Tear's Shadow [Water][Darkness][PvP1][AI4]

[Gandora]

Version 3 : according to SnoWebs suggestion (thanks for that one)

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Main idea is to create nymph first then nymphs and liquid shadow your Nymphs + Devourer that were powered by SoP to recover from your slow start.
The Squids freeze enemy creatures and the Nymphs allows you to poison them and slowly kill them.
Especially, Liquid Shadow and Freeze are good against dangerous abilities (like lobotomize).
Of course you got some troubles if they're already on the field... Not sure yet on how to address problem. Maybe adding some freezes can help.
Anyway, the steals are there to get rid of nasty Lobos or shields. In some cases you also might want to steal your SoP back to prevent your opponent to increase his strength.

I'm thinking of adding Dry Spell to get some more in early game because it's quite likely that your opponent will have his creatures out faster than you. (<- Haven't tried it but am not considering it anymore).
Also, notice that Nymph Tears are that many mainly because of draw chances. After you made your first nymph it's more cost efficient to use her ability. Use more tears only if Nymph got destroyed or you really got too much quanta.

I figured out after some more testing that the first version lacks quanta too often. Therefore I switched some pillars for pends. I think the deck works much smoother now and both, steal and liquid shadow, have enough quanta to be used. I also threw out a SoP for another pillar because it's very important to have many creatures out early and keep your opponent slowed down with Octopus. So the more early quanta supply you have the more and faster you can create and power nymphs.



I had the idea when seeing this deck. Its purpose is quite different but the sub-strategy is now the core idea of my deck.
Not sure if there's a deck that focuses that much on this strategy, so if there is, please tell me

Feedback is welcome as always

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Spoiler for Version 1:

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Spoiler for Version 2:

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[Hazardus10]

This deck looks like it would have great offensive power.  My one concern is that it takes time to produce the quanta needed for Nymph Tears.  Maybe add permafrost shields, to have better control defensively.  Although it may seem like you have defence by using arctic squid/octopus, they spend  quanta to congeal/freeze.  For more cost efficiency I would put in a permafrost shield for a arctic squid. +1 permafrost -1 arctic squid.

Or you could alternatively replace one of your steals with dusk.

[Hazardus10]

This strategy might work better if you use plague, or death nymph.  Instead of dark, use death.  I just think It would be more effective, and you would have better control of the battle field.  The reason I say that is because death nymphs provided anaphylaxis.

[Gandora]

This deck looks like it would have great offensive power.  My one concern is that it takes time to produce the quanta needed for Nymph Tears.  Maybe add permafrost shields, to have better control defensively.

First of all, thanks for your nice comments
I thought of adding one but decided otherwise because of PC (=Permanent Control). As you said, it takes some time to gather the quanta (most of times not more than 3 turns though). So it'd slow me down even more "wasting" 6 for a shield that might get easily destroyed. The squids should provide enough stalling.
Additionally, the healing provided by black nymphs allow you to recover from the damage your opponent makes while you're setting up your field. From that point of view,
Nymphs -even though they have a higher attack- won't be able to outrush your opponent who is 2/3 turns in advantage. If you're looking for field locks (fill the enemy's field with cells and you having a damage reducing shield) I'd consider to go with another path but not a / duo.


Although it may seem like you have defence by using arctic squid/octopus, they spend  quanta to congeal/freeze.  For more cost efficiency I would put in a permafrost shield for a arctic squid. +1 permafrost -1 arctic squid.

Squids are also useful when you have nymphs. You can freeze enemy creatures and poison them with the Nymph's ability. I see the relation here to Nymph but as I stated above, Nymph doesn't allow a comeback a real comeback because you have no possibilities to heal yourself.
You can squeeze in Freezes instead of squids in case you worry about your quanta but then ensure that they are at least 3.

Or you could alternatively replace one of your steals with dusk.

I thought about that and tried it. But quanta is very low already. If you want a shield either replace a steal for it and probably switch some tower with pends with the disadvantage it might take you even longer to gather enough quanta for Nymph tears.

On a side note: There's a modify button on the upper right corner of your post, you can use that next time so you don't have to double post

[SnoWeb]

Did you try to produce part of your using devourers? The issue I found myself confronted with, testing this deck, is the low amount of creatures available when your first nymph is out. With devourers, you'd have good basis for your vampires. Also I always play with a purify when I play water but that's a platinum habit.

[Gandora]

Did you try to produce part of your using devourers? The issue I found myself confronted with, testing this deck, is the low amount of creatures available when your first nymph is out. With devourers, you'd have good basis for your vampires. Also I always play with a purify when I play water but that's a platinum habit.

