*Author

The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg683#msg683
« on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:29 pm »

If anything is inaccurate or just straight out wrong, post in the thread, and i'll get around to fixing it. Also any recommendations on adding to this post would be appreciated.

Now then... this post is, embarrassingly,  pretty much just copy and pasted from the wiki... i figure its best to have it both places though.
(use cnrtl-f for easy navigation)

General False God Information

    * Every single card in the False Gods' decks is upgraded.
    * Normal limits on deck building are not in use for them; they typically have many more than 60 cards, and have more than 6 copies of their key cards.
    * False Gods have 200 HP instead of 100.
    * False Gods' marks give them 3 quanta per turn instead of 1.
    * False Gods draw 2 cards per turn.



Gain: 60 coins                                 Risk: 30 coins                       Lottery: All upgraded cards
Obviously it's tough to win against these odds, but not impossible; most of the False Gods' decks are built with more of an emphasis on theme than on competitive effectiveness, so while they're extremely powerful they do have vulnerabilities (which are exacerbated by general weaknesses in the AI.)


Specific False God Information


Seism: Mark of Time (x3) running mostly Earth, uses upgraded Earthquake for pillar denial and then pulls out upgraded creature spam. Notable cards:


    * Quicksand. The less reliant you are on pillars, the better.
    * Diamond Shield. Kind of makes pillarless FFQ swarm a no-go unless you can deflagrate every shield that gets put up (there are more than 1).
    * Electrum Hourglass. Creatures come out frighteningly fast with this in play.
    * Elite Graboid/Shrieker. These come out fast and do 10 damage/turn after they evolve; thankfully the AI tends to leave them burrowed even if nothing threatens them (with 4 HP they're resistant to a lot of things that can kill normal shriekers before they burrow, too).
    * Other elite earths: Gnome Gemfinder, Hematite Golem, Elite Antlion. These are the least of your worries.
    * Elite Stone Dragon/Devonian Dragon.
    * Rewind (improved Reverse Time).
    * Enchant Artifact.
    * Pulverizer (thankfully doesn't have any source of gravity quanta, so your permanents should be safe).


Gemini: Mark of Aether (x3) running Aether / Gravity. Really tough deck, puts out a ton of damage quickly and has no gaping weaknesses. Known cards:


    * Phase Recluse. At 4 quanta a pop, these come out FAST with upgraded aether pillars and do 7 damage/round.
    * Elite Immortals / Phase Dragons. Even if you include lots of creature damage to kill the recluses (2 HP each), you're not going to touch these.
    * Colossal Dragon. Not immortal, but at 30 HP, they might as well be.
    * Twin Universe. Multiples those colossal dragons in a hurry. Also tends to screw growth decks; with 200 HP, the AI can afford to wait until something gets nice and big and then clone it a few times and kill you.
    * Dimensional Shield. Reasonably frequent but not all that predominant.
    * Momentum. Stalling with your own dimensional shields is unreliable, although thankfully this one seems to be rare.
    * Lightning Bolt (doesn't seem to be quite as frequent or prominent as any of the others).
    * Lobotomizer. Not that common but can ruin creature setups.


Miracle: Mark of Light (x3) running Light / Air / Life. Has a good number of dragons, Elite Firefly Queen + Elite Rustler (Leaf Dragon), Elite Pegasi. Damage doesn't come out as quickly as some of the other False God decks (being spread across 3 colors of pillar doesn't help) but the deck still has some big damage dragons and weapons. Is weak on control, so you don't have to worry about your creatures or permanents getting countered directly, but stalls heavily. Includes:



