Hello Elements community.
I found out about Elements fairly early after its launch on Kongregate. My first impression when the 12 elements screen came up, paired by elemental foils, was that it was going to be similar to Magic: the Gathering, but with a lot more colors and probably unnecessary complication. It can be hard to run a rainbow deck in Magic, and reading the description of things like Aether and Entropy, I was pretty sure I'd be in for a wild and complicated ride. After carefully reading the descriptions of every element at least twice, I decided I'd probably enjoy the Water element the most, and so that's the mark I chose.
Water at the time was a bit on the expensive side, but I really liked the freezing aspect and that it felt like it had a lot of synergy with a lot of other cards. I played it for several weeks straight and was generally impressed by the game, if not bewildered a bit by the graphical interface and some of the card effects. When I finally was able to grind enough gold, I ditched the default Light cards and decided I should build up Aether and Air. They seemed the most interesting. However, I soon realized that Water was probably not the best mark for a Water deck, if I wanted to make Water - Air or Water - Aether. After playing AI3 and a bit of PVP1 for about two months, I left for other games, and generally just forgot about Elements. PVP1 was rough and expensive waters, and due to the cost to change your mark at the time, that severely limited me in deck creation. However, my overall impression of the game when I left was very high.
I came back I'd say something like 8 months later. It was rated one of the top 5 games on Kongregate multiplayer and I remembered the game. I saw the Link Account function and so I did. In fact, I think that's why I initially joined the forums, because afterward, I could no longer access my original account, Zozoken. That's why my IGN does not match my Kongregate / forum screenname, but it's quite similar. (z0z0ken with zeroes instead of o's) So having to start all over again, I decided for the sake of nostalgia, I'd choose Water again.
I was also excited this great game had badges, and decided that I would get them. My brief brush with FGs in the past was one where I felt they were so powerful, that I was throwing my gold away trying to fight them. This time, although I liked the game as much as I previously did, I almost considered this coupled with the fact that t50 was so competitive, that I'd stand no chance in becoming competitive, and that after I get these badges, perhaps I should pop in every now and then, but probably not play as much as I did in the past. This was especially true considering I lost my previous account to linking the accounts. I didn't mind starting over, but it was a little frustrating that my IGN could not match my Kong name.
Just in case, I grabbed Eternity.
That was when I found out some amazing changes that happened in this game, especially concerning thematics. First of all, no more gold cost for changing your mark! That was probably the best change that ever happened in this game, and it no longer felt so constricting. I could now experiment with other deck archetypes and the only thing limiting me was card grinding. In particular, it actually gave me a chance to make an unupped deck that allowed me to defeat my very first FG and claim that badge.
Another very cool change was one I found out by accident when experimenting with Water - Death. I was playing against a Time AI and poof! -- one of my skeletons was hit with Reverse Time and a very surprising thing happened. My skeleton... it didn't get put on top of my deck as I remembered it. No, it actually mutated... not mutated... no... came
back to life as the creature it was previously before it became a skeleton!
Perhaps it sounds like I'm being a little over-dramatic about that change, but it seriously is cool when you think about it. Kudos to whoever came up with that idea. Why was that change so exciting? It was because that means there had to be other thematics changed around, and possibly even new cards added!
Indeed, I noticed then that there had been new cards that I did not remember. Sanctuary, Ghost of the Past, Mitosis... It had been such a long time since I played. I didn't remember Air Blitz, had that been around for a while too? Everything felt so new again. Everything felt like it
could be worked into either a serious deck or at least a gimmick deck. It seems like every card had a purpose, that the card pool, after looking at a card list on Wiki, was small but very intricate.
I played the game from March of 2010 until I think September, when life just got too busy for me to think about online gaming. After that I'd pop in for a few games and to lurk in the chat, and even occasionally talk. I even saw that Elements had tournaments now (something I didn't remember having, but I didn't check the forums; Kong chat kept talking about them), and naturally I joined up on one. Also just as naturally, I was stomped, but it was fun!
...And that's what brings me to the forums. Tournaments, War, Leagues, they all sound intriguing. I would have posted earlier on the forums, since I do read quite a few threads on here, but I am not a hardened veteran of this game. Even if I was, I do not think I have the insight to discuss whether this strategy is too strong, or that card is too weak. I of course have my own ideas on balance and deck creation, but they are not nearly as fine-tuned as others on the forums. I feel I have little to add to the discussion, because usually what I want to say has already been posted, and considering that I always feel like I'm more in a learning position for this game, I have been shy to post.
So why post now? Because after my return (again), there has been some limits in entering tournaments on Elements. It is now no longer sufficient to have a Forum account; you must have some actual posts. I suppose this is an attempt to stop people from cheating via entering alt accounts. Sadly, my largest motivation for posting even right now is one day to acquire 30 non-spam posts and hopefully become part of the tournament scene. While I'm here, maybe I'll even join in the War, as my favorite element, of course!
Sorry for the long post. Glad to finally meet (or re-meet) you all.
[Edit]
I should have probably talked about my impression of the Arena. It's excellent! I really feel this is more exciting than t50 and (in theory) encourages a wide variety of decks. The Arena alone can be quite addictive!
