| March 2016 | | Brawl #5 is underway! New council! End of the Year Forum Awards are out! |
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- RootRanger has started a new PVP Event! Devil's Gate is currently in progress of Round 2. Round 1 was a very exciting play off! Stay tuned to see more action unfold!
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- Congratulations to Zawadx for his competition win in Worthless Warrior! instantly following this, this is the last competition before brawl #5!
- Round 1 of brawl #5 is already in voting phase! Go vote, it could make a difference!
- Round 2 of brawl #5 is currently underway, whilst the participants have to face new and challenging tasks! Go have a look!
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- Freeze! Wait, isn't that what the cop says? Unupgraded Tournament: Cops and Robbers was a very exciting battle between those who chose cops, and those who chose robber. By the end of the night, Timdood3, who played as a cop, came out on top, showing off his decks. A small interview below:
Congratulations Timdood! We hope to see you in future tournaments!
- Love is in the air, toniight~ ♪. Lots of Valentines fun went down in Valentines Potluck Speedbuilding tournament. Exciting too, as deuce22 himself came back to win the tournament! Players had to choose between two factions to play as. He joined, dominated, then quickly turned back to the shadows to hide. Not even sharing his decks with us. No interview with him, sadly. Congratulations nontheless, deuce!
- Interested in science? Meeting the Scientists was an amazing tournament! Players had to choose between using 6 of a certain card, like Butterfly Effect or Momentum. Manuel came out on top in the end, winning an exciting victory of 2-0 against Aves. His decks can be found here. After his magnificent win, we gave him a small interview
Spoiler for Mini Interview: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?
The tournament was good, the scientists weren't too balanced, no one picked Butterfly Effect or Arsenic since it was pretty impossible do anything good with. it was probably better being able to change the scientist after every round.
When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?
The most exciting moment probably the last turn of the final, i was pretty sure to lost in the second game, i still don't know if my opponent was unlucky to not draw Heal/Vampire/Empathic Bond or he totally forgot to bring some Heal.
In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?
One word to define the tournament: no Alessandro Volta :c he was so perfect for Lighting, Unstable Gas or Shockwave!
Jk, probably the word is unexpected, this was my second tournament ever. 
- Did someone say birthday!? I'm just here for the cake. mathman101's unupped birthday bash seemed to be one of the most exciting tournaments. Players had to choose a 2 cost creature to use in their decks throughout the tournament, and were not allowed to change! Dr. Pizzaz came out with a close win against kirbylover314. His decks can be found here!. A small interview below:
Spoiler for Mini Interview: Did you like the tourney in general? How about the rules?
As of several weeks ago, I've been going to every weekly PvP tournament, and enjoy the deckbuilding each time. The rules are the best parts of the tournaments! I spend a few hours each week concocting my newbie-worthy decks to try to counter other unsuspecting entrant's creations. This week, I managed to put together a couple rather nice decks.
When, for you, was the most exciting moment of the tournament?
The most intense moment, besides losing the first match against both rob77dp and kirbylover314, would be game 3 against rob. I will eternally fear eternities in these tournaments, and when Rob got out a procrastination and eternity in the first few rounds, I thought I was done for. He had won the first match with that cruel blade, and I had no interest in losing to it a second time! I barely managed to pull off the win since I already had a few creatures on the field, along with a lobo and a half-hp rob.
In just a short sentence, or even one word, how would you summarize the whole tournament?
Sweaty.
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- Championship League: Odii Odsen holds the top spot currently, with 1560 points!
- Battle League: Aves is the top dog this season, leading with 1617 points!
- One month into leagues, and the battles are getting intense! Stay tuned as more battles unfold!
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- Naesala's Mafia 57 has begun! The mafia team opened with a risky gambit in this Planeswalker themed mafia, but the town decided to play it safe, and mathman101 lies dead on the ground after a thorough lynching. It's still early in the game, so there are surely more exciting moments to come!
- Submachine's Witch Game 5 continues! A small group of Humans has been locked in battle with the Witch for four months, and has solved three mysteries! However, there are still three more bodies and the Witch herself left unexplained, and with a recent lull in activity, will the truth ever come out? Only time will tell!
- Kuroaitou's RAID nears its conclusion! Nineteen brave souls have waged a heroic battle against the ferocious Queen Dragon of the South, Fazstraga. As the dragon hunters come close to ending her reign of terror, she has redoubled her assault and wrought havoc upon the adventurers. While the healers struggle to keep their companions' hearts beating, the elementals are valiantly rising up for one final charge! Will the heroes emerge victorious from the field of ash, or will the merciless Dragon uphold her dominance over the realm? Stay tuned to discover the result of this first installment of the RAID!
