Weight of the past (Pharaohs) [PVP2], [Gold/Platnum]

[Robsta43]

Seeing how easy Pharaohs are to farm, I was surprised I couldn't find a recommended duo gravity/time pharaoh deck on the forums, so I decided to share mine which I've had good results with consistently, even if I take long breaks from elements (which I'm want to do). 

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It is what I would call a "bruiser" deck, in that it's not a rush deck nor is it a stall deck, but it can adapt to the situation fairly well.  I've used it to win PvP at least 60% of the time, I just won 50% of the games in Platnum league today that I played with it and it can even be used as a False God farming deck, although there are better decks for that (Maybe a 30% win against false gods?  I can't remember that well, but I won something like 2 of 4 false god games I played with it last Saturday.)

Here are some tricks for using the deck.

Get a Shard of focus down fast and activate the ability once.  This makes it hard to kill (16 HP) and it can still destroy 2 permanents.  It also makes it fairly fast to get a black hole (if you need one) if the opponent is rainbow.  Remember that you can activate the ability and gain HP even if there are no permanents on the board.

If you have 4 or more  , use a Pharaoh's scarab ability before casting a SoR on it, this way you can create 3 scarabs in 1 turn.  If it's the turn the Pharoah was played, don't worry about casting SoR without activating the ability, you'll get scarabs at the same speed if you cast or wait 1 turn. 

Against Rainbow decks destroy everything you can with SoF and create as many black holes as possible, the HP you get from black holes can make you win the game, or elemental mastery.  Against other decks leave SoF at 31HP as the black hole is mostly just a waste of mana, and a 31HP SoF is perfect for casting overdrive or chimera on.

Against Quanta denial decks make sure to cast 2 SoR, 1 on a pharoah and 1 on a scarab.  This way you have a free source of CC and a constantly growing damage without needing quanta. 

If the opponent steals your eternity or plays a crusader, destroy it with a SoF.

While overdrive can be used to CC a 1HP enemy or a dangerous ability, it is usually best cast on a scarab.  with a pharoah producing 1 new scarab a turn, the overdrive scarab will be gaining +3/+0 each turn.  If the opponent is a stall deck relying on a powerful immortal shield (block 2+ damage) or huge amounts of HP (such as false gods with miracle), it's best to overdrive a scarab ASAP.

[dragtom]

I'd use trebuchet over overdrive/chimera;
it adds a nice burst and it has synergy with pharaoh's ability to continue generating scarabs.

what are the rewind/eternity for?
is the cc from scarabs not enough?
is lobo too scary?
do you often find yourself decking out?
or do you want to get repeatable PC from SoFo?

as it is right now, you are a bit short on .

[Robsta43]

And here's an analysis of the Quanta Index for this deck (because I like mathing).

Time Quanta Used:
6x Pharoah = 9 + 2 for the ability, which they can use every turn (estimated 2ce) = 6 cards x 13 = 86
5x Shard of Readyness = 2 + an estimated -3 for the abililty (guessing how many scarabs will cost 0 instead of 2, given that some shards can be cast on scarabs) = 5 cards x -1  = -5
1x Eternity = 4 + 3 for the ability, guessing 1 use since it's use is situational = 1 card x 7  = 7
1x Rewind = 1 = 1 card x 1 = 1 
4x Time Pillar = -1 = 4 cards x -1  = -4 
9x Time Pendulum = -1  = 9 cards x -1  = -9 

Total  = 68
  Pillars = 4 + 9 pendulums (counted as half a pillar) = 8.5

Final Quanta Index = 8


Gravity Quanta used:
6x Pharaoh = estimated 1 from the ability of scarabs eating things.  Estimate based off not needing to use the ability of every scarab, but by pharaohs being able to generate multiple scarabs.  = 6 cards x 1 = 6
4x Shard of Focus = 4 + estimated 2 gravity from activating black holes (since it's situational) = 4 cards x 6 = 24
1x Overdrive = 4 = 1 card x 4 = 4
1x Chimera = 6 = 1 card x 6 = 6
1x Black Hole = 3 = 1 card x 3 = 3

Total  = 43
  Pillars = 1 mark + 9 pendulums (counted as half) = 5.5

Final Quanta Index = 7.82

On the thread Using Quanta Index to determine the optimal number of Pillars in a deck it is suggested to have a QI of around 5, but later discussion says that 5 is ideal for rush decks, while stall decks might be better with slightly higher.  All I can say to that is that I usually find Weight of the Past gives me the quanta I need, when I need it, most of the time.

[dragtom]

qi-calculator
it's a bit outdated (it wont work for either shards), but still can usually be used.

as for the optimal QI, from experience I can tell that a slightly lower QI is more optimal.

As for this deck, the only thing that makes you survive is nomming the opponent's creatures.
Thus, you need a few scarabs, and you need them fast.
sure, this may mean you get overquanta'd later in the game,
but otherwise you wouldn't get later in the game vs rushes.

[Robsta43]

I'd use trebuchet over overdrive/chimera;

That's cool, I find that overdrive/chimera are harder to counter (since they're instant cast) and have more versatility then trebuchet. (Since overdrive can also be CC or bring an enemy's HP down to a level to eat it, and Since Chimera can be used with SoF to tank 2-3 turns to get that pharoah out, or to elemental master).

what are the rewind/eternity for?
is the cc from scarabs not enough?
is lobo too scary?
do you often find yourself decking out?
or do you want to get repeatable PC from SoFo?

