Hi players, a while ago I posted this small challenge, what would be the best way to block 2 thragtusks.
You can check the challenge here:
http://www.tradewindrider.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/small-challenge-it-is-opponents-turn.html
Sadly, not many people gave the best answers. I don't think there is just one answer, since we don't really
know what is in opponent's hand. But there are some better than others, probably 2 or 3 among the best plays.
I'll tell now the best play, in my opinion, and why. =)
In the actual game, sadly, I didn't do my best play, I just tought of it after the game.
Facts to consider:
1 - He has 8 damage possible with Kessig-Wolf-Run
2 - He has sever the bloodline in his graveyard.
3 - He has 3 cards in hand.
4 - At this point we are losing the game, we want to kill him next turn if possible.
5 - He could use bloodline before attacking, he didn't because he wanted to keep mana for Kessig, so it is pretty clear he is trying to kill us. He is going agressive.*
* Probably because he lost 2 severs to 2 faiths shield, so he didn't want to invest more mana into it at that point
6 - We need 3 tokens to kill him.
7 - He might have damage in hand, also sever from grave would be really bad for us.
The idea here is to use block and unsummon to induce him to tap the most mana possible, so that minimizes the chance he plays evil spells after attacking, also we need to survive the attack, not go very low in life and we want to have 3 tokens left to kill him.
Lets analyze some possible plays:
1 - block no tusk at all.
This is not a good play:
>he would tap only 6 mana trying to go lethal with kessig, leaving 5 mana to play dangerous spells.
>He could also not tap mana at all, dealing 10 damage and finishing with some form of burn.
2 - block each tusk with 1 token
This is not a good play:
>He could tap all his mana to deal 10 damage. But that is unlikely, since it is not lethal damage.
>He would probably leave mana open, kill 2 tokens in combat, and try to sever our remaining tokens, that would be bad for us.
3 - block 1 tusk with all tokens, let other tusk pass.
This is decent, but not the best.
>He could tap ALL his mana to make the passing tusk 13/3. That is very taunting for him, lethal damage just there.
but...
>He could make a very good play: tap only 4 mana to make the blocked tusk 6/3. Kill 2 tokens in combat AND 7 mana open to cast sever. That would be really bad for us, we don't want him to have this possibility, and it looks like a really good play from the other side of the table.
4-The BEST play:
Use only 1 token to block 1 tusk.
Let other tusk pass.
He could:
>Tap all mana to make passing tusk 13/3 (unsummon, we keep 3 tokens, he has no mana)
>Tap 9 mana to make blocked tusk 11/3 (unsummon, we keep 4 tokens, he has only 2 mana)
Both would make lethal combat damage, both would be nice for us,
He could also:
>Tap no mana at all, let 1 token die in combat damage, them use sever after attack. This would be bad for us, but it is a bit less likely he does it, because it doesn't look THAT good from the other side (he doesn't know if we have faiths shield, that would mean death for him in that line of play, we just played 2 faiths, so he is very likely considering that possibility).
Well players, this is my opinion, I do feel this problem has some "open answers", there is not only one way to consider the possibilities, what do you think ? =)
