Another whiff, tough stuff. I think I try to fish the Tri with Vir, worst case is I just do what I’d do anyway with Argo + Now! Unphase and TD, might need Assimilate for Garrison also we’ll see I spose
Void Star x2
Temporal Distortion, Unphase
Tricycloid, Hyperion
Argonaut, Now!
Main:
Tricycloid, spin Quince down, Geiger midbands (5)
Maxband Geiger, flicker Tricycloid (3)
Vir hits BK for 2, dies, levels fizzle
Tri spends a rune to kill BK off for real
Geiger hits OC dead, sparkshot kills TD, you get a card
Prynn (1)
Tech lab Future (0)
Workers
Forgotten Fighter, Plasmodium, Hardened Mox
Patrol as below
Discard 3 rs Draw 5
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 19
Tech1 HP: 5
Tech2 HP: 5 PRESENT
Tech Lab: 4 FUTURE
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Prynn (1/3a lvl 1)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Tricycloid (5/5)
Lookout:
In Play:
Geiger (3/1 lvl 5)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
End of Turn Hand
Unphase
Neo Plexus
Nullcraft
Argonaut
Temporal Research
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
I smell Insurance Agent shenanigans, surely that’s coming. Maybe more Dreamscape shit? That was an all out move… Well, Tri to kill Quince, flicker to sac Vir and finish BK seems good. Will want to protect Tri in case of that Insurance Agent (5g and a card is too much to give easily). Probably Prynn blocks, tech lab Future, hope to own from the air? Worth a try
GG WP! I’ve been super nervous about community service all four games, my win cons are highly dependent on big units and so the chances that CS hits are pretty high, especially late game (although last turn you woulda been SOL with how hard I whiffed, LOL)
This is definitely more brutal than I anticipated, my opinion of blue is definitely biased by how much Blue v Black I’ve played. Purple not having strong early bully options or cheap / any starter targeting of note makes illusions really scary, and you definitely know how to get the most out of your card draw.
It doesn’t help that I’m getting a lot of whiffs (my only win was my good fortune draws game thus far). Turn 3 whiff and Turn 4 rs whiff on the 50/50 was pretty brutal this game, I think the plan was fine and had I got the Tri or Hyperion Turn 4 I would have had a good chance, but hard to say for sure obviously.
Coach @Shadow_Night_Black what do you think here? Is the KotC strat viable against Blue? Should I be mixing in a maxband + tech 1 strat (maybe Vir or Geiger card draw paired with Seers?) Blue also really wants tech 2 so if I can get an early counterpunch in that might make the difference. I could definitely use the insights community, Purple is not my strength
Kotc is good against blue going for peace, as it makes stolen garrisons super brutal (not that bansa is using garrisons though). Against truth its less good, as you dont have good targeting options for illusions (double KotC, double seer minimises tech options), and I’m not sure which set of over stated units win then (I have a feeling its illusions though, but worth finding out). Against law seems pretty good though, nothing that expensive to insure!
Against Bansa’s mix of aggresion and superb resource management, I’m not sure theres a simple answer. I think its mostly a question of finding out excatly how little you can get away with developing your board while preping for a late game strategy ( this by definition requires minimal counter teching, as you need all your techs to be online for later).
In truth, having not faced someone who can pilot blue to bansa’s calibre before, I’m not sure. Max prynn + Rewind costs too much and still lets blue rebuild first. R&D is very nice when combo’d with cheap units (seer’s + KotC), but Temporal Research does do a pretty good imitation, and I’m not sure you need both. If you can get the Double time down, then I think that would be awesome, but investing 8 gold into vir and another 6 into a double time feels infeasible with the oni/aven pressure, so that seems unlikely without hero levels, which we’re not generally in the position to go for.
Maybe sentry is actually worth a look at here? (it really hurts me to say this). The fact it costs 2 might be really helpful as P2 (I still dislike the fact we don’t have a good 2 cost 3/3 with upside like everyone else), and either that or mayb going ham with seers as your first techs might be good.
With forecast spam early, I normally go into past as my tech 2, given I already have double seers for remember’s
I think you are on to something here. I don’t even want to ask this because I’m scared to hear yes, but does Sentry block Oni’s Frenzy? Now that is not nice…
I was actually going to suggest why not Past? but was hesitant because I’m not sure what that entails. Arrest can be annoying but Past is generally a great Tech II option.
Unfortunetly not, that would be far too useful for sentry. Frenzy just increases your attack, so its all just combat damage. More I think about it, seers may just be more useful.
Problems with Past:
Its slow and non reactive - Unlike Present which is filled with hasty stuff, and Future, which can just kill pretty indiscimitaly, past cant really interact act with your oppoents game plan much, and you really do need to stop Truth/Peace engines
Blue is better at its main game plans: it relies on either racingin to tech 3 or wearing down your opponent (either rememberer or slow time generator). Blue doesn’t like the tech 3 race (as Archon is pretty hard to beat), but can often apply enough pressure it keep you off it for long enough. And trying to grind down Peace/Truth is very difficult.
I think that a forecast into Tech 3 tempo push should be possible, but I’ve not worked through board states to actaully work out how much pressure blue can apply, and if you can bank enough gold/board to deal with that.
Arrest I really dont mind as purple. early on its best target is Fargo, and even thats a good trade for purple. Against Past it does very little. its probs best against future, who can often be relying on single units for offense/defence.
But it prevents sparkshot though? It says it blocks combat damage if it’s an ability. Isn’t frenzy also an ability?
“The damage done by the sparkshot ability and by the Tower add-on are both combat damage. But they are also both “abilities” so Sentry CAN prevent their damage. — Sirlin, 03/11/16”
Frenzy changes your attack value, its no different from you just having one more attack (i.e from level up, or from +1/+1 counter, or from battle suits etc). The ability itself is not dealing any damage.
It does prevent sparkshot yes, and tower damage (if you somehow manage to get a tower to deal damage to one of your patrollers)
B 2:1 P
Squad Leader: Traffic Director (1/1A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
Patrol as below
Base HP: 20
Squad Leader: Fading Argonaut (2/3+1armor)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Neo Plexus (2/2)
Lookout: