Author

BunKeR · « **on:** January 15, 2013, 04:23:04 am »

Hello . My name is BunKeR , and I am a control player .

Unupped Gravitybow

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4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 55t 55t 55u 56i 56i 56i 590 5c1 5fb 5if 5lm 5on 5on 5rk 5ur 61q 8pl

The unupped list runs at about 86% win rate and the upped at 94.66% .

EDIT : This deck currently has the highest unupped AND 2nd highest upped win rate vs Bronze in the "Decks Used Against Arena with Stats 1.32" thread. It also made the "Community-recommended Decks" vs "Bronze and Silver Arenas" in two places unupped here and upped here .

Credit to Vangelios for his absolutely impressive performance in BL 3/2012 with "SoFo 4 in1" chronicled here "Decks of a Champion" (it's the 4th deck down). Congrats on his 1st place finish . I ran a similar list to 4th place at the same event . That story is detailed here "My Battle League Story" (it's the 2nd deck down).

My goal here is to bring it up to date in 1.32 and submit my testing results and stats .

I'm also going to apply some deck building rules I've come to follow to the Gravitybow . The 10 Rules I use came from the MtG Advanced Strategy Guide written by Mark Justice[an old pro player] back in 1998 . Its interesting to note that although the rules were not originally written for this system I'm adapting them to this game since the general ideas of power , efficiency and balance easily apply to this game and can be applied to any deck within this game to analyze idea's and fluidity further .

1 : Use good cards
2 : Balance your Quantums
3 : Be able to kill creatures
4 : Do not be vulnerable to 1 PC card
5 : Apply early pressure - or be able to cope with it
6 : Do not be vulnerable to to a single Permanent
7 : So not suffer the mid-game crisis
8 : Be prepared for whatever gives your deck problems
9 : Practice , practice , practice
10 : Know your role

Lets begin .

1 : Use good cards
Simple right ? Up to the 1.32 version all you really heard about was the power of Shard of Focus They only slowed down the card , and they didn't functionally change it . The Nerf This Card SoFo thread was 53 pages long .

Fifty Three pages .

The overwhelming opinion was certainly that it was the most overpowered card in the game . The combo of Gravity Pull on this card could not be ignored . Everything else in the deck would have to support this two card combo that provided repeatable Permanent Control , effectively negated a good amount damage every round and also could play Black Hole to both gain more hp's or to deny the opponent during a mid or late game turn . With SoFo pulling straight gravity quantums now a days the old timing of turn 1 Nova into SoFo are long past . Supporting 4 copies becomes difficult so I had to roll back to 3 copies instead . I'm not sure if Dry Spell belongs in the deck but it's an idea I'm planning on testing .

2 : Balance your Quantums
The Quanta Index for Gravity 6.32 , not counting the Black Holes that you may end up with . All the remaining elements are somewhere between 0.71 - 1.43 sans Fire . Fire is at 1.79 . In play terms the support cards give you time to play out a SoFo , which if you can keep alive and active you give you more time to set up threats and deal with opposing threats . I've tested -1 Nova +1 Quantum Pillar but it wasn't as impressive as the super fast 2x Nova draw . Running 6 each of Nova and Pillar meant that I would see approximately 2.8 sources in the opening hand if I went first or 3.2 sources in the opening hand if I drew first . Maybe increasing the availability of Gravity Quantums would be a good idea but I'm out of ideas and would be very open to help balancing the QI .

3 : Be able to kill creatures
A large majority of deck beat you using creatures . The deck boasts a very heavy compliment of 8 Creature Control cards ! That's 26.6% of the deck devoted to this idea . 5 hard CC cards and 3 more situational CC cards are present in the list . Lightning , Reverse Time , 2x Shockwave and Rage Potion directly remove threats , while Mindflayer gives us more flexibility in choosing what threats can remain . Gravity Pull can be used to remove creatures in emergency situations but it is best left to the SoFo unless the situation is indeed that dire .
Back before 1.32 I had Otyugh in the deck over the current Sanctuary . Back then people played a lot of turn 1 SoFo and I wanted as many outs to that play as i could get .

