Intercontinental Dice Masters Champion, Ben Said Scott, reveals the secret of why Dragons love Cake! Could it be that Mimic is fueling the savage beast? Justice spoilers, a Warhammer recap, a Hall of Fame nomination and a new puzzle all can be found in this dense episode of Dice Master’s deliciousness!
[00:00:36] Welcome Back to Season 1, Episode 2 of “Rollin’ Thunder – Talkin’ Dice Masters!”
[00:00:59] "]Talk about “One Big Weekend”
[00:01:54] How to play Dice Masters Online See DM Armada’s video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuU8VN9YT-U
[00:02:24] Guest Intro!
[00:03:42] Arge complains about apostrophes
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your 2016 United Kingdom Champion and also winner of the 201s Canadian National Championship… The Intercontinental Champion – Ben Said Scott!
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2016-1stPlace-UK-Nats-Team
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2016-UK-Nats-Report-2
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2016-UK-Nats-Report-3
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018-UK-Nats-Qualifier
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018UkNatsTeam
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018CanadianNatsTeam
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018-WorldsTeam-Pix
[00:04:03] Ben Said Scott talks about how he found Dice Masters
[00:04:58] Getting thrashed by Gobby – made Ben want to up his game!
[00:05:17] "]Wasn’t mixing sets originally
[00:05:30] Got destroyed at first UK Nats by Blue Eyes – Gobby
[00:05:37] Running the Rare Colossus and She Hulk
[00:06:47] Think you know about Gobby? You don’t know about Gobby ‘till you get turn 4’d with Blue Eyes…
[00:07:20] "]Arge asks about Math: how much do you use?
[00:07:44] Three Math things Ben uses… Probabilities, Estimating Results & Noticing Trends
[00:07:59] Discusses Probabilities
[00:08:17] Kryptonite vs. Cold Gun and Probabilities
[00:08:52] If you can keep clearing the field they’re more likely not to reroll… Probability at work.
[00:09:13] Best teams thrive on being able to roll with the punches… re: Yuan-Ti
[00:09:37] Nick Pham’s Dice Anon article on PXG An excellent how to article by Nick Pham:
https://rollinthunder.xyz/CountingPXG
[00:10:15] Ben talks learning PXG & Probability
[00:10:40] Lucan talks breaking ramp in the day (and getting Jinzo)
[00:10:56] Kind of like Ring/Res which Ben didn’t like
[00:11:20] Ben talks about Estimating
[00:11:22] Talkin’ Estimation
[00:11:33] Always must be able to estimate damage potential on the board… both sides!
[00:12:11] Always working out how my opponent can win…
[00:12:29] Bard math…
[00:12:51] Poor estimation with Bard
[00:12:53] Talkin’ Ben’s 2016 UK Nat’s team
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2016-1stPlace-UK-Nats-Team
[00:13:17] History behind 2016 UK Nats team
[00:13:42] Ben doesn’t like Mask Ring
[00:13:48] Arge: Your teams seem pretty agro
[00:14:00] Ben “the reason I don’t like Mask Ring is Parallax”
[00:14:06] Ben explains why he loathes Parallax
[00:14:15] Ben, “I don’t want to sit there and watch you roll a bunch of dice all day”
[00:14:38] Ben talks Parallax and the feeling he gets against ring teams… and Human Torch teams
[00:15:21] Talkin’ about how Hulk: Green Goliath was on Spug’s Bard Team
[00:15:31] Ben talks about Spug’s team
[00:15:40] Spug had to get to Hulk for board clear
[00:15:58] We went to a store with a bunch of newer players playing UXM… and discovered Imprisoned.
[00:16:47] Realization of the power of Imprisoned in the meta… noticing trends
[00:17:23] similar thing happened at Can nats
[00:17:41] Breath Weapon 3 was viable in the meta… notice the trend.
[00:17:52] Gold Dragon not nearly as effective in Golden tournament b/c of high Defensive stats of older characters
[00:18:09] Ben “noticing trends… that’s what the meta is…”
[00:18:58] "]Ben “interestingly enough imprisoned isn’t as strong today as it was then.”
[00:19:17] Game is constantly metamorphosizing
[00:19:33] Squirrel Girl – Ultraman combo
[00:19:55] "]Understanding what the meta is enables you to beat the meta
[00:20:00] If you’re going to bring the meta – be prepared for the counters!
[00:20:29] Arge: “Half the fun is, the building the night before and the chess moves you’re having with yourself…”
[00:20:35] What do you do to improve as a player?
[00:20:49] Ben, “during the game my mantra is don’t make a mistake”
[00:21:24] The best way to improve as a player… take it all in
[00:21:46] It also helps you to notice trends
[00:22:45] Talkin’ Rare Green Devil Mask as an example
[00:22:58] Combos with rare Green Devil Mask
[00:23:04] The KO’ing Ghazghkul Thraka
[00:23:23] Talkin’ Clea
[00:24:26] Any specific things you practice?
