Frozengaia makes a silly deckbuilding guide because he feels like it.

[Espithel]

Spoiler for Disclaimer:

(People of experience have no reason to read this, as you will find nothing new. This is basically so I can help the newbs out on Kong a bit more. I see a lot of questions newbs make about deckbuilding, and all the tutorials are either A) Not based around deck building, or B) About building an AI3 deck, or an OTK deck. This is not a comprehensive guide. It's only designed to give people a rough idea of how to build a deck. As I am nearly completely self taught in elements deckbuilding, there's probably going to be something that is wrong or disagreeable; please point them out. Also, I'll be rambling a lot. I'll try to cut that out.

Also, Higs, move this to the right place please. I don't know where it goes so I'll just put it in general discussion.)

DECK DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE
HOW TO NOT GET LAUGHED AT WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR FIRST DECK

The aim of this thread is to tell newbs how to build any kind of deck and have it work at least somewhat well on its first try. This is not a thread for building good AI3 or bronze farmers. You can look here for examples of those decks. This is more so telling you how to build a deck's outline- it's rough sketch, it's first principle, without it being a horrible, unplayable mess.

Once you know how to build a deck's outline, you can very quickly make any deck you could possibly imagine, and then fine-tune it into something better. This is very useful for speedbuilding tournaments, and it allows people you show you deck to to not give misguided advice (Like, if you're making an earth-dark based around earthquake and devourer, and the earth segment is bad, they'll tell you to make it a mono-darkness). Note that there are MANY different ways you can build an outline. If you don't like the way I'm going to show you, you can find your own way.

Note that everything I'm about to say isn't completely 100% true. There WILL be exceptions, but these will work for the majority of cases. As you get better, you will be able to learn what's wrong and correct it.

Because I'm really bad at intros, that's your into.

Things to do whilst editing a deck.
Before we start, I want to talk about things you should always try to do whenever you make a change to any deck. These are important.

0) Use the trainer until you've gotten the deck completely ready. On the top-left of the trainer, click "more money!" and then "all cards". You will gain every card in the game, upped and unupped.
This means you don't waste your precious money and can test the deck more. If you want to test this deck against certain other decks, use the import code at the very top-left of the screen.

Spoiler for How to get others to help you/import/export codes:

(To import a deck, or show your deck to others, go into the deck manager, build the deck, go to the top-right and click import/export. Copy the weird code and paste it into the trainer's deck to import it and play against it. If you want to show your deck, use deck tags ([deck ]DECK CODE HERE[/deck] (remove the space)) on the elements chat. On Kongregate, use Dek.im. Kongregate is full of more newbs and so it is generally the better place to seek help. The forums are also an option. Use deck tags.)

1) Try not to go over 30 cards. 30 card decks are just more reliable. You are more likely to get worse opening hands and worse draws if you use a 35+ card deck as opposed to a 30 card deck, because 30 is a lot more reliable to draw a specific card. Decks that like to use combinations of cards (or "combos") tend to want to keep to 30 so they can get their combo out as quickly as possible.

That's not to say you shouldn't EVER go above 30 cards. There are many decks that do go over 30. They have a reason to, however.
Reasons include:
You have card draw, like you have ways of drawing cards, such as Golden Hourglass.
The objective of your deck is to stall/deckout the opponent (Only mean people do that in PvP.)
Some people put in 31 cards if thier deck can't kill the opponent fast enough on some occasions so they can stall the enemy down and deck them out.

2) Focus the deck. What is deck focus? Deck focus is what your deck does to win. This is not generic, like "Kill enemy creatures, rush the opponent, deck them out", but more so what cards you use. Do you use Graboids to rush the opponent down? Do you use Discord to stop the opponent playing cards?

The most common error I see new people make with their first deck is putting in cards they don't need.
Example:

Spoiler for example:

Unfocused deck

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5bs 5bs 5bt 5bt 5bv 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5la 5lb 5lb 5lb 5lc 5lc 5lc 5ld 5le 5le 5lf 5lf 5lg 5ll 5lm 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5od 5oe 5oh 5ok 8pq

Same deck, just focused.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5lb 5lb 5lb 5lb 5lb 5lb 5lf 5lf 5lf 5lf 5lf 5lf 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5ol 5ol 5ol 5op 5op 8pr

I made both these decks in under a minute.
See what I mean?

Now, this doesn't mean focus your deck TOO much. That is a thing that can happen. But don't have your cards all over the place. If you can completely justify why your card is in there, then you should keep it in. If you can't - especially if your deck is over 30 - then take it out.

