Oracle : Dark Matter

[automeris]

I just got back to Elements after more than a year away and a couple of updates. Besides trying to get my shards, I am trying to get back to playing one game a day against the Oracle's predicted False God.

Today I got Dark Matter, and looked here to see what people were saying, but didn't see any decks that looked better than what I had used back then to beat him twice after a long string of losses. Got a very easy EM despite getting black holed on turn 2 and having Titan and a dragon against me.

Wildlife Sanctuary (Freeze or Be Eaten):

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u7 74b 7ai 7ai 7dq 7dq 7gr 7k6 7k6 7k6 7k6 7k6 7k6 7q7 7t7 7tg 80h 80h 80h 80h 80j 8pj

Get a sanctuary down as soon as possible. Try not to play things unquinted, but if you have Mindgate out and his hand is clogged, you have a margin of safety. Today I played my two Quints on an Octopus and an Otyugh, and eventually got away with playing a Lava Destroyer unprotected because I was down to 18 cards, and he wasn't gravity forcing his last antimattered critter. But the deck can deal damage fast once it gets going, so that might have been unnecessary. A Lava Destroyer will deal 187 points in 11 turns, so I probably should have waited.

The key cards for control are the Octopus and the Otyugh. You can freeze what isn't antimattered, including his weapon via your Voodoo Doll. Heals are there to provide EM, and can help if you have trouble with healing, which you really shouldn't. As was mentioned elsewhere, don't waste a Supernova until you have a Light quantum and a Sanctuary to play.

Sadly, most of this deck does need to be upped. The towers in order to get quatna fast enough in the beginning to have a chance at getting Sanctuary down, and the Supernova and Sanctuary cards also toward that end, and the Otyugh in order to be able to start eating on the Nymphs before moving up to the tastier damage dealers. Fortunately, Quantum Towers and Supernovae are early ups for most people. You could try it with the other cards unupped.

[deuce22]

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

710 710 710 710 710 718 718 718 718 718 718 71a 71a 71a 71a 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 72i 72i 72i 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 8pk

Updated 4 arse deck, still EMs quite easily.

This worked surprisingly well. Even if you draw no quanta, it's still an easy win.

[trashduke]

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

710 710 710 710 710 718 718 718 718 718 718 71a 71a 71a 71a 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 72i 72i 72i 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 8pk

Updated 4 arse deck, still EMs quite easily.

This worked surprisingly well. Even if you draw no quanta, it's still an easy win.

Yup - just got an EM with this. This deck works better than the standard pdials build (with light mark and SoDiv) - your HP isn't as high, but it's much more consistent and doesn't get shut down as easily (even when he pulled out two Gravy Nymph with black holes each turn - still managed to EM).

Update - well I'm 1 for 2 with this deck.  Just played and didn't get another SoSac when I needed it.  Oh well.

Update 2: same deal as before, plenty of Death quanta, but no SoSac when I need it.  I only drew 2 in 20 cards, which is not so likely given 6 of them in the deck.  damn RNG.....

[procproc]

Maybe I'm just more used to the standard version of poison dials, but the mono-death version felt really awkward to me. Partly, the lower life total mattered, but the fact that you don't have light quanta to draw off the sundials means they actually cost you a card instead of replacing themselves.

Caveat: I'm basing that off of one game (which I did win, but not EM). But I was significantly less happy to see sundials with this build than I normally am playing poison dials.

[ColorlessGreen]

Maybe I'm just more used to the standard version of poison dials, but the mono-death version felt really awkward to me. Partly, the lower life total mattered, but the fact that you don't have light quanta to draw off the sundials means they actually cost you a card instead of replacing themselves.

Caveat: I'm basing that off of one game (which I did win, but not EM). But I was significantly less happy to see sundials with this build than I normally am playing poison dials.

They cost you a card but gain you a turn of stalling. Most of the time against dark matter you don't get to keep your light quanta anyways, so it's not like having a light mark would let you power your dials for most of the game.

Exception would be if he bottomdecks most of his black holes and all of his gravy nymphs, but if that happens you'll win with pretty much whatever.

[skyironsword]

Third deck in post fails horribly, he keeps using momentum...

[ColorlessGreen]

Third deck in post fails horribly, he keeps using momentum...

