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General Discussion / Re: Druid vs Necro Spoilers
« on: August 22, 2013, 11:39:57 AM »
I'm an evil person,
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So I was wondering how many of you Priest/Priestess players out there are reworking your books in light of the now Unique Hand of Bim-Shalla. Since you can't have more than one out at a time what do you build now, or do you still put two or three copies of the card in your book just in case the one you put out gets blasted?
*A strong opponent will almost certainly neutralize your first NV. Don't be tempted to sway from the strategy - stay the course, it will pay off!*
It sounds like people are arguing that the priestess build shouldn't have won, or that it got lucky, or that it can be outplayed, or whatever.
Well, maybe. But it sounds kinda like trying to argue away the tournament results and replace experience with theory.
Hypotheses are crucial. But results are why we do science.
Hence, why I wanted to know what the warlock played. Now that I know, it makes complete sense what the results were. You really can't make 20-24mana (not sure what armor he played) of sub-optimal/wasteful plays and expect to win. I've lost games from half that amount of waste.
The warlock would've been better off with another Darkpact instead of the Hellion (or stop floating mana and use Adramelech; a Darkpact and Adramelech is possible by turn 3), block(s) for the obvious incoming ToL attack each turn, and fireball(s) instead of wasting 5 mana and a full action on an imp that was obviously going to get one-shot by ToL.
I am in no way saying the build shouldn't have won, but knowing why it won is more important than the fact that it did. Instead of concluding that the ToL is "too strong" or "overpowered", like some others on here have, to me it is more obviously just a build that punishes loose play.
Why is everyone just focused on what "the warlock" played? Was that the finals of the tournament? If not, I'm not sure why that particular match is so significant. I'm very interested in hearing a better break down of the different matches that the winning build played against. Did he play against a Forcemaster? Another Priestess? A Beastmaster swarm? A Wizard control? Did he lose any matches in swiss, and if so, what did he lose to? What did he face in the finals?
These are the questions that will give us an idea of what is happening in the meta game and what I am most interested. That and seeing the actual breakdown of the two builds in the finals (top 4 would be better).
It sounds like people are arguing that the priestess build shouldn't have won, or that it got lucky, or that it can be outplayed, or whatever.
Well, maybe. But it sounds kinda like trying to argue away the tournament results and replace experience with theory.
Hypotheses are crucial. But results are why we do science.
At the end of Round 3, I had a dark pact slayer and a flaming hellion in the zone adjacent to Temple of Light. ToL attacked the same round it entered play and rolled 7 critical damage + a stun on my Dark Pact.
Fourth round, pillar of light dazed my hellion, it rolled and failed to attack. Dark pact was still stunned. My warlock summoned an imp and put on some armor. Priestess meleed for 6 dice and left my Darkpact with 1 HP. At this point, I hadn't been able to get a single attack off.
Fifth round, priestess finished off Darkpact with a 4 dice melee (1 hand for damage, 2 for armor). Temple of light rolled and stunned my flaming hellion and did a lot of damage. Flaming imp and warlock each got a melee off.
Sixth round, priestess finished off Hellion with a 6 dice melee and Temple one-shot imp.
So I lost 31 mana worth of creatures and got a single attack off. It was pretty disgusting.
The build seems pretty cheesy, I just don't see it working vs. people dropping big creature threats to guard/attack. I also imagine that intercept shuts this build down completely now.
I would agree this build is pretty cheesy, however it works just fine against big creatures. The ToL drops them fast and dazes/stuns them at the same time. I have seen alot of big creatures not even get off an attack before they are dropped.
The Bad:
- Standard Bearer... 7 Mana to paint a large bullseye on your creature, in addition to encouraging crowding your soldiers into a target rich environment vulnerable to a Zone Attack, while the Standard Bearer himself gets no bonus whatsoever? Why? Just.... why?
- Barracks... 1) May not be adjacent to another outpost... 2) Flame +2.... 3) May not be adjacent to another outpost... 4) Did I mention it can't be adjacent to another outpost?
- Pentagram... I love the Warlock... But this is arguably the worst Spawnpoint in the game. I want to make it work, but 14 Mana in the first round of the game doesn't fit the Warlock's aggressive style.
- Mangler Caltrops... I only see the Warlord possibly including these in his spellbook since they are in his school, but why he would waste 5 precious mana points to throw down a Jacks game, sans the rubber ball? Meh.
- War Sledge... The War Sledge is a Two-Handed weapon.... The Horn of Gothos is a one-handed item... Warlord can't use both at the same time... See ya later War Sledge!
- Akiro's Hammer... So many people were giddy when they first saw this 8 Dice flinging War Machine... giddy, that it, until they read the fine print... Expensive, slow to reload, Flame +2, with a minimum range of 2, and only does zone attacks (meaning your opponent can simply snuggle up to your creatures, negating the non-conjuration attack threats)... That "new war machine smell" didn't last long. I originally had this in the Neglected" list, but after one more try, had to relegate this wooden monstrosity to the "Bad" list. Fun to use occasionally, but just not competitive.