#12 Dr. Mambo vs Romeoxero. 3:04:18/
#Holy vs Dark
#Cassiel
#Wispwillow Amulet
#Dawnbreakers Initiate
#Enchanters Ring
#Cloak Of Shadows
#Chant of Rage
#Leather
#Acid Ball
I stopped watching this video after just 5 rounds!
A lot on my mind already, and i have to go to work soon so i might as well just start commenting.
Both of these guys are making some pretty interesting stuff!
This is from ~40 min in at the start of round 5
A1 A2 A3 A4
B1 B2 B3 B4
Graveyard Zombie Crawler Mana Crystal
Zombie Minionx2 Priest (Ench)
C1 C2 C3 C4
Necro Dawnbreaker Initiate Dawnbreaker Initiate (Asyras Touch) Cassiel
Venomous Zombie Ehren (own Enchant+Chant of Rage) Dawnbr. Ini.
Dawnbreakers Initiate Spam from Romeoxero, with some buffing from Cassiel (Asyra`s Touch "for free")
I´ve been looking at Dawnbreakers Initiate myself. 3 attack dice for 5 mana is very good, add the teleport ability - and im going wow. But they don´t last long - and a lot of Temple build don´t really bring out a lot of strong solid offensive creatures early. Even something like a Knight Of Westlock im not to sure i would want to teleport it into a bunch of zombies. How can that Teleport function come in handy?
Mhgedden, Steelclaw Grizzly, Darkfenne Hydra and other slow creatures - seems like non-holy schools could use it better?
Ehren seems like a worse choice vs a Necro than vs anyone else. Poison Blood, Deathlock and Altar of Infernia.
Mambo came up with a brilliant counter to Ehren - Chant of Rage!
Acid Ball is a pretty good choice vs. Zombies - a bit odd that Romeoxero didn't Quick Cast Acid Ball then hit with his Dawnbreakers Initiate. Instead of hitting a guarding Zombie Crawler - who then got a counterstrike and then got a kill. The "Manabattle" is looking real bad here for the good guys - paying 5 mana for an Acid Ball to kill a 4 mana creature + the bad guys are getting mana back on the graveyard. To have any chance at all Romeoxero needs to kill enemy creatures without losing any himself or "just" kill the Necro.
Dr Mambo´s opening is pretty interesting:
In the first 5 rounds he ended up not having mana enough for 2 Quickcast actions, and that's even with the Wispwillow Amulet rather than the usual Mana Crystal in round 1.
I can´t help think Mambo could have casted leather earlier and waited with Cloak. But Cloak is a really good and save option. Same thing with the Skeleton Archer - made him loose a quick action, but look at the board that Archer just makes it so hard for Romeoxero to do anything useful.
There´s a lot of Mage Wars left at this put, but it really looks like Mambo has a big advantage already.
And i can´t really see that Romeo have made any play mistakes at this point.
Ziggurat made a good show here, just putting half the Holy army on the Necro side
I had hoped that Mambo saved his Eternal Servant for Dawnbreakers Initiate or Light of the Dawn, i do think you should just use the Eternal Servant early instead.
Dark Temple of Light
I think Zuberi was right that this Preist spellbook doesnt really have the mana for everything: Ele Wand, Cassiel, Temple of Asyra and Temple of Light. Something like Bow, Melee punch might make it possible to get some more muscle out of Temple of Asyra.
#13 Werekingdom (Necromancer) vs. Keejchen (Druid)/38:08
A1 A2 A3 A4
B1 B2 B3 B4
C1 C2 C3 C4
#Hyperenchant
#Plague Zombie
#Venomous Zombie
#Felella
#Cloak of Shadows
#Zombie Smackdown
#Actions
#Pillar of Righteous Flame
#Hyperenchant
#Arcane Corruption
#Rot
#Tainted
#Tanglevine
#Wall of Bones
#Teleport
#Corrosive Orchid
Already after 38 minutes Keejchen is in serious trouble with the Druid. Easy now to shake your head at the "bold" move of moving the Druid into the 2 Zombies zone. Normally Druid can soak a lot of damage, and the Zombies rolled very well - rots/taint and good damage.
