Some people point to number of injuries as
the key determinant of success each year in the NFL. The theory goes that there's so much parity between players, coaching, etc., that how many injuries a team sustains actually becomes the #1 factor in whether a team makes the postseason. In much the same way, I think staying off-radar is pretty key in War. Constantly getting matched against Strategists and Lieutenants adds up over time. The bad news is that we're on the radar for some teams, like Time. The good news is the more they focus on what
they think we have in vault, the more opportunity their is to win by bringing something else to the table.
Usual drill. Haven't looked at any other recommendations yet. I'm going to try to emphasize decks/cards that teams haven't seen yet or decks/cards they might believe to be eliminated. I'm probably going to fail and fall back on our presets, but I'd love to see creative options from the team.
Onizuka - They've tried Flying Titans and Dragons, both creatures that aren't bothered by Wings and cc. Looking at their other matchups, I think we're likely to face their fire or dark splashes with high hp creatures (abyss crawlers, drags, steamies, etc). Steamies might be a good choice for them as we've now used four light stalls in three rounds and we haven't been especially rushy. Given the team's reliance on creature damage as a whole, we should be packing cc. But the high hp creatures mean freeze, BB, and RT are wise. I'd like to salvage RTs and splash them in a rush. Hurricane is another good option.
Gen.
PlayerOa - We haven't used our grabbow since it lost in R1, so it might be believed dead. While taking a grabbow is unusual against Time, ours beats the bows they've sent us the last two rounds as well as their EQ earf duo, in case Time has decided generic quanta disruption is the tool du jour against us. I'd go -1 momentum, +1 mirror just in case they bring the UG dial deck as they did in R1.
Kuroaitou - The trouble with Light as an element is the three creatures Kuro is most likely to use cost 6, 12, and 9 Light (Kuro has 5 White Nymphs). Because they favor mirrors over solars against us, decks are likely to be underquanta'd or have very few creatures. This pushes them towards making stalls. They resist (they've used exactly two every round,) because one-dimensional teams don't fare well, but with their backs against the wall, they'll do what they must. Kuro, with 5 Nymphs, is well equipped to stall. So I could see him taking the Immortal but he probably views our previous two decks as breakers, so he may not want to go that way. He could also use their dissader deck which beats the two decks we've previously sent, but it's weak against Sws or our light stalls. Ultimately a good option for him might be a deflag or steal splash. An RT splash on our part or Hurricane are both good options there. Not a lot of conviction in mindgating here, though because I think some form of PC is relatively likely we should consider going light on perms.
Kakerlake - Last round I predicted pulvy rush or flying staves. They didn't use either last round, and maul points out in the Earth analysis thread they're losing in-element hitters, so I think both decks are fairly likely options against us this round. Immortal is always a possibility but since it looks like we played 2 Nymphs against them last round to break their stall, they may be unwilling to try a Stall. They haven't played a mirror yet all War and so far there's no possibility they salvaged any through the first three rounds. For these reasons I'll make my same recommendation as last round: Hurricane with 6 Toadfish, fewer perms and more quanta.
Acsabi44 - First off, I'd like to apologize for the Fire matchup last round. I think I misunderstood what Jen said about Shadow Dragons and then nudged Burd into playing it to free up accelatitans and our light stall. My bad. This round we're probably facing 6 ups (Lt or Ber) or their Strategist, so it'll be a tough matchup no matter what. I'm actually no longer enthused about accelatitans since they already played a critterless stall against us last round and accelatitans isn't fast enough to keep up with their rush. Light stall might be our best option.
ddevans vs
Gen.
kev - I'm definitely open to opinions here. Right now I'm thinking Fractalgons speed version is a good option. They haven't used a dim yet and NM really only appears in their ghostmare and sometimes one copy in their grabbow. As far as area of effect cards goes, it looks like they've used one copy of firestorm in a deck they probably no longer have. Feedback appreciated.
Edit: I realize Hurricane is part of my recommendation in 3/6 of matchups.
In all, I see us facing rushes this round and I'd like to send doms in response. Bonair might be a good alternative, or something more custom.
