Pharaoh Rainbow - now Aethbow Pharaoh

[Deedle]

I've built and played both of your Pharaoh Decks.

While both decks have the same big problem, quantum production (the right production)

Leverge's deck was more consistent % with quantum production than Xinef.

The Turtle shield with 4-5 SOG makes it really easy for a lot of healing long enough to gain control.  I get that the fog shield can be pumped out quickly but it never helped enough to matter.

I've worked on one that was  :entropymark and ran 6 supernovas it ran fairly well but the mini bow rainbows winning % is still been faster and better in every way.

[Levgre]

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).

I think plagues are very effective because this deck is all about delaying, and almost all creatures succumb to plague given time.  And since gravity quantum can be limited, it eases the load of creature destruction for scarabs.  I have a feral bond in my new version, and yes it is very good ofr healing and EMs, but I think 2 is too pricey and they are not as good as shards earlier on. 

Pulverizer is pretty useful, the only issue I think is sometimes you cannot get the 4 earth quantum early enough to start using it.  So I do not use it in my new version.  I think a steal or two could be quite useful, as with rainbow you can use whatever weapon you steal, but deflag could be better since it is easier to play.  But deflags don't help with card advantage like steal does, and I think card advantage/efficiency is very important verse false gods.

[Xinef]

I've built and played both of your Pharaoh Decks.

While both decks have the same big problem, quantum production (the right production)

Leverge's deck was more consistent % with quantum production than Xinef.

The Turtle shield with 4-5 SOG makes it really easy for a lot of healing long enough to gain control.  I get that the fog shield can be pumped out quickly but it never helped enough to matter.

I've worked on one that was  :entropymark and ran 6 supernovas it ran fairly well but the mini bow rainbows winning % is still been faster and better in every way.

I have to agree that neither of these decks is better than standard time/entropy rainbows in terms of electrum/hour, but I do think it is better in a few other ways:
- It's a nice alternative if you get bored with other FG decks... though you might get bored with it even faster ;P ... simply a matter of taste.
- It seems to defeat Divine Glory and Octane more often than rainbows.
- It helps to develop new strategies against false gods, learn more about synergies, generally all this falsegodology-science thingy

On the other hand, though I find my deck consistent enough to be played with good effects, I still think the tower count could be tweaked. I decided to go with 6 quantum 10 time when I had upgraded quantum towers and unupgraded time factories, so after I finish testing that version fully upgraded I'll try other ratios... also adding a single supernova might help, but only with increased number of quantum pillars so that I'm not clogged with only time pillars + supernova in hand too often.

I think plagues are very effective because this deck is all about delaying, and almost all creatures succumb to plague given time.  And since gravity quantum can be limited, it eases the load of creature destruction for scarabs.  I have a feral bond in my new version, and yes it is very good ofr healing and EMs, but I think 2 is too pricey and they are not as good as shards earlier on. 

Pulverizer is pretty useful, the only issue I think is sometimes you cannot get the 4 earth quantum early enough to start using it.  So I do not use it in my new version.  I think a steal or two could be quite useful, as with rainbow you can use whatever weapon you steal, but deflag could be better since it is easier to play.  But deflags don't help with card advantage like steal does, and I think card advantage/efficiency is very important verse false gods.

Yes, a single bond might be enough... I might replace one with plague then. As for pulverizer I simply fear that gathering 4 and spending when you need both (and PA are really needed against the harder gods, and I would not PA a pulvy if I plan to replace it with eternity later)... it might be a problem, especially because pulvy is not very useful against some gods (Divine Glory, Seism and Obli if they PA their permanents, all the ones with indestructible shields and/or morning glories), while eternity is useful against almost all the gods, maybe except Divine Glory.
I also do not really like the idea of stealing permanents if I already have my field full of them, a deflag might be better to eg. destroy Obliterators pulvy before he protects it... the same with diamond shields... and it's safer if I can do it with 1 than if I have to gather 3 , which might happen too late.

