[02:58] serprex: Think I actually misplayed that last game, even with sopa in last 8 cards
[02:58] serprex: If I never NM squid, I don't get low on water & can keep 6 phoenix & a vagger frozen
[02:59] serprex: Since I had voodoo that means he only had 48 damage, plus NM. That gives me ~35 health to play with
[03:00] serprex: There's enough quanta in the deck to keep things frozen even after 4 steals take quanta
So it wasn't just RNG. I misplayed the game I won too, lost focus & made a couple bad decisions shock didn't capitalize on
What I'm trying to say is, yes, I predicted this deck correctly. But when it came down to it, shock outplayed me
I nightmared because I wanted to deny a draw. But I knew he was stealing pillars, so I was giving him all the cards he needed. I'd forgotten
Who is the beatdown?I thought I had to nightmare him while his water quanta was still too low to spam squids. What a misconceived notion. I felt playing Nightmare was inevitable, but I needed to accept Nightmare as a dead card until I could finish him or needed to prevent lethal damage. I too greatly feared my opponent drawing cards, & I failed to recognize that until I draw SoPa, my deck is a control deck. Just because the only healing in it is a dead Nightmare & Minor Vampire, doesn't mean it can't play control
Which is to say I shouldn't've swapped a Vamp for a Nightmare, because Nightmare is too skill intensive a card for me to play correctly. But I don't blame only myself. I blame JCJ & Torb, who didn't reveal this knowledge to me while I brought up the topic of Nightmare in this matchup. Instead shock had to teach this to me
Playing Nightmare early was an emotional decision. I'm use to having time to apply my rational process, but in pvp the timer pushes me. When my deck draws as intended, I am the beatdowwn. When I could feel shock beating on me, I fed into panic & looked for action where I needed inaction. Nightmare gives one beatdown the upperhand over another. I figured I'd draw sopa soon & I wanted to stiffle shock's momentum. These are anstract concepts far removed from the reality of the board state
I told shock I was feeling better after losing this than most matcchs. That was while I was still under the impression that it was just the risk of playing sopa. But now this is the worst, brings me back to that sleepless night after losing to Higgs in a semifinals. But then the radio played
Cold in the Summer & I felt the stress wash away. Goodnight