
Gunpoint Taxman
Bombaster
Bloodrage Ogre
Discard
Nautical Dog
Gunpoint Taxman
Charge
Mad Man
Surprise Attack
Disguised Monkey
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Build Anarchy Tech II - ($3)
Build Growth Tech Lab - ($2)
Summon Argagarg and Wisp - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Argagarg Garg Lv. 1 (1/3+a)
[I]Elite[/I]:
[I]Scavenger[/I]: Wisp (0/1)
[I]Technician[/I]:
[I]Lookout[/I]:
[B]In Play:[/B]
Makeshift Rambaster (1/2) (+2 ATK vs buildings, can’t patrol)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Tech Lab HP: 4 (Growth)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 6
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
[details=Thoughts]Yeah, probably should have taken out Oni instead. This is not a pleasant situation, to say the least, though at least I can still build my Tech II…? Frankly I doubt it’ll survive the turn, but at least I’ve paid for it. Now all of my gold can go toward digging myself out of this mess… Depending on how things go I may end up having to go with the Gunships, but even though getting one down would probably win the game for me if I use it right, I’m not sure I could defend a Tech III building for that long. Though in conjunction with MoLaC, maybe I could get something through just from having too many things for him to shut down? Assuming, of course, that he doesn’t do the smart thing and just kill me. [/details]
WORKERS
Fruit Ninja
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Bloom
Discord
NextHand
Tenderfoot (1/2)
The Art of War
Flagstone Garrison
Brick Thief
Spark
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Nimble Fencer - ($5)
Nimble Fencer attacks Argagarg
2 Soldiers trade with Argagarg
Soldier kills Wisp, you get 1 gold
Onimaru breaks your Tech II, your base to 18
Worker - ($4)
Tech II Peace - ($0)
Makeshift Rambaster (1/2) (+2 ATK vs buildings, can’t patrol)
[B]Buildings:[/B]
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Tech Lab HP: 4 (Growth)
[B]Economy Info:[/B]
[B]Cards:[/B]
Hand: 5
Deck: 7
Disc: 0
[B]Gold:[/B]
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
[details=Thoughts]Got a lucky split that left 1 MoLaC in my deck, and the scavenger wisp gave me enough gold to instantly max Rook. Not workering the MoLaC I can’t use this turn since I don’t know for sure whether I’ll be able to drop it next turn… Besides which, if the game goes on long enough I could drop a second one for +10/+10, though that’s extremely unlikely to either happen or be necessary. Not much to say here, since I’m just trying to survive long enough to do something. [/details]
STARTING HAND
The Art of War
Flagstone Garrison
Spark
Tenderfoot (1/2)
Brick Thief
Overeager Cadet
Helpful Turtle
WORKERS
Fruit Ninja
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Bloom
Discord
Spark
NextHand
Wither
Discord
Timely Messenger (1/1+1Armor)
The Art of War
Discard
Flagstone Garrison
Spectral Hound
The Art of War
Brick Thief
Helpful Turtle
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Flagstone Garrison - ($5)
Tenderfoot, draw 1 - ($4)
Overeager Cadet, draw 1
The Art of War - ($1)
Onimaru breaks your Tech II, your bae to 16
Worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
[B]Board Info:[/B]
[B]In Patrol:[/B]
[I]Squad Leader[/I]: Onimaru (6/5+3Armor, Level 8, swift strike)
Lol, good game. This matchup feels terrifying from my side, because I’m pretty sure that if I let you do your growth thing for a turn I just instantly lose the game. Really fun matchup, hope I get to play it again.
The only major flaw my codex has is that all of its plans rely on the opponent not being able to break Tech II, at least for a couple turns (Growth Tech II is usually done being useful once MoLaC is dropped, and Anarchy Tech III needs Tech II long enough to be built). That can be hard as Player 2 against an Onimaru opening, especially when I was afraid to play Rook (my usual opening) for fear of Wither… It doesn’t help that I still have little experience against Blue in general, and that I’ve been player 1 every game before this one.
Yeah being able to go Onimaru + 1 drop felt great. The game becomes way harder when you can stick a rook so that’s what I was hoping to prevent. I haven’t tried it yet, but I could imagine going first might not be great for you, because being down a worker and having to pay the multicolor penalty adds up.
If you check my other games, I only lost one where I assumed (reasonably!) that my opponent would be able to sneak enough damage past me with stealth that I wouldn’t win the base race, and that’s only because I surrendered (well, and because he had upgrade removal… But we played it out and I barely won due to draw luck, so it was close). Yes, the economy problem is there, but a good opening split can put enough pressure on the opponent that they can’t really stop you from getting past that part of the game, and if they don’t have upgrade removal you can keep just enough defense to get MoLaC out and then just throw everything with haste out until it’s active.