Putting the "Speed" in Speedbow: Elder Destruction 101

[TheForbiddenOracle]

Fog> Turtle in a lot of cases. Also leave the Ulithard unupped, and it looks like your overloading on

[Braingoo]

Yeah I've been using fog, and added another hourglass. Actually  has never really been a problem. I usually use my steal early on, I try to save my cloak for when I have a lot of creatures and permanents, so that's around mid-game, and I typically don't use liquid shadow until the last few rounds, preferably when I get a huge chimera on the field. Because they're usually used at very different stages in the game it's rarely been a problem. They've all saved my butt on many occasions, so I can't see getting rid of any of them.

Black-holes are devastating against this deck, but adding a sanctuary on top of my archangel (which is a very important card in this deck) is pretty much out of the question 

[Colossus]

Care to post your updated version then Braingoo?

Willing, your t50 version with a few slight mods to fight my playstyle, is absolutely devastating against most decks I've played. So thank you for this.

Granted I can't seem to get t50 to work this week, but whatever.

[Braingoo]

by Braingoo

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u2 6u2 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u7 713 74b 74g 77g 77g 7ah 7ai 7dm 7dm 7dq 7gv 7ju 7n0 7q5 7q5 7t9 7te 7ti 80b 8pj

[Colossus]

Thanks, I'll go play around with it then.

[Braingoo]

Pandemonium hurts this one a lot too 

[ignatzkat]

I was using my newly-completed T50 version of this deck, and from force of habit started a FG match without realizing it. The result:



Stealing an early Eternity slowed him down pretty nicely. Got an upped Pharaoh!

[willng3]

Pandemonium hurts this one a lot too 

Yeah it does, it just about messes up any rush unfortunately. 
I usually try to limit myself to playing 2 creatures at maximum if I know the opponent is using Pandemonium. 
Graboids that haven't evolved yet also don't count towards that creature count since they can't be targeted.  However once the AI feels itself being threatened it will spam Pandemonium regardless of how many creatures you have on the field which is why I usually try to play a Forest Spectre or a Lava Golem on the field before that happens; it'll usually survive at least 2 or 3 Pandemonium before being removed if it's had time to grow. 
It's a little more luck based if you can't get that type of a set up going though, but usually once I've drained the AI of all the Pandemonium it can play I instantly spam the field with creatures which is typically enough to finish them off. 
I used this tactic yesterday against a T50 player with a deck full of them and Poisons and found myself winning consistently even with Bone Walls blocking my attacks the entire time.

Or maybe my luck with the T50 variation is just epic :>

[Tirf]

Not having much luck. went 6 and 3 with it...difficult deck to use.

[pikachufan2164]

Not having much luck. went 6 and 3 with it...difficult deck to use.

What are you using it for?

The AI3 version works great for AI3, and the "T50" variant is decent against Bronze and Silver league Arenas, and also half-bloods.

[willng3]

Well this is a huge bump; I'm a bit sad to see this topic become obsolete, but there's not much to do about that.  Anyways, I may or may not run another set of games against the AI3 for testing depending on what's on my plate during the upcoming week.  T50 Destruction 101 seems a bit of a silly title now that T50 no longer exists, and oddly the deck doesn't fare very well against Arena compared to against T50.  Therefore I'm renaming it to PvP Destruction 101.  The title seems awkward, but after having used this during my one and only Championship League season I'm certain that it works well enough in the PvP atmosphere to deserve the name, even if the current metagame has more ways to deal with it now.  I'm also adding a new member to this family of decks:  Arena Destruction 101.

by willng3

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u5 6u5 6u5 713 713 74f 74f 74f 77g 77g 7dm 7dq 7gm 7ju 7n8 7n8 7q5 7t9 80g 8pj

Not the first time I've posted this deck, granted I have made a single modification since its first post.  It's basically a combination of Elder Destruction 101 and T50 Destruction 101 with a bit of TADAbow splashed in for added denial and stamina against the more menacing threats.  It's usually able to shrug off slower Firestalls, stops Life rushes cold with Wings, breaks through Dim Shield chains with Discord/BH, and it has a pretty decent EM rate to top it all off.  This is one of the few decks that I've been able to make a few minor changes to and still have it work over a lengthy period of time.  This deck has been a Silver League slayer since the Arena's beginning and over time has barely been affected by the most recent changes.  Big threats this deck is able to take down with relative ease:

Firestalls - Discord screws with them and their quanta during the early game, BH denies their quanta fuel further, and heavy HP creatures waste the smaller forms of CC.  Wings blocks Fahrenheit
Mono Aether - You have 2 sources of PC here in addition to Discord/BH denying quanta for Dim Shields.  On top of the AI being unwise with how it spends its quanta (it usually plays Phase Dragon, Immortal, and Parallel Universe before the Shields), the shield chain should be broken quite often, but this is in no way guaranteed.
Ghostmare - Depends on the builds for these usually as multiple Steals can sometimes cause issues.  I've been told that Stealing Towers to play Nightmare'd GotP is a good strategy here.  If you manage to draw a Discord early game or even a BH then you're set.  Also, the AI will waste Nightmares on your own creatures if it can't play any Ghosts; you should aim for forcing it to do this at least once during the duel, but be wary of Rewinds.
Mono Darkness - Not a huge threat.  Unless multiple Devourer get out earlier and completely stop you from playing Supernova then their denial shouldn't be problematic.  Steals are probably the biggest issue here as Gargoyles and Dragons usually need to be stopped with Wings which is a prime target for Steal.  The longer you can hold out on playing Wings and having the AI waste its Steals on other cards so that stealing Wings is less likely, the better.  But if you've established a tight lockdown with Discord+BH, then you should be set.
Mono Death - I don't believe I've seen a single Mono Death deck in Silver thus far that uses Shard of Sacrifice which is a huge relief really.  Against these opponents you usually just need to play Wings and a Recluse for all of the creatures which leaves you with Poison as the remaining threat.  Your creatures should show themselves quickly enough to where Bone Walls are a minor nuisance at best.
Speedbows - Wings and BHs spell doom for most of these, not to mention AD101 will usually set up faster due to distribution of Arena points for dexterity, more HP, etc.
Stallbows - Easy, easy to kill.  BH + rushing is just way too much for most of these.  Hold off on playing PC just in case the AI tries to play unexpected Phase Shields, Wings, etc.
Discord/BH - If you can manage to play a Wings to stop Discord (you'll need a Recluse for Animated copies) then this ensures your victory more often.  Aside from this, Discord/BH is typically a slow deck in Silver League due to the lack of damage output and the amount of denial it uses, which gives you ample time to rush them to death.  Hold off on playing SN unless you need to play a lot of creatures, permanents, etc. at once and your chances of success are much greater.  I don't seem to run into very many of these in Silver League, however.
Mono Life creature spam decks - Wings.  Not much more to say.
Shrieker rushes - See above.

I've had people tell me their own preferences in card choice for this deck whether it be changing the Crawler to a Forest Spectre or removing the Phase Recluse for a TU.  While I won't discourage anyone from messing around with the deck to see if any modifications suit them better, this is the version that I have found to be both more consistent and most successful in the Arena.  Because the Arena is extremely dynamic due to the number of decks there, something that works for one day will weaken the deck the next.

I have gotten much praise for this deck and its performance against Bronze League and Silver League.  It can work against Gold League as well (I managed 2 rare spins yesterday during the short time I used it), but it's not as consistent.

Enjoy.

[TheIdioticIdiot]

-SNIP-

since they are both your decks:
for just hardcore rare farming, is the wrecking ball better or is this one better?