    * Elite Firefly Queen and Leaf Dragon (upgraded Rustler). Anything that kills creatures does fine here, just as with any FFQ swarm, although the Leaf Dragons are slightly harder to kill (but not that hard).
    * Light Dragon and Jade Dragon. Don't count on being able to kill this deck's damage output.
    * Elite Pegasus. 6 damage / turn that comes out pretty quickly, and reasonably tough to kill at 4 HP.
    * Both Jade Staff and Morning Glory; probably a couple copies of each, gets them out reliably pretty early. Unless you have some serious healing going on Morning Glory will kill you given a dozen or so turns and you can't do anything about it, so simply countering this deck's creatures isn't enough.
    * Blessing. Thankfully, the AI is dumb enough to use this on the dragons instead of the Pegasi.
    * Jade Shield. Soaks 2 damage a pop and is indestructible (also reflects direct damage spells). Also has Solar Buckler, although it is one of the worst shields in the game (and one of the crappiest upgraded shields by far).
    * Miracle (this should come as no surprise to anyone). Be prepared to fight through this God's 200 HP two or more times. (Edit: I'd like to see if we can get some idea of when Miracle uses this card. The highest HP at which the AI played Miracle is observed to be 61.)



Morte:
Mark Of Death (3x) .Running a Death / Light deck.


    * Retrovirus. Upgraded Virus hits everything you have out. The AI will sacrifice these to feed Vultures / Boneyard even if you have no creatures on the field, which you can exploit, but there are far too many of these for you to rely on that.
    * Graveyard. Creates 2/2 Elite Skeletons.
    * Condor. Thankfully they're not that much more powerful than Vultures .
    * Boneyard. Expect to see many of these.
    * Bonewall. Much more common now than in the old Morte deck.
    * Ray of Light. Skeleton / Bonewall fodder + fast Light quanta.
    * Archangel. Not really sure what these bring to the table, except that they hit pretty decently through shields.
    * Ivory Dragon. Another strong hitter.
    * Deadly Poison, Arsenic. Much more direct poison now than previously.
    * Improved Plague. Another relatively rare card; the AI seems to prefer to use Retroviruses.
    * Improved Miracle. I feel for you if you get past all the bonewalls only to see this played.



Incarnate:  Mark of Death (x3) Darkness / Death deck.  Features:


    * Vampires. These are a key feature and come out frequently.
    * Eclipse. Includes a lot of these, so it comes out quickly and can't be Deflagrated away easily (unlike Morte). Vampires are 6 HP drain / round with this running, which adds up in a hurry.
    * Bonewall. Also comes up a lot more frequently than in Morte.
    * Vampire Dagger. Quick 4 HP / round drain.
    * Pest. Maybe a little more common than in Morte.
    * Bloodsucker, Boneyard, Retrovirus: all included here, but Boneyard / Retrovirus don't seem to have the same frequency as they do in Morte.
    * It's unclear whether this deck includes any Steals or not; however, that doesn't mean much. The AI tends to be conservative about direct damage, so it might have some drains in their too that it just didn't bother to play since it was beating me.


Chaos Lord:
Mark of Entropy (x3) Entropy / Rainbow Mutation deck. The AI is thankfully quite stupid here and will play Improved Mutations indiscriminately on your creatures, even though Improved Mutation will never result in the target dying. This can be annoying if you were counting on a creature's specific ability, but you can also score some really powerful mutations (though they won't last long).


    * Lots and lots and lots of Fallen Druids and Mutations, obviously.
    * Werewolves. Kind of pointless, since the AI often mutates them rather than using Lycanthropy, but they're still cheap mutation fodder.
    * Discord. Another double-edged sword; while this screws with mono-color decks, it also means you have a variety of quanta available to power the mutations that the AI gives you.
    * Ray of Light. Mutation fodder, plain and simple.
    * Supernova. Really not especially useful, so be glad for these.
    * Dissipation field, Unstoppable (improved Momentum) and Amethyst Dragon. They don't seem to be that common, but can foil many of decks that could otherwise counter this God.
    * Improved Steal. Will sometimes use it on your shield while having dissipation field on.


