January 31, 2014

Five Wins Or Bust (Shale Hatchling Edition)
I’ve been having an absolute blast with the Sen’Jin Fetish and Crimson Shale Hatchling combo. This unlikely pair has been ripping my meta a new one since last night. No really, it has. Mostly I’ve been using an H/P Crimson Shale Hatchling. I would prefer a P/P Emerald Shale Hatchling but so far the wins keep rolling in. Plus that would require me to go to Deepholm. It seems so far (<—lazy). For now I’ll keep rolling the H/P red one.

Battle 1: Instant Heroes
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Stunted Direhorn
vs. Fiendish Imp, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling

013114DThis is the team that started my current fun streak. I was a bit worried when I saw Mr. Slow (as I call this player). The slow Fiendish Imp and Death Adder combo is hard to deal with when all of your pets are slower. In this battle I knew it would be hard to begin with then my Fetish missed a Shadow Slash on the Imp. Trihorn Shield helped keep my Stunted Direhorn alive when I back lined it. That was huge because the battle ended with a 300 hp Imp versus a 200 hp Direhorn. Trihorn Charge gave me an 85% chance at the win… and it hit. Anything less than 90% scares me. Now I have the dilemma of countering this team or keep running my intended teams. Reading about me crushing Mr. Slow with Minefields and a Mongoose Pup is no fun, I’ll continue as planned.
Record: 1-0

Battle 2: Heroes Hate Critters
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Infected Squirrel
vs. Anubisath Idol, Pierre, Gooey Sha-ling

013114FI ran a Pierre bleeding team for awhile. I just can’t get into the whole accuracy reduction thing as a long term strategy. If I win because rng decided you missed it just feels cheap. If this player would have won it would not have been due to clever play or great team creation, it would have been because I missed so much. Even with all of the misses this battle turned out to be a close one. The Fetish had a few hp left when it took out the Idol with a Shadow Slash.
Record: 2-0

Battle 3: Heroes Hate Critters Less
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Blighted Squirrel
vs. Snarly, Chuck, Infested Bear Cub

013114AThis team counters me wonderfully. Not to be paranoid here but it’s possible that I just got sniped. What do I expect to happen when I run this combo close to twenty times in a row and only lose two or three times? I’d do the same. I had a brief glimmer of hope. The Blighted Squirrel took out Snarly and got one round of Stampede off against Chuck. I figured I’d bring in my elemental to get one Burn off against the debuffed Chuck then swap out so the Blood In The Water is attacking the non-bleeding Fetish. Nice plan, but the Burn missed. The glimmer was gone and my opponent easily won. I’m not blaming the loss on the miss, it was not looking good even before that.
Record: 2-1

Battle 4: Heroes Recruit Critters
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Grizzly Squirrel
vs. Emerald Shale Hatchling, Kun-Lai Runt, Tranquil Mechanical Yeti

013114GI was too scared of running into critters with the double undead team so I decided to bring a different pet with stampede. The S/S Grizzly Squirrel fits in nicely with its anti-critter attack and some speed. I was delighted to see another elemental spider in the queue. The battle was fairly straightforward and quick. The Grizzly Squirrel took out the Emerald Shale Hatchling (with some help from Stone Rush). The KLR tried to Deep Freeze it but the critter racial stopped that. After the Grizzly Squirrel died I brought in the Sen’jin Fetish so my opponent went to the mech. As soon as I thought the Ion Cannon was read I swapped to my elemental. Good call, the Ion Cannon did weak damage and allowed me to kill the Tranquil Mechanical Yeti. The KLR ran.
Record: 3-1

Battle 5: Heroes Smash Critters
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Clefthoof Runt
vs.Anubisath Idol, Pierre, Gooey Sha-ling

013114EAgain? C’mon queue, treat me better than that. Just like the first battle against this team it was long, tedious and boring with a ton of misses. This one was not as close as the first battle against this opponent, my Sen’Jin Fetish had over half its health left at the end. My elemental spider did a good job against both Pierre and the Gooey Sha-ling. I’m still not sure what the Gooey Sha-ling was doing on this team.
Record: 4-1

Battle 6: Heroes Get Boned
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Dragonbone Hatchling
vs. Ghostly Skull, Bonkers, Unborn Val’kyr

013114BI finally went out and got a P/P Dragonbone Hatchling to use in place of my H/H Buzzard on some teams. I think I like the H/H more for the extra security all that hp provides. The battle ended up as a full health showdown between Bonkers and the bird. I will admit to not playing this one well at all, I should have never let it get to that point. I should have saved the Sen’Jin Fetish for Bonkers. Unfortunately I didn’t so had a 1481 hp flyer to outlast Bonkers with. Would my H/H Fledgling Buzzard been able to pull it off with 1806 hp? I’ve been meaning to analyze the generic bird breeds for a while, I just haven’t gotten around to it. At any rate, Bonkers won. I decided early that I don’t like Bonkers after I beat it so much. I know some good battles who have mentioned him before. Perhaps I’ll give him a shot someday. But then I would have to do stuff in game, like go out and get him. That’s even more work than going to Deepholm!
Record: 4-2

Battle 7: Tired Heroes
Crimson Shale Hatchling, Sen’Jin Fetish, Darkmoon Rabbit
vs. Skywisp Moth, Clockwork Gnome, Clockwork Gnome

013114CI almost chose a Summit Kid as a third, those Turrets would have ripped it apart. Phew. Two Gnomes and a Skywisp Moth, I think I know what’s going to happen. With all of my DoTs the Lightning was very beneficial to me. Lightning and Turrets is such a powerful combo that even though I knew what was coming and had a shielded elemental this wasn’t a complete faceroll. The second Gnome did run away but I thought it was a premature forfeit. I’d like to tip my hat to Blizzard before I sign off. Even though I have a few beefs with how some moves are balanced I have to say that overall pet battles are more balanced than they’ve ever been. Just look at these past few days: I’ve taken a somewhat mediocre pet and made some decent teams that have won way more than they’ve lost. In patches past that was much more difficult to do than it is now. Things are good.
Record: 5-2

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