By the way, I see your new version of the deck seems nice even though it is more different from mine now.
As for jade shield, it will clash with bond in usage... and I don't remember ever losing to firebolts/ice bolts/drain lifes in a game I would win otherwise, but if you try to immortalize all your creatures while I use scarabs to take some firebolts it might cause the difference... though I understand adding a reflective shield might help against Octane, and I haven't fought Decay that much, so if it helps against these buggers I guess it might make sense... but I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Anyway it's great that so many different pharaoh/scarab decks recently appeared in anti-FG decks section... I always thought scarabs are better than otyughs

[Antagon]

played also a similar deck (to the original, not sure bout the fractal version, but i liked the 6 sundials), with far more statistics recorded (i had time the last days), you can see here:

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5542.0.html (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5542.0.html)

[Deedle]

I've built and played both of your Pharaoh Decks.

While both decks have the same big problem, quantum production (the right production)

Leverge's deck was more consistent % with quantum production than Xinef.

The Turtle shield with 4-5 SOG makes it really easy for a lot of healing long enough to gain control.  I get that the fog shield can be pumped out quickly but it never helped enough to matter.

I've worked on one that was  :entropymark and ran 6 supernovas it ran fairly well but the mini bow rainbows winning % is still been faster and better in every way.

I have to agree that neither of these decks is better than standard time/entropy rainbows in terms of electrum/hour, but I do think it is better in a few other ways:
- It's a nice alternative if you get bored with other FG decks... though you might get bored with it even faster ;P ... simply a matter of taste.
- It seems to defeat Divine Glory and Octane more often than rainbows.
- It helps to develop new strategies against false gods, learn more about synergies, generally all this falsegodology-science thingy

On the other hand, though I find my deck consistent enough to be played with good effects, I still think the tower count could be tweaked. I decided to go with 6 quantum 10 time when I had upgraded quantum towers and unupgraded time factories, so after I finish testing that version fully upgraded I'll try other ratios... also adding a single supernova might help, but only with increased number of quantum pillars so that I'm not clogged with only time pillars + supernova in hand too often.

I think plagues are very effective because this deck is all about delaying, and almost all creatures succumb to plague given time.  And since gravity quantum can be limited, it eases the load of creature destruction for scarabs.  I have a feral bond in my new version, and yes it is very good ofr healing and EMs, but I think 2 is too pricey and they are not as good as shards earlier on. 

Pulverizer is pretty useful, the only issue I think is sometimes you cannot get the 4 earth quantum early enough to start using it.  So I do not use it in my new version.  I think a steal or two could be quite useful, as with rainbow you can use whatever weapon you steal, but deflag could be better since it is easier to play.  But deflags don't help with card advantage like steal does, and I think card advantage/efficiency is very important verse false gods.

Yes, a single bond might be enough... I might replace one with plague then. As for pulverizer I simply fear that gathering 4 and spending when you need both (and PA are really needed against the harder gods, and I would not PA a pulvy if I plan to replace it with eternity later)... it might be a problem, especially because pulvy is not very useful against some gods (Divine Glory, Seism and Obli if they PA their permanents, all the ones with indestructible shields and/or morning glories), while eternity is useful against almost all the gods, maybe except Divine Glory.
I also do not really like the idea of stealing permanents if I already have my field full of them, a deflag might be better to eg. destroy Obliterators pulvy before he protects it... the same with diamond shields... and it's safer if I can do it with 1 than if I have to gather 3 , which might happen too late.

By the way, I see your new version of the deck seems nice even though it is more different from mine now.
As for jade shield, it will clash with bond in usage... and I don't remember ever losing to firebolts/ice bolts/drain lifes in a game I would win otherwise, but if you try to immortalize all your creatures while I use scarabs to take some firebolts it might cause the difference... though I understand adding a reflective shield might help against Octane, and I haven't fought Decay that much, so if it helps against these buggers I guess it might make sense... but I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Anyway it's great that so many different pharaoh/scarab decks recently appeared in anti-FG decks section... I always thought scarabs are better than otyughs

I have much better stats against Octane with my Mini Bow than the Pharaoh Rainbows, I've tested about 300 games with differences in the Pharaoh Rainbow.  Winning % were the best with the Entrophy/supernova. 

On another note I seem to get Decay and Dark Matter very often no matter what I play.

I actually find Octane very beatable with a mini bow, Im around 80% win ratio against him.

The Pharaoh deck is fun to play but is so slow it gets boring very fast, I think it has a great potential though pieced together just right, question is who's going to get it just right.