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February 2014
| | Who's Next To Take the Throne? |
| | Spoiler for War: Now in its tenth round, War has been battle of wits, deck building with each round's Event Card in mind. With air, time, aether, and gravity fighting for the Grandmaster title and reigning of the forum, look forward to some epic battles! If you're interested in complaining about War #7 head over to this thread. And instead of complaining, enjoy the rest of War, giving thanks to the three Warmasters killsdazombies, Belligerence, and Wizardcat.
Spoiler for PvP Events: PvP World Championship 2013The annual event has made it to the Final Four. Go root for your favored competitor!
Computer SimulationsDeveloped by majofa and, it seems, a clump of the community, Computer Simulations mixes it up with an entirely new way to battle, win, and conquer the player pool. Qualifying for the PvP World Championship 2014, the winner will have had prevailed victorious each round, following new rules as the event progressed. Now nearing its final round, players have had to build decks around restrictions like deck size, card type allowed, and card limits! Definitely an interesting event and we hope to see more fun, creative events like these in the future.
Three-Man Team PvPThree-Man Team PvP is back for its sixth time! Limited to six upgraded cards, team must build around each member's specific element. If you're interested sign up here. | Spoiler for Competitions: Short Story Competition: Day OffA request that sends the imagination soaring, Dm1321 and the other organizers announced this Short Story Competition! Writers were asked to write a piece that spoke to what a card's life is like on its day off. Are they laying by the pool? Watching movies? Skydiving? Who knows!? What we do know is that this is one of the most successful competitions, with over ten entries! Head over to the submission thread and check them out. Winner: Opsinis with his piece on Relic!
Card Design Competition: Christmas Time!The competition has been welcome with open arms many a time and the custom didn't change this year! eljoemo took home the Santa Claus hat award icon with his card idea,"Sweater!" Congratulations and best of luck to the rest of the competition participants!
False Gods Competition: ReloadedIn this newer competition, players had to reengineer an existing False God deck. A brief description to accompany the deck idea was also to be written. Rules also included a shard limit and allowance of three submissions. Hopefully, we see some decks founded and built on inspiration of past works and competition. There is no winner yet, so go vote for one here!
Check out this discussion on Elements Pictionary to keep yourself updated on the best of EtG Competition.
In a recent discussion with Competition Organizer Dm1321, there was talk of a Deckbuilding competition in the works. I guess that came out earlier than I thought it would! "We also plan on starting Triathlon when War ends," Dm also said. Looks like it's going to be an exciting year for competitions. If you have an ideas of your own, head over here!
Spoiler for Forum Games: Corrupt Wish 4.0Since 2010, Corrupt A Wish has been a gateway for new members' 30 post counts and veterans journey to their own high post counts. Regardless of the reason, over 2000 wishes have been granted and, in turn, corrupted. An impressive feat to say the least. And to throw out my own wish that needs corrupting: I wish that the Newsletter had more more member activity! Hopefully, we can hit 3000 wishes by the end of the year 
The Witch's GameThe Witch's Game is bound full of pink and blue truths. They are weapons of both the witch and the humans, respectively. Point of the game? Defeat the witch! Catch yourself up on the past stories and new mysteries to come in the game thread. Annele has definitely thrown more than a few for a loop, I can tell you that much!
Elements Mafia 36 - by ji412joThis House themed Mafia has Doctors, Patients, and Nurses in position of the cops, civilians, and mafia, adding a nice twist to this oldie but goodie! Play as a Patient and you may end up with tuberculosis, psychopathy, or cancer! Interesting... And look, there's House! If you're not participating, "check up" on the thread to see who's killed who and read the story of life in the Princeton Plainsboro Hospital. | | |
Spoiler for Duels: This is more or less a reminder that Duels does exist! Developed by EvaRia, Duels explores a new player experience. Giving players the chance to play out duels and matches with rule sets that have never been used before, Duels allows for a playground of fun and exciting fights. Hopefully we can see some reprisal of this sub-forum within the next month! If you're interested, check out this thread first. | Spoiler for General League News: PvP League pits this community of players in friendly battle. With their option to change up the rules, three months of constant battle between players varies, yet the goal remains the same: be the best. Good luck to all players in 1/2014. Players may now join both leagues! Now that's something  See the rest of the 1/2014 patch details here. And if you're interested in joining, check out the rules! While all of these changes may have happened without your knowing, there was much work behind the scenes. Take some time out of your day to thank justaburd for his hard work. Spoiler for Battle League: Battle League 3/2013Congratulations to Vangelios for conquering the competition in this most recent season of Battle League! Following him was dragonsdemesne and Submachine, taking the second and third spots respectively. Finishing off the 2013 season, 37 competitors took to the dueling board, attempting to nail a spot at the top. I was able to sit down with Death Master rob77dp and he told me of how this season has been that much different from the previous. He spoke to the idea that many of the matches have followed "unique rulesets." I was not entirely sure what he meant by that, so he sent me a few examples. Below are some of the rule changes that I found most interesting! Spoiler for Championship League: Championship League 3/2013Odii Odsen took first in the 3/2013 season! Congratulations to him and the runner-ups, SpikeSpiegel and rem4life. What is more interesting is that only five of the ten participants were eligible for final rankings, meeting the twenty game requirement. Hopefully, we see a better outcome this season with the rule changes.
