Dragonsdemesne's Rainbow "The Deck"

[dragonsdemesne]

Owing to the changes in version 1.29, specifically the nerf to Shard of Gratitude, I have updated this deck accordingly.  I tried it out as I had it before, but I found that the shards just weren't healing enough to be worth it anymore, and changing the mark to life is not an option.  Therefore, I took the 6 shards out, and I've been looking for replacement cards.

Right now, I'm at -6 SoG, -1 Pandemonium, +1 Sanctuary, +1 Purify, +2 Mindgate (mostly for the fun factor!) +2 Shockwave and +1 Bone Wall.  I also went with -2 Quantum Tower, +1 Gravity Pendulum +1 Aether Pendulum, to support the mindgates, and because gravity is often an element I'm short on.

by dragonsdemesne

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Sanctuary: Hosing black hole is really important in this deck, and so is healing.  Initially I tried running 6 sanctuary, but I think that might've been too many.  This is definitely subject to change, though, but if it does, I'd add more copies, not less.

Purify: It only heals 1 less than SoG now, and is awesome against poison.  Poison is also one of the biggest weaknesses of this deck, the other being top tier rush decks.  It's already been crucial in winning a couple games vs poison.

Mindgate: It's just fun, okay?   It's my favourite card and I've been dying to fit it back into the deck for a long time, but couldn't decide what to cut.  It is a good card anyway, if a little slow.  Providing more card advantage is always good, and getting access to opponent's cards can help find answers to problems that this deck can't deal with otherwise.

Shockwave: I added these to help in the early game.  With the loss of SoGs, some of the early staying power is gone, so it needs something else.  I also considered more Thunderbolts, but with the mindgates, it would have been too much aether.  Shockwave also combos with Permafrost Shield, so it can be a way to kill really big creatures if they get frozen.

Bone Wall: I had this a long time ago, but ended up cutting it.  I decided I'd bring it back.  So far I'm actually quite pleased with it.  It uses some death quanta, which was being wasted before, and it combos with otyughs, thunderbolts and shockwaves nicely.  It is also helping get some EMs, which is important, because with the loss of SoGs, the EM rate has dropped for this deck.

Pandemonium: It was a nice card to have, but with the two purple nymphs, it was just too much of a strain on entropy.  I thought about using Firestorm, and I still might use it, but it's undecided.

Cards I am considering using in the deck:
-more sanctuary
-firestorm
-pandemonium (if I start missing it)
-siphon life (for more creature removal and to use darkness quanta)
-improved steal (for more permanent control and to use darkness quanta; stronger now that I'll have room on my field for the permanent stolen)
-feral bond (patchx94 suggested this in chat, would work well in the late game with firefly queen)

[dragonsdemesne]

With the addition of the new shards, my deck right now is making use of two Shard of Serendipity:

by dragonsdemesne

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I took out the Purify and one Shockwave to put the two shards in.  I've managed a grand total of one instakill with shockwave on a frozen creature, and have had issues with it not killing some of the creatures I have the most problems with, like Elite Charger.  Purify was a nice card to have against poison decks, which are one of the weaknesses of this deck, but it's too situational, and without committing to using more than 1 copy, has a bad habit of not showing up when you want it.

I'm having a lot of fun with the two SoSe and two Mindgates.  They might not be the best choices, but Elements is about having fun, and those cards provide lots of fun.  This deck was primarily designed to combat False Gods (arena didn't exist at the time I made it) but it works okay in the Arena, though there are other decks with a much higher win percentage in the arena.

Right now, I'm looking at changing the Shockwave to something else, possibly just another Thunderbolt, or maybe a third SoSe.  I'm also unsure whether the two pendulums are pulling their weight or not.  Sometimes they are really handy, but other times they are worse than useless, like when I get an opening hand with 1 pendulum and no towers.  (though 1 tower would be almost as bad there)  Given the prevalence of water in the deck, a water pendulum could make sense here, too, or even an entropy one, but with mindgates and SoSe, I don't want to have too many stacks devoted to just pendulums.

I've tried Shard of Void and Shard of Sacrifice in this deck.  Shard of Sacrifice is a fantastic card, but the quanta drain devastates this deck, and all it usually manages to accomplish is buying another few turns, after which I can't do anything and die anyway.  It also has crap synergy with Sanctuary.  Shard of Void is a bit more promising, but without a darkness mark, it's a lot slower, and the only Miracle FG that this deck has a bad win record against is Rainbow, who will probably just explode or steal them anyway, unless protected.  Seism also has granite skin, but he either cripples me early with quicksands and wins, or I stall the game out and even with granite skins in the late game, he loses, typically to a ridiculously huge quinted Steam Machine.

[loadquo]

I'd be tempted to add in some rage elixirs. Can be used for CC against chargers for boosting up your steam machines quickly or more riskily your elite queens for the killing blow. Or used on something before getting it antimattered for more healing.

I'm not sure how much fire quanta you have spare though from using it for the steamers.

