Round 2 - Strategy

[Mithcairion]

  341 cards left

Aether actually had a tough opening round and two very strong decks for them lost in the first round.  Aether discards 24 cards from both of these decks:

by Mithcairion

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 52r 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61v 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 71b 71b 71b 8pk

and

by Mithcairion

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61r 61r 61r 61r 61r 61r 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 63a 63a 63a 63a 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

In similar fashion to Gravity, parts of these decks can be salvaged and they could still be remade using other cards.  From Bonebolt I expect the Poisons to be kept, as it remains effective with Dimensional Shields and they almost certainly have other Arsenics in their vault.  From the second deck, they are most likely to keep either the Parallel Universes or the Titans+Flying Weapons.
's other matchups:

GravityEntropyFireDarknessDeathLightWater

I need to start being shorter, so I'll concentrate mainly on our matchup here.  Bonebolt absolutely wrecked us last War.  No, harder than that.  No, really, even more than that.  They ran it three straight rounds against us and we had absolutely no answer for it.  With that in mind, I see no reason to think that we won't see it again, especially considering that we have shown Pulvies and we're not afraid to use them.  If they have any more Bone Walls in their vault I think we are likely to see them, unless the bring them for Fire and leave us to deal with Dim Shields.  Either way, a mix of rush and stall I think would do well vs. them.  Pulvy may be a very strong play here, as they probably don't have enough Bone Walls in their vault to be able to run them against both us AND Fire (where it makes even more sense), so I have a strong feeling that we will be seeing Dim Shields from them, and lots of them.

[MartyrX]

  Good News For Us

[Mithcairion]

  339 cards left

Fire split in the first round, but due to the fact that they spent as much as they did in the auction their vault is already shrinking.

Fire has to discard 24 cards from this deck:

by Mithcairion

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fc 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5l9 5ur 7q4 7q4 7q4 8pm

I'm a bit stumped as to what they would save from this deck, as it just seems like a bit of spare parts by themselves.  I suppose if they're planning to use them in a Grabow, the Deflags, Stiletto and RTs make the most sense.
Fire gets to salvage 6 cards from this deck:

by Mithcairion

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

593 593 593 593 595 595 595 595 595 595 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bs 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5bu 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c7 5de 5de 5de 5de 7ac 7ac 7ac 8pm

My best guess would be that they take the Earthquakes and two of the Adrens and probably end up converting them later on.
's other matchups:

GravityAetherEntropyTimeDarknessAirLight

Given Gravity's absolute handling of the Immogolem deck (and any deck with that low of damage output that can go 3-1 with and Immogolem is handling it) leads me to believe that Fire will likely run a serious mono rush, possibly with RTs off the mark.  Against both Entropy and Darkness they are likely to go with either Immo or Nova rushes, although they could try to go with a mono vs. Entropy as well, as they obviously have the ability to go Dischole, as well.  Against Aether, well, I'm a little torn.  Depending on who they send, it could very well be Fractix vs. Fractix here, as it was a favored deck vs. them last time, but a Phoenix/Grabow also makes a lot of sense.  With our very strong shield, I expect to never see Fractix.  Air is actually another opponent where it would make sense to use Fractix, as it renders Wings useless and ramps damage to outrace them.  I expect either an Immogolem or some sort of Lava Golem deck vs. Light, as the ramping damage limits the effectiveness of Light's healing.  Time I expect to see a firestall, as it renders RT as dead cards. 

As for what they would bring against us, I expect heavy CC in some form.  It could be in shield form (Skull, Wings, Fire, possibly Dims) and will most likely come in spell form, as well (we all know what they are).  An Immolation deck makes a lot of sense also, seeing as how our CC isn't the killing kind, but rather the delaying kind.  Being as Napalm has said many, many times that she sees us as a stalling element.  With that being said, this matchup is going to take a lot of time and effort, as we need to be able to hit hard and fast, but stay alive.  I'm actually thinking something along the lines of Stall Faster, but modded for Earthly goodness, something along these lines:

by Mithcairion

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

594 594 595 595 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5f6 5f6 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 8po

[Sevs]

by Sevs

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

594 594 595 595 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5f6 5f6 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 8po