[00:24:57] Ben discusses first 5 turn exercise.
[00:25:36] Lucan describes how to practice against the “meta deck”
[00:26:14] Discussing the inherent contradiction – play a lot of teams? or get your 100 reps with one team?
[00:27:01] Ben “I come down on side of, play more games with different teams”
[00:27:18] Could still run same team with different cards…
[00:27:41] He came up with his 2018 UK Nats team while testing again a Mask ring build
[00:28:34] Arge talks about the cards Ben likes for Board Control
[00:28:58] Ben – Board control comes back down to probability that they won’t reroll
[00:29:11] The reason Shriek is so good
[00:29:24] Why Rocket Raccoon is so good
[00:29:31] Rare Scarecrow
[00:29:42] Rare Nightwing’s use
[00:30:19] Lucan – “practice draft in off season to gain familiarity”
[00:30:39] Evaluation in 5 turn practice
[00:30:52] Ben – “5 turns all you can really control…”
[00:31:05] Ben – “in competitive… you want to control the board from turn 3”
[00:31:13] Ben – Helpful to build within set first to learn the abilities, before expanding
[00:31:23] By practicing in set you can discover “that one little gem.”
[00:32:07] Dragon team iterations
[00:32:24] James Blore’s Dragon team
https://rollinthunder.xyz/JamesGoldDragonHeimdall
[00:33:08] Ben discusses issues with that version of Dragon team
[00:33:47] realized Heimdall made for poor probabilities
[00:34:16] Ben’s first solution – lose Heimdall and move away from Gold Dragon as main source of damage.
[00:34:32] Fell away from Gold Dragon, although he was on the team
[00:34:40] Way Ben ran his Boom Boom/Morph/Dragon UK Nats team
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018UkNatsTeam
[00:35:00] Or get out Collector… trying to beat the meta
[00:35:24] Arge: So Gold Dragon was a plan B finishing move?
[00:35:29] Ben: Yeah team was kind of a mess.
[00:35:44] Germs of a tremendous idea though…
[00:36:34] Playing Michael Power – “I realized Gold Dragon was a good counter to Yuan-Ti”
[00:37:19] Arge “holes in the meta… R Venom from AvX”
[00:37:39] Valindra Shadowmantle discussion
[00:38:01] Uncommon Yuan-Ti – why not make her immune to character abilities?
[00:38:27] Discussion of Yuan-Ti’s decline and her amplification with SR Mimic
[00:38:37] SR Mimic
[00:38:58] Ben noticed at UK Nats that Yuan-Ti was not good from recovering against a setback
[00:39:06] especially if they miss Pseudodragon
[00:39:28] Ben wonders how can I keep Gold Dragon in the field… enter common Mimic!
[00:39:33] Ben’s Canadian National team 2018
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018CanadianNatsTeam
[00:39:37] Ben “all about how can I stop Yuan-Ti”
[00:40:02] Ben “Great thing about Common Mimic is he can swap targets… become another Gold Dragon stat wise.
[00:40:14] The Canadian move
[00:40:23] Surprise return home for UK Nats
[00:41:08] 2018 Canadian Nationals
[00:41:36] The Canadian Nats team build
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018CanadianNatsTeam
[00:42:07] "]Thoughts on how to play quals… hide or practice?
[00:42:46] If you run a team you’re not going to run in the final… might be encouraged to make a change which is almost never a good idea
[00:43:01] Canadian Nats buy order
[00:43:05] Gold Dragon Turn 3 not effective
[00:43:14] Way to stall the game against Yuan-Ti SR
[00:43:37] Turn One – YT or Shriek
[00:43:43] Keep a mask & make a sidekick
[00:43:45] Turn 2 buy Mimic & use cake global
[00:43:50] Turn 3 Roll YT or Shriek for bolts (buy RoW) and field Mimic
[00:44:04] Field a SK to prep RoW and a bunch of dice so you’re set up for turn 4
[00:44:20] By turn 4 you had a board state that would disrupt their SR Yuan-Ti
[00:44:36] Difficulty getting RoW & Gold Dragon to align
[00:45:05] Was Mimic also the weak link to the team?
[00:45:19] all Mimic prepping was done on your turn before they could use Magic Missle
[00:45:24] Turn 3/4 energy situation…
[00:45:58] 8 dice on Turn 4 [00:46:23] Maybe Shriek Mimic?
[00:46:27] The most effective counter.
[00:46:53] Common Yuan-Ti was a better counter to SR Yuan-Ti than Jubilee (also fieding cost is much less taxing)
[00:47:13] talkin’ Archnemesis!
