Why The Lunginator is one of the best weapons in the game

My hat's off to you, Bandreus. I don't have either the item collection or the high-tier MP skills to test this build myself, so I'm really happy to be able to experience it vicariously. Thanks to you, instead of an arid armchair theoretical debate, we have some actual empirical results to consider.

I'd be sort of curious to see how your team would fare if you swapped out the God for a conventional double-edged sword or bejewelled shortsword wielder. It sounds as if your burning wizard might be doing a lot of the work.

 

Hey thx @Mr. Magnifico, I'm super glad this seems to be interesting/entertaining. Glad I can do anything in CH which is appreciated by anybody.

Yes, the wizard can be quite the damage dealer. This is also why I'm so reluctant swapping her out for another war.

As for the 2x double edged, that's pretty much what I was running before the Lunginator God. Ten or so games are way too few to get a good feeling of how this new set-up compares to the old one.

These are 2 set-ups I've been using for my pointy-ears fighter over the past several months:
1) Stabs + Barbed Platemail + Enchanted Harness + assorted blocks. Loved this setup, the enemy def doesn't expect an elf to be this resilient. That being said though, not drawing the Barbed combo broke him almost completely, so I ended up switching to the following.
2) Even more Stabs (3x DE) + lots of Mobility + Defender's Block (on him + on the priest). Basically dance across the battlefield then stab suiting enemies to death. Very squishy, very vulnerable to high-mobility warriors of the enemy's, especially if defender's blocks don't come up.

While I do realize lots of the most experienced players around here won't consider this (I mean the latter) an optimal war set-up, I do find it fun and effective, although a tad dependent on at least not drawing unworkable-hands (ikr). I do manage to stay in the 1500s/1600/s with my (admitedly not amazing) 1-1-1, while oscillating quite a bit, so I considered myself happy about my build.

Again, I feel this is still far too soon to make a direct comparison between the old set-up vs the Lunginator God. So I'll churn out more games as I can.

 

Another set of games: 4 games, 4 wins

1) vs 3 dwarf wiz, aggro style. Dwarf definitely owned this one, despite not drawing his best attacks. Quick Run into Surging Shield block into Unnerving Strike and a couple Lunging Bashes, all the while under the effects of Savage Curse pretty much murdered one of the enemy dwarves + seriously injured another one. The wiz finished him off, gg.

2) vs 3 elf warriors. Game won convincingly. God was lucky enough to draw brutal charge so that he could get close to the where everybody wants to be in ballroom on round one. MF + Unholy Frenzy, Surging Shield, couple lunging Strikes + a well placed Mighty Hack = 1 dead elf + 1 almost dead elf. Wiz had a say in it, but not much (as compared to how I usually roll). My dwarf died on the battlefield, but valiantly so. Game was an easy gg after that.

3) vs 2 draw priests + dwarf wiz, easily dismissed by the brute force of buffed Lunginator God. This worked really also well, as I drew support mobility on my other guys on round 1. Quick Run into Unnerving Strike, trashing a Defender's Block in the process = priceless.

4) vs 3 more elf wizards. Poor guy had a harsh first hand, it needs be stated (Traveling curse on the guy holding a ragins strike, ouch!). The amount of punishment dealt by the Luginator God in this one has been insane.

So, this is it for today. I got the purple + need to sleep. To sum it up: I have to admit playing with the Lunginator God felt quite good. It is a tad prone to having a reasonable draw to work with (mainly thinking mobility here, getting to where the action is can be a real slog at times, as you can't rely on the insane mobility from tons of NS/Dancing Cut)

Anyway 12 games won out of 16 games total (75% winrate). Well over my average, not bad at all. That'll be enough for now (got to the purple chest + need some sleep, or tomorrow will be tough at work).

Tomorrow I plan on testing this build some more, although I'll likely make a few minor adjustments. Will prob try adding a tad more mobility, as that's the single thing I've been having the worst feelings about. Might also fine-tune the priest somewhat: he rarely joins the fight (despite having respectable offense capabilities), and his healing is rarely was key to the game, so I might as well add some drawing or whatnot. We shall see.

