Round 4 - Strategy

[Skydaemon]

Strategy discussion thread so that we don't overclutter the deckbuilding one.

This thread is linked to the Test Decks thread for the round, so look there to see the postings of the decks I figured most likely for each person to face.  The starter decks below are mostly designed to deal with the decks from that thread.

Time for earth to start handing out the pain.  Got some new decks ready including steel swarm for dema, and steel rage for terro.

Fights this round:
TimerClock14 - willng3
Everything life has left appears to rely on adrenaline, and it's the only thing they haven't tried against us and we've been wrecking them.  This deck requires salvages, but it should hopefully wreck most of the test deck options if you get the thorn shield out early enough (that's the priority above everything else).  Empathic bonds are no worry without
Anti-adrenaline deck:

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 591 591 591 591 591 591 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5c3 5c3 5c3 5c6 5c7 5c7 Skydaemon - brettbstock
I'm looking to use a modified dev denial.  Checking their salvages, they have enough for 2 RT decks to use against us, which they made as a response to our doll decks.  I'm going to take this as a specific counter to it.  I ditched the steals as the rt deck has nothing to steal.  I really don't expect a bolt deck, as we always frustrate those either with stoneskins or reflective shields, and we always have earthquakes.  There are lots of better choices than bolt decks against us.

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 591 591 591 591 591 591 593 593 593 593 593 595 595 595 5um 5um 5um 5um 5um 5uo 5uo 5ur Dreggs - Boingo
We have a serious shortage of earth creatures, we need some non-element attackers.  So I say we salvage the chargers and build a gravity option.   The bonus is they walk through phase shields.  In this deck, it is crucial to use either the plate armor or momentum on each charger as soon as you play it so that they don't use lightning (5 dmg) to kill them right off.  Do not play them without the momentum/plate armor at the same time.  The pulverizer is powered and can smash lobotomizers and shields.  The main kicker of this deck is the gravity shields which block the phase dragons they use against us.

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55l 55l 55l 55l 55l 55p 55p 55q 55q 55q 55q 55v 58q 58r 58t 58v 58v 58v 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa Korugar - mrpaper
I think this can work against aether as well.  Plus they don't have RTs as they aren't expecting it so maybe it works even better.

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 591 591 591 591 593 593 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk Terroking - xdude
need to test this against xdude's upped deck options

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5rk 5rk 5rk 77a 77a 77a 77a 77a 7q8 coinich - Nume
this worked pretty well in testing:

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voodoo deck: - you might want an extra grav pull, as they'll almost certainly bring an RT for your doll.  I took out the mirror shields, and put in a grav pull and deflag as I don't believe they use a bolt deck against us.  They have enough for 2 RT decks now, and we've always frustrated their bolt decks with mirror shield/EQ/SS.

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4vj 4vj 4vj 55t 55t 55t 55t 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 595 595 595 595 595 595 5f6 5v0 5v0 5v0 6u3 6u3 6u3 $$$man - Daxx
We're really hurting for a lot of earth cards, so I was thinking maybe we could make a poison deck.  The one thing that bugs me is having no way to dispatch flying staves or empathic bonds.

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 52q 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58s 58s 58s 593 593 593 594 594 594 594 594 595 595 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aaThese decks have already used virtually all of our stone dragons, hematites, and graboids, so be careful in thinking up new ideas.


lieutenants:
nilsieboy
dragoon
implosion
Gl1tch
jumbalumba
jmdt
Amilir
Malduk
Kuroaitou
quantumT
dragoon1140

