Guest posts by Friedrich Psitalon

25

The Arena / Re: The Adventures of Friedrich Psitalon, Rookie Elementalist

« on: October 22, 2011, 01:09:54 pm »

So an update: While Pestal is definitely not faring well in the Platinum league - I've given up trying it there, and I say "You are a better man than I" to anyone running 54% there with it - I've managed to put together a few nice streaks (and spins) in Gold with it.

Interestingly, it's not a bad source of cash either, so I'm flipping back and forth between that and grinding the FGs. Going to try and put together a blue rush deck I'm happy with, since I seem to be having some trouble getting feedback/finding an Anti-Rainbow-Rush deck I'm happy with. I bet it's a lot easier to come up with solid decks when you're not grubbing for every upped card. Heh. :/

26

The Arena / The Adventures of Friedrich Psitalon, Rookie Elementalist

« on: October 20, 2011, 01:41:01 am »

So given the following:

a) I'm new to the game and motivated
b) I play a lot of Arena and intend to continue doing so
c) I'm intelligent and very open to advice

...I figure I'll open my own thread and chronicle my adventures, so that

a1) people can vicariously enjoy my suffering
a2) people can vicariously enjoy my triumphs
b1) People can recognize my deck errors
b2) People can correct my deck errors

c) I can look back one day and go "my god, I actually thought THAT was a GOOD IDEA?"

I'm not going to "placeholder" or anything - I'll post as I have new questions, thoughts, revelations, and so on.

To begin....

Friedrich was once a newbie elementalist. He played lots of L2 and then L3, using various goofy decks, before settling on this:

by Friedrich Psitalon

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5rj 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 6rn 6rn 74a 74a 74a 74a 74a 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q3 7q8 8pl

...and in its original form, none of that stuff was upped except the shards (I started playing a long time ago and got very lucky with Top 50s, but wandered off for a great many months. I've since upgraded parts of it.

Well, the original deck was good, and got me some arena wins, and occasionally solid streaks, but nothing fabulous.

So I did some research and discovered the unupped glory that was a Liquid Antimatter, and my first FG farmer was born.

by Friedrich Psitalon

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4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 5uo 5uo 5us 5us 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 8pj

And a hearty, hearty thank you to whoever came up with that joy. I never would've thought to check out that card combination for doing that.

So that allowed me to start farming up my first upped farmer, a Ray/Hope deck, but on the way, I noticed I was picking up a lot of Aether Towers and a few upped Lobotomizers, and I wanted to do something with that:

by Friedrich Psitalon

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5f3 5f3 5f3 5f3 5f6 5f6 5f6 61o 61o 61o 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 621 621 621 621 623 623 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80d 80e 80e 80e 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 8po

Now that was a bit larger as decks go, but I had pretty solid luck with it in Bronze. Mindgates seemed the way to beat Mono Aether (thanks, I'll use your Shields too) and the Shards allowed me to space out my own Shields a bit if I needed to do so. Deflags took care of annoying bits, and off I went.

Eventually, while taking breaks to play the Bronze Deck, I was able to complete what I think is a very typical Ray deck.

by Friedrich Psitalon

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5lk 5lk 5lk 5lk 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jq 7jq 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80e 80e 80e 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 8pu

And sure enough, it farms like a beast. I don't get the "six cards an hour" some people brag about, but I do well enough.

So I started setting my sights on a REAL Arena farmer. Not just a Bronze farmer - though I'm still somewhat in search of an ultra-reliable one of those - but something that could take a shot at Gold and Platinum.

My own preferences and research led me to a Pestal deck. Here's what I use:

by Friedrich Psitalon

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5up 5up 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t8 7ta 7ta 7tb 7td 7td 7td 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pu

And while this deck does as advertised - great against slower decks, stall decks, and the like - it really, really seems to struggle against Rainbow Rush decks - the Pests don't slow them down, and I can't seem to Fractal the Vampires out in sufficient numbers to beat the rush. Half the time a Sanctuary is in that Rainbow, and that seems to be all she wrote, because then I'm not even getting the ludicrous mana I need to spam Vamps. And boy oh boy, there seem to be a LOT of Rainbow Rush decks up at Gold and Plat right now.

So, I've read on the forums enough to know that it seems like there are trends at Gold and Plat, and I'm trying to come up with a reliable way to combat to Rainbow Rush. Now I'm fully aware that this deck below is totally un-upped, but that's all I can do. I'll have to farm up the stuff if it turns out this deck is worth a darn. If it's not, please feel free to correct me.