 

Mobility can probably be helped by Leomunk's Kickin' Boots, which also provide an extra Lunging Bash. Alternatively, you can try making your priest a Human to benefit from the great movement skills. Lunginators surely cannot compete with Vibrant Pain in mobility, but they offer better mobility than pure Bejeweleds

 

Something important first: since I realized some people might be offended by me referring to whatever as "god" (with a capital G), I'll refer to the Lunginator dwarf as "The Lunginator Beast" or simply "Beast" instead. Sorry if that touched the sensitivity of any of you.

@Ector: my priest is human already (using Trained Command, in case you're wondering).

I don't have Leomunk's Kickin' Boots, but I feel like I can do without one more Lunging Bash. Since double Energizing Move seems an interesting option and I do have Nuncible's Boots, I might try this option next, depending on whether or not I'm satisfied with the change I've done.

Reworked my wizard's setup a bit. One less Winds of War and some less magma in exchange for an additional Trained Command and some more Telekinesis. It was a hard choice, but this should help the Lunginator Beast reach downtown more swiftly. Will see if the new set-up holds up with the encouraging results from yesterday.

Another set of games. 3 games won out of 4.

1) vs 2xwar-priest on Ballroom: match begins very well thanks to a perfect Fireball on round 1. Enemy Priest has Sparkling Cloth, so manages to get to the VSs before I do. That being said though, buffed fire wiz loves hitting stuff from afar. Some team-moving + supportive TKing allow the Beast to close in onto the enemy priest, which falls by the end of turn 2. Human warrior is next to fall under the Beast's pounding. Enemy dwarven lunginator is last to reach the fun and can do little in order to change the curse of the game.

2) vs Cardotron on Kitchen. Glad I could give this matchup a go as well. Fighter Unit starts up with Elven Maneuvers, not a good sign. First couple spent trying to keep all of my guys away of unnecessary damage. Luckily enough, Healer Unit hasn't drawn Resistant Hide, so my Wiz can at least focus fire on it. All the while, the Beast can put good cards aside and accumulate buffs. After a couple rounds of careful "you can't touch me" positioning, the stage is set for carnage: Healer is first to fall, as it was badly hurt from fire already. 15 dmg Unnerving Strike on Fighter unit trashing a Disorienting Block felt real good, followed by ultra buffed Lunging Bash and finished off with buffed Ember Burst. Magic unit actually managed to deal some serious damage during the match, but in the end it faced the same (very rude) treatment as its peers.

3) vs 2x dwarf war + priest on Kitchen ending my epic win-streak. This one build proved somewhat problematic: 1 heavy armor/stabby dwarf, 1 dodge/Oblit Chops dwarf, support priest. Will try and give some more in-depth feedback on this one.

First of all, stabs weren't the bane of the Beast. At least not to the extent I feared. Sure, it's an annoyance, and the enemy will get some more damage than you'd like in, but not completely one-sided (if you consider a single, fully buffed Lunging Bash deals more damage than one of his strong/impaling stabs). The heavy armor, on the other hand, was a serious problem. I think at one point the guy was holding Leather Harness, Grounding Plates and 3x Officer's, which was more than effective limiting the effectiveness of my attacks.

Also, I didn't see the oblit chops coming (which I think is the whole point with this sort of builds). The chops dwarf was extremely mobile (had 3 dodges in hand by round 3). He managed to close in onto my wiz and corner her before she was able to do much.

All the while, his priest was able to offer assitence from safe distance, casting heals and using other powerful support cards (martyr's blessing, bless, Sprint, Team!).

That being said, it's not like I was completely helpless for the whole match. The Beast manged to land some seriously buffed hits, also taking the priest down near the end (though, would have been much better doing that earlier, but alas...). I feel like I didn't get many good draws (no Fireball on wiz, no Defender's on priest, only a single Pushback Parry on dwarf, etc.), while my opponent seemed to always have the good cards at his disposal.

He also managed to steal one of my Unnerving Strikes with a Duck (i.e. he rolled the goddamn 6 xD), so maybe the RNG had somewhat of a say on this game. To be completely honest, I could have had a better read of the whole match and played it more smartly from the beginning, so there's that too. It wasn't a close match strictly speaking, but not completely one-sided either. I fought it till the very end, and I think better play on my side might have made up for the poor luck on my draws.

