Wow, that’s a ballsy move. A single thief in my hand would stop your momentum with a maxband max Tech break, but unfortunately I don’t have a thief in my hand…
XCAFS23 round 3 part 1 P2T3
P1 [Feral]/Present/Discipline vs. P2 [Finesse]/Feral/Present
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
rebuild tech 1
max suicides into cal
Cal - ($6)
wither your Cal - ($4)
HH - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Cal (2/3, lvl1)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 8
Thoughts
I honestly didn’t consider that option when I evaluated his options. lucky me that he has RG instead of FF…
Now let’s hope he sticks to his dislike of FF from the first two rounds, I’d prefer my Cal to survive…
at least now my bad draw didn’t do much harm (except for the missing thief in hand)
It certainly seems more ballsy now! I actually totally forgot about Geiger Maxband so I had calculated a 60% chance of keeping my Tech I, which seemed worth the risk. Had I realised the truth, I would have played a patroller instead
P1T4
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Hyperion (double down on hasty Tech II)
Temporal Distortion (maximise my burst)
STARTING HAND
Sparring Partner
Young Treant
Playful Panda → Worker
WORKERS
Rich Earth
Forest’s Favor
Tiger Cub
Playful Panda
NextHand
Sparring Partner
Ironbark Treant
Young Treant
Hyperion
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($8)
Worker - ($7)
Tech II Present - ($3)
Tower - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 1, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L5 Calamandra Moss 3/2A [-, My units have Resist 1]
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
Thoughts
So it turns out last turn was such a fluke, I should by all rights be out of this. 50-50 chance he’s got Bloom in this hand so I need a Tower to keep my tech lead. Would much prefer YT and a gold float here but Max Cala Stealth + Bloom is too strong a threat
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
River - ($7)
Tech 2 - ($3)
messenger + Cal trade your Cal - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: River (2/4, lvl3)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 7
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 9
Thoughts
yeah well, that tower was the only line that prevented a maxband cal with the threat of tric looming. I’m in front wrt gold, so let’s try to capitalize on that and tech expensive units.
I can’t get 5 damage to kill River so I think I need to play and patrol a Hyperion in SQL, leveraging my Tower to make it an effective 5/6 to deal with (and a 4/5 if he Withers it). If I add Grave I have a hoover for any free levels if he tries to trade in River to kill the Hyperion and a threat for next turn if he lives.
With that set up he can clear my patrol and break my Tech II but the hands required are fairly unlikely. About easiest ones are Hyp + 2x Fencer + Two Step or Tric + 2x Now! + TD, all cards I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to see but not likely he has those exact combos in hand. Though that said I completely missed something obvious last time so maybe he just explodes me!
Question now is Grave in Technician or Scavenger? If he clears my board, best case I’d like to have is TD and 1+ Tech II (~36% on 4 cards or ~54% on 5 cards) so I think Technician seems like the way to go
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Geiger - ($7)
TD Hyperion for Tric, shoots Tech II x3 - ($5)
Tric, shoots Tech II to bits, your base to 16 - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 4, reshuffle, draw 1
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tricycloid 3/3A
Elite: L1 Grave Stormborne 3/3 [Sparkshot]
Scavenger: Tricycloid 4/4 [1]
Technician: L1 Max Geiger 2/3 [Sparkshot]
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
I think I’m about to be exploded by Hyperions/Elephant, hence the max patrol. Not having the gold or tools to take advantage of my Tech rush was not so fun. This is about the best way to limit his aggression and patrol but it feels bad not being able to clear his board. Immortal was the perfect play to ensure he had a big turn even if his Tech II goes down.
Feral Strike
Timely Messenger (1/1)
Immortal (5/5)
Research & Development
Feral Strike
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float - ($14)
rebuild tech 2
max - ($12)
immortal kills SL
maxband river - ($10)
TD immortal into hyperion - ($8)
hyperion kills max, my max to midband, you draw, I draw
brick thief with discount, pings your tech 2, repairs my base for 1 - ($7)
river trades grave, my max to maxband, flickers hyperion
hyperion trades tric, you gain 1, I draw
maxband cal - ($1)
worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 5, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Brick Thief (2/1)
Elite: Cal (4/5, lvl5)
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Max (3/4, lvl5)
Buildings:
Base HP: 17
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 11
Thoughts
that’s been a biggie that he opted to swap hyperion into tric instead of bouncing the other tric, well - I’ll take it!
this is just too tempting, especially with then trics being out of his cycle and max temporarily being out of the picture. I think this should be it.
I think I was right to patrol up with Geiger, even though it was annoying to lose him before I could get properly going. Managed to draw both Hyperions on a turn when I can’t make best use of them but thankfully I also drew into an Immortal, which should hopefully slow him down a bunch and let me try and navigate to a better board state.
Temporal Distortion
Research & Development
Hyperion (4/5)
Helpful Turtle (1/2)
Discard
Behind the Ferns
Research & Development
Feral Strike
Feral Strike
Temporal Distortion
Timely Messenger (1/1)
Tech 1 card(s)
Get Paid - ($11)
R&D, draw 5 - ($9)
feral strike, brings two immortals to the table - ($5)
feral strike, brings a tric and a hyperion online - ($1)
tric shoots Cal down, you draw 1
worker - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Immortal (5/5)
Elite:
Scavenger: Brick Thief (2/1)
Technician:
Lookout: Immortal (5/5)
In Play:
Max (3/4, lvl5)
Cal (4/5, lvl5)
Hyperion (4/5)
Tricycloid (3/3)
Buildings:
Base HP: 17
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 12
Thoughts
let’s do what my deck is about: ulti spells. Also I prefer to get rid of Cal over the tech break, as I like my deterministic “draw my whole deck next turn and wreck havoc” over him being a bit more hindered (even though the line of teching two giga is also appealing). I am more afraid of a stealth Max kill than I am of his tech 2 options next turn with “only” 10 gold
Temporal Distortion
Young Treant
Immortal
Now!