Werekingdom gave up a couple of actions. 1 to cast Cloak very early and 1 more when he applied pressure with Deathlock. We seen a few players successfully give up actions and others paying 3 mana with Jinx to deny 1 Quickcast spell for a couple of rounds.
Keejchen is in serious trouble at this point. Rots nullifying his regen, Arcane Corruption dealing a ton of damage, Idol of Pestilence slowly killing Felella, Vinesnappers not doing much because they can´t move, so he has no way to put serious damage on the Necromancer. Druids real hard to kill, and often comes back, but Necromancer is one of the best at countering Druid.
He has a lot to do and not that much time to do it.
In the second part we see Keejchen starting his comeback. Transfusion the enchantments on to Felella to cancel Arcane Corruption Damage, getting Renewing Spring out, Meredias Blessing, and using those enchantments on Felella to kill Skelly Archer.
Unlucky he didnt get the Plauge Zombie, devouring it would have been good for the Druid.
Think Werekingdom could have done slightly better with the Telewand. Teleport himself instead of the Plauge Zombie then qc Teleport Brute through the wall in the QC and go hit w 6 dice rather than Poison Blood first.
I might have gone for the Tree instead of going after the Druid. Werekingdoms decision to go after the Druid might just be better.
Both playing real well in part 2. Keejchens definitively not out of the Woods - but Druid doesn't really want to leave their Trees anyway
Are we out of the woods yet?[x3]
Are we out of the woods?
Are we in the clear yet?[x3]
In the clear yet, good
[x2]
end of part 2.
Nice ending here from Werekingdom were he tanglevines Keejchen and Walls him off in the corner!
Tanglevine seems to be star spell in this match, even if Teleport was very important also. Arcane Corruption, Rot and Tainted also did a great job in this match.
#14 Aridigas (Arraxian Crown Warlock) Vs. Keejchen (Anvil Throne Warlord)3:06/27 rounds
#Battleforge
#Enchanters Ring
#Ballista
#Blood Demon
Both players opened with Battle Forge and Crystal/Flower. Both placed it semi defensive in B1 and B4 were its easier to wall of. A bit strange to see the Warlock stay put in his starting corner.
A side note here is that i personally has started liking to wait a bit with the Ballista - especially vs. Ballista Mages.
Also both players did put the Crystal/Flower in A1/C4. If you have conjurations like Enchanters Wardstone, Hand of Bim Shall, Deathlock starting square is normally best for those. You would lose the ability to cast Battleforge with the QC - if you want to move in round 1.
In round 2 Aridigas shows us why he stayed put to deploy a Blood Demon Blood Reaper - deploying Enchanters Ring and enchanting the Blood Demon. Keejchens deploys pants, cast another Flower and starts his "dance" between B4 and B3.
I have serious doubt´s about early Blood Reapers. With no damage on you, you can´t heal with it, and if your opponent focus it down you usually end up having lost 4 life. Aridigas kinds of solve this here : he puts up a Wall to protect his Battleforge and hide his Blood Demon behind it! Then Force Pushes himself equipped with Fireshaper Ring and Lash of Hellfire and charge into the Ballista zone without armor - "tricking" Keejchen into hitting him.
Wall of Bones might save the Battleforge from Ballista but its also almost useless. Its a pretty big advantage for Keejchen that they are fighting in a zone were he can use his Battleforge.
I wouldnt have played Pillar of Righteous Flame that early - id just used the Battleforge more first.
After 5 rounds it looks like a small advantage for Keejchen. Especial if he take out the Demon.
Also i think Keejchen should have "danced" again moving back from B3>B4 so the Demon would have to hit itself to heal the Warlock.
Stopped the Video just after Aridigas had made a pretty big comeback.
Suddenly the Warlock and the Dwarf are fighting it out behind Wall of Bones in range of Aridigas Battleforge and out of range of Keejchens. I don´t like the third Wall - it might be the only thing that keeps the Warlock alive, but i think he needed to change gear and mount a counter attack. Rather than the third wall he might have cast Brace Yourself or Jinx. He could even just punch.
Aridigas life was 28/34 and Keejchen was at 18/34.
The missed Nullify was of course very unfortunate. Brilliant Wand game going on, Dwarf just much better at it.
Saving the Mage Wand was brilliant, wants you to put Healing Wand in just to be able to change Wands for 1 mana.
