FAB Tournament Report: TTS Nottingham Lockdown Blitz
Yesterday (Oct. 31, 2020) I took part in a small online tournament played via LSS’s Play Anywhere system and Tabletop Simulator. With eight players signed up, we did three rounds of Blitz with Swiss pairings. I decided to play a Dorinthea deck that had previously served me well in another online Blitz tournament. Here’s what I was running:
Deck Strategy
This deck is designed to be aggressive but with some defense available as well. With this build, I can attack either “wide” or “tall” thanks to the combination of go again attack cards and Dawnblade buffs, which will hopefully offer some mixups and keep my opponents on their toes. Note that I am not running Command and Conquer or Dauntless — while countering your opponent’s defense reactions can be important for a Warrior in Classic Constructed, in Blitz these cards are less important because defense reactions are generally worse in the Blitz format.
For my own defense, I am running two yellow Springboard Somersaults and two blue Steelblade Shunts, as well as two red Sigils of Solace. Normally, defense reactions are weak in Blitz because the lack of sideboarding means you cannot side them out in matchups where you want to be aggressive. Cards like red Sink Below or Unmovable can be very strong in Classic Constructed, but are major liabilities when you have to run them against a Wizard! As a result, I opted to run only defense reactions that can pitch to keep the offense pressure on. The Sigils of Solace don’t have good pitch, but they make up for it by being very strong in the Blitz format and applicable to all matchups. Note that I usually treat the Shunts as pitch cards, but with some flexibility to kill a 1 health opponent, break an Enchanting Melody, etc.
The equipment loadout is designed to give me a lot of defense as well, while also enabling aggressive plays. Here’s what I run in different matchups:
Wizard — Nullrune Hood, Robe, and Gloves, Refraction Bolters.
Runeblade — Nullrune Hood, Courage of Bladehold, Braveforge Bracers, Refraction Bolters.
Kayo (dice roll Brute) — Arcanite Skullcap, Courage of Bladehold, Gambler’s Gloves, Refraction Bolters.
Everyone else — Arcanite Skullcap, Courage of Bladehold, Braveforge Bracers, Refraction Bolters.
I’ve found that armor is extra important in Blitz because it represents a higher proportion of your overall defense relative to in Constructed — hence Courage of Bladehold over Fyendal’s Spring Tunic. If you anticipate playing against defensive, “grindy” opponents the Tunic is certainly not an unreasonable call, though!
Courage of Bladehold may not be a common pick in Classic Constructed play, but in Blitz I think it’s a star!
I would say that I usually block once with Courage and then break it for energy, but in a desperate circumstance or against an opponent with many relevant on-hit effects blocking twice with Courage can be quite reasonable — and the flexibility there really means a lot!
Lastly, the high armor and Sigils of Solace that this build offers allows me to be a little more aggressive with my life pool than I might be otherwise. “Blocking with your face” is often good to maintain tempo, but it is especially helpful in this build because doing so allows me to enable the extra block from Arcanite Skullcap and the go again from Scar for a Scar and Life for a Life.
The Games
Game 1 (against Dash):
Believe it or not, this was actually my first game ever against Dash! For whatever reason Dash seems to be very rare in online play, and so I wasn’t altogether sure what to expect. When I saw my opponent start the game with a Teklo Core and Plasma Barrel Shot, I knew it wasn’t going to be the standard pistol Dash — and indeed the game proved to be very aggro, with both of us trading big combinations of attacks. At one point my opponent managed to launch a Maximum Velocity while I was at 8 HP, but I was able to use a Springboard Somersault in Arsenal and some equipment blocks to not just survive, but keep my momentum when doing so! In the end I was able to prevail — my opponent noted that many of his past games had been against Ranger and Wizard, and he was less used to playing against a deck that had so much defense from its equipment. Being able to block so much with equipment (and my face!) let me keep up my own aggression even in the face of lots of incoming threats.
Victory! (1-0)
Game 2 (against Viserai):
This game started off with a bang, with my opponent going first and throwing out red Sloggism into red Amplify the Arknight for 12! I blocked for 11 with three cards plus Courage, hoping to draw into Scar or Life, but didn’t get it (in retrospect I think it might have been better to go for the full block from hand, but I didn’t want to lose both my copies of Singing Steelblade). However, given that this was the first turn I was able to draw up and bounce back, and ultimately prevailed — in the end I believe an Ironsong Response gave me the extra damage I needed to close out the game. My opponent was using the Nebula Blade rather than the Reaping Blade, which I think ended up to my advantage — the Reaping Blade’s more consistent ability to attack is IMO stronger and its anti-healing properties can be strong as well, especially in Blitz where Sigil of Solace is a strong card.
Victory! (2-0)
Game 3 (against Rhinar):
This game was against a friend who I’ve played many times in Classic Constructed, but not as much in Blitz. Our matches are generally close, but in Blitz one can’t sideboard against Warrior, so big defense reactions like Unmovable — often a problem under normal conditions — are less likely to be seen, so my odds were perhaps a bit better than normal. In this game we both got fairly low on life. I had an edge on tempo but was worried that my opponent would be able to pull out a big Intimidate play to close the game.
A key moment came when I managed to land a Ironsong Determination hit with go again (not sure what source, might have been Bolters). I had a copy of Ironsong Response in hand, Enlightened Strike in arsenal, and both of us were at five life (IIRC). Under normal circumstances, I might just swing again, but I was worried that my opponent might be able to drop to one life and then kill me or regain tempo if he had a big Intimidate turn, so I decided to use the EStrike with go again before my second Dawnblade swing so as to force out more defense.
Luckily for me, my opponent was distracted by something and forgot that I would have another Dawnblade swing for four with Dominate after the EStrike, so ended up using a defense reaction from Arsenal prematurely, which allowed me to get in with the second Dawnblade swing for one damage after block and a +1 counter. At this point I had a major edge and was able to close out the game a turn or two later.
Victory! (3-0, first place)
Bonus Game (against Rhinar):
After the event ended, I got one extra game in with the same deck against someone I hadn’t been lined up with during the tournament proper. This was also a Rhinar game but with a very different build. Relative to the other Rhinar game it was less close, as I was pulling some great combos and my opponent’s equipment felt less well-suited to the matchup — the fact that my opponent rolled a one on his Barkbone Strapping didn’t help! In the end I think I swung for something like 11 dominate with go again thanks to a big combination of attack buffs.
Victory! (bonus game)
Overall this event was a lot of fun and I hope to take part in more of these “Play Anywhere” events in the future! Thanks to the UK players who set this one up, and I encourage others to also try running Play Anywhere events — they’re a free and fun way to get some games in in a more structured environment. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more content, including new 101 articles coming later this week!
