ETG POWER 9 (TOP9)

[propheon]

im very surprised by that list d2d, thx for posting nice info there.

[dragonsdemesne]

I'm not sure how to order my top 9, but I'd go with... (ordered simply by element; I'm not sure how I'd rank them from 1-9)
 
Nova
Discord
Shard of Sacrifice
Shard of Focus
Earthquake
Shard of Patience
Miracle
Golden Hourglass
Fractal

Amber Nymph, Black hole, pulverizer, golden nymph, blue nymph, and dimensional shield would be my runners up I think.  Nymphs are a little more balanced by the fact that most people don't have too many of one nymph, and pulverizer has some balance in that it takes two elements to run, while black hole and dimensional shield are extremely powerful in certain situations but much weaker in others.  (rainbow bends over to black hole, for instance, but monos laugh, while monolife dies to dimshield but firestall laughs)

[dragtom]

without making a list,
a few cards that I didnt see (often) that should be considered:

RT
SoW
lobo
bonewall
oty
chrysaora
maxwell's demon

Im not saying anything about OP-ness or not,
but these cards often do a good job at countering decks,
 while otherwise remaining usefull.

[CrockettRocket]

#1: SoB. #2, all end in ties: nova, rt, oty, sofree, discord, elite dejavu/Tu (either one depending on deck), amber nymph, blue nymph, black hole/sofo.

Another one to be considered: foil chimera, only foil in the game, and this topic relates to MtG. Plus, chimera combines ALL YOUR CREATURES INTO A SINGLE ONE! It's also a super duper armagio and elite charger mix.

So under dragondemenses logic in the bottom, Chimera can be situationally really powerful, but if you dont have any creatures its really weak. XD (This was obviously a joke)

[theelkspeaks]

I'm kinda new-ish, but from my experience in unupped nonsharded play, I'd list the following cards as the most game-shaping (you have to consider whether the opponent is likely to use them when choosing/tweaking your deck for a match.  Not the exact question asked, but the closes I can do.

1. Reverse Time
2. Dimensional Shield
3. Gravity Pull
4. Amber Nymph
5. Purple Nymph
6. Basilisk Blood
7. Bone Wall
8. Fractal
9. Nova
10. (bonus) Immolation

[SpikeSpiegel]

1) Nova - A zero cost card that give 12 quanta, 1 for each element...it's our Black Lotus.

2) Shard of Sacrifice - Imho the strongest "defensive" spell.

3) Dimensional Shield - Imho the strongest shield.

4) Shard of Focus - aka destroy up to 3 permanents...

5) Sundial (Upgraded) - A zero cost card that stops all creatures for one turn and allows to draw one more card: so strong.

6) Fractal - Breaks the limit of 6 copies of a creature in a deck.

7) Shard of Integrity - If Nova is Black Lotus, SoI is Channel + Fireball...

8 ) Discord - No words needed.

9) Shard of Freedom - = Mono OP


Unfortunately i've to leave out of this top 9, cards like Air Nymph, Precognition, Golden Nymph, Shard of Patience, Animate Weapon, Hourglasses, etc.

[CrockettRocket]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

[Blacksmith]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

He another joke I suppose.

[CrockettRocket]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

He another joke I suppose.

Nah, for serious. Bonewall imo is strongest shield. But I wouldn't include a shield in my power 9 because of all the counters. Deflag, steal, freedom, sow, quint+sow, and momentum. Bonewall gets rid of 2 of these problems rather well. And being serious again, Lobo is something to be considered. I'd lose way more games from opponents destroying my dim shields or stealing or bypassing then I would from getting a lobo stolen. Luciferin is a rather hard card to use because of all the creatures with abilities, with this being true, lobo is a great card. Not only do I win most games even when they steal it, but I also win a lot of games when stopping growth creatures, mostly used to just hinder the opponents deck though and slow them down so they have to lay a bunch of their cards at once to try and overcome me. It also makes dim shield worth using, I think the real factor in dim shield being good is lobo. Silence is also a really good card. Practically no counter cause its a race between who can get enough quanta first: silence user or sanctuary user. A silence user can potentially stop that sanct from coming for 6 turns, realistically 2. That's a rather big difference. And in the race, silence costs 2 while sanct cost 3 so usually silence user should win unless sanct user gets 1 light tower and mark of light (this being the easiest most consistant way to get sanct up fast.)

[SpikeSpiegel]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

Bone Wall can be destroyed and stolen as well. Its effectiveness depends on the number of attacking creatures, while Dimensional Shield isn't affected by that.

The best feature of Bone Wall is the the possibility to grow, giving him an excellent synergy with hardcore CC cards. But considering it as pure shield, it's inferior to Dimensional Shield, even if this last one is more vulnerable to PC cards.

[ARTHANASIOS]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

Bone Wall can be destroyed and stolen as well. Its effectiveness depends on the number of attacking creatures, while Dimensional Shield isn't affected by that.

The best feature of Bone Wall is the the possibility to grow, giving him an excellent synergy with hardcore CC cards. But considering it as pure shield, it's inferior to Dimensional Shield, even if this last one is more vulnerable to PC cards.

During a regualr game, the average number of attacking creatures is usually 3 or 4, making Bone Shield able to block about 2-3 turns of damage before depleting, plus being PC resistant and able to grow by 2 with a single CC spell, let alone death effect combo. Sure, it has swarm and Adrenaline vulnerabilities, but overall it is a better shield than Dim.
 Problem is, Dim is in and can be easily abused even in Aether duos while Bone Wall is in (which hasn't strong CC by its own) and you need to build your deck around Bone Wall in order to harvest its best benefits.
 A good example of Bone Wall's powers is Rainbow decks, which can easily splash many forms of CC; that's why you will never see a good rainbow with Dims while there are plenty of great rainbows that abuse Bone Wall.

[SpikeSpiegel]

Heh. Imo strongest shield is bonewall. Cant be destroyed and not worth stealing in 90% of the cases.

Bone Wall can be destroyed and stolen as well. Its effectiveness depends on the number of attacking creatures, while Dimensional Shield isn't affected by that.

The best feature of Bone Wall is the the possibility to grow, giving him an excellent synergy with hardcore CC cards. But considering it as pure shield, it's inferior to Dimensional Shield, even if this last one is more vulnerable to PC cards.

During a regualr game, the average number of attacking creatures is usually 3 or 4, making Bone Shield able to block about 2-3 turns of damage before depleting, plus being PC resistant and able to grow by 2 with a single CC spell, let alone death effect combo. Sure, it has swarm and Adrenaline vulnerabilities, but overall it is a better shield than Dim.
 Problem is, Dim is in and can be easily abused even in Aether duos while Bone Wall is in (which hasn't strong CC by its own) and you need to build your deck around Bone Wall in order to harvest its best benefits.
 A good example of Bone Wall's powers is Rainbow decks, which can easily splash many forms of CC; that's why you will never see a good rainbow with Dims while there are plenty of great rainbows that abuse Bone Wall.

I don't want to start a discussion about which shield is better and why, because the effectiveness of a single card should be assessed within the context of game.

But using as a premise that in a "regular" game you usually use only 3-4 creatures, it's not true. Moreover, assuming it as the truth and speaking about Bone Wall, 3 or 4 creatures make a huge difference, like 2-3 turns of protection.

Dimensional shield is vulnerable to PC, Bonewall is less vulnerable to PC. But Dim shields is 6 cost card that grants protection for 3 turns, Bone Wall is a 7  cost card that absorbs 7 attacks and gains 2 charges when a creature dies. The first one protection is independent from the creatures in play, the second one highly depends on those.
That's why i consider Dimensional Shield stronger.