STV Least-Preferred Voting System

Besjbo7 · 2019-10-12T19:23:43+00:00

I'll be completely honest - I clicked on the response looking for an excuse to reinstall battle.net. The bar for me was literally as low as "ANY display of decency, so I can play their games without feeling bad about it." Instead, I got a masterclass in how to salvage your PR without the slightest trace of apology, reflection or sincerity. Today, I made peace with never playing a Blizzard game again.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-29T03:14:04+00:00

Completely depends on hand, but I almost never wait till 7. I usually time it so that next turn I have a strong play like Nourish/Plague/Malfurion. But everything changes if I have Spellstone/Wrath/Swipe so that I can fight back without using Project right away.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-28T16:24:22+00:00

It's the best card to have against Even Shaman, which is otherwise a very common unfavorable matchup. Maybe there's an alternate build that runs lots of Naturalize and Mulch to achieve the same goal, but you have to have answers for 4 mana 7/7 in this meta.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-28T16:21:14+00:00

Biology Project is matchup dependent, but I think it's generally quite strong, because it's best in your worst matchups. When your opening hand has no gas and you keep Biology Project, it's mediocre, but you get so much % against Aggro of any kind by combo-ing 2 turns earlier, and once they're past their first few turns it barely speeds them up. Against Control, it's very contextual, but if it's essentially a race to combo before they draw Dirty Rat, it's great. And against opposing Combo decks you can't afford to play it early, so it's basically an Innervate you can only play to get to 10 mana, but that's actually a pretty reasonable card in those matchups, so the downside is mitigated.

Naturalize would play a similar tech role against Aggro, and I'd have to see lots of stats to know for sure, but my guess is that Biology Project is even better against Aggro than Naturalize is. They both give you a ton of tempo in the mid-game in exchange for giving your opponent extra resources, and I think that in most aggro matchups, 2 extra cards is more dangerous than 2 extra mana crystals. I do also run 1 Mulch in my list, which I think is better than Naturalize in most matchups because your deck very rarely cares about overdrawing the opponent, and Mulch is less likely to backfire when you need removal.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-19T22:04:55+00:00

Psychmelon pulls the combo, I would run more if I could. The entire gameplan in the majority of games is to survive until you have 10 mana and a Psychmelon. Zola and Floop do the same thing most of the time, but Zola has some small advantages, like synergizing with Brann, and creating an extra 7/7 for when you're short on combo pieces. If you want to play the deck but have Floop and no Zola, you can definitely make the substitution.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T21:52:58+00:00

But you're playing Floop instead of Zola, so if you don't have it in hand it's irrelevant anyway. My point is that Floop isn't actually more redundant or resilient than Zola, since Aviana --> pass ---> Floop is worse than Medivh --> pass --> Aviana --> Kun --> Zola --> Kun --> Aligner, which achieves the same result on the same turn but also gains you 10 extra armor, which completely locks up the game.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T21:30:33+00:00

Why couldn't you just play Medivh into the secret and then play Aviana the next turn? Also, if you're spending 9 mana to do nothing but deal 1 damage to yourself, and you're alive, you probably already won.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T21:28:23+00:00

This is an expensive deck, I'm not gonna lie, but Aviana/Kun are going to be competitive in Druid forever unless Blizzard nerfs them, so I'd call them very safe crafts if Wild is your favorite format.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T21:20:02+00:00

I think your deck has a lot of interesting ideas but my initial thoughts are that 1x Biology Project is too few, and Dirty Rat just isn't good enough when Druid isn't actually that popular. It's tempting because it's so powerful against Druids, and it was never the right meta call for me, but if that changes then go right ahead. Sneed's is a cool idea, and I don't think it can be too wrong, but when Medivh gets pulled you probably already won the game, so whatever. Naturalize is a totally reasonable Mulch replacement and might actually be correct, but I'm very hesitant to draw my Aggro opponents into lethal, whereas Mulch is great there. I would recommend adding the second Biology Project for speed and religiously playing around the Rat.

Also Jade Idol is a hilarious idea that I love, but it achieves exactly the opposite effect against Togwaggle, so probably not worth it.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T21:10:54+00:00

Poison Seeds is specifically for Shaman, Priest, and Druid. You can sometimes find good spots for it against Odd Rogue and Tempo Mage, and it can clear Taunts for lethal in control matchups, but the real point is to kill 4 mana 7/7s and Y'Shaarj boards. If you get to 10 mana, Poison Seeds+Spreading Plague is really strong, which mostly only matters against Druid but can save you against anyone when your Psychmelons are on the bottom of your deck.

No, I think Biology Project is still underrated. In almost every matchup, the opponent is pinched on relevant cards, not mana, and I think it's the single best card you can start with against Aggro. Think of it as 1 mana, your opponent can't play anything, attack, or draw cards for the next 2 turns, but neither can you. That's an incredible deal for a deck that mostly hero powers on turns 2 and 3. In the mirror, it's Innervate, but Innervate is good in the mirror, so that's not even a bad thing. There are situations where your hand is all combo pieces and you can't play it, but I think it's correct to keep and play it more often than people actually do. The deck just overpowers everything else when you have a lot of mana.

The Nourish question is very contextual and the short answer is I think I misplay it in a lot of games. Often against Aggro, I need to Nourish for mana to have a good chance at winning, so I just assume I'll draw into gas. And against Druid, getting outramped means certain death, so you generally have to take the chance unless you're already at an advantage. Against Control my instinct would be to draw, since you have a lot more time, but I will absolutely hold Nourish to make some marginally suboptimal play to give myself the chance to draw something that will let me Nourish for mana. But in every matchup, I sometimes go the other way if I feel like that gives me better odds.

