Steam Machine Push Deck

[GoldenSilence33]

Hello,

I am trying to build a viable Steam-Machine Focused deck, but I am running into a few problems.
Problems: 1) Creature Control such as freeze, or reverse time on my Steam Machines.
               2)My only creature control is Rage Potion, and these aren't enough for more difficult games.
               3)I sometimes die one round too early.

I really like this deck, and it is fun, but it is a little too luck-based imo. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve it??



 

[Higurashi]

Remove the Dagger, one Steamie, one Burning Pillar and the Ash Eater. Add Phoenixes. You may remove another card if you want another Phoenix. They help a lot.

[Pineapple]

You can't really fix (1) without dabbling in another element (Darkness for Cloak or Aether for Quintessence). One way to mitigate the losses is to add other damage sources, such as Phoenixes (as Higs suggested).
Add more shields, hope they don't get destroyed, add squids if you have them, maybe nymph's tears for repeatable CC.
If you have enough control via above, this should allow you to survive longer. Otherwise, you can try to outrush your opponents without worrying too much about their creatures, but this is usually hard because of how fast many rush decks are.

[GoldenSilence33]

You can't really fix (1) without dabbling in another element (Darkness for Cloak or Aether for Quintessence). One way to mitigate the losses is to add other damage sources, such as Phoenixes (as Higs suggested).
Add more shields, hope they don't get destroyed, add squids if you have them, maybe nymph's tears for repeatable CC.
If you have enough control via above, this should allow you to survive longer. Otherwise, you can try to outrush your opponents without worrying too much about their creatures, but this is usually hard because of how fast many rush decks are.

So would the way to "dabble" be with pillars? Or would it be better to use Pendulums? Thanks@Higurashi by the way, phoenixes helped a lot

Edit: I added cloak, with a dark pendulum, and holy light. They have made it easy to defeat ai3! (It takes 9 rounds on average)

2nd Edit: I am having great difficulties with level 4 AIs, does anyone have any other ideas on how to tweak this updated deck to make it better??

[agentflare]

First off, we have a deck image builder in forums. See that thing that looks like above the  8) smiley? That's the deck maker.
Insert the deck code like this:

Code: [Select]

[deck]Insert Deck Code Here[/deck]It should look like this:

by agentflare

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Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5i4 5i4 5i9 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5jm 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5lc 5v2 606 8pp

Ok, feedback time.
Remove that Cloak and Holy light. CC and healing is nice, but it really doesn't have a useful purpose in this deck. You want to beat  the opponent before they can get out many cards, but those cards will slow you down, so remove them. Add 1-2 more water pillars. You want to get those Steam Machines out early so they can become bigger later in the game.

Mid-Range hitters like Phoenixes help a lot and Phoenixes have the nice side effect of being great immolation targets since they can be revived. Steam machines are rather CC resistant since they have 6 hp which means only pump-spells (spells that have increased damage from extra quanta such as fire bolt, ice bolt and drain life) can kill them, and they can mostly only really be slowed down through rewind, freeze and alike cards, so in my opinion, cloak isn't really needed.

What you can do to get "that extra round" is to put some more ice shields in. Without crunching the numbers, I can tell you that ice shield should block ~40% of damage and that's not counting the -1 damage reduction. If you want to read it, Essence has crunched the numbers here (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,2071.msg44079#msg44079)

IMO, the final deck should be something like this:

by agentflare

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5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i9 5i9 5i9 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5jm 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 8pp

[TheForbiddenOracle]

So would the way to "dabble" be with pillars? Or would it be better to use Pendulums? Thanks@Higurashi by the way, phoenixes helped a lot

Edit: I added cloak, with a dark pendulum, and holy light. They have made it easy to defeat ai3! (It takes 9 rounds on average)

2nd Edit: I am having great difficulties with level 4 AIs, does anyone have any other ideas on how to tweak this updated deck to make it better??

I recommend trying this:

by TheForbiddenOracle

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5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5i9 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 8pp

Not much better, but reduces the odds of bad draws because Trios/Quartets are pretty unstable. While I despise unupgraded rush decks over 30 cards, I found that it is necessary to balance it out. Also, how did you plan on playing the Holy Light? It costs 1 quantum which is lacking. And I must say Cloak will rarely be useful, you probably won't even be able to play it most games because you didn't draw the lone Dark Pendulum or you would not get the proper quantum to play it (7 turns to play cloak after you play the Dark Pendulum). Took out Photons and Immos because Pillars/Pends is a better quanta production source in this deck (arguable, however it does take 2 cards to pull off the combo). Also, why is there 5 Photons and 4 Immolations? While the 1 extra attack (+ the ammount of turns since it's played) may prove to be useful occasionally, doesn't it also make it susceptible to becoming Otyugh dinner?

Might need some tweaking for example more Ice Shields, Defrags, Pillars, etc.

[GoldenSilence33]

@ TheForbiddenOracle: I actually removed the Cloak/Dark Pendulum because I noticed it was too slow, and pretty much useless when I was able to play it. However, I left two Holy Light in the deck, because you get one quantum of everything every time when you use Immolation. It is handy when you have a high steam machine that is almost dead, or for critical moments near the end. The photons are great for the beginning, as you can get a phoenix out in the first turn sometimes. (Photon, Immolation, Phoenix).

@agentflare: I took your advice for adding more shields and water pillars, I am experimenting with this or very minor variations:

by GoldenSilence33

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5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i9 5i9 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5jm 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5lc 5lc 8pp

[Tiko]

by Tiko

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5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i9 5i9 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5jm 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5lc 5lc 8pp

Personally, I'd get rid of the immolations. Steams are basically very slow creatures, and even with immolation you can't pull them out fast enough.

by Tiko

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5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f6 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5gi 5gi 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i9 5i9 5ig 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 8po

I traded off the possible quanta burst for a more stable Pillar/Pendulum split. This way it's almost impossible not to draw at least a few quanta generators at start, in 1-2 turns you can probably play something from your hand, and you're somwhat safe from Earthquake too for a bit. I also added a single Nymph's Tear, to compensate the missing Rage Pots, but if you have a few squids at hand, you may consider putting in those instead of it and the Shields. Deflags are always handy to have one around, and you can still play Phoenixes relatively soon if you count your quanta in advance.
This is just a streamlined skeleton of the deck, exceeding the 30card border sure adds more possibilities, like putting back some Rage Potions, or freezes, even ice bolts come in mind. A few Drakes are an option too for pure damage, though not recommended. Experiment with these combinations, Steams are fun to play with.