SoL Rnd 3: New Birds vs. Wild & Sticky

Gday: “So, I guess we should get round 3 started.”

Spud: “UUUUUGGGGHHHH. NOOOOOO. Do we have to?”

*Spud makes a pouty face*

Gday: “Yes. Yes we do.”

Spud: “Ugh. But there are still two TDB decks in the running. That sucks all the fun out of it.”

Gday: “Well, maybe we can knock one out today.”

Spud: “Really? You’re volunteering to play as it, guaranteeing the loss?”

Gday: “…”

Spud: “The implication being that you always lose.”

Gday: “…”

Spud: “Like, every time.”

Gday: “…”

Spud: “…”

Gday: “…see, this is why I’m always stealing your insulin.”

Spud: “Hey! I need that insulin to live!”

Gday: “I know.”

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Wild & Sticky (Gday) vs. New Birds (Spud)

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Spud wins the die roll and takes odds, and both players keep their openers.

Spud whiffs on turn 1, while Gday hits Aunt May, who digs out Sensational Spider-Man. She hits Spud direct, but he doesn’t notice.

Gday 50, Spud 50

Gday hits Black Cat, and puts her in front of Aunt May. Spud hits his first character in a hidden Gypsy (using her power to chuck two of the top 3 cards of his deck). Cat goes in direct, then evades to try to find a pump for May, pitching Sentry to draw. Finding nothing, he passes to Spud, who rolls over May with Gypsy.

Gday 46, Spud 48

Spud hits his all-important 3-drop, Big Bear, while Gday matches him with Man-Eater (who will be a bit of an annoyance for Spud’s concealed-heavy deck). Spud’s first attack is Big Bear into Black Cat, with Aunt May reinforcing. Next, he declares Gypsy into Man-Eater, hoping for a little crossover action, but is disappointed when Gday flashes an Entangle to exhaust her. Spud sighs and passes.

Gday 44, Spud 48

Spud’s reason for taking odds was to avoid the utterly wasted turn caused by turn 4 Sensational with a Gift Wrapped, but Gday has a great plan B now that his Turn of Annoyance is not required, dropping Silver Sable behind Man-Eater. For Spud’s part, he plays The Exchange from his row, pitching Big Bear and Beautiful Dreamer to grab Izaya <> Highfather, who he forms behind the Bear.

Man-Eater uses his power to make Gypsy hittable (not that she isn’t already– OH! Giggity…), then smacks into her. Spud decides that a one-sided attack doesn’t sound like much fun, so he plays Birds of a Feather to make it a dual. Gday weeps… a little. Next, he sends Sable into Big Bear– and sadly, Spud had to pitch his potential powerup to get his 4-drop, so it resolves without a stunback, and Bear bounces. Gday passes, and Spud makes the only safe attack (since Gday may have a power-up for Sable), sending Izaya through a reinforced Black Cat, who exhausts for ESU, and is subsequently lost to recovery. Spud nukes ESU with Have A Blast! during recovery.

Gday 39, Spud 40

This is the turn Spud planned to make his main offensive, so he brings out Cassandra Cain hidden and passes. For Gday’s part, he flips and uses a new ESU, then examines his options. He has a Sensational Spidey he grabbed earlier, but as Spud lacks a 3-drop, he decides it’s a better idea to use an Indebted to get Spidey – Secret Avenger, who he forms in front of May, then passes to combat.

Gypsy starts things off by diving into Man-Eater; once it’s legal, Spud plays No Man Escapes the Manhunters to drop him to 1DEF. Gday shrugs, and reinforces with Sable. Next, Spud declares Izaya on Spider-Man– but it’s not legal, as Gday breaks out his second Entangle of the game to exhaust Highfather outside combat. Upset that he can’t force some extreme board loss through Gday’s side, he sighs and sends Cassie through Sable for two break. Man-Eater retires during recovery.

Gday 30, Spud 38

Gday starts off turn 6 by teaming up his board, then uses exhausts Aunt May to dig out an Omnipotence with Powell. He plays Omni as his resource, then immediately plays it– Spud responds by using Have A Blast! on the new ESU, and Gday resolves Omni, locking down The Source. For his recruit, Gday brings out Daredevil, who’s a little less impressive than usual given that he can’t exhaust Spud’s growing hidden board. Speaking of Spud, he counters Gday’s shenanigans with some shenanigans of his own, putting down Big Barda in the support row beside Izaya (Gday’s board has flight thanks to Stealthcraft, so protecting is kind of pointless).

