First post - looking for general deck improvement

[aethyrpod]

Deck:

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58u 58u 58u 590 590 590 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fb 5fb 5fb 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5ro 5ru 5ru 5ru 8ps

I apologize for any poor formatting - this is my first post.  I did review the read-me (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/deck-help/read-this-before-posting-12113/ [nofollow]) and intend to implement the recommendations therein.

I designed this deck for Level-3 combat; this is primary because I've never been able to crack what makes an effective Level-4 deck.
I have play-tested this deck; it seems to have weaknesses against Dimensional Shield (I have no direct damage nor Psions), Lobotomizer (most of my creatures have special abilities), and it just feels slow.

I am looking for one thing:  Identifying the one or two core problems with my deck.

This is a three-element deck:  / / .

Energy Sources:
12 pillars (4 of each element) + 3 Gnome Riders + Time Mark

Creatures:
12 creatures
3 Gnome Riders [extra cross-mana / Lava Golem Support]
3 Graboids, 3 Lava Golems, 3 Ghosts of the Past [nice power / cost balance]

Support:
3 Rage Potion [take out critters, beef up Lava Golem in later-game]
2 Reverse Times [take out critters]
1 Eternity [repeatable take out critters]

Limitation(s):
I do have 6 of each existing base card but only a few upgraded cards.

Questions:
Are there better support cards or better combinations of the same cards?
Are there known problems with sufficient mana delivery for these creatures?
Are the other guidelines or recommendations that I could put into practice for this or in application when building other decks?

Thanks!

[Blacksmith]

Welcome then pod I'm happy read the read this first post. Btw why not make a post in the introduction thread?

Now to less important things. Trios are 1 of the hardest types of decks to build simply since it's demands 3 different quanta sources. In your deck you solved that by using 4 of each pillar. That is actually far from enough, I never use less than 6 and often 8 if I want enough pillars just for a single element. It's not cause it might need that much it's because you need to draw the pillars early to win most games. Another problem is eternity which needs 3  quanta a turn to be of full use, that would demand you to draw half the deck to get at least 2 and the you wouldn't be able to play any other cards.

Usually to solve the clumsy trios you use other quanta sources such as immolation,nova,fierflies and so on but you can also use pends. In the pend version you have 2 separate stacks that produces quanta that aren't matching your mark. That way you will get 2 stacks instead of 3 and that helps a lot.

Furthermore you will have to remove some of your most expensive cards and add some of the cheeper once to increase speed, I also recommend adding a shield since the shields are op compared to what they do and at last add a deflag. Deflags are almost always a must have in fire decks.

So suggested changes.

Spoiler for Hidden:

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It might still be a bit clumsy but at least it's better now and I think you will be able to adjust the quanta balance a bit afterwards too.

[ARTHANASIOS]

Welcome to the forums!

My personal suggestion is to remove all the fire cards and run a nice  / duo based on Graboids and Ghosts of the Past.
Something like this...

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58s 590 590 590 590 590 590 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5ro 5rr 5rr 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 8pm

[Submachine]

It's always funny to see what the newcomers use their first posts to. ^^
Here are some good places where you can always use your first post:

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/introduce-yourself/
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/off-topic-discussions/post-your-epic-xth-post-here!/

[UndeadSpider1990]

Welcome to the Forum!

As Blacksmith said, one of the biggest problems is simply that you are using three elements in the deck. If you wanted to reduce it to just 2 elements,  and have a lot of synergy.  wouldn't really make a lot of sense, hah!

If you want to keep three elements, the best thing I could recommend is pendulums. Fun fact: you have about a 70% chance to draw a Stone Pillar in your starting hand. That's not too bad, but since you're basically rolling that dice three times (one for each of your elements) the chances of starting slow for at least one element is high.

If you replaced all your Stone Pillars and Time Factories and replaced them with 8 Earth Pendulums you'd reduce that risk. In that case (and in fact regardless) I'd suggest adding another Fire Pillar. You currently have 9 solid attackers, 3 pippy gnomes and a weapon; you could get away with removing one of those for the pillar.

If you want to try out other creature-control, try Basilisk Blood ( ). Different spells are better for different kinds of opponents, but it's worth experimenting. Basilisk Blood can often be better against AI3, against tough to kill creatures like Firefly Queen, Pharaoh, and Phoenix.

Reverse Time can also go amazingly well with Earthquake. I like what can I say

[aethyrpod]

Responses appreciated; I'm testing each.
Thanks for the interesting feedback!