It looks good, But i have some doubts on the SS I would either add 2 EQ or 2 more BB if possible.

also what are the thoughts of running an almost exact mirror match to entropies death counter?
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,32462.0.html

[Sevs]

From type with me

Add this to notabe quotes of war
[01:49:17] MatrimKK: earth is awesome

Round 2 Up
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,32499.0/topicseen.html
Deckbuilding ends 10/19 - 2100 GMT - 1700 EST, 1600 CST 1400 PST

Round 2 Strategy
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,32463.0.html

Finalized decks:  Please make note and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!  Don't forget to track down your opponent once they are announced.

earth1 vs air4 - Player: MartyrX, Deck: Deathstall
52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 594 594 594 595 595 595 595 595 595 718 77c 77c 8pk           
DONE

earth2 vs death5 - Player: ave, Deck: Immortal
(58o 58o 58o 58o 594 594 594 594 594 594 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5lh 5li 5li 5li 5li 5li 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 77c 77c 77c 8pq)
DONE

earth3 vs time8 - Player: AnnaMall, Deck: EE stall
593 593 593 593 593 593 594 594 594 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5on 5on 5on 5on 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 7n5 7n5 7n5 8pr
DONE

earth4 vs life8 - Player: bogtro, Deck: PUGons
(58r 58r 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 61q 61q 61q 61q 61r 61r 61r 61r 61t 61t 61t 61t 6rk 77b 77b 8pu)
Earth Quanta Required: 44, Earth QI: 44/6.5= 6.77
Aether Quanta Required: 60, Aether QI: 60/7.5= 8.0
This is as low as we can get the Aether w/o going to 14 quanta sources/adding Aether pillars/pends (which we don't have).  Life may not have EQ after losing last round.
DONE

earth5 vs gravity4 - Player: kirch, Deck: Standard Grabbow
4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 55q 55q 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 595 595 595 5aa 5aa 5c1 6rl 77a 77a 77g 77g 7dm 7dm 7n0 7n0 8pm
DONE

earth6 vs aether5 - Player: Sevs, Deck: Whole World (anti-grabbow)
58u 58u 58u 58u 58u 594 594 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 61t 61t 61t 61t 622 622 622 77b 77b 80i 8pu
DONE
       
earth7 vs darkness2 - Player: CCC, Deck: Grabbow (steal mod)
4sa 4sa 4sa 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 55q 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 595 595 595 596 596 5aa 5aa 5c1 5f6 5lf 61q 6rl 7t9 80a 8pm       
DONE

earth8 vs fire2 - Player: Mith, Deck: Nix Duo
(595 595 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 8po)
Earth Quanta Required: 28, Earth QI: 28/6.5 = 4.31
Fire Quanta Required: 47, Fire QI: 47/7.5 = 6.27
DONE

(not fighting this round: Entropy, Light, Water, UW)

First off, congrats to all for our performance in round 1.  It is just a small step towards our ultimate goal, but helps prevent us from being at a disadvantage in these early rounds.  I feel we are really starting to gel as a team, and all should know that the bulk of the difficult work is ahead of us.

updated the vault with salvage suggestions - Do we want 3 or 4 extra ghosts instead of Dragons + HG?  I can't think of a reason more of these would be useful unless we are using them for conversion fodder.  Maybe you have a master plan though?  I like the light salvage.Idk hourglass is one of those cards that is just very powerful, double draw allows for a little slower start but essentially ramps up much faster, the reason 10men used hourglasses in >1/2 of his trial matches. I wonder if a GnG with hourglasses would be a decent option. Also I chose the dragons because they have 13 attack when upped and are anti-wings. But with 3 of ghosts and 3 dragons aready, it is probably a little overboard, so they can be converted.
IMO HGs aren't really going to be useful unless we can get more time cards, which I don't think we should gamble on. Most likely, Time will use hourglasses in most of their matches, so I would suggest getting other cards and getting HGs later if we need them.

Now the carnage starts and a poor round's performance has a much greater impact.

[CCCombobreaker]

Sorry annamall... I liked that matchup for us, but against a general (with 6 upped momentums) it was just too slow. 

Gratz Sevs on the victory. 

Heard back from Aves, our roleplay challenge letters are great.  None of our initial times matched up so I'll try back with more options.