Today’s battle is an exercise in what happens when the greedy Guild Dwarves hear about a rich vein of gold running across the prairie where a supposedly harmless tribe of rabble lives… only to discover that these plains-dwellers are actually the Filth, who mutate from helpless peasants to tentacle monsters with some regularity, and who really don’t appreciate diminutive prospectors poking around in their territory. Which is to say, it’s on.

The question on everybody’s mind, of course, is whether Dan was able to maintain his lead or lose it to a vengeful Somerset. The one thing we’ll give away about this match is that somebody’s summoner turned out nigh-impossible to finish off. Find out if we’re talking about Oldin or the Demagogue below.

Somerset: Oldin of the Guild Dwarves

This tale of classic warriors battling a horde of abominations can only end in one way: victory for the good guys! I don’t want to be cocky or anything, but that’s how it’s gotta end. Right? Who wants to see Filth win over good wholesome dwarves? Simplicity should always win over the complex machinations of an inherently evil faction, am I right? Well. Some may not agree with me on this point, (if I wasn’t playing as the GD I may not agree either, then again I have been accused of oversympathizing with the “good” team, even when I was one of the baddies: Panic Station is such a dumb broken game). Anyways, Go Guilders!

The Filth are a nasty faction. They have a wealth of unique common Mutations with revolting abilities that range from corpulence to vomiting. I hate the Claw Mutant who can attack any unit with the number of dice equal to my unit’s hit points; I hate the Spew Mutant who vomits acid on my units and if all the rolls are hits, she deals an extra wound; I hate the Edible Mutant because it’s gross that the other Filth eat dinner-roll boils off his back to heal. Not cool. At any time this versatile team can do just about anything it wants with its units: fly, heal, summon to a unit, reach over walls, move farther, shoot farther, attack any unit on the board, cancel an event… the list goes on and on! Okay, it doesn’t go on much further, but I really don’t like this team when playing against someone who really knows how to play them. Fortunately Dan has a head-cold, which should erase any skill he has stored up.

I love me some Gror, so he’s in the deck. He’ll be hard to get out, but I love bringing him because he strikes such fear in all who oppose him. I’ll also be taking Baldar because his low cost and blocking all attacks where any misses are rolled are good. My last pick is Tordok to help my commons block die rolls of 3 and 4. I won’t be taking any Engineers except for my starting unit, and I do plan on trying to get him up with a Defender or two to get rid of Dan’s starting Wall. To increase my Wall destruction capabilities, two Ballistae will be joining the deck. A couple Guardsman can’t go wrong and the rest of my deck consists of the low cost Defenders and Spearman. Not too much excitement, but simplicity is best, now let’s go sterilize this battle field!

Somerset’s Guild Dwarves deck (reference):

Baldar, Gror, Tordok

2 Ballistae, 7 Defenders, 1 Engineer, 2 Guardsmen, 6 Spearmen

Dan: The Demagogue of The Filth

I have a massive headcold today, not very good for Summoner Wars since it’s left me dizzy and disoriented, and SW is one of those games that requires an above-average level of thought. Normally I’d push back the date of our epic battle, but I think I’ll tough it out for a couple reasons: first, I’m a bit obsessive about meeting deadlines (I know, I know, it doesn’t really matter — but isn’t that when it matters the most? eh?); and second, having a face full of mucus and a lungful of phlegm and the constant nagging feeling that I’m being transformed into a coughing sputum-beast is sort of an apt thematic fit with the Filth. Normally they’re the dudes to root against, courtesy of those same gooey reasons (plus they’re wholly evil). This time around though, they’re the heroes. Want to know why? Because I’m facing the Guild Dorks, the faction of overpowered capitalist midgets that everybody loves to hate.

The problem with the Guild Dwarves isn’t that they’re overwhelmingly better than everyone else, it’s that they simply don’t have any easily-exploitable weaknesses. Their common units are solid, including their most basic Defender having an excellent board-control ability and two life points for only one magic, and their basic ranged Spearman beefing up his attack just by waddling on over. They have a great selection of champions too, especially the all-murdering Gror. As much as I’d like to hope Somerset won’t bring him along, I’ll eat my hat if she doesn’t. Couple all of that with the Guild Dwarves’ wide selection of catch-up events (both Magic Drain and Reinforcements) and you’ve got a catch-22 on your hands: too few units and you’ll be overrun, too many and you’ll let them activate those horrible events.

Fortunately, the Filth aren’t pushovers. I’ve mentioned before that each faction in Summoner Wars does something different, and no other faction emphasizes that quite so strongly as the Filth. They specialize in “Mutations,” which transform their below-average peons into horrific monstrosities, mini-champions that boast a staggering array of possibilities. One minute you’ll have a worthless little Zealot whose weapon is so pathetic that he can’t even attack Walls, and the next you’ll transform him into one of Summoner Wars’ most grotesque cards. Like this:

This could rely too much on luck were it not for The Demagogue’s Mutagist ability, which lets him use an attack to pull a Mutation card out of his draw or discard pile. As such, I’m hoping to construct a well-oiled engine for threshing dwarves. First up is to try and use either the Stoneflesh or Void Mutations to get some of my troops into a sensitive position, then use Bestial, Claw, Horror, Spew, Tentacle, and Winged Mutations to scrabble for an advantage — and perhaps use the Spellsucker Mutant to block one of those pesky catch-up events, or have the Corpulent Mutant restrict enemy movement. I won’t be bringing any champions so I can pack in a few extra Mutations (a deckbuilding option only the Filth can employ). With any luck, the Guild Dwarves will be wiped out by sheer unpredictability.

Dan’s Filth deck (reference):

Bestial Mutant, Claw Mutant, Corpulent Mutant, Horror Mutant, Spellsucker Mutant, Spew Mutant, Stoneflesh Mutant, Tentacle Mutant, Void Mutant, Winged Mutant

3 Anointed, 4 Cultists, 4 Zealots

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