Sorry @zango, that’s me over this week’s hump of really busy days so I have time to think about this again!
Interesting choices from you for sure. After some thought I will finish off my draft with Demonology and Necromancy, also playing a deck I haven’t played before, an “altmare” of [PURPLE]/Finesse/Demonology/Necromancy
As always, GLHF!
Thoughts for bystanders
So he went with Present after all. Can’t really say I blame him on that given how strong it is as a Tech II. It is a pretty good counter pick too, as Past/Present would be two of my most obvious picks from here.
Interestingly I was kind of initially leaning towards Feral/Balance so he’s also taken that option off the table.
Red starter for hasty units, Calamandra for a combat hero and Geiger for Tech II burst is a pretty strong combination. Behind the Ferns / Ferocity + Argos and Red units also works really really well. He doesn’t have much anti-hero but he’s pretty good across the board otherwise.
Seems obvious that he would pick a red faction, perhaps Fire to give him hasty tech Is and direct damage. Zane might be better though, with a load of disruption combined with haste and stealth off of TD. Blood also works well too, with great aggro spells and even better hasty units to TD into. Finally outside of red, Necromancy must be among the strongest since it let’s him summon Present Tech II on demand and fills that anti-hero niche he’s lacking.
For me, I want to retain my monocolour status so that I can get to Tech II with as little friction as possible. I also need to have answers to early Calamandra play and for very strong and expensive Present tech II units. I can of course stay monocolour with Bashing + any one spec or by choosing any two specs of the one colour.
Bashing + Past is kind of the default choice, good combos with Starter and a combat hero. Potentially very good vs Calamandra with intimidate or Origin Story, and some good utility spells and abilities vs Present. Rewind is also a really good board reset if I have the gold for it.
I think Balance Tech II is very interesting with Nullcraft and vs Present, and even with Feral gone I could choose Bashing/Balance to give myself a combat hero and some of the anti-hero/present utility. I still think I’ll be leaning on Finesse though, and Circle or Life is more costly than I’d like.
Demonology/Necro gives me a different variant of nightmare supported by purple starter. No 1-drop but better 2-drops and some retained value in Mox if I can afford to play it Vandy is of course a great combat hero, and doombuff combos really nicely with Mox and Nullcraft. Also means I have Garth if needed to fetch Guide or Maestro at Tech II. From Necro I will have access to Nether Drain for anti hero and Hoodie for anti-present. From Vandy I will have Dark Pact to accelerate through the deck in place of Temporal Research (so it’s easy to worker out), and Meta as an alternative threat if that set up arises.
I think the alt-mare deck seems the best blend of unique/interesting and strength. Some of the starter/Vandy interactions seem worth exploring and it takes Necro off the table as a set up for Present Tech II.
Base HP: 20