| November 2015 | | WAR #9!
NEW COMPETITION ORGANIZER! |
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- War #9 is well underway as all 12 elements continue to battle it out for first place! Gravity seems to have had it's lead snatched away from it by darkness! Things are looking tough, with darkness first, gravity second, and air third. What a war this seems to be so far! Stay tuned next month to see who will win this epic battle!
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- Raise the banners! Art competition: Raise the banners is still underway, with six days left to submit! Go submit while you still can, after all, if you win, your art might just be the next banner!
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- Speedbuilding tournament is a tournament where you speedbuild - only fast-thinking players get the prize. Our Master of Air, Afdarenty, built his successful decks quick like the wind and won Speedbuilding - Unupgraded held on the 3rd of
October. A short interview with him in the spoiler below:
Congratulations for your speedbuidilng success! 
- Another small tournament of only 8 players, Battle of the Structures - Unupgraded, took place on the 10th of October. I was doing well myself, but I lost the final match to Odii Odsen who is on an amazing win streak. Games were long because he used mainly stall decks. Below in the spoiler you can find his interview.
Spoiler for Hidden: Your 4th tournament win in a row. How do you do that?
Experience, Skill, some coffee and luck.
If you play elements for a long time, you realize really quickly the meta based on the WT rules. I build deck ideas in my mind and think of decks which it can lose to. Or at least what type of decks could beat it easily.
An example from last tourney: I played most of the time two decks. One effective stall breaker (Steam machine, Quintessence, Momemntum) and a 60-cards-stall. The stall was big but effective against "rushes", smaller stalls and also against 60-cards stalls (Doll+freeze). Of course firestalls or in general OTK decks have a good chance but I thought on everything in this deck. 3 Stone Skin were enough to beat firestalls.
My approach is 1. to build decks that can win against most other decks I do imagine and 2. in a best of X game, scare him with decks, he needs to counter. Opponents mostly will pick a deck that counters your first (if you win).
-You used the same deck (or it seemed to be the same) against me in all games in the final match. Did you also use only that one deck throughout the whole tournament? Do you agree with dragonsdemesne who said that the mata of that tournament was stupid?
I used two decks against you. The deck in game one was a stallbreaker with steam machines, momentum and quintessence (Hourglass for some speed, Sancs for heal and quanta pool protection,...). When I realized I can not win this game, I didnt play any cards in my hand to hide this deck from you. In game 2 and 3 I used that 60 card stall. After seeing deck 1 and 2 of you, I was 80% sure this could also win against your third deck.
In total I used 3 decks if I remember correctly. I used a third one against Vangelios at a score of 1-1. This is why experience is important: I know Vangs playstyle a little bit (also before war), so I wanted to be a bit risky, since I always thought he isnt playing reflecting shields that much. I dont know why, maybe he doesnt like them. How ever, I played a similar deck to the FG killer from majofa. Against Morte. I made some modifications and build a stall what includes a stall breaker. I won. But I still dont know if Vang had reflective shields in his deck or not.
Yes, the meta was a bit stupid. I agree. It would be better to ban also some stall perms, like sanctuary and Bonewall. This two addional bans would make the tourney a bit more interesting.
What was the most exciting moment of the tourney for you?
The most exciting moment was when I realized that Vang had no reflective shield in game 3.
How would you summarize the whole tourney in one very short sentence or even one word?
Stally.
- If you need a successful trio deck, you need to contact dragonsdemesne
 , the winner of Trios with a twist - Unupgraded (October 17th). Here are his decks. In the spoiler below, you can also read the interview with him.
Spoiler for Interview with the winner: Did you like the rules in general?
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. I was a little baffled at the ban of nightmare (I don't think ghostmare would have been too strong, for instance, since at a trio it would've needed 5 permanents from another element) and I was even more baffled that trident somehow escaped the banlist. I had initially been worried that nymphs weren't banned, since their spell-like effects seemed quite strong in this meta, but I suppose that they were too quanta intensive for trios. The only game I used nymphs, I lost, and the only game I faced nymphs, I won. A blue nymph deck might've been really strong to bypass the unstable gas ban, but I didn't have enough to make it work, so I didn't even try.
What was that twist mentioned in the title?
I'm not sure. I guess the fact that you had to use 5 permanents, 5 creatures, and 5 spells, each from a different element. The rules themselves didn't actually mention that they had to be from three separate elements, but, as was pointed out in chat when I asked, the name of the tourney includes 'trios', so it should have been obvious :p
What was the most exciting moment of the tourney for you?
Definitely the final game with DANIEELA. I already described it in the tourney thread because it was so epic.
How would you summarize the whole tourney in one very short sentence or even one word?
Short answer, Trident OP today. Long answer... I've done a lot of tournaments, and I've seen quite a few different styles of decks. I've done really well in some, and completely bombed in others. I'm not sure that I've EVER had a deck go 6-0 in a tourney before. I think maybe once, when I played 'the deck' every game for the entire tourney, I might've had something similar, but that's about it.
- Rainbow decks rule! They are effective and fun to play. Do you agree? Nevertheless, a deck of RapidStar_
 was effective enough to win the tournament iancudorinmarian's retirement - Upgraded (October 24th). It will definitely be a tournament to remember for him as it was his first WT win ever and he mentioned, "That is the first thing I've ever won in elements for a big event contesting against other people and I feel good that I achieved it." He also revealed that he chose a Darkness Mark as a reward. Congratulations Rapid and make a good use of your first and hopefully not last mark card
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- Looks like JonathanCrazyJ will have another league win, or maybe it'll be snatched away from him by xn0ize or Vangelios! League season is half over, Join before it's too late!