3) Know the card base. I can't help you on this one, but be sure to memorise a decent chunk of the card base. That will save you trawling through every single element to find just one card.

So now we've gotten all of that out of the way, here's a (basic) way of building a deck, from concept to upgrades:
Making the deck outline
1# Pick a card.
What's the easiest way to focus a deck? Pick a single card and base your ENTIRE DECK around it.
What card should we use? Use cards that can singlehandedly win you the game, like dragons, grabboids, empathic bond, hope... I'm not linking to all of those, I just can't be arsed.
We'll make a deck step by step. I'm going to make a deck based around rustler.

Rustlers are awesome.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv

2# Add cards that have synergy.
Rustlers convert light quanta into life quanta. Good, right?
So, what we can do is find cards that cost a lot of life quanta, then find cards that generate a lot of light.
Like... Emerald dragons cost a lot of life and hit for a lot.
Luciferin gives more light.

Rustlers are still awesome.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5lj 5lj 5lj 5lj

3# Add a few support cards.
These are cards that help your deck survive and keep it going.
As long as you can completely justify why it's in your deck, you'll be good.
I decided I didn't like luciferin and went for solar shield instead.
Step four is add pillars/pendulums.

RUSTLERS YAY

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5bv 5c6 5c6 5c6 5c6 5c9 5c9 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5ld 5ld 5ld 8pn

Note: This deck can be fine tuned and is not perfect. There are multiple ways to improve it. This is not nessessarily a good deck. It's just so you get a feel for deck building.

So, what does each card do?
Emerald dragons deal damage.
Light pillars give light quanta which rustlers can use to convert to life quanta.
Rustlers convert. We all know this.
Empathic bond heals us. This deck is rather slow. It could do with some healing.
Solar shield generates light quanta and protects us. Do not underestimate it.
Mitosis lets us make more dragons.

Nova? I bet you're wondering what that's doing there. Nova allows us to have 5 (2 light * 2 = for 4 life + 1.) life quanta for nothing. Nova also allows us to get a rustler out TURN ONE. Trust me, that is so helpful.

Everything is focusing on getting dragons out. The empathics keep us alive so we can get more of them out.
This is a focused deck. It can be focused better.

Finetuning
Now that you've got the outline, what you want to do is improve it.
I can see 3 different ways to improve this deck. See if you can find them.

You can ask for help (see the how to import/export code spoiler), or you go it alone.
When tuning a deck by yourself, what you want to do is play 10 games with it, and ask yourself what you don't like about the deck.
Then you try and find ways of rectifying this deck.

Here are some common examples of ways decks are finetuned:
- The proportion of cards is changed. In 30 card decks, if you only need 1 of a card, only put 3 in. 4 if you ABSOLUTELY need it, 6 if you need as much of it as possible.

- In decks that only use one type of element, known as mono decks, tend to replace half of their pillars with pendulums. This is because of a card known as earthquake, or EQ.

- Quanta Index (or QI) is used. QI is a way of determining whether your pillar to quanta generation is right. QI is a complex subject, but it can help you replace a few of your worthless cards with other cards.

Upgrading
Warning: Only upgrade once the deck has been completely fine-tuned. I have not fine-tuned this deck.
There is indeed an order in upgrading the deck. It is as follows:
Combo > Quanta > Core > Support.

Combo: If your deck REQUIRES certain cards to win, upgrade those first. If you cannot possibly win the game without certain cards, upgrade those first. Rustler is my combo card, so I will upgrade it first.
Quanta: Your pillars, pendulums, etc. NOTE: Nova functions entirely differently when upgraded. Do not upgrade it. (It costs 2 entropy, but gives 2 of every quanta.) In this case, it's the light pillars and solar shield.
Core: The main parts of your cards. In this case, it's the dragons.
Support: Everything else. In this case, it's the mitosis and empathics.

The deck looks like this upgraded:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 5bt 7af 7af 7af 7af 7af 7am 7am 7am 7am 7ap 7ap 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jt 7jt 7jt 8pn

I told you why I didn't upgrade the novas. Why didn't I upgrade the dragons? Because they cost more and I don't want them to cost more for an extra 2 damage. Some may want the extra 3 HP, this is just preference.

Practice. Challenge yourself. :3
Best way to learn is to practice/teach, right?
I'm going to give you some cards that are used to create some very powerful decks. Practice what I've told you by building a 30 card deck out of these. If you get relatively close to the decks posted, then I know that I've done this tutorial right. That and you've gotten the basics.

Remember: Focus your deck, try to aim for 30, and know the cardbase.