Very cool match from your both. Exiting and fun
Lots of stuff going on all the time.
Arraxian Crown Warlock absolutely had a chance, and almost won. ACW might be better than i think?
Dwarf is very good.
Play was actually pretty fast, when you think this is almost double the rounds of most other matches.
Great commentary from Schneente (snowduck) and Swenkgott. I might even learn a bit of German:
Geht nach links! When they wanted Keejchen to climb the wall and get to safety. Naturally Keejchen who i think understands even less German than i, went the other way
#15 Sharkbait (Priest) Vs. Schneente (Priest)/4:22/26 rounds.
Mirrormatch!
#Focus
#Legendary
#Cassiel
#Ehren
#Brogan
#Dorseus
#Alendell
#Messenger of Bim-Shalla
#Armor
#Regrowth/HoT
#Remove Curse
#Purge Magic
#Outcreatured
#Eye for an Eye
#Flying
#Holy Avenger
#Guardian Angel
Priest vs Priest and Sharks playing his second Holy Mage?
Going to try and reconstruct/guess the first rounds as the video start a bit in
A1 A2 A3 A4
B1 B2 B3 B4
C1 C2 C3 C4
Meditating Monk Temple of Asyra C4
Mana Crystal Harmonize
Sunfire Amulet Cassiel
Asyrian Cleric Meditation Amulet
Meditate
Asyran Cleric Ehren
Temple of Asyra B1 Regrowth (Ehren)
Meditate
Enchantment Brogan (Cassiel)
Asyran Cleric Brogan
Guardian Angel Enchantment FD Brogan(Cassiel)
Enchantment Ring
Meditate
Light of Dawn Dorseus
Dawnbreakers Ring Enchantment FD Priest (Priest)
Meditate
More or less what must have happened the first 5 rounds.
Snow-duck is taking a early lead on Legendary Creatures. Pretty amazing army already - normally holy mages takes ages to get nothing offensive out of the Temple.
Sharkbait is taking another approach. No Legendary Creatures, but Light of Dawns are pretty amazing, Guardian Angels always good and Asyran Clerics at Mana Crystal cost, with ability to hit/guard and heal.
Would love to see Asyran Cleric as a Holy Avenger!
Liking how Shark is saving his starting square for something like Malakai´s Basilika or good old Hand of Bim-Shalla.
The Legendary creatures performed in this match.
Cassiel and Ehren might share the MVP in this fight.
Cassiel was making everybody else really hard to kill - something as simple a Divine Reversal on "high" armor creatures with passive healing on. I think Shark made the right move when he went for her with the Griffin.
Griffin rolled 11 damage on 28 dice on an unarmored Cassiel, and all the Guardian Angels just made the defence vs it so not a good day for Griffin. Snowduck nullified the Griffins, fast and charge trait, first with Pillar of Righteous Flame and later with Flying creatures hindering it. Not that i saw Snowducks Holy Avenger (Knight of Westlock) get mana +2 melee +1 piercing?
Same thing happened in the Sailor Vulcan game were he used an Asyran Defender as HA. I don´t think that one got much out of the offensive bonus. +5 life is good but you would like to use the +2 melee and the piercing +1 as often as possible. I don´t play Priest, but making level 1 creatures HA has some appeal for an old Straywood Beastmaster fan. Pet a Falcon - attack with it. Pet a new Falcon. Rather than here were both Shark and Snowduck went for high level HA which are ment to stay alive.
Ehren seems underpriced to me. You get a Knight that compares to Knight of Westlock for just 5 mana?
Regrowth on Ehren cost 4 mana, one action and here 2 spellbookpoints. But regrowth just made any damage on Ehren redundant.
Dorseus is a creature i really like. Here in a mirror match vs a Holy Mage unlikely to run Poison Bloods and Deathlock - maybe not as good. If Shark rolled well at all, it was when he managed to kill Dorseus. Quite early.
Alendell pretty good as well. I this game Snowduck might have opted to meditate and then pump Alendell for that 3(4) mana rather than hit with the Priest 2 dice daze/burn basic melee attack. Stun on a 8(7) pretty good - so are 7 or 8 dice. Sometimes its better to use 2 weaker attacks than 1 big, mainly to remove a guard and partly to soak some damage on your mage - when you have amazing healing.
