February 5, 2015

Today’s Team: Second Love
P/P Frostwolf Ghostpup (Scratch, Refuge, Ghostly Bite)
S/S Lovebird Hatchling (Alpha Strike, Lovestruck, Pheromones)
P/B Mr. Wiggles (Infected Claw, Crouch, Uncanny Luck)

Rationale:
This is a combination of Aeth’s team from the POTM #2 competition and Hirrus’ suggestion to try out Mr. Wiggles as a beneficiary of Refuge. I just leveled up the Lovebird Hatchling today and so far I’m liking it. A stun move on a 325 speed pet is really good. Pheromones provides some back line damage and Alpha Strike can benefit from its speed. I’ve been using Peck so far out of fear of priority moves or faster pets; I think it’s time I stop being conservative and give Alpha Strike a shot. I’m tempted to use Headbutt on Mr. Wiggles but the crit and accuracy buff has been working out well so far. If I remember correctly from a thread at Warcraft Pets that included some testing by Regillixavatar, any accuracy over 100% increases your chance to hit on the high side of the damage range so the accuracy part isn’t wasted. So far the piggy has been doing well for me.

Concerns:
Pheromones can be useless at the end of a battle if there are no back line pets. Also, I did one battle before this with the wrong move set loaded and I lost pretty badly to a 357 speed rabbit. Actually lost is an understatement, I got absolutely destroyed by a 357 speed rabbit. I hope I don’t run into it again.

The Opposing Team:
H/H Ghastly Kid
P/P Lil’ Ragnaros
P/S Nexus Whelpling

The Battle:
The initial match-up was 260 speed undead versus 260 speed undead. I won the coin toss so my Refuge blocked the first Hoof. The next round we exchanged strong attacks, after that I won the coin toss again and got in a Scratch before the Haunt came. Lil’ Ragnaros came in to replace the Ghastly Kid so I swapped to Mr. Wiggles. A trap went down, but Mr. Wiggles first attack set it off so the damage was blocked. I then made a big mistake by bringing in my Frostwolf Ghostpup right as rag went under. I was hoping to get in a Ghostly Bite before he did, but I mis-anticipated. So now the damage from Haunt and Sons of the Flame meant my top pet would die. What a waste.

I brought in the Lovebird Hatchling. It was able to take out Lil’ Ragnaros and absorb a trap with minimal effect thanks to the critter racial. It also softened up the back line a bit with Pheromones. The Ghatly Kid came back and the Lovebird Hatchling killed it too, thanks in part to the stun. The Lovebird Hatchling’s last action was to do some Alpha Strike damage to the dragon before dying. The Nexus Whelpling was finally here and I didn’t fancy my chances at beating it with Mr. Wiggles. This happened to be a P/S Nexus Whelpling rather than the common P/P. How unlucky for me, now I have no speed advantage. I used Crouch, this time the dice gods favored my opponent. Bam, huge Arcane Strom damage! I forgot that Arcane Storm is evenly split now, what a load of crap. My bitterness at the AoE meta is starting to seep through more and more, I’ll try to keep it under wraps. I thought I was finished, but my opponent cast Tail Sweep instead of Mana Surge. Interesting, I only took 146 damage from it. The next round Mana Surge was used but it wasn’t enough to kill my piggy. There was some final round drama as the piggy and dragon faced off, the battle to be decided by the dice gods. The piggy attacked first, once again I got a lucky win thanks to a coin toss. Phew. Three out of four coin tosses went my way and my opponent made a questionable call at the end. I’m gonna say that I didn’t really deserve that one, but I’ll take it nevertheless.