The Adventures of Friedrich Psitalon, Rookie Elementalist

[Friedrich Psitalon]

So given the following:

a) I'm new to the game and motivated
b) I play a lot of Arena and intend to continue doing so
c) I'm intelligent and very open to advice

...I figure I'll open my own thread and chronicle my adventures, so that

a1) people can vicariously enjoy my suffering
a2) people can vicariously enjoy my triumphs
b1) People can recognize my deck errors
b2) People can correct my deck errors

c) I can look back one day and go "my god, I actually thought THAT was a GOOD IDEA?"

I'm not going to "placeholder" or anything - I'll post as I have new questions, thoughts, revelations, and so on.

To begin....

Friedrich was once a newbie elementalist. He played lots of L2 and then L3, using various goofy decks, before settling on this:

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5rj 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 6rn 6rn 74a 74a 74a 74a 74a 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q3 7q8 8pl

...and in its original form, none of that stuff was upped except the shards (I started playing a long time ago and got very lucky with Top 50s, but wandered off for a great many months. I've since upgraded parts of it.

Well, the original deck was good, and got me some arena wins, and occasionally solid streaks, but nothing fabulous.

So I did some research and discovered the unupped glory that was a Liquid Antimatter, and my first FG farmer was born.

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 4vn 5uo 5uo 5us 5us 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 5uu 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 606 8pj

And a hearty, hearty thank you to whoever came up with that joy. I never would've thought to check out that card combination for doing that.

So that allowed me to start farming up my first upped farmer, a Ray/Hope deck, but on the way, I noticed I was picking up a lot of Aether Towers and a few upped Lobotomizers, and I wanted to do something with that:

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f3 5f3 5f3 5f3 5f6 5f6 5f6 61o 61o 61o 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 621 621 621 621 623 623 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80d 80e 80e 80e 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 8po

Now that was a bit larger as decks go, but I had pretty solid luck with it in Bronze. Mindgates seemed the way to beat Mono Aether (thanks, I'll use your Shields too) and the Shards allowed me to space out my own Shields a bit if I needed to do so. Deflags took care of annoying bits, and off I went.

Eventually, while taking breaks to play the Bronze Deck, I was able to complete what I think is a very typical Ray deck.

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5lk 5lk 5lk 5lk 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jq 7jq 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80e 80e 80e 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 8pu

And sure enough, it farms like a beast. I don't get the "six cards an hour" some people brag about, but I do well enough.

So I started setting my sights on a REAL Arena farmer. Not just a Bronze farmer - though I'm still somewhat in search of an ultra-reliable one of those - but something that could take a shot at Gold and Platinum.

My own preferences and research led me to a Pestal deck. Here's what I use:

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5up 5up 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t6 7t8 7ta 7ta 7tb 7td 7td 7td 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 7um 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pu

And while this deck does as advertised - great against slower decks, stall decks, and the like - it really, really seems to struggle against Rainbow Rush decks - the Pests don't slow them down, and I can't seem to Fractal the Vampires out in sufficient numbers to beat the rush. Half the time a Sanctuary is in that Rainbow, and that seems to be all she wrote, because then I'm not even getting the ludicrous mana I need to spam Vamps. And boy oh boy, there seem to be a LOT of Rainbow Rush decks up at Gold and Plat right now.

So, I've read on the forums enough to know that it seems like there are trends at Gold and Plat, and I'm trying to come up with a reliable way to combat to Rainbow Rush. Now I'm fully aware that this deck below is totally un-upped, but that's all I can do. I'll have to farm up the stuff if it turns out this deck is worth a darn. If it's not, please feel free to correct me.

So, that being said, my attempt at an anti-rainbow-rush deck - and remember, if I go after this deck, I'll up it all before I take it near a Gold/Plat Rainbow Rush.

by Friedrich Psitalon

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55u 55u 55u 55u 55v 55v 55v 55v 55v 55v 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f5 5f5 5f6 5f6 5f8 5f8 5fc 5fc 5fc 5fc 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 8pl

So to recap:

I freely admit I'm inexperienced - so please be gentle.
Please critique all my decks; I'm most looking for a highly reliable Bronze farmer so that I can get all the toys I'm missing, a reasonably reliable Gold/Plat farmer for gold acquisition when I'm sick of running FG's. (I think my Ray/Hope FG deck is pretty solid, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free.)

