| December 2016 | | War is coming to an end!
New staff! |
| | - WAR! is beginning to wind down but plenty of fight is left - two teams of five are still out on the battlefield and they gain superpowers now in Round 14,
 (246) and  (219) locked in mortal struggle with less than a single deck's worth of cards separating them. Since last month, we have said farewell to a few more contestants (    ) - stay tuned for the epic conclusion!
- Double Double Double Double has also mostly run its course, with only a handful of matches remaining between the upper and lower brackets before we have a victor!
| - Congratulations to Ryli for her
high quality meme in our Art Competition: Elemements! Sadly the prize did not include the Auburn Nymph she'd proudly display if she had, but congratulations nonetheless!
- Go vote in the pantheon! ...what do you mean the pantheon isn't usually decided by votes? Time still remains to choose your favorite false gods based around the ancient Greek deities in our Deckbuilding Competition: It's Greek to Me!
| | | - When a Tournament Organizer leaves we all drink in remorse. vagman13 drank his fill and went for the win in Nov. 5th's Mathman's Final Drink utilizing his alchemy spells for top performance. Speak to us vagman, and share your tourney thoughts below:
- Quick, time to pull rules out of the pot in Nov. 12th's Speedbuilding Potluck. kaempfer13 knew how to overkill the off-square baby back as he pushed himself for a win. Mind reading his thoughts on the tourney, gave these results:
- Can you balance a see-saw in half, or how about a deck with only two to three elements in it? In Nov. 19th's Tribalance players made decks with at least 80% of cards not matching their deck mark. Basman-1453 pushed his way to a win and will share with us his secrets of his magnificent journey:
Spoiler for Hidden: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?
Decently liked it. The rules were a bit strict, but it was interesting nonetheless. My only concern was how dominating Fog/Dusk is probably going to be in that tourney (considering its utter lack of PC options), which took me by surprise on the other direction: I've ran into exactly zero (IIRC) ppl running either 0.o
When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?
The decider. I was bringing 'The Seven Tombs' (check my deck post that tourney; the entire stuff was designed to dance around Fog/Dusk Shields) against RapidStar's, IIRC, SoBrav/Vampire/SoSac. With Mark of Fire. (I'm on the opinion that Shards of Sacrifice don't work well with Vampires, both your opponent's and yours, so~ ^^;) Except only when he couldn't use his Shards of Sacrifice and he said something like 'damnit, should've used SoSac before the turn' I learnt of them, and thus my kiddies overran him X3
In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?
Exhilarating!
Speedbuilding....errr 7 days to speedbuild with only the given 36 cards. dragonsdemesne snuck his way through the crowd and may it to the top of the Slim Pickings 6x6 Tournament Nov. 26. We have picked through and slimmed down his interview to bring you this short tidbit of info:
Spoiler for Hidden: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?
The rules were definitely fair and balanced, but it was almost -too- balanced. I even said in chat right before the tourney started that I thought it would come down to luck. I also said I didn't like the ruleset then, but given what the TO was trying to accomplish, i.e. a set of cards where the decks were mostly on par with each other, I think he managed to nail that very well. I'd have liked to see a bit more possible variety in deck archetypes; it felt mostly like 'which element do you want to zergrush with'. I think monos were too strong in this one; I couldn't really think of any good duos that could compete with the speed of some of the monos available.
I ended up drawing very well in most of my games; there were only two draws I would say weren't above average; one of those was my loss in the finals, where my draw was a bit slow, and the other I still won, because Mr Muffin's draw was even worse; I'd started with 1 pillar and he started with like 6, but I drew more quanta right away, and he drew I think one dragon the entire game.
One interesting thing, when I was first looking at the allowed cards, I was thinking that gravity shield/aether duo was going to be OP as heck, since gravity shield blocks everybody's dragon except fire, and then there's fractal and lightning in aether. However, while it seemed good in theory, in practice I realized that it would probably suck against almost all of the best decks (it certainly failed against monofire and fractal spider, which I think were probably two of the best decks today), and then I remembered that graviton mercenary was 3 quanta instead of 2, and suddenly it wasn't looking that good anymore to play gravity/aether. I tried to build it anyway but it just didn't work. Gravity shield was the reason I never played monoearth, though, despite earthquake looking pretty good; gravity shield stopped everything in earth today. The other thing I noticed was that the only PC was deflag, but there weren't even really any good targets for it, so even when I used fire, I didn't bother including it.
When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?