Combat starts when Daredevil dives into Izaya, forcing Spud to reinforce with his 6. Next, Gday sends Spidey and Sable into Barda at 16ATK– just enough to make Barda’s power useless. Spidey stuns; Barda stuns and bounces to hand. Gday passes to Spud, who plays Rabbit Fire on Gypsy to send her flying into Aunt May for 4. With reinforcement now cut out, Cassie takes out Silver Sable.

Sable and May are lost to recovery.

Gday 15, Spud 32

Spud really isn’t thrilled with his turn 7 recruit: replaying Barda. That said, Gday also missed, and puts down Scarlet Spider behind Daredevil.

Spud teams up with Royal Decree, then teams Izaya and Gypsy into Daredevil. Once it’s legal, Spud closes the gap with Blinding Rage; Gday has no response, and Izaya and Daredevil go down. Next, Spud sends Cassie into Spider-Man, but Gday has the Gift Wrapped to shut that down. Spud’s next attempt is Barda into the now-unreinforceable Scarlet Spider. Gday uses Spider’s power to switch off Barda’s text box– annoying, but Spud has enough pump to put Gday exactly on 0, playing No Man on Scarlet to drop him to 10/9. However, Gday has a second Scarlet in hand, and survives the turn on 1.

Spud sighs for the fourth or fifth time this game as he watches Gday KO Scarlet Spider.

Gday 1, Spud 28

Turn 8 really isn’t somewhere the New Birds want to go, but it doesn’t turn out as bad as it could have; Gday still has 5-drop Spidey on the board, he pitched Sentry early on, and his only option for 8 is now Cosmic Spidey, which wouldn’t be a problem, except Spud forced Gday to pitch his spare last turn to avoid dying, so Secret Avenger is going to die if he wants to upgrade. It’s Gday’s turn to sigh– he exhausts Spidey for Powell to get Omni, uses his power to blank Barda again, then nukes him when Cosmic Spidey enters play. Spud’s turn 8 is much less impressive, but it’ll still do the job– he recruits Vixen and Barbara Gordon hidden, and now has enough hidden stuff to swing back on Cosmic Spidey for a stun and the game.

Gday sends Daredevil into Barda, and Spud has no response. Gday can now send Cosmic Spidey through the unreinforced Izaya, but that will leave Spud’s entire hidden board ready to murder him, so he has to pass on the extremely tempting bait, and uses Gift Wrapped on Izaya and Vixen instead.

Spud’s remaining board can’t take down a 22/22 8-drop, so he passes to turn 9.

Gday 1, Spud 22

Spud doesn’t recruit much on turn 9, but he doesn’t really need much, either– he brings out Big Bear and a fresh Barda (for intact Cosmic), fully intending to simply team into Cosmic Spidey with everything he has. For Gday’s part, he doesn’t have much either– he digs with Daredevil and ESU, but doesn’t find anything helpful. Everything he can recruit is itty-bitty and just an invitation for Spud to smash through, so he recruits nothing, Gift Wraps Bards and Gypsy, and then passes.

Spud decides not to screw around, and sends his entire board– Cassie, Vixen, Izaya, Big Bear, and Card Draw Barbie– into the 23/23 Cosmic Spidey at a combined ATK of 34. It’s enough, and Cosmic trades with Cassie.

Final Score: New Birds 16, Wild & Sticky -7

Despite the irritating exhausts and Sable bounces, I felt pretty confident about that game the whole way through– the New Birds are simply a pile of large characters with lots of pumps, and Spidey just can’t keep up the exhaustion shut-down on a curve deck forever, whereas he can keep a swarm locked down more or less indefinitely

I knew taking odds would be key here, as every even turn from 4 through 8 is a horrible turn to be swinging into Spidey– Sensational w/Gift Wrapped on 4, Human Torch on 6, and Sentry on 8 make it almost impossible to make gainful attacks. On the other hand, the deck has no real answer on turn 3, and MUST hit Gift Wrapped AND a 1-of Spidey to make a shutdown on 5. My strategy was pretty simple: make conservative attacks, go for board control instead of break, and expect my best attack to be shut down every turn.

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Spud: “That was great. One less TDB deck to worry about!”

Gday: “Why don’t you like his decks?”

Spud: “My metric is, if you can’t play it drunk, it’s too complicated.”

Gday: “You don’t drink.”

Spud: “I know. I use the metric to justify my intellectual laziness.”

Gday: “…”

Spud: “…you’re so right. Pie IS awesome. So, got time to knock his other one out now?”

******

-Spud