Can You Find the Winning Line?
The Superb Owl tourney, hosted by FakeMews for a $1000 prize, is underway and after battling through a largely uneventful round of 256 match, my round of 128 was an interesting fight.
In game 1 in the Best of Three, I found a very nice line, so nice in fact that it precipitated all of this in motion. I was quite proud of the line and so I uploaded the video to FakeMews to have him cast the game on his stream where he ridicules players for making dumb mistakes.
Along side him on the day was HPain, another one of the top 3 All-time Earners in GU, just beneath Mews in 3rd place. Two of the best players in the entire game, if not THE TWO BEST hands down in my opinion.
When the turn in question arose, they both missed the winning line, and in fact mocked me for taking the line I took!
In the video, I pause the game to let you analyze and decide what you'd have done if you were in the situation, so take a look and let me know if you find it!
Misplays!
I'm not perfect, no one is. Even though I found a nice line in game 1, I also misplayed a handful of other turns in the same game and throughout the best-of-three.
The minor mistake I made in Game 1 (not drawing cards until the end of turn) really came back to bite me in another game, where I once again didn't draw first, and this time it made me waste valuable resources.
ALWAYS. DRAW. FIRST!
Gotta drill that one into my head a few more times apparently.
Analysis of The Turn!
Throughout the video I cut back and forth to FakeMews & HPain from their stream and my own commentary. It was invaluable to have my game analyzed by the top players in the game and quite frankly it is something I'd do again if I want to continue to get better. It is fun to lord over their heads that they would've lost game 1, but the reality is they don't usually miss things like that, and they really are unbelievably talented. Pretty nuts that they both had a blind spot at the same time in game 1!
(If you haven't attempted the turn in the video yet and don't want to be spoiled don't keep reading!)
I believe they both missed the key line because the most obvious line is using a single card to wipe the board, and that burning extra resources is rarely ever the best play! However, if you work your way backwards you'll come to the conclusion that I did.
You NEED to play the Helian Elite with Frontline the following turn, meaning you NEED to get your ramp card out this turn.
If you are playing Helian next turn, you NEED to heal this turn as there's no Mana left over after playing Helian. Otherwise you die to Blade of Styx and Slayer.
That left me with only 4 mana remaining, and two creatures to kill. Quite simple at this point, use two 2 Mana spells to clear the board instead of one 5 mana spell that I no longer could afford due to steps 1 & 2! Super inefficient use of cards on a normal turn, super cool victory in this game!!
Hope you guys enjoyed this one, let me know if you found the solution in the comments below! I'll upload future rounds of the tournament as it progresses.
Until then,
~Copper
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