First Deck Upgrade

[Tantoney]

I've now saved up enough money for my very first deck upgrade. Which one should I upgrade first: Mark of Elements, Pillars or the monsters? Anyway, this is the deck I'm using.

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Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61q 61s 61s 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61u 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pu

[Espithel]

There's a specific order of upgrades in any deck:
In order:

Combo: If your deck requires a specific combo to function (SoW + Quint, RolHope, Voodoo + GP), upgrade that first.
Quanta Production: Pillars, Pendulums, Rustlers, Soul Catchers, Solar Shield, etc. Sometimes nova.
Core: The main cards in your deck.
Support: The rest.

[dark ripper]

What are you aiming to grind? MA unupped is great for lower arena but there are a lot better decks you could upgrade.

[Tantoney]

What are you aiming to grind? MA unupped is great for lower arena but there are a lot better decks you could upgrade.

At the moment, I can beat level 3 AI with the deck I'm using. And I'm trying to make my way to level 4 AI, which I struggled right now. Until I do that with ease, then maybe considering a Fake God.

[Tantoney]

There's a specific order of upgrades in any deck:
In order:

Combo: If your deck requires a specific combo to function (SoW + Quint, RolHope, Voodoo + GP), upgrade that first.
Quanta Production: Pillars, Pendulums, Rustlers, Soul Catchers, Solar Shield, etc. Sometimes nova.
Core: The main cards in your deck.
Support: The rest.

The whole aim of my deck is to rack up quanta, whilst defending myself with shields before unleashing the Phase Dragons for damage. So that's where I'm stuck on what to upgrade.

[Espithel]

It's a pretty simple choice to me.
There's no combo in the deck, so upgrade the pillars first.
Your deck does not absolutely REQUIRE you to draw any particular card. You can get by with phases, but not immortals. With immortals but not dims. With dims but not dragons.

Also, I'd recommend making a bronze farmer before FG farming, because you need a ton of rares to make anything fancy in this game.
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/community-recommended-decks/bronze-and-silver-arenas/

[nlour]

Let Lobo for the last to upgrade, cause you may want to use it for an arena deck.

[dragonsdemesne]

In that list I'd probably start with the pillars and pendulums.  The dimshields and lightnings get 1 quanta cheaper, but in terms of just this deck, upgrading a pillar or pendulum will essentially give you the same benefit, but for any card.  Thus, those would be amongst my LAST upgrades in this deck.  Also, some false gods have those cards.  Gemini, notably, is one of the easiest false gods to beat and has lots of dimshields that you can potentially win.  Eternal Phoenix has lightning, but is much harder to beat, and doesn't have very many copies.  The very last card I would upgrade is the lobotomizer, because you can win Electrocutor in spins from gold or platinum arena, as well as Gemini and Decay, both of which are quite easy to beat.

Immortals and phase dragons get stronger attack, but also cost more when upgraded.  Phase dragons are also winnable from several false gods.    (Scorpio, Gemini) and I think Gemini might have one immortal.  These would be higher priority upgrades than dimshield or lightning, but in this deck, a lower priority than your pillars and pendulums.

[theelkspeaks]

In that list I'd probably start with the pillars and pendulums.  The dimshields and lightnings get 1 quanta cheaper, but in terms of just this deck, upgrading a pillar or pendulum will essentially give you the same benefit, but for any card.  Thus, those would be amongst my LAST upgrades in this deck.  Also, some false gods have those cards.  Gemini, notably, is one of the easiest false gods to beat and has lots of dimshields that you can potentially win.  Eternal Phoenix has lightning, but is much harder to beat, and doesn't have very many copies.  The very last card I would upgrade is the lobotomizer, because you can win Electrocutor in spins from gold or platinum arena, as well as Gemini and Decay, both of which are quite easy to beat.

Immortals and phase dragons get stronger attack, but also cost more when upgraded.  Phase dragons are also winnable from several false gods.    (Scorpio, Gemini) and I think Gemini might have one immortal.  These would be higher priority upgrades than dimshield or lightning, but in this deck, a lower priority than your pillars and pendulums.

Eternal Phoenix is actually one of the easier FGs to beat for a new player (if we're talking oracle counters here).  Bonestorm unupped and rareless has at least 60% if not better.

[Zawadx]

Mark of Elements? The mark shown on the deckbuilding screen can't be upgraded; it will always provide 1 quanta per turn.

As for the deck, a 6 dimensional shield Mono Aether works best with 30 cards; you don't want to risk your shield chain breaking. Lightnings are useful to deal with momentum or other dangerous abilities when you don't have Lobo, but with one lobo 4 lightnings are overkill. In my experience one lobo is enough to manage enemy creatures behind the dimensional shield chain while maximizing effectiveness, so go ahead and remove all lightnings (perhaps put in more immortals instead). And since your cards are so expensive, you should increase the number of pillars/pends to 14 at least (15 is best IMO).

As for upgrading; definitely go for pillars/pends first. They are the best upgrades for this deck, and they also come handy in a lot of other decks too. However, you shouldn't fully upgrade this deck at the start. Mono Aether fully upgraded beats AI4 reliably and can take on False Gods, but it is slow and therefore inefficient compared to top level grinders. Instead, you're better off upgrading 6 Photons into Rays of Light and using RoL/Hope against False Gods (and RoL/Hope is one of the decks which benefits from upgraded aether pillars/pends). For now though, you should grind AI4 as you slowly build up your electrum ^^.

[Tantoney]

At the moment, I currently have 12 Pendulums, 3 of them upgraded. And I was wondering, which one am I better off with: all 12 upgraded pillars, all 12 upgraded pendulums or a bit of both, with 6 of each?

[Espithel]

Technically, the best way is to alternate upgrading pillars and pendulums so you have four stacks of pillars, making earthquake a minor annoyance.

It honestly doesn't matter, though.