Guest posts by Toge111

49

Rainbow Decks / Re: Wrath of Antevorta

« on: August 16, 2011, 12:21:19 pm »

1st attempt: I did get one Frog out before immorush killed me. (-15)
2nd attempt: One crimson dragon killed me. (-15)
3rd attempt: Mono darkness dragon spam killed me. (-15)
4th attempt: Won against some weird gravity/fire deck (+64)
5th attempt: Mono gravity flying titans killed me. (-15)
6th attempt: Won against some QT/ flying weapon deck (+45)
7th attempt: Blach hole rainbow killed me. (-15)
8th attempt: Standard fire deck killed me. (-15)
9th attempt: Won against mono aether (+39)
10th attempt: Standard fire deck killed me. (-15)

So the winnings are 145 and losses were 105 electrum. I gained 40 electrum in this 20 minute playing session in silver league. Let's put this in perspective: That's one EM against AI3, which takes about 60 seconds

50

Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Faction Rating System?

« on: August 15, 2011, 11:58:24 pm »

Sounds like WoE.

txt /w + abr. plz

51

False Gods / Now I'm sad.

« on: August 12, 2011, 12:22:34 am »

Picture says it all. I actually managed to stall Incarnate with Dissipation Field, Quantum Towers and combination of flying Eternity and Pulverizer. Just before Incarnate is about to deck out, Dissipation Field robs the last of my  quanta so I can't bounce the photon anymore.

Also no idea why I took Aether mark there...

Edit: I clicked done and won? It seems that same rules don't apply to AI as players. Well that was a well-earned 120 electrum for 30 minute struggle

52

The Arena / Re: Arena Decks Income

« on: July 30, 2011, 08:59:25 am »

Its income for doing nothing, no buff is needed.

- Doing nothing besides making challenging decks for the arena players to play against, based around random cards that the oracle gives?

53

General Discussion / Re: So many things to upgrade!

« on: July 29, 2011, 05:04:16 pm »

It seems that community is pretty set on the opinion that False Gods are the best source of money / upped cards. I've tried it occasionally, but it felt like I was losing more money than gaining. First there's cost to play which you'll lose unless you win. Then there's the cost in time. Finally if you win a card you shouldn't sell it.

I understand the reasoning in the Money Management (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27551.0.html) thread (thanks for link!), but I feel it misses something obvious: playing with upgraded cards is vastly more beneficial than without them. It can change 50% win rate deck into 80% win rate deck and shave two turns-to-win from its stats.

What I did was take up the current best AI3 grinder and build it unupped. Then I'd slowly start spending my gold on upgrading that deck in order to grind more efficiently. I'd keep a stack of 6 unupped cards for every win except for rares 12, and sell the excess. My reasoning is that if I'm going to win loads of those cards from same elder decks, I might as well sell the excess and be closer to faster deck that way. I still have about 80% upgraded USEM when TADAbow was going to beat it, so I switched to upping that instead. Fortunately the cards in TADAbow were also used in lots of other decks, so I could upgrade key cards here and there to have basically fully functioning deck at all times. Now it seems that fire decks and arena grinding are all the rage, so I'm kind of torn up where the foundation of good spending strategy should be.

Theoretically best play is obvious: to gain the most money in a unit of time. The answer to question what's the best grind and deck has evolved over time. Maybe I'll pick up FG farming next.

54

General Discussion / So many things to upgrade!

« on: July 29, 2011, 09:27:50 am »

I've been playing this game for over year, but I still feel like newbie when it comes to making different decks. The most problematic occasions are those where having upgraded cards is essential for even working with the deck.

Examples:
Animate Weapon, Sundial, Gnome Gemfinder upgrades change the cost for card, eliminating need to have that specific quanta source. Other example is Shards of Gratitude, which are useless unless upgraded. Then there are cards like Phoenix, which changes a lot how the card plays like in deck when upgraded. Chaos Power and Puffer Fish are whole different cards when upgraded.

What were your veteran strategies for upgrading?

55

Deck Help / Re: What do you farm Silver league with

« on: July 29, 2011, 08:36:12 am »

willng3:

I think you're overestimating Discord / Black hole combo against mono aether decks. My experiences have been that it's very hard to pull off successful quanta denial on mono decks: you either lack early Discord, timely Black holes or the opponent just outproduces aether quanta to have 6 available on his turn. Once Dimension shield is in place, he's free to gain more quanta and draw another dimensional shield for 3 turns, which usually results in loss.

56

General Discussion / Re: Epic 15x Marks of Gravity

« on: July 28, 2011, 08:25:04 pm »

2. In my opinion, it will still be fair simply because the person with the marks deserves them because the only way to get marks is by winning tournys or something.

- It is not a question who deserves what. Some players have indestructible pillars and some players don't. That is by definition unequal playing field. I suppose you could justify this state of inequality by saying that good/dedicated players deserve to have advantage over those who play less. However, I find this justification dubious.

57

General Discussion / Re: Epic 15x Marks of Gravity

« on: July 28, 2011, 04:51:30 pm »

Questions:

1. Can those mark cards be destroyed with permanent control?

2. What implication does this have on even playing field if someone has marks of entropy and uses them with Dissipation Shield?

58

The Arena / Fire decks seem to be pretty powerful in the Arena.

« on: July 27, 2011, 12:07:37 pm »

It seems that oracle-spun cards that are part of common fire decks are very often at the top of leaderboards. At the moment 9 decks out of 30 at the top of silver league have fire mark; gold league 12 out of 30, platinum 12 out of 30. And earth marks might just as well be fire decks, because those two elements have pretty good synergy.

Fire decks have very good combination of permanent control (Explosion), creature control (Fire Lance, Fire Buckler, Fire Storm, Rage Elixir, Fire Nymph), quanta gain (Brimstone Eater, Cremation) and creatures that hit like a truck and grow in power. With double-draws and mark power multipliers the AI is often able to outrush and penetrate whatever defenses the player has. Unlike false gods, player-made decks need not have weaknesses.

How do we counter?

59

Duo-Decks / Re: Water-HalfPosi~40 Card.NotDeathWaterPoisonDeck

« on: July 24, 2011, 09:22:46 am »

What's the plan with inundations?

60

Deck Compilations / Re: WHERE did THAT come from?

« on: July 24, 2011, 09:15:09 am »

You have gravity pendulums for momentums and death pendulums for deathstalkers, yet supernova feels like much more effective bargain for those cheap cards. All in all, the quanta balance feels weird.