February 16, 2014

A Day In The Queue

I’ve wanted to try this new type of daily for awhile. No team, no specific pet, just battling in the queue and seeing how it goes.

I’m planning on this being a long day of battling because I have some extra motivation. On October 3rd I started leveling Safetydance@Madoran exclusively through PvP pet battles. It seemed like a massive undertaking at the time and indeed it has been. Safetydance is now at level 89 and 15 bars (75%). I think I’ll need about 30 more wins to reach level 90. I really don’t think I’m going to get that far today, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end my epic grind with another epic grind.

Battle 1: Obvious Ponies
Unborn Val’kyr, Fiendish Imp, Warbot
vs. Chrominius, Ash Spiderling, Clockwork Gnome

Sorry my friend, I brought one of my best teams against your less competitive team. At the beginning of 5.4 I got a lot of wins with this team before I became so anti-Val’kyr. I’m sure that someone out there saying the same things about the Fiendish Imp and Warbot that I say about Val’kyrs, Anubisath Idols and Death Adders.
Record: 1-0

Battle 2: Do You Even Rain
Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Spirit Crab
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Xu-Fu, Clock’Em

I thought Clock Em’ was the Clockwork Gnome due to the icon being the same, maybe next time I should take a closer look. While the CloneDance strategy is probably one of the most difficult to deal with at the moment the Unborn Val’kyr is one of the few ways to slow it down. Due to this the battle was very close. I had a 29 hp Spirit Crab and a less than 200 hp Jademist Dancer remaining at the end.
Record: 2-0

Battle 3: Born To Be Crabby
Spirit Crab, Dandelion Frolicker, Death Adder Hatchling
vs. Fiendish Imp, Creepy Crate, Enchanted Broom

021614AThis triple swap team may have been hard to deal with if I wasn’t running such an uber team myself. Just like the Val’kyr I soon began to despise the Death Adder Hatchling due to it being so powerful and easy to use. I did run it in the beginning of 5.4 and this was one of my favorite teams. The Dandelion Frolicker is a pet that I ended up not using as much as I thought I would initially. Why? The avoid move Frolick is only a 50% dodge and I lack the guts for that much rng on an avoid move. I better tone it down with these competitive teams or everyone will start bringing theirs. At least that’s how my old meta was, I still don’t have a good enough sense about my new meta to tell if I’m playing the same people over and over, with a few exceptions.
Record: 3-0

Battle 4: Ratty Dreader
Black Rat, Son Of Animus, Scourged Whelpling
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Zandalari Anklerender, Alpine Foxling

I’m very annoyed right now because somehow I ended up with my P/S Scourged Whelpling on this team rather than my usual H/H. Would it have made a difference? The battle was a draw so I think that one extra turn just might have resulted in a win. Oh well.
Record: 3-0-1

Battle 5: Retaliating Ten
Sen’Jin Fetish, Spirit Crab, Mongoose Pup
vs. Fossilized Hatchling, Clockwork Gnome, Shimmershell Snail

021614BI didn’t play this one very well. I let the Fossilized Hatchling get off a few turns of extra damage when I missed the opportunity to take it out and let it get a heal off.  The outcome was looking very bleak but I managed to squeak out the win by using Survival, swapping out then coming back for another Survival. The strong damage against the critter certainly helped.
Record: 4-0-1

Battle 6: Turcraben
Highlands Turkey, Spirit Crab, Emperor Crab
vs. Fiendish Imp, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling

021614EEww, it’s Mr. Slow. It’s not really a slow team but I call it that because it lacks the usual (and best) S/S breed of Fiendish Imp and Death Adder. It can be a hard one to beat if my team is a slow one. I have a team all set up so that if I run into it I can immediately snipe it. Unfortunately this person knows I’m going to do that so they start running an Idol team, which is hard for my sniping team to take down. This time I didn’t need the sniping team (aptly named Mr. Faster) since my opponent made the mistake of keeping the Imp in for Food Coma. That allowed me to get a “free” Whirlpool down which helped in taking out the Death Adder. It was a very close battle that my Spirit Crab ended up barely surviving. I haven’t used the Emperor Crab regularly in 5.4, which is odd since it’s such a good counter to both Death Adders and Val’kyrs. I just don’t enjoy it that much, which is also odd because I love the Spirit Crab. /shrug
Record: 5-0-1

