| January 2017 | | Happy New Year, Elementals! War has ended, Air reigns! Now... Bring on the Brawlers! |
| | - WAAAAAAAAAR! has come to an end! As you may have noticed from our banner and page icon,
 Air now rules the forums! The eleven other factions have fallen (some more quietly than others) but each are already planning and scheming to have their flag flying this time next year...
- Double Double Double Double is beginning to wind down, with only two two matches matches left in both the upper and lower brackets - but as eight slots remain in play, it's still anyone's game!
- As the doubles draw to a close, we now have Trinity as the up-and-coming premier PvP event! Seven weeks of duels with three threatening elements per player will culminate in a final showdown. The first week is already almost over - stay tuned to see what happens!
- After three grueling months of preparation and three long months of matches, the 2016 World Championship is down to the semi-finals! Three of the four remaining players have won the title before, so we have a good chance of seeing our first double winner, unless underdog Aves can upset the odds and claim the crown for himself!
| - The rusty, bloody hacksaws are back out, wielded by CleanOnion and Fippe94 - which can only mean one thing. BRAWL VI is on its way! The Royal leaders have been chosen, and are soon to handpick their courts from among hopeful applicants like YOU!. Don't want to be on a team? The event needs dedicated voters to sign up too, and have their say on this massive, creative event!
- Deckbuilders had to dig into ancient mythology to come up with great Greek False Gods in the It's Greek to Me competition. Congratulations to kaempfer13 for creating the menacing
 Deck  of Erebus  and ruling Olympus!
- A few artists inked their pens and raised their brushes in the recent Raise the Banners...Again competition to create a fitting banner for those who give generously to keep our forum running. Voting closed just before the end of the year and it appears that the community wants the golden placeholder banner to become permanent! Thankyou antiaverage!
- The Competition section will be winding down while Brawl is active so as not to dilute the creative energies of the Forum... but keep your eyes on the section, as there may be a interesting chance for you to shape future competitions while you're battering each other in Brawl!
| | | - Counting from 1 to 8 has never been so complicated! Dec. 3rd's Geo-Sequential had players organizing their decks and including card amounts from 1 to 8 totaling 36 card decks. JonathanCrazyJ shows us how truly excellent he is at counting to 8. And, I suppose he can build a decent deck too. Count his thoughts and his answers to our short interview below:
- There is a crisis in the Market Square! All the rare cards and shields have been banned this time in Dec. 10th's Market Crisis: Plebs. The market may have been in crisis, but TheonlyrealBeef sure wasn't as he went for the top spot! Read his interview, and he might sell you his secrets...
Spoiler for Hidden: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?It was awesome! Whomever thought up this tournament is a genius!
...what do you mean, I'm the one that thought it up? Oh well.
Anyway, it was kind of fun. A lot of people complained about the amount of good cards banned, but I personally enjoy seeing uncommon combos using cards that usually do not see a lot of use. I saw Blessed Wardens twice, and the person using the lamest decks all around was... me. ;(When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?Final battle, final match. One turn away from lethal, Aves starts chaining Sundials. 6 of them. I had replaced Deflagrations in the deck I was using earlier this tournament because I was apparently mistaken about how popular Sundials might be. Well, until I needed them most. Still ended up winning since Aves' QPs gave like 30+  and  , but not even 10 .In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?!!!plebs are needed!!!
- Whats more noble than saving a market under crisis? Dec. 17th's tourney Market Crisis: Nobles was an upgraded form of the previous week, but the markets had re-stocked a couple of Rares and Shields for cunning Elementals to purchase. TheonlyrealBeef once again proved he could deal with both the markets and the pressure!
Spoiler for Hidden: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?
The combination of no bans, but restricted cards made for a bit of a weird tournament. I mean, the strongest cards were mostly restricted, but it was hard to resist relying on them, causing RNG losses to be more likely with such decks. Apparently others had that problem more than me, since I won!
When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?