So, that being said, my attempt at an anti-rainbow-rush deck - and remember, if I go after this deck, I'll up it all before I take it near a Gold/Plat Rainbow Rush.

by Friedrich Psitalon

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55s 55s 55u 55u 55u 55u 55v 55v 55v 55v 55v 55v 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f5 5f5 5f6 5f6 5f8 5f8 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 8pl

So to recap:

I freely admit I'm inexperienced - so please be gentle.
Please critique all my decks; I'm most looking for a highly reliable Bronze farmer so that I can get all the toys I'm missing, a reasonably reliable Gold/Plat farmer for gold acquisition when I'm sick of running FG's. (I think my Ray/Hope FG deck is pretty solid, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free.)

...and someday, I want to create an Animated Weapon-centric deck. (It's why I want to farm Bronze hard.)

Thanks in advance, thanks for your patience in reading this and for your useful suggestions. I hope someone will enjoy seeing my rise through the ranks of the game.

For posterity's sake:

Currently Level 23, 1100 gold in the tank.

27

Deck Help / Frustrated: Trying to Arena farm with Pestal...

« on: October 19, 2011, 12:37:43 am »

So after reviewing a few threads, I've been trying to do some Arena farming with a Pestal deck. Took some pretty extensive effort as I'm relatively new to the game, so I read enough about it that made me think that it ought to be a fairly decent money-making, possibly card-farming engine.

As follows:

by Friedrich Psitalon

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7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t8 7ta 7ta 7tb 7td 7td 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 808 808 80i 80i 80i 80i 81q 81q 8pu

...and I was under the impression that I'd do fairly well, sometimes winning as many as two platinum in a row if I got lucky, maybe even spitting distance of that third win, who knows.

I'm well aware that no deck is a panacea and the environment evolves constantly, but I was not expecting to get my ass well, truly, and soundly kicked over and over in Platinum, and more often than not in Gold. Is there a tweak here I'm missing? A conceptual leap I've not made? Is there some trick to playing one of these other than "Get Pests out, Fractal as fast as you can" and am I right in thinking the moment I see Quantum Pillars coming down, I may as well just throw up my hands?

I'm not a dumb individual, and I get why this deck should work, but I'm getting soundly trashed. What am I missing? Or am I just on a bad luck streak? Should I go back to Silver until I've played a whole bunch of games, because I'm missing some deeper strategy point with the deck?

Help appreciated from a thoroughly frustrated newer guy.

28

Deck Help / Need advice with my arena farmer (just bronze for now, yes, I'm sad at life)

« on: October 14, 2011, 11:45:54 pm »

Hey folks -

Relative newbie to the Elements scene, and definite newbie to the posting scene. Hope I'm doing this right...

by Friedrich Psitalon

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55k 55k 55k 55k 576 576 576 576 576 5rj 5rj 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 74a 74a 74a 74a 74b 74b 74b 74b 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q3 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q8 7ri 8ps

Is what I'm using. Fully aware I still need to up some of the cards, but I needed a break from my Hope/Ray False grinding.

Deck concept is pretty straightforward; Neurotoxin for killing, Oty eats what needs to be eaten, and Reverse Time/Eternity to cycle the same weak creature over and over to keep the Neuro building and nothing else coming out. I find I'm running into a lot of decks that are making me miserable with their permanents, though, and that's a problem, since neither Time nor Gravity innately has permanent control. Am I wasting my time trying to farm with a Neuro deck? The great majority of my upped quanta production is in Time and Aether; I'm willing to shuffle decks a bit as required.

I guess I'm just looking for suggestions for a good Bronze runner so I can stock my weapons and use these six upped Animate Weapons I've won.

Anyhow. Feedback on improvements for this deck, or other ways to run Neuro, or other more successful Bronzefarm concepts requested. Thanks for your time.

29

The Arena / What changed about Arena Ranking?

« on: October 11, 2011, 12:09:32 pm »

So forgive me for the stupid question, because I'm sure the answer will be "DOH" in quality....

I'm not an ultra-neophyte, but I still play bronze league because I have to farm False Gods a whole heck of a lot more. Normally, a bronze league deck that goes around 50% goes out after three days at most, and it's never ranked above 300 - usually more like 450 and then quickly out the door.

I've got one that I threw together because I never back down from a challenge, but I hardly expected my Procrastination-based deck to do well.
Here's the thing, though: it's currently 30W/40L and it's ranked 130 as of right now.

Is something busted? I do not understand. Help?