4 : Do not be vulnerable to 1 PC card
There is nothing more frustrating than setting up a diabolical plan that is hard countered by a single Steal or Deflagration . The deck is Nova powered , and only carries 3 non Quantum generating cards . Arsenic , Vampire Stiletto and Sanctuary are your perms . Your "shield" is actually a creature with a buff and an ability so our main goal here isn't affected by PC . 6 Quantum Pillars are the only real issue here , as a single Earthquake is going to be devastating to our defensive progress if we walk into a 3 for 1 card trade . It's is safe to say we are Deflagration or Steal safe tho .

5 : Apply early pressure - or be able to cope with it
Ok , CLEARLY this deck is nether meant nor actually beats opponents quickly . As such it needs to be able to alter the flow of a game using control . Slowing the opponents quanta , removing key components of their table , PC , CC , Quantum Denial and even Sanctuary protection provide time . Time provides cards . Cards provide answers and options and honestly , sanity . Besides the fact that this deck has a high CC bank , the SoFo+GP combo itself negates most pressure during the midgame . Removal slows early game pressure , and get this deck into the deep middle or late game where its multiple options shine.

6 : Do not be vulnerable to to a single Permanent
It has always surprised me when a deck can not answer a Thorn Carapace or Dimensional Shield chain . There are permanents in this game . There are Shields and Weapons and other things like Mindgate that are very unique . Ignoring that means losing to that . If you can't deal with it and you knew that card existed then we cant expect to beat it if we see it . Sometimes you can get away with that [coughmonoaethercough] . I prefer to err on the side of caution and be able to remove a perm thats beating me somehow .

7 : So not suffer the mid-game crisis
The mid-game is where the coolest things in games start to happen for me . I like it when I'm out of my opening book preparation in Chess and have to really start thinking and I like it when someone actually pulls off the Firefly Queen ~> Rustler dance . Most decks , if left unchecked , really start to go crazy in the mid-game if they can completely set up their plan . The plan here is to remove their cards while setting up our combo and threats . When we mess with their plan , we are also executing out plan . It's pretty hard to lose when you have a defensive combo out that destroys their stuff and negates their threats . It's normal to see that combo happen .

8 : Be prepared for whatever gives your deck problems
I'm being very realistic here . There are some serious hard counters to this deck out there . Believe me I've played this in Battle League a lot and learned that . Mono Aether with SoW , Immortals and Lightnings are a serious problem . Against those decks you need to get damage down as soon as possible , hope they chose to run Psion over Immortal and pray they aren't holding that Lightning =| . Flying Titans was used to hard counter me as was Mono Aether SoW . It's also hard to manage burst damage . For this deck an early Lobotomizer or Owl's Eye before we get SoFo out is painful . We have the option of holding back 2 SoFo to play at once . It'll mean walking into a Lightning/Shockwave and getting absolutely hosed tho . I've mostly seen 2 Weapons in a deck that used them and we use 3 SoFo's here . The odds are on our side . Even still an early Lobo/OE is very hard to overcome .

9 : Practice , practice , practice
Yay Stats !!!

In Battle League I played Gravitybow to a 69% win rate . I played it 42% of the time .
It's stats against Bronze League after 50 games is an 86% win rate and an average TTW of 13 . It EMed 12% of the time .

I remember the very first time I was thrown to the ground in Judo . I was so out of class and the other guys at the dojo were kind of showing off . I practiced and practiced and learned everything I could and went and tried it out a month later .

Man , was that ground still hard .

My point is that there is no substitute for an experienced , calm and aware mindset other than practice . Practice against everything you can . The more information you have about how a game will unfold before it actually unfolds is information that the opponent may not have , which COULD be an advantage . Every advantage counts . Even a 1% sway advantage in an open field will mean you have a 51% to 49% advantage . What if that's all you needed to do , was not play that extra Nova so you could recover from their Black Hole later .
There are a lot of different cards in Rainbow decks , and as such there are a higher number if different synergies in this a Gravitybow . SoFO+GP or Rage Potion . Sometimes the correct play is actually playing Lightning on your own SoFo just to destroy 1 more thing , effectively using a Shockwave to destroy a perm . Maybe it's letting them kill all your win conditions just so you can land SoFo+GP and deck them with Reverse Time . One thing about this deck is that it is very unforgiving . It will grab an advantage and push it . Using removal and SoFo to force an almost prison style situation at times .

