On Oct 21, 2:19 pm, "Matthew T. Morgan" <farq...@io.com> wrote:

You know, there is often a lot of chaff on the internet.  Matt's post
is definately NOT chaff (nor is witness1's which follows), it is quite
excellent guidance for those not familiar with killing the Imbued.

And the gist of the whole post boils down to that one simple statement
above.

I advise any reasonably competitive player who has an innate dislike
of Imbued to actually construct a deck and play them a couple of
times.  The greater your dislike, the more you need to actually play
them a few times.

First, you'll probably slightly hate them less afterward simply
because they'll no longer be a mystery.  You'll immediately know how
much intercept is sitting there, and what the bleed potential is.
This is the reason I built my first Imbued deck knowing I would see
them on the tournament scene.  I've never regretted it.

Second, if you still hate them after you know their ins-and-outs,
you'll be armed with more practical tools and experience highlighting
their weaknesses.  Your immediate reaction won't be "Oh crap, the
Immune" - it'll be "OK, I know the answer for this problem, I just
need to assemble it"

In addition to Matt's comments, I would add the following general
guidance.

* Understand that the pillow is your friend.  If you are predator/prey
of the Imbued and have an opportunity to pillowface any Imbued with a
reasonably high likelihood of success, do it.  There are few more
impactful actions you could consider.  It's unlikely that you'll even
eat damage from burnt convictions if you're successful.  Note that I
don't globally advocate cross-table pillowfacing, though there may be
times that action sets up 2 successive VPs.

* Know what to attack.  If you are playing a combat deck - based
either on rush or intercept, Jennie "Cassie247" Orne is your primary
target.  Kill her (completely, we're talking pillowface here) and your
job gets easier from there.   The second target is usually Travis
"Traveler72" Miller, controlling minion growth rate.   Fortunately for
you, these two minions are also among the highest cost to influence,
so you're impacting both function and pool when you roast them.

* Know what to block.  If the Imbued player has several minions with
Judgment, stop Vigilance.  Don't count on stopping equip actions,
anything important is coming down via Angel of Berlin anyway.

* Know what to block.  If a player is Darby Dancing (you couldn't stop
the Vigilances earlier), stop the movement of the equipment package -
not whatever the player is doing when he has the equipment.  Follow
the attack priority for your blocks if you can (Jenny first).

* To a lesser extent, plan your deck around seeing allies.  When you
construct any non-combat deck, you should consider addition of a
couple of cards specifically impacting allies, preferably ones not
impacted by React with Conviction.  It pays dividends not just against
Imbued, but also against many other commonly seen deck archetypes
(block decks with Carlton, War Ghouls, Shambling Hordes)

* Consider the Uncoiling in tournament-level decks.  Again, it's not
just for Imbued - it handicaps any deck which relies heavily on The
Unmasking or Anthelios.

Darby