Final battle, first match. I drew an early Quicksand to ruin Calindu's Quanta Tower stack (Sopa Wardens vs Dragonbow OTK) as well as an early SoPa, but Calindu went all crazy drawing more cards and stalling with Sundials and Dimensional Shields. In the end, I won because Calindu was a few quanta short of an OTK while having 0 cards left in deck, leaving me with 20 hp. I did have 2 Poseidon in that deck that never showed, or it would have been far less close.
In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?
Poseidon!
- Magic is in the air with that holiday spirit and cheer! Fill your stockings with quanta and at least half of your decks with spells, and sparkle your way to a winning performance in Dec. 24th's Magical Time of Year tournament! Sprinkling his fingers with magic fairy dust, Mr Muffin managed to cast the most spells and earn himself a spot on top of the tree! Congratulations, muffin!
- Quick, build a rainbow deck in Dec 31st's Speedbow Speedbuilding tourney! fabian771 showed us they had the quick thinking needed to create rainbows around the dice rolled restrictions. Congratulations, fabian! Enjoy the pot of
 at the end of the rainbow!
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- The Humans are maniacally searching for the possessed in Eldritch - By Kuroaitou! Can the Cultists succeed in obliterating the Humans with the use of their powerful, possessed puppet?
- Paradise Lost 3 - by Fippe94 has come to a bloody end after round after round of deception and betrayal! Linkcat and Demagog lead separate alliances throughout, with nobody knowing they were working together to reach the final! Eventually, Linkcat performed the final betrayal, and mercilessly dispatched his comrade!
- As one Forum Game ends, another begins! False God Says 3 - by ji412jo is the ultimate game of obediance, where you must bow to the wishes of the False God and do what they say... EXACTLY what they say! And you still have time to sign up!
- The Forum Game Organizers are looking for someone to host the next Mafia (66)! Take a look at the set-up here and get involved!
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| - Battle League: Following the 103 matches of this BL season, worldwideweb3 has won with 1552 points! He had a winning record against everyone he faced other than a 2-2 record against kirbylover314, dominating the table. The rest of the placings are under review, as LOs decide how many games should qualify players for prizes.
- Championship League: After 49 matches this season, congratulations go to 1599-point winner worldwideweb3! Similar to BL, he had a winning record against all but one player, this time JonathanCrazyJ held him to a draw. Once again, lack of games across the league means LOs are reviewing the policy on games played.
- These results mean that worldwideweb3 will be the first winner of the new dual-trophy for finishing top of both leagues in the same season! Incredibly, it's the second time he's achieved this feat, the first coming before the new dual-trophy was designed!
- League Organizers ask for more participation in the coming year! Leagues are an excellent way of making friends within the community by playing a few matches against people often online at the same time as you, and improving as a player. Remember, loads shiny prizes and nymph codes are there for claiming!
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- Congratulations Hyroen on taking over as Social Network Manager! If you look to the top right of the forum page, you can see that with the help of the Admins, he has already implemented quick-access buttons linking to our Twitter and Facebook pages!
- We are happy to welcome JonathanCrazyJ to the Newsletter Writer team! If you continue reading, you might spot a new feature he's already sneaked into the formula!
Donation Sensations!Make sure you give massive hugs and thanks to this month's donors! Ryli
Anonymous
Aves
Tea Time with vagman13Below is a portion of the interview: Are you a vegan? (ARTHANASIOS)
Nope,definitely not.I am trying to eat healthier lately and less meat than when I was younger,but there's no way in hell I am becoming a vegan.Good food is one of those little joys in life.I respect however anyone's right to choose what he/she eats and I expect the same from them.
What would be your reaction if someone creeped up on you and said "you are a starfish"? (Anonymous)
I would pretend that I did not hear the last part and say "Yeah,I know I am a star! Thank you".Then I would load up Limp bizkit's "Chocolate starfish and the hotdog flavored water" album on my iPod,ride my unicorn and chase the rainbow for Electrum gold.Did you expect a serious answer on this one ?
