Back after a long time... requesting advice on multiple decks.

[Exarp]

Hello everybody.

I've returned to elements after a very long break.
I left the game shortly after cards like fractal and butterly effect were introduced.
I lost most of the deck tempates I made back in those days, and I need to get used to how elements works again.

I remember that I used to play with fire rushes and speedbows a lot, but with the addition of a lot of cards I'm currently unfamiliar with, I seem to have a bit of trouble making a good deck to start out with again.
I'd like some deck input on the decks I'll post, and I'd like a few pointers about what to add, and which cards to particularly aim for.
My generally prefered strategy revolves around speed. I'd rather bash through than stall, so I'd sooner add a card that destroys, rather than a card that "buys me a few turns".

Anyway, her's my first deck. It revolves around overwhelming my opponent.

by Exarp Omega

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7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7di 7di 7dj 7dk 7dk 7dm 7dm 7dm 7do 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dq 7dq 7dq 7dr 7dr 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 8po

The problem that I found is that it seems to rush less than I remember from the days in the past. I get out rushed easily. Maybe I put too much emphasys on control?


My second deck is this one:

by Exarp Omega

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6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u1 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 745 74a 74a 77g 77g 7ah 7ah 7dm 7dm 7dq 7mu 7q2 7qb 7qb 7qb 80b 80b 80h 80h 8pj

It seems to work okay, save from a few bad draws. I know it's very eather heavy, but that's actually on purpose.
It's a situational decicion, and I never really have issues with quanta flow, or the explicit need for more aether.
The fate egg is more of a place holder. I usually end up taking a flesh recluse or a dischord instead.
The problem with this deck is that it has a lot more vulnerabilities now than it had in the past.
How can I "revive" this deck to work well again?

Currently, a lot of FG slayers seem to rely on shards that I don't have. I'm assuming that figthing in the arena a ton of times will get me some of these shards. In the meantime, I need a deck that kills FGs with an okay ratio.
I remember that fractal/hope was okay back then, but I never really liked the structure.
There's a huge archive of decks that work, but a lot of them seem to only have worked in the past.
So I adjusted one of the decks that I like (CC? Why bother?). Will this deck work well enough?

by Exarp Omega

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6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6rn 6rn 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u7 6u7 6u7 77f 77f 77i 7dq 7dq 7gp 7gp 7k2 7k6 7k6 7n3 7q5 7q5 7q5 80h 80h 80i 8pj

A final note:
I used to prefer playng with pillarless decks, but my attempt to make one that works have been horrible.
This made me consider the possibility that a lot of cards were nerfed, or maybe buffed in my disadvantage,besides the fact that there's a bunch of new cards.
Is pillarless still a viable option to play with, or is my reasoning dead on?

Anyway, that's about it. Thanks for reading this, and sorry for the long pst.
Right now, playing is more of a chore than an enjoyment, so I'd appreciate any and all input you might have.

[Firenotes]

Without shards CC works well. Your deck looks fine, mine had -1 miracle +1 sanctuary, other than that gravy imo. It's what I used before I started using Instosis.

[Aves]

For your first deck, Fire recently got a major nerf because Firestall became too OP. It still works, but its slower than before.

Your speedbow still works, but I'd tweak it. There are other speedbow combos I'd recommend- DiscBH or a recluse-wings version that works well. Also... I'd still add towers. You shouldn't go in expecting a significant chance of having a bad draw.

CCYB still works. It just doesn't work as well as the decks based off of shards now.

[Exarp]

Thanks for your comments.

Your deck looks fine, mine had -1 miracle +1 sanctuary, other than that gravy imo.

I was considering that change too, but I wasn't sure if that was viable.
On occasion, mirracle saved me when I'd have lost otherwise, but I guess I'll think about it again.

For your first deck, Fire recently got a major nerf because Firestall became too OP. It still works, but its slower than before.

Aha, this explains why I'm having so much trouble. Do you think fire is too nerfed to play with for now?
Maybe I should find a different element to make rushes with, but I don't think other elements are as versaillable as fire...

Your speedbow still works, but I'd tweak it. There are other speedbow combos I'd recommend- DiscBH or a recluse-wings version that works well. Also... I'd still add towers. You shouldn't go in expecting a significant chance of having a bad draw.

