Arxiducs (Priestess) vs. Puddnhead (Straywood Beastmaster)
After 10 rounds of creature destruction the Beastmaster fell to the 3rd Hurl Boulder in a row.
Major points of interest:
1) Arxiducs churned out creatures via his Temple of Asyra and set a guard matrix around his Priestess all while gaining maximum health via a Sunfire Amulet.
2) Puddnhead summoned and fed cats to Kralathor the Devourer while making a slow and steady march toward the Priestess
3) Kralathor fell victim to a sleep spell (for 9 mana!) and was summarily awakened by an elusive Beastmaster.
4) Kralathor devoured every creature (except one that died to a bear) of Arxiducs' and had 6 growth markers by the end of the game.
5) Were it not for Arxiducs heavy (3 Boulders!) use of attack spells and a round of Marked for Death on the Beastmaster it could have been a very different fight.
Congratulations Arxiducs...I owe you a loss someday in the future
The match was really fun to play. Allow me to share a perspective of the same match.
I was impressed by the biggest Kralator I have ever seen. It came to the priestess who was defending herself with some guards by turn 4. When the gang (beastmaster + krakator + falcon pet) arrived the priestess` corner, I though I could contain that huge crawling mana investment by putting the beast to sleep and then guarding it. Unfortunately, a very timely mongoose agility made it easy for the beastmaster to hit his beast and awaken it. I immediately changed the strategy. Putting the beast to sleep was not going to work (would take too much time/mana) so decided to stick to the main strategy of my book and start a damage race. Cast marked for death on the beastmaster who was compelled to show up in my epicentre having had no time to invest in armour or defence.
The priestess, two asyrian clerics, one guardian and one grey angels hit the intruder mage with their swords and staffs for a total of 19 dice (attacks + marked for death). I thought that given the priestess´ advantage in number of creatures, that move would generate enough advantage to render kralator`s huge attacks close to negligible by gaining the tempo.
The beast kept eating one creature per turn (including the angels! I did not dare to watch...)
In the meantime, the beastmaster tried to regroup while being chased by the remaining holy creatures and hurl boulders in combination with pillars of light.
Despite some very bad rolls, the amount of dice was eventually enough to provide victory to the servant of Asyra who remained in the arena accompanied by a grizzly and "Macro-Kralathor"!
Thanks, Puddnhead for such a great time. I enjoyed very much the fact that both spellbooks were far from competitive meta. I am looking forward to play with you soon!