[XCAFRR19 Round2] Persephone [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs NekoAtl [Fire]/Truth/Disease

Codex Codex play-by-forum
1

P1 @Persephone [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs
P2 @NekoAtl [Fire]/Truth/Disease

Opening hand
  • Morningstar Flagbearer
  • Safe Attacking
  • Fox Viper
  • Smoker
  • Fox Primus

Player 1, Turn 1

Workers make 4g. (4g)

Hire 5th worker for 1g. (3g, 4 cards)
  • Fox Primus

Summon :codexgrave: Grave Stormborne for 2g. (1g)

Train a Smoker for 1g.

Grave patrols in Squad Leader, Smoker in Lookout.

Discard 3, draw 5.

Patrols:
:psblueshield: Squad Leader: :codexgrave: Grave Stormborne (2 :crossed_swords:, 3 :heart:, 1 :shield:)
:psfist: Elite:
:ps_: Scavenger:
:pspuzzle: Technician:
:eye: Lookout: Smoker (1 :crossed_swords:, 1 :heart:, bounces when targeted, Resist 1)

Base: 20 :heart:

:pspig: 0g banked, 5 workers.

5 cards in hand
  • Grappling Hook
  • Aged Sensei
  • Savior Monk
  • Snapback
  • Sensei’s Advice
0 cards in deck
3 cards in discard
  • Morningstar Flagbearer
  • Safe Attacking
  • Fox Viper
Thoughts

White starter is probably my weakest, and I don’t really know what to do with it as P2, but I’m P1 & the deck at least is tournament-tested.

Just from specs, it looks like I might want Mind-Parry Monk…? Versatile Style has a lot of utility vs Fire/Truth, probably. Early to speculate though, and I think Knightmare (?) is meant to win before getting too into Tech II stuff?

Grave/Smoker seems to be a standard opening, so let’s play that? Or Rook/Safe Attacking? I’m bad at white, so I’ll try conventional wisdom.

Good luck and have fun! It would seem that one of our decks is more experimental than the other…

2

Yeah, this is gonna be tough, but I’ll give it my best shot. GL HF.

P2T1

StartingHand Workers

STARTING HAND
Bloodburn
Makeshift Rambaster
Mad Man
Bombaster
Bloodrage Ogre

WORKERS
Mad Man

NextHand

Pillage
Careless Musketeer
Nautical Dog
Scorch
Charge

Discard

Bombaster
Makeshift Rambaster
Bloodburn

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

Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5

Board Info:
In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader:
  • :psfist: Elite: Bloodrage Ogre (4/2)
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :pschip: Technician:
  • :target: Lookout:

In Play:

  • L1 Orpal Gloor (1/3)

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20

Economy Info:
Cards:

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 0
  • Disc: 3

Gold:

  • Gold: 0
  • Workers: 6
Thoughts

Not only do I have to face off against the tournament king again, but this time my deck looks really weak. I’ve tried the Fire/Truth combo multiple times, and it hasn’t worked out even once. Sparring Partner is a very efficient answer to Disease as well, so this matchup looks extremely bad for me. There’s no way I can stop my base from taking damage, so Earthquake is going to be a big threat, but if I try to counter early Earthquake aggression with Free Speech, I’ll just be even more severely overrun, so hopefully maxband Rook won’t appear. Though if I successfully defend against Grave’s aggression, it’ll be more likely. Still, I have to try, or I can’t do anything, and maybe I can deter an attack if he doesn’t have Grappling Hook, because at least Smoker can’t be buffed. To prevent an even trade, I’ll backline a hero, but all of my heroes are mid-late powerhouses, but weak in the opening. But, if I build them up, a Snapback can just reset them, and I have very little in the way of deck manipulation to facilitate a mid- late-game Free Speech lockdown. Probably what I need to do is go for Eyes of the Chancellor with Carrion Curse and Bloodburn with Dreamscape, and with that in mind, I’ll want him to have as many spells and buildings in hand as possible, so the ideal scenario would be to drop Bloodburn at the same time I go Tech II Truth, baiting him into teching Versatile Style, and then dropping the Eyes/Curse combo before he has a chance to play it… but that strategy is very vulnerable to Martial Mastery, so I’ll need to keep an eye out for that in the buildup. So, for now, it’s ogre and either Jaina to threaten spells, or Orpal to intimidate for trades… and I think Orpal is the more reliable option, especially given the early-game gold limitations.

