Ah, pain, and the enemy. What a wonderful combination! Voodoo dolls are an apt representation of darkness, taking whatever damage that may come their way and firing it right back at the opponent. This effect comes from their namesake passive, voodoo. Any negative status effect or damage to voodoo doll is automatically transferred to your opponent. This leads to a surprisingly large number of effective synergies and combinations. While a 2-cost 0|16 creature may seem useless at first, it soon becomes quite evident that voodoo dolls sacrifice their relatively low attack power for extremely high utility and versatility. Offense: If it hurts, it helps voodoo doll. Anger leads to the Dark side. And what better way to express your rage with a bottle or three of rage potions? Rage potion grants your doll an additional 5(6) attack, turning it into a medium power attacker that is almost impossible to kill. In addition, the damage dealt to the doll has the bonus of doubling as a burst of direct damage. Ever wish your opponent had an infectious disease? Then parasites and bloodsuckers are your go-to cards! Parasites can apply poison counters to dolls, which are then transferred over to your opponent. In addition, the damage the doll takes from being poisoned is also dealt directly afterwards, leading to double the damage for as long as the doll lives. Prefer a colder method of revenge? Shard of Patience will stack two attack and HP on your doll for as long as it is in play, at the cost of delaying it. This not only renders your opponent's weapon useless, but creates a nigh-unkillable high attack creature. Defense: Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. With one application of gravity pull, all of your opponent's creatures will find themselves with a new target. With an ordinary creature, this would be the end of it. But with voodoo doll, not only does this stop all physical damage from enemy creatures, it also redirects any damage inflicted right back towards your opponent, assuming your doll lives to take the strike! On its own, even this isn't very effective; 16 hp doesn't tend to last long under gravity pull. This is where the basilisk blood comes in-- each BB adds a whopping 20 hp to the doll, and as the doll's hp stacks higher and higher, the slimmer the chance of the doll dying before your opponent does. Basilisk blood also has the effect of delaying the doll, and this status effect is transferred to your opponent's weapon, blocking it completely for as long as the doll is delayed. Uses: Defend? Attack? Defend? Attack? Do both! Voodoo Doll's high resistance to creature control means that it's an ideal choice for stallbreaking. Whether it's scaling damage through acceleration, poison, and shard of patience, steady defense through basilisk blood and gravity pull, or even simple direct damage through rage potion, voodoo doll's unique strengths have been found to be useful in decks of that nature. A prominent example of this is the popular FG grinder Voodoo Bravery (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/rainbow-decks/voodoo-bravery-%28fg%29%28arena%29%28fast%29%28focused%29/), which rushes to get out voodoo dolls as fast as possible in order to use them as defense. Then, when the doll's HP is low, it is copied through parallel universe to bring about an unblockable one turn kill. Voodoo doll's synergies enable a good defense while simultaneously not neglecting offense. This makes it a good option for domin decks, which aim to deploy a fairly quick offense like rushes do, but also to be able to eliminate or slow down an opponent's own offense. The popular unupped pvp deck It's a trap! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/rainbow-decks/it's-a-trap!-(unupped-pvp)/) is another example of how voodoo doll can be used to generate a very strong defense that simultaneously encourages a high damage output. |
Fear is the mind-killer. This makes it an ideal choice for dealing with enemies! Mindless enemies are much easier to defeat! Nightmare is one of the only draw denial cards in the game, filling your opponent's hand with copies of a creature on the field. In addition, it drains 2 HP from your opponent per card created and siphons that HP back to you, making it a miniature drain life. This means that nightmare can preform a lot of roles at once-- but it's also a somewhat situational card, as it is generally only packs a big punch the first time it is used. Once a hand is clogged, it usually doesn't become unclogged, so only the first nightmare will have a significant dual-role. The subsequent nightmares will be solely about draw denial. Denial: Stop playing cards! Nightmare synergizes extremely well with other denial cards like silence and earthquake. When used in tandem, they can make a complete mess of your opponent's hand and quanta, often forcing them to discard crucial cards and slowing down their deck significantly, if not stopping it outright. Rewind will return one of your opponent's creatures to their deck, and then nightmare can delay their re-drawing of the card by another turn. Silence will force a player with a full hand to discard a card, and nightmare forces them to have a full hand. Discord and earthquake will reduce an opponent's access to usable quanta, and nightmare can then prevent them from drawing quanta production to alleviate the shortage. Individually, none of these effects will take down an opponent. But when placed together, their efficacy multiplies. Uses: Stop, Drop, and Defeat! Ghostmare (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/duo-decks/ghostmare) is one of the archetypal examples of synergy between denial cards. It stacks draw denial with rewinds and nightmares, creating large periods of time where an opponent is unable to draw cards. In addition, ghosts of the past do damage when discarded, thus making your opponent's hand even more of a mess as they decide between damaging themselves and discarding useful cards, making the draw denial that much more effective. Nightmare chains and rewind spams can be devastating to a player caught off guard, often deciding the game right then and there. Savvier players will hold extra cards in their hands to dilute the power of the nightmare if they recognize the threat, but even this will only do so much against a properly chained nightmare combo. Other Uses: World Domination Nightmare is also a decent splash option in any domin, even without any other denial. In ideal conditions, nightmare will grant one turn of draw denial in addition to a swing of up to 16 hp for 1 quanta cost. Subsequent nightmares will of course be far less potent; however, when put together, these minor nuisances or delays can turn into game-changing ones as the denial