Weekly Featured Cards poll - Other

[Aves]

What, nobody likes jade shield?

[Jaymanfu]

Ive really been liking forest spectres in my decks recently! +1

[Camoninja]

Thorns! Who doesn't like thorns? How about spines?
Every time I come back to this card I find a new way to use it. The problem is every time I use it I have trouble keeping up with the damage it slowly removes.

[Qwandri]

I'm amazed at the sheer amount of people who chose spine carapace. Ludicrosity. [/notarealword]

[Kuroaitou]

...dang trials... ^^;

Overview
In comparison to Emerald Shield, Thorn Carapace is a shield based on indirect creature control rather than pure damage mitigation. For 7 quanta, attacking creatures have a high chance of being infected by poison.

General Use

• Attacking creatures have a 75% chance to be infected by poison; poison damage is cumulative
• Creatures that are blocked by the upped shield, Spine Carapace, or ones that have the Momentum status cannot be infected

While not as direct as Fire Shield, Thorn Carapace is a hard-indirect form of creature control in the figure of a shield. Unlike Life’s creatures, the shield is fairly expensive for its cost, but can be one of the most destructive defense cards within the game. Poison can be healed through, but not removed, which makes its stacking potential fatal unless the enemy can somehow rewind their creatures to refresh them. The following table below provides a general perspective of how much average poison damage the enemy army would take upon attacking:

Number of attacks	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	N
Damage dealt	0	0.75	2.25	4.5	7.5	11.25	15.75	21	N*N-1*3/8

Although poison damage isn’t guaranteed on every attack, 75% is a high probability for being infected, and thus, players who are facing one should switch their playing style (either being more cautious or more aggressive) when fighting against the shield, due to its cumulative effect. The upped version, Spine Carapace, also reduces damage by one. However, creatures with only 1 ATK cannot be infected as they become blocked instead.

Synergies

To improve the effectiveness of Spine Carapace’s damage reduction, Aflatoxin | Aflatoxin can serve as a field lockdown. If a player manages to use a spell on a creature that’s about to die, the enemy player will be forced to kill the offspring Malignant Cell that’s produced afterwards, or succumb to the infestation that will follow. The upped shield blocks Malignant Cells, making them unable to be killed by poison. Thus, it becomes apparent that Aflatoxin serves as a special form of CC and board control if played on the right creature.

Maxwell’s Demon | Maxwell’s Demon also works wonders with the Carapace. For 2 , players can use its Paradox ability to kill creatures that have their ATK stat higher than their HP. Unless they are immortal or momentum-affected, the poison from the shield will generally wear the enemy creatures down into the Maxwell’s range. If the Demon is killed, the poison will still continue to tick on the creatures instead.

To counteract permanent control, Enchant Artifact | Protect Artifact can be the most aggravating spell (for the enemy) to use alongside Carapace. While various other shields can be annoying while protected, Thorn Carapace is one of the few that will eventually set an enemy’s offense to 0. Because shields cannot be currently targeted by any other means (compared to weapons and Voodoo Doll), PA is the cheapest and most simple synergy players can operate between the Earth and Life elements.


Other Cards With Synergy
Other nasty AOE CC cards, such as Flooding, Rain of Fire, or Pandemonium can also work well to killing infected creatures. Lobotomizer can solve the problem when dealing with momentum. In a few cases, using Adrenaline on enemy creatures can actually kill them faster (as they’ll attack more times against the Carapace, racking up more poison), but players should be extremely careful not to use it on hard-hitting targets or ones with on-hit special abilities like venom.

Conclusion
Although infecting creatures seems more of a skill associated with the Death element, Spine Carapace flips that concept on its head. While not so effective at reducing damage initially, this shield can suppress many decks that rely on fast but weak creatures, and even hinder growth creatures better in the long run.

Popular Deck
Rage Quit Deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,3807.0.html)

by Kuroaitou

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6rm 6rm 6rm 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u3 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u7 71c 71c 71c 77i 77i 77i 7aj 7aj 7gq 7gq 7h1 7k0 7k2 7n8 7n8 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q9 7q9 7q9 7t9 7t9 80e 8pj

Other Decks

• S&M 500EM Deckout (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,9483.0.html)
• The Evolution of Stall (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26757.0.html)
• Flying Jade Staffs/Spine Carapace (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5796.0.html)

Flame on!

[Calindu]

Deflag or rage elixir,RNG choosed deflag for me.
Edit:Brimstone needs some love,just because brimstone thunder.

[Jappert]

Rage potion: the versatility of this card, being both a good CC and great buff card, makes it unique.

[Jenkar]

Rage potion: the versatility of this card, being both a good CC and great buff card, makes it unique.

+1

[PlayerOa]

The Rage Pot got my vote - double uses is always cool 8)

[Bhlewos]

Firestorm, because it's deeply satisfying to see your enemy's VNG/life rush wrecked by one. Though looking at the votes, I see most people disagree with me.

[nilsieboy]

fire storm, looks super cool it kills so many rushes so deserved a vote.

[Bonestorm]

Explosion? Fast cheap versatile PC.