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- Council is hiring a new Mentor Manager! Go apply now while you still can!
The forums are funded up until April 1st, 2016! Please have a look at our Hosting Status and please consider donating.
Donations:
No Donatons yet, please consider!
Tea Time with mathman101Below is the portion of an interview:
What is your favorite branch/type of mathematics, and why? (Aves)
My favorite type would probably be geometry and then algebra after that. I am currently studying civil engineering, so I have to deal with different shapes of structures for construction all the time. Enjoying geometry really helps with the want to deal with the different and odd shapes, and solving them to fit into a building properly.
Have you ever betrayed anyone? If yes, who and why? (Anonymous)
Betraying someone would imply that I have intentionally harmed or hurt someone on purpose. I do not believe that I have intentionally harmed anyone, but I would not say that I haven't hurt others unintentionally. I am only human, and am sure I have made mistakes and accidentally harmed others but it was never done intentionally. Whether it be online here or with my RL buddies and schoolmates, usually if I find out I have harmed someone I try to apologize or make things right if possible.
Do you rage sometimes? You seem to be a very calm person. (Anonymous)
Very rarely do I rage or lose my temper or cool...
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New Members
Spoiler for Introduction posts: Here are the members who posted in the Introduce Yourself board (but not later than in 2 months prior to Newsletter). Just click a certain name to be redirected to corresponding introduction post. Don't be rude, say hello to new comers  |
Comic introduction here
LINK TO PREVIOUS COMICS
Drainbolt This Deck idea of the Month is brought to you by Calindu
Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5ul 5ul 5uo 5us 5us 5us 5us 5us 606 606 606 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 622 622 7tb 7tb 8pu
Hello, my name is Calindu and this month I'm presenting you a strong PvP deck used heavily by team Darkness in War #9. The deck utilizes a great deal of CC cards and the Dusk Shield/Vampire Dagger combo to stay alive and to control the board and the Black Dragon/Fractal combo to finish off the opponent.
Card by card:
Black Dragon: Very strong finisher combined with fractal, can combo for a maximum of 70 damage.
Drain Life: Crucial card for this strategy, strong CC card with the added benefit of healing.
Vampire Dagger: The MVP of this deck, it's a 12 hp swing per turn, for 2 quanta.
Dusk Mantle: Very good shield for this deck, makes sure you won't get bursted down by creatures and comboed with Vampire Dagger it makes your opponent wish he packed PC.
Lightning: Cheap and reliable CC card, kills most threats in unupgraded meta.
Fractal: Finisher and stallbreaker card when combined with Black Dragon.
Strategy:
This deck has a pretty straightforward strategy, but differs from archetype to archetype:
Against rushes, your main game plan is to kill every creature that poses a threat, and slowly heal and chip their HP with the vampire dagger. A rush deck will usually run a great deal of creatures, so it's important to not use 2 CC cards on a single creature unless it's absolutely needed(Nymph Queen needs to be dealt with right away for example) and value whether a creature is enough of a threat to ask for a CC card.
Against stalls, the game plan is very different, you want to build up darkness quanta for high damage drains and to get a hand capable of OTK. You'll periodically use lightnings directly on their hp to clean up your hand but try to use them only if you need to discard. The Black Dragon-Fractal combo is key against a stall, as it is a 60 damage combo(considering you have to use drains for OTK too) for only 2 cards. If you suspect a stall, steal is a great card to ensure you can deal damage through a shield.
Against domination decks, the game plan is similar to the one against rushes, just that they'll often pack sturdier creatures and some utility cards. The match up can be hard or easy depending on their build, some cards like Sky Blitz, Fire Bolts, PC cards or stall-breaker combos can be really hard to deal with.
Of course, there are some decks not included here but those are the main categories of decks you will probably encounter.
Weaknesses:
Fractal decks: A good fractal deck can flood the board so hard not even 11 CC cards can deal with it.
Stalls with reflective shield: Reflective shield blocks any spell damage, so with a full fractal combo, you can deal at most 70 damage, not enough to OTK. At that point, CC cards and miracle will follow and you'll not be able to finish the game.
Creatures with more than 6 hp: They need 2 CC cards or a 20+ quanta drain to kill, so until you get that quanta you are split between taking damage or using 2 cards to remove it.
Burst damage: Burst combos are very hard to deal with, you don't really have great ways to stop it and you can't really win before them too.
Quanta control: This deck needs a lot of quanta to do its job, Lightnings are mainly powered by mark, and drain life need quanta to be able to kill creatures. If that quanta is denied you can easily be rushed down by them. A great way to make this match up better is to upgrade lightnings.