That deck has (from what I've seen) the lowest win rate of any unupped prediction decks in any of the OPs. In order for it to work, DM has to get a fairly poor draw, and you have to get lucky with lightnings. Save the lightnings for momentumed creatures. FWIW, while it's still good enough that I'm confident it's net-profitable, I don't even bother attempting to use that deck as written most of the time.

If you have a lobo or two, swapping them in drastically boosts the win rate.

[Pella]

No Rares or Upgraded Cards
(Without Lobotomizers: Blessings on Sapphire Chargers and Momentums can kill you quick. He only has 2 of each.)

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61q 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 8pu

Why do I even bother playing this deck?  I have it stored in my spreadsheet, except somewhere along the line it acquired a foreveralone Lobo.  Utterly useless.  He comes out with his Elite Chargers, so no matter how many Dim Shields I play, I'm dead super quickly.  Two days in a row I've played this deck against Dark Matter.  Never again.

[ColorlessGreen]

No Rares or Upgraded Cards
(Without Lobotomizers: Blessings on Sapphire Chargers and Momentums can kill you quick. He only has 2 of each.)

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61q 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 8pu

Why do I even bother playing this deck?  I have it stored in my spreadsheet, except somewhere along the line it acquired a foreveralone Lobo.  Utterly useless.  He comes out with his Elite Chargers, so no matter how many Dim Shields I play, I'm dead super quickly.  Two days in a row I've played this deck against Dark Matter.  Never again.

Yeah, this is probably the single, solitary prediction deck that I never even bother attempting anymore. It can work when it gets a really lucky draw and dark matter gets a poor draw - i.e. if you draw more lightnings than he draws nymphs+chargers (while still being able to chain shields, get damage out, and not just die to titan), but this is not common. However, the addition of ~2 lobos (more is better) significantly boosts the win rate, since basically all you need to do is get an early lobo and it's game over.

I'm also pretty sure that the light/aether duo (assuming 2-4 lobos again) would be a better unupped counter than the mono aether.

I have just about no idea what to do about a totally unupped and rareless counter, though. A water/light/aether trio (water only for mind flayers, light only for sancs) might work if you pack six sancs and topdeck one and otherwise have a good draw, but it's pretty much full of fail conditions and seems like it may well just wind up in the same place as the mono aether where it only wins when it both gets a good draw and DM gets a bad draw.

Stupid DM.

[Pella]

Spoiler for Hidden:

No Rares or Upgraded Cards
(Without Lobotomizers: Blessings on Sapphire Chargers and Momentums can kill you quick. He only has 2 of each.)

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61q 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 8pu

Why do I even bother playing this deck?  I have it stored in my spreadsheet, except somewhere along the line it acquired a foreveralone Lobo.  Utterly useless.  He comes out with his Elite Chargers, so no matter how many Dim Shields I play, I'm dead super quickly.  Two days in a row I've played this deck against Dark Matter.  Never again.

Yeah, this is probably the single, solitary prediction deck that I never even bother attempting anymore. It can work when it gets a really lucky draw and dark matter gets a poor draw - i.e. if you draw more lightnings than he draws nymphs+chargers (while still being able to chain shields, get damage out, and not just die to titan), but this is not common. However, the addition of ~2 lobos (more is better) significantly boosts the win rate, since basically all you need to do is get an early lobo and it's game over.

I'm also pretty sure that the light/aether duo (assuming 2-4 lobos again) would be a better unupped counter than the mono aether.

I have just about no idea what to do about a totally unupped and rareless counter, though. A water/light/aether trio (water only for mind flayers, light only for sancs) might work if you pack six sancs and topdeck one and otherwise have a good draw, but it's pretty much full of fail conditions and seems like it may well just wind up in the same place as the mono aether where it only wins when it both gets a good draw and DM gets a bad draw.

Stupid DM.

automeris has a rainbow deck in this thread that s/he claims worked well.  I have most of those cards upped.  I think I'll try that next time.

[skyironsword]

I tried the first deck unupped and I decked out. Needz moar cardz.

[furballdn]

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

710 710 710 710 710 718 718 718 718 718 718 71a 71a 71a 71a 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 72i 72i 72i 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 8pk

Updated 4 arse deck, still EMs quite easily.

Pretty nice, but it might just be me, but having SoSac cost quanta now really hurts. He will BH and your quanta isn't exactly superfluous in the first place.