Rampant Growth
Technician Draw → Ready or Not
WORKERS
Rich Earth
Forest’s Favor
Tiger Cub
Playful Panda
Ironbark Treant
Merfolk Prospector
Young Treant
NextHand
Hyperion
Temporal Distortion
Sparring Partner
Verdant Tree
Hyperion
Tech 0 card(s)
Technician Draw
Get Paid - ($10)
Worker - ($9)
Spartner spars with Immortal
Immortal exhausts SQL
Geiger - ($7)
Ready or Not, Ready Immortal, exhausts Lookout - ($3)
TD, bounce Immortal for Elephant - ($1)
Now! on Elephant, kills Brick Thief, takes 2 you gain 1g, Ready Elephant - ($0)
Elephant kills Geiger, takes 3, my Geiger midbands
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 2, reshuffle, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L3 Max Geiger 2/4A [Sparkshot]
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Rampaging Elephant 6/2
Sparring Partner 2/2
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 4 (Present)
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 10
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 11
Thoughts
Well this game looks over now, best I can do to limit his aggro for a turn but I’m definitely losing Tech II on his next turn and I suspect there will be no way back at that point
Nice aggro turn, unfortunately it’s already over:
Immortal #1 kills SL
Hyperion from hand (4), old Hyperion (4), Cal (4), immortal #2 (5) and tric deal a total of 20 to your base, GG!
This is a tricky one, I’m not sure if it’s come up before.
Does Ready or Not affect the second Immortal to be exhausted? Given that the spell ‘activates’ once and doesn’t seem to have an ongoing effect, I would tend towards no.
My first thought is that this has the same ambiguity issue as Ferocity. It’s not clear if it’s immediately affecting the units currently applicable to it, or more abstractly applying to the turn / particular step in the turn (in this case, the readying step).
My personal feeling is the ambiguous wording reads as an intent to affect all units (not just the ones it would seem to apply to, otherwise it would say something like “the units you have as you cast this” instead of “your units” or “opposing units”)
We’ve ruled on Ferocity in the past that it is only the units you have as you cast it. I’m generally inclined to think the same applies here.
This post by Armed Pirate is the only thing that gives me pause. There’s no “get” here as in Ferocity. It talks specifically about “during their next upkeep”. Nothing about now, as I cast this. Still it’s ambiguous, so we have to interpret, “opposing units that are exhausted” WHEN? The ones exhausted right now, as I cast Ready or Not? Or the ones exhausted as you do the check during next upkeep?
I want to hear from @Dreamfire and @charnel_mouse here as well. It makes a big difference to the game at hand and we really haven’t discussed it in the rules thread (I’m going to post a link to this there now)
I’m inclined to think the intended effect should be "all units don’t ready during the next upkeep. But either way - for the current game it doesn’t make a difference, so I’m going to post a turn assuming both Immortals do not ready during my upkeep.
But I’m really curious how this will be ruled!
PS: thank you for providing me with this possible line for future situations in this tournament. TD Immortal into Elephant with now! was something which hasn’t been on my radar before this awesome turn of yours
XCAFS23 round 3 part 1 P2T8
P1 [Finesse]/Feral/Present vs. P2 [Feral]/Present/Discipline
Behind the Ferns
Research & Development
Timely Messenger (1/1)
Brick Thief (2/1)
Feral Strike
Discard
Feral Strike
Helpful Turtle (1/2)
Temporal Distortion
Temporal Distortion
Research & Development
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid + scavenger - ($13)
Hyperion attacks Geiger, takes 3, I draw
Hyperion from hand kills Geiger, takes 3, I draw - ($8)
boosted feral strike, search & bring to play: tric & giga - ($0)
tric pings tower once & kills elephant
old tric breaks tower, takes 1, base to 18
cal breaks tech 2, base to 16
Float ($0)
Discard 4, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Gigadon (8/8)
Elite:
Scavenger: Tricycloid (3/3)
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Cal (4/5, lvl5)
Tricycloid (3/2)
Hyperion (4/2)
Immortal (5/5)
Immortal (5/5)
Hyperion (4/2)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 12
Thoughts
okay it takes one turn longer than expected, but it’s still game, even if I don’t draw value from my two Hyperions
I think I’m content to resign after that turn, another Feral Strike definitely takes it!
GG and WP @zango it was a really enjoyable tense game and I’m glad my line gave you some ideas for the future! I just never quite had enough gold or weapons to hit you hard enough to make it count
GG!
That TD Hyperion into tric instead of tric into tric in t6 probably sealed the deal, but as stated when I was under the wrong impression to directly have won: this gold advantage really is a biggie in this almost mirror match. I’m really looking forward to playing with reversed roles as that’s been a fun one!
Squad Leader: Cal (2/3, lvl1)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 18
so I had calculated a 60% chance of keeping my Tech I, which seemed worth the risk. Had I realised the truth, I would have played a patroller instead
I just never quite had enough gold or weapons to hit you hard enough to make it count