These terms don't mean much to me. I'd look into it if I knew what you meant.
Can you link me to a post that has an example of these combos?

CCYB still works. It just doesn't work as well as the decks based off of shards now.

Yes, I'm sure that's true. I guess I need to find a stable deck to get some shards with first then.

[omegareaper7]

Mono fire didn't take that big of a nerf despite being nerfed so much last patch, it really just hurt fire stalls and its splash ability , not cremation rushes. Your cremation rush should be fine, i'll run a couple games with it just to be sure though.
Edit:
Needs earth quanta or golems are pretty much dead cards, and no, the cremations are not enough to qualify. Another option is to just drop the golems. A Fahrenheit in place of one of the golems would probably be nice.

[Exarp]

Mono fire didn't take that big of a nerf despite being nerfed so much last patch, it really just hurt fire stalls and its splash ability , not cremation rushes.

If that's true, then my weak link is that one FB.
I already know that that's not the only problem, but I've been out of it too long to figure out what to streamline exactly.

i'll run a couple games with it just to be sure though.

Let me know what you learned from it.

[omegareaper7]

I'll edit the post as i go through.

[Exarp]

Needs earth quanta or golems are pretty much dead cards, and no, the cremations are not enough to qualify. Another option is to just drop the golems.

Yes, I can see that. Maybe I'll switch a golem out and change to earth mark. I think that's a bit risky though.
What about upgrading a few earth pendulum.
So... -1 golem, -1 fire tower, +2 earth pendulum

[Aves]

Fire still has good rush potential... but you really can't get around the increased costs. It all depends on the opponents you want to use it for. It might still work for Silver League, but I never really used a cremation-rush, so I can't say. Fire's nerfs were: Ash HP reduced to 5 from 7. Explosion cost increased by . Cremation and Immolation give one less

I'm sure I could find the specific thread for those decks eventually... but here's the SN based speedbow list.
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27792.0.html

For a shard based deck, instosis and SPlat are fun, but I prefer ralouf1's Gold League killer with the SoSe.

[omegareaper7]

The golems seem to be the only clunky thing with the deck, i think removing them is a good option, also separates it a little bit more from other fire rushes.

Upon the 8 games i played, one thing stood out, the cremations, ditching one or two for something else, pillars/ragepot, seems like a good idea. They do however provide a nice boost at times and can get rid of antimattered creatures.   Theres nothing really wrong with the deck as is now, but i have given ideas to change it if you decide to.

[Exarp]

Fire still has good rush potential... but you really can't get around the increased costs. It all depends on the opponents you want to use it for. It might still work for Silver League, but I never really used a cremation-rush, so I can't say. Fire's nerfs were: Ash HP reduced to 5 from 7. Explosion cost increased by . Cremation and Immolation give one less

That explains why the speed feels off to me. and I remember being able to play more..... everything.
I'll still try to make fire work though, if only for nostalgic reasons.

I'm sure I could find the specific thread for those decks eventually... but here's the SN based speedbow list.
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27792.0.html

For a shard based deck, instosis and SPlat are fun, but I prefer ralouf1's Gold League killer with the SoSe.

Thanks for that link. That's very helpful. I didn't realize there were so many varionts nowadays.

I'll definitely grind the arena for a while to get some shards. They seem to come back no matter what kind of deck I'm trying to build.
By the way, what does SPlat mean?

The golems seem to be the only clunky thing with the deck, i think removing them is a good option, also separates it a little bit more from other fire rushes.

Upon the 8 games i played, one thing stood out, the cremations, ditching one or two for something else, pillars/ragepot, seems like a good idea. They do however provide a nice boost at times and can get rid of antimattered creatures.   Theres nothing really wrong with the deck as is now, but i have given ideas to change it if you decide to.

Thanks for going through the deck for me. I'll play around with your ideas a bit.
I'm currently also considering an fire-earth splice, and instead of dropping golems, dropping the draggons. We'll see how that works out

EDIT:
I've changed to this, based on your suggestions. I chose for an extra pillar over a cremation, and an unupgraded phonix to replace one golem.

by Exarp Omega

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5fc 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7di 7di 7dj 7dk 7dk 7dm 7dm 7dm 7do 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dq 7dq 7dr 7dr 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 8po

[omegareaper7]

I'll continue to run some more tests since i happen to like cremation rushes. Damn Napalm.