GLHF
P1t1
Thieving Imp
Sacrifice the Weak
Jandra
Skeleton Javelineer
Graveyard
Graveyard
Get paid ($4)
Worker ($2)
Hire Vandy ($0)
Squad leader: Vandy (2/3)
Base: 20
5 workers
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Discard: 4
Pestering Haunt
Skeletal Archery
Deteriorate
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
I figure Metamorphosis is my best bet here.
Your move, @charnel_mouse
GLHF, Nope!
HARD TIMES MILL: Workers cost an extra 1 gold to hire.
P2T1
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Rich Earth
Forest’s Favor
Black’s always nasty, but I have lots of ways to get ahead on economy here: Rich Earth, Merfolk Prospector, Galina Glimmer, Spirit of the Panda, Gunpoint Taxman, and Zane’s midband. Oh, and Detonate and Marauder. I could potentially make the early game hell for Nope. 8 gold for 2 workers + Tech I + early Heroes’ Hall leaves me 3 gold on Turn 2, then 8 gold on Turn 3 after worker. Enough for two heroes + Gunpoint Taxmen or a Detonate. Rich Earth breaks even at Turn 3, but I’d be defenceless this turn, not worth the risk against Vandy. I’ll open with Argagarg since he’s cheaper to level in an emergency, then I can build everything on Turn 2 depending on what Nope plays, he’ll only have 2 gold spare so hopefully nothing too threatening. Otherwise, play Tiger Cub and plan to only play one teched card.
Get paid - ($5)
Worker - ($3)
Argagarg Garg, Wisp arrives - ($1)
Discard 4, draw 5
Squad Leader: Argagarg L1 1/3+1A
Scavenger: Wisp 0/1
Base HP: 20
Rampant Growth
Spore Shambler
Merfolk Prospector
Young Treant
Tiger Cub
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Forest’s Favor
Expected: 10
0 on board
5 in hand
0 in deck
4 in discard
1 in workers
Total: 10
5 x start
T1: Rich Earth
P1t2
Pestering Haunt
Skeletal Archery
Deteriorate
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Skeletal Archery
Nether Drain + Shadow Blade
Get paid ($5)
Worker ($3)
Build Heroes Hall ($1)
Build Tech 1 ($0)
Deteriorate the wisp
Squad leader: Vandy (2/3)
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Heroes Hall: 4
6 workers
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Discard: 0
Deteriorate
Nether Drain
Skeleton Javelineer
Shadow Blade
Sacrifice the Weak
I don’t think he can kill Vandy this turn. I should be able to do some beatdown next turn.
P2T2
Rampant Growth
Spore Shambler
Merfolk Prospector
Young Treant
Tiger Cub
I’m not familiar enough with early aggression to go for Detonate this early, I’ll start simply with double Taxman. What am I worried about from Nope’s Hall? Sickness? Shadow Blade? Thought about teching a Chaos Mirror too, but Rampant Growth should do for now. I underestimated my gold next turn by 2, so I can midband Argagarg or play a unit. It would have to be Tiger Cub to prevent being killed by Deteriorate. Nope can just afford worker + midband Vandy + Sacrifice the Weak, so he can still kill Argagarg if I do that. Can’t afford Shadow Blade instead, though. He’d only have maxband Vandy on the board, but I can’t quite afford Zane + midband + Rampant Growth to punish, unless I put Cub in Scavenger and skip worker, but then he can kill the Cub for free. I just have to take the risk on StW, I think.
T2: 2 x Gunpoint Taxman
Get paid + scavenger + float - ($8)
Worker - ($6)
Tech I - ($4)
Heroes’ Hall - ($2)
Tiger Cub - ($0)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Squad Leader: Tiger Cub 2/2+1A
Argagarg L1 1/3
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Forest’s Favor
Young Treant
Gunpoint Taxman
Gunpoint Taxman
Rampant Growth
Merfolk Prospector
Expected: 10 + 2 teched = 12
1 on board
5 in hand
4 in deck
0 in discard
2 in workers
Total: 12
5 x start
T1: Rich Earth
T2: Spore Shambler
P1t3
Deteriorate
Nether Drain
Skeleton Javelineer
Shadow Blade
Sacrifice the Weak
No worker
Metamorphosis 2X
Get paid ($6)
Hire Garth ($4)
Cast Nether Drain ($3) Vandy midbands
Sacrifice the Tiger Cub ($1)
Raise a Bony Boi ($0)
Vandy kills Arg and midbands. Bony Boi becomes a big Bony Boi for the moment
Squad leader: Bony Boi (3/3)
Technician: Garth (1/3)
In play: Vandy (4/5)
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Heroes Hall: 4
6 workers
Hand: 5
Deck: 0
Discard: 7
Pestering Haunt
Thieving Imp
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra
P2T3
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Playful Panda
Forest’s Favor
Young Treant
Ugh. At least Nope skipped a worker to do all that. I should probably build a Tower in case of a really early Metamorphosis, but I’d like to draw with the Treant first, and see if I can get a Taxman out. How does my deck deal with Demon heroes, anyway? Chaos Mirror? Maybe tech that and a Detonate, then.
