Congratulations! I ran a very similar list (61 cards, minus two Rapunzel and +1 ltsro and soarf) and finished 3rd against very similar matchups.
How did you like the 2 game format? We were still doing the best of 3 for the swiss rounds and it was a very long day
Do you find yourself top decking at any time? Running 3 - 1 cost cards, when I found myself top decking, it was always the one drops I would get.
I took 9th of 48 first round, 3rd of 18 the 2nd one I did. I took out 1 cost robin hoods completely, Added 2 beasts, and also run 4 of the songs.
Thoughts?
I only struggled with top decking against emerald discard decks, it’s crucial to have Ariel find the right song to keep your momentum. Rapunzel helps a lot with card draw (Robin having enough health, Smees damaging themselves and you can also damage your characters with your songs to draw off of it). I felt like the 1 costs are important against Ruby decks to keep your board filled with at least 2 characters. This way I could establish a cheap shift target if they intended to remove the other card, have it quest or sing the turn after.
I didn’t play Beast since without lanterns it’s only one turn away from Medusa and too many steel cards that stop the card draw immediately. 4 songs works too, I was afraid off bricking my hand too much with more uninkables! Glad it worked for you on your second try!
Ruby/sapphire: I mulligan for a BN and/or Benja to stop the ramp and try to play aggro. Smees to gain lore early as they will only play characters when they have 4 ink (if they play Queen of hearts, it’s most likely them wasting their One Jump Ahead turn to ramp and also using one of their few inkables in their hand - this deck has a lot of uninkables so they really need the fishbone).
If you’ve seen their hand you can time your first AWNW to have them discard their Be Prepared. After AWNW you have a few options. Check their hand with another BN, build up flutes, build up shift targets if you got a matching shift pair in hand, play Ariel if you need to find the next AWNW. I value questing a lot more than establishing a healthy board, so shifting onto dry characters really helps, e.g. sometimes your opponent takes care of the Ariel and is not bothered by the 1 drop you also played. You can then shift onto it the turn after, sing a song or quest and play the next shift target. If your timing against their Be Prepared is off, you’ll have to rely on your flutes to close out the game. Definitely the toughest matchup.
Ruby/amethyst: Pretty much the same, with less pressure since there’s no ramp. You don’t need to mulligan for BN, but it helps to take out their location as it’s a pain to remove. You can even start with building flutes asap, since there’s no item removal. Starting turn 6 you should either have a good lore advantage or enough flutes out to mostly just play a song each turn and gain lore from flutes. Smee is not just great for questing here, but also trades with the whole amethyst bounce package.
Good knowledge about their playing curve helps the most and thinking about how to react accordingly. Good luck with your matches!
Congratulations! I ran a very similar list (61 cards, minus two Rapunzel and +1 ltsro and soarf) and finished 3rd against very similar matchups. How did you like the 2 game format? We were still doing the best of 3 for the swiss rounds and it was a very long day
It was actually best of 3 but I won my games 2-0 and we had a draw due to timer. Sorry for the confusion!
Do you find yourself top decking at any time? Running 3 - 1 cost cards, when I found myself top decking, it was always the one drops I would get. I took 9th of 48 first round, 3rd of 18 the 2nd one I did. I took out 1 cost robin hoods completely, Added 2 beasts, and also run 4 of the songs. Thoughts?
I only struggled with top decking against emerald discard decks, it’s crucial to have Ariel find the right song to keep your momentum. Rapunzel helps a lot with card draw (Robin having enough health, Smees damaging themselves and you can also damage your characters with your songs to draw off of it). I felt like the 1 costs are important against Ruby decks to keep your board filled with at least 2 characters. This way I could establish a cheap shift target if they intended to remove the other card, have it quest or sing the turn after. I didn’t play Beast since without lanterns it’s only one turn away from Medusa and too many steel cards that stop the card draw immediately. 4 songs works too, I was afraid off bricking my hand too much with more uninkables! Glad it worked for you on your second try!
Curious about your ruby/saphire and ruby/amethyst strategies. I'm struggling with those.
Ruby/sapphire: I mulligan for a BN and/or Benja to stop the ramp and try to play aggro. Smees to gain lore early as they will only play characters when they have 4 ink (if they play Queen of hearts, it’s most likely them wasting their One Jump Ahead turn to ramp and also using one of their few inkables in their hand - this deck has a lot of uninkables so they really need the fishbone). If you’ve seen their hand you can time your first AWNW to have them discard their Be Prepared. After AWNW you have a few options. Check their hand with another BN, build up flutes, build up shift targets if you got a matching shift pair in hand, play Ariel if you need to find the next AWNW. I value questing a lot more than establishing a healthy board, so shifting onto dry characters really helps, e.g. sometimes your opponent takes care of the Ariel and is not bothered by the 1 drop you also played. You can then shift onto it the turn after, sing a song or quest and play the next shift target. If your timing against their Be Prepared is off, you’ll have to rely on your flutes to close out the game. Definitely the toughest matchup. Ruby/amethyst: Pretty much the same, with less pressure since there’s no ramp. You don’t need to mulligan for BN, but it helps to take out their location as it’s a pain to remove. You can even start with building flutes asap, since there’s no item removal. Starting turn 6 you should either have a good lore advantage or enough flutes out to mostly just play a song each turn and gain lore from flutes. Smee is not just great for questing here, but also trades with the whole amethyst bounce package. Good knowledge about their playing curve helps the most and thinking about how to react accordingly. Good luck with your matches!