In theory, I have the best specs in the game here, so this is my game to lose. My main concerns are Balance copying haste, Strength generally being tanks, and not having much anti-air for Birds / Firebirds. At least zhavier has no way to give runes to Barbarbarians, so I probably won’t see Strength II here. Blood might be better than Finesse with the threat of Mimics. Skeleton spam is probably bad against Jaina, especially with Midori threatening to trash Skeletal Archery.
I’m not really sure who to open with, here. I don’t need Garth for a Skeleton, Tenderfoot’s fine for patrol against Mad Man. They all have tricks to help deal with Rook, if he appears.
Garth is the default option, and I just play this like [Necromancy]/Anarchy/Blood, but without Zane, and with a different starter. If Rook, appears, I could go for Doom Grasp early. Skeletons are a little less useful against Jaina, but they still take some effort to chew through. Not much of a concern for these first two turns, though, I’ve got a decent split for early blockers.
River is cheaper to level to 4 HP, so could make it harder to use Rook’s midband for a hero kill, especially facing the red starter. Discord is also good against Birds and Red starter. Discord might make her the easiest play against Rook, actually.
Drakk can midband to make my units hit harder. That’s expensive early on, though, and I only have limited access to haste this early on.
OK, River could be good for the early game. I probably still want to transition to Drakk later, though. Spark becomes the worker: I want to hang on to Flagbearer in case of Flame Arrow, and Helpful Turtle in case of sticky Birds.
Get paid - (4)
Worker - (3)
River Montoya - (1)
Tenderfoot - (0)
Discard 3, draw 5
River L1 2/3+1A Tenderfoot 1/2
Base HP: 20
Hand: 5
Timely Messenger
Brick Thief
Older Brother
Fruit Ninja
Wither
Timely Messenger
Brick Thief
Older Brother
Fruit Ninja
Wither
Thoughts
Rook, as expected.
Bombaster lets zhavier take out a non-leader patroller, so Rook can walk past and kill River. However, that takes 5 gold, so unless zhavier also skips a worker it leaves Rook alone on 3 health. My remaining patroller and Fencers / Messenger would have a good chance of killing him. If he skips a worker to place a patroller or maxband, I’d have problems. However, if I put a unit in Lookout then he doesn’t have that spare gold anyway. But then, Mad Man allows a kill anyway.
On the other hand, if I just midband River and patrol her, none of that can happen, and there’s no good target for Bombaster to blow up on after hitting the Tenderfoot. Or I Wither Rook. Oh, no, he’s in Lookout, never mind.
Do I want to go for Fencers, or Collectors? Fencers are better if I go for Finesse, but with Drakk I might not need to, and I don’t need the haste as much either.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
Get paid - (5)
Worker - (4)
Midband River - (2)
Tech I - (0)
Discard 4, shuffle 9, draw 5
Tenderfoot 1/2+1A River L3 2/4 (exhaust: sideline Tech 0/I patroller)
Discord isn’t too shabby here, Rook’s still alive but I can deal with everything else. I think I want to maxband River, too, after taking down the Ogre. That leaves 1 gold to get a Brick Thief, not great but a little better than a Timely Messenger, or skipping maxband to get a Flagbearer. River’s still vulnerable to double Lobber, though, maybe I play the Messenger too? I go down to a 3-card hand to do that. I think that’s my only good way to deal with the Ogre, though, unless I just Wither it instead. Then I’m looking at being able to patrol midband River by herself, with a gold to spare. She still dies to double Lobber. I’ll go with the original idea.
Going down on cards makes me more confident in taking Tech II cards now. Crashbarrows should be fine, I’m less sure about Gliders with a low hand size. Maybe Bugblatters or Ogre Recruiters instead? No, let’s keep things simple. Double Crashbarrow for now.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
T3: 2 x Crashbarrow
Get paid - (6)
Worker - (5)
Discord, Bombaster dies, Bloodrage Ogre is 1/1+1A - (3)
River kills Bloodrage Ogre, takes 1
Maxband River - (1)
Cheap Brick Thief, your Tech I to 4 - (0)
Cheap Timely Messenger
Discard 1, draw 3
Timely Messenger 1/1+1A (haste) Brick Thief 2/1 (resist 1; attacks: 1 to a building, heal another building by 1)
River L5 3/4 (exhaust: sideline Tech 0/I patroller; Tech 0 units are cheaper)
Does River’s maxband let Garth summon Skeletons for free? I’m guessing not, since the gold is for activating the ability rather than playing it.
