Guest posts by Gurnard

1

General Discussion / Elements ala World War II

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:10:01 pm »

No, no. Otyugh = Propaganda squad

2

General Discussion / We need "You play elements too much, if..." thread :)

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:10:01 pm »

35) When you pick up a guitar you can't help playing the login screen music, and you don't even know you're doing it

3

Deck Help / Rough Deck Idea - Otyugh/Vulture/Boneyard

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:53 pm »

I tried playing with photons in this deck, they don't help as much as you'd think. As Mathaos said, the skeletons are Otyugh-fodder enough.
The only thing I've changed in my deck as listed at the top of the thread is adding a couple of Momentums. These are mainly to get the edge when you run into other Otyughs, but will save you as well if your main Otyugh needs to be just slightly bigger to eat that dragon the AI just played.
The key to this deck is keeping it very, very lean. You cannot win without early Otyughs and Boneyards. Mine sits at 39 cards and now just about can't lose at lvl.3
But I can't stress enough the importance of the Bone Wall. It's too expensive for most decks at 7 Death, but in this deck once it's out you cannot take damage except for spells and momentum creatures. Since it adds two bones (which negate all damage from one source each) and creatures are dropping like flies into your hungry Otyughs, the wall will grow much faster than it can be knocked down.

Also, I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, I'm hoping the latter due to the wall's huge cost, but spells which destroy or steal permanents only affect the first counter on Bone Wall. So basically, after about the fourth turn you usually take no more damage whatsoever.

4

Deck Help / Rough Deck Idea - Otyugh/Vulture/Boneyard

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:34 pm »

Keep in mind I'm a bit of a rookie, especially at decks that don't directly go for big creature/healing combos.
But I've got this fun idea for a deck to build.
The basic premise is getting Otyughs, Boneyards and Vultures out as quickly as possible.
The Otyughs eat any available enemy creature, the boneyards produce skeletons and the vultures grow. Any turn where no eligible enemy creature is available, just eat a skeleton. It won't make more skeletons but the vultures still get their growth. And you're expecting to generate three or four skeletons most turns anyway, there's plenty to spare.

The first draft of the deck is very rough, and currently only consistently beats Lvl.3 AI
Mark of Death
10 x Gravity Pillar
8 x Bone Pillar
6 x Otyugh
3 x Boneyard
6 x Vulture
2 x Bone Wall
(35 cards total)

Advantages:

- Damage ramps up quickly. Otyughs always have food to grow, and vultures ride their wake.
- Creature denial

Problems (with the raw deck above, anyway):

- No healing = No mastery
- Slow start. Takes a few turns to get the combo running, and that's the killer so far.
- No early defence (steals/freezes/etc) means cards like Owl's Eye or Arctic Squid early on are instant cripples. The Bone Wall become impenetrable (adds bone counters like no man's business) soon, but at 7 quanta there's a big window of vulnerability before that.
- And as much as any deck is crippled by a bad draw, this one has the peculiar distinction of having exactly zero damage dealing capacity if you don't draw an Otyugh.

Any advice or feedback on how to make this workable would be much appreciated.

5

Deck Help / Help With A Forest Spectre Deck

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:33 pm »

Just looking for some guidance with this deck at the moment. I'm enamoured with the idea of a deck based around the Forest Spirit/Spectre Growth ability. I've played around a bit with Emerald Dragons, Shields, Empathic Bonds, etc. but it just runs smoother and more consistently without anything unnecessarily extraneous to the core mechanic. Trouble is I'm winning lvl 3 about 4 in 5 but only with Mastery about 1 in 5. Any advice would be appreciated in getting this deck off the ground quicker, or pointing out any rookie mistakes.

The deck at the moment (30 cards total)
Mark of Water
10 x Forest Pillar
4 x Forest Spirit
2 x Forest Spectre (so far)
4 x Heal (helps get over the line for Mastery)
2 x Druidic Staff
4 x Saphire Pillar
4 x Freeze (a bit of defense to hold up opponent for a couple of turns while growing spirits/spectres)

6

Game Suggestions and Feedback / Upgraded Cards

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:09:33 pm »

There has to be a better way though. The amount of time you spend as a new player to earn your first upgrade feels vindicated at first. Then when you realise you're going to have to pull that off at least 10 more times before your deck even starts to be competitive. It's a bit daunting, and a bit much more like work to deck-grind that much to get anywhere at all.