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Thread of the MonthPosted May 27, 2012, this thread made a surprise necro on Jan. 15th. With it came the start of one of the most widely played variations of Elements the Game. Restricted to your starter deck and the cards won from spins, players hope to rack up the cards to build a deck to even make it past AI3! Take the challenge, start an alt or two and RNG your element. Learn the way around your elements weakness and find its strength. Conquer and control. Best of luck!
Forum BrawlLook forward to the third instance of Brawl in the upcoming month! There have been some changes in the rules and style of play. To see what's going on, check out this thread, followed up with the rules. In the upcoming editions of the Newsletter, there will be updates on Naesala and Chapuz's event!
Tea Time with Giants: ddevans96Below is a portion of the interview:
Q: I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say that your forum name is somehow connected to your actual name and birth year. If not, what's goin' on with that thing?
Yep. My first initial is D, middle initial is also D, last name is Evans, and birth year is 1996. I wanted a simple name for my second email and this is what I came up with. I’ve used it with very little variation since.
Q: When did you discover Elements the Game? And in turn, when did you find the forum? What do each of these discoveries mean to you?
I found Elements when it was posted (illegally, I later confirmed) on the gaming site MoFunZone, in May 2009. I stopped playing it shortly after, returned the next February, and began lurking forums in April. The forum discovery is very significant, because this community has wound up becoming a huge part of my life, assisting in my recovery from depression - which is still present, just never in the form it was four years ago.
Q: What has been your favorite moment been in-game and or on the forum?
So many great memories. I think the one that stands out to me the most is winnng my first ever War match, against nelde59 of Team Light in War 6. I joined this forum to compete in War, because it was so interesting to me, but I wound up getting involved in a much different way - through event management. When I finally had a chance to compete in War, it was a huge moment for me.
Q: In your opinion, where do you think the forum/game is headed? Not to say those words are interchangeable, but they're linked.
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Deck Idea of the Month
bripod's 500hp EM Deck mod by bripodThis deck review was written by Deck Helpers, Calindu and inthisroom.Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 77i 77i 77i 77i 77i 77k 77k 77k 77k 77k 77k 7aj 7aj 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7dm 7dm 7dm 7gq 7gq 7jp 7k2 7k6 7k6 7km 7km 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q5 7q5 7q8 7q8 7t9 7t9 7t9 8pn
The deck featured this month was made by an old veteran, bripod, to be used against the higher levels of the arena, Gold and Platinum. The deck may look very boring (actually it is boring, as most stalls are), but the electrum and score you're going to get will make the boredom worth it.
Card by card:
Mark of Life: The mark used is not for quanta as much as it is for the extra healing you get from SoG, another choice may be Mark of Light, taking out SoGs and adding more Sanctuaries and SoDs (SoDs are really good for taking off the early game pressure).
Sundial: Try to keep them for late game, only use them early game if you really can't take more damage or if you want to accelerate your draw.
Quantum Towers: To run this deck you need quanta.
Protect Artifact: Makes you less vulnerable to PC, you must (!) keep one for your Eternity, and the rest are best used on SoGs (all of them stack), your shield, your quanta if you are facing EQs, and your HGs.
Granite Skin: Use them at 75 earth quanta to get yourself tol 500 HP, those can also act as emergency healing, you can play one early game and still get to 500 HP end game.
Spine Carapace: Best shield to take in this deck, slowly kills all creatures except for Psions, for those, steal the opponents Lobotomizer if he has one.
Shard of Gratitude: Lots of healing, all 6 of them stacked means 30 healing/turn.
Explosion: You just can't go wrong with PC, take down a weapon, slow them down by destroying an hourglass, you can do a lot with this card.
Purify: I think this is pretty obvious, there are a lot of poison decks in arena, and this card just slows them down a lot.
