30/11/2022 GamesHaven Jurong (CC) 2-1

https://fabrary.net/decks/01GJ5HKK9N5Y4G27X42GXPDT0C

Dorinthea, Ironsong

Round 1: (Kodachi Fai)

Sideboard: no change

Equipment used: <Crown of Providence>, <Courage of Bladehold>, <Braveforge Bracers>, <Refraction Bolters>

I won the dice roll and chose to go second because I saw my opponent revealed his <Kodachi>. He started with a mediocre turn, leaking 2 damage with <Kodachi> and arsenal passed to me. My starting hand was ok but the re-draw was quad red, I maximised my output, threatening 9 damage, he took it all and started the onslaught. I drew quad red hands 3 times in a row, chose to block minimally and present some damage on my turn. Opponent saw all 3 of his <Art of War>, used 2 of them which was enough to finish me off.

On hindsight and discussion with opponent, it might have been better to full block with quad red hands and wait for better hand to show up in order to pivot. My initial thinking was even with full block, he’ll still leak 3-4 damages per turn and by the time I try to not equipment block and pivot, I might not be able to, but I’ll try and block more in future when I again see quad red hands.

Round 2: (Tiger Katsu)

Sideboard: no change

Equipment used: <Crown of Providence>, <Courage of Bladehold>, <Braveforge Bracers>, <Refraction Bolters>

I lost dice roll, opponent chose to go first. I took 1 damage from his first turn from a <Kodachi> and drew a very powerful hand with 1 blue, <Steelblade Supremacy>, <Glint the Quicksilver> and <Twinning Blade>. I played <Steelblade Supremacy> and swung for 5, opponent chose to block with all 4 cards, I played <Glint the Quicksilver> drew into another blue and played <Twinning Blade>, swung another 2 times for 11 damage and drawing 2 cards, ended the turn with card in arsenal and life total was at 29-39 with opponent having nothing to do besides uptick his <Fyendal’s Spring Tunic>. Come my turn, it was another rather big turn, but he managed to block it out and removing my counter from <Dawnblade>. His crack back was a red <Snatch>, I block with 1 card and <Refraction Bolters>. My turn was another threatening turn with <Warrior’s Valor>, opponent once again blocks with 3 cards and crack back with a red <Snatch>, I blocked with both helm and chest. My beatdown continued for 4 more turns, leaking some damage along the way but not getting any counters as opponent was determined to block out my second swing, I took some damage from a very big turn of his involving 2 <Salt the Wound> bringing me from 35 to 19. But tempo was on my side and he had to use all 3 of his <Art of War> defensively and from there we ended in fatigue with him not having cards to block and I took the W.

The way opponent is over-respecting <Steelblade Supremacy> and not respecting <Twinning Blade> enough caused him the game loss, felt to me like he gave me the win.

Round 3: (Dorinthea)

Sideboard: 3 <That’s all you got>, 3 <Steelblade Shunt>

Equipment Used: <Crown of Providence>, <Fyendal’s Spring Tunic>, <Braveforge Bracers>, <Refraction Bolters>

Followed TNN’s sideboard and boarded in all 6 of my defence reactions. I won the dice roll and chose to go first because of <Fyendal’s Spring Tunic> counter advantage. at the start of the game I have not yet realised that the game plan for Dorinthea mirror is to go fatigue. I started the turn with some aggro and arsenal a <Spoils of War>, opponent took no damage. The first couple of turns went by without too much damage exchange but a lot of cards exchange. Opponent had 2 very early <Steelblade Supremacy> turns which I respected by over blocking and giving him no card draw which was huge on hindsight. My attacks were mostly nullified by his <Sink Below> as well as blue <Steelblade Shunt>. My pivotal turn came when I drew my first <Steelblade Supremacy>, I had an <Energy Potion> in the arena and <Singing Steelblade> as well as <Refraction Bolters> all ready. Opponent’s hand was decent in blocking and he had <Oasis Respite> to nullify the first swing, but I went <Singing Steelblade> into <Twinning Blade> and cracked my bolters to swing to 2 more times, in between the swings I drew an <Ironsong Pride> which I was able to play and had 2 counters on my <Dawnblade> in that turn and opponent had no cards left in his hand. My follow up turn was <Glistening Steelblade> and twinning blade to land my 3rd counter on <Dawnblade>, next turn I once again grew the counter to 4. By then I though the game was over for opponent, until I drew into the following hand <Energy Potion>, <Heart of Fyendal>, <Scar for a Scar> and <Steelblade Shunt>. I swung for 7 with naked <Dawnblade> opponent blocked it and all my counters fell off. However, these couple of aggressive turns made me realise that opponent is playing with exactly 60 cards and his deck was finishing soon while mine was still well over 20 cards, so I switch gear into blocking with 2 cards to stop his first wing and threaten “Go Again” with a blue and another cards to double swing. I was able to draw either a pump like <Warriors’ Valor> or <Sharpen Steel> to force his block or I drew <Run Through> and would just swing naked <Dawnblade> for 3 and attack reaction to give it go again forcing 2 card block turn after turn. We were trading 2 cards each per turn cycle and we had single digit life each. By then opponent was out of ways to kill me and the game ended fatigue with me having the W.

This game garnered a lot of spectators because it took quite some time to finish, opponent is a good and dedicated Dorinthea player so we both block efficiently which is I believe what TNN had in mind when he put down his sideboard plan. Seb commented <Ironsong Pride> looks really good when I played them. My understanding is pumping by 1 is sometimes better than pumping by 4 especially when you know the opponent plays typical 4 block defence reactions.

Break point attacks is especially good in the Dorinthea mirror after we expended out equipment blocks and <Fyendal’s Spring Tunic> is definitely the right choice over <Courage of Bladehold>.

Conclusion:

Losing the first round does feel bad but I don’t think it was a mistake on my side, maybe the play style and how I treat quad red hands should change.

Going fatigue against a Katsu was definitely surprising and feels good but at the same time weird, well a win is a win.

• I might want to change 1 <Ironsong Pride> into another <Stroke of Foresight> but so far the number of attack reactions felt enough
• <Scar for a Scar> is really good in the second half of the game so pitch it early when possible.
• Number of 0 blocks in this deck is a concern (<Heart of Fyendal>, <Energy Potion>, <Ironsong Pride>) so it might be worth it to deploy <Energy Potion> instead of a second swing? <Heart of Fyendal> feels good, it gains on average 2 life per game.