4) vs 3x dwarf warriors (stabs/thoughness/defender's block/sparkling cloth/team walk/etc) on Sanctuary. Though match which I won via careful positioning. First 2-3 rounds basically being spent passing while occasionally poking from safe distance with wiz (still no Fireball or Ember Burst draws =\).

All in all pretty tough match, but again not really because of all the stabbyness involved. Ofc taking 3 dwarves down takes quite some time, but gladly the buffs were going on for the whole match, which helped a lot. Keeping the wiz alive was absolutely key to winning this match. She didn't deal a whole lot of damage (as she does when she gets the right draws) but the spells helped tremendously getting rid of toughness/defenders' in multiple occasions.

As for the Beast, he was unstoppable. He sure is scary if he has a good hand. Quick Run + Unnerving Strike (voiding a defender's) + Lunging Bash finisher, all rigorously buffed, and bham! one dwarf warrior down. Following turn: Surging Shield Block + Unnerving + couple Lunging Bashes, all rigorously buffed, and bham! second dwarf down.



Overall feedback from this set of games (only 4 games though, so take with a pinch of salt)

Great feelings, atm. My team seems to be performing much better thanks to the latest changes. More support mobility (in the form of team moves) help the Beast moving around the battleground considerably (plus I can also use them to save my poor wiz's ass ). Wiz is a tad less effective with dealing damage, but the added control help her keep enemies where she wants (i.e. away from her, close to the Beast).

Some match-ups are definitely more positional than others. Not something exclusive to this build, ofc, so it's not exactly rocket science. But the fact I play 1-1-1 means I need to play a lot of attention to keeping the most vulnerable members of my team safe. Stabby stabby opponents are a bit harsh, but not extremely so (although I feel a fully buffed impaling stabber could still kill Lunginator relatively easily).

 

More games. 4/4 wins

1) vs 2x war-priest on Parlor. Human warrior seemed to be using Lunginator himself. Dwarf warrior was more about NS and 8dmg attacks. Priest.... I have no idea, as he kept it in the backlines all the time, never really casted anything (my best read = loaded on defender's + cause fumble). First one to fall was the human one: Unnerving Strike, couple Lunging Bashes (all buffed up ofc), man down. Human priest dies to wiz long-range attks. Dwarf follows next. I feel like my opponent had some bad draws, as he wasn't really capable of doing much for the whole game.

2) vs 2x dwarf war-priest on Sanctuary. 1 war stabs/close up hybrid, second one NS. Also similar to the previous game, priest didn't accomplish much of anything aside from casting an imp nimbus (which I cancelled off with my own attachments). Anyway, he moves in very aggressively, but the combined effort of the Beast and the wiz is too much. Packing a 2-3 of buffed Beast attacks + hitting jackpot with magma can end games very quickly.

3) vs 1-1-1 on Ballroom. Elf war (Quick Run, + generally tons of mobility. Suspect he had AoA in his deck, though didn't see it), vamp/debuff/nimbus priest, control dwarf wiz. Incredibly smart player, great tactical judgment and sense of positioning. Extremely close game, down to the very wire. Not much to say about the Beast aside from the fact control wizards can disable him quite easily for obvious reasons. Usual punishment being dealt whenever possible, although the guy sure knew how to properly minimize the effectiveness of whatever I was doing.

4) 2 dwar war 1 priest on ballroom. Buffed Beast chases dwarf warrior down thanks to support movemnt, gets on him, blood everywhere. The second Fireball hitting his full team for in 3 rounds caused the ragequit. My opponent was 400 elo points lower too. So yeah, not much meaningful to be said about this game.

 

Next bunch. 2/4 won

1) vs 3x priest team on Ballroom. Not much to say, as the opponent gg-ed as soon as he saw me play a WoW. He said: "I can't deal with the control wiz". Now, my wiz does have some amount of control, but nothing extreme. This is why you don't gg early for little to no reason.

2) vs Cult of the Bejeweled on Sanctuary. Was a close game although very fierce one and luck wasn't on my side. The match started real bad, with an horrible first hand and only a decent second one. Both my Unnerving Strikes being parried really made the game go awry. The Beast managed to still bring one of the elves down to 4 hp, but once he went down the rest of the gang had almost free reign. Think I could have won if I didn't fail all the important rolls.