P1T4
Starting hand: 3
Helpful Turtle
Bloom
Bone Collector
Thoughts
Bloom would let me kill Rook here, but it’s not worth losing all my units too, and with Firebat still on the board I’d be asking for River to be killed. I’ll just play it safe, teching up and getting the Collector out.
Double Firebat + Lobber is enough to take down a tech building if zhavier draws well, so I don’t know if I want to stuff the deck too much with Blood II units here. Maybe I take the other Bone Collector instead. Then, an Appel Stomp to help with draw issues, or Two Step to help my smaller units do well against high-health Balance units. Or maybe even a Hooded Executioner, which would compliment the Discord nicely. Let’s try that.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
T3: 2 x Crashbarrow
T4: Bone Collector, Hooded Executioner
Get paid - (7)
Worker - (6)
Tech II Blood - (2)
Bone Collector - (0)
Discard 1, draw 1, shuffle 8, draw 2
Bone Collector 3/3+1A (attacks: I get a Skeleton) Brick Thief 2/1 (resist 1; attacks: 1 to a building, heal another building by 1) Timely Messenger 1/1 (resist 0+1; haste)
River L5 3/4 (exhaust: sideline Tech 0/I patroller; Tech 0 units are cheaper)
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Hand: 3
Older Brother
Discord
Hooded Executioner
Deck: 6
Tenderfoot
Crashbarrow
Crashbarrow
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Bone Collector
Bloom
Discard: 0
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 6 teched = 16
3 on board
3 in hand
6 in deck
0 in discard
4 in workers
Total: 16
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
4 x start
T1: Spark
T2: Fruit Ninja
T3: Wither
T4: Helpful Turtle
I wasn’t expecting a maxband Rook here, that’s a drag. Midband Drakk gives me 10 damage, 13 with River, which is enough to kill Rook, but at the expense of my entire board. That’s losing 11g+3c (9g with River discounts) to gain 11g, and I’d have 2 gold spare after the worker to play something to trade with the Firebat. That’s 2g+1c to gain 2c, which isn’t worth it either.
I think I just have the Executioner destroy the Firebat on arrival, after having River sideline it to block the Technician bonus. That leaves 2 gold for something, probably Drakk. Depends whether I think flying/stealth Mimics are likely, since one could take Drakk out easily. That just takes Birds. Or Owl, but I doubt zhavier took an Owl. I can’t exclude the possibility, I’ll just float the gold for now.
Do I want to sacrifice the Timely Messenger? I’m probably seeing Mimics arrive this turn, although they’ll probably get haste anyway from Lobbers or something. I’ll hold onto it, it could be good for a Technician bonus or something. Brick Thief and Bone Collector patrol on either side to try and get me a card, Collector goes in Lookout to discourage Entangling Vines.
Shoddy Gliders are looking good if I can deal with Birds. I’d like Kidnapping or Bloodlust, but Kidnapping can be a liability if Potent Basilisk can appear. I’ll go with Bloodlust. I’d also like Nether Drain to deal with Rook, but by the time I reshuffle he’ll hopefully be gone anyway.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
T3: 2 x Crashbarrow
T4: Bone Collector, Hooded Executioner
T5: Bloodlust, Shoddy Glider
Get paid - (8)
Worker - (7)
River exhausts, sidelines Firebat
Hooded Executioner, boosted, Firebat dies - (2)
Discard 1, draw 3
Hooded Executioner 3/3+1A Brick Thief 2/1 (resist 1; attacks: 1 to a building, heal another building by 1) Timely Messenger 1/1 (haste) Bone Collector 3/3 (resist 0+1; attacks: I get a Skeleton)
River L5 3/4 (exhaust: sideline Tech 0/I patroller; Tech 0 units are cheaper)
Base HP: 20 Tech I HP: 5 Tech II HP: 5 (Blood)
Hand: 3
Crashbarrow
Bone Collector
Bloom
Deck: 3
Tenderfoot
Crashbarrow
Granfalloon Flagbearer
Discard: 3
Bloodlust
Shoddy Glider
Discord
Card-count check (opponent-viewable)
Expected: 10 + 8 teched = 18
4 on board
3 in hand
3 in deck
3 in discard
5 in workers
Total: 18
Gold: 2
Workers: 9
4 x start
T1: Spark
T2: Fruit Ninja
T3: Wither
T4: Helpful Turtle
T5: Older Brother
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($9)
Wandering Mimic - ($5)
Lobber - ($4)
Firebat - ($2)
Makeshift Rambaster - ($0)
Mimic kills SQL
Rambaster kills Messenger
Lobber trades with Brick Thief
Rook kills River walking past BC
Float ($0)
Discard 1, draw 3
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Firebat 3/3+A
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Wandering Mimic 4/1
Makeshift Rambaster 1/1
Rook 4/3, lvl 8
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 4
Tech II HP: 5 (Balance)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 3
Disc: 5
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
Thoughts
Soon to be steamrolled. I cant let him keep building board, but chances are good i lose my tech 2 here. f i had a hero that midbanded at lvl 3 i’d at least have a better patrol and more cards, but as it is, i don’t want to give him the free levels to fuel garth or drakk.
