Mitternacht and Me

Discussion in 'Castle Mitternacht Playtest' started by Testlum, Sep 30, 2016.

  1. Testlum

    Testlum Lizardman Priest

    Yes, it's probably Mitternacht and I. Whatever. I'll be using this space to store game logs, thoughts, potential suggestions and the like. Since there's so many new items and cards to try out, this will probably end up missing quite a few of them. That's no reason not to try, right?

    Total Games: 18

    Deck Concept: Boo!/Punishing Bolt Wizards x2, Entangling Roots/Greater Heal Priest x1
    Airhead
    Level 24 Human Wizard

    Egghead
    Level 1 Human Wizard

    Ghostbuster
    Level 1 Human Priest

    Current Games: 5
    Opponent used two wizards with heavy draw. Unholy Energy from a priest and Medium's Garb pumped cards into the wizards. However, due to their naturally short legs, the dwarf wizards couldn't reach my own without being thrown back behind a wall. Denial of victory points followed by a kill on a Boo'd wizard.
    Opponent's team is melee based, consisting of a priest and two warriors, one human and one dwarf. All three characters held multiple Vengeances throughout the course of the game. Something learnt: casting Entangling Roots on a character with Vengeance still allows them to have the move on that turn. Danced around victory points while trying to make use of Boo! for denial. Close game but ultimately finished off by superior mobility and a rather silly placement of one of my wizards.
    In a matchup against acid wizards, the low range of punishing bolt makes it hard to dodge opposing LoS while still keeping the target in range. Opponent dumped acid sprays to pump up their Hexes of Dissolution, maintaining the victory tiles in sight. Overall, an interesting build with Investigate to help heal up wounded characters during setup for the kill. Not an especially close game, the range limitations of this deck and the threat of 10+ damage Hexes made it a quick loss.
    Facing two dwarf warriors and a wizard, I was afraid that Smoke Bomb would come to ruin my day. To my relief, none were cast. Instead, my opponent had a control oriented wizard to help get his warriors into my face. That wasn't too much of a problem, Entangling Roots were meant for this, though a surprise Vengeance got 11 damage onto one of my wizards as his warriors advanced. An aggressive early game kill got me the advantage and a timely Travelling Curse meant victory.
    A mirror match, though the opposing team used dwarf wizards instead of humans. By taking control of the victory squares early, I managed to make good use of control spells to constant shove Timeracers's wizards into blind spots while hoarding stars. Boo! came into play as well, forcing retreat from high damage Punishing Bolts. With only a couple of stars left, Timeracers had to advance with his wounded wizard, leading to a kill for the last two victory points.

    Viable? Yes
    The gameplay of this team is much different from my usual melee fare, which made for a refreshing change of pace. Much of the match is dictated by how aggressively you can advance with your wizards, depending on what the support priest drew. Though it was rarely the initial Boo!/Entangling Roots combo that made the team work, both cards separately worked to efficiently boost the damage of Punishing Bolts - Roots negates melee while Boo! forces retreats, leading into full hands when they approach once more. Though the build definitely needs polish, I would say that it has a place post-Mitternacht.

    ***​

    Deck Concept: Nimbus/Investigate Priests x3
    Ghostbuster
    Level 1 Human Priest

    Spooks
    Level 1 Human Priest

    Fisheye
    Level 1 Human Priest

    Current Games: 2
    Fought another match against the aforementioned acid wizards. Nimbus allows for reckless forays no matter how many acid tiles are up. Mobility is a bit of a problem with the priest's usual lack of step attacks but Sacred Shroud combined with Investigate allowed my priests to soak up a substantial amount of damage while waiting for Impenetrable Nimbus to appear. With the opposing team lacking much in the way of control, ended the game with victory square control while chipping away and eventually taking down two wizards.
    A rematch versus the Vengeance melee build. With a lack of purge, priests can stand on the victory tiles and dig for big attacks from Healing Hand Mace. Vengeance mobility again proved threatening, alongside Sparkling Cloth Armor for unblockable backstabs. A surprise Walpurgis Night cut down one of my priests but the other two managed to hold the victory tile long enough for a win.