Do you have a cat?  (Anonymous)
Nope...
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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!  (Welcome back!) |
NEW FEATURE: Tune of the Month
A fledgling new feature for the Newsletter sees JonathanCrazyJ serenade us with a new, original track recorded just for you each month! This month, he's decided to focus on the amazingly generous forum donations made by Ryli over the past 2 months which have, along with equally important donations from other members, have allowed us to pay off a whole year of forum hosting!
Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 52g 52g 52o 52o 52o 52q 52r 52r 52t 52t 52t 52t 542 542 55t 55t 576 576 576 576 576 576 718 718 71a 71b 745 745 747 75m 8pkDeck idea by Team Gravity W10 Deck review and name by Basman-1453
Card by card:
Gravity Pendulums: Because even the most OP cards can never be cast without paying the quanta. More seriously, the deck was developed in a situation where at least 40% of the deck needed to be constructed from Gravity cards, with up to eight cards upgraded in a deck.
Bone Pillars and Death Pendulums: Because even the most OP cards can never be cast without paying the quanta! The deck's winning condition involves Poisoning your enemy and having your creatures chip away at them, using a Bone Wall to buy a turn or two should the need arises. They're clumped together since they'll generate Death quanta every turn thanks to the deck's Death Mark.
Bone Walls: They're mostly there to buy you a turn or two. Without reliable ways to generate death effects (all you have there are two Gravity Pulls), you'll be lucky to have one of these last you more than three turns. Considering the shield-ignoring capabilities a good portion of this deck has, though, you usually won't need much more than that.
(Deadly) Poisons: They're there to.. apply Poison counters! Even if all your creatures are taken care of one way or the other, those poison counters will stay there to help remind them who's boss. Combined with Chargers, they give the deck good damage potential even against the strongest shields.
Arsenics: Need help applying more poison counters? They're there to do that, for the cheap casting cost of two Death. Note that they'll only stick the poison counters when the weapon can actually touch your opponent and deal damage (thus, for example, an unupgraded Arsenic is a dead weight against a hostile Titanium Shield).
Elite Chargers: Does five Gravity for a 7/5 beating stick sound a good deal to you? It does? Oh, I forgot to say that they're dealing momentum damage, which pierces shields and forces the opponent to actively take care of them. Now you see why these bad boys are a favourite in upgraded decks that use a decent amount of Gravity.
Mummies: Elite Chargers are a staple attacker in upgraded Gravity rushes, and Mummies are a staple attacker in unupgraded Death rushes. Four Death at 5/3 is nice for an unupgraded card, which also help free up upgrade slots for more important things. They're also there to make use of the excess Death created from the need for early Bone Walls.
Graviton Guard: A cheap, yet stupidly durable, beating stick. For two Gravity, you're getting a bulky 4/7 attacker. They're nothing like Life's Giant Frogs (5/3 for 2 Life) or Death's Flesh Recluses (6/3 for 3 Death), but what they 'lack' in offensive capability, they make up in durability.
Gravity Pulls: They may be mentioned last, but they're not the least interesting card this deck offers. This card is the only way you can kill an enemy's creatures. Note that this card will need some creatures dealing physical damage (meaning, no amount of Chargers can help you there) to actually damage the creature afflicted by this.
Strategy:
This deck seeks to defeat its opponent by overwhelming them with poison and creatures, with Bone Wall and Gravity Pull to take care of enemy offense. You might want to reserve Gravity Pull for particularly dangerous enemy creatures.
Strengths:
Poisons and Chargers deals their damage without care of the enemy's shields, forcing them to either simply outpace you or have it taken care of. Attempts to outpace it will have to face Bone Wall (and Gravity Pulls, if you're lucky). Bone Wall also serves as a deterrent against having your creatures CCed; it forces them to either take damage now and thin the Bone Wall or kill them now and thicken the Bone Wall.