...and someday, I want to create an Animated Weapon-centric deck. (It's why I want to farm Bronze hard.)

Thanks in advance, thanks for your patience in reading this and for your useful suggestions. I hope someone will enjoy seeing my rise through the ranks of the game.

For posterity's sake:

Currently Level 23, 1100 gold in the tank.

[mycale]

Just an advice from a new to a new:

Make Instosis ASAP. Farm bronze for the SoRs and upgrade the deck. I am getting 10+ upgraded cards per hour, and I still do not have the awesome stats that are published with the deck.

BTW, good luck with your adventures.

[Friedrich Psitalon]

So an update: While Pestal is definitely not faring well in the Platinum league - I've given up trying it there, and I say "You are a better man than I" to anyone running 54% there with it - I've managed to put together a few nice streaks (and spins) in Gold with it.

Interestingly, it's not a bad source of cash either, so I'm flipping back and forth between that and grinding the FGs. Going to try and put together a blue rush deck I'm happy with, since I seem to be having some trouble getting feedback/finding an Anti-Rainbow-Rush deck I'm happy with. I bet it's a lot easier to come up with solid decks when you're not grubbing for every upped card. Heh. :/

[Friedrich Psitalon]

So a week later and I managed to assemble Intosis yesterday.

Holy crap. 

Took me all of two games to fully understand how it works well enough to go on a tear. I think the quoted 67% win rate is a little low.

I can see why people are calling for this thing to be nerfed. I do wonder, though, if that will happen. While the combo is tremendous against the FG, that's because the majority of the FG have relatively low levels of CC as compared to what you'd see in competitive play - or at least, the competitive play I've seen at the Arena (limited experience) and how I'd imagine a competitive deck against humans (control heavy.)

If nerfs happen because of how decks perform against the standard "stock" decks - even AI 5 ones - then yeah, I think a nerf to one of the constituent cards of Intosis (probably SoR) is going to happen. If nerfs are strictly a result of pvp/arena play, though, I'm not convinced this will need one.

...but then again, I haven't taken Intosis to the Arena yet, so it's hard to say.

Since there seems to be a decent chance, at least in many people's minds, that Intosis is due for a nerf, I'm trying to ride the gravy train as far as I can and upgrade as much as I can before switching back to Arena "for fun" play.

Priorities:

Quantum Towers (15) - already done
Cremations (6)
Lava Destroyers
All the various rush creatures (Abyssal, 2x Recluse, Grabby, etc)
Fallen Druids (I find these guys hilarious, and would love to build a competitive  deck, but haven't really thought on it yet)
and then whatever cards it seems wise to upgrade.

I found a thread that says "What you should upgrade first" over in General - and I wonder if that's where this thread should be, now  - but the upgrade chain for that was basically "ROL/Hope" which I already had.

Report ends - as always, feedback on my plans happily welcomed, and thoughts about my thoughts always read.

Edit: And on a side note, my highest accomplishment since getting into the Silver arena is still running: an Arena deck ranked 102. I've broken into the top 50 on bronze, but this is my highest silver. Simple blue rush backed by wings. Yar!

[nilsieboy]

i thaught this said "the adventures of Frenchy Fry, Rookie Elementalist" first...

good luck anyways

[fergilicous23]

Hi, I know you irl. I'd just like to ask if you have any bronze/silver farmers that work.

[eaglgenes101]

Also try poison dials SoSac if you have the SoSacs needed to build it. It's farmrate is comparable to Instosis, and it can effectively farm some of Instosis's weaknesses, such as Dark Matter and Hermes. Instosis covers its weaknesses, such as Ferox and Divine Glory. It doesn't seem to be in for a nerf, either.

[Demosthenes]

Dear Bruce member,

Your decks have been very useful to me. You quit the Bruce clan a long time ago, but you still remain as one of our greatest men.

Thanks, Demosthenes

P.S Ender Wiggin says hi

[duskiller]

Wow. Nice read.

Goodluck anyways