February 17, 2014

Five Wins Or Bust
I usually like to mix up the “battle log” style of daily with team creation dailies but the past few days have been special circumstances. I’m almost to level ninety! I need five more wins so it seemed appropriate for today’s daily to be “Five Wins Or Bust”. I’ve already chosen the five teams that I want to get my last five wins with, so even if I lose I’ll re-queue with them.

Battle 1: Acorn Berserkers
Grizzly Squirrel, Infected Squirrel, Rabid Nut Varmint 5000
vs. Jademist Dancer, Blighthawk, Anubisath Idol
Today might take awhile if I run into competitive teams like this one. Normally I would come back with a counter team but I’m set on the teams that I wish to use for my last five wins. The CloneDance team is really starting to catch on in my meta. If it becomes more of a problem I’ll have to come up with some good counter teams. The squirrels just couldn’t deal with all of that back line damage. I would say good game but they were using an Anubisath Idol. That just makes you a horrible person automatically.
Record: 0-1

Battle 2: Acorn Berserkers
Grizzly Squirrel, Infected Squirrel, Rabid Nut Varmint 5000
vs. Amber Moth, Death Adder hatchling, Stunted Direhorn
The enemy Death Adder was an H/H so it was a bit easier to to deal with than usual. This was still a hard battle. I started with my Grizzly Squirrel versus the Amber Moth. The squirrel used Nut Barrage then Crouch as the moth swapped out after a failed sleep attempt. Then the Death Adder came in. It’s beast versus critter, I better run. Except Crouch was up and Nut Barrage is good against the blind. I kept my critter in and it paid off. The Death Adder won the match-up but it was within kill range of my Nut Varmint. Unfortunately it didn’t hit all three Thrashes which allowed the snake to get a blind off before dying to the falling nuts. Rabid Strike is always scary to use but I had to chance it if I was going to pull this win off. I used it against both the moth and Stunted Direhorn. In the end the Stunted Direhorn died to Creeping Fungus with both Rabies and Shattered Defenses on it.
Record: 1-1

Battle 3: A New Hope
Fiendish Imp, Warbot, Sen’Jin Fetish
vs. Fossilized Hatchling, Nether Fairie Dragon, Snow Cub
I really needed to pay tribute to the Fiendish Imp and Warbot combo. I decided to give the Sen’Jin Fetish some love, too. The voodoo mask has really stepped it up in 5.4. The Fiendish Imp missed its initial Nether Gate which can sometimes be disastrous. It made this battle closer that it should have been but I still pulled out the win. Thank you Extra Plating and Minefield, again.
Record: 2-1

Battle 4: Instant Heroes
Emerald Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Stunted Direhorn
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Scalded Basilisk Hatchling, Fiendish Imp
This was an extremely disappointing loss. The reason I like Instant Heroes so much is because even when things seem bleak this team often manages to scratch out a win. The Scalded Basilisk Hatchling used to be my favorite pet but it has fallen out of favor with me. Here it was used solely as a utility pet with Feign Death, Screech and Crystal Prison. The Sen’Jin Fetish missed as usual, but I was still set up for the win at the end. The Scalded Basilisk Hatchling was the last enemy pet with 97 hp remaining, Trihorn Charge was off CD and ready… to miss.
Record: 2-2

Battle 5: Instant Heroes
Emerald Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Stunted Direhorn
vs. Crimson Lasher, Giant Bone Spider, Water Waveling
I used a Crimson Lasher quite a bit in the early days of pet battles but stopped around 5.2. I liked the stun and the five round heal but power creep made it more difficult to win in later patches, at least for me. In this battle I was able to use Sear Magic on the Geyser which is a big deal. It was an extremely unlucky battle for my opponent. They missed not one, but two Death Grips. To the forums! Stoneskin went a long way in helping negate the DoT damage from the Bone Spider. This one wasn’t close at all.
Record: 3-2

Battle 6: Millions Of Deer Corpses
Son Of Animus, Infected Fawn, Fiendish Imp
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Fiendish Imp, Scalded Basilisk Hatchling
I’m not really invested in any one particular Son Of Animus team but I wanted to give the mech some credit for getting me this far. The Touch Of The Animus strategy has earned me a lot of wins. It can be difficult to pull off sometimes so the wins feel like you earned them. Like this battle here. This is the same team that beat Instant Heroes earlier. Touch Of The Animus was certainly the difference in this battle. I wasn’t able to heal the Infected Fawn at all, but Immolation ticks with Touch Of The Animus up gave my Fiendish Imp enough hp to take out the opposing Fiendish Imp and the Scalded Basilisk Hatchling at the end.
Record: 4-2

Battle 7: Aqua Disaster
Eternal Strider, Robo-Chick, Spirit Crab
vs. Warbot, Pandaren Monk, Feline Familiar
It looked like I wasn’t going to hit ninety with this battle and I’m glad I didn’t so I could pay some tribute to my Robo-Chick. It’s been in and out of my rotation since way back in 5.1, maybe even 5.0. It made a comeback for me in 5.4. By the way, does this person not know that I own the exclusive rights to the Warbot? Just kidding of course, but I really don’t want the awesomeness of the Warbot to become common knowledge. This was a very straight forward battle without any swaps. My Robo-Chick beat the Warbot and got a Batter off against the Pandaren Monk. The Eternal Strider ate the mines and was barely able to finish off the humanoid. The Feline Familiar killed the Eternal Strider but was unable to finish off the Spirit Crab. So close to ninety!
Record: 5-2

Bonus Battle: Retaliating Ten
Sen’Jin Fetish, Spirit Crab, Mongoose Pup
vs. Anubisath Idol, Clockwork Gnome, Snarly
This is the team I’ve been saving until the end. I wish I had given it a better name because it’s become the new version of Disco’s Destroyers. It’s all three of my favorite pets. Instead of being a fun team it’s actually quite competitive with the Mongoose Pup and Sen’Jin Fetish countering Death Adders and Valk’yrs so well. The Spirit Crab adds some tankiness. This battle started off as Snarly versus the Spirit Crab. Since I didn’t have any better way to deal with the Blood In The Water I just shielded and took it like a crab. Next the Clockwork Gnome swapped in. My Spirit Crab missed a Snap on the swap. My opponent didn’t waste any rounds by putting down a Turret while the shields were up. You’d be surprised how many people do that not once sometimes twice in a battle. I spammed Snap since I didn’t want to put down a Whirlpool and force the Anubisath Idol in. The Spirit Crab took out the Clockwork Gnome after it was brought to zero. The Anubisath Idol came in and here’s where the battle was won. Deflection was used to “waste” my undead round but instead I threw down a Whirlppol. Now the Idol couldn’t use Deflection on the turn the Whirlpool would hit. The Sen’Jin Fetish came in, the Idol didn’t swap out. After finishing the dog face with a couple of Shadow Slashes and the Whirlpool I was able to take out Snarly with my voodoo mask and Mongoose Pup. I made it!