Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Rampant Growth Prospector, kills Tenderfoot - ($2)
Forest’s Favour Calamandra, kills your Calamandra, midbands, you get 1g - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, reshuffle, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L3 Calamandra Moss 4/5 [+, My units have Resist 1]
Merfolk Prospector 1/1
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 6
Thoughts
So my main decision here is Tech I or not. If I skip it I have the spells to clear his board and set up Calamandra as a really scary threat. In that line he has 8g so that would pay for Worker + Tech I + Tower + 2g unit (Brother most likely) or Messenger to kill Prospector but importantly not both. If he skips the Tower he leaves me able to tech break with Calamandra but he might prefer to build a bigger board in that line. I don’t really like the line where I play passive so I think this is worth a shot. If he trades the Prospector off I still have 6g so can worker + Tech I + 2/3g unit as well as hitting him so I think that’s quite alright.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($6)
Worker - ($5)
Tech I - ($3)
Calamandra kills Brother, takes 2, you draw
Ironbark - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Ironbark Treant 1/2AAA
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
L3 Calamandra Moss 4/3 [+, My units have Resist 1]
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Good to see he spent his gold reserves. Let’s stick with the plan, hit him, wall up and get a pile Tech IIs on board. SQL seems correct here for Ironbark, he can easily get 4 damage with Fencer but 5 needs more resource commitment. The early Geiger is really interesting, makes me think he’s mostly bait to get me to overcommit. I suppose Now! + Argo could be an option to hit me back but he’d be relying on draws a fair bit.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Worker - ($6)
fencer pings off two points of armor from ironbark - ($4)
bloomed max kills ironbark - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Max (3/3, lvl1)+
Nimble Fencer (2/2)
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 8
Thoughts
urgs, him having the ironbark is what I really feared after his t2. Now I cannot tech up and his feral strike setup really is scary. so creative an answer it has to be…
Taking the gamble here that he did not go for twins or argo + double feral strike. If I loose this bet I will probably just loose the game. But this combination would be weird as one part aims for a longer time in tech 1 whilst the other wants to go asap to tech 2…
Against every other tech choice my calculation got me to good enough situations, let’s see whether I overlooked something important.
Now that’s a really interesting turn! I think I want to make sure I tech up here to take the lead but I need to be able to defend it. Geiger being out and vulnerable is exceedingly unusual and I’m honestly not sure what to make of it. Calamandra can either break his Tech I (but I won’t have gold to tech up and patrol), kill Fencer (patrol with YT) or Geiger (patrol with Grave). If I leave Geiger in play I can see how just having a Fencer and two of Spark/Fencer/Messenger in hand lets him Tech up and break mine where as if I take out Geiger and patrol Grave in SQL I can only find ways where he burns his whole hand to break my Tech II and can’t tech up. So I think we go for the Geiger trade line.
For next turn I’ll have Verdant Tree in hand (good insurance if things go awry) plus 4/11 cards. Immortal is obvious and gives me 3x Tech II units (79% draw chance), 4x Tech 0 units (89% draw chance). Notably with Grave in SQL I won’t have the gold for 5g unit + Geiger burst next turn so I probably want a second TD in deck to try and maintain access to it
Okay, I was expecting a lot, for example maxband Cal breaking tech 1 while you go for tech 2, but not you trading your 6g Cal for my 4g Max…
But I’ll take it!
I really love not having to fear feral strike A LOT!
XCAFS23 round 8 part 1 P2T4
P1 [Feral]/Present/Discipline vs. P2 [Finesse]/Feral/Present
So Immortal here is pretty essential but the key consideration becomes whether to Worker and float a gold to maintain handsize, Worker and also patrol Prospector or skip a worker and play Tree. Looking at his likely teched cards, the former seems like bad play. The latter also seems like a bad idea given that gold is so vital in these present battles, and something like Tenderfoot/Messenger/Spark + Tricycloid + Now! is enough in hand to break Tech II and my Tree. That leaves patrolling Merfolk, and workering Rampant Growth or Tree, both of which feel pretty bad, On balance RG needs board and I’m teching in a boat load of spells so probably it should go the way of the worker. I did a deep dive on patrolling Immortal in SQL vs Lookout and I think SQL + Merfolk behind Techn probably gives me the most annoying turn for him to punch back at.
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Skip Worker
Immortal and Prospector exhaust your Immortal
Geiger - ($7)
Now! on Geiger, kills Tenderfoot, takes 1, Sparkshot kills Fencer, your gain 1g and draw - ($6)
TD Immortal for Tricycloid, shoots Tech II x3 - ($4)
Maxband Geiger, flicker Tric - ($0)
Tric shoots Tech I x1 and guns down Tech II, your base to 18
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Tricycloid 3/3A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: L5 Max Geiger 3/4 [Sparkshot]
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 10
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
There are two lines worth looking at here, both of them involve skipping a worker.