Battle 7: Doggin’ The Wax
Droplet Of Y’Shaarj, Scourged Whelpling, Alterac Brew Pup
vs. Gilnean Raven, Robo-Chick, Emerald Proto-Whelp

Cool! I rarely see Robo-Chicks in the queue. Hopefully this underrated pet will eventually catch on. Wait, why would I want that? Don’t use the Robo-Chick, it’s a horrible pet! The battle went bad from the start for my opponent when they didn’t anticipate my weather change. No Darkness for the Gilnean Raven! I then used Corrosion for its strong damage against flyers. I had to deviate from the usual rotation to prevent the flyer from getting another turn after my elemental died. After the Droplet Of Y’Shaarj died I brought in the ABP to finish off the bird. This worked well enough. The Emerald Proto-Whelp never made it off of the back line.
Record: 6-0-1

Battle 8: Mean Joe Green
Flayer Youngling, Spirit Crab, Robo-Chick
vs. Murkalot, Blackfuse Bombling, Stunted Direhorn

The Flayer Younling just isn’t what it used to be. I’ve gone on some streaks with it in 5.4 but I don’t consider it a top tier pet anymore. I made a big mistake here by leaving the Robo-Chick in against the BFB. I assumed it was going to Armageddon but it used its RI to Flame Jet instead, one-shotting the Robo-Chick. Oops. Better to lose to a dumb mistake than rng any day.
Record: 6-1-1

Battle 9: My First Tuesday
Warbot, Fledgling Buzzard, Mongoose Pup
vs. Anubisath Idol, Fiendish Imp, Gilnean Raven

021614FMy team is great against Death Adder Hatchlings. My team is not great against Anubisath Idols. Luckily my opponent let me fight the dog face humanoid with my Warbot. It was a fairly straight forward battle. I laid down a Minefield then swapped to the Mongoose Pup. Mongoose Pup beats Fiendish Imp, Warbot beats Anubisath Idol, Fledgling Buzzard beats Gilnean Raven. The Anubisath Idol and the Gilnean Raven both taking Minefields to the face helped a lot.
Record: 7-1-1

Battle 10: Battlegropers
Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Snarly
vs. Blighthawk, Proto-Whelp, Emerald Proto-Whelp

Two dragons is actually a decent counter to the CloneDance strategy. I thought things were going a lot better for my opponent than they did, because they left after missing a Lift-Off.
Record: 8-1-1

Battle 11: A Dreadful Encounter
Droplet Of Y’Shaarj, Scourged Whelpling, Snarly
vs. Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Death Adder Hatchling

The opposing team is probably one of the best teams around at the moment. I was surprised that I did as well as I did. The Death Adder Hatchling survived with 400 hp.
Record: 8-2-1

Battle 12: Umbrella Corporation
Enchanted Broom, Emerald Proto-Whelp, Celestial Dragon
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Infected Squirrel, Chrominius

021614GI wasn’t planning on making any new teams today but I got an idea for a CloneDance counter. A magic pet up front to soft counter the Steam Vents and two dragons on the back line to soft counter the Cyclone. Of course I wasn’t lucky enough to get a CloneDance team to try it out on but I got a chance to see how it would do in general. It did fine against this team. The Val’kry got swept away twice and then pounded by the EPW on a swap. It did very little damage. This battle made me wonder if people really stay in against Chrominius while Howled. Enough people try it, it must work sometimes or people would stop doing it, right? I swapped to the EPW when my Enchanted Broom got hit with Creeping Fungus. No way I was going to stay in for the debuff.
Record: 9-2-1

Battle 13: Instant Heroes
Emerald Proto-Whelp, Sen’Jin Fetish, Stunted Direhorn
vs. Clockwork Gnome, Fossilized Hatchling, Brilliant Kaliri

021614HAs much as I love the Sen’Jin Fetish I hate the fact that its bread and butter move is 90%. I would gladly lose some damage potential for a 95% move. I’ve lost so many battles due to Shadow Slash missing. Which is what happened here. I’ve missed so many 90% moves in the past few days that if I didn’t know better I’d run to the forums and complain about a stealth change to accuracy. Making absurd claims on forums without any proof always ends well. Trust me, I know.
Record: 9-3-1

Battle 14: Black Thursday
Corefire Imp, Terrible Turnip, Sen’Jin Fetish
vs. Lil’ Bling, Death Adder Hatchling, Blighthawk

Dammit now the losses are really starting to pile up. Death Adders are so hard to deal with. No Shadow Slashes were missed, at least not any non-blinded ones.
Record: 9-4-1

