How do you begin defeating top50 and false gods with no upgrades?

[Delreich]

http://elementstheforum.smfforfree3.com/index.php/topic,137.0.html

That exact deck will cost you more like 2000 or so, depending on what you already have, but that should take long to collect.
Check the rainbow sub-forum for more inspiration for customization.

[Evil Hamster]

Build those rainbow fully upgraded decks with non-upgraded cards. You will probably lose a good number of games, pay attention to your opponent name and the cards/strategies it uses. Once you get the strategy down you should win about 25% of the time. When you win an upgraded card in the slots if it fits your deck put it in, if not sell it- 3 cards sold will get you two upgrades plus a little cash. As you upgrade your deck, your win percentage will go up- increasing the speed you can upgrade your deck. I fully upgraded my deck in about a week only playing 2 hours a night.

As for upgrades- prioritize half your towers first, then otyughs, then hourglasses, then the rest of your pillars, then the rest of your cards.

[Jeirohs]

For what it's worth, I'm now 1-for-10 versus false gods with the linked no-upgraded-cards rainbow deck.  However versus everyone else, including Top 50, it's been relatively simple to gain an Elemental Mastery victory.

[Jeirohs]

Ok.  So I got myself up to 1500 electrum with an agonizingly long grind fighting level 3 opponents using a death-darkness-entropy poison\boneyard\vulture deck. 
I was at the point where I had to think long and hard about what card to upgrade first. 

So I came to this forum and it turns out, a lot of people are saying "stop what you're doing, don't upgrade a card, use the money instead to build a rainbow deck".

So I went to the Rainbow Deck forums and checked out some of the "recipes".  All the screenshots I saw were fully upgraded decks! 
Sure, I see how that fully upgraded deck could win often, but what about someone with NO upgraded cards yet?  Do these decks still work against false gods and Top 50 if you build them out of "non-upgraded" cards?

Clearly some of you have figured out how to amass large quantities of electrum quickly so that perhaps building a fully upgraded deck does not seem as daunting to you as it does to me.  So my question is:  How do you get there, (having a ton of upgraded cards) from where I am right now (having zero upgraded cards)? ???  Surely not by continuing to grind Level 3 opponents like I have been doing.  That would take forever.

So here is the progress map as I see it right now:
1. Start playing, do all the initial quests, and get the 500-point rare weapon reward.
   (1a.  Apparently, don't choose Arsenic.  If you do, punch yourself in the balls when you get to step 4 and have done some forum reading.  Sigh and move on.)
2. By now you've figured out what various cards do and have seen most of them.  Grind out enough electrum to build the non-upgraded deck you think you want to use. 
3. Accumulate 1500 electrum. 
4. Come to this forum for advice.
5. ? ? ?
6. Repeatedly defeat false gods and Top 50 and become filthy rich.
7. You now have a hoard of upgraded cards and can build the decks shown on this forum.


I'm currently on step 5.  Any hints? 
Thanks for the advice!   

[Jeirohs]

Thank you.  I've assembled that deck and it's very different than what I was playing with previously.

I tried it against a few lower-level opponents (1-3) and annihilated them with 100 health left.  I'm 0-for-2 vs False Gods so far (and am now broke as a result) but I can see the potential. 

Off-topic: It's very fun to try a new element and a new deck with a new strategy.  This almost makes me wish there were a "save deck" feature which included changing back to whatever mark you had when you saved that deck, so that you could change it up once in a while without going through the hassle of rebuilding the deck and paying to flip flop your mark every time you wanted to change flavors for a couple of games.  Perhaps I'll suggest that in the enhancements forum.  (It's probably been suggested several times already, no doubt.)

[Evil Hamster]

Every FG requires a different strategy. Once you have played each a few times you'll get better win rates and the cards you will win- sell them when you have 500 coins so you can upgrade a card of your own. The easiest ones to beat un-upgraded are Incarnate, Miracle and Firefly Queen. When I was un-upgraded I just quit if Graviton or Rainbow showed up- they were near impossible and not worth the time. Once your deck is about half upgraded you can potentially beat them but it will still be tough.  Actually I find Graviton the hardest to beat fully upgraded.

[Dragoon]

Off-topic: It's very fun to try a new element and a new deck with a new strategy.  This almost makes me wish there were a "save deck" feature which included changing back to whatever mark you had when you saved that deck, so that you could change it up once in a while without going through the hassle of rebuilding the deck and paying to flip flop your mark every time you wanted to change flavors for a couple of games.  Perhaps I'll suggest that in the enhancements forum.  (It's probably been suggested several times already, no doubt.)

If you just want to have fun trying new decks and strategies, save your money on your account and open a new tab/window to http://www.elementsthegame.com/trainer

It's a training ground where you can get infinite money and all the rares except Miracle, Arctic Squid, and the Shards.  After getting your butt kicked a bunch by the FG, it's nice to go and just play around on the trainer.  Also, if you have any strategies you want to try to implement in your personal account, try it first in the trainer so you don't waste any of your money.

[Scaredgirl]

So I went to the Rainbow Deck forums and checked out some of the "recipes".  All the screenshots I saw were fully upgraded decks! 

You need to look closer. There was one non-upgraded deck there.

Here you can find it even faster: http://elementstheforum.smfforfree3.com/index.php/topic,588.0.html (http://elementstheforum.smfforfree3.com/index.php/topic,588.0.html)