Fights Last Round Element Total X 0-1 1-0 2-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-2 0-0 1-0 1-0 5-4 1-0 X 0-1 0-1 0-1 1-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 0-1 2-7 0-1 1-0 X 0-1 1-0 0-0 0-2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 2-0 4-5 0-2 1-0 1-0 X 0-0 1-0 0-1 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-0 5-4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 X 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 2-0 X 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-0 1-0 0-0 5-4 1-0 0-0 2-0 1-0 0-0 1-0 X 2-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 1-0 8-1 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 0-2 X 0-0 1-0 1-1 0-1 3-6 2-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-1 0-0 1-0 0-0 X 0-1 1-1 0-0 5-4 0-0 1-0 1-0 0-0 1-1 0-1 1-0 0-1 1-1 X 0-0 0-0 5-4 0-1 1-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1-1 1-0 0-0 X 1-1 4-5 0-1 1-0 0-2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 X 3-6

[Demagog]

I think I could make good use of the other voodoo doll deck. Probably switch to an entropy mark and take 3 supernovas as well as 3 novas. That way I have a better chance of getting stone pillars and a better chance of having the quanta to play my combos.

[Dreggs]

I'm thinking Dev Denial again (not exact same but similar) might be a good shout for me against Boingo.

He seems to use Phase Shields and PU a lot as well as Lobos so Shrieker/Devo's burrow and steal his phase shields should limit him a little I hope.

Also if he goes with something similar to his deck from the last round he may struggle to get enough quanta to get his dragons out.

Is this the best way to go about against Aether or does anyone else have any suggestions?

Dreggs

[Demagog]

I think two or three nightmares would be useful against both aether opponents, in case they are using fractal decks.

[Skydaemon]

The only thing about these matchups is a lot of our opponents know exactly what we'll be bringing.  Being predictable like that is rarely good.

-Aether knows we're going dev denial almost certainly.  Last time they figured out to bring EAs to guard their pillars, which allow them to overpower the dev's with sheer pillar power.
-Light could easily see RT deck coming, as we beat them with it last round.
-Fire still remembers our doll deck, you can bet on that, and their answer to it is to pack RTs of their own if they rush.  Check the RT deck they used against dreggs for an idea what could show up and ask how we keep dolls operational against that.  Remember that mirror shields are not invincible against bolts/poison.  If they bring their own mirror shield they can bolt themselves to go right through our mirror.

I'm still updating the intel threads for many hours yet...  I'll have something in the test deck thread after that.

[Dreggs]

Ok trying not to do something predictable so will try avoiding the dark/earth combo and will try to poisen way round shields and outdeck/outlive them.

Spoke to Coinich and turns out my deck idea is almost exact same as his from R2 so I made mine a bit more like his.

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Good to play and can hold out pretty well again bad draws, will make his lobo useless and limit what he can PU.

Anyone think of anything else?

[Korugar]

How does a golem rush sound, with Fire Shield and Deflagration for PC and CC, using Gnome Riders for fuel and SS and pillars for stalling, if I have to survive through protected shields. Does that sound feasible?

[Legit]

How does a golem rush sound, with Fire Shield and Deflagration for PC and CC, using Gnome Riders for fuel and SS and pillars for stalling, if I have to survive through protected shields. Does that sound feasible?

I was thinking of using the fire shields for my deck, but during testing, it was unsuccessful against light's immolation deck. If the team thinks you have a better shot at winning with the fire cards, go for it.

[Korugar]

Well, I'm far from an experienced deck builder, so like you said, what does the rest of the team think?

[Skydaemon]

Well, I'm far from an experienced deck builder, so like you said, what does the rest of the team think?

You know, I think a doll deck can work against aether, they have no RT, they're creature based damage, and all they have is lighting for cc.  Plus, they won't expect it.  The dragons will outlive their lightning.  Deflag for phase shields and lobo's as needed.

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[Korugar]

Just suggesting a deck...

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It's not meant as a stall, but if I need to wait out a couple shields while building up damage before destroying the shields, the stone skins will help.

[Skydaemon]

Ok, the decks in the top post work with the vault if we salvage carefully.  However, we're 4 stone pillars over limit, so unless we gain 4 in salvage, we need to oust them.

// edit, I take that back, there is no possible way to field 2 doll decks, we're required to discard one pretty much, which means korugar needs a new deck idea