Two weeks ago I played my first online chain tournament and won, and this week I got to play again. Spoiler alert: I did not win.
Deck evaluation
This is where most of the skill of the format is concentrated. I’ve learned some new things this time and it will definitely help in future games and matches that require chain bidding.
Let’s go over my thought process during evaluation. As previously, I recorded an audio file of me speaking out while thinking. Here is an edited transcription of my thoughts. Decks are ordered in the order they will be bid on, which is also the order in which I reviewed them.
Deck images generated by keyforge-compendium.com
I go over Brobnar and I like the creature count but dislike the low aember control and complete lack of board clear.
Shadows gives me pause. I really don’t know how to evaluate Speed Sigil in sealed. The chance of it harming me more than benefiting me is huge. Regardless I count the cards that would benefit from it: Headhunter, Headhunter, Dodger and miss Witch of the Eye. Doesn’t seem like enough anyway.
I like the Witch of the Eye and Dusk Pixie and Lost in the Woods in Untamed.
I count aember control: Bumpsy, Urchin, dodger and miss Old Bruno, and I rank it low based on the aember control and move on.
The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal
Brobnar is looking strong on the opener with Burn the Stockpile, Bumpsy and Lomir Flamefist. I’m ok with the Autocannon because it doesn’t have Coward’s End, which is an antisynergy. Hebe is good and Wardrummer can let me cycle some aember control.
In Mars I find the Phospherous stars to be adequate board control. Deep probe is excellent and I love me some Jammar Pack.
The double Lost in the Woods is great. The 5 untamed creatures with Hunting Witch is alright. Troop Call and Regrowth can help trigger it some more. At this point I notice that both decks have Common Cold, and I keep an eye out for how this will affect the value of Mars decks.
Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation
Lots of creatures in Brobnar and that’s great, and while it has some aember control in Bumpsy and some board control in Earthshaker I reckon it ain’t enough, especially in the aember control department.
A little bit of aember control in Logos and I just kind of move on to Untamed and gloss over it quickly. It’s average.
Bouncing Deathquark is great and Remote Access can be good, but I don’t recall any specific artifacts it would be good against and now looking over previous decks, I was right. Subtle Maul and Feeding Pit at the most useful so far. Martianologist? Even more Mars hate.
Sanctum has a great board and Blinding Light is decent control. I amuse myself with having three Staunch Knights but only two flanks.
I count the aember control in Shadows, where I want it to be, and it has very little of it. Urchin and Miasma. I only see the Special Delivery which is fun to Remote Access, but this is the deck with the Remote Access.
I rank this below The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal based on lack of aember control.
U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse
I find the Logos board solid with big bodies and Doc Booktons which I may want to pick repeatedly as a main house.
I love the strong Mars here, and it can definitely work.
What stands out on Shadows is the Speed Sigil, but in this deck it is much stronger, with Nexus, Noddy, Archeologist and all the Mars creatures.
I ranked this second, again, for lack of aember control.
I get super excited with the double Coward’s End with double Loot the Bodies. Time is running low so I hope over quickly to Shadows and I love it. Bait and Switch, Relentless Whispers, Too Much to Protect, Faygin with double Urchin. Lovely.
But then I get to Untamed and I stop cold, it’s just not great.
I hope people will bid highly on this because of the Shadows and then I rank it third.
My ranking order:
The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal
U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse
Rajah W. Hottanker
Magnus, Ecclescott Bureaucrat
Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation
Righteous “Rocky” Wyomia
Evaluating my deck evaluation
This was a pretty bad evaluation. First I rank my first deck almost purely based on aember control, and then I proceed to rank another deck with even better aember control third. I don’t know what went on in my head there. I do know I’m valuing aember control too highly.
Aember control is great, don’t get me wrong, but there are ways to win without it, especially in sealed. I need to have a more holistic view of the deck.
I completely underappreciated board control here too. I think just based on that, Rajah should have ranked first. Yeah, it has a weak Untamed house, but it checks so many other boxes.
If I had to rank them again, I’d probably go something like:
U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse
Rajah W. Hottanker
Magnus, Ecclescott Bureaucrat
The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal
Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation
Righteous “Rocky” Wyomia
Bidding
We bid on Righteous “Rocky” Wyomia first, which is my lowest ranked deck. mathnut and Weiman go back and forth and Weiman gets it for 3. The bids here surprise me as I see it as the worst deck.