Er, OK. That’s an interesting Technician draw. I could block a potential Flame Arrow with the Flagbearer, but I’m not sure what I’d be stopping it from hitting.
Worker + Crashbarrow + Collector + Flagbearer is 9g, leaving 3g. That’s enough for either a hero or a Tower, or Garth + Skeleton. Alternatively, I skip the Flagbearer and have 6g, which is enough for midband Drakk, or midband Garth + Skeleton. I don’t think midband Drakk does much for me here, since Crashbarrow + Collector is just enough to destroy Tech II. Flagbearer blocks a Flame Arrow if zhavier’s tried to go for hero knockouts.
OK, I think Flagbearer + Garth gives me enough on the board to be comfortable dumping my hand. I know I’m drawing the second Crashbarrow, and if Garth survives I can play it twice as an alternative to bringing in midband Drakk.
Final techs are the second Glider and a Bugblatter, I expect there to continue being lots of weenie deaths.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
T3: 2 x Crashbarrow
T4: Bone Collector, Hooded Executioner
T5: Bloodlust, Shoddy Glider
T6: Captured Bugblatter, Shoddy Glider
Get paid + 2 float + scavenger - (12)
Worker - (11)
Crashbarrow - (8)
Crashbarrow trades with Firebat, hits Tech II to 3
Bone Collector destroys Tech II, your base to 18, Skeleton arrives
Bone Collector #2 - (6)
Garth Torken - (4)
Garth raises Skeleton #2 - (3)
Granfalloon Flagbearer - (0)
Discard 0, draw 2
Bone Collector #2 3/3+1A (attacks: I get a Skeleton) Skeleton #1 1+1/1 Skeleton #2 1/1 Granfalloon Flagbearer 2/2 (Flagbearer)
Garth L1 1/3 (1g: summon a Skeleton, once per turn)
Bone Collector #1 3/3 (attacks: I get a Skeleton)
I can take a double tech break here, but I’m just going to go for a base kill instead, throw a few more base-damage cards into my deck before the reshuffle.
Teched cards: 2
T2: Bone Collector, Discord
T3: 2 x Crashbarrow
T4: Bone Collector, Hooded Executioner
T5: Bloodlust, Shoddy Glider
T6: Captured Bugblatter, Shoddy Glider
T7: 2 x Crash Bomber
Get paid + scavenger - (11)
Crashbarrow - (8)
Crashbarrow trades with Bloodrage Ogre, hits your base to 14, you draw
Maxband Garth, Crashbarrow reappears - (2)
Drakk Ramhorn - (0)
Garth, Flagbearer, and Crashbarrow hit your base to 3
Discard 1, shuffle 14, draw 3
Crashbarrow collapses in a heap
Drakk L1 1/3 (dies: 1 to your base)
Garth L7 3/4 (1g: summon a Skeleton, once per turn; sacrifice a Skeleton: draw a card)
Granfalloon Flagbearer 2/2 (Flagbearer)
GG! As you said, it seems odd the model considers this fair, given I got probably the three best specs in the game. Looks like that’s mostly due to Balance and Strength being considered as good against Blood, but Garth’s going to upset that.
That’s One Hand Tied, which would be based off Nash weights (general strength) rather than looking at specific deck matchups. In retrospect, that’s probably more robust given the data size.
River L1 2/3+1A
Tenderfoot 1/2
Base HP: 20
Brick Thief 2/1 (resist 1; attacks: 1 to a building, heal another building by 1)