T2: 2 x Gunpoint Taxman
T3: Chaos Mirror, Detonate
Get paid - ($7)
Merfolk Prospector
Damn. I either worker and play Onimaru + Prospector, or skip worker to build a Tower and Onimaru/Panda. Or skip, and play a bunch of things. I like the latter idea, high damage is better than Tower against Metamorphosis. I just hope it’s not coming out this turn, so I can play those Taxmen.
Playful Panda, Wisp arrives - ($3)
Merfolk Prospector - ($2)
General Onimaru - ($0)
Skip worker!
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
Squad Leader: Young Treant 0/2+1A (can’t attack)
Scavenger: Wisp 0/1
Technician: Merfolk Prospector 1/1
Onimaru 2/3 (frenzy 1)
Playful Panda 2/2
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Gunpoint Taxman
Gunpoint Taxman
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Chaos Mirror
Detonate
Ironbark Treant
Verdant Tree
Forest’s Favor
Expected: 10 + 4 teched = 14
3 on board
5 in hand
4 in deck
0 in discard
2 in workers
Total: 14
5 x start
T1: Rich Earth
T2: Spore Shambler
P1t4
Pestering Haunt
Thieving Imp
Summon Skeletons
Poisonblade Rogue
Jandra
Poisonblade Rogue
Dark Pact 2X
Get paid ($6)
Worker ($4)
Hire Thieving Imp ($1) discard card number 4
Vandy kills the treant
Garth kills the prospector
Raise a Bony Boi ($0)
Squad leader: Thieving Imp (2/2)
Technician: Bony Boi (1/1)
In play: Vandy (4/5) Garth (1/2)
Base: 20
Tech 1: 5
Heroes Hall: 4
7 workers
Hand: 5
Deck: 7
Discard: 0
Deteriorate
Dark Pact
Summon Skeletons
Nether Drain
Shadow Blade
That’s not really how sparkshot works. The patrol is set up so only 1 or 2 other patrollers are ever considered adjacent. In this case, elite is adjacent to SQL, and is currently empty.
I fixed it.
I forgot to reorder my hand after drawing the post-reshuffle cards. Unless there’s an objection, I’ll do that before discarding to the Imp.
Im inclined to say it doesnt mater, the number 4 is just as random as anything else. And its not like nope would have known that.
Thanks. Just thought I’d check, because I’m declaring it after I’ve seen which card will get discarded if I don’t. Observers can probably see I’ve got a good chance of making things worse for myself by reordering, though, let’s see…
P2T4
Rampant Growth
Gunpoint Taxman
Chaos Mirror
Tiger Cub
Gunpoint Taxman
Tiger Cub
Ended up discarding the Tiger Cub after reordering anyway, I’ll consider myself lucky.
I was fretting about killing Vandy to stop Meta vs. killing Garth and affording a Taxman to patrol, but I’d completely forgotten I still had the Panda. Chaos Mirror on Vandy and Wisp to kill Imp, Zane and Panda kill Skeleton and Garth, Rampant Growth on Onimaru to kill Vandy. Mirror and Vandy and Oni to kill the former would be a cool move, but then I can’t kill everything else. I’m skipping a worker here, but I think it’s worth it to wipe Nope’s board and keep both heroes, lose the units but then he can’t retaliate with Deteriorate.
The alternative is that I bring in Verdant Tree instead of killing Vandy, but I don’t have a great setup to threaten instant MoLaC at the moment.
Bringing in Calypso because my deck is getting a bit spell-heavy, and I could do with some sideline potential to keep tempo.
T2: 2 x Gunpoint Taxman
T3: Chaos Mirror, Detonate
T4: Calypso Vystari, Detonate
Get paid - ($7)
Skip worker!
Captain Zane - ($5)
Chaos Mirror, Vandy and Wisp swap attack values - ($3)
Wisp trades with Thieving Imp
Zane kills Skeleton, you draw, takes 1 damage
Playful Panda trades with Garth, Onimaru to level 3
Rampant Growth on Onimaru - ($0)
Onimaru kills Vandy, hits level 5 (midband)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
Onimaru L5 3/4 (frenzy 1, readiness)
Zane L1 2/1 (haste, 1 damage)
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Heroes’ Hall HP: 4
Ironbark Treant
Forest’s Favor
Rampant Growth
Tiger Cub
Detonate
Young Treant
Merfolk Prospector
Calypso Vystari
Detonate
Chaos Mirror
Playful Panda
Gunpoint Taxman
Gunpoint Taxman
Verdant Tree
Expected: 10 + 6 teched = 16
0 on board
3 in hand
0 in deck
11 in discard
2 in workers
Total: 16
5 x start
T1: Rich Earth
T2: Spore Shambler
Well, GG. Metamorphosis was kinda my whole plan
Oh, OK. GG! @zhavier
I was hoping you weren’t holding that Sacrifice the Weak on Turn 3, but Zane’s hard to account for on a tight patrol.