3) vs 2x bust dwarves + buff/draw priest on Kitchen. This matchup was a nightmare. The damage was too much, plus the two wiz had enough control to keep the Beast away for most of the match. He did take one of the enemies down before falling himself. Lost the game in a pretty one-sided way, didn't even feel like I had a chance (maybe if I really had awesome draws, maybe).

4) vs 2x dwarf priest - burst wiz on Parlor. Wizard is a bit greedy, furious charges to middle to get better snipe position. I take cover, minimizing damge intake while waiting for a good hand. Next turn Beast is on the wiz, inflicting serious damage. One of the priests had roots, quite annoying but that only means I have to wait for the next round (he's too scared to get close to my warrior with his priests, it would seem. blind rage + MF does that effect, I guess). Lo and behold, wiz is down without being able to do much of anything else. Buffed wiz burns one priest down to ashes into ragequit.

 

Bonus co-op match!

Elf Vamp + Support Priest + Beast vs Elf War + Control Wiz + Dwarf Priest on Kitchen.

First round not much happens, as enemy wiz uses illusionary barrier to keep our team away from the VSs. Mainly positioning and some buffing going on and round is ended already.

Second round, Imp Nimbus is cast on Elf Warrior, which holds the VSs aggressively, some more positioning. Enemy wiz, feeling reassured by his momentarily invulnerable friend, moves on the VS too. Big mistake: Beast Quick Runs + buffed up Mighty Hack the guy's face and he's down to 2hp already, then dead. Elf Vamp maneuvers around the VS area, ready to jump on enemy priest. He quick Runs too + storm of cantrip touches/spears and enemy pries is drained for good.

Man, don't get why they say most co-op matches are real slow

 

You should be sleeping Ban.

 

I am

 

;____;

 

I'm a huge fan of The Lunginator myself. I ran this warrior to good effect in a variety of builds, and he always performed well. I recently picked up a second Lunginator, and I'm probably going to try out a duel Lunginator build when I get back into MP (which will probably be soon, I've been on hiatus for a while now and I'm starting to get the itch).

As a side note, Elven Manuvers is great when you have a deck full of Lunging Bashes.

[SRC]Nissa's Chosen
Level 20 Elf Warrior

Vibrant Pain
The Lunginator
Porior's Nimble Mace
Cuirass Of Froth
Slippery Shield
Crusty Helm
Araco's Boots
Cautious Mobility
Novice Bruising
​

1 x Bludgeon
2 x Elven Maneuvers
7 x Lunging Bash
1 x Scouting Run
1 x Mighty Hack
1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor
2 x Frenzy Aura
6 x Nimble Strike
1 x Reliable Mail
2 x Bruiser
1 x Wild Run
1 x Hardy Mail
1 x Obvious Maneuver
3 x Hard To Pin Down
2 x Unnerving Strike
1 x Ill-fitting Armor
3 x Able Bludgeon
​

 

Another bunch of games, 2/4 won

1) vs 2 elf war - human priest on Kitchen. Both elves were pretty heavy on the stabs, with some ochops and dodges thrown in for good measure. Like with the other matchups involving stabs, those complicate things a bit, but don't turn games into impossible affairs. Was a very close one, I think I played a bit poorly (decision making on which Beast attacks to use and when, positioning etc). What really made things more complicated were the martyr's blessing and elven maneuver. Enemy priest taken down on the VSs made things easier. In the end though, his last elf managed to take down an already hurt Beast and my full-hp priest. His Barbed Platemail + other armor continued to trigger roll after roll after roll, all the while elven maneuvers made him draw more attacks. I ended up losing, but I really impute this defeat to the RNG

2) vs 1-1-1 on Parlor. NS dwarf warrior, deadly spark/control wiz, support priest. Played this one badly too. The wiz heavy on linear attacks obviously is a pain. His war managed to snipe down my wiz early. Beast being a beast as usual, took down his priest in two hits and had a very good hand during last round, but me miscalculating the enemy wizard's range cost me the game in the end, as my priest was continuously niped from afar.

3) vs 2 war - 1 vamp on Sanctuary. Fairly uninteresting game tbh, Beast toe-to-toe with his two warriors, bloody exchange of blows. One of his guys goes down fast. Buffed wizard and my priest take down the vamp, gg.