[dragonsdemesne]

I never really considered rage elixir.  I have been thinking about Fire Storm, but you do have a point about rage elixir killing chargers.  Usually there's quite a bit of spare fire quanta by the time I manage to get a Steam Machine out, especially if there's an Elite Queen making fireflies as well, since they generate fire quanta.  I've got some red nymphs, too, and in a much earlier version of this deck I was using one, but I found that it only really helped late in the game when I didn't need it anymore.  The purple nymphs suffer from the same problem, but at least in their case they do one better than the red nymph by not only killing the creature, but turning it into a healing source for me.  The time I need the CC most in this deck is in the first few turns; if the game drags on very long, I almost always win, but when I lose, it's almost always in the first few turns.

[burpcow]

This deck looks really fun to play with! If I only have one purple nymph, what could I replace it with? Another different nymph?

[dragonsdemesne]

I've tweaked it a bit slightly, and have this now:

by dragonsdemesne

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500 500 568 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6s1 6s1 71b 749 749 74b 74b 77f 77f 77i 77i 77i 7gp 7gp 7h2 7h2 7k6 7k6 7k6 7k6 7n3 7n3 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 80a 80a 80h 80h 80j 80j 8ps

I love the amber nymph, but with the otys and pulvies, it's really too much of a strain on gravity quanta, but I have to leave it in anyway :p  If you don't have a 2nd purple nymph, I'd consider an improved antimatter, upped pandemonium, a red nymph, a lava destroyer, a golden nymph, a thunderbolt, another quantum tower, or firestorm.  (all cards I've used in this deck, except the golden nymph which I don't own) 

I've also considered using my auburn or blue nymph.  Auburn nymph is like vanadium warden on steroids, and has synergy with gravity shield, but it is also expensive to use.  Blue nymph gives an extra win condition that can bypass several strategies, but the two firefly queens make it tough to play unless you take one queen out for the blue nymph.

With the cards currently in the deck, gravity is the most strained by far.  (I've lost many games due to insufficient gravity quanta; if the RNG decides to be a dick with gravity production, you can be in trouble, depending on the opponent's deck)  Aether often is also, if mindgate is in play.  Getting 7 water or 9 entropy for permafrost and purple nymph is also difficult in the early game.  The other elements aren't usually strained unless quantum tower RNG is being cruel, and I'd try to pick a card from an element that is rarely used.  Thus, a fire card like firestorm or lava destroyer, or a life card like forest spectre, are good choices, and someday I might even swap a steam machine for one of those to ease up on water quanta.

Another thing to consider is that the decks this deck most often loses to are 1) very fast cremation/supernova decks, and 2) poison decks.  Any cheap card that helps slow those down, like thunderbolt or purify, will be an asset.

[burpcow]

I actually do have a fire nymph, so I'll try that while working to finish upping this deck.  Would a darkness nymph work in this deck?  I don't have one, but seeing as it synergizes with the purple nymph and there are no darkness cards, it could be a good idea.  Great deck btw.

[dragonsdemesne]

I don't have a darkness nymph either, but I could maybe see using it, either to combo with purple nymphs, as a pseudo-lobotomy + poison on some enemy creatures, or on your own creatures if you're really desperate for healing.  I've really tried to think of a darkness card that would do well in this deck, but the closest I can come is Improved Steal, and even that can mess up your weapon/shield slot if you've already played one, or sometimes be a dead/near dead card if opponent has no permanents worth taking.  I'd never even considered the idea, but if I spin one from the oracle, I might give it some serious thought.

The fire nymph is a decent choice, since it provides creature control in the late game, uses fire quanta which is seldom used (except for steam machines) as well as being plentiful in the late game due to fireflies.  It's also tougher to kill at 6hp, and can buff steam machines and firefly queens, as well as itself.  I found the biggest trouble with the fire nymph was that you need creature removal in the early game the most; if you can survive to the midgame, you've nearly always won with this deck.  If you do use it, use it unupped, because the ability costs 1 less fire quanta and you usually don't need to do 6 damage; 5 is enough for most things, and gravity shield takes care of 6+ toughness creatures.

[UnderneathTheLens]

Are you sure 3 PAs are necessary?

Maybe you could do -PA +Purify?

[dragonsdemesne]

It depends what you're up against.  Seism, for example, you really really need an early PA, so 3 helps you draw it.  Decks with massive removal require it as well; often, I'll PA a shield, a weapon, and then either an hourglass or mindgate for protected card advantage.  Yes, 3 PAs sometimes turn out to be dead cards, but against decks with little to no permanent removal, you'll be able to get that card disadvantage back really fast with hourglasses.  I do like the idea of trying to squeeze in purifies, though; I've considered taking out the bone wall or one of the nymphs to fit one or two purifies in.

[UnderneathTheLens]

Sorry for the necro, but I just saw this and I'm curious. Do you still use a variant of this deck?

[dragonsdemesne]

Once in a blue moon I'll still dust it off for fun, but shard of focus really did a number on this deck, since it relies on permanents so much, so it's not that good against the arena anymore.  It's still alright against FGs, though.  With the shard changes in 1.32 it might be a little more viable against the arena, now.  I haven't updated the post it seems, but I'd actually swapped the SoSes for purifies due to all of the poison and SoSas after sosa came out.