Infected Pincushions!

[That Other Dude]

Been having some pretty decent success against AI3, and reasonable results against Half-Bloods, with this cheap and dirty deck:

by That Other Dude

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52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52r 52r 52r 52r 52r 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5un 5un 5un 5un 5un 5un 5up 5up 5up 5uq 5v0 5v0 5v0 8pt

The basic idea is to play a parasite or two right off the hop, to control any enemy swarms.  Then, hide behind bone shields, while infecting the bejeezus out of Voodoo Dolls.  The steals are in there to help with any pesky life-gain (Druid Staff and Empathic Bond come to mind right away) or other stops the AI may pull out.

With no upgrades, I'm seeing a win rate against AI3 somewhere in the high 80th percentile, with some EMs (if my opponent has any life-gain to steal).

Any feedback would be appreciated, as this is the first deck I've built that has any success whatsoever.  Yeah, I'm a total newb to Elements!

[mwaetht]

I have my doubts on whether Nightfall is all that good, as compared to, say, Arsenic or even Nightmare.

Pendulums are quite nice; they help with draw consistency.

It feels like you might have a bit too much quanta (you'll probably be saving the Steals for important targets instead of playing them immediately, and the QI without Steals is 3.5), but I'm not sure.

On one hand, you need Voodoo Doll to win, so three isn't enough; on the other hand, you'll rarely need more than one, so four copies is overkill. I am now confused.

[That Other Dude]

I have my doubts on whether Nightfall is all that good, as compared to, say, Arsenic or even Nightmare.

Unfortunately, before hitting on this build, I had already taken Farenheit as my weapon.  I have two of those, now, but still no Arsenic.  If I had one, I'd totally make that switch.  Nightmare, though it can do some quick damage, isn't controlling enough IMHO for this build.

Pendulums are quite nice; they help with draw consistency

I was using Pendulums (Pendula? How Latin are we here?) before in this build; they don't provide the steady stream of quanta I need for the Parasites to continually infect everything, while still providing enough left over to keep a healthy Shield up at all times.  You're right - there's still a little more quanta production than I need, especially Darkness, but I found myself getting hosed far too often when I was using less.

On one hand, you need Voodoo Doll to win, so three isn't enough; on the other hand, you'll rarely need more than one, so four copies is overkill.

Good point.  I find that it takes at least three, to be able to apply enough poison while still dealing with creature threats from across the board.  If I had a couple Arsenics, I'd surely replace both the Nightfall, and one of the Voodoo Dolls.

Thanks for the advice!  I've nearly collected the 1500 ep for my first upgrade - where would you suggest starting?  I'm thinking probably my pillars, so I can use fewer of them and speed up the deck's lockdown, but I'm not sure.

[furballdn]

Thanks for the advice!  I've nearly collected the 1500 ep for my first upgrade - where would you suggest starting?  I'm thinking probably my pillars, so I can use fewer of them and speed up the deck's lockdown, but I'm not sure.

If you're going for ups, you're probably better off upping towards a supernova, but if you want to up a card in this deck, probably bonewall since it gets cheaper and is used in a few SNbows. If you're building the pincushion deck with only oen upgrade, probably eclipse would make the most difference.

[Absol]

Now this is really interesting build. / duo. Hmm...
4 Bonewalls are usually enough. You only really need one once the combo starts. Or two. Either way, you don't want them to clog up your starting hands. Add in another Voodoo Doll. 4 is fine if 3 is not enough.
-Steal, -Nightfall, +2 Arsenic OR Vampire Stiletto (dunno which will be more useful). All pillars converted to pends (again, test with pends/ mark and pends/ mark before deciding which is faster).
Watch out veterans, we're getting a wave of creative deckbuilders here.

[Mathematistic]

Looks like it need some damage... infection on voodoo dolls might be too slow.
Arsenic might do.

[Shylderidh]

Remind me a fun rainbow voodoo I've made some time ago.

by Shylderidh

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542 542 542 542 542 595 595 5le 5le 5un 5un 5un 5v0 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u2 71b 71b 74d 74i 7dr 7n5 7t7 7t9 7ta 7tg 7tg 7tg 80b 8pt

(basically it was the same concept mixed with angels to heal the dolls, and the option to use voodoo pull, copy or overdrive a doll ; used eagle eye for more direct control, keeping parasites for the dolls when my weapon was in play ; was a little too random to be really reliable but fun to play)

[That Other Dude]

Thanks for all of your input, everyone!  Looks like this one is almost, but not quite, a worthy build.  It's pretty good for AI3 farming, but I don't think it'll be worth upgrading for HBs and/or Arena.

If only Parasites weren't quite so devourable!  I might have to try splashing in Aether, and try Fractal with Parasite.  There just may be a combo there - I'll try it out and report back in a couple of days.

[Gandora]

If only Parasites weren't quite so devourable!

cloak might help here?

[Chapuz]

arasites for constant CC are not bad, but I would replace the dolls for mummys and make the quanta generation more "deadly".

[UndeadSpider1990]

If only Parasites weren't quite so devourable!

I played with a similar idea once, but it never occurred to me to use Parasites!

by UndeadSpider

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5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i7 5i7 5i7 5ie 5ie 5ie 5ie 5oc 5oc 5on 5on 5on 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5up 5up 5v0 5v0 5v0 8pt

I guess the pros are:
- Toadfish add attack power and are harder to kill
- Freeze/Shockwave offers stronger CC, or destroy-weapon with Voodoo Doll.

The Cons are definitely:
- Massive Quanta confusion! Lol. Trios suck.

[That Other Dude]

Okay, so here's what I'm testing out now with this build:

by That Other Dude

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52o 52o 52q 52r 52r 52r 52r 52s 5um 5um 5um 5un 5un 5un 5un 5un 5un 5up 5up 5v0 5v0 5v0 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 8pk

So far, it's a LOT faster, but is weak against Pharoah and Firefly Queen swarms.  Early Earthquakes can cause some real trouble, too, but all-in-all it's working out well against AI3.

If I can manage to get another Arsenic or two, I can take out the Poisons to good effect.  I'm still on the fence about the Aflatoxin; the effect is cool, but VERY costly.  How would you all recommend dealing with overwhelming numbers, while sticking to the core theme of this deck?  It's a lot of fun to play, when I can get a lockdown...