Pharaohs Gratitude

[TheForbiddenOracle]

If you have a Time Nymph can you replace some cards for it, and if so which ones?

[Xinef]

Electrum Hourglasses and Precognitions. All the other cards are too vital to be replaced. You can for example replace 1 hourglass with a Time Nymph and add a Time Tower, so that you can make up for the increased QI.

[Daytripper]

Didn't see the thread until after I made my own version. I do not understand why it is so big. (Mine is 33/34 cards) The eternity/shield/sog combo is good enough. You cannot deck out with eternity anyway and the chances are slim. If you fill the board with scarabs last ten turns you are ok.

I had stolen an idea from the scorpion deck. One animated eternity and one perma is a double knockout. (I know it's not technically a mono, but it's good.) There's also less risk of losing them both. If you really deck out, start rewinding some scarabs. I do not think the time consumption is a problem. You only need 3 pharaos in the field. If they get hit badly, rewind them. It is not bad to have 5 or 6 pharaohs in the deck, after all what else to put in the deck anyway?

 

[Xinef]

I guess the main reason to have 40 cards were the hourglasses. With a 30 card deck, there's little reason to have hourglasses, since you have to stop drawing extra cards quite early. Whether due to already being at 0 cards and having to rewind your scarabs, or due to being at ~10 cards left against an opponent who can blow up your Eternity.

With 40 cards you can add a few hourglasses and still have some fun drawing cards before you have to stop. And, even if opponent blows up your Eternity before destroying your Hourglasses, at least he destroys Hourglasses before shields/SoGs, so generally a 40 card build with hourglasses should be better against decks with some PC than a 30 card deck without Hourglasses.

In other words, it entirely depends on your opponents. I didn't design Pharaohs Gratitude with a particular AI level in mind. I designed it because some-trials-long-ago required me to design a unique mono deck. And I designed it with mostly fun in mind, so I tried it against both AI3, top50, AI5 and FGs. And I tweaked it with all these in mind, so that the deck would even stand a chance against some FGs.

Of course if you plan on using the deck against eg. AI3, you can drop Hourglasses and some defenses and make it a 30 card deck. Against AI5 you could drop Hourglasses and make it a bit smaller, like the 33/34 cards you suggested. They rarely have PC anyway. I don't really remember how it worked against top50, but that environment changes quite often, so you have to make other tweaks depending on these changes.

As for the Animate Weapon, it is a great addition. Indeed, if this deck wasn't required to be mono, one Animate Weapon would probably be there. Though, on the other hand, in my half-Time half-rainbow anti-FG deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,4958.0.html) I'm not using AW because it is too often a dead draw. It's only useful in late game, while I would need more defensive cards early. And most FGs have enough CC to kill a flying Eternity unless it is quinted anyway. Against AI5 you have more Time to set up, so it's different.

[Daytripper]

Makes sense. Though I do use 3 hourglasses in the 33 card version. You kind of NEED the eternity, the shield and some SOG's to be safe. You don't need to draw very many, just until you're halfway through the deck.

I figured you had some reason to make it a mono. Otherwise it is really good up to AI5. For the top 50, maybe it is a bit slow. Sometimes I've drawn most cards before I start planting the pharaohs  You don't want to be looking at ice shield and SOG's by then. 

[eevee44]

what about if ur opponent pulls out a gravity shield late-game. I've got so many scarabs i cant reverse the out in time

[omegareaper7]

what about if ur opponent pulls out a gravity shield late-game. I've got so many scarabs i cant reverse the out in time

Almost no one uses gravity shields in pvp. So there is really not much a problem there.

[Xinef]

what about if ur opponent pulls out a gravity shield late-game. I've got so many scarabs i cant reverse the out in time

1. You can add momentum or acceleration or a catapult or even a chimera. All offer a way to get through gravity shields, although acceleration needs time to lower your scarab's hp, while catapult and chimera are slightly expensive for a mark powered card and aren't so useful early on.

2. The deck is very old, I think it might be even from before pendulums were added, but anyway the SoG nerf definitely weakens this deck a lot. Instead of using the deck as it is, I'd advice you to design variations like using sanctuaries and SoRs instead of gravity and SoGs, or maybe having a mark of Time and some gravity/light pendulums, so that you can devour and play sanctuaries, while still having enough quanta to use eg. a catapult. You'll have to try tweaking it by yourself.