    ***​

    Deck Concept: Investigate + Hex of Dissolution Wizards x2, Acid Spray Wizard x1
    Airhead
    Level 24 Human Wizard

    Egghead
    Level 1 Human Wizard

    Bobblehead
    Level 1 Human Wizard

    Current Games: 1
    Opponent brought a 1-1-1 composition, one of the more versatile team archetypes. After initially seeing a lot of Purging Bursts from his priest, I decided to go after the wizard as it would be the most threatening unit towards my own team. The match mostly consisted of me controlling my own wizards about, as his warrior was hampered by Encumber from Heavy Armor. Despite not drawing Hexes of Dissolution alongside Acid Sprays for the first two rounds, when they came around the opposing warrior (who had been heavily armored up to this point) was taken down in three hits, resulting in a forfeit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2016
    Testlum, Sep 30, 2016
    #1
    wereviper and Flaxative like this.
  2. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    Thank you for this. I am noting your 5 games (and will continue to count them as you play more).

    Could you please provide more information for each game though please? I'd love your full build, and your opponents' names. Thanks!
     
    Flaxative, Oct 1, 2016
    #2
  3. Testlum

    Testlum Lizardman Priest

    Deck Concept: Smoke Wizard x1, All Out Attack Warriors x2
    Dodger
    Level 1 Human Warrior

    Dancer
    Level 1 Human Warrior

    Airhead
    Level 24 Human Wizard


    Current Games: 5
    In general, the build is meant to do work against wizards. Smoke Bomb put in just as much work as it did pre-Mitternacht against the opposing two wizards and their supporting priest. With smoke up, it wasn't too clear whether the Sparks of Undeath he discarded were meant for me or his own wizards. Flanking Move alongside Vanguard showed some potential here, although learning the right order will take some time. With smoke and team movement, one wizard was isolated and taken down, followed by the priest for a win.
    A supporting priest can usually provide more utility to a pair of warriors than a wizard. Although I hadn't really taken it into account during the game, multiple Howls on Khyle345's part allowed his warrior to regenerate quite a bit of health. The match turned into a brawl over the victory squares after one of his warriors took down my wizard and died in the process. Multiple Vampire's Kisses made the priest extremely difficult to fight with high damage attacks from my end being turned into low damage drains. In the end, one of his warriors obtained Lycanthropic Form and chased down my injured warrior for the victory.
    A second bout against the Form melee build. Khyle345's strategy of going after the wizard took place a second time, with his warrior dying in the process as well. This time, my warrior got off a huge hit with All Out Attack on the opposing priest, taking it out. The lategame ended up with one character left each, both waiting on the victory squares. He engaged first, running into a series of Parries that left him down on health as I retaliated. The last move came by a Vicious Thrust to the back, just enough damage to secure a kill.
    Vanguard really came into the spotlight this match versus Pyrious's triple acid wizards. Against acid terrain, you can slog your way through an additional tile each time you move, making progress much less painful than usual. Applying Smoke Bomb to the victory tile let me choose the terms of confrontation, with Vanguard letting me advance and retreat as needed into cover after picking off each enemy.
    This time, Pyrious brought a different build to try out, using Walpurgis Night and Daylight as a damage combo from a pair of priests as well as a silver-laden Warrior meant to quickly take down Forms. As we both knew each other's builds, the game was pretty straightforward. Drawing multiple parries on the warrior he targeted, as well as him not drawing the combo cards led to a quick victory.


