Ascension - Qt3 league

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T18:37:22.000Z

Gus_Smedstad:

Buy the Elder Skeptic. Hand re-arrangement is particularly useful when there are no monsters on the board. Our deck is small enough that purchases are still useful rather than just points, though it’s getting late in the game.

Dave, this fear of revealing cards for your opponent has got to stop. See an Ascension therapist or something!

Can you elaborate on each sentence in the first paragraph?

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T18:38:22.000Z

Gus_Smedstad:

Banish the World tree. The only expensive SCE target is the Eternal Askara, there are no monsters to banish, and we have plenty of banishing power anyway.

We may well take it anyway, but we don’t really want it right away.

Play which card first?

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T18:39:27.000Z

opkopk:

SCE get three stars

Why am I not shocked that you two aren’t in agreement? OMG Serbs and Croats! Sunnis and Shi’ites!

opkopk · 2013-07-31T18:47:24.000Z

SCE. Buy eternal Askara on top.
Draw it with Askara of fate.
Banish socket altar.
Buy abolisher and GoS
Use Eternal Askara on a monster or world tree.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2013-07-31T18:49:05.000Z

Wait, someone asked me to explain moar? Usually it’s “right, shut up, we’ll take this one and the R2 unit.”

OK. The Skeptic doesn’t add cards to our hand, it lets us choose 5 cards out of 6: the four we start with, and next two in our deck. Drawing all Power or all Runes is better than drawing some of each, and the Skeptic lets us improve the ratio. So if we have Heavy Infantry in our deck, and no monsters on the board, the Skeptic lets us substitute a Rune card for a Heavy Infantry.

Card honor value vs. time: there comes a time when we probably won’t draw a card that we buy. The larger the deck, the earlier that happens. Jakeb is probably thinking about buying cards strictly on honor value soon. We have a small, rapidly cycling deck, and we can expect to see anything we buy a couple of times more.

Play the Askara of Fate to banish the World Tree. Delay playing the Stone Circle Elder until we see the results.
If no tasty card drops, Use the Stone Circle Elder on the Eternal Aksara.
If no monster is visible when we acquire the Askara, put it on our discard, not our deck.

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T18:50:58.000Z

Ah I see now. Thanks, Gus.

Gus, what about the Socket Altar? Opk and I (so far) want to banish it as well as the Tree.

Anyone know how I might get an email addy for the Cobra Kisser?

Pacman14 · 2013-07-31T18:57:03.000Z

Gus_Smedstad:

If no monster is visible when we acquire the Askara, put it on our discard, not our deck.

If acquired with the Stone Circle Elder, it has to go on top. As with Druids, that is a command, not an option.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2013-07-31T18:57:59.000Z

Hmmm.
OK, I’ve changed my mind. Using the Eternal Askara for banishing only is somewhat weak, but it denies him 3 points, more or less. Everything else is roughly the usual 2:1 Rune to Honor ratio. Except banish the World Tree first, just on principle. Sure, it’s 3 less Honor than the Cog Maw, but if he ever plays it, it will easily net him 5 honor.

So, SCE the Eternal Askara.
Askara of Fate to banish the World Tree
Eternal Askara banishes Cog Maw or monster
What we buy depends on what is now open. Delay purchases because we don’t really want either the Guardian or the Abolisher. And we will get another card we don’t know yet with the Askara of Fate.

opkopk · 2013-07-31T19:01:32.000Z

I’d rather make damn sure we at least get the three for killing a monster. If that means taking crap it’s worth it right now. At least the crap is worth stars.

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T19:07:56.000Z

Gonna make the play while Gus and opk still agree!

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2013-07-31T19:11:40.000Z

We don’t agree! Past playing SCE and Fate.

We’ve got, what, 4 cards that draw 2 cards (some with discards). So subtract 8 cards from our deck size, to give us 10. We run through our deck in 2 turns. The game is going to last at least 4-5 more. So buying crap is too early.

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T19:14:44.000Z

I played the entire turn, so don’t make plans until I show you the final image!

We drew more toys. I banished the Tree. I played the Askara and drew more toys. I banished the Socket Altar. I used the Eternal to kill the Nothing Man. Then:

I bought the Spider Witch and it revealed a Minotaur. I Eternal’d it. I killed a cultist with the lone HI. Final board and his turn:

I hope you all approve!

opkopk · 2013-07-31T19:17:00.000Z

Bravo.
I’d be happy with Temple Guardian, Lionheart, or Black Hole next turn.

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T19:18:16.000Z

Okay, done! See two posts up. Didn’t like leaving Lionheart, but didn’t think he’d get to play him much anyhow. We have a nine point star lead but I imagine his deck makes up for it. We need a strong last few rounds!

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2013-07-31T19:26:30.000Z

Glad you delayed purchasing, I’d much rather have the witch than the Guardian and an Abolisher, even without synergy. Same number of honor points, and more useful. With a deck like this we even stand a chance of drawing it with the SCE for the soul gem.

EDIT: Watch, he’ll use Honey Siren on the Lionheart. That’s how this game is going.

opkopk · 2013-07-31T19:29:54.000Z

Gus_Smedstad:

Watch, he’ll use Honey Siren on the Lionheart. That’s how this game is going.

He does have two and is due.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2013-07-31T19:31:49.000Z

Plus, we just handed him 2 extra cards. It’s nearly a certainty.

Dave_Perkins · 2013-07-31T19:34:14.000Z

Maybe I should have left the Minotaur and banished the Lion. Eek! I was worried about Belthar’s power.

Still wondering how to let him know that we did this.

opkopk · 2013-07-31T19:36:12.000Z

I don’t feel like doing the maths, but it feels like we’re losing by about 4-5 right now.
I agree with Gus that Jake’s in for a nice hand this time. +10ish.
At least we get last turn and hopefully it’ll work out where the two Askaras both pop up that turn so he can’t draw.

opkopk · 2013-07-31T19:38:14.000Z

Dave Perkins:

Still wondering how to let him know that we did this.

My cursory disinterested attempts turned up no contact info. Aside from playing him (he’s been busy the last few days) I got nothing.