Going the Distance

[Gorthos]

by Gorthos

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This is a silly (but fun!) PvP deck.  The idea of course is to use Sanctuaries to stay alive until you are close to 75 earth quanta, then cast Stoneskin.  After that keep using Stoneskins as you get them and Miracles when you have to.  Win by "going the distance" - deckout (assuming your opponent has fewer cards).

It doesn't have a high win rate, but when it works it sure is fun to watch your opponent try to kill you with 80+ damage per turn and fail utterly.  The deck has potentially 2500+ hit points of healing in it.

Countered by:
- decks with more cards (just quit)
- decks with a lot of Reverse Time, or with Eternity to use on their own creatures
- rushes (unless they get a bad hand)
- decks that can ramp up to deal massive damage
Good against:
- devourers
- 30 card control decks with limited damage

I did a search and it is similar to a deck used in War 3 by Team Light, called Max HP (can be found at http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=23867.0 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=23867.0)).  However, I didn't find this deck already posted in the Deck Ideas forum.

The main difference between this deck and the one from War is no Protect Artifact.  It usually doesn't make sense to use PA on a Sanctuary - it would be better just to have another Sanctuary or some other card that is equally valuable as a Sanctuary.  Losing a sanctuary to steal/deflag is no big deal. It's just like your opponent playing another creature with 4 attack (or 6 if you have a shield up).  And to prevent all steal/deflags you'd have to PA every one of your Sanctuaries, which is not realistic.

Also this deck has no Titanium Shield.  Not as sure of this one, but TS costs earth which delays reaching the crucial 75 earth quanta mark.  I'd usually rather have another Miracle than a Titanium Shield (Miracle is often worth more HP over the course of a game).


If you don't have 75 earth quanta and have to stay alive, with a choice between Stoneskin and Miracle, it's probably best to cast Stoneskin and not Miracle (even if you also end up having to cast a second or even third early Stoneskin).

[Rember]

Hmm, the PA's in the war decks are for the titanium shield/pillars to prevent PC/EQ. Titanium shields are required for this type of stall imo, PA is up to you, but 2-3 are useful for shield/pillars/1 sanc to prevent steal vs devourers or something.

[Chapuz]

So any deck with 38+ cards will win you?

[Gorthos]

Hmm, the PA's in the war decks are for the titanium shield/pillars to prevent PC/EQ. Titanium shields are required for this type of stall imo, PA is up to you, but 2-3 are useful for shield/pillars/1 sanc to prevent steal vs devourers or something.

I don't think a protected shield really helps you that much.

Figure it this way.  If the enemy has 5 attackers the shield stops 10 damage per turn.  Over 15 or so turns, that's 150 health.

So the comparison is:
6 Miracles, 6 Stoneskins - might gain you 60 average health per Stoneskin, plus 300 average health per Miracle, for a total of 2160 health.
3 shields, 2 protect artifacts - might gain you 150 health altogether

It's not worth spending 5 cards just to get 150 health, in comparison to the enormous amounts of health the miracles/stoneskins give you.

I guess a shield or two might be useful in the early game to help you get more quanta before you have to cast the first Stoneskin, but you don't need to have a lot of PA cards to keep the shield up - it's more important to keep the deck streamlined and fast for stoneskin/miracles.

PA on pendulums might be useful against some decks, so the deck might benefit from 1 PA.

So any deck with 38+ cards will win you?

Yeah but the deck is just for laughs, not trying to get a high win rate.  If you see they have more cards than you, you can just quit immediately without wasting much time.

[omegareaper7]

Hmm, the PA's in the war decks are for the titanium shield/pillars to prevent PC/EQ. Titanium shields are required for this type of stall imo, PA is up to you, but 2-3 are useful for shield/pillars/1 sanc to prevent steal vs devourers or something.

I don't think a protected shield really helps you that much.

Figure it this way.  If the enemy has 5 attackers the shield stops 10 damage per turn.  Over 15 or so turns, that's 150 health.

So the comparison is:
6 Miracles, 6 Stoneskins - might gain you 60 average health per Stoneskin, plus 300 average health per Miracle, for a total of 1860 health.
3 shields, 2 protect artifacts - might gain you 150 health altogether

It's not worth spending 5 cards just to get 150 health, in comparison to the enormous amounts of health the miracles/stoneskins give you.

I guess a shield or two might be useful in the early game to help you get more quanta before you have to cast the first Stoneskin, but you don't need to have a lot of PA cards to keep the shield up - it's more important to keep the deck streamlined and fast for stoneskin/miracles.

PA on pendulums might be useful against some decks, so the deck might benefit from 1 PA.

A single mirror shield could dull the damage while keeping you protected from bolts, i think it would be worth it to put it in.

[Rember]

Shield also buys you more time between miracles to gather quanta, which is a common way to die if you're getting rushed. Ideally they would be Diamond shields but I still think Titanium is worth it, you can even fully block some creatures or a vast % of their total damage. Also, you're going for deckout, what kind of deck has only 5 creatures? 1 PA is useless if you ever want to draw it even semi reliably.

e: Also, this is quite obvious but maybe worth mentioning, a shield vastly improves the effectiveness of Sancs.

[Gorthos]

Shield also buys you more time between miracles to gather quanta, which is a common way to die if you're getting rushed.

Actually, when you're gathering quanta but have to heal to avoid death, always use Stoneskin.  In the long run this will result in more total healing.  You could do a few back-of-the-envelope calculations to see how casting a Stoneskin versus a Miracle affects the total amount of healing left in the deck - the Stoneskin is almost always better to play first even if you're only at 40 quanta.

Ideally they would be Diamond shields but I still think Titanium is worth it, you can even fully block some creatures or a vast % of their total damage. Also, you're going for deckout, what kind of deck has only 5 creatures? 1 PA is useless if you ever want to draw it even semi reliably.

Well, the important part is the early game before you have 75 quanta.  Once you've gotten your Stoneskins up, a shield isn't going to make a big difference.  5 creatures in the early game is a reasonable amount.  It could be doubled by the endgame but by that point you'll have so much health the shield isn't that important.  The shield is mostly just for the early game, so you can make it to the late game.

Maybe 2 PA + 2 shield would benefit the deck, perhaps taking out a Sanc or two to make room.

e: Also, this is quite obvious but maybe worth mentioning, a shield vastly improves the effectiveness of Sancs.

Actually shield doesn't have an effect on Sancs.  Suppose that the opponent has X creatures out.  Every turn, each Sanc heals 4 damage, and the shield prevents 2 * X damage, regardless of how many Sancs are inplay.  They both just heal/prevent damage on their own, separately from the other.

[Wadjet]

+4 Iridium Wardens would be nice imo

[Calindu]

Is this an immortal coppy?

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