Guardian Angels did pretty well - and that even if we saw some nice Chant of Rage´s. I don´t think a single Guardian Angel died? And that´s without all the buffs of the other creatures.
Holy gone a lot better with the new toys, so let me just finish with Eye for an Eye - it can be pretty good
Timing is pretty important, but it certainly helps to focus down mini-tank´s like most of the Knights can be.
Very well played match, not a great fan of holy but its so good!
Have to have stamina and patience and like long games.
How would something like this have played out at Gen-Con? (or any other live match at 75 minutes)
#16 Jacksmack (Straywood BM) vs Powlich (Necromancer) 1:53/17 rounds
#Battleforge
#Academy
#Actions
#Healing
#Strategy
#Mass Leather
#Enchanters Ring
#Bloodthirsty
#Focus
#Ziggurat of Undeath
Another really cool and interesting match.
Powlich/Necromancer:
Year i agree with you Ziggurat round was bad for you.
Ziggurat of Undeath and Shaggy eating crawler then turn the enemy creatures into zombies should work well vs a BM. You never really got that set up -and i don´t think your opening was that good for that strategy. I already prefer Graveyard, and when you plan to kill your own creatures and then turn them into zombies - i think that would have been slightly better.
You came really close to killing Jack. So you did not have to improve much for the win.
Jacksmack/Straywood Beastmaster:
I like what your done here. Very effective use of Battleforge, Enchanters Ring etc. Tons of cheap stuff that can do a lot. Pretty amazing healing.
Wychwood Fairy vs Zombie Brute is really good (as long as you roll 5+) Darkfenne Asp etc. also works good - they pretty good vs hard hitting guards also. Point is that the Fairy isn't just a mana generator she has other uses.
The whole Canine thing has really nice synergy.
Only thing i would criticize is that you came so close to dead. Maybe you were save?
Oh and Thunderift Falcons
#17 Thesaris (Arraxian Warlock) vs Parkdeck (Anvil Throne Warlord)/1:12+1:05/14
#Battleforge
#Bloodreaper
#Ballista
#Wand Game
#Curses
#Healing
#Pressure
Another interesting game, both opened with Battleforge and Mana Crystal/Flower.
Then Thesaris with the Warlock casted a dark Pact Slayer while Parkdeck with the Dwarf Casted a Ballista.
When Acid Ball from Wand+ Ballista immediately took down Battleforge it looked like advantage Dwarf.
But Warlock took down Ballista in return with some damage on the DPS.
As the Warlock never actually hit the dwarf and never took any damage he actually did not need that Battleforge.
He just continued to cast creatures and curses. Twice he hit a Mana Flower to no use, rather than run 2 to try and engage the dwarf or just stay and hit Battleforge. Hitting Battleforge with Blooddemon and a week Afflicted demon is hardly ideal, but not that bad either.
So how did Parkdeck/Anvil Throne Warlock loose this game? Im not really sure. He did make some useless changes of Veterans Belt/Regrowth Belt - he actually did a really good job of focusing the Warlocks creatures down.
#18 Sharkbait (Forcemaster) Vs. Powlich (Paladin)/1:00/13 rounds
Wow those Jedi´s are getting scary
#Scared
#Mind´s Eye
#Fatigue Forcemaster
#Ehren
#Crusade Banner
Very fast version of the Fatigue Forcemaster. Cursing the enemy from turn 2. Wow again.
That Mind´s Eye continue to impress even if i played vs it myself a few times now.
Paladin/Powlich opened with Ehren and Crusade Banner. Then heal Ehren with Martyr´s Restoration and 2x HoB.
Nice plan, but when the opponent goes for Magebane, Ghoul Rot, Poison Blood and Deathlock you might regret those 5 life you can usually just get back slowly.
Very fun game to watch. Shark clearly ahead but Powlich made an epic comeback.
I had expected Powlich to go for champions Gauntlets and Remove Curse/Purify Wand to get rid of the nasty curses. He was under hard pressure.
I wonder if the mind control on Ehren really helped?
5 dice at your opponent, rather than you seems really good. But the upkeep and the Mind Control might have been used better to put more pressure on the Paladin? Most likely no real difference.