and healing buys time to set up your own win conditions. Splashing in a nightmare or three is a strong choice in any domin. Wait, wait, keep playing cards! There are those among us who once walked among the light. But they forswore themselves, haunted by nightmares and empowered by the blessed swords of vampires. We call these fallen warriors...Day Traitors (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trio-quartet/day-traitors-%28ai4%29%28gold%29%28upped%29%28light%29%28darkness%29/). Day Traitors is a special deck that uses nightmare in a unique way, taking advantage of the fact that the AI will play any creature it can afford to. By nightmaring Rays of Light and then playing Solar shield, DT uses nightmare primarily not as a source of denial, but as a source of quanta! As the nightmared rays of light enter play, they will encounter the unassailable solar shield, which in turn generates quanta for the nightmare user! While this facet of the strategy will not work on a savvy pvp player, any elemental foolish enough to play those rays of light will learn an alternative meaning of why the card is called nightmare. |
And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Your enemies will regret looking you in the eye. For you wield the legendary shards of void, artifacts so powerful that they can reduce the maximum vitality of their targets without damaging them! This effect is increased by 50% when used with a mark of Darkness! Excited yet? . . . Well, you aren't alone. This is why shard of void is often referred to as the single most useless and underpowered shard of them all. Without the mark, shard of void is extremely slow. Even stacked, it would take five shards of void to match one unupped dragon-- and you can have multiple dragons in a deck. Even with the appropriate :darkness, SoV will still slow down any deck's attempt at rushing because the max HP reduction and the physical damage will usualy overlap; SoV only causes "damage" when your opponent is already at or close to full health. Thus, SoV tends to lag behind any decent rush attempt when it comes to speed. This forces any deck that uses it to be built around it. The lesson here? All the other elements have overpowered shards. Darkness' shard encourages elemental pride! It's all about the stall...break. What SoV lacks in speed, it makes up for in pure stallbreaking power. Against any deck that relies on defense, shard of void is a nightmare to face; any healing is utterly useless in the face of maximum HP reduction. Drain life and vampire dagger go very well together with SoV in a mono :darkness deck. The vampire dagger helps you to survive while the voids slowly chip away at your opponent. If harried early, drains and siphons can be used in defense by taking out problematic early creatures and healing to stay alive. Otherwise, they can be kept in reserve as you save up quanta for a last-minute killing burst; it's easier to kill a 50 hp deck with bolts than it is to kill 200. It is important to remember that max HP cannot be reduced below 1, so either the dagger or the siphon is absolutely essential to deal the killing blow. Wait, no. It's all about the stall. No, really. Ironically, shard of void's slow pace means that it synergizes very well with other stalling cards. Any deck that uses voids will certainly be slower than any half-decent rush; thus, users will need to pack defensive cards in order to survive against a rush while waiting for the voids to do their job. Shields and creature control will slow down your opponent's offense. Healing will keep you alive long enough to break down your opponent. One particularly noteworthy example of this strategy is in Zen (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/deck-compilations/zen-%28duo-earth-darkness%29%2818-shards%29%28plat-pvp2-fun-grinder%29/). Zen was a deck that used shards of sacrifice and divinity to stall while waiting for shards of void to whittle down the enemy into kill range. Protect Artifacts ensured that the voids did their job, while a siphon and a dirk would lie in wait for that final, killing blow. Unfortunately, Zen's original incarnation is not very effective now as a result of patch changes. However, the spirit of Zen lives on as people continue to try to make stalls strong enough to handle the burden of SoV. Perhaps one day, they'll even succeed. And another thing... Of course, as a shard, SoV has one final use beyond its ostensible role as a situational stallbreaker-- to create vampyric voodoo shard golems (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/rainbow-decks/voodoo-golems-%28shard-golem%29%28quintet%29%28fun%29/)! One shard of void grants a golem the devourer passive ability. Two will grant it the voodoo passive. Three will make your turn one 18|18 attacker heal you! There's not really that much to say here-- play the nova, play the SoI with SoV. Laugh as your turn 1 high attack vampyric golem demolishes your opponent. (http://i.imgur.com/KJZQGcY.png) |
(http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Antimatter.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Bone_Wall.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Grey_Nymph.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Colossal_Dragon.jpg) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Titan.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Steel_Golem.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Basalt_Dragon.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Rage_Potion.jpg) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Purify.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Nymph_Queen.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Light_Dragon.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Guardian_Angel.jpg) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Flying_Weapon.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Nightfall.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Gargoyle.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Voodoo_Doll.jpg) | Liquid Shadow Rarely used in competitive play, Liquid Shadow is in an interesting position - capable of acting as both a powerful buff to your own creatures, and as removal to your enemy's... without particularly excelling at either role. The double-edged sword effect of Liquid Shadow makes it reasonably difficult to use outside of very specific combinations, generally being too harmful to your own creatures to use offensively, and too beneficial to your enemy to use defensively. Within those certain card combinations, however, this little vial of liquid Darkness can really... shine. Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/duo-decks/shining-vampires/ Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-final-battle-results/(9th-trial-of-gravity)-ginyu-5-0-montrossen/ Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/duo-decks/unupped-fg-farmer!-liquid-antimatter-1-28/ Offensively, Liquid Shadow is used to give your friendly creatures the Vampire Ability, stealing your opponent's life with every hit, with the drawback of adding a poison counter to their own health. The impact of this drawback is nullified on creatures with large amounts of health, such as Massive Dragons, Steel Golems, Basalt Dragons and, with additional in-element synergy, Light Dragons. Archangels in Light provide fantastic support for your vampiric dragons, topping up their health as they take gradual poison damage. In-element Gargoyles are solid candidates for the vampire buff thanks to their defensive ability, Stone Skin, but Earth quanta will be required to activate this. Thanks to their absolutely colossal health pools, Flying Titans also make for excellent Liquid Shadow targets - contrary to Liquid Shadow's card text, applying the buff will NOT remove an animated Titan's innate Momentum. Liquid Shadow can also be applied directly to a friendly Voodoo Doll - while they have no attack value out of the box, their tanky HP pools allow them to freely be aided by cards such as Rage Elixir, and buffed even further by Eclipse to make a significant impact against the enemy. By their nature, poisoned Voodoo Dolls will also apply a small amount of poison damage directly to the opponent, and hurt them even further with every tick of damage the doll takes. While it can be argued that there are better uses for Purify, this card will purge all poison counters from the target, allowing it to keep the beneficial Vampire ability without suffering from the poison. Applying Liquid Shadow to a creature that already has two Purify counters on it will only remove one, allowing the creature to keep healing itself at a rate of 1HP per turn. This can be useful to note for Nymph Queen rushes, a strategy which already shares considerable synergy with Darkness. Defensively, Liquid Shadow finds synergy in one of Darkness' favourite partner elements, Death. Bone Wall allows Liquid Shadow to be used on enemy creatures more readily, poisoning them but blocking their attacks, preventing the opponent from stealing any health with the Vampire ability. This strategy provides an extremely difficult scenario for Fire elementals to play around - with a Bone Wall up, Lava Destroyers and Seraphs will do no damage, and die to the single point of Liquid Shadow poisoning. Even more critically, the notoriously resilient and ever-popular Phoenix will die immediately to this strategy - since Liquid Shadow also removes the active ability of the creature it is applied to, Phoenixes will not turn to Ash when they die, and will not be able to be resurrected. Tanky in-element Grey Nymphs provide a strong offensive target for Liquid Shadow once the opponent's forces have been dealt with. Antimatter also works incredibly well with Liquid Shadow when used on opposing creatures - before an AI programming change, this synergy made for a very popular anti-False God deck. Applying the Liquid Antimatter combo to an enemy creature heals you, while simultaneously damaging the opponent, giving two potential win conditions - through damage, or through deckout. |
Cloak | Improved Cloak Cloak provides a mechanic unlike any other in the game - complete field invisibility. Generally considered quite underwhelming for its cost and its relatively short duration, Cloak doesn't see much competitive use either, but can also work very effectively in combination with a few key cards. Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/duo-decks/you-can't-see-it!-(darkness)(air)(fun)/ http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-final-battle-results/(9th-trial-of-water)-ddevans96-5-4-jonathancrazyj/ Cloak does its best work when it's used to protect "glass cannons" - creatures and permanents that are typically fragile, expensive, high-priority targets, which can change the course of a game if they can survive on the field for as little as a single turn. A single Purple Nymph, Otyugh, Amber Nymph, Shard of Focus or Arctic Squid being allowed to use its ability once can mean the difference between winning and losing a game - either permanently crippling a player's attacking force, or beginning a chain of control that can't be broken out of. Cards that can have an instant impact on the field, but have the majority of their game influence over a couple of turns, such as Blue Nymph, also benefit heavily from Cloak's protection. While an unupgraded Blue Nymph being protected from creature control for a single turn (by a Silence, or a temporary quanta lock from a Black Hole, for example) attacks twice and produces a single Unstable Gas for a total output of 32 damage, three turns of protection under Cloak allows the Nymph to hit four times and produce 3 Unstable Gases, for a whopping output of 84 damage. With support from either Vampire Dagger or Owl's Eye, that's a 100-0 for your opponent within the duration of a single Cloak. Despite being a potential target of permanent control itself, Cloak also helps to protect useful permanents such as Shard of Patience and Eternity. Against the threat of Deflagrations or Steals, the extra layer of protection on top of these key permanents can be crucial for maintaining board control, or squeezing out that extra bit of damage to take the victory. Unfortunately... several hard counters to Cloak exist in the game, and even more unfortunate is the fact that these particular cards already see considerable competitive use. (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Pandemonium.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Plague.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Rain_Fire.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Desiccation.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Thunderstorm.jpg) All five of these cards have a specifically-stated secondary function in their card text - "Removes invisibility." Cloak will be destroyed, regardless of how many turn counters remain, and all creatures underneath will take damage normally. Interestingly, the upgraded Lightning Storm contains the card text, wheres the unupgraded Thunderstorm does not - both versions of the card will destroy Cloak, regardless of the difference in card text. | (http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Purple_Nymph.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Elite_Otyugh.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Amber_Nymph.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Shard_Focus.jpg) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Arctic_Squid.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Shard_Patience.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Blue_Nymph.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Eternity.jpg) |