Battle 15: Retaliating Ten
Sen’Jin Fetish, Spirit Crab, Mongoose Pup
vs. Fiendish Imp, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling

Oh Mr. Slow, I can always count on you to cheer me up. I made a really bad move by letting my Mongoose Pup die before it could cast Survival. I thought that would be the end of me but the mighty, mighty Spirit Crab was able hang on for dear (un)life and squeeze out this victory. I’m starting to remember why I once named the Spirit Crab as the number one PvP battle pet. I’m not sure it still holds the number one spot, but it can get the job done on a regular basis. Eek, that brought the win rate to 66%. That needs to come up. To the Warbot!
Record: 10-4-1

Battle 16: The Team Formerly Known As Something Else
Fiendish Imp, Warbot, Mongoose Pup
vs. Peddlefeet, Pandaren Monk, Bonkers

021614IWhat’s that sound? The queue laughing at me. I drop the Sen’Jin Fetish and I get three humanoids, awesome. The opposing team was reasonably fast so I may have been better off without the mask. Thanks to the Imp and Mongoose Pup being faster than all of the enemy pets and the Warbot getting down two Minefields I’ll chalk this one up as an easy win. It looks like I’ve added about two more bars, I think thirty wins to get to level ninety was too high of an estimate. It’s looking like twenty-five or twenty-six.
Record: 11-4-1

Battle 17: Fawndjango
Son Of Animus, Death Adder Hatchling, Infected Fawn
vs. Fel Flame, Anodized Robo-Cub, Rapana Whelk

021614JNot again! When I did a realm transfer a few months ago my PBT reset. All I was left with was the names of the teams. I thought I played them all at least once when I remade them but apparently I didn’t. My move sets were all messed up. No Touch Of The Animus, no Death and Decay, no Blinding Poison. I was about to quit and call a mulligan but I decided to stick it out and see what I could do. It turned out to be not so bad after all. That Rapana Whelk can really hit hard with Headbutt and Acid Goo. I want to do that. Win rate be damned, to a 5.3 team!
Record: 12-4-1

Battle 18: Acid Fungus
Corefire Imp, Infected Squirrel, Shimmershell Snail
vs. Fel Flame, Anodized Robo-Cub, Rapana Whelk

021614KI was glad to have a critter to take weak damage from the Conflagrate. After that the snails really pounded each other with strong Headbutts. Thanks to the critter racial there were no stuns. The Rapana Whelk was faster than my Shimmershell Snail so it ended up winning the head to head battle. In the end my Corefire Imp hit successive Burns to win. I mention that because lately 90% moves haven’t been good to me. Unfortunately I never got a chance to use Wild Magic.
Record: 13-4-1

Battle 19: Millions Of Deer Corpses
Fiendish Imp, Son Of Animus, Infected Fawn
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Death Adder Hatchling, Qiraji Guardling

The opposing team was posted by someone at Warcraft Pets as the “most powerful PvP team”. The more knowledgeable members of that forum promptly pointed out that there is no most powerful team. The ensuing discussion showed that I’m not the only one who likes the Mongoose Pup and Sen’Jin Fetish. There are a couple battlers from there who use them too, nice. This battle didn’t go so well for me. After missing a Metal Fist on the Death Adder Hatchling I sort of fell apart and made some bad moves. /ragefail
Record: 13-5-1

Battle 20: Retaliating Ten
Sen’Jin Fetish, Spirit Crab, Mongoose Pup
vs. Singing Sunflower, Ruby Droplet, Corefire Imp

If I saw this team more often I would probably hate it more than I already do. Luckily it doesn’t show up on my queue too much. After twenty-five rounds my Spirit Crab had over 700 hp and I hadn’t yet brought the other two pets out yet. I hate to give up but we were heading for more of this nonsense, actually a lot more so I threw in the towel. Good job staller, I hope you enjoy my next team.
Record: 13-6-1

Battle 21: Do You Even Rain
Jademist Dance, Blighthawk, Spirit Crab
vs. Singing Sunflower, Ruby Droplet, Corefire Imp

I don’t know if they enjoyed it but I certainly did.
Record: 14-6-1

Battle 22: Do You Even Rain
Jademist Dance, Blighthawk, Spirit Crab
vs. Murkalot, Blackfuse Bombling, Stunted Direhorn

I can see where they were going here, CloneDance isn’t as effective if you cast Armageddon the BFB in the beginning. It was indeed less effective but not enough so to keep my team from winning
Record: 15-6-1