    Viable?     Yes
    In the new meta, I expect to see a lot of experimentation with Form cards, as well as damage-focused acid mages. Vanguard combined with Flanking Move has become a combination I've fallen in love with, allowing any attack to gain Step 1, which is huge when you're hiding under the cover of smoke. Despite not being too different from the smoke warrior builds used in the current game, this build can hold its own in the new meta. With Smoke Bomb as a counter to the latter and All Out Attack preying on the lack of blocks from the Forms, this will probably be one way to counter the new strategies arising from Castle Mitternacht.

    ***​

    Deck Concept: Budget - Control Wizard x1, Stab Elf x1, Debuff/Greater Heal Priest x1
    Furnace
    Level 24 Dwarf Wizard

    Ghoul
    Level 1 Elf Warrior

    Ghostbuster
    Level 1 Human Priest

    ​
    Current Games: 5
    Opposing team consisted of two wizards and a priest, all humans. It didn't take long for Pyrious to reveal his build. Multiple Lava Pools came from his wizards, forcing my warrior to take damage if I decide to stay on the victory squares. Getting in LoS of the wizards netted me some damage on one of them, which was countered by heavy healing from the priest. In the next few rounds, Ancient Grudges were cast, dealing 8+ damage each to my characters and killing them.
    A rematch. This time around, I took a more aggressive position with the warrior, trying to get the wizards to expose themselves should they want to have LoS. Opposing priest moved forward and was snatched up by a Winds of War, but with heavy healing again avoided death. Three Lava Pools forced me to retreat, a boon for his wizards to stack up discards. Late game, my units fell to Ancient Grudges.
    Timeracers brought his own 1-1-1 in this game. Initially, a fight over the victory tiles brought his wizard down to low health. Positioning his warrior to block my way, the game progressed with my opponent waiting on the victory squares while I tried to get the kill on the wizard. A Quick Run forced in the opposite direction by a timely Mind Muddle ruined that plan, forcing me to become more aggressive to avoid losing by stars. Medium's Garb proved to be powerful, generating more cards for Ancient Grudge to be powered up on his wizard. Late game, Walpurgis Night was used as a panic button but too little, too late. Ancient Grudge takes the win from this team for the third time.
    Against triple elf warriors, the wizard would probably be the key to winning. Khyle345 picked up on that and started the game by going after my wizard, with Werewolf Form coming on and off his characters. With a lucky hand of Greater Heals, Nimble Strikes can't do too much. With my warrior, I took down one of his elves and ended up dancing around the two left for a win based on victory points.
    In a two priest one warrior matchup, your best bet is to hold the victory points and send the opponent flying away with your control spells. For the first two rounds, I managed to sit and hoard points while Rohndil dug about for the combo he was about to pull off: Walpurgis Night and Daylight. Unfortunately for him, all the combo did was delay the game. Vampires can simply drain health after being hit by Daylight while Spirits just don't care. I surrender the victory tile after his card-laden characters approach my warrior. He manages to take down one of my units with a surprise All Out Attack but I take the win with Werewolf Form giving me the one card I needed: Sundering Strike. Stripping him of Inquisition Badge followed by a Silver Bolt netted the final stars.

    Viable?     Maybe
    While the classics have always been able to stand the test of time, Mitternacht just might be the expansion to change it all. With builds focusing on dealing enough damage to take out units in two hits, control doesn't always cut it. Mobility afforded characters to dodge out of a battle after sustaining a few hits, now with ranged attacks being able to cut down characters with 10+ damage from afar, we have to ask ourselves if it's even worth packing the movement instead of bursting down the opponent with your own big hits. It's still early, but this build just might have lived its last.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2016
    Testlum, Oct 1, 2016
    #3
    wereviper likes this.
  4. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    Ok, got you at 10 now, thanks!
     
    Flaxative, Oct 1, 2016
    #4
  5. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    Thank you for all your help with the Castle Mitternacht playtest.

    Unless you posted more in another thread (in which case, sorry I missed it), I have you at 18 games.

    You will receive 5 Epic Mitternacht chests when this content is released.
     
    Flaxative, Oct 21, 2016
    #5

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