I know there are quite a couple of those threads around, but I wanted to put all of the thoughts in one thread. Also, didn't want to necro old discussions with something that may not have restarted it.
So, why?Platinum's reward is set around 230 Electrums, although it easily changes. Getting an EM with 500 HPs against Plat with those rewards, even though I don't really know the formula, is around 1200 Electrums. The games take long, and the winrate isn't that high, but the effective reward is awesome.
And, how?How, uh? That's a nice question. If you're asking how do you get to 500 HPs, the only option is Stone/Granite Skin, even though it can be boosted by Shard of Divinity, which gives 16, or 24 if the mark is Light, extra HP. This means that, in order to get to 500 HPs, you'll need a part of the deck to power Earth. Other than regular Pillars/Pendulums, nice options include Gnome Rider/Gemfinder, possibly paired with Fractal. This is how you get to 500 HP.
Let's now cover the "EM" part. To get an Elemental Mastery you'll need to have current HPs=Max HPs, in our case 500. To get that we'll need healing. Healing is usually covered by Life, Creature/Feral Bond if paired with many creatures or Shards of Gratitude mark-powered. Light also plays a nice role in it, Sanctuaries, other than protecting your quanta and hand, get some healing while Miracles get a huge amount of healing.
However, Platinum's decks aren't simply going to wait around while you do your stuff, instead, they're pretty good. You need a way to stall them effectively. While out-healing them is a decent option, expecially with Miracles, if you have a way to power them continuously. Another common way is getting a shield which damages opponent's creatures, so to reduce the damage they do gradually and heal back the damage you've taken.
How to WinAfter seeing how we get to 500 HPs, let's see how we effectively win. In the game there are only two ways to win: deckout and damage.
Deckout is, notoriously, the slowest one and usually needs a huge deck to do so. Eternity, however, is a card you should keep in consideration, because it can give even a 30-cards deck a win condition if paired with at least 3 Time Pillars and a spammable creature.
Damaging the opponent is, generally, faster: using Shards of Patience is one of the most used ones.
How NOT to WinSometimes, not winning is the hardest part. You usually need time to get to 500 HP, you'll have to draw into 6 Stone Skins and have 75
sometimes also needing time to achieve the EM. This is why deckout is one of the most common ways to win, because it gives you more than enough time to get all you need. Damage is used mostly in combination with Shards of Patience, as already said, because you can purposedly choose not to win until you have achieved all you need.
Isn't that pretty fragile?Yeah, it is, that's why it has a low Winrate. However, expecially in Platinum, PC isn't uncommon and cards like Shards of Gratitude or Shard of Patience can be destroyed or stolen and make you lose your win condition. Luckily, Enchant/Protect Artifact is a Earth card, like out Stone Skins, so they are easily implemented. Mass destruction of creatures is rarely a problem, if it is, it's probably a deck which uses Shard of Patience, and rarely mass destruction will kill all of your creatures if buffed that much. Also, using quintessence on a single creature is also an option, if the deck is focused around it.
Hmm, examples?Have fun! (I haven't tried any of the following, don't have the upgrades to)
Bripod's Deck recently restarted an interest in 500 HP decks. As you can see, it uses Spine Carapace for protection, Sanctuaries, Shards of Gratitude and Miracles for healing and Shards of Divinity and Granite Skin to increase maximum HP. Sundials provide some more stalling power, purifies get protection from poisoning and Eternities can also be used to lock the opponent down.
BrandenC6's mod is the mod I like the best, even if it may get quanta-balanced a little better. I personally like streamlined decks, but the lack of many useful cards probably get this down.
ColorlessGreen's Fatgem is probably one of the better conceived decks amongst them. Vanadium Guardians can act as CC for non-airborne creatures, and can slow down Airborne creatures.
Unupped decklists aren't around, although it's one of the aims of this thread.
What to do?This discussion's aim is to collect data on various 500 HP decks, however, it'd be nice to get a couple of unupped decklists and/or shardless ones.
Card BankHere's a short list of useful cards if you want to take on something like this:
-Stone Skin, key cards.
-Shard of Divinity, additional way to increase maximum HP.
-Miracle, huge healing.
-Gnome Rider, quanta generation in form of a creature, loopable with Eternity.
-Eternity, gets a win condition to every deck and can be used to stall the opponent while you draw into your combo pieces.
-Fractal, mostly used with Gnome Rider.
-Ray of Light, Light quanta generation.
-Hope, uses Ray of Light at their best by providing protection, even with awesomely high Damage Reduction.
-Shard of Gratitude, healing.
-Creature Bond, healing, mostly paired with Fractal.
-Enchant Artifact, protects your combo pieces.
-Spine Carapace, damaging shield.
-Ice Shield, damaging shield.
-Fire Shield, damaging shield.
-Skull Buckler, damaging shield.
-Procrastination, slowing shield.
-May have forgotten something, feel free to point them out.
If you have some kind of ideas, but not fully shaped-up, feel free to post them.
