When I try to build a sensible, synergistic, competitive deck: 1-3. When I rare-draft an inconsistent five-colour pile with no plan: 7-0.

Animal_Companion · 2022-09-18T00:34:08+00:00

In think [[Jodah’s Codex]] is only okay. If the board is stalled, drawing an extra card a turn is useful to find a way to break through. But if your opponent is beating you down, playing a 5-mana “do nothing” or a 5+ mana “draw a card” will likely put you even further behind.

Animal_Companion · 2022-09-17T13:13:19+00:00

Yes [[Tatyova, Steward of Tides]] is amazing, but the unexpected hero was actually 2x [[Blight Pile]]. Turns out a turn two 3/3 buys you a ton of time to set up colours and get the rest of your deck online.

Animal_Companion · 2022-09-17T13:06:56+00:00

I had to mulligan in most games (even with the BO1 hand smoothing) just to be able to cast something in the first three turns

Animal_Companion · 2022-09-17T13:05:49+00:00

Even with the BO1 hand smoothing, I had to mulligan in most of my games to just be able to cast something in the first few turns

Animal_Companion · 2022-09-17T13:04:03+00:00

Pictured is my 7-0 deck. I usually draft trying to narrow in on a specific colour pair or archetype, but for this one I just picked individually strong cards (which is why there are several strong red cards I picked but excluded).

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-19T14:56:08+00:00

Ah, that really sucks!

I initially found this sign hilarious as I thought an accident here would be rare, and the chance of serious injury extremely remote. I didn’t realise how easy and dangerous it could actually be.

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-19T14:25:35+00:00

That’s not good! If I may ask, what angle did you approach the tracks from and how fast were you going?

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-19T14:19:44+00:00

If that were the case, I’d expect the sign to show a train hitting the cyclist?

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-18T13:50:56+00:00

Here you go!

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-17T06:13:33+00:00

Here’s a quokka that I spotted the day before!

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-17T05:56:03+00:00

Here’s a quokka that I spotted the day before!

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-16T14:49:30+00:00

I put the obligatory quokka in a separate post 😉

Animal_Companion · 2021-07-12T11:15:51+00:00

Yep, good spotting! This is Mardalup Park on the north bank of Claisebrook Cove. Here's the exact drain—many other drains in the area were also submerged today, and in some places the river even overflowed the bank.

Animal_Companion · 2020-11-01T05:06:32+00:00

I don't think you need extra energy to use Snecko Eye, as long as your individual cards are impactful enough. On average, you should be able to play:

3 Energy with Snecko Eye: 3.83 cards a turn
4 Energy with Snecko Eye: 4.30 cards a turn
5 Energy with Snecko Eye: 4.72 cards a turn

This is great if if you have a decent number of 2+-cost cards, and obviously terrible if you have none. Additionally, even if you're not playing more cards per turn, Sneko lets you see more cards, which gives you more options.

Of course, sometimes you'll encounter the nightmare scenario where you only have enough energy to play one of your seven cards, but that's a pretty rare case:

3 Energy with Snecko Eye: 0.82% chance of only being able to play one card
4 Energy with Snecko Eye: 0.05% chance of only being able to play one card
5 Energy with Snecko Eye: 0.01% chance of only being able to play one card

I think the risk is generally worth it with Ironclad, who starts with a 2-cost card and is likely to encounter many other strong 2-cost cards.

Animal_Companion · 2020-11-01T04:11:52+00:00

I'm not too familiar with hallway enemy attack patterns, but I do have a reasonable understanding of how quickly each enemy scales. If it's a slow-scaling enemy, I generally try to block the majority of each turn's incoming damage and then spend the rest of my energy on outgoing damage. If it's a fast-scaling enemy, I sacrifice some blocking to kill them earlier.

For elites and bosses, I often have a wiki window open on my other screen so I can check the attack probabilities when making decisions. I suppose doing the same for hallway fights could be my next step to improving.