Rainbow: Mark of Time (x3) Rainbow deck (obviously). Very heavily control-oriented, unlike most of the other False God decks. It's a very large deck, even compared to other False Gods, so there's a lot of randomness involved.


    * Werewolves, Graboids. Fast, strong hitters. Werewolves are really common here, Graboids, not so much.
    * Forest Specters. Not quite as fast to set up as Werewolves, but their growth is still a credible threat.
    * Explosion (improved Deflagration). Come up fairly often.
    * Improved Steal. Not that common, but you're likely to see at least one by the time you wear down the God.
    * Congeal (improved Freeze), Thunderbolt, Gravity Force, Rewind (improved reverse time), Owl's Eye. Shuts down whatever creatures you use to try to counter this deck.
    * Electrum Hourglass. With all the extra cards and quanta False Gods get, this brings things out ridiculously fast .
    * Miracle. Is rarely played, but it's not a fun sight when it does.


Graviton: Mark of Fire (x3) Gravity / Fire deck. Another one of the stronger False God decks.


    * Graviton Flamemaster. Tons and tons of Graviton Flamemaster. Thankfully, they take blissfully long to get going, and this deck isn't overflowing with fire quanta in spite of the mark, but they are tough to kill (6 HP) and scale up dangerously fast.
    * Elite Charger. 7 damage that penetrates shields. These come out pretty quickly too.
    * Unstoppable (improved Momentum). Shields are generally not very effective against Graviton.
    * Elite Otyugh, Elite Armagio, Gravity Shield. Not that frequently played, doesn't seem to rely on them, but they're there.
    * Gravity Pull. Mainly used to kill your creatures.
    * Rain of Fire. For killing creature hordes, such as FFQ swarms.
    * Explosion. Tends to destroy pillars instead of holding on to them for your shields / weapons, so your permanents might last a while, but don't count on them long-term.
    * Brimstone Eater. Fast fire quanta. Makes pillar / quantum denial difficult.
    * Titan. Doesn't appear often.


Fire Queen:
Mark of Air (x3) Elite Firefly Queen swarm. Probably one of the most vulnerable False God decks, but is still dangerous.


    * Elite Firefly Queen. Spits out Elite Fireflies; these generate Fire quanta instead of Light, which makes things play out slightly differently than in standard FFQ swarm. No Rustlers to serve as an obvious weak point. Emerald towers may be vulnerable, but there are a lot of them.
    * Fire Bolt / Rain of Fire. Seems to rely entirely on Elite Fireflies' Bioluminescence to run it; shut down the Queens and you won't have to worry about this so much. Does not seem to have Deflagration / Explosion though, so your permanents will probably be safe.
    * Eagle's Eye (improved Owl's Eye) / Fahrenheit / Animate Weapon. Eagle's Eye and Fahrenheit do quite a bit of damage, although again, if you stop the swarm, Fahrenheit may not get played, and the Fire Queen will not be able to assemble a pool of Fire quanta. Eagle's Eye can kill your creatures even if Fire Bolt is shut down, though.
    * Empathic Bond. Lots and lots of Empathic Bond. The AI tends to spend its limited Life quanta on casting Empathic Bonds instead of building its swarm, which can potentially give you some breathing room to destroy the Queens, but once the swarm gets going, you're not going to be able to out-damage it.


Hermes: Mark of Earth (x3) Fire / Earth growth deck. Can kill you very quickly, so this deck's specifics are unknown.


    * Lava Destroyers (improved Lava Golem). These are the bread and butter of the deck; they start out doing 7 damage / turn and only go up.
    * Fire Specter. Not as strong as the destroyers, but still a viable threat.
    * Improved Plate Armor. Gives +6 HP, instantly turning the golems from 1 HP glass cannons into near-invincible monsters. Luckily, doesn't seem to be played all that frequent.
    * Other typical fire deck cards: Brimstone Eater, Rain of Fire, Fire Lance, Explosion, Ruby Dragon, Fahrenheit.


