Guest posts by adsilcott

1

Game Suggestions and Feedback / A concern and an idea about PVP vs anti-FG decks

« on: June 06, 2010, 06:11:03 pm »

I started to post this as a reply to a thread about prohibiting quantum pillars in PVP, but I realized it's a separate idea so I'm starting a new thread.

I wouldn't want to ban quantum pillars, on the contrary, I think they're great.  In fact I thought it was a bad idea when zanz was thinking about nerfing them to give 2.5 quanta, and here's why:

There's a whole metagame in Elements revolving around building the best rainbow false god killer.  I think that that challenge has inspired some of the most creative ideas in the game.  There used to be one anti-fg deck with variations, but there's really quite a variety now.  And it's not easy.  I was playing back when people were getting almost %80 win ratios with fully upgraded decks, now you're lucky to get %50.  And as harder false gods get added, AI gets improved, and cards get nerfed, I'm afraid it's going to get lower.  If it gets much harder, it's going to stop being a fun challenge, and start being a boring grind.  It's already starting to feel that way to me.

So I don't think rainbow decks should be nerfed, if anything they should be encouraged-- as its own metagame.  The problem comes when that's all that people play, including in PVP.  So I propose a "quantum pillar restricted PVP" option.  The unrestricted PVP would still exist, but this would be an option for people who want to play non-rainbow decks against other non-rainbow decks.  If it had its own rewards, then it would encourage people to build a greater variety of decks.  It would strengthen the PVP metagame as a separate path from the quest metagame, making the game more dynamic.

2

General Discussion / Re: The Culture is to have a real PVP deck ..

« on: June 06, 2010, 01:21:35 am »

Actually I've been thinking about this a lot, and I really think it should be...

An option!

Think about it, a quantum pillar restricted PVP option would really encourage people to build more creative decks, while people who can only afford an anti-fg deck can keep playing as normal.

I think this is a great idea.

3

Fire / Re: In Development: Phoenix/Minor Phoenix

« on: March 17, 2010, 04:46:15 pm »

Man, the more I think about this, the more I think a really cool opportunity could be missed here.  If the the phoenix (not the ash) was Air instead of Fire, there would be some awesome combos.  You could use Cremation, which is free, to sac the bird and generate the red quantum to revive it.  Or you could use Elite Fireflys.  The best combo of all would be with Unstable Gas... think about it!

Hmm, maybe that would be too powerful...  I don't know, but the concept is awesome-- rising from the fire into the air and back.  Any opinions on this?

4

Fire / Re: In Development: Phoenix/Minor Phoenix

« on: March 16, 2010, 02:52:42 pm »

I had imagined a phoenix card, but I had pictured it as a Air-Fire crossover.  For example the bird would be air, and the ash would be fire.  I think that would make more sense, and maybe make it a little more challenging and fun to use.  So I'm a little disappointed, but it still looks like a cool card that I'm looking forward to using.

5

Trio & Quartet / Re: Towerless trio-deck with 4 types of dragons

« on: March 08, 2010, 09:33:10 pm »

I've been playing around with this deck and I've come up with a variation that's been kicking the crap out of level 3.  I thought I'd post it here since it was inspired by your deck.

Mark is Life 
(http://www.screenshotdumpster.com/view/m7Gbd51245/life_light_speed_dragon)

At first I was trying to make it more rounded like you mentioned in your last post, by adding utilitarian cards like explosions, but then I wondered what would happen if I actually made it MORE focused.  My favorite part was the Ray of Light/Epinephrine/Leaf Dragon combo for pumping out life quanta fast, so I took out the Light Dragon and fire entirely.  That left plenty of room for more Jade Dragons and Feral Bonds.  With so many creatures, the feral bonds work great, and it gets mastery once in a while too. 

The best thing about these decks is that they're fast!  You can get several games in in the time it would take to play one game with a slower deck.   

6

Trio & Quartet / Re: Towerless trio-deck with 4 types of dragons

« on: March 08, 2010, 12:19:44 am »

I just tried this in the trainer and it's so fun and creative!  Regardless of how it performs, I love the concept and the theme.  And when it works it's a blast, pummeling the enemy with a swarm of tiny adrenalined creatures and dragons at the same time.  Very nice.   

7

Duo-Decks / Re: Massive Vampire? [Gravity/Dark]

« on: March 07, 2010, 08:25:51 pm »

Very nice deck, and one I intend to use.

Thank you so much!  Made my day. 

Would this deck benefit from Momentum's? You could replace an Oty and a Steal for 2 Momentums and see what would happen, do some testing.

It originally had momentums, but then I realized I could just steal any shields that were a problem.  There have been a couple times I would have liked to be able to pump my oty up a bit, but with so many ways to deal with creatures, that didn't seem like a big enough reason to add them back in.  It might come down to personal preference on that one. 