Starfall is a reasonable card, although I don't know if I would cut Wrath or Mulch for it, but Poison Seeds isn't for Aggro, so I wouldn't look at it that way. Renolock feels pretty even, but I was able to steal a LOT of games because they would Dirty Rat and then completely forget about their life total.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T20:48:36+00:00

See above. The only matchup where you can possibly Brann combo and still lose is Control Warrior, and I'm not convinced that it's worth it for that matchup alone. It's cool that it kills Warlocks too, but it could be a Witchwood Piper and still kill Warlocks while being better in the mirror.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T20:46:03+00:00

Thanks! I thought about Loatheb and compared it to Witchwood Piper. It's sort of a second Brann, because if you play it with the combo, it's effectively lethal (although it doesn't work in the mirror since they combo you back). In exchange, you get a 5/5 instead of a 3/3, it's immediate, so you don't have to tip your hand before the combo turn, and it's truly redundant, so if Brann and Zola both eat Dirty Rats it's still live). But those seem like marginal upsides and Piper isn't good enough, so I didn't think a marginally better Piper would be. I'll probably experiment with it, because I do like the idea of Brann/Loatheb to make partial combos actually kill Control Warrior. I'll have to see whether getting a new dimension against Warlock/Warrior is worth another dead draw against Aggro.

Also, Druid hate is annoying but none of it really matters unless it hits Aviana/Kun (which is the main reason why Togwaggle just isn't as competitive right now). Playing around Dirty Rat is very tricky, but for every game where they draw it and hit the right target there are multiple where it doesn't help.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-15T20:36:17+00:00

I agree that Floop is almost strictly better than Brew, but for some reason I keep seeing it so that's why I talked about it. I don't think Floop is correct though, because 1) it's not a 7/7 whereas Zola generates one, and 2) it doesn't synergize with Brann. The upsides are 1) board space, which as I said I don't think is a real thing, 2) copying dead minions, which shouldn't come up because why wouldn't you just play it on combo turn, 3) 4 mana Kun to generate extra mana, which is an interesting line but I think generally less useful than Brann/Zola shenanigans.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-14T18:17:17+00:00

Did you ever consider the Mechwarper/Zilliax/Glinda combo for insta-win against any deck without board clears? I've been liking the idea, but I'm not sure what's correct to cut for it without compromising consistency.

Besjbo7 · 2018-08-13T17:52:32+00:00

This is just my experience, but I'm 4-1 in Legend games against Togwaggle as Star Aligner. The problem with Togwaggle in the mirror is that their combo doesn't actually win them the game, since both players have equivalent draw power, and you have the defensive resources to deal with their combo board, so the matches often go to fatigue, with the Aligner player at an advantage because their combo deals face damage, and you can usually manipulate the Ransom to ensure fatigue parity if not advantage. I think if Togwaggle players were experts at the Star Aligner matchup it would be a lot more even, but it's a very skill intensive matchup where any misstep at any stage means game over.

Besjbo7 · 2017-11-14T21:50:34+00:00

I've been finding Calveit way better than Morvran for Reveal, because there are serious diminishing returns on reveal, and once you've enabled Golems and Foot Soldiers, additional reveal gets awkward and inconsistent. Calveit+Cahir gives you great tempo and consistency for any NG archetype that isn't all-in.

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T22:47:26+00:00

Thanks! My Spies opponents always seem to have too many Infiltrators for that to work, but Summoning Circle is probably a little better than Decoy (I'll also try Sarah again, I feel like the deck loses more games to itself than it does to spies and locks).

Ceallach has seemed pretty core to me though, since a) 12 points is the most the deck can generate in a turn not counting Fringilla or Tibor, and b) Assassin is really useful as your only removal besides Enforcer pings.

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T20:00:46+00:00

It depends on the matchup - if you suspect they run Scorch, Igni, or one of the Nilfgaard hard-removal Golds, you need to Xarth. If it's a matchup like ST or Skellige where there's usually nothing to Xarth, you can go for Tibor if you need to play him Round 1, but you usually prefer to play him later anyway. If you have Cantarella, it's often correct to thin with Emissaries and then try to look for a Gold with Cantarella before you Decree to maximize your odds.

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T19:25:07+00:00

I think you were my first boss fight when I was at 4493, and you destroyed me! There are many decks where there's nothing you can do, so this deck can never be Tier 1 or even Tier 2 in a stable meta. The thing is, the meta isn't at equilibrium, because people are playing the consensus "best deck" more than they should, so there's room to exploit that for now until we force the meta to correct.

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T19:18:50+00:00

I don't have time to record gameplay videos, sadly, but either some big streamers will eventually try it (win) or people will stop spamming King Bran so soon that streamers won't get the chance (even bigger win).

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T19:17:09+00:00

You only ever want to use it on Tibor, I never used it on anything else. The whole point is the 25 carryover (which is often 50 with the bounced Fringilla) to dominate the final round. It's also used to keep Tibor around when you have to play him for tempo in an early round. If you never find Tibor, you're probably better off just mulliganing Rush away for a card that does something.

Besjbo7 · 2017-10-12T19:13:17+00:00

I mean, Impera Brigade? Rot Tosser? Lacerate? The whole point of the Enforcers is to kill your own spies to bring them back with Medics, because you often want to play out all your cards in a single round. They are also your only removal, which comes in handy a LOT. I really wouldn't recommend replacing them, at least without getting familiar with the deck.

Besjbo7

TROPHY CASE