Weaknesses:
For all those shield-bypassing damage, this deck doesn't have any sort of permanent control, which leaves it pretty vulnerable to dangerous weapons. Also, Bone Wall will quickly fall before decks that rely on having numerous creatures on the board. And since most of the reliable shield-bypass comes from poison counters (there are only two Chargers in the deck), Purifies can hamper your progress quite a bit.
Alternative deck choices:
When you're on a format where upgrade count is not an issue and you're free to bring a fully-upgraded deck, you will want to replace those Mummies for Flesh Recluses; 3 Death for a 6/3 is a very good deal. You will also want to upgrade those Bone Walls, Arsenic, and Poisons. Replacing the lone Guard with another Charger might be an interesting idea especially when all the Gravity Pendulums are upped too, especially if you're expecting them not to bring dangerous creatures that need Gravity Pull and a physical attacker pronto. You could also consider Shard of Focus which can act as PC, as well as synergizing wonderfully with Gravity Pull, and occasionally creating Death Effects!
A few months on from the tumultuous climax of Card Design War 3, we look back on one of the most interesting cards from Champion Card Designer Aves' catalogue.
Noxious Hooks | Impaling Hooks is a unique card which has potent synergy with the largely overlooked realm of creature poison. The upgraded form especially would see a huge increase in the use of cards such as Bloodsucker and Plague, which are currently underplayed in the meta.
A Plague of Problems
The (unupgraded) current cards which would be affected are Plague, Parasite, Toadfish, Grey Nymph, Aflatoxin, Virus, and Thorn Carapace.
Currently these are all fairly underplayed cards due to the time it takes for them to act. Plague may have the potential to kill an entire board, but depending on the HP of those creatures, the game may have ended before the board is totally cleared. Under the effect of Impaling Hooks, however, it turns into the equivalent of a Fire Storm after each attack. Thorn Carapace, especially backed up by healing from other Life Cards, becomes a potent defensive problem.
Another Card worth noting is Voodoo Doll. Unfortunately the card is designed so that extra DAMAGE is dealt by poison counters, rather than applying extra counters in the first place. If a Voodoo Doll is infected under the effects of Impaling Hooks, The opponent will take 1 transferred poison counter, but take three extra damage per turn rather than one, as the Voodoo Doll is damaged.
A Plague of Thorns
Here is a proposed deck designed by JonathanCrazyJ that shows how a defensive arsenal powered by Noxious Hooks | Impaling Hooks could look! Relics have been used to represent Impaling Hooks.
A Plague of Thorns Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 534 534 6rp 6rp 6rp 710 710 710 710 710 710 714 714 714 714 714 714 719 719 719 719 719 719 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 7aj 7aj 7aj 7ap 7ap 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 8pn
(Relics represent Impaling Hooks)
Early game plays with this deck involve baiting out any PC with Shard of Gratitude, while simultaneously keeping at a decent HP in the early game. Once you have the quanta, play the Impaling Hooks and Spine Carapace, possibly along with a Plague to get the poison ball rolling. Once several opponent creatures are due to die, drop all the vultures you have to get huge damage ramp as your opponent's field crumbles.
Gray Nymphs provide excellent single target CC when needed, and provide an alternative win condition by flooding your opponent's field with Malignant Cells which can't get through your shield. When the time is right, a single plague on a full field of cells can provide a huge amount of deaths to feed your Vultures.
Mitosis can be used as you see fit depending on the situation, either for Nymphs or Vultures, or in some circumstances against an AI opponent, on their smaller, weaker creatures like Photon, to give you more targets to kill to trigger death effects.
If you were interested by this card, check out the rest of the Card Design War submissions from Aves and others in the Card Idea Competition Submission section!
Many thanks to:
-Basman-1453 for DiotM.
-JonathanCrazyJ for CiotM.
-vagman13 for the interview.
-mathman101 for Tournament Section.
-You! Thanks for reading!
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