Consistant Cremate Rush (AI3 Grinder/ttw 5.6)

[Sal]

by Sal

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I designed this to grind AI3.The main idea was to create a list that consistantly wins within a very low timeframe to increase the profit in cash/score gain.
Even with a bad start hand (no pillar) the deck is still fast enough to win turn 7 tops.
And this is the major opportunity over other versions of a Fire Rush.
The average game usually lasts only 5-6 turns (as you can see in the statistic).

Playstyle is very simple.Depending on your hand you cremate (usually a Phoenix) to gain a massive speed advantage and play very Quanta efficient Creatures before the AI could handle it (even if a shield hits the board its usually too late).
Healing / Destroying / Rewinding one or 2 of your Creatures usually only delays the killing turn by 1 if at all (unlike SG´s pure Dragon list that really suffers from rewind).

I´ve also tested a version with 0 quanta cost to increase the killspeed but found out pretty quickly that this leads to inconsistancy ( you don´t ever wanna draw into RoL etc or it will cost you at least 1 turn ... and that happens way to frequently).Sure you can possibly kill earlier, but on the average your game lasts longer cause you are a lot more vulnurable to bad draws -> less spins -> less cash within the same timeframe.

Just make sure you make the best use out of your quanta. The math is really a nobrainer.(Long Sword costs 1 quanta,Phoenix cost 2, Golem costs 5, Dragon costs 10). Just play whats giving you the highest damage output for the curret turn and don´t save up the quanta for the next turn.If that means you have to sacrifice a Golem to play a Golem and a Dragon then do it.You don´t want a long game and if you stick to this rule you don´t have to think at all.

Worst card in the Deck are the 2 Dragons, you never want to see it but there is no cost efficient alternative yet.The upgraded one sits in your hand forever - even with a cremate most of the time you won´t be able to cast them (and thus waste potential damage).The unupgraded one provides 12 damage for 10 Quanta while beeing as fragile as a phoenix - it dies to everything. Rewinding a Dragon is a serious speedbump especially when the deck is designed to "cheat" them into play via cremate (and most likly won´t be able to re-play it soon).

The alternative "pump" creature costs 2 mana for 0 (Unupgraded) or 3 mana for 2 damage. Both not efficient quanta use for this specific design.
Brimstone eater would provide 2 damage for 1 Quanta (or 0 Quanta, but you can´t spend the Quanta the turn it comes into play) and could be viable - but i feel 4 damage is the absolute minimum a card should do. If i could play 8 phoenix i would do it xD
 I also prefer the Long Sword over Gravel. 6 damage for 1 quanta is just pure efficiency. Gravel costs 100% more for a single damage more... and with this deck i´ve never seen it happen that the AI survives the turn with 1-3 life.

Statistic:
Testsample:80 Games

average winning turn :5.6
average HP left: 82.68
average cash won/game: 18.8 (without "bonus" from spinning)
average EMrate: 0,05 (5%)

Winning turn 4:12
Winning turn 5:28
Winning turn 6:20
Winning turn 7:20

Note: Haven´t lost within the Testrow although i´ve lost 2 games earlier with it against a Entropy Deck. Randomly happens like once a day when you grind for several hours.

Note: Feel free to trade the 2 Dragons with 2 Shards of Gratitude if you wanna trade speed for a slightly higher EM-rate.

Upped vs Unupped:
The unupped alternative wouldn´t work out. This Deck relies on the upgraded Phoenix during the early turns (for 2 quanta instead of 7) to be uses for Cremate. You´ll need at least the Phoenix upgraded for the deck to work at all. The upgraded pillars give you at least  a single turn faster speed.The Longsword upgrade is very noticable. The Golems and Cremate aren´t that important upgrades but still provide an edge.
For an unupped version i would suggest to cut both Dragons for additional Pillars and try to get your Phoenix upped asap.

Otherwise just stick to a cheap basic Shrieker rush for grinding (6 Graboid, 6Shrieker, 2 Longsword,16 Pillars // Time Mark).

[ratchetspyro94]

Thats just another golum rush.    Theres at least 3-4 different versions.

[Sal]

Well there are "only" 14  cards in this game. Gonna be pretty tough to re-invent the wheel with that 

Just wanted to share the compilation of what works out best for me.

[tinkady]

has this been tested against http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,11389.0.html ?
i have a feeling its not as good, but i could be wrong. also why use short swords instead of gavels? you have all the extra quanta from cremates, its unlikely that you'll use up any

[Nume]

It looks like an interesting twist. Its not just another rush because it uses no rol/ball lightning, which is unusual. I could see it working though, though it may not be as fast.

[Sal]

has this been tested against http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,11389.0.html ?
i have a feeling its not as good, but i could be wrong. also why use short swords instead of gavels? you have all the extra quanta from cremates, its unlikely that you'll use up any

Short Sword - 1 Quanta - 3 damage
Long Sword - 1 Quanta - 6 damage
Gavel - 2 Quanta - 7 damage

I am using 2 Long Swords in the list because they are giving you the most bang for the buck. 1vs2 Quanta is pretty huge during the first 2 turns and will often mean the difference between casting an additional creature or not.

The 1 additional quanta needed for the Gavel only is worth it when i cast it on turn 1 or 2 - and this is the time i really need the quanta for the Phoenix to get everything rolling.

Also note i´m NOT playing 6 Cremate 4-6 RoL/Ball Lightning because they are just horrible topdecks.Other than your starting hand you don´t ever want to see these show up. And the odds of seeing that happen are pretty huge since 6Cremate + 4 Rol / Ball Lightning would fill 10 out of 30 cardslots with "bad" topdecks.
The first 2 Cremates are never dead only the next 2 you would draw after them. Thats 2 "bad" topdecks vs 8. I would say it is a major improvement and adds a lot more consistancy to the deck. It happens quite a lot that your creatures get Rewinded or frozen that would usually delay the killing turn by at least 1. With my list it doesn´t matter.
Even 3 Heals casted during the the initial 4 turns won´t buy enough time to survive long enough to stabilize because of the better topdeck rate.

The next major issue i had with additional Cremates / RoL / Ball Lightning was the current Mulligan system. Chances are you end up with just a Cremate or Ball Lightning but without pillars in your opening hand.I reduced the odds of that happening a lot and even play more pillars than the "Rush" list.Once again for consistancy.

I´m pretty happy with the 6 Phoenix/4 Cremate split. With the upgraded Pillars you are still able to pump out your 2 Golems on turn 1 when the hand is right and you can be sure that you won´t draw "dead" cards after that.

Edit:
I ran into the "mirror" match between my version and the Ball Lightning Cremate.His start was faster but my draw was a lot better (he drew 3 Ball Lightnings while i drew "quality").Thats exactly what i meant.
http://img529.imageshack.us/f/crematemirror.png/