Additional thoughts on Dreamer: Dealing with a card-hungry crew.

[Maniacal_cackle]

The last post I wrote about the Dreamer was well received, and now that I've got a few more games finished off, I thought I'd share some more thoughts!

In my last post, I put a lot of emphasis on the heavy hitters in the crew: henchmen and enforcers. One major downside of this is it makes a resource-intensive crew even hungrier for cards. Having lots of beaters is no good if you can't hit anything because your hand is empty! Sometimes it is okay, but a skilled opponent pressuring you when you're vulnerable in those first few turns can be difficult.

And regardless of composition, you are already wanting at least two high cards per turn (one for your summon, one to force a willpower duel victory if necessary). So here I'll share some thoughts on tackling the problem of dealing with needing so many cards. Late game you have a stronger deck (even if you start with as little as three lucid dream models, you still thin your deck quite a bit by end of turn three). So the emphasis here will be on getting those cards early game.

I don't know what the best approach is yet, but here's what I'm going to test out.

Upgrades

Slapping ancient pact on day dreams is an obvious way to get more cards per turn. Early game, they draw you cards. If they get killed later, it's okay, as your deck is hopefully starting to make up for it at that point. Not much to say on this, it's just the obvious first thing to check.

Tinkering with Nightmare composition

If the crew is card-hungry, one obvious answer is to include more models that can get lots done without using cards.

Widow weaver and Bandersnatch can move around the board without having to cheat for disengage and their webs don't even use low cards. They definitely relieve some pressure by being able to do useful things without eating cards. Coppelius also does lots of useful scheme shenanigans if the matchup calls for it.

Stitched together can guarantee high cards without having to use your control hand, and thus make them an invaluable tool for keeping your crew productive without relying on your control hand. And of course, they can do loads of damage, so are a good source of pressure that is not reliant on your hand.

Including Insidious Madness is a good way to just spam willpower attacks, reducing your reliance on cheating to summon your extra summons.

Overall I think I'm going to move from a default 0-1 stitched together in a crew to default 1-2. I also think that 4 henchmen/enforcers is too much for engagement-heavy encounters (reckoning, wedge deployment, flank deployment, corrupted idols potentially). So I'll limit myself to three in encounters where I think I'll be making loads of attacks instead of flipping markers. I'm not sure I'll always hire insidious madness, but it'll definitely be high on my list for a turn 1 summon, just to make future summons easier.

Hiring out of keyword

Hiring out of keyword models like Zoraida is another obvious option for addressing these issues, but I'm not quite ready to try it. I'd rather completely master the crew's own options for dealing with the problem before investigating the out of keyword options. Plus, Zoraida is a whopping 16 stones, and the crew already has trouble fitting everything in and relies on synergies immensely.

That's it for now!

It's not as in depth as the last one, but it is dealing with a very particular issue. I hope people find this useful as well, and I'll let you know how my testing of the different options goes! I would love to hear what others have been trying/their experiences with how it has gone.

[Wyamphri]

Ancient pact is better on dreamer to get the summon off, no matter what. Nothing feels worse than missing a summon due to a Black Joker. 

I definitely agree with running 1-2 stitched. I usually run 2 myself.

Honestly, I haven't found dreamer bad in a reckoning match, but it's dangerous for sure 😛

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

Ancient pact is better on dreamer to get the summon off, no matter what. Nothing feels worse than missing a summon due to a Black Joker.

Is that even worth it though? You'll only see the black joker 1/54th of the time (or after lucid dreaming, maybe 1/30 by the end of a game). And even hitting a black joker on a summon isn't the end of the world, given how rare it is. I haven't even black jokered a summon yet.

You're more likely to draw the black joker on the first turn than hit it with a summon throughout the entire game. And if you draw it, you can just hold it in your hand. I'd much rather have the draw a card (minion only), I think. Although we'll see if I change my tune after hitting a few awkward black jokers xD

3 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

Honestly, I haven't found dreamer bad in a reckoning match, but it's dangerous for sure 😛

I haven't tried it yet, but he seems like he'd be pretty strong (as it is going to be hella difficult for an enemy to score the points on turns 4/5). But I was more thinking that the issue of pressure on your control hand is going to be even worse in reckoning, so you really have to prepare for it.

[Wyamphri]

You are correct on the black joker not coming up often, but remember who you're playing. You thin your deck, you're gonna go through it more often, thus see it more often.  It's not like a must have though 😛 I do take it on daydreams like you said for some extra draw sometimes. Also, yes, not summoning 1 turn isn't the end of the world but it is a wasted master ap, and that never feels good. 

Hand isn't so much as an issue as you're playing a summoner, into reckoning. All of your summons are minions, so kinda squishy. Easy points for your opponent.  

Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, as I'm by no means an expert, just speaking from personal experience and you'll know your matches better than me