Duel Masters | FN Rush vs Survivors - 2023 Bracket Tournament (Season 1) - TOP 16

[@nsiderultimaseth]

I saw the video length and went "Oh nooooooo!" Sad to see Survivors out, but Rush gonna Rush! I had a feeling this was going to be the result based on the Survivor decklist. Loving the bracket tournament! Can't wait to see Phal again on Friday.

[@EarthP0w3R]

Thanks for watching. This has been a lot of fun for us too and I'm excited to start posting some more exhibition style matches outside of the tournament here soon. Gonna have to stay tuned!

[@cvh3367]

Thoughts on the match even though I didn't play it! (Spoilers below) -- The only power-based removal Carl had as Shield Triggers in this version of Survivors was Tornado Flame, which kills everything in Spencer's deck except a double-buffed Quixotic. Throughout the match you'll notice Spencer attacking with smaller creatures first such as at 3:18, which is usually incorrect since Carl isn't running Burst Shot like most Survivor decks here. Yes, that attack would have played around Tornado Flame killing the other attacker, but there are more Terror Pits then Flames so he should have attacked with the larger, less expendable creature first. I mention this in the video a few times but I don't think Spencer should have played Pyrofighter at 5:40 with other 2-drop creatures in hand. You probably want to play another 2 on turn 3 and then 2 more on turn 4, attacking with Sniper then and relying on Speed Attackers once you run out of creatures on board if you need to. Carl's deck doesn't have much early-game removal from hand and it's too early to answer a wide board with his current mana, so that's the time you want to go wide before relying on burst from hand. At 12:52 I believe playing the 2-drop and 1-drop and then breaking the shield was a safer line than going for lethal, just because we know Carl's whole deck and there's nothing in it that can effectively answer the board AND block a Speed Attacker from hand. However, if Spencer plays the Rikabu and can't win because he hits a Shield Trigger, it's possible (albeit unlikely) that Carl can stabilize and answer future creatures as they're played long enough to win if Spencer can't find another Speed Attacker. Additionally, if playing Rikabu and trying to go for game WAS right there, Spencer attacked with Rikabu first which isn't correct as Quixotic dies to Pit and Tornado Flame and that would leave Rikabu open to be traded 1-for-1 with Bronze-Arm Tribe, something Carl couldn't do with Quixotic if he wanted to also play a creature on his following turn. We also mention this at 9:26 but Carl didn't really need to break a shield that turn since Q-Tronic was set to break 4 and he had 3 other creatures on board, so this just gave Spencer another shot at Torcon or drawing a Speed Attacker.

[@seyproductions]

Exciting games!

[@EarthP0w3R]

Thanks so much for watching! Glad you enjoyed!

[@alishahid6128]

Gg man 🔥

[@EarthP0w3R]

Thanks!!

[@sciserr]

Totem midrange is my favourite remaining deck. Excited to see it in the top 8

[@EarthP0w3R]

Battle of the Midranges set for sometime next week vs Phantomach. Gonna have to wait and see how it all shakes out

[@Lightn0x]

I know that was the expected result of this matchup, but I can't say that I'm not sad to see how it went :( In game 2, at 9:26, isn't it better to not tap the fire mana for swap, then play double blazo instead of skullsweeper? This way you don't have to swing for a shield and risk losing to Torcon. With skullsweeper you get a discard I guess, but it's replaced with the shield anyway.

[@cvh3367]

Either way he didn't have to break the shield since Q-Tronic was set to break 4 and he had 3 other creatures but you're correct!

[@Seiryu1264]

w/o 4 swaps to bring out factory shell, u might wanna consider faerie life/volcanos to get to 6 mana asap, 1-2x meltdown can be good against aggros too since running too many STs will be bricky

[@EarthP0w3R]

Oh man! Meltdown feels like a really aggressive tech that I don't think I hate. Volcano Charger, Burst Shot, and Locomotiver are the main cards that come to mind when I think of heavier Aggro tech that could be useful across other matchups as well.

[@Seiryu1264]

@@EarthP0w3R skullsweeper isnt really helping against controls as u are actually helping them find answers to your factory shell instead, u can also consider 1-2 gigaling to revenge kill slower aggros though i think loco performs more consistently across most matchups, and is a “bait” for swap 2 lost soul is great to save yourself from baza lock too

[@SRC543]

About what everybody expected but at least survivors got to squeeze in that cheeky victory off the early Terror Pit. I feel like survivors could have had better luck on the two-drops but the reality is that rush is going to curve out much more often just because of deck construction.

[@EarthP0w3R]

Absolutely. Survivors will see some retooling in the future to help with this matchup since I think it handles its other matchups fairly well as long as you see a Factory shell/Graveworm early

[@SRC543]

​@@EarthP0w3R I'm sometimes apprehensive about these types of tweaks, because weakening the good matchups to salvage a bad one could lower the decks overall win rate (not that it's necessarily the case here, burst shot for instance sounds like it's great in the format in general from what you guys have said). Still, I think for these types of brackets it is probably a good approach, where the aim is to entertain and limit non-matches. It's about the journey and not the destination, right? :P

[@alishahid6128]

I m rooting for Phal Control Cuz personally the fan of Forbos control and its like that but a 40 card version 🔥

[@EarthP0w3R]

We’re all big on Phal here. It’s got its work cut out for itself versus Pegasus. Gonna have to wait and see ;)

[@Lenvyathan]

Probably the most brutal match-up in the bracket. Survivors in general just is not equipped to deal with FN rush unless your shields are godly and you're going first. Maybe like light-based Survivors might have a shot if they played something like Yuliana but yeah, very uphill battle no matter what way you build Survivors. Even the second game that Survivors won was like 90% because of the Pit in the first shield and not attacking a couple of times like you mentioned.

[@EarthP0w3R]

Burstshot and Locomotiver may help in the future, but a lot still has to go right for survivors to edge 2 out of 3

[@claudealpha2090]

Yeah, LDFN Survivors is starting to be relevant in the IDC meta and it even has more success than the DFN version as it reached 2nd place twice already while DFN only ever reached 3rd. The light package brings Skyswords, Petrovas, Yulianas and even Forbos into the mix which are some toys survivors can make use of to boost matchups across the board

[@EarthP0w3R]

@@claudealpha2090 I like that a lot. It will be interesting trying to make that fit into the 40 card limit, but seems worth the shot.

[@claudealpha2090]

@@EarthP0w3R That is true since this deck plays 50 cards when it tries to fit a light package as well 👍

[@russ_kulus]

Fast AND loose. Normal tabletop play here.

[@EarthP0w3R]

It was tough for sure. Looking forward we will definitely add Burstshot and additional Rush support for Survivors