September 7, 2014

Team Focus: Druid Of The Dance
S/S Jademist Dancer (Steam Vent, Rain Dance, Acid Rain)
B/B Moonkin Hatchling (Punch, Clobber, Cyclone)
H/B Swamp Croaker (Water Jet, Swarm Of Flies, Bubble)

Last night I ended up going a surprising 11-1 with this team. Overall there was some weak competition in the queue, but I did beat three or four valk teams. The last battle was a close win against a Warbot, Mr. Bigglesworth and a DAH so I have some confidence that this team can win against the big boys if played well. The clonedance strategy takes advantage of Rain Dance giving an accuracy and critical buff to Cyclone. Cyclone normally hits at 35% but Rain Dance brings that number up to 85%. The buffed Cyclone will rapidly chip away at pets on the back line. There’s some freedom when choosing a third pet on a clonedance team. I chose the Swamp Croaker since the bloated froggy has been serving me well against snakes and valks. You know I’ll eventually end up with a Spirit Crab as the third :). Snarly could work well, too.

I should mention that Josh first suggested this team on 1/9/14. See, if you just give me eight months or so I’ll eventually get around to using suggested teams.

Battle 1
vs. Qiraji Guardling, Death Adder Hatchling, Fossilized Hatchling
If it seems that I do worse on the weekends it’s because of my caffeine addiction. I often do the write-up while I’m drinking my first latte of the day and it hasn’t completely kicked in yet. Ok, I can’t blame the loss on lack of caffeine this time, I may have lost while fully caffeinated since I mis-anticipated the first pet and ended up playing around the impending Sandstorm when it didn’t exist. This Qiraji Guardling had Hawk Eye instead. Who does that? I also made an extra swap in the beginning which cost a turn I couldn’t afford. The adder survived with over 600 hp.
Record: 0-1

Battle 2
vs. Mr. Grubbs, Chrominius, Dragonbone Hatchling
So now I look like a bully. I can’t beat a decent team but I totally destroy this one. Chrominius started against the Moonkin Hatchling and cast Surge of Power right off the starting blocks. Not a good idea when my Moonkin Hatchling could throw some strong Punches while the dragon was recovering. It went downhill from there. Mr. Grubbs was slower than my humanoid so Clobber was effective and to top it off the Dragonbone Hatchling’s Lift-Off missed.
Record: 1-1

Battle 3
vs. Gilnean Raven, Gilnean Raven, Scourged Whelpling
I always hold a special distaste in my heart for accuracy reduction. This battle was winnable but two darkness misses made sure that didn’t happen. It wasn’t a sure thing by any means but it was close enough so that the misses made it impossible. This could be a long day of me making a decent team look bad. I need reinforcements. To the espresso machine!
Record: 1-2

Battle 4
vs. Anubisath Idol, Chrominius, Kun-Lai Runt
I will gladly accept the darkness misses from the last battle if that means I will get some sandstorm hits and see a smelly dog face go down. I did miss a Water Jet towards the end which made this a little bit closer than it should have been, but in the end the Swamp Croaker was able to prevail. I think the Moonkin Hatchling’s win rate may be inflated by all of the dragonkin it has faced over these two days.
Record: 2-2

Battle 5
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Death Adder Hatchling, Crawling Claw
I love to see a team like this fall flat. I was hoping the Unborn Val’kyr would start and it did. After a Clobber and Cyclone I swapped to the Swamp Croaker. It took the Haunt then a Poison Fang before it could cast Bubble. Not wanting to see my bubble taken out in one turn by Puncture Wound I swapped to the Jademist Dancer. It missed a blinded Steam Vent against the adder but hit when the valk swapped in. After my elemental was back lined by the claw the Swamp Croaker came in to dominate. It still had the bubble up which allowed it to take out both the adder and the claw. The Moonkin Hatchling finished off the valk with a Clobber and a Punch.
Record: 3-2

Battle 6
vs. Lil’ Ragnaros, Crimson Moth, Zandalari Anklerender
With a powerful pet that is “balanced” by rng anything can happen. In this battle the Magma Trap detonated on my Jademist Dancer while Lil’ Ragnaros was underground. That’s generally a good thing when dealing with a trap since rag can’t do anything to you while you’re stunned. Having my opponent’s most dangerous weapon mitigated was good news for me. Having Moth Dust not proc sleep was also good news for me. All of my pets survived this battle. I didn’t even use the Swamp Croaker.
Record: 4-2

Battle 7
vs. Lil’ Ragnaros, Crimson Moth, Sunreaver Micro-Sentry
Once again the trap went off at a good time for me, once again no sleeps procced, once again I didn’t even use the Swamp Croaker. This time rng was even kinder to me with a Punch crit finishing rag off before he could go under a second time. Clobber on a 276 speed pet is turning out to be extremely useful. I just with it had a cool graphic like Bash’s orange fist.
Record: 5-2

Battle 8
vs. Ghostly Skull, Clockwork Gnome, Bonkers
My opponent had some bad rng, missing a Spectral Strike and a Haymaker. After the Moonkin Hatchling put out the Cyclone the Jademist came in and dominated. I brought in the Swamp Croaker during garbage time to finish the massacre. I’m getting bored of this, plus that makes 20 battles including last night’s. The record is 17-3 overall. That’s not too impressive since you would expect as much from a clonedance team. It does show that the Moonkin Hatchling isn’t as totally worthless as many people say it is.
Record: 6-2