4) vs all dwarves 1-1-1 on Sanctuary. Have played this opponent multiple times before, so I kinda know his style (burst/control wiz, aggro warrior, buff/debuff priest). I move Beast on the VSs thanks to support movement, he does the same. It's a bloodbath: our warriors are both buffed and loaded on attacks but no armor or blocks. At the end of the fight, his warrior is dead, and the Beast is down to 1hp. Next round is very positional, I try to move Beast inside the VS area in order to avoid the enemy wiz LoS, but vs burst is a lost cause, so he goes down. Luckily my Wiz draws Resistant Hide early, which make things much more easy for me. Game goes long for several more rounds, but I take it, in the end.

I also played a bunch more games vs cardotron. Not much to say about it (won all 3), aside from the fact Unnerving Strike is obviously golden when Fighter unit is around. Especially if Beast has cantrip moves/surging shield block/sparkling cloth armor.

 

Sry for double posting, but I hope separating the match reports from the overall feedback makes everything more readable.

This is the overall feedback for the 16 games I've played since I tweaked the build the last time.

The added support mobility definitely helps the Beast be more effective, so I'm real happy about that. Control wizards seem to be a real problem, things get way more complicated for my whole team whenever a competent opponent has lots of control cards to use at his own advantage. Stabs definitely arent that big of an issue, at least in my (admittedly limited still) experience with this Lunginator build. I'm way happier to fight vs stabs then, say, burrft or elven maneuvers and all the other usually scary builds.

Possible ideas for further tweaking? A friend gave me a good idea for tweaking the build further, but I want to wait a tad more before trying out that one (his suggestion sounds very good though). I have very good feelings about how the build is behaving right now, so I'll play a bunch more games before making up my mind if/how to tweak it further.

Now, for the fun part: let's talk about ranking.

My average ranking before trying out the Lunginator Beast was realativelly stable in the 1500s. Often oscillating between high-1400 and low 1600.

When I started using the Lunginator Beast, my rank was about 1450 (was coming from somewhat of a losing streak). Now, after 32 games, I'm currently sitting on 1607 elo.

Fun story though. Remember when I played that bonus match? Well, the day after that, I queue into ranked w/o bringing back my build (I know I know), and long story short I lost quite a bit in rank (also thx to the latest defeats vs opponens of inferior rank).

The highest rank with my current buil has been 1667, recorded sometime yesterday. Not bad Beast, not Bad.

I do wonder if I can push this build further, maybe I can hit the 1700s?

 

New map pool! Let's see how this build fares on Celestial maps. 2/4 won

1) Vs 2 human priests (vamp/support) - human warrior on Lions. This map promotes spreading out your team somewhat. Beast uses support moves + Brutal Charge to jump on top of one of the priests. The Beasts wasn't buffed, but still managed to take down the enemy in two turns, despite him using a couple draining attacks and a major healing spell. Wiz and Priest keep the others at, which involves sacrificing the wizard at the very end. Beast uses that time to slowly reach the other side of the map to finally inflict the finishing blow on the enemy warrior. GG

2) vs 2 priests - elf warrior on Temple. Beast keeping enemy warrior away from VS with Lunging Bash and Wiz catching the whole opposing party in a perfect Fireball. One of his priests is loaded on Cause Fumbles, so Beast can only land a single (buffed) Unnerving Strike. Enemy warriors manages to take down my Wiz in a single hit (Quick Run + 11dmg atk + AoA + Unholy Frenzy), but he is immediately killed by my own priest. Enemy Priest too comfortable on his Cause Fumnbles rushes to VP and is taken down too. GG

3) vs 1-1-1 on Koi. His elf wizard draws Resistant Hide, so my own wiz is rendered largely ineffective. His priest takes the VS and casts Imp Nimbus on himself, so I override that with my own attachments and take him down. His wiz is pretty heavy on control, so he manages to keep my guys at bay somewhat. He finally takes the game by killing my priest.

4) vs burfft on Lions. Burst + Buffs too stronk xD

 

Can you post the deck you're using, wiz and priest too? =) Cheers

 

I was planning on posting the finalized build, after all the changes and tweaking going on. Since I'll have much less time to play lots of MP matches due to work related stuff, I might as well post my current setup.