Scorpio
: Mark of Death (x3) Water / Poison deck. Whereas player-made Water / Poison decks can be vulnerable to quick kills, trying to take out 200 HP before the poison kills you is a tremendous task. Highlights:


    * Physalia, Puffer Fish. Some walls will stop the Puffer Fish's poison, but not the Physalia's.
    * Deadly Poison. This one's a hell of an upgrade; 3 poison each adds up very quickly.
    * Abyss Crawler, Ice Dragon. Nothing amazing on their own, but trying to deal with strong creatures on top of all the poison thrown at you is a nightmare.
    * Ice Bolt and Congeal. Shuts down whatever creatures you try to use.
    * Ice Shield. The single most annoying and arguably one of the most powerful shields in the game.
    * Poseidon. Be glad this deck doesn't have earth mana to use its ability. 4 damage / turn hurts, but isn't bad for improved weapons.
    * Improved Mind Flayers. Doesn't have many of Aether pillars, so these won't shut you down right away, but they're still dangerous.





Lesp

  • Guest
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg684#msg684
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:29 pm »

Some of my thoughts, from a mono-Aether, entirely unupgraded perspective, but with a lobo:

Seism - Seism doesn't seem to handle his deck especially well, compared to some of the other gods. It's rarely worth it to parallel universe his creatures, since they're inevitably reverse times, wasting one of your draws.

Gemini - Normally I wait until it's necessary (I'll die if I don't) to start playing phase shields, but against Gemini it may be worth playing them early. She can throw out huge amounts of shield-ignoring power at once, so having the HP buffer is important. (On the other hand, a single Lobotomizer isn't going to save you from four momentum'd dragons showing up in one turn anyway.)

Miracle - Miracle has no disruption whatsoever than I have observed. Anecdotally, she seems to wait until you're a threat to her life (about two turns to kill) before playing Miracle, but that could be totally wrong, and it's not completely consistent. What I do is play one or two threats (Phase Dragon or PU'd Light Dragon), and then wait, playing only phase shields and pillars. When she's low, but before the miracle, dump the rest of your threats - PU the biggest Light Dragon and play any Dragons you can afford, killing her in one hit. She doesn't have unlimited miracles, so sometimes if you have enough damage on the table you can just bash her health down over and over.

Morte has no ways to deal with weapons or shields, so he normally dies like a chump if you can keep shields up. Early lobotomizer makes it so that he can't use retroviruses, and if you have a few threats out then the bone wall isn't a big deal. This match is won or lost largely based mostly on whether you can get lobo out, which makes it much harder for him to refresh the bone walls.

Incarnate - I don't think she has any steals, so she's pretty much a pushover if you can keep shields up. Like Morte, lobo is a giant help in this match, since you can use it to stop bone wall growth. If you can, then not only is this an easy match, but if you have a few PU it's possible to get mastery a fair portion of the time by grabbing vampires. (Lobo the things she plays that can poison.)

Chaos Lord - I've only won this matchup once with my deck. He packs a moderate amount of disruption, and while you can buy time with a lobo, the steps to getting the first shield up are incredibly painful if he gets a Discord out. Even then, his random poison damage and momentum creatures can get through.

Rainbow - She creams me every single time. Every shield or lobo immediately destroyed or stolen, while multiple hourglasses keep the threats coming hard and fast. Probably essentially unwinnable with my deck. Has anybody ever beaten this god? What kind of strategy could possibly prevail over a deck that eliminates every threat while drawing 3+ cards a turn?

Graviton - This deck is really awful for mono-Aether that uses dragons as it's primary win, because it blanks those. Even if it weren't for explosion, he gives his guys momentum constantly, so your days are numbered. You could try to pull it off with PU'd chargers, but he tends to eliminate those with gravity pull. I run 5 dragons/3 PU, which I think is an unfavorable ratio for this deck, which blanks the dragons entirely.