(http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://i.imgur.com/SxG1KRl.png) (http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Bone_Wall.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Grey_Nymph.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Nightfall.jpg)(http://elementscommunity.org/images/Art/Voodoo_Doll.jpg) | Parasite | Bloodsucker Parasite's stats aren't much to look at, falling flat against comparable low-cost creatures such as Horned Frog and Lycanthrope, and its Infection ability seems mediocre compared to other repeatable-CC creatures such as Arctic Squid and Iridium Warden, but... recent experimentation into its interactions a handful of key cards have made it quickly climb the ranks as one of my favourite Darkness cards to build with. Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/round-6-171/(darkness)-lt-cccombobreaker-3-2-(time)-gen-playeroa/msg1111827/#msg1111827 Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-final-battle-results/stop-making-me-do-more-work-dammit/12/ Parasite's options are unfortunately limited by its dual-element cost, essentially forcing it to be used in a deck with Death to make use of its ability. Death, however, does present some incredibly strong cards which pair very well with Parasite - the most important of which is Bone Wall. Once Bone Wall lands on the field, any creatures afflicted with poison from a Parasite's Infection will quickly find themselves turning into more bone shields. Players should carefully time their usage of both of these cards so that none of those precious death effects are wasted - it's often worth holding your Bone Wall in hand and taking the direct damage from an Infected creature, then playing it just before the creature dies, in order to maximize your bone shield charges against the rest of the opponent's forces. Parasite's strongest in-element synergies are with Voodoo Doll, and with Eclipse. As discussed earlier, a Parasite applying Infection counters to a friendly Voodoo Doll will stack poison directly onto the enemy's health bar, and also cause additional damage every time the doll takes damage from the poison. This provides the little bugs with an excellent alternative damage source, allowing them to stack poison on the enemy when there are no creatures to take care of. When used in a Death duo, the powerful Grey Nymph is able to play a similar role - controlling the enemy field with fast-acting Aflatoxin, throwing more poison counters onto the enemy via a friendly Voodoo Doll, and also laying down a considerable physical beating herself. Eclipse fits beautifully into this combination, buffing both Darkness and Death creatures - in fact, with Eclipse on the field, Parasite and Bloodsucker respectively become first equal with Horned Frog and Giant Frog as the creatures with the highest attack:cost ratio in the game. (3:2 for Parasite and Horned Frog, 5:2 for Bloodsucker and Giant Frog.) Eclipse also buffs Grey Nymphs, or any other Death creatures you may also be using, such as Flesh Recluses or Mummies. |
+ | The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web. --Edwin Way Teale In specific meta - that is limited card choice for yourself and/or the opponent - a narrow strategy can be leveraged for your gain! Let us consider the case of the Flesh Recluse [unupgraded: Flesh Spider] where the former is a power play at 6 ATK for 3 quanta and the latter is situational. In-depth discussion of the Spider is excluded here with the general premise of being useful in the non-power-only instances of the Recluse's best uses. With Fractal Fractal is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, combinations with Flesh Recluse. The 6-copy limit of any non-pillar non-pendulum card per deck puts a practical cap on how much power you can pack using Flesh Recluses. However, add Aether quanta and Fractal and the power cap is nearly eliminated! The Recluse's 6 attack for 3 quanta ratio of 2-to-1 is tied for 2nd best in the game (Giant Frog of Life is 2.5-to-1) and in many ways surpasses the other 2-for-1 options.
A Fracluse deck (the more proper name for the Flesh Recluse + Fractal combination -- you can probably imagine another way to combine the card names) might look something like this (variations might be proper given various upgrade limiting, elemental composition, and similar deckbuilding restrictions): Fracluse for Mastering the Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as playing a shield or Fractal, playing or holding early-drawn Recluse(s), etc. With Wings Applies to Recluse or Spider Wings is a very strong shield hailing from the Air element. Given Elements' somewhat limited creature card pool, in comparison with most other card games such as Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering, and the rarity of "flying creatures and ranged weapons" the Wings shield is a strong defensive play of its own accord. The Flesh Recluse's active ability ":air :web" which removes airborne aspects of the target (i.e. - ranged (flown Owl's Eyes) and flying (dragons, etc)) creature has two opportunities for application. The least useful and rarely practical application would be to bring a creature into the "damage dealt" situation for Warden's 'guard' ability. The more frequently implemented and practical application is to increase the effectiveness of Wings. When building a deck to combine Recluse and Wings consideration must be given to available information about the expected encounter or duel/match. Recluse Wings for Mastering the Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as more/less hard/soft-CC, more dragons if Steal (or opposing Wings!) or shield-bypass (Poison) if Steal or a strong opposing shield are expected, etc. With Shard of Bravery Shard of Bravery is all about temporary card advantage. Cheap efficient hitters like Flesh Recluse are a great way to leverage such temporary card advantage. Let's indulge in the rush-heavy fully upgraded realm of Elements, shall we? Here is a place that speed trumps all but not heavily enough to completely eliminate consideration of flexibility and nimbleness. Flesh Recluse being a Death creature opens up the possibility of using the Recluse for fast hard-hitting and in-element shield-bypass of Deadly Poison. Combine with a quanta-sync like a Dragon or two and the stall-breaking-over-time ability of Arsenic and you have flexibility and nimbleness present with speed available with the addition of Shards of Bravery. A deck combining Recluse and Bravery frequently plays like an old Street Fighter match -- mash the buttons and spam what you get as fast as possible! However, a skilled player will be able to find the intricacies of balancing speed and card advantage of the nature that Shard of Bravery brings enjoyable alongside the thrill of 5 turn wins. Arachno-Courage for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as when to Shard and when not to Shard, choosing Recluse or Poison plays, etc. |
+ | Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze. --Horace Bone Wall (BW) is a unique shield card with interaction of the game board events (defense counter increases with death effects), effectiveness of blocking (non-bypass attacks are each entirely blocked - it is not damage reduction nor chance-to-block dependent), and built-in resistance to Permanent Control (PC) (Deflagration and Steal affect only a single counter). Also, BW's resistance to PC is a boost against many rushes that might pack just a few copies of Steal/Deflag or heavier control decks employing Pulverizer or Shard of Focus/Butterfly Effect. With Fire Bolt The power of combining BW with CC could not be farther from an original concept. Avoiding the mainstream and more well-known Bonebolt (BW+Lightning), Pandebonium (BW+Pandemonium), and Cat Walls (BW+Schrodinger's Cat -- albeit this is less common or well-known than the previous two) let us consider the concept from a more flexible and stall-breaking view...(http://i.imgur.com/a0Rw4zM.gif?1)! <Root-nod> Bolt gives additional flexibility, similar to Lightning in Bonebolt but with scaling damage output, with variable use as CC that kills and stacks BW counters or direct damage to the opponent to break an opposing stall. A deck with Fire Bolt and BW could win by deckout {rare}(kill opposing creature damage threats but face healing > poison) or dealing damage reducing opponent to 0 HP (Poison attrition and/or Fire Bolt to face). This would be using BW as long-term defense (building counters through CC) or ability to use BW as basic defense (slow the opposing control deck's damage to allow Fire Bolt to break the opponent). Fire Wall for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as bolt calculations, using or saving Deflagration, replacing Fire Bolt with Rage Potion/Elixir, etc. With Cremation Cremation (upgraded version of Immolation) is a guaranteed death effect if it is played - death effects synergize with BW! Typically, Cremation is employed alongside powerful Fire-centric rushes (ex: common Crema-rushes) or as instant-infusions of Fire quanta (ex: Unstable Gas spam). It also can be combined with BW to take advantage of the wall-bonus that deaths give to the shield. As with Arachno-Courage, above, upgrades greatly enhance the rushing style of this deck so here we build it completely upgraded: The Counter Mod for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as discard priority in case of poor draw, baiting CC, etc. With Schrödinger's Cat Among the many ways of building decks with BW and the many ways of building decks with Schrödinger's Cat, some upgraded and some unupgraded, some more stall and some more rush, and so on. Here we will focus on integrating Schrödinger's Cat with our be-loved Bone Wall! This is an opportunity to show off the speedy and versatile power of a deck like this - Bone Wall is great defense and when combined here with Soul Catcher provide 2 layers of deterant of opposing CC. The versatility of Death and Entropy duos is touched on here as one could sub Anitmatter for Discords if expecting shield-bypass (Chargers?) or splash Butterfly Effect when you just _know_ a Dim-chain is headed your way. Also, for more firepower the Discords can be removed in favor of our features card above, Flesh Recluses. :) Cat Wall for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as specific support card choices, CC baiting, etc. |
+ | Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague. --William Safire Plague is a seldom used (competitively, at least) CC spell for Death. In the style of Death element, it kills but not instantly (think Retrovirus but a spell... or vice versa). Staying in line with many cards within Death it adheres strongly to the death-effect theme that runs through the Element. The most effective use of Plague, when it is used, combines it with other cards that stall or benefit/boost from death effects. With Sanctuary / Miracle For example, combining Plague and a few other Death control cards one can create a fairly feasible stall. The healing from Sanctuary and Miracle provides the time for Plague to do its CC thing (delayed fashion as it is). Death's nymph (Grey Nymph) is somewhat useful here too as you can fill the board with cells if you are not facing any PC such that your Skull Shield is safe - the 1|1 Malignant Cells cannot penetrate the shield. In this example deck I have also included some other supporting cards like Retrovirus (CC and death effect) and Shard of Divinity (increases healing capacity). White Plague for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as varied upgrade quantities, alchemy card(s) or Nymph(s), etc. [color=lime green]With Shard of Gratitude / Heal[/color] This is similar to the White Plague, above, however a few key differences can be noted and discussed. 1. Shard of Gratitude (SoG), given the deck's Life Mark, heals for 5 HP which is 1 greater than Sanctuary. 2. SoG is -1 cost to play. 3. SoG does NOT provide quanta protection. 4. Heal is less expensive than Miracle. 5. Heal is capped to +20 HP compared to Miracle "total HP minus 1". 6. Spine Carapace is a more active and aggressive AoE shield than Skull Shield. 7. Spine Carapace is a more expensive shield but it does allow for 'less other CC' to be required to control spam decks like NT, Scarabs, and some of the high HP Gravity and Earth attackers. Plagued by Gratitude for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as which cards are optimal to upgrade, how many Nymph(s) or alchemy card(s) to use, and choice of shield as Carapace or Skull or *both*!?, etc. Elite Otyugh Elite Otyugh is a creature - this is an attempt to illustrate a way to use Plague in a non-stall deck. Plague can be used to assist in bringing larger creatures into Oty's devouring range and to improve chances Skull activates (Sidenote: Skull Shield's chance to activate/Skeleton-ize is %chance=100*(1/(2*[creature's HP])) i.e. - Phoenix is 1 HP so chance% = 100 * (1 / (2 * 1)) = 50%)[size]. The struggle with type of approach to implementing Plague is that the offense in this deck a bit slow - Poison is hard to stop but Oty grows from 0 ATK initially - and it lacks any sort of healing. Hungry Plagues for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as deciding when it is best to Gravity Pull your own creature, when to devour and when to let Skull Shield block, whether to devour cells or let them fill opponents' board, etc. |