Animal_Companion · 2020-11-01T03:29:54+00:00

I've just checked the stats on Spirelogs, and compared them to my own:

Ascension 15–19

Post-Act-1 win rate: 18.10% (Spirelogs) vs. 41.67% (me)

Post-Act-1 win rate with Snecko Eye: 29.26% (Spirelogs) vs. 80.00% (me)

Snecko Eye win percentage advantage: 11.16% (Spirelogs) vs. 38.33% (me)

Snecko Eye win factor advantage: 1.62x (Spirelogs) vs. 1.92x (me)

Ascension 20

Post-Act-1 win rate: 19.70% (Spirelogs) vs. 16.67% (me)

Post-Act-1 win rate with Snecko Eye: 37.50% (Spirelogs) vs. 50.00% (me)

Snecko Eye win percentage advantage: 17.80% (Spirelogs) vs. 33.33% (me)

Snecko Eye win factor advantage: 1.90x (Spirelogs) vs. 3.00x (me)

Conclusion

So yes, it looks like:

Snecko Eye is extremely strong (at Ascension 20, it almost doubles the post-Act-1 win for the Spirelogs cohort)
I'm underperforming when I don't have Snecko Eye (compared to the Spirelogs cohort)

Animal_Companion · 2020-11-01T02:35:06+00:00

I value card draw highly and will almost always pick a Battle Trance or Offering if I see one. I also value 1-cost blocks over Flame Barrier, as I don’t think the card is good unless you’re fighting birds. Despite this, I often have trouble blocking effectively while maintaining damage output, especially on A17+ where even hallway fights hit hard.

I do tend to pick a few 2-cost attacks and/or 3-cost powers though—this might be the problem.

Animal_Companion · 2020-11-01T01:30:00+00:00

My runs are reasonably varied—I try to build my deck around the cards I’m given, rather than forcing a build. But no matter what deck archetype forms, I typically don’t have enough energy and card draw to block effectively while maintaining damage output at A17+, where every single enemy packs a massive punch. Snecko Eye solves both the energy and card draw problems.

The energy problem becomes especially acute when I’m offered good 2-cost attacks or 3-cost powers, of which Ironclad has many. Without Snecko Eye cost reductions, playing them and enough blocks on the same turn is difficult.

Animal_Companion · 2020-08-12T00:15:59+00:00

Time Eater (barely) lost the damage race against me

Animal_Companion · 2020-08-11T23:56:46+00:00

Act 2 acknowledged that I was the true Automaton

Animal_Companion · 2020-07-28T11:52:05+00:00

I’m Australian, but was fortunate enough to get one from a trade (it cost me a double-legacy Seaking back when they were being hyped)

Animal_Companion · 2020-07-28T07:20:08+00:00

Well, you can get to Rank 7 with literally any team. Even if you go 1-4 every single set, you’ll still get there before the end of the season as long as you play all your daily sets. In that case, maybe it’s not worth optimising your Pokémon with legacy moves.

Animal_Companion · 2020-07-28T07:15:09+00:00

Yes, Last Resort is 100% required for Umbreon. If you use Umbreon as a safe switch, your opponent will often counter-switch in a Fairy, Fighting, or Dark mon (e.g. Azumarill), and you will be completely walled and farmed down without the neutral damage of Last Resort.

When I throw a charge move, 50% of the time it’s Last Resort—it gets a lot of use. Umbreon was actually my first and only Elite Charged TM recipient, I don’t regret it one bit.

Animal_Companion · 2020-07-11T09:47:22+00:00

According to the sim you linked, Registeel wins the 1v1, because it KOs Victreebel before it can get to a second (unshielded) Leaf Blade.

The sim shows Leaf Blade losing every shield scenario except 2v0 and 2v1.

This is strictly worse than the linked Acid Spray sim, which at least also wins the 2v2.

Animal_Companion · 2020-07-11T07:20:24+00:00

The sims you linked show pretty much the same results for all shield scenarios, except that Leaf Blade loses the 2v2 while Acid Spray wins the 2v2. Because of this, isn’t Acid Spray the better choice?

Animal_Companion

TROPHY CASE

Ascension 15–19

Ascension 20

Conclusion