I guess the finals. With all due respect to my earlier opponents, my draws were just so good and my decks so straightforward that the games just played themselves and it didn't really feel that exciting. In the finals, though, I lost my first game, and then of course you're fighting uphill after that. I thought I was going to lose the second game and thus the finals when I had that one pillar draw I mentioned earlier, and then got pretty stoked when I managed to luck my way through that one. In the finals I had a pretty good matchup; Mr Muffin mentioned that in testing, the deck I picked was the biggest weakness of the deck he picked, and it was still fairly close. I drew all 3 rains of fire pretty early, and ended up using two of them to kill almost everything he had. I'm not sure if I'd have won without those or not; it would have gone from a fairly comfortable win to too close to call either way. The other funny thing that happened, I am pretty sure I lost all seven coin tosses in this tourney :p I didn't keep track, but I am pretty sure I didn't get any of them
In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?
Well, I said this in chat before the tourney started; it seems to fit.
([12:24:28] ‹dragonsdemesne› i don't think i like this ruleset, it's too vanilla :p it's probably going to just come down to luck)
| - Battle League: This season has seen 74 matches to date - and worldwideweb3 is currently in the forefront with 1570 points!
- The season is heading towards its close and we would like to wish all battlers and spectators alike a happy new year in advance, with many successful League games to come!
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| - Demagog's Elements Mafia 64 ended in victory for the Others (town) over the Chosen in the Experiment, making use of 'perks' that granted abilities for a night as a twist on the usual role system.
- Code Crash by fabian771 (and interim host UTAlan) continues apace! We'd tell you what's happening, but beyond the game leaning heavily in favor of the Hackers, only the Coders and Hackers have any idea what's going on in this particular sector of cyberspace.
- Paradise Lost 3 being run by Fippe94 has moved on to Round 3! The seven remaining players must outwit a witch in her game (and each other too!) in order to gain one of the coveted four spaces in Round 4.
- Ryli's Elements Mafia 65 is now taking signups! Hurry up and sign up today and be an Elemental! (Or a False God if fate sends you that.)
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- Congrats, Jenkar, our temporary WM!
Big hugs and thanks yous to our recent donors!
Gorghandi
Ryli
Also be sure to have a look at our Forum Hosting Status for more information, and remember, $5 for bronze icon, $20 for silver icon, $80 for gold icon, and $320 for indium icon!
What's your opinion on vegans?  (vagman13)
Good meat is expensive enough as is. Vegans miss out on enjoying good food, but less demand means lower prices! As long as the food tastes good and isn't toxic, I'm not too concerned on whether it grew as sustainable agriculture or was nabbed of a chickens ass. Governments and politics get to worry about that: I'm not about to go vegan over it.
If you could meet ONE member of the forums (either active or not) who would it be and why? (Lunaris)
Zanzarino.
I know, lame answer, but I'd love for him to take some time to speak with me, both as a player of his game as well as a fellow programmer. Even if just to somehow get some new life into the game we all know and love.
Any last words for this interview?
Hmm, maybe a bit late...
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New Members
Spoiler for Introduction posts: Here are the members who posted in the Introduce Yourself board within the past month. Just click a certain name to be redirected to the corresponding introduction post. Don't be rude, say hello to newcomers!  |
G3: Gnomes, Golems and GraboidsHover over cards for details, click for permalink 590 590 590 590 590 590 5f6 5f6 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5f9 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fa 5gi 5gi 61p 61p 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 8pmDeck idea and name by TheonlyrealBeefDeck review by Bas
Card by card:
Immolations: Because even the most OP cards can never be casted without paying the quanta. More seriously, this deck is part of a deck archetype known as Immolation rushes, which uses Immolation, some Immolation fodders, and efficient Fire hitmen to deal quick damage before they can react.
Gnome Gemfinders: Because even the most OP cards can never be casted without paying the quanta. More seriously, in addition to being an Immolation fodder, they also help generate some Earth to summon the Graboids before they're being Immolated to create the Time needed to turn them into Shriekers. (The rest of the deck is not upgraded since the deck is created with upgrade restrictions in mind, citing this version as the 'minimal upgrades desired'.)
Fire Pendulums: Because even the most OP cards can never be casted without paying the quanta. More seriously, this is your safety net when Immolation or its fodder aren't coming.
Sparks: They're there almost only as an Immolation fodder. That's not to say they're insignificant, though. Far from it, in fact; this deck have very few pillar/pend-based quanta generation.
Lava Golems: An offensive star of the deck. A 5/1 creature for 5 Fire is nice, but its ability to increase its stats by 2/2 for 1 Earth per turn (which would be supplied by Mark, Gemfinders, and to a lesser extent the Fire Pendulums) lets it get out of the range of most lethal-creature-control options, things like Reverse Time and Maxwell's Paradox notwithstanding.
Graboids: Another offensive star of the deck. A 2/3 creature for 3 Earth might not sound much, but Time lets it turn into a frightening 8/3 creature that can protect itself.
