New Player just seeking a bit of advice.

[eladain]

Sorry if this is the wrong area for this type of post. I did see the newbie are and introduced myself there, but it's not really a Q and A type forum.

So, I'm actually really new to Elements. I literally started yesterday and got hooked. Stayed up til the wee hours of the morning playing/reading forums. Currently I'm lvl 13 @107-16 (about 4 of those losses are from PvP). I've put together a decent AI3 farming deck and have saved up a little over 2.3k gold.

I guess my next question is, now what? Is it just a matter of grinding now until I can afford to build a FG farming deck? Is it worth fighting Half-Bloods at all?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[treebeard xiii]

if you can kill halfbloods reliably and reasonably quickly they are a lot more profitable than ai3 plus you can win upgraded cards. I even farm halfbloods over fgs now with upgraded decks.

[ColorlessGreen]

Welcome!

AI3 is a fantastic first target, because it's a great place to see some coherent strategies in AI decks while still being relatively easy games. Once you've learned what there is to learn from AI3 (which sounds like right about where you are) you have some options on where to go next for AI targets. Even still, though, AI3 remains an excellent target, as it is the steadiest electrum farm available in the early part of the game.

AI4 (halfbloods) is an excellent place to go for money and it is well within reach. Note that it is rather inconsistent with profit. It's profitable because there is a roughly one-in-twelve chance per win that you will win an upgraded card which you can then sell for a bit under 1200 electrum. Because of this, it is quite profitable over time even if you don't have anywhere near as high of a win rate as you would in AI3.

Arena (specifically bronze league) is another great target. It's less profitable in terms of electrum than AI4 and approximately on par with AI3 (assuming you sell all cards you win, which you shouldn't), but it is a fantastic source of rares, including shards. It's also a great place to see a wide variety of player-made decks. If you want to build your rare collection, this is exactly where you should be. It's more difficult than AI3, but possibly slightly easier (or on par with) AI4.

You can also skip straight to false gods if you're so inclined. There's a fully unupped/rareless deck called firecell scavengers which can beat FGs with a low win rate. All cards won from FGs will be upgraded and sell for a lot as mentioned above. This may possibly be slightly more profitable than AI4, but it may not be (there hasn't yet been a full profit study on this deck). If you choose to go this route, realize that your win rate will be extremely low and that you might be at it a while before you start being profitable (so you'll need to have a bit of cash saved up in case it takes a while to start winning upped cards). Also, make sure to read the deck's thread, as it requires that you play it in a very specific way. I do not personally recommend this option (since it is extremely inconsistent, IMO boring, and every game plays basically exactly the same), but it is definitely an option.

TL;DR:
AI3 is great for steady money. AI4 (or FG, which I don't recommend) is great for more money than AI3, but is less consistent so it may take longer to show its profit. Bronze league is great for rares.

[Chapuz]

2.3k in your first day? Incredible!

Well, here's the thing:

1- Rare cards, specially shards are won in Arena. Bronze is the easiest arena target. For getting rares (specially shards) faster, I personlly recommend going for FGs first. You can make an unupped FG grinder and upgrade some cards of it in just a little time, improving the win rate a lot. Then you save your electrum and make an upgraded/semi upgraded deck for rares in Bronze/silver, and you continue your path to platinum and such with rares and money.

HERE is what people recommend to use in each level, enjoy!!

[eladain]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I've been grinding away for most of the afternoon thanks to a fire across the street blocking me in, lol. Anyway, I'm up to lvl 17 (174-26) and 4k gold. I really need to stop pvp'ing with my newbie deck and picking up losses.

I think I'm going to work my way towards the Limitless Speed decks for AI4. That way since I have quite a few cards in common I won't be building 2 whole decks. Then that should make the grinding for a solid PvP deck a little quicker.

In the meantime I've been using a Mono-Darkness deck. I didn't see it in the Level 4 deck thread, but would it be remotely viable to attempt half-bloods or should I stick to AI3 until I farm up a proper AI4/FG deck?

Thanks again!

[rob77dp]

Thanks for all the advice guys! I've been grinding away for most of the afternoon thanks to a fire across the street blocking me in, lol. Anyway, I'm up to lvl 17 (174-26) and 4k gold. I really need to stop pvp'ing with my newbie deck and picking up losses.

I think I'm going to work my way towards the Limitless Speed decks for AI4. That way since I have quite a few cards in common I won't be building 2 whole decks. Then that should make the grinding for a solid PvP deck a little quicker.

In the meantime I've been using a Mono-Darkness deck. I didn't see it in the Level 4 deck thread, but would it be remotely viable to attempt half-bloods or should I stick to AI3 until I farm up a proper AI4/FG deck?

Thanks again!

A properly built mono-Darkness deck can grind Bronze Arena quite well (considering the cost of building the deck), so don't abandon using that mono-Darkness just to move beyond AI3.    Also, mono-Darkness can perform quite well in PvP1!


--Rob

[eladain]

Ya, I definitely have enjoyed the Mono-Darkness thus far. I initially started with Light, but after 20 games or so I restarted. Felt too dependent on your starting hand.

I actually just tried some AI4 games with  the darkness out of curiosity. Won 2 out of 3 and got a stone pillar, and a Pulverizer so I can't really complain.