Klinkaskree aka The Beast
Level 21 Dwarf Warrior

The Lunginator
The Lunginator
The Lunginator
Xander's Mail
Hexagon Shield
Captain Cedric's Helm
Diamond Moccasins
Raging Battler
Focused Crushing
​

1 x Surging Shield Block
3 x Reliable Mail
1 x Quick Run
4 x Officer's Harness
3 x Mighty Hack
2 x Pushback Parry
1 x Brutal Charge
9 x Lunging Bash
2 x Blind Rage
6 x Unnerving Strike
1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor
3 x Crusher
​

Tellorzac
Level 20 Human Wizard

Staff Of The Fire God
Red Flame
Wand Of Seared Air
Wand Of Seared Air
Ring Of Appropriation
Avakiria's Cup
Rockshard Robes
Mouse Boots
Apprentice Guidance
Molten Pyromancy
​

2 x Hot Spot
3 x Ember Burst
1 x Gusts Of War
3 x Glob Of Flame
1 x Unreliable Block
1 x Attack, Soldier!
1 x Resistant Hide
1 x Flame Jet
2 x Wall Of Fire
1 x Cautious Sneak
2 x Flanking Move
1 x Firestarter
1 x Walk, Team!
2 x Winds Of War
2 x Stone Spikes
2 x Telekinesis
3 x Magma Spray
2 x Fireball
4 x Instant Burn
1 x Hot Flames
​

Fredon
Level 18 Human Priest

Huetotl's Firebrand
Dark Drewg's Mace
Savage Plates
Aegis Of The Defender
Sliding Boots
Demon Charm Of The 7th Circle
Skull Of Savage Iljin
Bleneth's Frenzy Medallion
Trained Command
Untrained Piety
​

1 x Sundering Strike
1 x Flanking Move
2 x Altruism
1 x Inspiring Presence
2 x Strong Hack
1 x Bad Luck
3 x Savage Curse
1 x Demonic Power
1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor
1 x Attack, Soldier!
1 x Weak Chop
3 x Unholy Frenzy
2 x Fiery Stab
1 x Triple Heals
5 x Mass Frenzy
1 x Walk, Team!
2 x Defender's Block
1 x Unholy Wellspring
1 x Thickened Mail
1 x Dash, Team!
2 x Strong Bludgeon
1 x Team Walk
1 x Defensiveness
​

 

one more set of games. 3/4 won

1) vs 2 war 1 wizard (all humans) on Dojo. My wiz goes down relatively fast, but not before dishing out a considerable amount of damage. Beast deals the finishing blow on enemy wiz and also terminates one of the warriors, during a pretty fierce exchange of blows. The map being Dojo, my opponent can't really do much to avoid defeat with his last warrior vs 2 of my guys. GG

2) vs Cardotron on Koi. My priest draws 2 Defender's Blocks on round 1, so I feel confident enough letting the Beast take the VS. Magic unit lands a couple spells, but the blocks and armor mitigate the incoming damage. The AI is a bit too reckless, pushing magic unit too close to my characters, so I TK it near the Beast and... well I'll let you imagine the rest. Even in a 2v3 scenario, Cardotron is not to be undervalued, especially on a map with a single VS. I manage to outplay him though, and the Healer unit finally falls as well and I take the game.

3) vs all dwarves 1-1-1 on Temple. A pretty close match. The enemy priest was loaded on Imp Nimbus and Blocks, which made everything much more complicated. He goes down, but not before the enemy warrior manages to corner and put my own priest to sleep, forever. The game prolonged itself way too much, so my opponent finally wins by burning the Beast into hashes. GG

4) vs 2 elf war 1 priest on Koi. He is very aggressive, as expected. Takes the VS, but I make his life into a nightmare by dishing out tons of lava/spikes. His wiz uses some Imp Nimbus, but that only buys him some time. When he rushes in in order to use is Oblit Chops, some control from the Wiz and a big 1-2 of the Beast is enough to put one of his warriors to rest. His second warrior has Barbed Platemail, which is always annoying, but likely enough I have a Sundering Strike on my priest, so that's taken care of. He tries to hold the VS with his priest but, despite the fact the Beast has been taken down already, he has to concede the game. GG

 

More games. 3/4 won (although 2 of those victories are vs Cardotron)

1) vs Cardotron on Dojo. He spreads out his guys, magic unit to center, in a very vulnerable position, so I TK him near the Beast, and he's dead in a couple turns. Next is healer unit's turn. Luckily enough the AI is more concerned about holding a VS with his fighter unit rather than chasing my own guys, so the match goes on smoothly. Healer goes down fast, despite it parrying a big attack, gg.

