@FrozenStorm I still don’t understand how I was able to get through to this point, but hopefully I’ll be able to stand up for a proper fight unlike our first match during this tournament! GL & HF
XCAPS22 Round 9 FINALS P1T1
P1 [Finesse]/Ninjutsu/Feral vs. P2 [Demonology]/Necromancy/Finesse
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Brick Thief (2/1)
Helpful Turtle (1/2)
Spark
Tenderfoot (1/2)
Fruit Ninja (2/2)
Neutral + Cala/Sets is strong Hero play and there was a lack of hero hate in the tourney I think, that and you’ve been playing quite well! Let’s hope the P2 luck stays strong, GL HF @zango !
Poisonblade Rogue
Sacrifice the Weak
Summon Skeletons
Jandra, the Negator
Graveyard
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Last game didn’t work out so great for early aggro and now I’m on P2. I could do something like Vandy mid + Haunt, but that risks Wither or Bloom making bad news. So I don’t think that’s the right play either. I think we just play standard Finesse plan and hit the cards to help w/ it. We’ll see if that works out
Thanks for the nice words, but yes the missing white starter along with not too many Necro & Past players being around probably helped a lot.
PS: this time I had my beloved Bloom in my T2 hand, but guess in what position, yes in #2 out of 5… Would have loved to kill the imp with a bloomed cal.
XCAPS22 Round 9 FINALS P1T2
P1 [Finesse]/Ninjutsu/Feral vs. P2 [Demonology]/Necromancy/Finesse
oh noes - there goes my beloved bloom. which likely would have been the best answer in this scenario with killing the imp while still having both healings available for cal.
post draw: there comes my first t3 whiff this tournament… of all possible times it’s bound to be in the finals… well, nothing I can do about it
Poisonblade Rogue
Sacrifice the Weak
Summon Skeletons
Jandra, the Negator
Graveyard
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (6+1float)
Tech 2 cards in except turn 1
All Teched Cards
Nimble Fencer, Dark Pact
Main:
Tech 1 (6)
Jandra, the Negator (3)
Graveyard (1)
Worker (0)
Workers
Skeletal Archery
Patrol as below
Discard 2 rs Draw 4
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech1 HP: 5
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Jandra, the Negator (3/3a)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Thieving Imp (2/2)
Lookout:
In Play:
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
End of Turn Hand
Nimble Fencer
Dark Pact
Skeleton Javelineer
Poisonblade Rogue
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
I feel like I should think this through; Cala is the main threat. Especially w/ neutral, Wither / Bloom makes for such nice bully trades and she’s a real threat if she gets maxband at the right time. So what should I do about her? Doom Grasp is so expensive, but maybe it’s the right call here? Or perhaps Discord is the way? Soul Stone is also a decent consideration. I feel like the play here is to go Jandra and DP + Fencer, try to bait Cala investment, then DG her next cycle? Idk what the answer is really, Cala’s a super stud and problematic as hell.
What do I expect next turn to be? Maybe teched BTF, maybe Ferocity, maybe Fencer or Huntress (seems to be the go-to). BtF would be a bummer but I spose I just try to tech fast, go with normal techs (minus maybe a DG) and we’ll see how it goes!
Deteriorate
Dark Pact
Nether Drain
Skeleton Javelineer
Sacrifice the Weak
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
That’s pretty … lucky? Was it a whiff? Or did I just not present a good enough trade for something besides investing in Cala. I can kinda set up a Nether Drain kill possibility w/ Fencer or Haunt if I leave Vandy in elite… well, I spose Wither or Bloom could mess that up, so maybe Vandy in Techn. Still Nether Drain makes the worst of Cala (a well-timed feral strike) delayed, which is sufficient, and way cheaper. I can make a card econ w/ low gold costs like that work. Lizard gives me an easy win trade if the tech2 stays up, Nether Drain buys me enough time w/ Cala, I think that’s the play. Can always get a tower if it’s a stealth attack. Okay yea, I think I present enough tough targets between Vandy, Graveyard and Tech2 w/ this variety plan that no matter what, I should have a good response next turn. Like it, cool, let’s go
That DP is sooo strong. You now have at least 5/7 probability to get your full third cycle into your hand, which is just crazy strong, while these two base damage just don’t matter at all… Let’s see whether I can still stand a chance after my whiff last turn.