Fire Queen - Did I get a lobo early? If so, this deck is a cakewalk. You can shut the deck down completely and totally. It's just a matter of getting enough threats out to outpace the life gain. Flown Eagle Eyes are probably the best PU targets, since they take three EE hits to die and do the most damage. This is a matchup where it pays to get threats out ASAP (after lobo, of course). She has no disruption, so she dies like a chump if you can outpace her lifegain. If you don't get a lobo early, you just lose, but a lot of matchups are like that.

Hermes - I have little experience with this guy, but since he has shield disruption, I lose very quickly every time.

Scorpio - I think this matchup is pretty winnable, but it's mostly a matter of luck. Specifically, if he gets lots of Deadly Poison or Chrysasoa up fast, then you can't outrace him. If he mostly gets physical creatures, then he's helpless. PU are relatively useless, thanks to congeal and ice shield. I think this is the one matchup that really get vastly more difficult when Phase Dragons got more expensive. He also has Ice Octopus, if you want to add that to the list. (Further making using most creatures a bad proposition if you can't get rid of the octopus or lobo it.)

eNonymous

  • Guest
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg685#msg685
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:29 pm »

Very helpful. Thank you!

ggabriel

  • Guest
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg686#msg686
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:29 pm »

The wiki page is probably inaccurate and out of date--most of it are first impressions that I posted when the update went live, for the sake of having the information out there. I haven't followed it that closely on the wiki since then, but I don't think it's been getting updated very much. Some people have added wiki pages going into a bit more detail on specific gods, but I don't think all of them are done yet.

Morte has no ways to deal with weapons or shields, so he normally dies like a chump if you can keep shields up.
If by "normally dies like a chump" you mean "normally poisons you to death", then certainly. Morte is very much winnable, but I find him one notch up from Scorpio in terms of difficulty; even if you can tear through a bonewall in 2 turns, that's 2 turns you probably can't afford to take before poison kills you. Plus he does carry Improved Miracle, which you can't really do much about unless you get lobotomizer out early enough to shut down his rays of light--you can't afford to hold back damage while you chip away like you can with Miracle because you need him dead fast, nor is it really feasible to go through 400ish health before you die of poison. Also, Scorpio sometimes gets really really slow starts since his pillars are spread out more; Morte doesn't.

As far as Scorpio goes, you do definitely want to play Parallel Universe (although it's still not a priority). Even if you're lucky enough not to get poisoned too badly, he will happily icebolt you to death once your health gets low, so giving him extra targets to play icebolts on can potentially save you.

Lesp

  • Guest
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg687#msg687
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:29 pm »

All good points. It may be my luck, strategy, or deck composition, but I find Morte a substantially easier fight than Scorpio. (In the sense that I beat Morte roughly half the time, while I lose to Scorpio essentially always.) Morte only normally plays a handful of deadly poison (I've never seen more than three, over the course of the game), while Scorpio wings those things out like crazy, routinely racking up double-digit poison figures from the beginning, and only building from there. I tend to find that it's possible to stabilize against Morte, even though you're on a clock, and to beat the clock because he offers great PU targets, while Scorpio's PU targets are mostly things you make as decoys and he just shovels out poison so much more quickly. (I've also had the good fortune to only very rarely see Improved Miracle out of Morte - again, this could be my luck.)

Offline MartyrX

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 261
  • Reputation Power: 4
  • MartyrX is a Spark waiting for a buff.
  • !!!PULVERIZE!!!
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg951#msg951
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:30 pm »

I am fighting False God PEARLY.  Haven't seen this one yet.  Anyone have any info.

MattWPBS

  • Guest
The False Gods - info https://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg1196#msg1196
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:31 pm »

Something I've found with Hermes and his fire lances - he'll go for creatures in the field rather than direct damage at you. If you're playing Aether, Parallel Universe a couple of his creatures with high hit points and let them take the flack.

Hope this helps some people.

 

blarg: