It is no shocker that I have been a huge fan of Gem Blenders for a LONG time, and in that time I have played innumerous games and contemplated many different paths to victory. Sometimes, this pursuit has led me down some… questionable paths. I have never pursued these opportunities in earnest because I have never been able to trust myself to pull them off. Yet I am certain that with more knowledge of the matchups I could be led into temptation. It would be rude, it would be against the ‘spirit’ of the game, it would be… villainous.
So, what is this villainous way to win the game that I am speaking of?
It is actually quite simple but demands rather strict conditions. Conditions you don’t always know are met or not. Yet, if they are met, you might just be able to win the whole game in the first round by paradoxically delaying your first round victory. These conditions are not created during deck construction; they cannot be forced; they are created during the rare game when the stars align. Only those cunning enough to perceive the signals will have the chance to pull off something truly evil — if they dare!
Condition 1: Your opponent cannot win the round
It happens when you realize that your opponent has no way of winning the round. Maybe you Force Switched 
their only attacker to the back, and they are not running any switches apart from a Hero on the bench, or maybe they were never expecting to win round 1 and just left their high-level hero on the bench to sub in for round 2. It might also occur if you can out-heal the damage your opponent is doing, and they would need to go to round 2 to find their out. Bottom line is your opponent has no way of recovering and cannot threaten to take you out without first going to the next round. Which they can’t force.
Condition 2: They have fewer cards in their deck than you
This is the sinister part of it. You count the amount of cards in their deck and yours. If yours is larger, you can start passing your turn, milling your opponent one card a time. They might question your decision to not go for the obvious action. At first, they will be oblivious as to what is going on, all too happy to continue to set up and scale for the coming round. Except there is no coming round, not in earnest at least. As they begin to go through their deck, see it thinning out, or maybe sooner, they will begin to question what is going on with the game. Slowly they will realize that they are running out of cards, and they have no way of winning the round while you refuse to put them out of their misery. Once they realize they are being held hostage… it is too late. The trap snaps. They are at 0 cards, and you pass the turn back to them, forcing them to suffer the 15-penalty damage. They go to 0 HP and the turn goes back to you. As long as you can deal 5 damage to them, the game is now yours.
Congratulations, you opportunistic little Tinder Ram. This is how you turn a winning round into a winning game. Trapping them in a position they cannot get out of. Well done. You have just entered your villain era. But a winner is a winner after all.
Yet… victory can sometimes be illusive. Be careful of the Uno Reverse.
Condition 3: Choose your victims carefully, they might have a knife
Even if victory seems assured, it has a tendency to slip out between one’s fingers like sand. For one, where you might have thought they could not take you out, or you could out-mill them, it might turn out that they had the upper hand. They find their switch, they find their LV4 blend with just enough damage to threaten to take you out, or they have ways of recovering cards into their deck you did not account for. Whatever it is, they can now win the round, or the game. Worst of all? They are now fully setup and ready to smash the living Pixel out of you and you will lose round 2 and 3.
Another way out is if they can self-inflict damage — then they can stop the round whenever they want. They will take the time to setup and chill while you do nothing or slowly become out-scaled, and then they will turn it all around by taking themselves out and forcing round 2 to begin. These people cannot be held hostage against their will. They are not trapped in there with you, no, you are trapped in there with them. They might be anti-heroes, but no one cares when you go down.
This last condition is why I have never truly tried to do it. Because, what if they could turn it around? Am I better off to rush the game and hope I can win before I get out-scaled? Or should I go for the deviously — yet risky — tempting game win? Will you be opportunistic enough to see it and go for it?
Knowing about these situations could help you eke out a victory where none was thought possible. Or, at least, help you to be aware of shortcomings in your own deck that could expose you to the risks of ending up on the wrong end of history. While these tactics may be… unorthodox, they are a very real occurrence and a quite devious way to win a game of Gem Blenders. So stay vigilant, lest ye befall a terrible fate… or perhaps you will be in the tempting position to take advantage of an unwitting opponent. After all, we are all only one Nocturnagem away from becoming the villain!