Pharaoh Rainbow - now Aethbow Pharaoh

[Levgre]

Deck Helper comment: 
This deck was posted before the 1.32 game update and as a result may work very differently now.  Use at your own risk.
UPDATED DECK:

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5rp 5rp 5rp 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 719 719 77i 77i 7am 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q7 7q8 7qc 7qc 7qk 80d 80d 80d 80h 80h 80i 8ps

Statistics link, not many games yet

http://elementsstatistics.comxa.com/statistics.php


I believe this to be an improvement over my previous version.  Firstly, it is smaller.  Secondly, it is much better at dealing with fast attackers and creature rushes, with its 3 phase shields. Although obviously Hermes and others could destroy the phase shields, 'but' they are lower priority than electrum hourglasses and eternity, so the phase shields can often be safe.

Additionally a fractal has been added which can give a quick supply of extra scarabs, or at times copy the opponent's creatures.

At first this deck did not  have anubis, but without it the deck has problems against Osiris, easily holding Osiris off, but generally being 50 damage away from killing or 5 cards away from decking.  The Anubis lets you make your creatures immaterial so you can eat pharaohs or get in the 200 damage.

One Feral Bond has been added as it can be quite good late game, and it is easier to PA one Feral Bond than 4 shards.  However more than 1 seems bad because they are not good early on, and quantum could be an issue.

If you do not have a time nymph, simply having 1 less card could be good.  A 2nd eternity could also be worthwhile, or a single steal to take away a nasty permanent per game.

I am also considering throwing in a jade shield, or even mirror shield, to have one permanent shield in the deck which cannot be destroyed. Not sure yet though.











Old deck:

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5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 6u3 719 719 77f 77i 77i 77i 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q3 7q3 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q5 7q7 7q8 7q8 7qc 7qc 80h 80h 80h 8ps

General strategy is to defend until a pharaoh or Anubis can be played with a quint, then take out all hostile creatures and kill with elite scarabs.  It's pretty easy to link 4-5 sundials in a row, when 3-4 cards are drawn per turn, and get enough shards to regain 20-30 HP per turn.

Here's a link with statistics.

http://elementsstatistics.comxa.com/getstatistics.php?dv=3137220790

[Arondight]

I'm not really liking it, not that I'm saying you didn't do a good job, but making rainbow decks based around Pharaohs leaves a lot of dead draws and waiting. You have to put tons of Time Towers and then add some Quantum Towers to the mix to get it into a full rainbow. Yet, you have so many cards that you can't add all the cards to use the left over quanta because it's too huge. I think Rainbow decks based on Pharaoh should use Elite Mummies instead, you can summon a Pharaoh on the first turn if you're lucky.  I'm just saying this because I've tested it out personally before.

[Levgre]

I'm not really liking it, not that I'm saying you didn't do a good job, but making rainbow decks based around Pharaohs leaves a lot of dead draws and waiting. You have to put tons of Time Towers and then add some Quantum Towers to the mix to get it into a full rainbow. Yet, you have so many cards that you can't add all the cards to use the left over quanta because it's too huge. I think Rainbow decks based on Pharaoh should use Elite Mummies instead, you can summon a Pharaoh on the first turn if you're lucky.  I'm just saying this because I've tested it out personally before.

Hmm I think all rainbow decks which fight False Gods can have dead draws and waiting, though.  I'm not sure this deck goes too much slower.  And the tower count is still comparable to a standard rainbow, 1 tower for 2.5 non-tower cards.

Elite Mummy would be a good idea, although I don't really play the mummy early anyways :p
I think Pharaohs do not mix well with a rush type deck, where a FFQ and graveyards would be better for making creatures.

[Cynxos]

Wouldn't switching to a mark be better?
Because if theres one thing I've learned from Quantum towers, is that you can depend on them to give you the one quantum you need and want.

[yaladilae]

Interesting, another topic that its just like someone posted =)
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,4958.0.html

Besides, at aglance, his is much better and more consistent, I bet

[Wisemage]

And you posted Flooding because?  it doesnt affect immaterial monsters.

[Levgre]

Interesting, another topic that its just like someone posted =)
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,4958.0.html

Besides, at aglance, his is much better and more consistent, I bet

Ah yeah, I didn't notice that thread.  My deck is pretty close to some in there... I'm not sure who's deck you meant is more consistent, but this one is quite consistent, the biggest problem is the Gods that rush really fast, like Hermes, and even Incarnate or FFQ.

I think adding a 3rd plague, replacing one turtle shield or one eternity is better.

Another thing I am experimenting with right now is making it entropy mark so more supernovas can be used, lots of time quantum can still be produced by all the time towers. 

It would also be nice to have a fractal or two, so you could make lots of scarabs quickly.  That would require a bit of tweaking, perhaps an aether mark.

[Levgre]

Wouldn't switching to a mark be better?
Because if theres one thing I've learned from Quantum towers, is that you can depend on them to give you the one quantum you need and want.