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Firefly | I had originally intended to use this deck in Trenzalore, though I never really had the opportunity due to other options seeming more appealing to me. Though incredibly simple, the beauty of this deck is effectively based on two different components. Firstly is the synergy of Adrenaline with Fireflies, a 3 attack creature which uses Adrenaline to attack four times for a total of 12 damage while also producing 4 Light quanta. The 15 Pend setup in this deck allows for Firefly Queens to be played as early as turn 3 relatively often, which also generally means that a Firefly can be expected to spawn on turn 4, with Hope being played as early as turn 6. The deck can also be reconfigured to cut down on other cards such as Hope and Adrenaline in exchange for Miracles. The second beautiful synergy with Adrenaline here is the interaction between FFQ and Adrenaline. Naturally Adrenaline doesn't do anything for FFQ's ability since it can only be used once per turn, but FFQ's respectable HP stat in conjunction with the magical 3 attack stat gives yet another 9 total damage increase with a creature that is significantly harder to remove from the field. This strategy also works well in full-offense by substituting Hope for Shards of Freedom. | Firefly Queen |
Ray of Light | I had actually submitted this deck as a Half-Blood grinder during the Proving of Worthiness Phase of Trials 6 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-archive/6th-trials-proving-your-worthiness-(submission-topic)/msg1002696/#msg1002696). I go into much more detail of the deck's function there, but basically the purpose of Epinephrine in this deck is to firstly get the deck up to speed by generating massive amounts of Light quanta early on in the game. Once setup has been achieved, it can then be used on Crusaders to mass produce healing for the remainder of the duel. Naturally similar tactics can be used with Luciferin but are much slower and more vulnerable to CC, since many of them also rely on Hope for defensive support. Losing a Ray of Light in this case is not the end of the world since in most cases the quanta has already been mass generated by the time the Ray of Light is recognized as a threat, which opens the gateway for Crusaders to come in and do their thing(s). | Luciferin |
Devourer | I was somewhat surprised to find that a more refined deck featuring this combination of cards had not yet been posted to the forums (from what I could find), though I suppose it does make sense when considering the fact that Mitosis in most scenarios is much more beneficial when used with Pests. Epinephrine in this case can be used to increase the amount of quanta absorbed per turn (only from 1 to 2, however) but because Pests start with 0 attack, they require Eclipse as support in order to be able to do serious damage with Epinephrine, which then increases their damage output from 2 to 8. With Green Nymphs in place of Epinephrine, this deck likely becomes much more deadly. | Pest |
Druidic Staff | Quite possibly the most infamous usage of Adrenaline in modern PvP environments, Adrenastaves is one of the few "mono" Life decks that can be expected to receive a great deal of competitive play. Not only do Druidic Staves typically remove Life's typical weakness to creature control with their sizable amounts of HP, but the 20 HP generated by the staves allows the deck to shrug off damage from many rushes and its rapid damage output can also give it some bite against slower decks as well. The 2 attack leads to problems against shields when decking out or OTK strategies become an option, which is why most variants of Adrenastaves will also incorporate cards such as Thorn Carapace, Green Nymphs, and Shard of Freedom into the mix. In environments where more upgrades are permissible, it also becomes possible to swap out Flying for Animate Weapons while also adding Explosions or Deflagrations for permanent control. Monks is a deck name coined by former Life veteran ak65ala which represents almost any deck which makes use of Crusaders, flying Jade Staves, and Adrenaline. In fact, he actually posted a variant during Trials #4 for use against the Arena (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trio-quartet/monks-vs-arena/msg400212/#msg400212). Though the function of this deck is very similar to Adrenastaves, the addition of Crusaders gives the deck more of a bite versus decks with Shields while also giving the player access to yet more healing. Unfortunately upgrading Druidic Staves does come with the cost of decreasing the HP healed per turn from 20 to 15, but in Monks's case, this is mitigated by the addition of 6 Crusaders providing 15 HP of healing as well in addition to the Crusaders serving as magnificent Epinephrine targets both when Endowing the Jade Staves and when not Endowing them. Because Crusaders hit a total Attack stat of 7 when Endowing Jade Staves, this allows them to hit what is considered to be yet another magical number of Adrenaline/Epinephrine, which effectively gives them a total damage output of 15 instead of 7. | Jade Staff |
Forest Scorpion | A deck used by myself during the final battle phase of Trials 6 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-final-battle-results/(6th-trials-life-final)-helston-2-5-willng3/), it boasts a great deal of speed as well as shield bypass, which is oftentimes something that Life struggles with. Scorpions in this case not only make excellent targets of Epinephrine but also allow additional damage to take place even if they are removed from the field, in the form of poison. Though Epinephrine unfortunately only increases the poison inflicted per Scorpion from 1 to 2, it still offers a potential solution to massive amounts of CC if played early enough in the duel. Used by Team Water during the previous War, this deck offers the same type of offensive advantages of Scorpions in the previous deck with the exception of the shield bypass given by Momentum. However, in exchange for this, this particular model also features additional Adrenaline synergy with Adrenastaves, which allows the deck to stall long enough for Puffer Fish damage to come into play. Nymph's Tears also help to provide additional support by spawning Green Nymphs in the absence of Adrenaline. Puffer Fish's higher HP stat also helps to avoid CC more so than Scorpions. | Puffer Fish |
