Iron Moot: Steamroller ADR Finals (#556): Stryker1 vs Twins

:: Prologue ::

Poor Gustav. 

It turns out that the tournament I was in had D&C 1, meaning both lists had to be played. Guess what? I didn't know that. Having gone 4-0 and finding myself in the finals I was list-locked to Stryker1. That's.... Hardly ideal, to say the least. Ironically enough, my friend Gustav playing Legion was up against me. I've met Gustav multiple times before in Swedish tournaments. He's always struggling to find Cygnar counters and I've shown him #justHaley2Things many times before. This time he was prepared, with a list designed to deal with just that: Haley2. The irony was that he had no lists meant to take on Stryker1 and I couldn't even drop Haley2 (something I would've), so we ended up playing Stryker1 vs Twins!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Stormwall - PC: 39
- Lightning Pod
- Charger - PC: 9
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Opponent ::

Twins, Oracles
- Zuriel
- Scythean
- Naga
- Seraph
2x Throne
Blackfrost Shard
Solos

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Spread the Net and I went first. The idea was to bully up the middle with the big boys and play from there. I knew I had superior shooting and this list possesses some crazy angles. It was all about not exposing myself too badly, kiss and wraithbane make those Jaegers go down before you can say "arcane shield".

:: Game :: 

I spread the chargers out wide. Blur on Stryker, Snipe on Hurricane.

Gustav pushes to the max, Occultation on Twins.

I back off, consolidate my position and start shooting up the central Throne. I pod my flag because Gustav cannot kill it with anything without committing a vital piece.

Hellion moves in to contest my zone with her no-shooting thingy up. Rhyas in the middle means he scores. Hellion on the left runs to contest the pod. I lol a bit.

Charger on the right kills Hellion. I finish off the Throne with the Hurricane and continue on the Scythean. It nearly dies. Stryker feats and I take 2 points, meaning I'm up 1.

Gustav backs off, but Zuriel and Rhyas try to kill the Charger on the left. They fail. Remaining Throne contests the right zone, Scythean contests the middle. Nothing contests my flag so I'm up by 2.

If I can kill Rhyas and Zuriel I score in the left zone and there's nothing to threaten Stryker. If I kill the Throne as well I win outright. I go for the play (by Earthquaking to kd Zuriel + Rhyas, Stormwall clears up) and it works out, meaning I win by delta 5 CP. In hindsight it's possibly a sub-optimal play because it's so incredibly hard for my opponent to contest my flag here. A safer play is to kill the Scythean and leave the Throne on the right flank because this way fluffing dice won't matter much. In any case...

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

An interesting game for sure! I love the tech's Gustav come up with, a pity he didn't get to play it vs Haley2. The Thrones are really tanky and hard to deal with. I was surprised by his decision to keep pushing despite one Throne being very low on HP. That being said I'm not sure holding it back would accomplish much. Putting Occultation on it means Rhyas and Saeryn can't play anywhere close to as aggressive as they did.

The left zone was won rather easily by me and this was a problem because not only did I score there, but I completely zoned Gustav from contesting my flag. That was a huge problem for him as the CP just kept running and running. A more balanced approached (i.e. shifting further left) probably would've delayed the game.

Another win for the Swans, this time with Stryker1 jumping in when he had to and carrying the day against the dragonspawn of Everblight.

Poor Gustav.