Different versions:
Spoiler for Steals version: Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5ul 5ul 5up 5up 5us 5us 5us 5us 5us 606 606 606 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 622 622 7tb 7tb 8puA great version if you suspect a lot of stalls or annoying permanents, not so great otherwise
Spoiler for Anti quanta denial version: Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5uk 5ul 5ul 5us 5us 5us 5us 5us 622 622 7tb 7tb 80a 80a 80a 80a 80a 80a 8puThis version is way better in case you face a quanta denial deck, upgraded lightnings don't really care about most quanta denial forms and you have more quanta to play with.
Spoiler for Fire version: Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f2 5f2 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f7 5f7 5fb 5fb 5gi 5gi 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 622 8puThis deck can be built even with fire as main element, it deals more damage but can't survive as well.
This Card review was written by Hyroen
Art by: Kuroaitou: ART
Sludge is a perfect example of a card fully created by one card designer. Created during a time where this community member was a multi-tasking, omnipresent Card Curator, Sludge exemplifies a card that included mechanics, art and balancing all created by that very member. Perfectly created for the element of  Death, Sludge incorporates the mechanic of infection and it would theoretically be the first non-rare, consistent in-element source of creature death, as long as their are creatures other than itself.
Its Toxic ability allows it to increase in attack power while also ensuring that death effects cannot consistently be produced without other creatures, a domain of Schrödinger's cat. While its creature control potential is great, it can only do one of 2 things at a time, either increasing in attack or slowing down the opposing offense through whittling down an attacker's HP.
Control
Naturally, Sludge fits perfectly into a Death stall deck with its ability to slowly destroy opposing attacking creatures, and with in-element Bone Wall, it can comfortably defend against quick rushes, moreso those with frail creatures. Importantly, however, it cannot, on its own generate more death effects if its only targets are opposing creatures, as such, intelligent play on behalf of the enemy can quite effectively deal with a Sludge's creature control capabilities.
Offense
When not controlling, however, Sludge can quickly pick up speed through not only its own doing, but with the help of Parasites and even Grey Nymphs! Though not the most powerful growth mechanism, its versatile capability, makes it a potential stallbreaker, mitigating opposing offense while racking up one's own.
Here is a deck designed by Hyroen that shows an effective way to use Sludge!
Deck 1:
Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 71a 71a 71b 71b 71b 71b sld sld sld sld sld sld 72i 72i 72i 72i 7tg 7tg 7tg 7tg 7tg 7tg 8pt
(sld's represent Sludges)
A powerful  / duo which capitalizes on Sludge's ability to not only grow and mitigate incoming damage, but to also circumvent shields which block direct damage. By infecting its own Voodoo Dolls, this deck is able to rack up not only poison damage, it adds it onto the the damage Voodoo Dolls deal from the damage they take, and if Voodoo Dolls are not drawn, Sludges can themselves grow. Despite the fact that Bone Walls may take a bit more work in order to replenish their stacks due to the unsuitably durable creatures in the deck, they still make useful and potent ways to block few sources of damage, akin to Phase Shields.
Possibly more effective as a stall deck including Shards of Sacrifice, this deck presents versatile damage focusing not on dealing with permanents, but slowly getting around them.
Sludge is a cleverly designed card which represents Death and its festering nature in a powerful way. Not only does it further cement the infection mechanic in the element of Death, but it also introduces a new way to make use of the infection mechanic. Oddly enough, though, Death does not have a non-rare, consistent source of death effects to capitalize on one of its main themes. Sludge would not only be a well-designed inclusion to the element of Death, it would be a thematic and balanced addition to Elements the Game. Though art is no longer required on card ideas nowadays, the effort that was put in by the designer of the card is appreciated, and it sets a solid standard for investment card designers should put into every card idea produced on the forums.
Though his area of dedication has changed slightly, Kuroaitou's level of dedication continues to shine in his Forum Games. Check them out HERE!!
Puzzle of the Month
It's time to decipher some code folks! Thanks to mathman101, we seem to have gotten into the business of Puzzles again!
Here's how it goes:
- The names of six common forum members have had their names written out in lowercase letters and then converted into a visual code.
- All the consonants are green and all the vowels are yellow
- The shapes also indicate the heights of the letters - ascending, descending, or neither - as shown in the key.
Following this statement, ProBacon has also send in a puzzle!
Introducing:
Probacon's custom elements crossword!
Good luck folks!
Many thanks to:
-mathman101 and ProBacon for Puzzle of the Month (x2).
-Calindu for DiotM.
-Hyroen for CotM
-Linkcat for the Forum Games section
-mathman101 for the interview
-all readers for reading
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