Finesse (River) is lacking a good source of card draw. I’d like to get ideas on what else she’s lacking in a 3v3 game.
In other words, if I wanted to bring two support heroes (preferably the same color), to solve her weaknesses, what would I best use (and which starter)?
What I notice in her tech 2 cards is a 3/5 for one, with anti-air, that is ignored because her dancers are just that strong. One clear weakness is card draw; the second is no obvious way to deal with upgrades. What else is a weakness (ahem … blue, black), and what looks like a good way to resolve this?
(Hero hall + another hero + “alien magic” feeds Harmony, right?)
To help you a bit with your start in the tournament. You have a creative thinking, that is good and keep that. There are still strong combinations to discover, but before you will find them you need to understand the game better. Focus first on your trades (lower value on the board against higher value). Otherwise you lose your games before any strategy comes into effect. One day, if I have more time I will write an expert strategy guide to cover some aspects. But here some basics.
To your questions to River. In general she is a pretty weak hero. People are taking her for the virtuosos or for the neutral starter. Lizzard is good too. Sometimes you can use discord. Everything else is too weak or very situational. They are not much too weak just a bit, but that makes a difference if both players know their game. I am pretty sure you will not face any dancers in this tournament, which does not mean that a good player cannot beat an unexpierenced one with dancers.
Focusing on weaknesses will not bring you any further in the beginning. That is of minor impact in this game. You will face in 80% of the cases in the tourny those:
- Neutral: Fencers into Maestro and Guide
- Peace: Cadet into Garrison and Drill Sergeant
- Present: Tric and Hyperion with TD
- Blood: CB, glider and sometimes bugblatter
- Growth: Ancient or MoLaC
- Truth: Reteller and whisperer with any illusion
- Anarchy: Tank into gunship
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River isn’t that bad. Her stats aren’t great, but her midband can be annoying early on, and Two Step is pretty efficient for what it does. And, as you say, Discord wrecks some game plans entirely. The Virtuoso engine is the most common plan for Finesse II, but Leaping Lizards aren’t uncommon. For example, they’re good for efficiently blocking against Blood II, due to being a cheap source of health that’s also not too devastating if taken with Kidnapping.
With respect to “weaknesses”, card draw is nice, but it’s not as essential as you might think. You can usually get by with just careful budgeting of card play, and the Technician patrol slot.
What other issues does she have / what other good tech 1 cards could improve her? If, in the next tourney, I was going to focus on River (as in, plan for most of my matches to go Finesse tech 2), what are the “oddball matches” where I would want a different tech 2? And would these be cases where I want the other color starter instead of neutral?
As a quick example, her max ability of tech 0 units costing one less really benefits Protoss – I mean Purple. Are there other colors where your starter cards are needed late game? (Blue, I think; anyone else?)