Round 1 - Main Topic

[pikachufan2164]

Please keep all discussion for Round 1 in this thread so that everything is in one place. Thanks

Chatroom: http://webchat.mibbit.com (Channel: #seedsofvictory)

Deckbuilding Phase: Duel phase has started

Duel Phase: Round has ended

Life Deck Tracker: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuLG6-uKpq33dDMxbXZqSU5fcDNhbkNuSmFTcUV2UWc#gid=0

Cards Remaining in Vault: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,31890.0.html

23x Emerald Pillar
46x Life Pendulum
12x Emerald Dragon
16x Horned Frog
12x Cockatrice
7x Forest Spirit
9x Heal
8x Thorn Carapace
3x Emerald Shield
16x Adrenaline
6x Forest Scorpion
10x Mitosis
16x Druidic Staff


6x Lightning
6x Dimensional Shield
4x Fractal


1x Fog Shield
3x Flying Weapon
5x Wings


3x Steal
2x Nightfall
5x Minor Vampire
4x Cloak


0x Poison
0x Arsenic


1x Stone Pillar
2x Earth Pendulum
5x Graboid
2x Enchant Artifact
2x Earthquake
6x Stone Skin
0x Basilisk Blood


3x Maxwell's Demon
5x Nova
4x Discord


2x Burning Pillar
2x Fire Pendulum
6x Fire Bolt
6x Deflagration
4x Rage Potion
2x Fahrenheit


6x Black Hole


2x Light Pillar
2x Light Pendulum
3x Crusader
6x Sanctuary


5x Reverse Time
2x Eternity


2x Water Pillar
2x Water Pendulum
2x Purify
5x Arctic Squid
Salvages:
None
Discards:
None
Event Card:

Scouting: Two teammates are seeded against other Scouts. Winners view 3 random cards from the loser's Vault.

-Players listed as #7 and #8 in Member Roles are your Scouts.
-No other battles are fought this round.
-Salvaging and discarding occur as usual.
- Winners view 3 random cards (and amounts) from the loser's Vault.
Match-ups:
Noobiecakes vs. TheForbiddenOracle

by pikachufan2164

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593 593 593 593 595 595 595 595 595 595 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5de 5de 5de 5de 7ac 7ac 7ac 8pm

9270984 vs. Aves

by pikachufan2164

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c2 5c2 5c2 5de 5de 5de 5de 71a 71a 7ak 8pk

[ak65ala]

Fire, Darkness.

We'll see PC, CC, Rush most likely.  Having only 2 duels gives them full access to counter us (no need to spread out those cards to 8 decks).  We'll need to try and play their bluff and either counter their decks or use what life is good at.  An unknown vault gives whomever can proficy the opponent's deck the best advantage.

Getting out my crystal ball now...

Will have more later on what I saw beneath it's surface...

[willng3]

Yeah.  It's a bit unfortunate that the teams can now focus on us full-force (I would have liked to use us being a smaller threat to our advantage), but we can still compensate.

One of the things we need to be aware of is that in the beginning rounds people are going to try and counter Life's weaknesses rather than what's in our Vaults since they have no idea what's in there yet.  In this case, we can expect a LOT of CC to stop our rushes, quanta control to slow down our rushes (and out rush us in the process), or use PC to try and stop our stall tactics.  A combination of the three is of course highly likely as well, given the opponents we're facing.  I'll continue considering deck options for the time being, but we should keep those 3 main factors in mind.

[TheCrazyMango]

at first glance, i either want to run uusemitoscrops, or a squid/spirit stall.

[The_Mormegil]

Intresting. So I was right that they'd use the Event Cards to greatly impact the balance of the whole event. As much as I dislike this "surprise factor", it's better than just letting it run loose with the rules they posted.

Now, on the actual matches.
I expect to see from Fire something like either a CC Immorush or a Firestall. The presence of deuce in their team means they have access to Will's "manual" from last War, which means something like this (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,30555.msg415291#msg415291), as it has been played a lot in the whole Falling Empire event, so it's pretty much public. It works well, and I suspect it's strong even after the Immo nerfing: it has the rush, it has the fast Discord (second turn is likely), it has the possibility to splash any kind of control. It's pretty public that Napalm dislikes stalls, so it's entirely possible they'll run one on us to try and surprise us. An overquanta-ed BB Adrenarush might be effective, unless they go with a Wings deck or a Dim Shields deck (entirely possible, due to the recent Deflagration nerf).

For the Darkness matchup, if I was them, I'd run an Earth duo. Devourers + EQs, with heavy CC to counter rushes and some dragons to kill. Another possibility is that they use Dimensional Shields or Wings (both are pretty effective against us). Novagrabby with 9001 creatures and featuring 3 Explosions might be a good deck here.