It's for a number of reasons, it's so versitile.
The deck never decks out... I might have used it once or twice to stop decking out against say... miracle... but usually no.
Eternity's most common use is to take out high HP enemies in critical moments, such as take an Otyugh out for 1 turn while you play a SoF at 1HP or a mind flayer out for 1 turn while you generate your first 3 scarabs.  Rewind is Eternity with a low cost and is unexpected.
It can also take out high-cost (and high health) creatures created with time eggs, parallel universe or mutation that will end up cluttering your opponent's hand (since they don't have 10 light quanta to replay it) instead of doing 10+ damage to you per turn. 
It's a good counter to lobo yes.  Also a good counter to poisoned pharaohs or frozen pharaohs.
It costs 7 and 2 turns to get PC from Eternity, it costs 9 to get a pharaoh out, then some turns to get scarabs to control the field.  This difference can be the difference between winning and losing against rush decks. 

[Robsta43]

qi-calculator
it's a bit outdated (it wont work for either shards), but still can usually be used.

as for the optimal QI, from experience I can tell that a slightly lower QI is more optimal.

As for this deck, the only thing that makes you survive is nomming the opponent's creatures.
Thus, you need a few scarabs, and you need them fast.
sure, this may mean you get overquanta'd later in the game,
but otherwise you wouldn't get later in the game vs rushes.

Actually I find that this deck has many ways to avoid taking damage.  nomming the opponent's creatures is one of the slowest of these, and is rather the result of being able to stall with other methods, then the means of stalling in itself. 

Here are some ways this deck can stall:
Black Holes for extra HP -> this works great against rainbow decks, and works fine against trio decks. 
SoF for permanent control -> removing that 5+ from turn can help a lot, especially against crusaders.  Also removing hourglasses can really slow down decks that use them. 
SoF for quanta denial -> if they didn't draw many pillars, just destroy them, then black hole them.  Now they have 0 pillars and 0 quanta.
Eternity for PC -> 1 less dragon can often mean 0 dragons.  Or it could mean you're trading 3 for 13 , which is sometimes a good trade. 
Scarab Rush -> Your goal, cast SoR on a pharaoh to speed it up or cast SoR on a scarab to kill multiple targets which your opponent thought was safe.  Eating a scarab only decreases your HP at the end of your turn.

Here are some less common ways to stall:
SoF+Chimera for HP tanking -> this is a rare/desperate measure, but it can be used to turn a near loss into a win more often then you would think.
Overdrive to lobo a creature -> this can be dangerous, but better to have a lava destroyer attack once then having it grow faster then your scarabs can.  A fate egg with overdrive will never turn into a threat. 

EDIT: I just played 5 more games with this deck (vs AI).
Game 1: I lost to Dark Matter.
Game 2: I beat Obliterator by using Eternity on his momentum'd Basalt Dragon while I was generating enough scarabs to be large enough to eat them.
Game 3: I beat Firefly Queen by tanking firebolt and eagle's eye with scarabs, then destroyed Eagle's eye with SoF and overdrove the FFQ she put out to stop fire generation. 
Game 4: I beat Platnum league mono-gravity by using Eternity on his Otyugh to give my pharaohs enough turns to generate 5+ scarabs. 
Game 5: I beat Platnum league mono-gravity by using overdrive on his SoF (while it had 1HP), and using my own SoF and Eternity to Quanta-deny.  (using black hole is worth it when it takes his quanta from 5 to 2, even if he is mono-element).   

[dragtom]

since you have a sofo, GP>chimera...
sure, that bone wall still may cause a little bit of trouble,
but for the rest GP would be better.
unless they manage to get over 15 damage, and prevent you from reducing this.

also, you have quite a few cards that are great if you get them under the right circumstance-
but the actual draw chance is low, and usually other things are better.
additionally, draw chance for towers/pendulums increases.

[Robsta43]

since you have a sofo, GP>chimera...
sure, that bone wall still may cause a little bit of trouble,
but for the rest GP would be better.

I agree this is a very powerful combo, and GP is also a versatile card as it can be either defense or to remove that high-health single enemy, but this deck has Eternity and rewind to do the latter already. 
Chimera as you stated, is good against that bone wall, and that phase shield, and also isn't bad against that dusk/time/frost/skull/spine shield.  You rarely need that 30/300 chimera that this deck can make (although that is fun), but this deck doesn't have something that can deal with these shields otherwise.

also, you have quite a few cards that are great if you get them under the right circumstance-
but the actual draw chance is low, and usually other things are better.
additionally, draw chance for towers/pendulums increases.

This is true, a good reason to have versatile cards where the right circumstances are more likely to show up in a game then not.  Each of these cards in lots of different situations, and most are good against both types of stall and rush decks. 

In those 5 games I just played... I think in 1 of them I was wishing I had more towers, while in 1 I drew too many towers in my starting hand, and in the other 3 the balance was just right.

Also I like having uncommon cards in a PvP deck so that I can surprise my opponent and make a winning move, especially if that card is cast directly from the hand. 


I think there is probably another very good Pharaoh deck with say... GP and Trebuchet replacing Chymera and Eternity.  Perhaps with more towers or removing the rewind and black hole.  So it might look something like:

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It might even perform slightly better, or it might perform slightly worse, and I'd be glad if it performs just about as well on average, trading some situations my deck is good at for some situations where this deck is better.  This would mean that the deck would be able to pull off a few variations for players to play around with, and would mean that it wouldn't be a deck which after seeing the first turn a PvP opponent can't guess what every card in the deck is, and thus determine how best to foil the deck. 

[allen.wayne.sears]

as an active player but not so active fourmer, i have found this one of the most insightful posts. saving to read offline and back to the working. thanks guys!