Minor Vampire | AdrenaVamps is a tricky deck to use simply because the fragility of Minor Vampires requires that Cloaks be used as protection from CC or else the deck will practically automatically lose. It also becomes much more potent when Nightfall is on the field and Minor Vampires are able to deal and heal 12 damage at a time, but we run into an issue at that point of having to pick and choose what cards need to be removed from the deck in order to draw Nightfall reliably, which is a problem that I commonly find when creating duos with Darkness. Regardless, if the pieces necessary for the combo to work are drawn, it may become quite difficult for the opponent to recover in time. | Cloak |
Damselfly | In this deck, yet again used by myself in Trials 6 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-final-battle-results/(6th-trials-life-final)-helston-2-5-willng3/msg1016621/#msg1016621), we see two of my favorite combinations to use with Epinephrine: Damselflies and Elite Queens. Though I've already alluded to my reasons for loving the Elite Queen combination, Damselflies are a bit of a new addition that can be seen to serve a similar purpose to Ray of Light. However, I personally prefer to think of Damselflies as both vital quanta producers and great damage dealers. 8 total damage while generating 4 Air quanta per turn for the low cost of 3 Life quanta is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and it also helps alleviate this type of deck's dependence on Pendulums in order to fuel the quanta needed to play Elite Queens, Blue Nymphs, etc. And the best part of a strategy like this is that because it can setup so quickly, simply getting rid of a Damselfly isn't necessarily enough to repair the damage that it has already inflicted; by that point, the Queens will have likely become a much larger threat. Gnomes serve a similar purpose in Earth duos but instead usually opt for slower paced deck builds which may or may not incorporate Stone Skin and the like into the works. | Gnome Gemfinder |
Horned Frog | Commonly seen as the staple deck of Life's arsenal, this standard Mono Life rush ignores all forms of caution and instead focuses on pure, wholesome damage output. Horned Frog becomes the best target for Adrenaline in almost all scenarios, granting a total magical 9 damage boost. Cockatrice may also be selected for their additional bulk or due to lack of Horned Frogs at the time. With access to Green Nymphs, it becomes possible to construct a more durable version of the standard Mono Life rush while also removing some of the reliance on drawing Adrenaline in order to keep up the deck's damage output. As if this weren't enough, Green Nymphs also serve as an even better Adrenaline target than Horned Frogs and are self-sufficient. The revisions made here still offer next to nothing for bypassing certain shields but it certainly does help alleviate some of the deck's weakness to CC. | Green Nymph |
Phoenix | This deck features two creatures which resilient to CC, Green Nymphs and Phoenix. As previously mentioned, though Adrenaline does work well on Phoenix as its 7 Attack yields an ideal damage boost of 8 points, because the effect is lost every time the Phoenix dies and is then Rebirth'd, it is more desirable to use Phoenix in conjunction with Green Nymphs who can otherwise reapply the Adrenaline every time that it is removed. Phoenix are notably hard to remove from the field as they effectively require 2 sources of CC to be used in order to remove for good, excluding some cases such as Liquid Shadow or Overdrive. | Green Nymph |
Titan | AdrenaTitans is a deck which has been used by Team Life in many, many Wars up to this point. Though it is not the most consistent or reliable deck, its ability to shrug off almost all forms of CC while also being able to ignore shields is something that can be quite useful to Life's other cards, especially when considering that in either its upped or unupped form, Titan is an ideal target for Adrenaline usage. In addition, its high HP stat makes it a suitable target for Gravity Pull in the event that the match becomes of a rush versus rush type of mirror match. Massive Dragon can be used to similar effect but while it is more consistent to play, it obviously comes at the price of lacking Momentum and of being much more expensive to play. | Massive Dragon |
Graboid | This deck was constructed by War 2's Team Life mainly as a means to get in on the Grabbow action, since it seemed like everyone and their mother was using it at the time. The interesting thing is that this Grabbow actually has some good in-element synergy by utilizing the fact that Shriekers are AWESOME Adrenaline targets. It also helps eliminate some of Life's CC weakness by enabling the player to keep their Graboids unevolved until an opportunity arises that makes such a play nearly risk free. | Shrieker |
Archangel | I'm pretty sure I used this during Trials at some point but I can't recall when that would have been or who it would have been used against. Probably during Master's Tourney. Anyways, this deck utilizes Archangel's ability to self-heal and combines it with yet another 7 Attack Epinephrine sweet spot. As an added bonus, this tactic also allows the user to fall back on Improved Miracle for healing support in the event that rushing doesn't go as planned. This also makes decking out the opponent more of a possibility. | Improved Miracle |
Elite Charger | Bringing this deck back for a second to emphasize the Chargers aspect a bit more. While it's true that Epinephrine can be used on Scorpions to good effect, it is also equally true that it has fantastic merit on Chargers, increasing their total damage to 15 per turn with a shield bypass ability. Additionally, Chargers can soak up a bit more damage and can escape the kill range of a good number of CC. If Unstoppable is used on a Charger, then this increases its total damage to 17 per turn with Epinephrine while allowing the Charger to escape even more CC. | Unstoppable |
Devourer | Another deck featured in the most recent War (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/round-3-248/(life-tinkerer)-willng3-3-0-(aether-gen)-zawadx/msg1210564/#msg1210564), Devtosis differs from its Adrenaline variant(s) by primarily focusing on swarming the field with Devourers, completely draining the opponent's available quanta, and using Bonds in combination with the large amounts of creatures on the field to keep any creatures that are played before the lockdown occurs from depleting the player's HP. By far the best part of the Devourer + Mitosis combination is the fact that because Devourer's ability to drain quanta is Passive, Mitosis can be played on it without removing its quanta draining capabilities. Though Cloak can be used for extra protection in this scenario, it may not be necessary, especially if the Devourers are upgraded into Pests. Because this deck is quite passive, Black Dragons are viable options considering that the player has ample time to build up quanta until the Dragons can be played without fear of CC. Drain Life can also be used in this scenario, though Black Dragons usually are more effective with Mitosis. | Black Dragon |