3 Likes
3

P1 @Persephone [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs
P2 @NekoAtl [Fire]/Truth/Disease

Tech 2 cards (5 discards)
  • Morningstar Flagbearer
  • Safe Attacking
  • Fox Viper
  • :pspuzzle: Nimble Fencer
  • :pspuzzle: Nimble Fencer

Player 1, Turn 2

Workers make 5g. (5g)

Hire 6th worker for 1g. (4g, 4 cards)
  • Savior Monk

Begin construction of Tech I for 1g. (3g)

Pay 2g to level Grave from 1 to 3, midband. (1g)
He pulls Bloodrage Ogre to Lookout with a Grappling Hook. (3 cards, 6 discards)
codexgrave: Grave Stormborne attacks and kills Bloodrage Ogre, taking 3 damage.

Recruit Aged Sensei for 1g. (0g, 2 cards)

Smoker patrols in Squad Leader, Aged Sensei in Technician.

Discard 2, shuffle 8, draw 4.

Patrols:
:psblueshield: Squad Leader: Smoker (1 :crossed_swords:, 1 :heart:, 1 :psblueshield:, bounces when targeted)
:psfist: Elite:
:ps_: Scavenger:
:pspuzzle: Technician: Aged Sensei (1 :crossed_swords:, 1 :heart:, gives +1/+A)
:eye: Lookout:

:codexgrave: Grave Stormborne (3 :crossed_swords:, 1 of 4 :heart:, Sparkshot, Readiness)

Base: 20 :heart:
Tech I (5 :heart:)

:pspig: 0g banked, 6 workers.

4 cards in hand
  • Snapback
  • Sensei’s Advice
  • Fox Viper
  • Nimble Fencer
4 cards in deck
  • Morningstar Flagbearer
  • Nimble Fencer
  • Safe Attacking
  • Grappling Hook
0 cards in discard
Thoughts

Right, can’t play Sensei’s Advice on Smoker. The argument for Rook was that he deals with BRO better; not sure if that means I made a mistake. Let’s see.

I think I have to kill BRO here. Grappling Hook + Level 3 still leaves Grave at 1HP; then patrol with Aged Sensei and Smoker? Should be sufficiently robust vs. Mad Man + Rambaster, don’t see any cost/card efficient ways to get rid of Smoker in SQL.

Phantom Hound will be annoying from a value perspective, since I don’t have any good targeting spells this side of Thunderclap.

Workering Savior Monk since I’m teching two 2-drops. Worried that with only 4 cards I won’t draw much that can survive a Sickness, but I’m not ready to give up Sensei’s Advice + Nimble Fencer or lategame utility of Snapback for a 2/2; think I’m looking to trade Grave for Orpal next turn? Don’t like being down a card.

That’s as balanced a hand I could ask for.

edit: list Tech I, fix worker count
edit2: actually fix worker count

4

P2T2

Tech StartingHand Workers

TECH
Plague Spitter
Plague Spitter

STARTING HAND
Nautical Dog
Scorch
Charge
Careless Musketeer
Pillage

WORKERS
Mad Man
Scorch

NextHand

Bloodrage Ogre
Plague Spitter
Pillage
Plague Spitter
Careless Musketeer

Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Tech I - ($3)
Nautical Dog - ($2)

Float ($2)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5

Board Info:
In Patrol:

  • :psblueshield: Squad Leader:
  • :psfist: Elite: L1 Orpal Gloor (2/3)
  • :ps_: Scavenger:
  • :pschip: Technician: Nautical Dog (1/1) Frenzy
  • :target: Lookout:

