Following the pioneers of Dave Perkins and sinnick in the March league thread and sinnick and DeForrestation in their own battle royale, I’m creating a thread for Ascension exhibition matches.
The idea is to take a look at the game’s strategy by having players post and comment on their turns. The peanut gallery can then comment, sharing their own ideas on how they might have handled each particular situation themselves.
This type of discussion seems to have a small but loyal following, so I thought it would be good to have a thread that can be used by anyone (i.e. no player names in the title) and that will keep it from clogging up the league or general discussion threads.
A couple of nice 5 rune options for a first turn: Snapdragon and Tablet of Time’s Dawn. Unfortunately, I only have 4 runes. The Burrower is a less attractive card now because I really need to go Mechana to reap its benefit. I could start building my buying power with a Mystic, in the hopes of drawing it and three apprentices in Round 3.
Or I could buy the Druids of the Stone Circle. Its power of putting any Hero with a rune cost of 3 or less on the top of my deck would help me improve the odds of drawing a high rune hand, especially if I take a Mystic or other 2+ rune card in Round 2. Plus, it has a nice 4:3 cost to honor ratio.
However, it will also probably mean delaying my ability to buy the 5+ cards for at least a turn, since the card goes to the top of my deck and not in my hand. Buying a Mystic instead and another in Turn 2 increases my chances of 5 runes in Round 3. And if dannimal draws 4 apprentices in the next two turns, that would mean potentially beating him to either the Tablet or Snapdragon.
I choose the Druids.
But, in the immortal words of Dave Perkins, what would you do?
I’d likely take the Druids. Early in the game, it’s an excellent card and a great way to quickly build your deck, even if all you are limited to mystics.
I take the Hectic Scribe and a Mystic. I like a first-turn Druids, but I really like the scribe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if your opponent left you the Druids for the next turn.
I would have gone Druids myself. It’s essentially a pick one free card when you draw it for anything less than three power. It also means that card will be in your next hand, allowing you to build up a chance for a strong rune hand depending on card chosen.
I wouldn’t take druids with that board. Too much good stuff out. I find that Druids slows you down too much in the beginning (it’s a dead draw on the turn you draw it) and later on it’s just deck bloat. It’s good IMO if and only if you’re looking at a pretty bad board where no one’s going to be getting great combos.
Instead I’d also go Mystic + Scribe and a Mystic next turn (barring a good card popping up). I’d hope to pick up the Snapdragon on turn 3 or 4 (Snapdragon is a really great early card IMO).
dingding School is in session. For what it’s worth, I probably would have taken the Druids too, for the early Mystic/Heavy building but (and here’s a weakness) because I’m overly attracted to the ‘bigger’ cards. Especially in the early game when it can cripple you come mid-game.
(I had taken an earlier shot w/ Justin’s turn log hanging down, I’ll try to do both my discard pile and his log in future turns).
In the past I might have blindly gone with the Burrower because Mechana is good deck honor. Instead, I went the Diddums route with the Scribe/Mystic. Am I wrong in thinking that the Scribe is more valuable (right?) at the start of a game even in spite of how it reduces your hand size by one? I feel like trading that when your deck isn’t pruned yet, possibly letting you pass on a Militia for an Apprentice/Mystic can be a net win.
Scribe replaced by an Asp, which is no big deal this early.
Forgot to mention that the Druids were (was?) replaced by everyone’s favorite screw you card, Xeron, Duke of Lies. So with Sordid Asp (or GSA) on the board, everyone’s other favorite screw you card, should I start building my power base?
Nope. Bought a Mystic. The board stays the same. yawn
I’d whittle my turn log. Oh and race to the Tablet as well. With the Hedron Cannon being out before anybody can buy it, it will probably get banished anyway.
I too, bought a Mystic. I think I have a leg up on the 5 point cards, because I have 2 Mystics and his Druids require an extra turn (sans drawing cards) to get a 2nd Mystic out.
Wow, I really really dislike the druids. Even on T1 when (arguably) they will be the most useful, I have never found them to be worth it. I’d have gone hectic + burrower on t1, and with the monsters turning up behind them just focus on mystics to try and get the snapdragon first.
I need to ask the question, cuz, I just started doing this myself. Do others purposefully avoid knocking off a cultist (ending their turn early) to avoid this? I figure so, since it seems like a good strategy (even though it pains me to leave murder points on the board).