- Kuroaitou's Relic Sweeper is well underway, but lucky for you, you can still join if you wanted! Seems like a fun game doesn't it? Go on, join!
- eljoemo's Mafia 52 is now well underway, with players starting to fear for their game lives in this! Stay tuned and watch the action unravel!
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A quite mysterious comic this month. What Krzysiekxd is talking about? Look at the hints and you can guess! Enjoy!
(Below is actually only a bonus for a comic. Don't miss a link to an actual comic!
LINK TO A FULL COMIC
Jade Stafftal
Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 622 622 622 622 63a 63a 7ae 7ae 7ae 7ae 7ae 7al 7al 7al 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pu
Yes, this is a thing.
Basically a Frogtal, but because nobody likes Dims, we use the healing power of Jade Staves. Built by dawn for Trials of Life 9, though he actually didn't use it. This deck is rushy while providing good healing.
Card by Card Breakdown
Fractal (4): Fractal is a powerful card, that fills your hand with the targeted creature. It can be used in any deck if it has enough quanta sources. Better hope you have enough quanta!
Aether Pendulum (2): To boost the amount of aether quanta you get, also a way for quanta split in case of Earthquakes.
Giant Frog (5): What was meant to be the original target of fractal, this card is strong with a low cost. A worthy opponent.
Jade Staff (3): This was originally meant for healing as well as a boost of four extra damage to your opponent. For kicks and giggles, you can Fractal these instead of your Frogs.
Life Pendulum (10): Ten of these for more quanta for all those creatures you get with Fractal. Provides a good quanta base for both Life and Aether.
Animate Weapon (6): These are meant to make the staff in your hand airborne so you can bring out another staff. There's six in case your opponent is carrying Reverse Time!
Strengths
-Like many other Fractal based decks, Jade Stafftal does well against many stalls.
-It is fairly fast, capable of 8 ttw games.
-Fractal is easy to use, even easier if half your deck is quanta producers.
Weaknesses
-If Staves decide to clog your hand, and you don't draw any Animate Weapon, it often screws you over as you get outrushed.
-Shields and Mass CC are pesky to deal with, especially damage reduction and Dims. If you want to play around Mass CC, always keep a frog in hand.
-As usual, bad draws can be a problem with this deck.
-Reverse Time and Eternity can be troublesome!
This deck is fun, and helps you understand the properties of Fractal. Plus, it's a fun way to experiment with aether and life duos.
Copacati is a creature able to switch from providing support for its owner to hindering the opponent's set up seamlessly. Its versatility and powerful synergies allow it to shine in the CIA as an excellent design for Life CC.
At first glance, Copacati seems to be quite a weak card. Contrary to most Life creatures, its cost:attack ratio is nothing to brag about, and its ability appears to be a more expensive and less powerful version of Lobotomy. However, upon looking closer, Copacati proves to be an interesting little creature.
Control
Whilst seeming vastly outshadowed by Mind Flayer in terms of CC, Copacati proves to fill in its own niche. It can be used in a mono and also allows for Life to shut down most decks relying on abilities.
Support
Whilst not being the area immediately thought of upon seeing the card, this is the area where Copacati shines. Unlike Mind Flayer, Copacati can help strengthen your position by either allowing usage of off element abilities (ex: Forest Spirit) or lowering ability costs (ex: Mitosis on anything in element not a Forest Scorpion or Frog). This helps to make Mitosis based decks even faster and also allows for some interesting splash decks using cheap creatures with non Life abilities (Lycanthropes, Graviton Fire Eaters, Chrysaoras, etc.).
It is also a wonderful tool for trimming down trios into duos. For example, it allows   Steam Machines,  Pegasi, even  Pulverizer if you're in the mood for it. One particular trio-turned-into-a-duo that springs out from using this card is Copacati+NT. The usually expensive abilities of Nymphs can be replaced with . Imagine a Life/Water stall having access to effects such as Antimatter, BH, and reusable CC in the form of Red Nymph's Berserk and Auburn Nymph's Petrify. And they're all immaterial.
And these aren't even all of Copacati's possible synergies if it were to be implemented. There are plenty more out there, and Life will benefit very much from such a card.
Here's a deck designed and tested by Fippe94 that demonstrates two possible combos with Copacati!
Hover over cards for details, click for permalink 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ac 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7ar 7ar 7ar 7ar 7ar 7gs 7gs 7gr 7gr 7h2 7h2 7h2 7h2 7h2 7h2 7gp 8pp
(???'s represent Copacati)
While it may appear a bit low on generation, don't be fooled - some decks require a lot of commitment, and with Steam Machines, Poseidon, and possibility Arctic Squids taking from your quanta pool, you'll need a lot of quanta at the ready!
Discord's War Diary
Apparently I did good for my first fight, iancu says. I’m not sure though, I never really liked fighting other people, it’s almost as if I can sense their pain. It bothers me. Though if he says I did good, I’m not about to argue. This war seems harder than what I actually thought…
Looks like iancu wants to see me in his office, I better go.. I wonder what he wants to do now? It’s kinda worrying to me, though if he wants to see me I better go. I wonder though…
Many thanks to:
-kirbylover314 for Deck idea of the Month.
-AD TienzuStorm for Card idea of the Month.
-Fippe94 for the interview.
-Zawadx and inthisroom for proofreading.
-all readers for reading
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