This is the deck I am starting my grinding career with. What's your opinion on this one?
The Deck: Life StompyHover over cards for details, click for permalink
5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c0 5c6 5c6 5f6 5f6 5f6 5f6 8po As simple as it gets: Put down the green critters and attack until your opponent is below 0. There is not much refinement behind it - even the Deflagrations should be cast as quickly and as soon as possible, once there is a viable target. In most cases you will deal the last few points of damage through shields and against opponents with a superior army. Doesnt't matter for you since there are few cards that achieve total lockdown - and none of them is found in the AI3 (did I mention this is supposed to be an AI3 grinder?)
The Cards:12 Emerald PillarThis looks like a lot of Quantums and it is. In my (short) experience with the deck, drawing 5 pillars is less of a problem than drawing just one. You need to get your creatures out as fast as possible. Of course you will draw a lot of useless extra pillars later in the game but that doesn't matter. The earlier you play your creatures, the more damage they can deal.
6 Horned Frog
6 CockatriceThe protagonists. Dump them onto the battlefield as soon as you draw them. There may be rare exceptions when you want to keep them in your hand (for example against the Water/Death deck with Plague and Freezers) but that should not occur unless your opponent has completely emptied your side of the board already and is just waiting to hit the next creature you put down.
Mark of Fire
4 DeflagrationI don't know if these would still be in if Life had another good small creature. But Elements has (yet) a limited number of cards and we'll have to use what we got. The Deflagrations are there to stall your opponent's development as much as possible. In the AI3 at least, there are few cards that hurt you terribly - OK, the Sniperstaff, Procrastionation and Ice Shield are not nice but more often than not, you'll just push enough damage past them to win eventually. I recommend, playing the Deflagrations as soon as you have the Fire Quantum available on the best target in your sight. Even stripping one pillar from a larger stack can be a good idea if it means that a Dragon in the hand remains there for another turn.
2 Empathic BondThe card that must look anathema to the deck. But still, it has its place in there. Even though it can outrace most of the AI3s in a straight race to 100 damage, there are some games where your opponent drops early Lycans, Dragons or Poisoned stuff. Unfortunately, you don't have much to deal with them directly (especially not in Life). So your next best option is to stock up on HP. The Bond usually doesn't buy you more than 1-3 additional turns to live, but they may be enough. Drop this as soon as all your creatures are out - except for Darkness matchups. It is no fun for you to get this one Stolen. Don't drop it against Darkness until you are positive that you will need the extra HP.
Those who didn't make it:WeaponsI had a Short Sword in a previous version and I might bring it back. It gets past many shields and is good damage for 1 quantum. Unfortunately, it gets frequently nicked by Deflagration/Steal in lieu of better targets and it is quite hard to handle with the quantums. I find it highly annoying when I am forced to spend the Fire Quantum on it that I was planning to save for the Deflag next turn.
Druidic Staff certainly is better than the Bond in most cases but I just have not found it yet (I wished for Lobotomizer as my quest reward).
In the upgraded version, there will be one weapon. I am not quite sure which one, though.
Ash EaterWere tried... they just kept dying against pretty much every removal out there. Even worse they helped Otyughs get big enough to deal with the rest. Thanks for nothing...
Emerald DragonTo be honest, I didn't give it a shot yet. Adding one of them for lategame purposes might be an idea, but the consistency with which my small dudes keep outrunning the big dudes makes me want to stay true to them.
ShieldsA shield can only achieve more than a Feral Bond when the opponent has more creature out than you do. In that case you should be just about killing them or something has gone wrong already.
HealAs soon as you have dropped your army, you have quantum in abundance. Empathic Bond costs more, than Heal but it does a better job and you can afford it.
AI3 Matchups:Firequeen: Decent matchup. In most cases you're quicker than the Fireflies. The Worst Case is playing against an animated Owl's Eye, where you are pretty much lost if it comes down too early.
InfectiousDarkness: The AI keeps fooling around with the infection counters, so the matchup is easier than it should be. Spend your Deflags wisely, there are lots of enticing targets, so don't waste them on a Boneyard or Stiletto.
Miracle: Bad Matchup. The Firefly Queens are still somewhat of a danger and you don't have anything against a quick Dragon. And then there are the Miracles... shoot the Light Pillars and hope that you are fast enough.
Air/Light Pegasus: Good Matchup. Does anyone have much problems with this one?
FreezingPoison: Tough matchup. My score is decent but there are a lot of close calls and Arctic Squid/Ice Shield are two cards that can seriously stall you down. The matchup becomes a lot easier when you manage to disrupt the Death Pillars, though.
EntropicDarkness: Worst matchup, according to my statistics. The Lycans can outrace you and the Bond is constantly in danger of getting Stolen. Here, I'd still play it as soon as possible, though. There is only one Steal and the races DO get tight.
GravityAngel: Good matchup. The AI keeps neglecting its Otyugh and the Angel-Armagio combination is less threatening than it may look. Unless your opponent pulls a very early weapon or Dragon, you are fine.
TimeControl: Good matchup. You'll lose a game every now and then against a lucky Fate Egg or an early Dragon, backed by Procrastination. The most annoying thing about the deck is its lack of worthy goods in the lottery afterwards, though.
Time/AEther: Good matchup. There is a risk of a lucky Fate Egg but all in all there is not much to fear. Don't use your disruption against the AEther part of the deck and don't be shy to blast the Time Factories.
InfectiousFire: Decent matchup. If your opponent pulls off a good draw, you can face a tough race (against Fire) or a LOT of creature kill (against Death). More often than not, the two halves of the deck will hinder each other just long enough for you to deliver the kill, though.
Rainbow: Good matchup. The worst case for you is a quick Emerald Dragon and that one can't be produced reliably enough for you to be much worry. The six Heal look annoying but they don't slow you down significantly.
Overall Score in AI3: 82%
Overall Score in Top50: Don't! Not in the unupgraded version at least.
Upgradable: Of course - The deck can (and will) benefit a lot from upgrades. The priority should be roughly:
1) Upgrading the Horned Frogs
2) Adding an Upgraded Weapon (probably the Staff)
3) Upgrading the Pillars
4) Upgrading the Cockatrices
5) Upgrading the Deflagrations
6) Upgrading the Bonds