10 : Know your role in the environment
Are you supposed to be pushing damage in this situation ? Do you leave this creature out or kill it right now . Sometimes the correct play will be not killing something , or not playing something . You have to hold back resources in hand . I am of the opinion that cards in opponents hand dictates options available to them . As cards decrease options decrease . It's a resource battle , with life points at stake . A war of cards . If you have an advantage push it . Be mindful of what the possible ways out to your plan are and prepare for them . Are you running through PvP1 ? Sanctuary may not be the best card then . . . as its purpose in the 1st list is to give you time against high HP decks and Poison . Things uncommon in PvP1 . Maybe putting the Otyugh in that spot would be better .

/deepbreath.

The old version is the upped list that myself and a few others ran thru Bronze to grab stats . Combined we ran 284-16 for a 94.66% win rate . Jenkars Mod is the one I currently use and it is below .

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 5if 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u1 71a 74b 74d 74d 74e 752 752 752 77g 77g 7ah 7dr 7n7 7q4 7tb 80a 80a 8pl

Spoiler for old version:

1st 50 run resulted in a record of 49-1 . With a 98% win rate. I did the run myself .

Spoiler for match Notes:

The 1st confirmation run was played by Afdarenty aka MPots , from Kong . He ran 48-2 with a 96% win rate .

Spoiler for his notes:

2nd confirmation run by Jenkar here . He ran 47-3 with an 94% win rate .

3rd confirmation run by Exarp here . He ran 140-10 with an 93.33% win rate .

Comments ?

EDIT : Updated upped decklist .

wiretap · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2013, 06:01:02 am »

Pun Pun and I have been talking about this list for 3 days now. I was mostly taking it through PVP1, and was wrecking face with it! The main concern we had was the sanctuary, that I eventually swapped out for another lightning bolt(I also run a reflective shield because I face a disproportionately high amount of psions/shard of wisdom). I ended up 78-12, six of which I'm certain were play errors, the rest of them are debatable. Suffice to say this is currently my favorite viable control deck. Nice work, thanks for sharing the love!

Zarathustra1883 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2013, 06:58:20 pm »

+rep for this. Personally I use -1 Shockwave +1 Purify. Thanks for sharing!

Faro · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2013, 08:57:20 pm »

Good deck Bunker !
with such a high win% you shold try it in silver ...

about upped version, my personal change are :

- firemaster (too slow and use 1 precious

)
- rewind (not that usefull)

+ sanctuary (you aren't using

at all and more EM )
+ precognition

and maybe -2 shockwave +2 thunderstorm

BunKeR · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2013, 09:56:53 pm »

Quote from: wiretap on January 15, 2013, 06:01:02 am

Pun Pun and I have been talking about this list for 3 days now. I was mostly taking it through PVP1, and was wrecking face with it! The main concern we had was the sanctuary, that I eventually swapped out for another lightning bolt(I also run a reflective shield because I face a disproportionately high amount of psions/shard of wisdom). I ended up 78-12, six of which I'm certain were play errors, the rest of them are debatable. Suffice to say this is currently my favorite viable control deck. Nice work, thanks for sharing the love!

Re : Reflecting Shield . I did not test one in this deck because I originally designed the deck for use in Battle League where that shield is banned . Your record of 78-12 was in PvP1 or Bronze League ?

You are very welcome , the deck was seriously strong before the nerf . It's still a load of chuckles to play with after the nerf .

Quote from: Zarathustra1883 on January 15, 2013, 06:58:20 pm

+rep for this. Personally I use -1 Shockwave +1 Purify. Thanks for sharing!

With Sanctuary , Vampire Stiletto AND Purify you should not be having any problems vs Poison . Just remember to use those Black Holes asap unless they actually have a creature out . Usually they run either Chrysaora OR Mummy and not both . Just adjust your play as soon as you can make the educated call . If they are only using Chrysaora then use those BH's and target Chrysaora with Gravity Pull asap .

You're welcome = ]

Quote from: Faro on January 15, 2013, 08:57:20 pm

Good deck Bunker !
with such a high win% you shold try it in silver ...

about upped version, my personal change are :

- firemaster (too slow and use 1 precious )
- rewind (not that usefull)

+ sanctuary (you aren't using at all and more EM )
+ precognition

and maybe -2 shockwave +2 thunderstorm

I haven't even started to test it vs Silver , but thank you for the recommendation . I'm probably just going to do a 50 game run vs Silver with the upped list in the OP . I'll post my results as soon as I can . Testing will show if the changes you propose increase win rate . I have to start from the ground up here tho , I have literally zero games with Gravitybow vs Silver .

