by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

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Written by [DKMR]Varranis

Welcome to this week’s “What Would DKMR Do?” Each week we’ll present an in-game situation and discuss the possible lines of play. Here’s the scenario for this week:

In this scenario, we’re a Warrior with a lot of options looking to survive against our menacing Hunter opponent. How would you stay alive while setting up for lethal?

Paul and Aanvil would:

“Play Sylvanas Windrunner and pass.”

This play progresses our board in a big way and limits what our opponent can do with Eaglehorn Bow.

Matheus Revoredo, SkarnSW, and Peter Thorne want to check the traps first. Matheus said:

“The best play would be to go face with the acolyte, then if it’s Freezing Trap, drop Sylvanas Windrunner pass. If it’s Explosive Trap we see what we draw, if it’s Sludge Belcher or Harrison Jones we drop it, coin Armor Up, if not, we just Armor Up, Fiery War Axe and hit face.”

While SkarnSW and Peter Thorne would play the Sylvanas Windrunner instead after checking the traps. Checking the traps empowers our opponent’s weapons, but also informs our plays.

Andrew wants to play it safe and:

“Shieldblock, armor up.”

Andrew isn’t worried about progressing the board, but would rather ensure he lives for the next few turns. Nuclein would take it a step farther and Coin out a Fiery War Axe and Deano would:

“Simply Fiery War Axe, Armor Up, and Pass.”

So what would DKMR do?

We would first attack the Hunter with Acolyte of Pain to check the traps. Most Hunter decks are only running Freezing Trap and either Snake Trap or Explosive Trap. Since we know one of his two traps is Snake Trap, we’re very confident his other trap is Freezing Trap. We prefer to proc the Freezing Trap with Acolyte of Pain since we already have a full grip and keeping Armorsmith on the board could be relevant to inflate our life total on future turns. After we attack, we would play Sylvanas Windrunner and pass. Sylvanas is the strongest minion we can play and uses our mana efficiently. It is also unlikely we’ll have many other turns on which we can afford to play the Sylvanas or otherwise progress our board and not be reactive.

The three worst case scenarios are that the Hunter plays Houndmaster, Savanah Highmane, or Loatheb. If we play Sylvanas this turn, we can play Shield Block and one or both Shield Slams on the following turn to handle Jungle Panther and Houndmaster or Jungle Panther and steal the Highmane by Shield Slamming our Sylvanas. Loatheb is the absolute worst case scenario as he cuts us off Shield Block and our removal. Playing the Sylvanas gives us an answer to Loatheb even though it will proc the Hunter’s Snake Trap.

Next week we’ll be talking about the scenario below. What would you do? Let us know in the comments!

[DKMR]Varranis streams every Sunday from 10 AM – 4 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/varranis.

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