Raw Electrum vs Card Sales - AI3

[johannhowitzer]

I should note that about HALF of those 42 losses were due to my stupid computer crashing.  Upgraded shrieker rush really only loses against entropy-dark AI3 when the enemy gets a great start.

[10 men]

I started a new account not too long ago, and formed the typical shrieker rush (short sword, 17 pillars, 6 graboid, 6 shrieker).  Farmed AI3 continuously over the past couple weeks, short sessions of course, and slowly upgraded the whole deck.

That's great man, I love doing that myself. I mean yeah, it's boring, but it's not like you can't do other stuff while grinding . Here's a few tips for future elements career:

1. AI3-Grinding doesn't lose value for high-level players. It' still the absolute fastest way to get score points in the game except for maybe Top-50 farming when there are lots of farms up.

2. On a related note, when you've upgraded your Shrieker-Rush deck, you might want to change the structure of your deck a little, because Long Swords are the absolute bananas. Atm I'm playing 3 Swords, 16 Towers, 6 Graboids and 5 Shriekers. It's like, of course you never want two of them, but when you have one, they're just insane.

3. I can't see a good reason to farm AI5 with an upgraded deck right now. If you want score, farm AI3, if you want money, farm FGs. AI5 can only be a nice hybrid solution if you're content with getting less of both, but still having a nice win%. If you're just aiming for max money/time, you should probably play Hope/Fractal, as that deck wins rather fast and knows very fast when it has lost. I know you'll need a few SoGs for that, but they can be acquired rather easily by T50-farming.

[Essence]

For the record, that quote of mine is pretty old.  Since the changeover to +5 electrum when you match the first 2 spots of the spins, AI3 is in fact better money than AI5 even when you take selling upgraded cards into account.  It's kinda of sad, really; there's almost no reason to ever play AI5 right now.

AI3 for cash to upgrade.
T50 for rares.
FGs for cash once you have enough upgrades to play them.
T50 again for score once you decide to make a run to get into the top 50 yourself.

You can literally start with The Basic Mono Rush (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,1190.0.html), make enough money for SG's AI3 superkiller (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,6298.0.html) in a few hours, use that to get enough money to buy the few other cards you need to make Vreely's unupgraded t50 crusher (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,3882.0.html) in one or two more, farm for a pair of Titans and 3000 electrum in maybe a day, and build Essence's 2 Rares/2 Upgrades FG farmer (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5656.0.html), and then use that to farm FGs until you can upgrade 6 Rays of Light, and play Seravy's RoL/Hope variant (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,6546.0.html) with no other upgrades very successfully.

Then, just  upgrade your RoL/Hope deck one card at a time.  You can have a fully upgraded false god farmer in a week or two of playing a few hours a day, and without ever touching anything besides AI3, t50, and FGs except to complete the early quests.

[johannhowitzer]

I switched to T50 right after posting this topic, playing almost exclusively during the morning before work and immediately upon arriving home, to maximize the chance of fighting farm decks.  (Before you say I have no life, I've managed to fit in a lot of reading and violin practice and apartment hunting too!  )  Since starting on T50 I have added the following to my rare stash:

Shard of Divinity x2
Shard of Gratitude x5 (4 of those upgraded right away as I prepare to run Puppychow's FG killer)
Shard of Readiness x3
Titan
Pulverizer x3
Druidic Staff
Arctic Squid x2
Trident
Morning Star x2
Miracle
Eternity x3
Pharaoh x2

I offer this up to any newbie who despairs of getting the rares every other player seems to have.  The above has taken only three days, with only a fair amount of play each day (maybe 1-2 hours).

(Essence, his name is spelled "Alphonse Elric."  )

EDIT: I've tallied the electrum I am able to raise, and bought the base cards for Puppychow's deck.  I'm only 2577 shy of the baseline upgrades (all but Eternity and FFQ, the rest are too helpful to wait on), 7077 away from the full deck's upgrades.  I did add one Steal to the deck.

This includes selling off my whole shrieker rush deck.  Good riddance, eh what?