Ray of Light: Just that random low-cost creature that you are using to not deck out, can be any no- or low cost creature, Pest might be a good pick too.
Sanctuary: More healing, protection from Black Holes, Pests, Silences, awesome.
Shard of Divinity: It's a good heal early game, also increases max HP if you are going to need miracle early to survive.
Time Towers: Make it easier to get the drawing power in use and assure yourself of 3 Time Quanta per turn end game to rewind that critter.
Electrum Hourglass: Drawing power, it really speeds up your gameplay.
Eternity: Core part of the deck, use it or you're going to deck out most probably.
Improved Steal: Read Explosion, just that this time you're going to keep this! So try not to steal their pesky Vampire Dagger when you have your Eternity on...
Strategy:
The basic idea of this deck is to set up Quanta generation, Shields, and Healing while you produce Earth Quanta to reach 500 hps and then deck your opponent out, gaining a healthy bonus in electrum and score.
Many strategies are available with this deck:
- Use Eternity to draw lock your opponent and get set up.
- Stealing an opponents weapon or shield to use against them.
- Deflaging early Quanta producers to slow down your opponent.
- Spam healing to survive the first onslaught until you can set up.
It's not your usual "if you can click it, play it" kind of deck. It is more of a chess match. Many games you think that you will loose, you could win if you think it through.
Strengths:
This deck is really strong once it sets up, so once you play like 20 turns, there's a pretty big chance you are going to win. It's also strong against most PC spam decks as it has quite a lot of Protect Artifacts. Also, a 500 HP EM in Platinum can earn you enough Electrum for one upgrade if the Arena payout is at 250 and above.
Weaknesses:
Early pressure on you means you're most probably doomed or you will barely make it to mid-late game, and if you do, you'll probably have wasted that much healing power, including Stone Skins, to stay alive, that you won't achieve the full bonus.
Possible mod
This is a rather old idea, but still one of my favourites.
Basically, the target permanent stack gains a purple skull icon (like poison). Note that the 'stack' can be a single permanent. When the player who owns that permanent stack completes their turn, one permanent in that stack is destroyed. It keeps the icon, and the process repeats each turn until the stack is destroyed.
One of the most difficult parts of card design is coming up with a simple idea that is also original and innovative, and one that the game would benefit from. Corrosion portrays this beautifully. Poisoning permanents is not a common idea at all (in fact, the only other case of poisoning permanents was the card that this card was based on) and it is easy to understand the basics of this card. Even a non-experienced Elements player would likely get the gist after just one play, which isn't always the case even with ingame cards. Admittedly, there are a few aspects to the card that can't be gathered at the first glance, like how it interacts with steal, and if it corrosion be removed (though the latter may appear in the appropriate card's text if this is added ingame). However, they are minor details that can be discovered with general play and so do not detract much from the simplicity of the card.
One of the main gaps in Elements that most, if not all, have noticed is the lack of PC. While Death may not be the first choice to gain this powerful archetype because it is already considered a rather powerful element and other elements are felt to be more deserving, this card would do an amazing job in helping to fill the gap, though perhaps Water should get its turn first. Corrosion is incredibly thematic, and doesn't have to complicate itself to do so. Nothing screams death like buildings slowly crumbling into dust, and it follows with Death's ingame theme of slow deaths.
It is relatively balanced; it can destroy more than deflagrations can for cheaper, but it requires time - something more valuable than quanta. Unupped, a Fire deck could get rid of two Shards of Freedom in less than one turn for 6  and two cards, while Corrosion would take 2 turns but only 4  and 1 card. This is where the two cards are about balanced. With a stack of one, Corrosion is more expensive as well as slower, so a Deflagration would be better, though with a stack of 3 or more, Corrosion would generally be better (though it depends if you want speed or cheapness.) If Corrosion cannot stack (have more than poison on a stack) then this would be balanced, and also highlights the differences between the themes of Fire and Death
As with almost all PC, Corrosion could fit into any deck that has a source of Death quanta. It could be used in a rainbow as a slightly more expensive, but a more versatile deflagration, or a death stall to make it that much more powerful. It would be incredibly useful in environments where you expect your opponent to play a lot of shards (*cough* arena) or in War or similar PvP events where you know your opponent is low on quanta producers and want to exploit that for all it's worth (*cue evil laughter*).
TL;DR, Corrosion is a balanced card that would help expand the game and has freaking cool art.
A thank you Annele, Calindu, inthisroom, and Opsinis for their participation in this month's newsletter.
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