That said I'm rather hesitant to drop a Firemaster because the deck is already very light on win conditions as is . No real way to tell tho , I'll test in Silver and figure it out .
Thanks for the homework

Edit : I started running it in Silver and stopped at 12-0 . 4 spins with 3 EM's . I'll update the OP when I hit 50 .

TribalTrouble · « **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2013, 11:12:15 pm »

This is an awesome deck. Tons and tons of EMs and rares won. Very nice, although the people I faced I didn't recognize at all :/

SoI I will have a collection of 12 of you, you pesky dodging shard! > : 3

Exarp · « **Reply #6 on:** January 17, 2013, 08:50:57 pm »

Currently, this deck is my favorite silver grinder.
It's a bit slow for my play style, but also very reliable.
I typically fall back to this upgraded deck when I'm bored of losing that last match before the rare spin.

Just one small comment/question:
I feel like this deck has one too many SoF in it. On a crap draw, I never get them, but in a typical game, I'm stuck with too many gravity cards and too little gravity quanta. Am I the only one that seems to have the problem of feeling like I'm stalling myself more than needed?
I'm going to try removing one of them, and adding a single SoBra. I'm not sure if it'll help against my feelings, nor if just one SoBra will even make a difference, though.

Oh... I never seem to have quanta issues with the other elements, by the way. Maybe there's simply too much gravity strain.
Still, I love this deck, and I love using it, regardless of what I said above.
Like I said... it might be a bit slow, but at least it's reliable.

TribalTrouble · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2013, 11:20:29 pm »

believe it or not but I believe that this is way better upped than unupped. Unupped there is too much quanta strain due to the higher costed cards(Like SoFo)

Exarp · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2013, 12:02:26 am »

Quote from: TribalTrouble on January 17, 2013, 11:20:29 pm

believe it or not but I believe that this is way better upped than unupped. Unupped there is too much quanta strain due to the higher costed cards(Like SoFo)

I fully agree with this, since I already have severe strain with the upped deck.
Changing one SoFo for a SoBra, like I said I was going to try, seems to help a lot with this strain.
Obviously, you'll draw focus less reliably because of it, but in the last 40 or so games, losses weren't because of the lack of focus. I'd lose because i got out rushed before I could stabilize the field in my advantage, immaterial aether decks and early quanta denial decks. So in these cases, the shards were never even close to being the reason of the loss.
I think I'll switch back and forth between the one with bravery and the original one for a bit to do more tests.

wiretap · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2013, 07:33:35 am »

Tested in PVP1 I run poison dials to grind these days.

BunKeR · « **Reply #10 on:** January 19, 2013, 06:36:14 am »

After another 50 games , I'm starting to feel that altering the deck with +1 Quantum Pillar / -1 Nova means that you have an overall smoother flow of Gravity Quantums at the expense of an explosive start .

It also significantly drops the change of starting with 1 Nova and no other sources in the opening hand .

I'm almost certain that the weakest card in the Unupped list is the Sanctuary , not the 3rd SoFo . Removing the Sanctuary to add a 7th Quantum Pillar or the 6th Nova seems like a more natural fit . This is all theoretical as of now , I haven't completed my testing on this yet .

I know the QI needs to be balanced . If we can address that problem and still keep the 3rd SoFo in the list that would be ideal .

eaglgenes101 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 27, 2013, 05:29:31 am »

I wonder why 2 shockwaves and a lightning rather than 1 shockwave and 2 lightnings.

Author

BunKeR

Gravitybow [Unupped/Upped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032217#msg1032217

wiretap

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032253#msg1032253

Zarathustra1883

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032388#msg1032388

Faro

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032439#msg1032439

BunKeR

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032452#msg1032452

TribalTrouble

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1032783#msg1032783

Exarp

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1033053#msg1033053

TribalTrouble

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1033118#msg1033118

Exarp

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1033132#msg1033132

wiretap

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1033262#msg1033262

BunKeR

Re: Gravitybow [Upped/Unupped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1033604#msg1033604

eaglgenes101

Re: Gravitybow [Unupped/Upped][Bronze][1.32] https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=45998.msg1035936#msg1035936