[00:47:56] Scarlet Witch is a killer for RoW
[00:48:07] Archnemesis! was there to handle Collector & Blob
[00:49:10] The details of using Mimic Ramp
[00:51:47] once you field Mimic – no longer need sidekicks in the field
[00:52:18] Ben “It’s vital to only cake with 4 dice in your used pile
[00:52:22] Turn One – how to play with cake
[00:54:26] Big Entrance discussion
[00:54:38] Lucan hates on Big Entrance
[00:55:21] Ben thinks Big Entrance needs a prep global… doesn’t like Big Entrance
[00:56:03] Big Entrance
[00:56:38] If you buy more than 1 of most characters… you’re probably doing it wrong
[00:56:54] Ben, “if I had 2 Gold Dragons in the field… I knew I was doing badly.”
[00:57:14] Arge “hardest thing to learn is to stop over buying!”
[00:57:35] "]Best at controlling himself from over buying is DM Armada
[00:58:37] Cards Ben was thinking of for 8th slot
[00:58:47] Madame Web & Spider-Man
[00:58:55] Clea (up high)
[00:59:20] Blackbird
[01:00:11] Once Venerable Dreadnaught = love at first sight
https://rollinthunder.xyz/2018-WorldsTeam-Pix
[01:00:24] Favorite thing about it was the stats
[01:01:23] Talkin’ Warhammer
[01:01:39] Ork Nob & Ork Boys
[01:01:42] Pox Walkers with Team Up
[01:01:56] Talk about the Foetid Bloat-Drone Global
[01:02:26] Like the difference between Gearing Up and Nasty Plot
[01:02:49] Gives you a shot for the Hail Mary
[01:03:11] "]Things to think about when building a Foetid Bloat-Drone global team
[01:03:36] works well with the Beholder Hela team
[01:04:45] Thunder Wolf Cavalry
[01:04:50] Primaris Redemptor Dreadnaught
[01:05:40] Justice Spoilers!
[01:06:05] Ben talks Phantom Stranger…
https://rollinthunder.xyz/Bens-Justice-Picks-and-Relations
[01:06:59] being able to do damage to your opponent’s field without you having to do the damage is super strong – Esp against Hulk Power of Attorney
[01:07:15] discourage them from attacking
[01:07:32] Ben picks Green Arrow: No Fancy Ring
[01:07:49] Ben “when I look at a “when fielded” effect I look at how easy is it going to be to rotate this?
[01:07:58] Batman who reduces fielding
[01:08:19] Arge talks board clears
[01:08:30] Ben “when fielded effects are good b/c they happen during main step”
[01:08:48] Ben chooses Doom Lance
[01:10:18] Discussion of Doom Lance and how it’s like old SR Lantern Battery
[01:10:18] Doom Lance and the SR Lantern Battery
[01:10:33] "]Harpy Lady Sisters Rare
[01:11:51] Instant War / Deadly / Doom Lance
[01:12:04] Lucan’s picks – Zatanna
[01:12:49] The Riddler
[01:13:45] Black Canary
[01:14:28] Clayface: Treasure Hunter shenanigans
[01:15:11] Jessica Jones: Lady’s Night
[01:16:07] Arge’s picks
[01:16:24] Link to Justice Draft strategy (check back soon!)
[01:16:33] Negative Man
[01:16:45] pair with Bizarro
[01:17:08] Aquaman fizzle
[01:17:45] 4 cost Atlantis…
[01:18:19] Gorilla Grodd – like Spectre…
[01:18:46] pair him with Talia
[01:19:59] BREAKING IT DOWN – CREATE FOOD AND WATER (aka Cake)
[01:20:44] how to use the action die…
[01:25:53] how to play the Cake Global
[01:26:07]: PAIR CAKE WITH MISDIRECTION OR KNOWHERE OR POLYMORPH/MUTATION
[01:27:15] 8 DICE = PUT IT BACK IN (DON’T JANK YOUR BAG)
[01:28:28] The SR Slifer Global!
[01:28:41] SR Slifer Global: Pay bolt and move a sidekick die from your prep area to the used pile to deal 1 damage to target player. (Thanks Lucan!)
[01:29:03] "]Tabaxi Rogue could hurt the Cake die & the global
[01:29:37] HALL OF FAME!
[01:30:01] Ben nominates… Russell Love (aka K.O. King)
[01:31:30] Rare Scarecrow
[01:31:53] 3 favorite combat tricks
https://rollinthunder.xyz/Bens-3favorite-combat-tricks
[01:31:59] #1 Knowhere R
[01:32:52] #2 Manipulating attack step and fielding costs…
[01:33:14] Letting rolled characters go to used at end of main step then swapping them in.
[01:34:32] #3 Favorite is splinter’s teachings!
[01:35:26] Talkin’ When time is called – how to play turns
[01:35:41] Turn 0 spat with Andy England
[01:38:51] Last minute challenge
[01:39:32] THE PUZZLE! S1E2
[01:40:41] S1E1 PUZZLE SOLUTION
[01:42:25] Outro