Buildings:

  • :heart: Base HP: 20
  • :heart: Tech I HP: 5

Economy Info:
Cards:

  • Hand: 5
  • Deck: 4
  • Disc: 0

Gold:

  • Gold: 2
  • Workers: 7
Thoughts

That’s unfortunate. Considering Virtuosos are the likely play, I think the Spitters would be the strongest answer, trading one for a Starlet isn’t great, but anything less would struggle against the pressure, and once I can protect Orpal from Snapback, their value will increase greatly. Also, seeing Spitters might discourage an Earthquake rush, as Two Lives doesn’t play well with -1/-1 runes. Scorch is too awkward and expensive for what it does, so it’s scrap.

5

P1 @Persephone [Discipline]/Strength/Finesse vs
P2 @NekoAtl [Fire]/Truth/Disease

Tech 2 cards (2 discards)
  • :pspuzzle: Vigor Adept
  • :pspuzzle: Focus Adept

Player 1, Turn 3

Workers make 6g. (6g)

Hire 7th worker for 1g. (5g, 3 cards)
  • Fox Viper

Train a Nimble Fencer for 2g. (3g, 2 cards)
Grave dispenses Sensei’s Advice to Nimble Fencer and Aged Sensei for 1g. (2g, 1 card, 3 discards)

2/1A Aged Sensei attacks and kills Nautical Dog, dealing 2 damage and taking 1 to armor. You draw a card.

3/3A Nimble Fencer attacks and kills :codexorpal: Orpal Gloor, dealing 3 damage and taking a -1/-1 rune after armor.
Grave gains two levels, to 5.

Pay 2g to level Grave to 7, maxband.
4/5 :codexgrave: Grave Stormborne attacks your Tech I for 4 damage.
Smoker attacks and destroys your Tech I, dealing 1 damage to it. Your base takes 2 damage, to 18 :heart:.

Grave patrols in Squad Leader.

Discard 1, draw 3.

Patrols:
:psblueshield: Squad Leader: :codexgrave: Grave Stormborne Lv. MAX (4 :crossed_swords:, 5 :heart:, 1 :psblueshield:, Sparkshot, Readiness, sword rune)
:psfist: Elite:
:ps_: Scavenger:
:pspuzzle: Technician:
:eye: Lookout:

:exhaust: Smoker (1 :crossed_swords:, 1 :heart:, 1 :psblueshield:, bounces when targeted)
:exhaust: Aged Sensei (1 :crossed_swords:, 1 :heart:, gives +1/+A)
:exhaust: -1 Nimble Fencer (1 :crossed_swords:, 2 :heart:, Haste)

Base: 20 :heart:
Tech I (5 :heart:)

:pspig: 0g banked, 7 workers.

3 cards in hand
  • Grappling Hook
  • Nimble Fencer
  • Morningstar Flagbearer
1 cards in deck
  • Safe Attacking
4 cards in discard
  • Focus Adept
  • Vigor Adept
  • Sensei’s Advice
  • Snapback
Thoughts

Nimble Fencer (2g) + Sensei’s Advice (1g) + maxband Grave (2g after Orpal) takes me down to three cards (yikes) but is sufficient to break Tech I and leaves me with a lot of stuff in play. That seems like a good punish for floating so much gold.

Having made that decision it’s not clear how I’m going to recover my hand. Hero’s Hall + Tech II next turn? It does kind of suggest that I’ll want big, card-efficient bodies like Vigor Adept or Colossus (Grounded Guide?). Mind-Parry Monk stops most of Fire and Disease spells, but only has 4 health for 5 gold. Backstabber might be interesting, but I think they’ll be building a tower regardless. Martial Mastery is good w/ low hand size / cycle speed but I really don’t want to be caught out with 1/3rd of my hand unplayable b/c I lost Grave.

6

Assuming you’re following up with Star-Crossed Starlets (and why would’t you?), I see no path to recovery, so I’ll resign it here, WP. @FrozenStorm

2 Likes
7

good game!