I did not before you suggested it. The idea is very good but I have yet to find the best amount of it.
I replaced 3 pends for devourer in order to still start with enough quanta.
I wouldn't put 4 as I'd risk that the pends in starting hand are too low to supply anything, especially
when I do not draw the devourers. E.g. I'm there with one pend and 3 steals in hand.

I wouldn't bother with Purify because SoP restores HP and I don't encounter much Poison in PvP1 anyway.


On a side note:
My stats in PvP1 (don't remember how many with devourers and how many with only pends): 8 Wins - 0 Losses  (I don't play PvP often...)

Thank you really much for the advice!

[Farin44]

Apart from the slight quanta strain with the nymph's tears and the water nymph, I think the deck is very nicely balanced with a very good win condition and a good amount of PC. I love it Gandora!

[Gandora]

Bump. I finally updatet a version with devourers.

Apart from the slight quanta strain with the nymph's tears and the water nymph, I think the deck is very nicely balanced with a very good win condition and a good amount of PC. I love it Gandora!

Thanks for the compliment!!

[jsrjohnny]

Nicely done, gandora. Nicely done. I was actually working on something similar to this, a trio, with Liquid Shadow/Adrenaline (through nymphs). But this does far better than what I was attempting, so.

[Gandora]

If anyone is interested, I will start to collect some stats in gold and plat league for an almost upped version of this, with -1 Steal +1 pend.
I'll add the stats to the OP when finished. I'd be glad if someone has time and likes the deck could take some stats as well. It should do fairly well unupped against AI4 (and maybe Bronze?) in case you don't have all the upped cards.
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Nicely done, gandora. Nicely done. Thanks a lot I was actually working on something similar to this, a trio, with Liquid Shadow/Adrenaline (through nymphs). But this does far better than what I was attempting, so.

Is the last element?
If so, I made a deck that gives Adrenaline to antimattered (enemy) creatures for additional healing. But since it's a ragequit deck it doesn't rely on Liquid Shadow.

If not, what was it? I'm curious
Was it to power your liquid shadowed creatures with SoP?

[jsrjohnny]

Lol yeah, it was      , since I have no nymphs of those colors, the  was for Nymph's Tears.

[DeathKnyte]

This is a really fun deck to play around with!

I was scouring this sub-forum for something else I'm working on, and stumbled across this thread by accident. I quickly became intrigued as to the viability, because with a quick glance it looks like it can have a hard time getting started and the draws might be wonky. But after trying it out a bit against Elders (AI3), I thought it showed enough promise to pursue it further.

You mention you haven't tried it much; but it does okay against AI3 - not as well as more established decks, but the fun factor makes up for that.

It's adequate against Half-Bloods (AI4), for anyone wanting something different, or a newer player that would like to learn how to handle nymphs, before venturing into the arena.

In Bronze, it went 40 for 50 games played (80% win rate), during the period from Aug 28th to 29th, 2014. I include the date in the post, because people reading this in the futur may find that the general type of decks there may have changed through later modifications to the game.

What I really like about the deck, is the great amount of versatility, and the possibilities it can bring to the field. Steal, arctic squid, various nymph abilities, opponent permanents (which you should view as potential advantages to you), really makes you think through each move. A position which might look like a loss, can be turned around if one puts a little effort into considering everything and going through some combination possibilities - like during the middle game of chess.

I took some pictures from some of these games, to show what I mean...

Bronze #1:

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Bronze #2:

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Bronze #3:

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Bronze #4:

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Bronze #5:

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Half-Blood #1:

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I am not going to explain each picture, but I chose these in particular because if you study each one, you'll discover that there is a lot going on, or that a lot has gone on, and they show how each game can turn out so differently.

I found AI4 was more fun than Bronze, because there is more versatility in opponent decks (I purposely did not include any pictures of all the mono aethers in the arena).



So then, after experiencing your deck, Gandora, and I suppose the way I have come accustomed to playing it; I find the following (very minor) modification improves things:

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A little bit of diversified quanta in the pool, because if you steel an opponent pillar / pendulum - you can create a nymph from it immediately and use the ability next turn, without having to wait a few turns for it to accumulate before hand. Stealing a pulverizer, lobotomizer, or owl's eye, means you might be able to use its ability also. Or, if desperate, you can always roll the dice and see what type of nymph you get from the quantum pillar itself.


Great work, and as soon as I qualify to do it, I'm giving you a "+" reputation.