Deflagrations: They're there to take care of problematic permanents, including but not limited to disruptive shields, dangerous weapons, probably even to punish poor quanta openings if you're so lucky.
Strategy:
Similar plans you're doing with Immolation rushes generally applies here: get some fodder Immolated to pave the way to summon Golems, have Gemfinders gather enough resources for Graboids before being Immolated, what have you.
Strengths:
Like most Immolation decks, they're dealing fast damage when things are in their favour. You will need to either outpace or control damage it can do to take care of them, and neither would be very easy without the neccesary cards. Also, both Golems and Graboids (that would later turn into Shriekers as Time permits) can protect themselves. Finally, this deck is less prone to misdraws that Immolation decks are usually prone to have since it has more potential Immolation fodder than most.
Weaknesses:
Like most Immolation decks, though, it's also vulnerable to Reverse Time (it will force you to repay the summoning cost of a relatively expensive creature) and Bone Wall (Immolation kills the fodder, powering up their Bone Wall). Also, like most rainbow decks, it's also vulnerable to Black Holes. Last but not least, it have no creature control and limited permanent control.
Alternative deck choices:
To quote the maker himself,
For possible modifications ... Deflagrations and Fire Pendulums could easily be swapped by cheap cards that don't cost Earth or Fire quanta to play. Fog Shield, Hammer, Vampire Stiletto, Arsenic, Lycanthrope, those kinds of cards. These variants are built with the very idea of permanent control having no effect on them, though. 2 cost cards also have the disadvantage of requiring 2 Immolations to be played to boot.
This Card review was written by Hyroen
If there is one domain in which  Aether reigns supreme, aside from stopping damage with Dimensional Shield, victories in War, and forum admin fan service it would definitely be spell damage. Home of the versatile Thunderbolt, the namesake of many 'X Bolt' decks and the appropriately named forum guild, the element has cemented the theme of spell damage in its arsenal through how it incorporates it in cards such as Psion and Shard of Wisdom. As such, spell echoing may find an appropriate thematic home in Aether, although another card designer might've suggested a home in Air before, though he may have been a bit biased. Spellstone, a card designed by moomoose gives players a 25% chance to generate a spell card in their hand when the spell is played, permitting the cap of 6 of the same card to be overcome in a sense, but also allowing the spell duplication to use part of the opponent's deck, if possible.
Spell Duplication
When comparing Spellstone to Mindgate it is important to note that a Mono Aether deck which runs Mindgate can effectively play the opponent's deck as well, however, Spellstone simply adds copies of spells, and unfortunately, this means no duplication of pillars or pendulums. Thus, a Spellstone deck is likely to be a  Nova bow, but it definitely doesn't have to be, especially if you'd much rather copies of your own spells. Having synergies with Nova,  Poison,  Fire Bolt,  Shard of Divinity, and even Silence, Spellstone proves to be as flexbile as it is deadly. Enhancing the spell factor of decks, Spellstone magnifies the potency of certain decks while being thematically housed.
Here is a deck designed by Hyroen that shows an effective way to use Spellstone | Spellstone!
Deck 1: Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 4t9 4t9 4t9 4t9 4t9 4t9 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 718 718 718 718 718 718 71a 71a 71b 71b 71u 71u 71u 71u 8pu
(Relics represent Spellstone)
As if SoSa Poison decks needed any more help, Spellstone comes along to not only grant a chance of duplicating Deadly Poisons but Shard of Sacrifice as well. However, due to the mechanics of the deck, spells should not necessarily be used liberally, though they can be. The more spells played while Spellstone is active, the more spells that will be duplicated, and as such it may even be wise to hold back on 1-2 Deadly Poison if an Arsenic is up. Though if spells are lobbed when drawn, the deck should still be quite effective, with a decent chance of duplicating at least 1-2 cards per game.
As we move past our last month's  Time card into this month's Aether card it is important to review the 2016 year and think about the effect we've had on the fabric of aether over this year's time. Spellstone by moomoose would make an excellent and thematic addition to the highly effective Aether arsenal. Though this year comes to a close, we from the Card Curator team look forward to more creative inspirations from an ever-hopeful community, and look forward to seeing what 2017 has in store, because who knows? Maybe we'll see Spellstone in a near EtG future.
Good luck to the 2 remaining teams in War!! Oh and good luck to the upcoming Temp. Warmaster filling in for Physsion. Click HERE to find out more about War 10!!
Be sure to view more of moomoose's work in their Portfolio!
Thanks for reading folks! Until next year!
Hyroen, signing off for 2016.
From the Newsletter staff: Have a wonderful holiday season and remember that the Elements are with you always!
Many thanks to:
- mathman101 for Tournaments Section.
- TheonlyrealBeef for the interview.
- Basman-1453 for DiotM.
- Hyroen for CiotM
- All readers for reading
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