January 8, 2014

Today’s Team: Trihard Shield
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
P/P Warbot (Missile, Minefield, Extra Plating)
P/P Stunted Direhorn (Trihorn Charge, Stampede, Trihorn Shield)

Strategy:
Something odd is going on tonight. There are Direhorns everywhere, it’s like a time warp. There are also new players (I can tell by the names of the pets). It’s almost as if I’m on a different meta. Add to that the fact that my PBT isn’t working and I’m having a very odd night of pet battles. In response to the Direhorns I decided to run some of my good ol’ Imp and Warbot teams, beasts beware. It seemed appropriate to bring along a Direhorn of my own. I’ve actually had this team around for awhile. Stampede has good synergy with Immolation and Trihorn Shield alows the Direhorn to live through a Stampede to get a Charge off. Ever been hit with a Trihorn Charge by a racialed Stunted Direhorn while debuffed? It hurts. The plan is to throw down a Minefied, swap to the Imp for Immolation and Gate then bring in the Direhorn for Shield and Stampede.

Concerns:
My biggest concern is that I’m in the Twilight Zone of pet battles. Who are these people and where did they come from? Pertaining to this battle my biggest concern is the low hp of the Direhorn and low accuracy of Trihorn Charge.

The Opposing Team:
P/P Lil’ Ragnaros
P/P Deathwing
P/B Kun-Lai Runt
That’s a lot of P’s.

The Battle:
Both Deathwing and Rag are scary, I knew this would be interesting. My opponent started with Deathwing and I chose my Imp. To Gate or not to Gate? Rag is in the second spot so if I Gate I’ll have to face that fireface. I guess Elementium Bolt and a 357 power dragonkin racial scares me more than a Magma Trap because I chose to gate out DW. Rag came in to lay down a Magma Trap as my Imp cast Immolation. Ok, I got this covered, Trihorn Shield should block Sons no problem. I swap to my Direhorn as I expect Rag to go under but instead DW comes back in. I try to apply my Trihorn Shield anyways but the Magma Trap goes off. Dang. Stunned and damaged while an Elementium Bolt is cast. My Direhorn takes a Shadowflame while it’s stunned. DW has his dragonkin racial and my beast has an Elementium Bolt hanging over it. I decided to sacrifice the Direhorn to all the incoming damage so I cast Stampede to debuff DW before death.

I call out my Warbot who has a juicy debuffed DW in from of me. Would you be so kind as to not swap while I shoot a Missile? To my disbelief DW does just that and takes 800+ damage killshot from a Missile. This is getting interesting. Kun-Lai Runt is next out to take a Missle and apply Frost Shock. I get my Warbot out of there quick and have to eat the Deep Freeze with my Imp. Thankfully the stun doesn’t proc. My Imp spams Burn while the Runt spams Takedown. The turn before Deep Freeze is off CD I’m expecting a Frost Shock but it never comes. A P/B KLR will out speed a slowed Imp, but perhaps my opponent doesn’t know this. That cost them the battle. Instead of being slower than the Runt and having to eat another Deep Freeze I cast Nether Gate. It hits so once again I’m facing Rag. One Sulfuras Smash takes out the Imp so it’s Warbot versus Rag. You might think I have no chance but there’s a reason I hold the Warbot in such high regard: Extra Plating. The Plating allows my Warbot to survive long enough to throw down a Minefield and kill Rag with two Missiles. The KLR walked into the Minefield to end the battle.