April 13, 2014

The Chopping Block
After missing a few days due to being extremely busy (in a good way :)) I find myself still needing to clean up my teams. One more day of the chopping block should do it.

Team 1: Hatebreakers Two
Anubisath Idol, Emperor Crab, Living Sandling
vs. Pandaren Air Spirit, Direhorn Runt, Yu’la
Kring suggested replacing a Qiraji Guardling with the idol for this team on 3/25/14. This battle was one of those battles where the idol seems ridiculously OP. It took out the Pandaren Air Spirit, Yu’la and then half of the Direhorn Runt. Yes, it took out two and a half pets, but only because I hit every single Crush while my opponent missed a few times. Not to mention the Pandaren Air Spirit had a really bad move set against Sandstorm (Cyclone and Slicing Winds). As much as I hate the idol it is somewhat “balanced” by rng, which means that if idol users get lucky with the Sandstorm it’s really hard to take this pet down. I really don’t use the idol much because of this but I might as well keep an idol team or two around. This seems like a good one to keep.

Thumbs up, I’m keeping it.

Team 2: Flaming Gobbo
Scourged Whelpling, Fel Flame, Treasure Goblin
vs. Molten Hatchling, Gahz’rooki, Blackfure Bombling
I wasn’t really sure where my opponent was going with this one. The Molten Hatchling used Magma Wave a lot which I thought might be to soften me up for Armageddon. If that’s the case then where does Gahz’rooki fit in? I’m still not sure. This was a lot closer than the last battle, I wouldn’t say that I barely won but it did come down to my last pet. The Fel Flame used Scorched Earth with both Wild Magic and Coin Toss applied to the BFB for over 600 damage. All of my Treasure Goblin teams I consider as fun rather than competitive. There’s nothing wrong with that, it is a game after all. I’ll keep this team, too.

Thumbs up, I’m keeping it.

Team 3: Axis Of Evil
Death Adder Hatchling, Lil’ Ragnaros, Yellow Moth
vs. Death Adder Hatchling, Unborn Val’kyr, Scalded Basilisk Hatchling
As fun as it was absolutely spanking the opposing team I don’t see the need to pollute the meta with more Lil’ Ragnaros and DAH garbage. Or another moth, for that matter.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 4: Sandstorm Sellouts
Qiraji Guardling, Living Sandling, Emerald Shale Hatchling
vs. Anubisath Idol, Magical Crawdad, Chuck
Nothing says “I’m bad at pet battles” like a Demolish spammer. Still, this team can be difficult to play against. I have a counter team all set up for this annoying trio since I often encounter it. I didn’t think I would be able to pull off a win without my counter team but somehow I did it. Snarly even hit a surprise 40% Blood In The Water to take out my Living Sandling. Still, have a couple other Qiraji Guardling and Living Sandling teams that I’m keeping and I don’t like either of the second slot moves for the Emerald Shale Hatchling on a Sandstorm team (Poison Spit or Sticky Web). I think that’s a good enough reason to get rid of this team.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 5: Sandy Gozongas
Qiraji Guardling, Living Sandling, Jadefire Spirit
vs.Darkmoon Tonk, Infinite Whelpling, Scourged Whelpling
I’m on a roll today! Another win, yet another team that didn’t make the cut. There’s just nothing that special about this team. Not bad, but not special.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 6: Dropping Birds
Fiendish Imp, Warpstalker Hatchling, Restless Shadeling
vs. Anubisath Idol, Darkmoon Tonk, Lil’ Ragnaros
My team is good at what I created it for: countering flyers. Other than that it’s ok. Against Sandstorm it’s horrible. Even though I got totally wrecked in this battle I think I’ll keep this team around for when there are a lot of birds in the meta.

Thumbs up, I’m keeping it.

Team 7: Purple Hooters
Droplet Of Y’Shaarj, Scourged Whelpling, Scourged Whelpling
vs. Anubisath Idol, Anodized Robo Cub, Warpstalker Hatchling
Back to back Warpstalker Hatchlings in the PvP queue, that’s interesting. What’s up with all the idols today, that’s annoying! The Anubisath Idol hit every Crush except for one which put me behind to start, but my Scourged Whelplings were able to win in the end. The P/S Scourged Whelpling with Shadow Flame hit about five 75% Shadowflames (due to Darkness) in a row so I guess I was the lucky one here. I’m still not sure what to do about this team. It wins a lot, but it’s sort of on the boring side to play. Put up Cleansing Rain then spam Dreadful Breath. Some battles like this one require improvisation, but usually it’s boring. If I’m undecided I might as well scrap it. I have plenty of teams that I enjoying playing more than this one.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 8: The Dude
Sen’Jin Fetish, Spirit Crab, Imperial Eagle Chick
vs. Jademist Dancer, Rotten Little Helper, Pandaren Earth Spirit
This was a straightforward smash each other in the face battle without any swapping that I lost. It came down to the Imperial Eagle Chick against the Jademist Dancer. The Jademist Dancer had a crit or lose situation at the end and it crit for the win. I think I made this team as a specific counter to something because I had Surge instead of Whirlpool on my trusty Spirit Crab. This is probably a decent team against Death Adder Hatchlings and Val’kyrs but otherwise I don’t see anything special about it besides three solid pets being thrown together.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 9: One Deadly Venom
Son Of Animus, Death Adder Hatchling, Scourged Whelpling
vs. Anubisath Idol, Magical Crawdad, Chuck
See, here’s that really good Demolish spammer again. I thought I was going to lose but my opponent thought otherwise and fled before the battle was over. One Deadly Venom has been around for long time. I think I made it early in 5.4 before I knew how anti-adder I would end up being. I’ve never liked this team enough to add it to the teams page but I’ve never deleted it, hmm. DoTs plus Touch Of The Animus is always nice, when you combine that with the “you can only hit me two out of four turns” aspect of the Death Adder Hatchling this team becomes really good. I guess my distaste for adders will win out and I’ll delete it. When you win with a Death Adder Hatchling there’s really nothing to be that proud of.

Thumbs down, deleted.

Team 10: Son Of Disease
Son Of Animus, Blighted Squirrel, Infected Fawn
vs. Cinder Kitten, Dancing Water Skimmer, Celestial Dragon
I won this battle not because my team was good or because I made good choices but rather because my opponent made some very poor choices. Sometimes I don’t know what to think about the Blighted Squirrel. On paper it seems like such a good pet: Crouch and the undead racial to stay alive, a DoT and damage debuff. Yet somehow I always find it lacking. I won’t give up on you little guy, I will find a non-bleeding team for you to excel in. However, I think I will give up on this team of mine, it’s been cluttering up my journal for too long.

Thumbs down, deleted.

That’s as much as I’m willing to do for now. I decided to delete all of the teams that I didn’t get to today, which leaves me with 23 “keepers” for My Teams page. It’s good to clear the clutter.