A little frustrated - Is Elements too metagame driven?

[nerd1]

elements is to metagame driven, but as elements does not have a huge card pool like other tcgs like yugioh, pokemon, or magic the gathering, it is necessary, and the true masters are the ones who are able to make the specific card choices necessary to have a good deck.

[Amilir]

One comment:
Elements does not require a great level of skill in to play well and never will.  Why?  Because E:TG is as much PvAI as it is PvP.  Making even okay AI is a hair raising process.  Making an AI that would play something of similar complexity to MTG at all decently would take far more effort than Zanz is willing to put in.

[plastiqe]

One of the better argued posts I've seen on this section, and I find myself agreeing with quite a bit here.

You wish it was in your section don't ya?  : P

If you're playing without restrictions then a lot of the game is guesswork on picking cards that'll beat your opponents cards; I agree that the strategic element of Elements could use improvement.  It's getting better tho, things like the recent Ice Bolt/Shockwave buff add a bit of depth to decisions during match.  If you're gonna compare us to M:tG then consider that Elements is developed by one person (zanz does an amazing job at it) and it's free.  Sure we don't have counter spells and graveyards but you're also not paying $3 per booster pack.

[Legit]

This thread is very informative, I love reading all the responses and learning other peoples' opinions. And I just wanted to say I agree with plastiqe's post above.

[OldTrees]

:aetherToo much of "Deck A almost always beats Deck B"? (fixed by a more toolbox deck see below)
 :aetherCard choice before match matters more than decisions during match? (see a toolbox deck style)
 :aetherLuck matters more than decisions during match? (see post below)
 :aetherInability to make balanced decks? (deck help)
 :aetherRainbows > All? (not really anymore but Rainbows would look more powerful to a MTG player)

ETG can be a good substitute for MTG. I happen to be a MTG player.

First MTG has decks with many options available at one time. So have few copies of each card and have more card types in your deck. Currently this would force you to play a rainbow to achieve the same feel as MTG although some mono decks like Darkness, Water and Light can get close. In time more cards will be added and eventually you options for toolbox decks will expand to every element and eventually even to toobox decks that also only use themed cards.

Second MTG has lots of cards that help save you when you are losing which typically then used very few win conditions per deck. Making a control deck in ETG would capture this feeling closeset. The other MTG major archytype is the rush deck which ETG has a ton of good rush decks for the Red(Speed bow) or White(Life Weenies) MTG player.

So my advice to the MTG player joining ETG is to be patient as new cards are added a a nice rate and to try a control rainbow or a speed bow as your versatile deck until ETG has more cards.

[kiraice]

Randomness is good also evil. But a good tweak in mechanism may help it a lot.

Can't we have a second draw chance in first turn, if the start is really bad like there is no pillar/pendulum or a really bad combination. Let randomness corrects itself.


For example when I play fire rush, sometimes I meet immolation*4 + phoenix*3 and what I supposed to do next if there is no photon and I still draw the rest two immolation and three phoenix? The really bad news is that only 5 turns and I still can't summon the first phoenix. Your rush failed because you are so *lucky*.

If there is an option to let players re-draw, let's put these 7 bad cards back to the deck and draw again (only once). Things will be a lot different. If your deck doesn't have many big flaws.

[OldTrees]

Randomness is good also evil. But a good tweak in mechanism may help it a lot.

Can't we have a second draw chance in first turn, if the start is really bad like there is no pillar/pendulum or a really bad combination. Let randomness corrects itself.


For example when I play fire rush, sometimes I meet immolation*4 + phoenix*3 and what I supposed to do next if there is no photon and I still draw the rest two immolation and three phoenix? The really bad news is that only 5 turns and I still can't summon the first phoenix. Your rush failed because you are so *lucky*.

If there is an option to let players re-draw, let's put these 7 bad cards back to the deck and draw again (only once). Things will be a lot different. If your deck doesn't have many big flaws.

There is an auto mulligan feature. (a manual mulligan feature would not be worth the code)
The auto mulligan feature gives you a new hand if your first had no 0 cost cards. This makes it more likey for a pillar/(photon or immolation) to be in the starting hand.

[Raptor6789]

As for 4/60 being more luck-dependant than 6/30: You ALMOST have a point there. But as you said, cards in Elements are less versatile. If I'm in a situation in MtG where 3 different cards in my deck will help me, you've got 12/60, the exact same odds. But I'd often find that different cards could help me in different ways. Not just that, but MtG had more options for drawing more cards, or even searching your deck for specific cards. There's a reason Rebel decks were so popular in certain cycles; if you need a SPECIFIC card, you can just look for it and luck doesn't mean a thing.

yes. cards that allow you to sift through your deck or play during your opponent's turn adds a whole new depth to the card game. however, elements doesnt have that feature, and im sure it wont be added any time soon. we can only wish..