Quantum towers are pretty consistent, over time.  On average they'll produce 1 gravity quantum every 4 turns.
You don't start using the devour ability until mid to late game, so by then it's usually true that you  have at least 5-6 gravity quantum.  After you spend that 5-6, it can sort of trickle in though, some turns you get 0 gravity quantum, which sucks, but it is tolerable.

[unionruler]

Interesting, another topic that its just like someone posted =)
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,4958.0.html

Besides, at aglance, his is much better and more consistent, I bet

"You bet" implies that it's solely your opinion and has no bearing on where Levgre's deck should be posted.
In fact this is different enough to be posted separately. Sometimes decks may be only a few cards different, yet I would argue that they do deserve a separate thread because they introduce concepts, which are fundamental in the study of anti FG deckbuilding.

[yaladilae]

Forgive me, but doesnt deckbuild class 001 tells you a smaller deck has a more consistent probability of drawing what you need?

Besides both deck has alot of hourglass anyway

1 quick glance, i notice, do you need the anubis and 3 quint? I would suppose quint both pharoah and you are on the way

maybe you can look into a fire buckler as well? Since the set up wll be a little slow and it will help cut down a mass mob's hp for your mass scrab eating

I bet 8 quint tower can generate those fire needed

Also maybe a bone wall? When you start mass eating, it would be awesome!

[Levgre]

Forgive me, but doesnt deckbuild class 001 tells you a smaller deck has a more consistent probability of drawing what you need?

Besides both deck has alot of hourglass anyway

1 quick glance, i notice, do you need the anubis and 3 quint? I would suppose quint both pharoah and you are on the way

maybe you can look into a fire buckler as well? Since the set up wll be a little slow and it will help cut down a mass mob's hp for your mass scrab eating

I bet 8 quint tower can generate those fire needed

Also maybe a bone wall? When you start mass eating, it would be awesome!

Generally smaller is better, yes.  But as to the probability of drawing what you need, that just depends on ratios.  Like if you have 2 hourglasses in a 30 card deck, you have maybe a 30% chance to draw one.  But if you have 4 hourglasses in a 40 card deck, you have a higher chance, 40% maybe.  Of course there is a 6 card limit, so if you want to maximize the chance to draw supernovas, the smaller the better with 6 supernovas.  But I am trying to get the deck size down (and actually have a smaller version right now) because I think hourglasses need to be drawn more.

The 3 quints was to ensure drawing at least 1 early on, since you often need the quint before the creature.  I think with 55 cards 3 quints is needed, if the deck was smaller it could go down to 2 quints.

Fire buckler is a good card, especially in the case of killing immaterial creatures, but the deck can't usually stand to take much damage, and uses sundials a lot so the fire buckler doesn't even work then.

Bone wall would be quite good, the issue would be, partly the cost, and partly that it is only good later in the game.  I think the bigger risk of dying is early game, so shields that are good early on are better.

[Xinef]

Well... your deck is indeed quite similar to my Pharaoh sails to Orion, but with plagues/turtle shields/pulvy it is different enough to have a separate thread.

I have quite a bit of experience with pharaoh-time/rainbows (I guess ~150 battles, but I started making statistics only recently when I upgraded the whole deck), so if you don't mind I'll give you some hints.

Anubis is indeed not needed. Quint a pharaoh and FG will waste all his creature control on your scarabs (also, surprisingly, AI targets scarabs before pharaohs, so you can usually play second pharaoh unquinted).
Against FG with fire shields, eagle eyes, otyughs etc... simply rewind your scarabs as you create them, than play 3 at once, or more if you need. With plagues you should have less problem fighting otyughs than my deck, so there is really no need to immortalize all your scarabs.

Permafrost is wonderful against Fire Queen, Incarnate, Morte, immortal creatures (Divine Glory, Elidnis), and burrowed shriekers, so I really don't find Turtle Shield good enough as a late game shield... the problem is that I often have to wait till mid-late game before I can play it (high cost, especially hard when I draw my quantum towers late), so early game shields are needed... so I really advise you to try either permafrost+fog shields or permafrost+turtle shield, both probably quite good options.

Feral bonds really help with EMs... the only times I win without EMs is if my opponent has an indestructible weapon and I don't have a sundial left for the 'finishing hit' (just look at my stats http://elementsstatistics.comxa.com/getstatistics.php?dv=148667097 I have 3 times less battles registered, yet more EMs than your deck)
They also help against gods with permanent destruction - a protected bond can heal you even when Divine Glory destroyed all your SoGs for example, also very nice against Obliterator if he plays a protected pulvy (late game, because an early pulvy = sure defeat).

I don't try to persuade you to build an exact copy of my deck though, just try any suggestions you might like. I'd also like to know how you feel about pulvy/plagues, do they help a lot? I wouldn't add a pulvy to my deck simply because I rely a lot on Eternity (I'd sooner add a few deflags), but I've been considering plagues ever since I replaced mummies with pharaohs (though I think they would help only against Graviton, so that's why I did not include them in the final deck).