Next we bid on my highest ranked deck, The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal. There is a little bug with the bidding bot and I think someone already bid 3, when nobody did, and I open with 4. I realize the mistake, but Noam987 already bid 5, so we just move along. I bid 6 here and get it. I don’t even think I should have bid 4, let alone 6.
Bids on Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation also surprise me as it is is my second to last, and bids go between Noam987, TheNickofSlots and Ugluk4242 and ends with Ugluk4242 getting it for 4.
Magnus, Ecclescott Bureaucrat is up for grabs and Noam987, TheNickofSlots and mathnut all want a piece of this pie. mathnut ends up getting it for 6.
U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse was my second ranked deck, and I bumped it up to first at the time of writing this. Noam987 and TheNickofSlots go back and forth until Noam987 gets it for 6.
Which also means TheNickofSlots gets Rajah W. Hottanker for 0 chains, which is pretty crazy. I ranked it third the first time around and second now, and either case 0 chains is fantastic.
Summary:
Weiman – Righteous “Rocky” Wyomia – 3 chains
Aurore – The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal – 6 chains
Ugluk4242 – Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation – 4 chains
mathnut – Magnus, Ecclescott Bureaucrat – 6 chains
Noam987 – U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse – 6 chains
TheNickofSlots – Rajah W. Hottanker – 0 chains
This is a very interesting result. The high chain counts means that there wasn’t much of a consensus regarding which was the best deck. It also demonstrates that waiting for the last deck can be a strong choice.
On to the games
I get a bye first round, which is unfortunate as I got up in the middle of the night to play and not just wait, but that’s how things go. Tankfully, people finish quickly and we move on to round 2, where I am matched against Ugluk4242.
By my assessment of the decks, I should definitely win this. I ranked mine first and their deck fifth. And it’s not like they played with 0 chains. I was only 2 chains up on them. But I lost, and honestly, it wasn’t even close. Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation has a really big Brobnar board, and The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal has no board clears or a ways to fight it. Ugluk4242 wins by simply reaping with 5-6 Brobnar creatures and my so highly valued aember control does nothing but slow it down a couple of turns.
Off to the losers bracket where I’m facing TheNickofSlots playing the strong 0 chains deck. I yet again get blown out of the water, this time without even forging a key as my 6 chains are very heavy, and their deck is just honesty better than mine with 0.
I didn’t stick around to watch the games. Middle of the night and all that. But here are the brackets:
With the finals between mathnut and Ugluk4242 going to Ugluk4242, 3 keys to 2.
Results and conclusions
Final standings are:
Ugluk4242 – Archlegend, the “Vizier” of Conversation – 4 chains – WWW
mathnut – Magnus, Ecclescott Bureaucrat – 6 chains – WWLW
Weiman – Righteous “Rocky” Wyomia – 3 chains – LWWL
TheNickofSlots – Rajah W. Hottanker – 0 chains – LWL
Aurore – The Gauntlet that Brags of Metal – 6 chains – LL
Noam987 – U. Quari, Fisher of the Fabulous Treehouse – 6 chains – LL
Obviously player skill and luck play a part, maybe even a large part, but did you see what happened here? even in my second rundown of the decks and after having played against Archlegend myself I still ranked it 5th, and Ugluk4242 piloted it to victory with 4 chains!
It looks like I’m severely undervaluing the power of a lopsided creature distribution. Having a lot of creatures in one house is very beneficial as it allows you to reap for 5-6. However, it is important to note the specific decks in this event, there is only one deck that has proper board clears, Rajah. So the only deck that could fight the strong Brobnar board got knocked out by other decks. I suspect if TheNickOfSlots faced Ugluk4242 it would have ended in TheNickOfSlots’ favor.
Still, I need to adjust my view a little regarding creatures and their value. I’ve been playing She who Unloads on Covenants a lot lately, which plays extremely differently than most decks. It’s a racing deck that just softens up the enemy board and if it can’t, will just ignore it to generate aember.
So to help shift my play style to be more board oriented, I asked my SO to play some games with lower ranked decks. Decks that need a board to reap and win, because there is no other win condition. This, I hope, will help prepare me for UKGE.
As always, follow me on twitter to get notified of my posts. I hope to get at least 2-3 more posts up before UKGE, but I can’t promise anything.