2) vs 3 elf warriors on Temple. Not exactly cult of the bejeweled, but very similar. He's incredibly aggressive, as expected. I try and play carefully, both my priest and wiz are very vulnerable and The Beast, as sturdy as it is, can't really resist being ganged up by several attackers. I manage to make my opponent largely ineffective in the early game thanks to some support movement. In the meantime, wizard can distribute some damage via emeber burst and magma. One of the warriors is dead by round two, but him drawing Elven Maneuvers complicates things somewhat. Luckily, he's a bit too reckless, and one of his warriors is out of cards and in a vulnerable spot of the map, so I can close in with my priest and unload some good damage. Second warrior down, it's gg shortly thereafter.

3) vs Cardotron on Lions. Again, the AI spreads his guys around. Healer unit is fool enough to jump on the Beast, who's holding one of the VS on the sides. It can survive for a couple rounds only thanks nimbuses. In the meantime, my wiz and priest take care of magic unit, which seems all too prone to taking advanced and very vulnerable position. Fighter unit only cares about holding the VS on its side of the map. Good for me. GG

4) vs 3 warriors on Lions. My opponent draws Sprint, Team on round 1, and is able to corner my wiz with two of his guys. With my wiz down so early, everything gets way more complicated. I do manage to take one of the warriors out, but at this point my opponent is in a favorable position. The map being Lions means he can play defensively, waiting for me to make a tactical mistake (which I'm bound to, at this point). I.e. the rest of the game is an uphill battle. I do play to my best, but in the end I can't take the game. GG

 

and one more set of games!

1) vs 1-1-1 on Dojo. My opponent is very thoughtful about is play, which makes me think he has some trick under his sleeves (I'll later find out he has tons of mobility + control on the priest). Anyway, I take center VS with Beast while he takes another VS with his wiz. Enemy priest is advanced to offensive position, which lets beast dispatch him quite easily (Quick Run + 2x Powerful Hacks. Yeah, good draw on Beast). After that, he goes on the offensive with his own dwarf warrior. I didn't draw any blocks on the Beast, so he is taken down, but his dwarf does as well. His elf wiz, alone, manages to survive for a surprising number of rounds (also thanks to good rolls on his reflexive teleport), but I take the game nonetheless.

2) vs 3 warriors on Lions. Another very mobile, very aggressive opponent. Luckily he doesn't draw Sprint, Team on round 1, so I have much more room for maneuvering. One of his dwarf warriors is bringing stabs, which don't make the game too hard. The stabby dwarf goes down easily enough, a fully buffed Lunging Bash makes him get Beast is not to be fooled around, especially when it pushes you back on a magma square. He's done with the following Unnerving Strike. That being said, 2 warriors can be a threat even when outmatched in number, so I keep on playing carefully. The other dwarf warrior is slowly taken care of by my wiz, finishing blow dealt by priest. Enemy has to concede the gg.

3) vs 1-1-1 on Dojo. His war is loaded on stabs which, again (guess I've stated this several times), is annoying to deal with, but not a huge problem. He casts PoK on the Beast, but I have Reliable Mail, making his TKing my guy around largely uneffective. Both is priest and wiz are cought by some big buffed Beast attacks, also thanks to some supporting TK from my wiz. His wiz is dead almost instantly, and the priest is burned to hashes the following round. His warrior alone can't do much.

4) vs 1-1-1 on Lions. I managed to hold more VSs then opponent, good for me. He heavily buffs his wiz. I manage to minimize damage intake, but he takes my wiz down. Not before my own wiz manages to land a couple big spells. His wiz dies to burning damage, leveling the balance of the fight again. He rushes in with his own warrior, which has Barbed Platemail. Buffed Beast voids one of his blocks with Unnerving stikes + hits hard with lunging bashes. The Barbed Platemail deals enough damage, so the situation is tense. He doesn't get a lucky roll which would have killed Beast, so warrior goes down and it's gg for me.