Ricochet is an Entropy Permanent card suggested by EvaRia. Ricochet causes each single target spell card to gain additional random yet valid targets. At first the ability seems like it would produce no net gain. If it had an equal chance to target desired and undesired targets then who would be willing to pay 4 |3 + 1 card? However the probabilities can be pushed to be biased in either direction. This results in tactical decisions to support either a strategy of outnumbering your opponent or the strategy of being outnumbered by your opponent.Outnumbering your opponentIf you have 7 creatures to your opponent's 2 then you have a 75% chance to have the additional target be one of your creatures. This means that each time you cast a beneficial spell (like Chaos Power) on one of your creatures, you will get double the effect 75% of the time with your opponent sharing the effect the other 25% of the time. This is a 50% increase in the effects of beneficial spells for you. This also reduces the value of your opponent's beneficial spells. They may rethink casting their Blessings if you have a 75% of sharing the effect. By outnumbering your opponent, Ricochet strengthens your beneficial spells and weakens your opponent's beneficial spells. However caution is advised. Just as Beneficial spells are biased towards your side, so are detrimental spells.Being outnumbered by your opponentYou strengthen your detrimental spells by letting your opponent outnumber you. If they have 6 creatures to your 3 then you have a 50% advantage when using your detrimental spells (like Antimatter). So by letting yourself be outnumbered you weaken your opponent's detrimental spells and strengthen yours but at the cost of strengthening their beneficial spells.Strange InteractionsParallel Universe gives the new creature to a random player.Quintessence is likely to shift the number of valid targets back towards equality.Cremation could be used to sacrifice your opponent's creatures. It also makes it less useful in an Immolation Rush if Ricochet hits the field early enough to make the opponent choose between risk losing a Golem and not using Immolation.
Few Platinum League farmers are strangers to the terrible power of SPlat. Shortened from Scorpion Platinum Farmer, SPlat does much more than simply live up to its name; it remains the most popular deck used against Platinum Arena for one simple reason: It works. And it works well. SPlat possesses the ability to negate a wide variety of decks ranging from stalls to rushes while simultaneously obtaining an incredible number of Elemental Masteries. In addition, the Shards of Divinity allow the user to increase their HP to terrifying amounts, further increasing their reward. With these factors combined it's not at all uncommon for a user to find themselves earning over 600 electrum at the end of a duel. Such a feat is only otherwise possible from grinding False Gods and selling upgraded cards won, but defeating some of the top ranked players can leave the user staring at over 2000 electrum as a reward. In these particular cases, SPlat reigns supreme over all commonly used farming decks.SPlat currently features two separate variations. The Nova variation, as posted above, was the first version of SPlat to be featured and that also demonstrated its powers against the Arena. However, the deck was further fine-tuned to the point where Novae where no longer necessary and the deck's success skyrocketed further. When Shard of Sacrifice was still a relatively new face to Elements the Game, Platinum found itself completely unprepared for the pure power this deck possessed. It was possible for a dedicated farmer to net at least 30k+ score daily with special spins to seal the deal, while even casual users of the deck found themselves reaping huge benefits. SPlat has the ability to effectively negate all forms of offense from creatures and poison using Shard of Sacrifice while Neurotoxin continues to chip away at the opponent's HP at an alarming rate as the duel continues longer. Only the fastest of rushes are able to thwart the efforts of Shard of Sacrifice, and even then Shards of Divinity can be used to extend the deck's lifespan, allowing it to come back from defeat and still win with an Elemental Mastery.However, current times have SPlat seeing a reduced winrate for the simple reason that Platinum League members have found the most effective ways to counter it. Healing, especially healing in the forms of Miracle, Feral Bond, Vampires and oftentimes opponent Shards of Sacrifice, makes it near impossible for SPlat to deal the amount of damage it needs before the player decks out or runs out of Shards of Sacrifice to fall back on. Purify also removes all Neurotoxin counters, putting SPlat back at square one and oftentimes sealing its fate. In addition, the AI has been programmed to better understand Shard of Sacrifice, meaning that cards such as Fire Lance, Sky Blitz, and Unstable Gas are much harder to counter. Special spins are also much harder to obtain for these reasons.Alternatively, SPlat makes a very effective False God farmer, with tests showing that the deck is capable of earning just under 1000 electrum per hour at a winrate of only slightly above 50%. It may not take the place of the current False God farming champion, Instosis, but it's certainly nothing to scoff at nonetheless.Even with the various new obstacles SPlat must face, it still remains a very efficient Platinum League farmer. The deck can easily outperform even the best of AI3 farmers in terms of both Electrum and Score on its worst of days simply due to the incredibly large rewards its Elemental Masteries produce. Despite most current unofficial testing indicating that SPlat has an average winrate of less than 50% against Platinum League, the sheer amount of Electrum obtained from a single duel completely outweighs any and all Electrum lost from defeat. Unless the game itself undergoes drastic changes or all Platinum League members work on specifically countering this one deck, SPlat will remain a threat to Platinum League for quite some time.
Nice!Though... I thought we were still in League 1/2012?
Nice one!How about putting a few of the final battle results? Or is it saved for the next newsletter?
Happy to say the chat is now back up :>