XCAPS22 Round 9 FINALS P1T4
P1 [Finesse]/Ninjutsu/Feral vs. P2 [Demonology]/Necromancy/Finesse
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Porcupine (2/6)
Feral Strike
STARTING HAND
Huntress (3/3)
Helpful Turtle (1/2)
Huntress (3/3)
Wither
Graveyard (3hp, holding Jandra, the Negator and Thieving Imp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 3
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
End of Turn Hand
Nether Drain
Skeleton Javelineer
Nether Drain
Dark Pact
Nimble Fencer
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Oh okay okay, I can be really cheeky here. I have super high chance access to another Nether Drain if I use Vandy Midband to tech in another DP. I can just kill Cala w/ haunt then. Too Juicy, gotta do it. Tech another Lizard too so I have more cheap cards to spam.
…
Muah chef’s kiss, the first DP in the reshuffle. Cycles for days, I’m gonna burn my base to the ground with DP and cherry on top, I don’t even have to doom a unit over there if I don’t want to. Beautiful. I think I should have it from here.
And I was afraid of you to go fetch second DP going for enough teched cards to have Maestro and two fencers for backline tech break, but this will do just as fine and has the benefit of getting rid of cal for sure…
That’ll definitely do even though I didn’t go all in on Cal, but as this is a finals, I’ll give you the honor to play a bit further and try to make my 5% chance to work out
It’s amazing to see that you have played at least 5 different (maybe even 6) teched cards in the same time in which I only saw 2 teched cards in my hands, but only was able to play one of these.
XCAPS22 Round 9 FINALS P1T5
P1 [Finesse]/Ninjutsu/Feral vs. P2 [Demonology]/Necromancy/Finesse
LOL, so much for my rantings against DP being too strong…
last chance: stalling with a bloomed GN in elite next turn and then hoping for the perfect draw with fencer, behind the ferns and two Starlets. probability to pull that one of is probably somewhere close to zero, but it’s the only win con left that I can think of. whatever, the game is over before I did anything of relevance, so let’s get over with it.
Graveyard (3hp, holding Jandra, the Negator, Thieving Imp and Nimble Fencer)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 2
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 8
End of Turn Hand
Dark Pact
Deteriorate
Nether Drain
Nether Drain
Sacrifice the Weak
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Think that should be all she wrote! Maxband for Guide before RS, DP and maybe a skeleton to DP again to get Maestro (or maybe DP a third time if I don’t draw since I wanna double deteriorate?!?!), blow stuff up good times. Guess I should be a little careful I don’t get surprise invisible base killed? Hopefully not. It’d be really tough to be holding BtF + Fencer + Starlet + Messenger or bloom or something
…
Well didn’t even need to DP the third time, no worries
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float + scavenger - ($11)
river - ($9)
wither 4/1 Lizzo, GY topples! Yeah finally an achievement in this game - ($7)
huntress - ($5)
rebuilt tech 2
rebuild tower - ($2)
Float ($2)
Discard 3, reshuffle, draw 5
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite: river (2/3)
Scavenger:
Technician: Huntress (3/3)
Lookout:
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 16
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Ninjutsu)
Tower HP: 4
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 9
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 9
Thoughts
As expected, nothing I can do. Might have had better lines but thinking things thoroughly through when fighting a lost cause really isn’t my strong suit.
I mean StW works, make a skele, no more huntress, Garth kills Elite, and all the other things kill the base.
GG WP! I believe I played 8, 6 dark pacts across 3 turns and 2 deteriorates (in the same turn ) . 5 zero-cost spells in the same turn may be a new record If you count 2x free fencer as well, that’s a lot of free stuff
Welp, little dirty of a tourney win on Nightmare w/ MoLaC gimped, but we take those! Thanks to everyone that played and watched, and thanks to you and Bomber for the losses they were well fought games!
It’s really crazy how absolutely hopeless this match was for me. Had I drawn the hoped for GN + Bloom to stall in elite your continuously available multi deteriorate still would have sealed the deal. Yes my turn 3 whiff didn’t help as well, but still I have absolutely no idea what strategy might steal a win here as P1 (with the right amount of luck already assumed to be available)… Really frustrating…
Edit: you could also count the two free haunts, which sums up to a staggering 12 free cards. That’s probably more free cards from hand than what I played from hand throughout the whole match
That’s just… Absolutely awesome!
It’s incredibly interesting just how consistent that deck is, whether player 1 or 2 it puts up such a strong showing. I think you’re right that making gold a little tighter for it would reduce a lot of its dominance, while still keeping it very viable.
Squad Leader: cal (2/3, lvl1)
Elite:
Scavenger: Tenderfoot (1/2)
Technician:
Lookout:
Base HP: 20
Patrol as below
Scavenger:
Technician:
- ($7)
) . 5 zero-cost spells in the same turn may be a new record 