December 22, 2013

Today’s Team: Acorn Berserkers
S/S Grizzly Squirrel (Woodchipper, Crouch, Nut Barrage)
H/P Infected Squirrel (Stampede, Creeping Fungus, Consume)
P/P Rabid Nut Varmint 5000 (Metal Fist, Extra Plating, Rabid Strike)
Nuts for the Nut God!

Strategy:
This is obviously a themed squirrel team. Themed teams often don’t stand a chance of winning against the big boys, but this team isn’t half bad. If I can get the DoTs from the Grizzly going then Stampede with the Infected the damage will add up fast. I have both an S/S and P/P Nut Varmint, I chose the P/P for a little bit of punch. Overtune would be nice against flyers and speedsters but I’m going with the defense of Extra Plating. Extra Plating plus mech racial has saved me numerous times. So the plan is to DoT and Stampede the shieldless, else Metal Fist for the more protected.

Concerns:
As with any DoT team Sandstorm is my worst enemy. I need to be careful with Rabid Strike (which makes the pet its applied to take 50% more damage but also give 25% more damage). I’ve had it do more harm than good a few times.

The Opposing Team:
S/S Bonkers
P/S Jadefire Spirit
P/P Lil Ragnaros

The Battle:
122213AThe addition of Bonkers has been a blessing to my win rate. After beating it so many times I’ve never even bothered to pick one up. I really should just for the sake of collection, but I’m in no rush. The biggest threat on this team is Rag. I figured my opponent would start with Ragnaros for the trap so I started with my Squirrel… the Grizzly one. I was wrong. My opponent chose the Jadefire, cast Immolate then faded to Ragnaros. Rag put down the trap after I applied a bleed with Woodchipper. I then cast Crouch as Rag went under with Sons as one would expect. I have to take damage for three rounds but it’s weak damage and I’m shielded. I was hoping the trap would go off while I was shielded with Crouch but it didn’t happen. Rag came back up and made the poor choice of staying in against the Grizzly Squirrel. That 374 power is weak against my critter. When the trap went off it didn’t interrupt or stun thanks to the critter racial. The Grizzly Sqirrel was able to finish off Ragnaros with a few hp to spare. My opponent chose Bonkers to be next and I took a gamble with the coin flip (both were 325 speed) by keeping the Grizzly in. I was hoping to apply the bleed but Bonkers won the flip and attacked first, killing my Grizzly Squirrel.

122213BI wanted to bring the Infected Squirrel out to battle Bonkers but I didn’t want the Nut Varmint to face the double countering Jadefire Spirit. Instead I brought out the Nut Varmint, and for the sake of brevity I will say the battle turned into a major swapfest. My opponent wanted Jadefire versus Varmint, I didn’t. We were both able to apply strong DoTs during the swapfest, so the Varmint and Bonkers were getting worn down. The battle ended in a frustrating fashion. The Varmint was facing the Jadefire which had the Rabies debuff. Bonkers and the Infected Squirrel were both within kill range on the back line. The Jadefire couldn’t bring the Varmint to 0 hp with Jade Claw so I had the game won. I just needed to take out the Jadefire, Bonkers would come in and even with his faster Dodge couldn’t survive both a mech and undead racial. Instead my Varmint missed the killing blow Metal Fist. Now the Jadefire Spirit brought it to 0, but that’s not all. Rabies wore off so the next weak Metal Fist couldn’t kill the elemental. Next turn my Varmint expired to a Jade Claw, then an Immolate brought the Infected Squirrel to 0 hp before dying. Bonkers came in to dodge the undead round. That miss was a huge game-changeing turn around. I just need to remember that I’ve been on the winning end of a miss plenty of times. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for losing to Bonkers.

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