Spoiler for Challenges:

CHALLENGE UNO:

This is very easy as I've given you the core of the deck. All you have to do is support it.

Spoiler for Solution:

This is the basis of Ghostmare, an exceedingly annoying and dangerous PvP deck.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5ro 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 8pt

This deck works by nightmaring ghost of the past. Nightmare stops the enemy drawing a card, and if your enemy attempts to play a card, you can just steal it or return it with RT or eternity. The ghosts of the past are just an added bonus; it could be any creature. If they discard a ghost of the past, however, they're dealt 10 damage. Ghosts also hit pretty hard.

CHALLENGE DOS:

Spoiler for Soltution:

This creates Psiontal, one of the most powerful decks to ever be made, and what has caused Aether to reign in war, the largest PvP event of elements.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61u 61u 622 622 622 622 625 625 625 625 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pu

Psiontal works by using fractal on psion. Pretty simple. The beauty comes in its power and versatility. You can lightning so many things, do a dim spam, stop enemy's momentum or reflect with lobo. It's a very powerful deck.

CHALLENGE TRES:

Spoiler for Solution:

This is the basis of Antabow. The Antabow is a very popular PvP and bronze grinder deck. There are many different versions. This is one of them.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 52q 55q 55q 590 590 590 590 590 5c1 5c1 5f6 5f6 5i7 5og 5og 61q 61q 8pm

This deck spreads out all its elements. It protects you whilst you destroy everything in your path with your graboids. This deck is very fast and very effective. Because it's fueled with nova, it can cast its entire hand very quickly.

CHALLENGE CUATRO:

Spoiler for solution:

This creates Adrenastave, which is probably the strongest life deck ever made.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5og 5og 5oi 5oi 5oi 5oi 5oi 5oi 8pr

It direly needs those fogs, and will sacrifice being a 30 card deck for them.
What happens here is you use flying weapon on the druidic staffs, and then use adrenaline on them. This causes them to heal up to 20 hp a turn per staff. Dangerously powerful.

Harder:
CHALLENGE CINCO

Spoiler for solution:

This deck creates my own personal PvP deck.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f6 5f6 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5la 5la 5la 5la 5la 5la 5ld 5ld 5ld 5li 5li 5li 8po

The deck generates tons of light quanta, aided by the shields, and then slams down dragon after dragon. Use miracle, because the deck is kinda slow. It's fun to use, though. The deflags are in there so I can destroy pesky shields.

CHALLENGE SEIS
Note: This is a fully upgraded deck.

(Singularity is a card created when you use 2 supernova in a turn, or 3 nova in a turn. It's designed to hinder the user. Each turn, it will heal the opponent and cast a random effect on itself to make it heal the opponent more, give it quanta, make itself unremovable. But the biggest problem is when it gives itself the vampire ability, which means it starts dealing damage to you when it attacks. Singularities will very easily wipe you out. They're supposed to.)

Spoiler for solution:

This is known as a singularity OTK, or a one turn kill. There are many, many different examples of these decks. This is just one example.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u7 74g 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7qb 7qb 7qb 7qb 7qb 7qb 8pj

Play supernovas to make a singularity. Survive thier wrath. Turn them all into one massive creature with Chimera and then antimatter the chimera to give it positive stats to make it end the game.

I would like to thank CCCombobreaker, Zawadx, Omegareaper7 And Luminous For helping me create this guide in minor ways. Also major ways. This is a rough sketch, and improvements to it can be made, and I'd like help on those improvements to.
All of these guides show you a deck to make. None of them tell you how you got that deck in the first place, or the process for making decks.

This is designed for newbs, so the information just has to be accurate. Opinions?

[theelkspeaks]

There's a lot of "correct" grabbows out there.  I'd like that to be a little clearer in the discussion on antagon's bow.  Most of the others, if you go far from the deck, you've done something wrong.

[dawn to dusk]

what ever happened to life being your most hated element?

[ARTHANASIOS]

what ever happened to life being your most hated element?

Rustler's PAWer seems it has won Frozengaia's heart.

[Espithel]

what ever happened to life being your most hated element?

Life doesn't do anything in that deck.
Entropy and light does. >:U:<
*Whining voice* See, lifght and entruphy need to suppurt lief fur et tu beh eny useful >:U
(I don't hate life.
I just love everything else more.)

There's a lot of "correct" grabbows out there.  I'd like that to be a little clearer in the discussion on antagon's bow.  Most of the others, if you go far from the deck, you've done something wrong.

Good point, well made. Making changes.