Using Banner to contest a font.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by fogandsteel, May 15, 2017.

  1. fogandsteel

    fogandsteel I need me some PIE!

    I usually place my banner on the font that I have already secured and that is not under an immediate threat of being contested. However, I see other players use their banner to contest, for example, a middle font instead of moving their champ one more square into the font deployment zone.
    What is the reasoning behind such play? (The way I see it is that you spend 20 nora and the relic would be most likely destoyed in the next couple turns denying your units HP and Damage bonuses.)

    Edit: 25 nora.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2017
  2. haroldkin

    haroldkin I need me some PIE!

    Not my play style, but at a guess:

    A) It's annoying.
    B) It contests the font without moving a champion into a disadvantageous position.
    C) It forces your opponent to spend nora and/or AP on the banner rather than on killing your champions.
    D) It may force your opponent to move their champions into a disadvantageous position allowing you to kill them.
    and/or
    E) It's annoying.
     
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  3. Vote Kanye 2020

    Vote Kanye 2020 Better-Known Member

    You contest with a banner because it's your cheapest method of contesting with the lowest cooldown and with the least impact to you if destroyed. Sometimes it's not worth risking a champ to contest, and other times you cannot give them mid font for their turn otherwise they deploy an undealable with monster there.


    Edit: DMR beat me too it :(
     
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  4. Hierokliff

    Hierokliff I need me some PIE!

    Dropping a cheap relic to disturb a font is something i do alot. Much better that you use AP to attack a relic i can drop again in 4-5 turns then you use it on killing a much more expensive unit.
     
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  5. Thbigchief

    Thbigchief I need me some PIE!

    - I do this if I calculate you can either kill or close to kill my contesting champ or I can possibly kill your champion for wasting AP to kill my relic the next turn.

    - Now if your contesting champ is melee and mine is ranged I'll always drop a relic if possible since you would just lock my ranged champ down next turn anyway.
     
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  6. DiCEM0nEY

    DiCEM0nEY I need me some PIE!

    Some themes dont need banner as much as others. In general, banner works best with low hp, low cost units, since the scaling is flat. For example, if I am playing skeletons, I am not going to drop a banner unless I absolutely must, since skeletons use alot of cheap units which benefit greatly from banner.

    However, if I think the banner can survive, and I have no other options, I'll font contest with it. For me, it is usually a calculated risk I take which does not always work.
     
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  7. Markoth

    Markoth Lord Inquisitor

    Banner is not an ideal font contester but there are situations where it can be your best move. Just today I was in a game against Jayscales ST/SP Elemental/Djinn deck and found myself in a situation where leaving a champion in the mid font would result in its death without either spell or equip support. I needed to deploy Plainswalker next turn to deal with the things he had on the board but I was about 25 Nora shy. If I used a spell or equip to allow my champion to survive staying in the font I would have had to wait till the turn after next to get the champion I needed out. So I opted to contest and retreat leaving my Warbanner behind. I was also able to eat a Deflect into the banner to get a bit extra value out of it but I knew that I was esentially burning 13 nora (25-12) to keep my unit alive without losing board presence.
     
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  8. GoldTiger

    GoldTiger I need me some PIE!

    Fairly decent play if your opponent has a big melee vs your ranged squishy in mid font. Slows the tempo of the game down considerably by forcing your opponent to spend at least 2 turns destroying the relic. This is great if you perceive your opponent to be worse than you, as eventually when you draw your whole deck there will be very little luck involved and so its almost purely skill as opposed to this early stage of the game. Vs a weaker opponent you don't need the nora as much, only that you get the game to a stage to a point where its mostly skill based as said before.

    The huge thing here is you're trading value for tempo, which is huge in the early stages of the game. The later the game goes this play becomes less and less preferable. For example lategame this play does almost nothing at all, stalls for 1 turn and essentially resets everyone's board states, where if you were losing before (hence why you made the play), you're still losing now only 25 nora down.

    Essentially better early than late, and even better vs opponents worse than you.

    The play becomes worse later and very bad vs. opponents of equal or better skill.
     
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  9. Regulate

    Regulate I need me some PIE!

    To be good at pox you need to contest fonts at any cost.

    They have 6 units around the font and the only thing you can contest with is your support champion? Do it. You're going to stop them deploying! They're going to lose 12 nora! Get in there and stop that. If your unit dies next turn don't worry, they're mad you're in their font, quick, get another unit in there! You're sure to win!
     
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  10. themacca

    themacca Master of Challenges

    i don't know if you're joking or not but this is horrible advice.
     
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  11. Hierokliff

    Hierokliff I need me some PIE!

    oh i had this awesome FF IS barbarian bg where fonts where pointless norawise, and played against someone who told me that i suck at the game and he outplays me in everyway but iam using super op units that's why i won. i had so much fun letting him run around the map and take the fonts while i just rode the hordes into his army, getting so much nora while hitting his troops or cutting deployment costs. never got down to 0 or negative costs, wonder if its possible? but 19nora for a renegade is neat. 66 for bastion is ok also
    banditry,call to arms,comradiere,tariff are really awesome

    but besides standard, IS has this little thing called nora mine, it is also great on pestering peoples life with in fonts, 25hp relic is really good.
     
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  12. fogandsteel

    fogandsteel I need me some PIE!

    If I kill your champ which costs, let's say, 60 Nora, and have kept all mine alive, I can let you have an extra font for 10 turns. Slight advantage to you in nora is immaterial if you keep losing your champs. An extra font is nice to have if it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.
    I think he is joking.
     
  13. Tweek516

    Tweek516 I need me some PIE!

    Gotta lay on the sarcasm a bit thicker I think @Regulate
     
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  14. themacca

    themacca Master of Challenges

    id generally think it was sarcasm if it was a player i knew. But i dont really know regulate and there is SO MANY players who actually follow this exact logic.
     
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