Neurotoxic Photons

[wdvefbthm]

Neurotoxic Photons      
This deck will most likely not work in PVP and is intended for use only against AI opponents.
As of right now, the AI will continue to spam cards if poisoned with Neurotoxin. This provides an opportunity to inflict massive amounts of poison and damage per turn with the use of a simple yet effective combination. Nightmare and Photon.

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55k 55k 55k 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rr 5rr 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 8pt

The Strategy:

• Play Momentum on a Dune Scorpion
• Play a Photon and use Nightmare on it
• Watch as the AI plays all of the photons and gives themselves obscene amounts of poisons
• Repeat

Nightmare inflicts 2 damage per card placed into the opponents hand. This will account for the damage you will take from the 1/1 photons you just gave them. The goal of this deck is to quickly out damage your opponent which if all goes well it should do without an issue.
The Problem:
Because this deck is a Trio (Quartet if you count the photons) Quanta balance is an issue. If anyone can help me fix my quanta balance and perhaps speed up the deck a bit more it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to have NO MORE than 40 cards in the deck because anything more than that and it will feel much too bulky.
 

[andretimpa]

1) I don't see what the point of the Precogs is (you are not "slimming" the deck and I don't think knowing the AI hand is worth the deck space).
2) Switching most of the pendulumns and pillars to novas will give you a 30 card deck that gives you all the quanta you need (you'd still need some pendulumns, maybe 5 so you are likely to have 1 in your starting hand). It would make a much faster upped deck too, since mommentum gets cheaper.

[CCCombobreaker]

Another idea would be switch the momentums for blessing and solar shield.  it doesn't make the quanta base much better (swapping gavity for light) but it gives you a shield that blocks the damage from the photons and does something useful with it.

Alternatively you could just add the "other" shield.

[Keolino]

First thoughts for changing:

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55q 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rr 5rr 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5up 5up 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 8pl

Switching the mark to gravity and adding an even amount of pillars makes it more likely for you to gain all three elements. Further, Momentums are more important to draw, that's why I would play it with either 4/4 or with 5 momentum and 3 photons for the draw chance. Further, I would add either the time shield or darkness shield to get some more defense.

1) Precognition can help because you know what he will play next turn. (Does he have CC in hand? Does he have a Dim Shield? any other nasty cards?) So if you know the opponents hand, you can play your deck a bit smarter, which can save a game sometimes. And by the way, Precogs don't create "card disadvantage" or use "deck space", but only cost some quanta.
2) Novas are kind of stupid in this deck, because you would need to draw at least 2 or 3 of them (2 if you have time mark and remove most of the dark cards, or 3 with darkness mark) to make this deck running.

[andretimpa]

Adding the other shield is a great idea. Specially if you add novas. It gives a use to all the useless quanta that it creates.

@keo: Like I said, keep some pendulumns, so you can play scorps and nightmares reliably (you ony need one on play). If mommentum is upgraded you only need one nova. If it is not, you need 2. Also, precog is mostly useless against the AI because it is kinda predictable and also loves to empty its hand. Against players, that's another story.

[wdvefbthm]

Thank you for the suggestions. I have edited it a little bit and am testing on AI3. Right now its at 5 wins and 1 loss. The deck I am using right now looks like this.

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52l 55q 55q 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 8pt

Keep the suggestions coming! 

[TribalTrouble]

Replace a momentum with blessing maybe?

[andretimpa]

I'd try -1 mommentum, -1 photon, -1 scorp, -2 steal and see if it is still effective.

[kaempfer13]

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52l 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 62m 8pt

still very unreliable; a 6card combo without additional draw power is just too much even though you have multiple copies of them; maybe if you add a lot of reverse time and hourglasses (and obviously time towers to it) it might work; it could use some consistent healing (nightmares help but I think it takes more) as well, but I dont know how to fit it into the deck with this quanta base.

[TribalTrouble]

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52l 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 62m 8pt

still very unreliable; a 6card combo without additional draw power is just too much even though you have multiple copies of them; maybe if you add a lot of reverse time and hourglasses (and obviously time towers to it) it might work; it could use some consistent healing (nightmares help but I think it takes more) as well, but I dont know how to fit it into the deck with this quanta base.

I'm sorry, but did you just post to say that while it isn't perfect yet you have no idea how to fix it?

I mean this isn't really helping. All you are telling him is to make the deck bigger with things to try and speed it up and yet doing that just makes the deck bulkier, slower, and less consistent overall.

You also failed to even read the post above yours with a suggestion. It might as well might not have been there as you completely ignored it in your reply.

[Keolino]

Another try of mine to make this deck a bit better:

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52l 55q 55q 55q 55q 5l9 5l9 5l9 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rt 5rt 5rt 5ur 5v1 5v1 5v1 606 606 606 606 8ps

By slimming this deck down to 30 cards (by removing some combo-cards) and addition of 5 sundials, this deck has become a bit more reliable (Or at least I think that after a short test) Additionally, by moving to time mark, it's easier to play the dune scorp fast if you draw two novas but not a pendulum. By slimming the deck down to 30 cards (and by removing one pendulum, because of the auto-muligan) it's hopefully a bit more probable to draw novas at the beginning.

[Drake_XIV]

I made a similar deck a while ago...

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/rainbow-decks/nightmarish-em-(ai-killer)/