I'm trying a version now with the Titan replaced by a Vampire Dagger, to see if I can get mastery once in a while with some extra healing.  So far so good! 

8

Duo-Decks / Massive Vampire? [Gravity/Dark]

« on: March 07, 2010, 07:21:54 pm »

I'm sure someone's tried this-- putting Liquid Shadow on a Massive Dragon seems like a given, but I couldn't find it listed when I searched. 

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 748 748 748 748 749 74b 74b 74b 74b 74c 74d 74d 74d 7t9 7t9 7t9 7te 7te 7te 8pt

What surprised me is that the deck works so well, winning almost all of the level five games I played with it.  Probably because it can be adjusted to be more offensive or more defensive depending on the situation.  Put a Gravity Force on an opponent's creature to smash it with your dragon, or play in on the dragon to absorb some damage.  Play Liquid shadow on an opponent's creature to stop annoying abilities or, my favorite, play it on your dragon to heal eight life a turn.  The dragons are so big that they often last the whole game even though they're poisoned.  And on top of that there's otyu's.

It's been working well, but I feel like it could be tweaked a bit.  Suggestions are welcome.

9

Duo-Decks / Re: A good Air/Aether deck?

« on: March 06, 2010, 05:23:06 pm »

Won't it be a bit short on , with only mark for the EFF spawning cost?

It's definitely slower than a true FFQ deck, but the trade off is that you get aether quanta, which keeps you and your queen safe while you build up, and then the gasses more than make up for it when they start coming out.

You could always sub some gasses in for them, You generally shouldn't need more than 4 of them (Usually 3) to win a PvP game, with all your FF damage.

Thanks, I've been trying your suggestion, and I think it'll work with tweaking, although it's not as fun.  The nymphs with quints became awesome 6/2 invincibles that really added to the creature damage.  And the steady supply of of gasses had a lot of additional advantages, like dealing with life gaining decks, creature removal, and in particular getting them destroyed or stolen before you can use them.  Oh well...

It might work with two Nymphs, maybe someday I'll have two and I can try it.  In the mean time I'm trying other variations.  Back to the drawing board...     

10

Duo-Decks / Re: A good Air/Aether deck?

« on: March 06, 2010, 03:35:30 am »

This deck is going to be fun to play with if I ever get 3 Air Nymphs. Thanks for the great deck, encompassing 4 elements together perfectly

Thank you so much!  I'm really glad that you guys like the deck 

I'd consider it a duo deck (So would many others) because all of it's cards are of 2 elements. The big problem with it is the required 3 blue nymphs, and the tier list would lower builds if they required numerous rares to work, as a nymph-bases build like this one requires 3 of them, with a 00.5% chance of getting one, it'd theoretically take 600 dyas of using the oracle evrey day to get them.

Thanks for clarifying the duo color thing.

As for the rarity of the nymphs, that really bums me out... When I first started reading about the nymphs I thought I read that they were going to be available to buy it the bazaar in a future version of the game.  I guess I missed the part about the Oracle... Oh well.  I was just about to start making the deck in the regular game, now I realize I can't. 

11

Duo-Decks / A good Air/Aether deck?

« on: March 05, 2010, 08:01:28 pm »

Hi there.  I'm an old M:tg player, who's been playing Elements for some time, but I never had a deck that I thought was good enough or original enough to share until now.  It's also fun to play!  I've been beating level 5 in the trainer with it all day, I only lost once (is that good?).  And I hope it's original, at least I haven't seen it posted.  I saw that Air/Aether was in the bottom tier in that duo deck thread, which suggests that no one's had much luck with the combination.  Although I'm not sure if this would be considered two element, three element because of the mark, or four element because it generates fire as well... Anyway, here it is:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

7ms 7ms 7ms 7ms 7ms 7ms 7ms 7n3 7n3 7n3 7n3 7ng 7ng 7ng 808 808 808 808 808 808 80d 80d 80d 80d 80d 80e 80h 80h 80h 80h 8pn

So by the time you play a Queen, preferably with a Quintessence, You should have enough Life quanta to start churning out Fireflys, and even when you run out you can keep making one every other turn, which is plenty because they're only there to soften up the opponent and generate fire quanta.  Then obviously an Air Nymph with Quintessence and start making Unstable Gasses.  Phase Shields as needed.

One of the strengths seem to be that the quanta distribution works out nicely, so that you can almost always play creatures and support cards on the same turn.  Another is the multiple ways to deal damage.  In some games I went against an opponent with a reflect shield but I was able to kill them with firefly damage, and other times I couldn't get any creature damage in, but the unstable gas did the job.  It's versatile.  If you're safe behind your shield and your firefly army is kicking butt, you can just save up gases for a final blow, but if you're in trouble and you need to clear the board you can fire them off as you make them, leaving only what you put quintessences on.  Firing five gas bombs in a single turn is so much fun!

If I were to add anything it would be a single Wind Tower.

Let me know what you think!