09/03/2023 Daimonji (Blitz) 4-0

 

It has been 2 weeks since I last posted an armoury report. Because I was trying out <Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn> and <Kano> and I was so focused on my games that I got kind of mentally exhausted to memorise the game details.

But this week, I’m back to playing <Dorinthea> in Blitz and managed to secure my copy of CF <Barbed Castaway>!

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I built a Blitz version of <Dorinthea> based on the CC version I was playing in the PQ season and after consulting Joshua Lau, some changes were made and I must say it performs well!

I had a 18 win streak on Talishar across 2 days that only got broken by a <Katsu> with the new combo cards from “Outsider” and he had double <Art of War> and drew into a bunch of card draw effects and delivered something like 29 damage in 1 turn.

My Blitz <Dorinthea> decklist is as follows:

https://fabrary.net/decks/01GT84W1NQD9JKN6M0A3WJ3QHE

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Round 1 Dash

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

Having play tested on Talishar (I know it’s not a reliable platform for serious play testing, but it’s all I’ve got access to), memories about Blitz format from 2 years ago came back to me. I realised once again it is very different from Classic Constructed in that you want to go first as a <Dorinthea> and my deck was tuned to have excellent T0 plays if I get to go first.

Against <Dash>, it makes even more sense to go first for 2 reasons. One being most <Dash> in Blitz are on the hyper aggressive <Teklo Pounder> boost plan because it is effective in delivering huge amounts of damage that almost no deck can race except maybe <Chane>. Second being I have 2 copies each of <Energy Potion> and <Sigil of Solace> in my deck and they are excellent T0 plays even if I can’t do anything else.

The T0 outplay potential by <Dorinthea> is so big that I’d go first almost every time I win the die roll. An ideal opening play from <Dorinthea> is to give our <Dawnblade> unconditional “Go Again” and swing. This presents a rather difficult decision point for our opponent in that one of 3 things may happen depending on their block:

1. If they block exact and do not have D-react ready, any pump would chip in damage. Life total in Blitz is only 20, so any point of damage is 5% instead of the 2.5% in Classic Constructed.
2. If they over-block, a <Dorinthea> player can either play a <Twinning blade> and force equipment block on the second swing or once again chip in damage.
3. If they over block and we have an <Energy Potion>, we are setting up for either a very good blocking turn or a fatigue plan. Reason being, with an <Energy Potion> in play, we can afford to full block a threatening turn and still present <Dawnblade> swing with the resource to pull cards from their hand. And if we see we can fatigue them, <Energy Potion> also gives us an avenue to save on cards which can be used to block or present pressure that they have to block there for getting tempo(whatever that means) on our side.

Having said so much about T0 plays in Blitz for <Dorinthea>, let’s actually get into the game.

Opponent started with <Hyper Driver> in arena and that was a little surprising. From chatting after the game, opponent mentioned that <Hyper Driver> makes the resources in his turn a lot smoother and so he sacrificed the explosiveness of <Teklo Pounder> for the consistency of <Hyper Driver> which I can’t deterministically give a judgement.

I lost the die roll and opponent decided to go second, I managed to push through 3 damage with a red <Overpower> and setting up my arsenal with a +3 pump. One more thing I’d like to add is try not to arsenal a “Reprise” dependent “Attack Reaction” because in Blitz players are less willing to block and would rather race so an <Ironsong Response> may be a really dead card if opponent gets a read on our play pattern, especially after we’ve expended out <Crown of Providence>.

Game went by with not much surprise and I was able to reach the finish line earlier than opponent with a <Steelblade Supremacy> turn.

Opponent did not present really threatening cards like <Maximum Velocity> or <Scramble Pulse> which would really have slowed down my damage by forcing me to block. I was able to hold onto my <Refraction Bolters> until the final <Steelblade Supremacy> turn to go really tall and over come his full hand block.

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Round 2 Rhinar

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

A classic battle!

There’s an argument to play <Gambler’s Gloves> into <Rhinar> but I disagree. To me it is more effective to pull cards out of their hand by present threats like <Dawnblade> counters than to try and change the outcome of 1 single sick die roll. They have access to their <Scabskin Leathers> for the whole game and we can only use <Gambler’s Gloves> once, so I’d rather take the 3 blocks from <Braveforge Bracers>. I’ll reserve <Gambler’s Gloves> only for <Kayo, Berserker Runt>.

Opponent won the die roll and went first, but his draw was not good and he presented a single <Mandible Claw> swing. My starting hand was a blue, red <Overpower>, red <Rout> and red <Puncture>. So I had to decide what to block with, more accurately, how I want to filter my hand. I chose to block with <Puncture> and <Rout>. My thinking process was if I draw “Go Again” source, I’ll <Overpower> to push through damage and threaten a second swing thereby threatening counter on my <Dawnblade>, if I do not draw “Go Again” source, I can potentially push through 6 or 7 points of damage depending on how opponent blocks my naked <Dawnblade>. Given it is rather hard for Rhinar to deal 27 points of damage in 1 turn, I can choose to not block at all in opponent’s follow up turn and potentially threaten lethal with 2 swing.

And indeed I did not draw a “Go Again” source and just presented a naked <Dawnblade> swing, opponent didn’t block, I played my red <Overpower> to hit for 7, opponent’s crack back was not threatening enough for me to drop cards and from there on I had the tempo and quickly closed out the game in a couple of turns after.

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Round 3 Fai

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

Fai is not so threatening in Blitz to <Dorinthea>, as least not as threatening as <Katsu>. They can present big damage but not so much of on-hit effects, so equipment blocks are really good in this match up.

Details to the game is not really worth any elaboration, basically boiling down to me blocking the third hit efficiently and opponent facing difficult blocking decisions throughout the game. 

The game finishing card was an arsenal-ed <Ironsong Response>, though I said not to arsenal reprise dependent card, the strategy changes when opponent falls below 4, because he has to block a naked <Dawnblade> with cards, activating my “Reprise”

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Round 4 Dash

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

This time round, opponent has a <Teklo Pounder> starting in the arena.

My strategy against full boost <Dash> with <Talishar, the Lost Prince> is to block as much as I can when he still has <Teklo Pounder> in play and pressure his hand when his <Teklo Pounder> is gone in the hopes to either kill them with an “Attack Reaction” or through fatigue.

The game went pretty much as planned. By the time opponent loses his <Teklo Pounder> and <Talishar, the Lost Prince>, I was still at 12ish health. With a one card block, I was presenting a <Glistening Steelblade> buffed <Dawnblade> that opponent blocked with 3 cards and gave me a good tempo lead. on the following turn, I blocked with 4 cards from hand, my swing back was activating my <Courage of Bladehold>, playing <Ironsong Determination> and swing twice because I still had <Refraction Bolters> in the arena for a 0 resource 10 damage turn. From there opponent was forced to over block every single time when I swing naked <Dawnblade> and eventually I ended the game with a red <Overpower>

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So, a 4-0 in Blitz with my girl!

To be frank, I was rather lucky to not face neither of the 2 <Prism> and the lone <Chane> out of 11 players. Match up into <Chane> is definitely not as bad as <Prism> but still rather dependent on whether he high rolls.

On the other hand, <Dorinthea>’s match up into <Prism> is very bad, even though less so than Classic Constructed, but still near to impossible to win. Having said that, I realised <Kassai, Cintari Sellsword>’s match up into <Prism> is rather good, which is what I’m gonna play next week.

Warrior forever!!!