Deck Strategy - Final Healing - Complete with in-depth links and analysis

[kirchj33]

For those of you that don't already know... I have a mild obsession with EM's so I wanted to motivate a little bit of discussion with the purpose of evolving decks for efficiency.

It can be well documented and researched that score gain all comes from maximizing the speed of a deck while combining this with an ability to score EMs.

A good place to start for this information would be here:
AI3

TTW Study 3.0 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21865.0.html) (when it is more complete)
TTW Study 2.0 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,17903.0.html)
AI3 EM True Efficiency Study 2.0 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21923.msg306645#msg306645)

FG

FGei (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,14626.0.html)

In order to document possibilities for building an efficient EM deck, I would like to compile a list of the mechanics used for scoring those EMs.

AI3

Concepts which work:

Healing-

Healing can really be comprised of three mechanics to gain EM's:

Straight Heals-

This strategy consists of beating your opponent senseless in the best way possible, and then throwing all of your heals just before winning.
This can be done in a mono life fashion (ex.: USEM (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,10563.0.html), Pepoker (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,15361.0.html))
Or... using some off-life element combination of damage dealers and then referring to heals after (ex.: MGAL (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12849.0.html), Angry Santa (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12659.0.html), Aerial Smooshing (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21643.msg295915#msg295915), Smokey Bear (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21375.msg291949#msg291949), to name a few...)

Supported Heals-

This mixes in a bit of other life gain cards along with final healing to gain EMs.
Some of the stronger decks (ex.: SCEM (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,18665.0.html), GAEM (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21620.0.html), Healbow (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,11831.0.html))

Shutdown + Heals-

The idea is to prevent AI3 damage from coming in and then topping off life with final heals.

Strongest current example: TADAbow (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,22518.msg316586#msg316586), some other examples included in the thread: BH/Discord Decks (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,23293.0.html)

Some other ways of achieving this goal with lesser results would be to mix in earthquakes or CC.

Miracle + Final Heal-

The problem here is that two cards need to be played in combination, thus decreasing the consistency of scoring EMs.  Additionally, enough quanta must be drawn in order to play miracle, which goes against the rush concept and decreases efficiency

Example: Holy Angels (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,18368.0.html)

To say this works is a bit of a stretch.

Life Siphon-

This concept actually has the potential to be a stronger final heal than Healing, but it works best with Pests, which decrease the speed of the deck, thus decreasing the efficiency.

Many mono darkness decks integrate this concept, and usually work in conjunction with Vampires/Vampiric Daggers.

For a good example, take a look at Bootza's Mono Darkness: Upgraded AI3 EM Grinder (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,20936.msg287999#msg287999) or Essence's Totally Upgraded AI3 Mastery Despoiler (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,11412.0.html)

I should mention that mono-darkness has many healing cards in general, so several strong decks exist that integrate these cards:
Example: Torb's Daywalker (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,17641.0.html)

Concepts that currently don't work

SOG/Sanctuary/Purify-

The concept is anti-rush, and will most likely need to be supplemented by final healing to provide EMs.

SOD/Stone Skin/Granite Skin-

All this is doing is increasing your total HP, and although you may finish with 100+ HP, unless you are topped off, you cannot actually achieve EM.

Shields + Final Heals-

A bit too much of a stall mechanic to have AI3 efficiency.  Has some potential in Wings or Dim Shield if supplemented by final heals, but yet to be integrated with any mainstream success.

AI3 Conclusion

Healing seems to be the king of the jungle in AI3, and until another card is released, or the mechanics are changed/current cards are buffed this should remain unchanged.  The key to pushing deck evolution is to integrate it in ways that have not yet been used.

T50 Concepts

Most of the mechanics at play with AI3 should work with T50, but farming for score tends to be slightly less efficient.

AI5/FG Concepts

These are a bit more of a grey area, and farming FGs/AI5 for score is currently viewed as more of a bonus as opposed to a means to an end.  The primary goal of farming FGs seems to be for gaining electrum or gaining electrum supplemented by some score gain.


Stalling + Damage Calculation-

This mechanic hinges upon trying to win the battle first, followed by an attempt to try and calculate damage so that SOG/Sanctuary healing kicks in before your weapon fires the killshot.

Examples: (CCYB (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,9545.0.html), Eternal Chaos (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,20173.0.html))

RoL + Hope-

The "Hope" here is that you will face an opponent with enough lack of PC/CC that you can block all damage by the end of the match so that you are topped off upon winning to register an EM.

Examples: (Perpetual Light (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,14312.0.html), Control (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5026.0.html))

AI5/FG Conclusion

Again, EMs seem to be an afterthought vs. these decks, but they are nice to have nonetheless.



If anyone would like to add mechanics or decks which may be useful to the community I will add them.  The idea is that this compilation can be a useful learning tool and help to push the efforts of our games towards more EMs!