Battle 23: Turcraber
Spirit Crab, Highlands Turkey, Death Adder Hatchling
vs. Xu-Fu, Shore Crab, Thundertail Flapper

After the Thudertail Flapper got put in a Food Coma and Xu-Fu got blinded for both rounds of Prowl my opponent fled. I don’t usually run Death Adders this much, I swear. My proximity to the end of a four month grind has corrupted me.
Record: 16-6-1

Battle 24: Trihard Shield
Fiendish Imp, Warbot, Stunted Direhorn
vs. Baby Ape, Chrominius, Amethyst Spiderling

I was overconfident in this battle. I was going to save my Warbot for the Surge Of Power which one can always expect from Chrominius but instead I decided to spam Missiles until my mech died. I had to take the Surge Of Power with my somewhat fragile Direhorn and that made this battle go down to the wire. I ended up winning but it was closer than it should have been. Again I would like to ask if people actually let you Howl then stay in for Surge Of Power. I guess at least you’re getting a swap out of it. Phew, this a long grind.
Record: 17-6-1

Battle 25: Acorn Berserkers
Infected Squirrel, Grizzly Squirrel, Rabid Nut Varmint 5000
vs. Huge Toad, Alpine Foxling, Shrine Fly

021614MI forget how evil Dazzling Dance can be when you run a fast team. Sorry S/S squirrels, but you’re not fast anymore. The impact round here was when the Huge Toad stayed in while Shattered Defenses was up as all three Nut Barrages hit. It was a lot of damage.
Record: 18-6-1

Battle 26: A Dreadful Encounter
Droplet Of Y’Shaarj, Scourged Whelpling, Snarly
vs. Anubisath Idol, Unborn Val’kyr, Darkmoon Tonk

021614PI didn’t think I would be able to win this one but my opponent made a couple of bad swaps. A Minefield Tonk would have won this for sure but this Tonk had Shock and Awe. The battle started out as Unborn Val’kyr versus my Droplet Of Y’Shaarj. The Unborn Val’kyr didn’t Haunt immediately so I was able to get some decent back line damage with Dreadful Breath. After it finally Haunted and the Anubisath Idol came in I held off on Acid Rain until Sandstorm was cast. Without Sandstorm the Dreadful Breath was able to AoE unimpeded. Before Sandstorm was off CD my opponent swapped out the Anubisath Idol, I’m not sure why. It ended up dying on the back line. Snarly was able to finish off the Val’kyr and then then the Tonk before it was in Ion Cannon range. The fact that the Val’kyr put up a useless Curse Of Doom at the end of the battle helped. The grind is taking its toll, can’t I just CloneDance the rest of the wins?
Record: 19-6-1

Battle 27: Obvious Ponies
Unborn Val’kyr, Fiendish Imp, Warbot
vs. Filthling, Electrified Razortooth, Darkmoon Zeppelin

021614NI was just joking about the CloneDance thing but here I am running one of my most competitive teams. Hmm, do I really want to get to level ninety this way? I’m at about 94%. This battle went as one would expect. Haunt plus Minefield plus swap is a very hard combo to deal with. I’m the bad guy here with my fotm team easily face rolling someone’s creative team. It’s not looking like I’m going to get to ninety tonight. Okay, one or two more.
Record: 20-6-1

Battle 28: A Bloody Dream
Darkmoon Rabbit, Snarly, Infested Bear Cub
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Chi-Chi, Direhorn Runt

021614OWhy must this be so difficult at the end? Can’t everyone just run triple Twilight Fiendlings to make my life easier? With all of my beast damage Chi-Chi was a real pain to take down since it was running with Tranquility. Ethereal avoids give Tranquility a “free” round of healing. I knew it would be tough battle. Infected Bite was going to have to come through if I was I was going to pull this off and my Infested Bear Cub has a history of missing when it’s important. The dead bear made up for that by hitting all of its Infected Claws. Good dead bear! It also got off a bleeding Maul against the Direhorn. Again the Val’kyr gave me an extra turn by using CoD at the end. A note to all Val’kyr enthusiasts: a move that will hit in four rounds does you no good when the battle will be over in three.
Record: 21-6-1

With that sound bit of advice I think I will call it an evening. I only need about five more wins to get to level ninety but I’m just not having that much fun anymore. If I stop now it’ll give me a chance to think about which five teams are deserving enough to participate in the final countdown.

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