06/12/2022 Tanoshimou (CC) 1-2

 06/12/2022 Tanoshimou (CC) 1-2

Another week, another armoury report! As it’s December, the prizes for armoury was for all participants, it’s a good opportunity to test out decks without worrying about the performance and reward, which is why I finally brought out the combo Boltyn I built like 2 months ago. Being a Storm player back in MTG, combo is my dish, but it doesn’t go much further than that, lol. I was able to perform the combo very proficiently, sequencing everything right and not missing any triggers, but the general game plan was something I need to be clearer about going forward, especially how to close out the game. Without too much further ado, I’ll start reflecting on the games.

Disclaimer: decklist is a direct copy from Josh Lau and I followed his sideboard guide true and through.

Boltyn

https://fabrary.net/decks/01GJ6S65C0J851ZH0648BSGNKM

Round 1 (Hatchets Boltyn)

Equipment used: <Halo of Illumination>, <Courage of Bladehold>, <Gallantry Gold> and <Snapdragon Scalers>

I won the dice roll and chose to go second following what JL suggested. Starting few turns of the game went with a lot of card exchange but without much damage dealt as I was just blocking with 2 cards and trying to build up my soul count. one thing to note though is I missed the opportunity to crack my <Halo of Illumination> on turn 0 which I should have but opponent presented a single big swing, against which I was able to slot in the activation of <Halo of Illumination> along with a blue pitch for <Soul Shield>. I had my first <Lumina Ascension> very early and arsenal-ed it. For the following few turns, I took some damage from opponent’s <Spill Blood> turns but was still at 20ish when I drew my second <Lumina Ascension>. There were 4 cards in my soul and I had the hand to go off with double <Lumina Ascension>, <Bolt of Courage> and 2 other random cards (1 to pitch for <Gallantry Gold> and another to charge into my soul with <Bolt of Courage>). <Bolt of Courage> was probably the best starter for our combo turn as it threatens a card draw which forces block and that means less likely opponent will stop me from doing full 6 swing and gaining a bunch of life. So I carried out the combo, (only writing it out in full once for anyone not familiar with Boltyn)

1. Play <Bolt of Courage> charging a card from hand
2. Activate <Snapdragon Scalers> as attack reaction to give it “Go Again”
3. Activate <Courage of Bladehold>, play both <Lumina Ascension>, Activate <Gallantry Gold>
4. Attack with both <Cintari Saber>, 3 times each

And so I presented 33 damage for this turn, 25ish went through and my life went from 13 to 22 and opponent dropped from 35ish to 10ish. And then the unfamiliarity with the deck caught up with me, I was way too focused on carrying out the combo to pay attention to how to close out the game and I didn’t. By the end of the combo turn, I had like 10 cards in my soul, what I should have done is just full block until I draw my <Beacon of Victory> because opponent will be forced to block in anticipation for the <Beacon of Victory> play. I made the mistake of presenting medium sized damages which opponent easily blocked and I eventually died to a 2 card hand from opponent with a blue and <Spill Blood> and he had a card in his soul to present 5 “Dominate”, activate <Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn> and then 6 “Dominate”.

Round 2 (Bravo)

Equipment used: <Halo of Illumination>, <Courage of Bladehold>, <Gallantry Gold> and <Snapdragon Scalers>

I lost the dice roll and opponent chose to go first as they should. My starting hand was <Sink Below>, <Fate Foreseen>, <Soul Shield> and <Spirit of Eirina>. I thought long and deep about how to maximise my hands and get spirit on the arena but opponent kind of solved the equation for me by playing <Imposing Visage> searching for <Show Time!> into <Crippling Crush>. Opponent signals to move to arsenal step, I activated my <Halo of illumination> by pitching <Fate Foreseen> and putting <Spirit of Eirina> onto the arena, drawing a “Charge” card. Reason for doing what I did was I need <Soul Shield> in my arsenal for his “Dominate” <Crippling Crush> along with preferably a defence reaction in <Sink Below>. For my turn 1, I played <Engulfing Light> charging 1 card into soul, opponent chose not to block. Then comes the turn of “Dominate” <Crippling Crush>, to which I blocked with <Courage of Bladehold> and reacted with <Sink Below> from hand as well as <Soul Shield> from arsenal for 12 total, because opponent had 2 cards in hand plus the fact he didn’t block my previous turn, just screams <Pummel>. But when chatting with opponent after the game, he said he didn’t have <Pummel> that turn. Then the game went into a series of big attacks from opponent and me blocking and waiting for my combo. I drew a <Beacon of Victory> when I had about 15 life left and opponent was at 28ish. I had a <Lumina Ascension> in arsenal and 2 cards in soul. For this game, I get to <Beacon of Victory> the combo starter to give it +1, searching for <Lumina Ascension> and attack react with <Boltyn> to give it go again. By doing this, my <Snapdragon Scalers> were preserved. Then the usual procedure follows. By the end of the turn, I was well over 20 and opponent was at 7, I had 11 cards in my soul. Having learnt my lesson in round 1, I blocked and just waited for my <Beacon of Victory>. Opponent was not familiar with <Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn> enough to be worried about <Beacon of Victory> and chose to 1 card block my charged <Bolt of Courage> and we shared a laughter when I said “I’ll react with <Beacon of Victory> and banish everything from my soul”. First W as <Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn>!

Round 3 (Kano)

Equipment used: <Halo of Illumination>, <Courage of Bladehold>, <Nullrune Gloves> and <Snapdragon Scalers>

I lost this game, but not much of the game details were useful, I’ll elaborate on this part.

The general game plan against <Kano, Dracai of Aether> was to assemble the combo as early as possible and just race to the finish line. I drew my first <Lumina Ascension> rather early but didn’t see anymore of it or <Beacon of Victory> until the game ended and “Arcane Barrier 1” didn’t help much when it comes to preventing damage. 

On the other hand, opponent saw all 3 copies of his <Tome of Aetherwind> and 2 copies of <Tome of Fyendal>, gaining 10 life point. The hand I had when I drew my <Spirit of Eirina> didn’t contain a single “Charge” card, so I chose to play the <Spirit of Eirina> which felt really bad. Eventually I lost to a medium combo from opponent with 17 life remaining.

I remember watching JL’s recorded stream on Youtube and a game he played against <Kano, Dracai of Aether> felt exactly like my game, and that confirms it’s not something within my control or decision.

On hindsight, had I played the “end game” (yes, a MCU reference which was a gaming reference) in round 1 better, I wouldn’t face the <Kano, Dracai of Aether> opponent and maybe it could have been a 3 win, but mistakes made and lessons learnt are way more valuable than 1 more prize pack~~

Warriors forever!!! (Yes, second MCU reference in a single blog :P)