Alright, having finished my stats (and gotten some sleep
), I figured it was time to give a basic overview of how the deck feels when playing it.
While not as fast as other decks, Healbow still has fantastic EM Percentage for the number of turns it takes to win. It is true that several games take longer than some would prefer, but this is true of almost all decks. It may not be under the "stupid fast" category, but it's still pretty darn quick with good draws.
Draws are the one thing that make or break this deck. The vast majority of my 11+ ttw are from experiencing quantum denial early on in the duel, though oftentimes this can be rectified before the opponent gains the advantage over you. Quantum Towers also tend to be a risky card to play, seeing as how they give you random quantum, and this isn't necessarily the quantum you need, when you need it (however, with enough Quantum Towers you can typically negate this drawback). The card changes from The Fastest Speedbow Eva! to Healbow are well worth noting. My original impression was that some cards weren't needed, but later I realized this was incorrect. Vampire, for instance, while weak in comparison to your other creatures ends up getting you EMs more times than you would tend to believe. The cards all work together to get you the EM you need, and it shows.
I'm also going to list several tricks and tips to use when AI3 grinding, just so you get a feel of what you're up against.
Your main enemies to watch out for with this deck are the Fire/Death, Entropy/Darkness, and Gravity/Light elders.
Maxwell's Demon is probably this deck's biggest counter. If the AI plays this creature early and you haven't evolved a Graboid yet, don't evolve them. This is probably the greatest use I have found for Shrieker's burrow ability, and it greatly assisted me in these cases. Your only other line of defense is to use Abyss Crawler since its stats are dead even (although Chaos Seed can easily negate this). If it's late game and your opponent pulls out a Dissipation Shield/Maxwell's combo, it might just be best to quit. If you don't have Elite Charger or Unstable Gas at your disposal, then odds are you won't be able to deal that last amount of damage (incidentally, Elite Charger did manage to defeat the AI in one of these case, which resulted in my 15 ttw game).
Otyugh is yet another nuisance for this deck. The later an Oty is played, the less chance of losing you have. The Gravity/Light Elder is fond of using his Oty/Armagio/Angel combination which can cause serious problems for you if you don't get Vampire Dagger out and fast. Below is an example of when this combination works against you (this is my 19 turn loss the turn before the duel ended).
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http://imageplay.net/view/m7Gbd89898/GravityLossHealbow)
I was hoping that I would get lucky and the BIG Oty would miss me, but the next turn he played momentum...and he won with 1HP. Again, keep Shriekers burrowed against this guy.
The Fire/Death Elder is a rare loss, but I thought I would mention him anyways. In actuality, he is not a difficult opponent most of the time, but when you run into a lack of Supernovae, then this is where your problem arises. Before recording these stats, I had a 15 turn loss because the AI deflag'd every Quantum Tower I put out early on, and I didn't draw a Supernova until my 10th turn. I'm using this as an example of a bad draw; plan ahead to try and avoid these situations.
Unstable Gas- This card is extremely useful, just make sure to use it with caution. Make note of when your opponent plays Emerald Shield, and if you're using this for a finishing blow, just make sure you have damage left over afterward.
Precognition- Speeds up the deck. Effectively reduces your 30 card deck to a 24 card deck when you have the quantum necessary to play them. One word of advice: make sure using this spell doesn't interfere with evolving Graboids.
Vampire Dagger- Extremely useful, and costs next to nothing to play. Play this card before Vampire unless you have ample quantum to play both. Keep in mind that weapons deal damage after all creatures have attacked, so use this to your advantage when EMing an opponent. For example, say you have 2 Shriekers on the field and a dagger; your opponent has 20HP remaining, while you have 95. You could simply let your Shriekers finish the duel on your own, OR you could burrow one and then finish off with Vamp Dagger, getting you an EM.
It's reasons like the one above that make this deck a bit slower than you would find from most Speed EMs. This is by no means a mindless deck; serious thought and strategy must go into a duel to maximize its potential.