Ray of Light | Revisiting this deck yet again to more closely inspect the synergy it uses involving Mitosis. With Mitosis, the Rays of Light in this deck can avoid certain death by having one RoL continually spawn more and more RoL to the field unless stopped. This allows the deck to take advantage of great synergy with Hope in the meantime. This combination could also incorporate the use of Feral Bonds but truthfully such a tactic is not needed with the defensive capabilities that this deck already provides. | Hope |
Vanadium Warden | For this next deck, we see a full-blown stall which utilizes the delay capabilities of Wardens in order to keep damage off of the player for the rest of the game with the help of Mitosis. Vanadium Warden's 6HP allows it to absorb enough CC to allow it to spawn more of itself, which continually adds to the ability to delay creatures on the opponent's side of the field. But it is obviously impractical to continue to have to do this for the entirety of the game, which is where Thorn Carapace comes into play. The player simply needs to allow an opposing creature to become infected with one counter before using Wardens to seal it off until it dies from the poison damage. Empathic Bonds are also certainly viable in place of Heals, but may not provide enough healing to survive in the early to mid-game. | Thorn Carapace |
Giant Frog | And of course one of the simplest tactics to use with Mitosis is to just rush like hell using low cost creatures from one element. As can be expected, this deck utterly fails against decks utilizing Dimensional Shields, Wings, or copious amounts of creature control, but can be utterly devastating otherwise. As opposed to the standard Mono Life rush, simply dealing with one creature in this case isn't always enough to end the swarm of creatures breathing down at your HP bar and the creatures can spawn fast enough here to where that possibility is very, very real. | Elite Cockatrice |
Crusader | And once again we find ourselves returning to look at the synergies involved in this deck, this time more closely inspecting the strategies involved between Crusaders and Mitosis. While sometimes it is perfectly viable to wait to spawn more and more RoL in order to guard your HP using Hope, having extra HP early on in the event of unexpected rushing is never a bad idea. To account for this, we have Crusaders providing the bulk of the extra healing in conjunction with Jade Staff. But sometimes it's not enough to have a few Crusaders scattered about and there are also other times where Epinephrine needs to be used on Rays of Light over Crusaders to avoid quanta starvation. Therefore in these circumstances it may be best to start spawning more Crusaders using Mitosis in order to continually Endow Jade Staves and continually raise the player's HP. Upgraded Crusader may be within Lightning range at first, but once it Endows a weapon it becomes a very good target of Mitosis by absorbing more than 1 form of CC under most circumstances. | Jade Staff |
Steel Golem | Rather than explain what amazing synergy is applicable for this deck, it's probably best to point out that this style of deck can be used for nearly any creature with similar stats and cost. Other examples may include Abyss Crawlers, Archangels, and Elite Chargers. In most cases these decks will find themselves slowing down the opponent's offense while gathering up resources to swarm the field with the creatures of choice. | Archangel |
Emerald Dragon | Sometimes it's best to forgo complex strategies and just go for a deck which is a literal one trick pony. In this deck, the fact that Emerald/Jade Dragons have an abnormally large amount of HP (with respect to the other dragons) is used in order to continuously generate absurd amounts of quanta to generate as many Dragons as possible. They won't be easy to defeat and they can swarm the field unexpectedly fast. A Chimera can also be worked in with a Gravity mark and Emerald Pillars as a form of shield bypass, as otherwise this deck struggles versus Dimensional Shields. However, the deck will find itself unable to handle the speed of almost all pure rushes. | Jade Dragon |
Nova | This deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trio-quartet/fun-pillarless-speed-deck-'the-creation-of-life'/) makes good use of the fact that Rustlers can be played quickly and easily at the start of most games using one Nova in order to attempt to swarm the field with Emerald Dragons, with the additional assistance of Adrenaline'd Fireflies. Similar strategies that utilize Rays of Light can be used to similar effect by mass producing Light quanta to prepare the way for a Rustler to convert that quanta shortly thereafter. These tactics can work when not expected simply because some opponents may target down an Adrenaline'd Firefly or Ray of Light, thinking they are a bigger threat than the Rustler hiding in the player's hand, if the opponent even has enough time to draw and play that CC to begin with. Rustlers can less commonly also be used in Life-based Grabbows, where they can be used in instances of quanta deficits (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/round-5-250/(life-lt-)-willng3-3-1-(darkness-tinkerer)-rapidstar_/) in order to allow for low-cost Life cards to be played quickly and easily using quanta that is otherwise usually unused while also dealing a bit of chip damage. | Firefly |
Immolation | On the subject of fodder, another Nova-based tactic is to use Rustlers as targets for Fallen Druids in order to potentially generate absurdly powerful mutants for absurdly low costs. In this scenario Rustlers can also be used as decoys to prevent the Druids from being sniped with CC early in the game. In both of the latter deck examples, the fact that Rustlers are quickly removed from the field at a time of the player's choosing circumvents their CC weakness, though it also may remove the potential benefit of using its ability as well. | Fallen Druid |
It draws power from the lands, and it summons the Nymphs fanatical;I mean, there are decks out there that seeks to conjure Blue Nymphs and their vicious Unstable Gas, Golden Nymphs and their enlightening Precognition, even Black and Purple Nymphs and their devious combination of Liquid Shadow and Antimatter, amongst others.
From the Amber to Turquoise, in order categorical. (http://elementscommunity.org/chat/skin/smilies/sillyspin.gif)