I had a last-minute crisis of faith, switching from Warlock (Nether Inversion, 2 Dread Touch, Maazhum, Fel Covenant) to Warrior (2 Merciless Strikes, Intercept, Shattering Throw, Peerless Guard, and crucially, Poisonfire Greatsword). Peter Hottelet got sleeved up because let's face it - it's pretty difficult to justify Dual Wield over 'all your weapons get really stupid'.
I opened Wyvern Sting, Searing Pain, Rufus Claybourne, Poisonfire Greatsword, Mystical Refreshment, and Rend and Tear. Rufus and the sword made the cut. A quick bit of insight on the rares:
Rufus was only really relevant once - it's nice to be able to play your two-drop at the end of the opponent's turn so you can avoid removal; his power was only ever relevant for me once though, preventing a whole one damage from a Steady Shot.
Poisonfire Greatsword is... well, it's a melee weapon. Its power allows you to put your allies to good use if you don't want to sacrifice them to a protector, but I'd still rather just have Warmace of Menethil for the extra two resources. I paired it with Peter Hottelet, which makes any weapon playable to a certain extent, but I doubt this will see constructed play any time soon.
My pool was definitely more satisfying than yesterday's either way! Three rounds.
Round 1 vs Burnsy from Shrewsbury, playing Aric Stonejack
I'm not allowed easy first rounds any more it appears. Burnsy comes out of the blocks at blistering speed, playing a load of Nature guys, recurring them with Zuur, and then recurring Zuur with Zuur. Turn five I drop the sword, kill something with it and then find myself facing down Al'akir the Windlord with dangerous amounts of damage on my hero. I play Heroic Throw, hurl the sword at the Epic guy and breathe a sigh of relief, only to see the second Zuur recur Al'akir from the graveyard. I play a couple of allies, hurl the sword at the freshly reanimated corpse of Al'akir but while I've been busy dealing with that, everything else has got a bit out of hand, he's flipped and is getting a free 3/3 every turn and I scoop rather than show Burnsy any more of my deck.
Game two I play the textbook sealed game - one drop two drop three drop etc. Game three goes much the same way though Al'akir lands uncontested and gives me fits for a couple of turns while I work out the best way to kill him without a weapon.
"More allies!" apparently. [1-0]
Round 2 vs a Stoke Local whose name I forget, playing Mage
Mage is a class I've never tried in a limited format - I've gone Priest during the 6x Wrathgate Sealed days but the tiny health pool always puts me off. My opponent had opened a bunch of quality burn spells including a Draconic Flames, but the big thing in his deck was the Rare location, Deepholm. When a hero or ally in your party deals melee damage with Deepholm in play, you can exhaust it and two other resources to make a 2/1 elemental ally token... which also deals Melee damage. If left unchecked it can generate ridiculous card advantage.
It didn't help his deck was full of melee-dealing allies. The objective switched from 'create a board that lets me deal with any situation' to 'remove Melee allies from the table at any cost'. Luckily Deepholm only works on your turn, so after the initial barrage of 1/4 melee guys were taken care of with a timely Merciless Strikes, I was able to take board control and stop the card advantage machine rolling too much. Much the same happened in the second game - he kept a hand containing no Deepholm, and then was visibly relieved when he drew it off the top of his deck on his second turn. Big thanks to Dan for being so vocal about how ridiculous Deepholm can get if left unchecked - that was a definite help in winning this match! [2-0]
Round 3 vs another Stoke Local whose name I have also forgot, playing Baxxel Geartooth
The first game was an epic. A few turns in my opponent drops Gispax the Mixologist, discards and searches out a Tesla, having flipped his hero the turn before. This meant that the next turn I was facing a 7/3 Tesla, and when he searched up another one the next turn things were looking dire. I dropped a Ruby Protector and another ally who could deal three damage and this did the job stalling him out for long enough and making him delay playing his Teslas.
Eventually he had to play them to get rid of the protectors. I bounced his remaining ally with a Shadowseer Calista, dropped an Azure Skyrazor, and managed to untap with both of them in play, and drew for turn - my second Merciless Strikes to go with the other one I'd been waiting for an opportunity to use. My opponent was sat on three damage after his turn one Rosalyne Von Erantor, and that was enough.
Pay 3, Merciless Strikes. Opponent to 6. Pay 3, Merciless Strikes. Opponent to 9. Abilities boost Azure Skyrazor to 6ATK (opponent to 15), Shadowseer Calista to 8ATK (opponent to 23), Hero to 4ATK (opponent to 27).
He dropped a Protector the following turn but couldn't prevent all the damage I had on board for the next turn, along with the Ruby Enforcer I was holding just in case. I was sat at around 20 damage at this point, having been struggling to stabilise for the entire game. [3-0]
No prizes! Gutted.
I went 2-2 in the Core constructed tournament having two amazing matches vs Burnsy (Death Wish) and Amy (Ymirheim/Phylactery) that were back and forth for ages - me digging for one card each time that would have let me stabilise and probably win out, and failing to find it both times :)
The following two games were against Ryan from Stoke, who has only been playing for a week - I ran out of space on my playmat due to failing to draw Spark in the first game but still being able to control his board, before drawing two cards off The Boon of Alexstrasza and then drawing for turn, only to find that all three of them were Sparks. I comboed out that turn for almost 70 damage :)
The second game I dug out a Lazy Peon deck I've been working on - let's just say that him being Rekwa caused it a problem or two, but I eventually managed to seal the deal with overwhelming board presence.--
So, Elements then.
Better than expected: Merciless Strikes
It's like a not-quite-as-good one-off Muradin Bronzebeard. The thing that makes this really playable though is that it's instant - and with the amount of 1/4 Protectors in this format, it's a great way to make use of your 2/1s in that situation. Timriv is better, but costs one more; I would happily play both.
Not as good as expected: Rufus Claybourne
I didn't play against any classes who used an abundance of direct damage, but in such a tempo-oriented format I don't know if his cost is a little too much. At the same time, there are very few allies that cost more than five in War of the Elements (and none that aren't Epic that cost more than six) so once you hit seven resources he could come into his own. Basically didn't shine for me today, will probably be much more useful in constructed formats.
