I expect to see either Mad Man or Bloodrage Ogre come out next turn. Mad Man lets Dreamfire trade Dog + Man to kill an Ironbark Treant, with -1g/+1c advantage for me. He could also just midband Vandy instead, for -2g advantage for me.
What could I play instead? Cub + Rook? Either in Squad Leader is still annoying for Dreamfire to clear, since current attack parity makes odd-health patrollers annoying to kill. Still enough to kill Rook, though, or kill Cub and take Rook to 2.
Let’s just go with Ironbark Treant + Merfolk Prospector to open, and hang onto spells + Tiger Cub for Turn 2.
Starting hand: 5
Merfolk Prospector
Playful Panda
Young Treant
Ironbark Treant
Rich Earth
Tiger Cub
Forest’s Favour
Rampant Growth
Verdant Tree
Thoughts
I reeeally want to just skip Tech I and kill Vandy for a maxband Drakk, but it risks immediately getting blown up by Lobbers/Zane. Let’s try for some birds.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bird’s Nest, Crash Bomber
Get paid - (6)
Expensive Tech I - (4)
Tiger Cub - (2)
Worker - (1)
Merfolk Prospector exhausts, I get a gold - (2)
Garus Rook - (0)
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle 7, draw 3
Tiger Cub 2/2+1A Rook L1 2/4
Merfolk Prospector 1/1 (exhaust: +1g)
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5
Hand: 4
Spore Shambler
Playful Panda
Young Treant
Verdant Tree
STARTING HAND
Dark Pact
Bloodrage Ogre
Bombaster
Lobber
Nautical Dog
Pillage
Scorch
WORKERS
Bloodburn
Careless Musketeer
Scorch
NextHand
Gunpoint Taxman
Bombaster
Charge
Mad Man
Bloodrage Ogre
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Dark Pact, my base to 18, I draw 2 - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Lobber - ($3)
Nautical Dog - ($2)
Vandy to midband - ($0)
Vandy kills Tiger Cub.
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Lobber (2/2A)
Elite:
Scavenger: Nautical Dog (1/1)
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Vandy lvl 3 (3/2)
Makeshift Rambaster (1/1)
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Can’t get an efficient kill on Rook, so Birds are likely incoming.
Playful Panda 2/2+1A Crash Bomber 1+2/2 (dies: 1 to your base) Young Treant 2/3 (doomed: +2/+2, dies on your turn; can’t attack; 1 damage) Wisp 0/1 (resist 0+1)
Merfolk Prospector 1/1 (exhaust: +1g)
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Balance) Tower HP: 4
Nautical Dog
Metamorphosis
Gunpoint Taxman
Lobber
Makeshift Rambaster
Gunpoint Taxman
Dark Pact
Chaos Mirror
Lobber
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Young Treant dies, you draw.
Taxman trades with Panda.
Lobber trades with Wisp.
Rambaster runs into Crash Bomber.
Zane - ($6)
Metamorphosis - ($0)
Zane maxbands, shoves Crash Bomber to die in scav, we both get 1 gold, my base to 17 - ($1)
Zane readily breaks Tower, takes 1 damage, your base to 18.
Vandy readily breaks tech 2, your base to 16.
Worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Zane lvl 6 (6/5A), ++, invisible
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Vandy lvl 5 (6/7), ++, invisible
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 17
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 9
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Bah, I hit the 1/5 to draw Meta early.
Do I play it now with Zane for a double tech break? Or do I tech up and try to redraw it for next turn? If I trade all my hasty guys, I won’t have to worry about Mimics, but there’s always Drakk… plus, I’ll be drawing from an extremely thick deck.
Screw it, let’s break things.
Not surprising, but still painful. I can kill Zane with a hasted Basilisk, or I can put it in front of a Tower and hope units don’t kill it. The former is better, but I only have 2 gold left, pre-worker, to put up defences afterwards. That means no Tower to stop Vandy breaking Tech II again.
2 gold means either skip worker + Tiger Cub, or worker + float. I can probably risk floating this turn if I want to, Taxman is in the discard. I’d rather have a little defence from units up, though, hanging on to the Prospector would be nice.
Bringing in a Boulder for stalling if I can get a Tower up, and Bloodlust for getting counterplay going. It’s cheap cards when I’m already down on hand size, but I’m not sure I’ve got many better options.
Metamorphosis
Mad Man
Dark Pact
Makeshift Rambaster
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Jaina - ($6)
Vandy invisibly kills Drakk, Jaina to lvl 3, you get 1 gold, my base to 16.
Bloodrage Ogre - ($4)
Tech 2 (Anarchy) - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Bloodrage Ogre (3/2A)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Jaina lvl 3 (2/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
Vandy lvl 5 (6/4), ++, invisible
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Anarchy)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Well, patrolling was obviously a mistake. Drakk has to go, which means the next thing to worry about is Potent Bas + Tower. So let’s get some more stealth in the deck.
Disguised Monkey
Lobber
Nautical Dog
Gunpoint Taxman
Discard
Bloodrage Ogre
Metamorphosis
Makeshift Rambaster
Dark Pact
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($10)
Ogre runs into Rook.
Zane - ($8)
Metamorphosis, Jaina and Zane maxband - ($2)
Zane shoves Rook to die in scav, we both get 1 gold, levels fizzle - ($3)
Zane kills Tiger Cub.
Vandy and Jaina hit your base down to 4.
Exhaust Jaina to shoot your base down to 1.
Mad Man, breaks your base - ($2)
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
, Discard a card → Fetch any non-ultimate Demonology spell from your codex, reveal it, then put it in your hand.”
Merfolk Prospector 1/1 (exhaust: +1g)