Weekly Featured Cards poll - Other

[Kuroaitou]

School has started for me, so deepest apologies for the long wait. Here's the article for one of the three NON-series rare cards, the magnificent Squid!


Overview
Arctic Squid is a rare Water creature proven capable of halting entire enemy armies. Despite its low damage and health, its ability, Freeze (or Congeal when upgraded), can stop enemy creatures for 3-4 turns, making it a formidable card when it comes down to continuous creature control.


General Use

• For 3 quanta, players can deploy either version of this card; the costs for either ability are the same for both versions (2 quanta).
• Freeze will only stop the creature from attacking and using its ability for 3 turns, Congeal will do the same for 4 turns.
• The Squid’s/Octopus’ ability can be used once per turn, and thus can potentially lock down up to 3-4 creatures each.

There are various creatures in game that can kill or damage other enemy creatures as forms of creature control (CC). The Arctic Squid may not be able to do that, but its potential for reducing damage to 0 for any targeted creature is still just as effect as CC. For 3 quanta, players can send out the Squid onto the field; it’s important to note that its stats make it an extremely vulnerable creature however, especially with only 2 HP.

Arctic Squid’s main ability is directly based off the cards Freeze and Congeal. The Squid’s ability can Freeze a creature for 3 turns, while the Octopus can Congeal one for 4 turns. Aside from the change in delay times, the ability of both versions is practically identical, as they only cost 2 quanta each to trigger the skill, and can only be used once per turn. That being said, players with multiple Squids on the field will generally be able to lock down the enemy’s field for multiple turns, unless they have status effects that can speed through the freezing effect (Adrenaline) or make them completely immune to it (Quintessence).


Synergies

Despite the overlap in freeze effects, Ice Shield | Permafrost Shield can be a decent complement with the Squid. In case your opponent happens to have Immaterial or Immortalized creatures, Permafrost can assist with freezing those creatures upon them attacking, while the Squid can target the non-immaterial creatures that hit the field later on. The combination of these two Water cards can often make a Water deck more potent in its capability to stall enemy damage, unless they have heavy control cards to remove or prevent the freeze effects.

Shockwave | Shockwave is an obvious combo with the Squid as well. Although the combination requires an additional turn to work (assuming the player has both cards in hand), killing any frozen creature with the Air spell is too hard to pass up. Also, in case the Squids get killed or somehow disabled, Shockwave can serve as more crucial CC against frail but noteworthy creatures.

Other Cards With Synergy
Two other creatures that can also work well with the Arctic Squid are Steam Machine, which requires stalling/ramp-up time in order to gain boisterous amounts of attack, and Toadfish (capable of slow, but damaging CC against all enemy creatures). Flooding can also be used alongside the Squid for massive creature denial and control in combination with frozen creatures, but that combination requires a notable amount of quanta to function comfortably.

Conclusion
While the Squid isn’t a durable assailant compared to some of the other Water creatures, the ability to stop creatures dead cold in their tracks is disregarded more often than people realize. Players who often enjoy using the Freeze spell should try to pursue this card as possible, as this chilled beast can provide an endless Winter for the most unprepared of opponents.

Popular Deck
Need a Parka? (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12200.0.html)

by Kuroaitou

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6rn 6rn 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gp 7gp 7gr 7gr 7gr 7gr 7gr 7gr 7h2 7h2 7h2 7h2 8pp

Other Decks

• Arctic Infection (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,10302.0.html)
• Submerged-Blizzard Water (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,16288.0.html)
• Hope You're Packin', Pardner (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,12135.0.html)

All of the lights...

[gumbeh]

Solar shield is a weird card. Tell me about it!

[Bhlewos]

Luci - it's an underdog that almost no one ever uses (and why would they when RoLs are quicker and cheaper?), but using it as the core of a deck is actually really fun: there's nothing more satisfying than beating your opponent with an unused and out-of-nowhere tactic. Been experimenting with some of those (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,30213.0.html) myself.

[nilsieboy]

luciferin, awesome fun card wich is kinda underrated/underused.

[Calindu]

Pegasus!Very good attack creature.

[Jappert]

I went with Pegasus aswell!
Great offensive card wich fits into alot of builds, the synergy with blessings and CP is nice too.

I loved that Team Pegasusnova-deck from war 3!

[Higurashi]

Miracle, because healing can always be used. It's also a defining card for Light; even representative.

[Aves]

Vote Pegasus!

[PlayerOa]

Tell me about Holy Light.

[EvaRia]

Miracle. It's just such an amazing card it's hard to believe it's not featured.

[TheForbiddenOracle]

I voted Blessing because it makes a nice synergy with a variety of cards (Scorps, Otyugh, etc)

[Hyroen]

Miracle. It's just such an amazing card it's hard to believe it's not featured.

QFT. <3