[willng3]

Intel info:
I've caught glimpses of both deuce22 and Antagon looking over battles between Life and Fire last War via the stalker page.  Both duels looked over involved Life's Novabows.  I doubt they'd prepare to face those decks specifically, but we can at least follow their train of thought a bit from there.

[The_Mormegil]

Intel info:
I've caught glimpses of both deuce22 and Antagon looking over battles between Life and Fire last War via the stalker page.  Both duels looked over involved Life's Novabows.  I doubt they'd prepare to face those decks specifically, but we can at least follow their train of thought a bit from there.

I can maybe see what they are thinking. The main selling point of Fire is its versatility and capacity to play Firestall and Immorush, plus novelty decks that still work thanks to Phoenixes or Crimsons. They are also aware of the nerfing to Immolation that slows down unupped Immo decks considerably OR render it prone to CC. That means they are going to expect a rush deck that can answer Firestall, and a novabow seems a likely option due to the fact that Shriekers can burrow, it's one of the few ways we have to safely splash PC for those shields, and our Novagrabby damage output is big enough to kill through healing thanks to Adrenaline.

[ak65ala]

I just got my first Green Nymph!!!!!!!

I don't know if this is a blessing from the RNG, or something totally different but....


!!!!!!!!

[willng3]

I just got my first Green Nymph!!!!!!!

I don't know if this is a blessing from the RNG, or something totally different but....


!!!!!!!!

IT'S A SIGN

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[ak65ala]

Man... we have like no cards....


These decks have not been optimized but here are decks to put images to my thoughts.  I want to save some of our more potent options (gabbow, life in water, firestall) and keep either team from getting cards in their element.  Gonna be fun hitting against two teams with PC, CC and strong options.

Fire:
I'm going to expect heavy CC, PC and enough boom to make us stand back in awe.  No matter what deck we bring, I want at least one emerald shield in it.  If they TRY and use firestall, I want an out.
Can out-rush fratix, can push through fire-stall.  It will fall to wings, dim shield.

by ak65ala

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595 595 595 595 595 595 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c9 5c9 5c9 5de 5de 7ac 7ak 7ak 8pm

It deal with most fire creatures, but will fall to heavy CC.  An attempt to throw them off early and take control. Risky.

by ak65ala

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4vl 4vl 4vl 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c4 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 6tt 6tt 6tt 8pj

I don't want to pull this deck out yet, but it is a good stall/rush.  It completely dies to RT, but who plays RT against life?  Crusaders fall to CC before they are endowed, Staffs can take 2 hits. Runs much better with upped crusaders too, so would prefer we hold it back for now, but an option.

by ak65ala

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5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c4 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c5 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5ll 5ll 5ll 5lm 5lm 5lm 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pq

Darkness:
I'm not sure what to expect here.  They have some good options and this early in the war... yea.
Simple and effective.  Stay alive till poison does it's job.

by ak65ala

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c9 5c9 5de 5de 5de 5de 71a 71a 7ak 8pk

Most darkness creatures are smaller.  Overloaded on quanta for devourers, can deal with EQ, solid.

by ak65ala

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58o 592 592 593 593 593 593 593 593 594 594 594 594 594 594 5aa 5aa 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c3 5c3 5c3 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 5de 7bu 7bu 7bu 8pm

[The_Mormegil]

I like using poison vs darkness too. If they want to go with devtal, early poisons and fast creatures can give them some trouble on a slower start. I'd run it less stall-like, though I like using 1+ Jades to shut down most of devtal's offensive methods.
As for Fire's deck (the BB one), I feel it's a bit under-quanta'ed. I'd run one less Mitosis, as its main purpose is that of providing an offensive way out of stalls, so you can afford having less than 3.

EDIT: also, we need to start the decks topic ASAP. I wouldn't like inactivity penalties on round 1...

[willng3]

EDIT: also, we need to start the decks topic ASAP. I wouldn't like inactivity penalties on round 1...

I'll do this in a moment.

Poison versus Darkness sounds good.
I spotted Terroking viewing the final battle between ak and myself, so it's likely that they're analyzing both of our play styles to think of a counter.  Since ak and I both used an Earth stall, that might be a risk to play.

BB sounds good against Fire, but for the upgrades I'd rather we chose something besides Jade Shields; the 2 damage reduction is nice, and I agree that having Reflectives against Firestall is a huge advantage, but if they decide to go EQ rush on us then that runs the risk of us having less quanta for other things after playing the Jade Shield.  We might just want to upgrade Towers/Pends for a split; it's not like the person we're facing can use Fractix anyways with 3 upgrades.