(1) Prospect for gold, Geiger, TD Immortal for a second Immortal, replay first Immortal. This has the advantage of maximally gumming up the board and leaving his handsize small but allowing him free use of Feral Strike should he have it, obviously a very big, possibly game losing downside
(2) Immortal + Prospector exhaust his Immortal, Geiger+Now! clears patrol, TD Immortal for Tric and flicker it to break his Tech II. Removes my Immortal leaving his in play but eliminates a fairly terrifying Feral Strike and locks him out of Geiger for a turn. That limits his ability to break Tech II to Bloom Calamandra + Discard 2 cards, leaving him on 3 cards next turn at best. Importantly he doesn’t have a route to kill Geiger and break my Tech II so he has to choose which threat to leave in play, and he won’t get any free levels from killing Geiger either.
I think I prefer definitely denying Feral Strike, Tech II units and Geiger. Just need to see how he plays the next turn in response and hope I draw ok. Probably best Geiger goes in Technician given 2/3 deck cards are Tech 0.
Yeah it was costly but I didn’t have a lot of good options to be honest. It was that or wall up and hope you didn’t have Feral Strike. I felt it best to be sure, a bit like this turn
Also, I’m guessing your Tech Lab is Finesse?
P1T7
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Rambasa Twin (Need some Tech I bodies)
Ready or Not (More anti-aggro)
Rich Earth
Playful Panda
Forest’s Favor
Young Treant
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
NextHand
Immortal
Ironbark Treant
Reversal
Ready or Not
Verdant Tree
Discard
Tricycloid
Rambasa Twin
Ready or Not
Temporal Distortion
Reversal
Spore Shambler
Tech 2 card(s)
Technician Draw
Get Paid - ($9)
Worker - ($8)
Prospector - ($7)
Calamandra - ($5)
Tricycloid, guns down Calamandra then Messenger, my Calamandra midbands, you draw - ($0)
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Merfolk Prospector 1/1A
Elite:
Scavenger: Tricycloid 3/3
Technician: L3 Calamandra Moss 3/4 [My units have Resist 1]
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Present)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 10
Thoughts
Yikes that is a lot of gold. I need to kill Calamandra and hope I can stay alive to draw some help! Unfortunately Messenger also needs to die which increases his hand size. I think he’s right about his masses of gold making the difference but I’ll keep fighting.
I see… And yes it is finesse. Not that it’s relevant, but still sorry for not putting it there directly.
I assume this match to be over, present tech 2 with that much gold is just too imba… you are entitled for a rematch, do you want me to open the thread?
XCAFS23 round 8 part 1 P2T7
P1 [Feral]/Present/Discipline vs. P2 [Finesse]/Feral/Present
Nimble Fencer (2/1)
Maestro (3/5)
Research & Development
Bloom
Brick Thief (2/1)
Tech 0 card(s)
technician draw
Get Paid + float - ($19)
fencer kills SL - ($17)
Max - ($15)
Hyperion kills Cal, max to midband, you & I draw - ($10)
maxband Max flicker hyperion - ($8)
Hyperion kills tric, I draw
TD Hyperion into guide - ($6)
hyperion from hand breaks tech 2, I draw - ($1)
immortal breaks tech 1
tenderfoot attacks base down to 13 - ($0)
My takeaway from this is that I need to learn a different way of valuation. The couple of times you’ve indicated that I overspent I really thought I had found the optimal turn! I also clearly need to play into Feral Strike more.
I’d be up for a rematch yes, but I don’t want to hold up the tournament any longer. Do you want to run it in parallel with the next round?
Yeah, that FF Cal is a beast and you probably could have gained a lot more value from her. You had the perfect setup for a feral strike and I would have been forced into overcommitting to kill her… But also my draws were unreal this game. I always had exactly what I needed. I took a risk and teched a single feral strike and a single immortal while Cal was still on midband and if I had drawn the two in reverse order, I couldn’t have prevented you from absolutely wrecking me in P1T6 even after that bad Cal trade…
About that rematch: yeah, let’s absolutely do this! But tbh I currently don’t have the capacity to run two games in parallel. But don’t you worry about holding up the tournament as this is a regular tournament match, it’s no hold-up at all! I’ll set up the thread hopefully soon.
For whatever the next opponent’s opinion is worth: also happy for you guys to play another game before mine and zango’s!! Was good fun to watch this one
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout: L1 Calamandra Moss 2/3 [Resist 1]
Base HP: 20
