24/01/2023 Tanoshimou (CC) 2-1

 

Happy new year to whoever is reading this blog and of course thanks for reading~~ please leave some comments if you feel like~~

The lull week in between PQs here in Singapore, no event were fired during the weekend due to Lunar New Year.

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It’s once again Tuesday, that means Tano time!

Decklist remained the same as the last one, still feels good about it so no changes were made.

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Round 1 Lexi, Livewire

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

Boarded according to JL’s sideboard guide not knowing which version of Lexi my opponent is on. What I do know is that my opponent has been a very good theory crafter and deck builder since he started playing FaB. i was punished heavily for not knowing all the cards Lexi has access to.

Game started with me threatening counters on my <Dawnblade> and opponent blocking to stop the threat. His philosophy is never block a naked <Dawnblade> and I did not draw any of my <Glint the Quicksilver> or <Run Through> to punish so while I was chipping damage, no real threat has been posted to my opponent, then came the first alarm which I didn’t pick up.

Opponent played a red <Weave Ice> followed by a red <Chilling Icevein> without fusing while holding 3 cards in hand. Me thinking there’s no on-hit and I had a somewhat good hand to clap back, chose not to block. Opponent proceeded to activate his <Fyendal’s Spring Tunic> and pitched all 3 of his blue cards to activate <Shock Charmers> for 5 times and dealt 13 damage to me. What I should have done here is to block properly and adhere to my game plan of blocking everything Lexi throws at me, I only need 1 blue card to win the game.

Second alarm came when my opponent played his first <Remembrance> to put back 3 <Weave Ice> which again I didn’t pick up the signal.

While I was swinging not-so-threatening <Dawnblade> at him, opponent was setting up his <Insidious Chill> and <Amulet of Ice>. Very soon, the game ended up at the state where he’ll play <Weave Ice> and fuse an ice arrow, either causing me to discard/pitch cards or creating frostbite under my control, compounded by the <Insidious Chills> triggers, my hand was stripped turn after turn and I had no way to pivot at that point. 

The loss was very rewarding and a great lesson learnt, be disciplined in blocking against Lexi! Had I not taken so much <Shock Charmers> damage, he’ll eventually run our of arrows to shoot at me and I’d survive with a few points of HP left to fatigue him. Be it <Lightning Press>, or <Weave Ice>, Lexi has limited amount of damage against <Dorinthea>.

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Round 2 Rhinar, Reckless Rampage

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

Opponent is a good friend I came to know by playing FaB and in almost every single armoury we joined together, we’d get paired. No surprise this time, we got paired again.

I won the die roll an chose to go first, managed to punch through for 3 damage with red <Overpower> and arsenal-ed a <Singing Steelblade>.

Opponent’s swing back was a 3 damage <Mandible Claw> which I blocked for 3 and on the swing back is where I started to threaten counter on my <Dawnblade>, but opponents as able to stop it with D-react.

My opponent played 2 of his <Reckless Swing> very early on and on one of which I didn’t take damage, also his <Sink Below> were being used rather early too, then came a game changing decision point.

Opponent took damage to keep his 4 card hand plus arsenal. Started the turn by playing <Bloodrush Bellow> and swung his <Mandible Claw> for 5, which I blocked with a card and equipment, he then followed it up with a second <Bloodrush Bellow> and a <Mandible Claw> for 7, I blocked with 2 equipment and a card from hand seeing the random discard from his second <Bloodrush Bellow> was a <Command and Conquer> and there seemed to be no need for my <Helm of Providence>. Opponent presented a second copy of <Command and Conquer> to take my arsenal and dealt 6 damage to me. Oh sweet punishments….

At this point, I looked through opponent’s discard pile and noted he’s played 6 of his D-reacts including 2 <Reckless Swing> and our life was at 26-16 in advantage to me, also, he’s played 2 <Bloodrush Bellows> which means he’s at least 2 cards fewer than me, so I decided to go the fatigue plan.

From this point onward, I blocked as much as I could and swing back with my <Dawnblade> to draw card from opponent’s hand, never got greedy to keep cards in hand for clap back, eventually we ended with fatigue and I took the W.

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Round 3 Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire

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

Once again, the same round 3 opponent as last week but difference being we both are not in the running for the CF <Arakni, Huntsman> :P

There’s not too much to talk about this game, so I’ll go pointer mode:

1. <Rout>, <Biting Blade> and <Overpower> really proved their worth against control <Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire> when they had as many D-react as they could
2. <Steelblade Supremacy> is very threatening even without “Go Again”
3. Understanding opponent’s blocking pattern really helps in deciding whether to play <Ironsong Pride> as an A-react or to play it before ending a turn
4. Blocking with equipment early to maintain life parity is rather important, it creates a psychological pressure on opponent to block more seeing a buffed <Dawnblade> swing that could potentially go out of control
5. Getting over the block by 1 with <Ironsong Pride>, blue <Ironsong Response> and blue <Overpower> is really good against <Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire> as they have no way to mitigate 1 damage other than D-react and if they D-react, we get to keep our reds for sustained pressure
6. Naked <Dawnblade> into a +3 pump is good most of the time as the swing back from control <Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire> is usually not that detrimental, most of the time it’ll be 6 damage.
7. Be cautious with blocking with <Crown of Providence>, it should be done as a damage mitigation instead of trying to filter the hand, quad red hurts, but wasting <Crown of Providence> and getting a 5th red hurts even more.

The end game to this round was rather cool, I had <Glistening Steelblade>, <Singing Steelblade>, <Glint the Quicksilver> and another blue in hand while my arsenal was a red <Warrior’s Valor>. i started by cracking my <Courage of Bladehold>, played <Glistening Steelblade> and swung for 7 with 4 counters on <Dawnblade>, opponent blocked exact, I played <Singing Steelblade> fetching a <Twinning Blade>, <Dawnblade> hits and lands one more counter. Then I played <Warrior’s Valor> and swung for 11, opponent couldn’t block all of it and seeing a guaranteed third hit coming, the gamed ended there.

But of course, when our <Dawnblade> has 4 counters on it, there’s just no good block to it.

It is definitely not an easy match up to play against control <Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire> because we’re put on a clock, but it’s definitely winnable. Studying opponent’s block pattern is critical in this match up.

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As this is the final armoury of January, lucky draw for playmat was done, despite having 7 slots out of the 20 slots, I didn’t get the either of the playmats :(

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Losing first round definitely stings, but learning more about a particular match up is always good.

Also, by the time I’m writing this armoury report, the newest B&S announcement was made and by the end of the month the Ice heroes will be subdued, a very good news for <Dorinthea Ironsong>, let’s eat some aggro decks for breakfast~~

Onwards, Dorinthea!!!