The Arena: FAQ + Tutorial to success

[TimerClock14]

How to become successful in the ArenaPicking your opponent
Picking your opponent is the most important part of playing the Arena. Otherwise you wouldn't be playing the Arena at all! You'd just be staring at a game...which is kind of odd.
When choosing an opponent in the Arena, there are a few things you might want to take into consideration before clicking:

What kind of deck are you using?

Depending on the deck you are using, you probably won't stand a chance against certain league levels. Despite the daunting reward for winning a game against a silver or gold opponent, it's important to think about how your deck might fair against their deck. You should keep in mind that most gold and platinum decks will probably use upgraded cards. Upgraded cards are marginally powerful than non-upgraded cards and can lead to devastating results when pitted against one another. As a general rule, you need should be confident in your deck's power before going against a gold or platinum league opponent. Another factor you should consider is the style of your deck. Decks that focus on denying your opponent of quanta with cards like devourers or quicksand probably won't do so well against decks using cards like sanctuary or nova. It's important to keep this in mind, so that if you do come across decks using these kinds of cards, you can be prepared for it and put up a good fight.

Building your deck
Be creative!
Lots of people are good at making decks, others are good at adapting from decks, and some just use "blueprint" decks that are made so you can put your 5 oracle cards into it without a care in the world, and still have a strong deck. The latter of the three is frowned upon quite heavily among some people. But for those of you who don't really have confidence in their deck making skills, here's a method I cooked up for you to go about making your Arena deck with:

Take your oracle card, find cards that work well with it. If you get something tough as your oracle card, something that you can't find many cards that work with it, look for a deck that uses it on the forums! Adapt that deck, and make it yours.

Now, this is not to say that you will be hated forever and ever if you decide to use a "blueprint" deck at one point, but some members of the forum are pretty intensely protesting it. But please, if you ever do decide to use a "blueprint" deck, at least use a reputable one.

[TimerClock14]

FAQ

What is the arena?

The arena is a large scale, asynchronous PvP system. That's fancy talk for people make decks around 5 copies of the card that showed up when they last spun the Oracle; submit them to the system through the special deck-editing screen rooted in the Arena; and the AI (artificial intelligence) plays the deck that was submitted when they are paired with a person who's playing. When you click on any of the 4 options in the Arena, you are randomly paired with a deck that was submitted to the respective league. Decks that lose will lose an amount of reputation and rank; decks that fall below a rank of 500 are ejected from the system to make room for new decks. Alternatively, decks that win will receive 10 for that win. You can collect this whenever you want, just click the "Cash in the electrum!" button on the main Arena menu. TL;DR version: Submitting a deck to the Arena: Spin the Oracle. Make a deck that uses 5 copies of the card you spun (regardless of whether or not you actually got the card). Submit via the arena. Gain if your deck wins. Playing against the Arena: Click on either Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum league. You get randomly paired with a deck that was submitted to the system. Play the match.

Why can't I get rid of these 5 cards when I edit my Arena deck?

Those are the cards you spun from the Oracle. You are required to have at least 5 copies of that card in your Arena deck. This rule was put in place to promote creativity in the Arena.

What are those circles that show up when I get paired with a deck?

Those circles light up for each consecutive win you get against that league. When they are all lit up, you get a chance at a rare spin. From these rare spins you can win things like rare weapons. The number of consecutive wins you need for a rare spin decreases with each league. Bronze requires 6 consecutive wins, 5 for Silver, 4 for Gold, and 3 for Platinum.

ZOMG THIS GUY HAD LIKE 500 HP AND A 9000X MARK!? HAXXX

You're just seeing things. Ignore it.

[ralouf]

I used your advice and my current deck is a fire/water aggro/control deck ^^ Moreover  it works good (only one loose so far)

[Terrilocks]

Hear, hear!

I'd love to be able to do this more often but feel I have to work around what pillars I have upgraded.

Consequently, having rolled antimatter, I'm using a mono-entropy inspired by dream catcher, which is doing better than I thought. Currently at 108 wins , 19 losses in gold league, rank 50, after 3 days.

Level 55
145hp
30 upgrade cards
2x mark and 2x deck

Code: [Select]

4vf 4vf 4vf 4vf 4vg 4vg 4vn 4vo 50u 50u 50u 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6ts 6tu 6tu 6tu 6tu 6tv 6tv 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u7 6u8 6u8 6u9 6ve 6ve 6ve 6ve 6ve 6ve

[Newbiecake]

BUMP.

Here's an example of not abusing QTs, SNs, or SoGs and still performs well. On the first day, this deck started off as the not-so-original CP Wyrm. I had the initial result of 10-4. The result changed dramatically on the second and third day though after I got double mark and SN to build a small rainbow that utilized the two Spiders' skill to support my Wings defence. Look where that got me! Be creative guys and gals. 

175 HP. 30 Upgraded Cards. 2X Mark. Double Draw.


This is where I am going to be storing my greatest hits decks.

105 HP. 60 Upgraded Cards. 3X Mark. Double Draw.


175 HP. 30 Upgraded Cards. 2X Mark. Double Draw.

Stats to come.

[Hodari]

If you get something tough as your oracle card, something that you can't find many cards that work with it, look for a deck that uses it on the forums! Adapt that deck, and make it yours.

Also look at fg decks.  Most of these are designed to have weaknesses or to be less than optimal so using the exact deck is a bad idea but modifying them slightly can be a good place to start.  Think about what weaknesses the original deck had and how you can change it to compensate for those.

[Avenger]

It might have been written somewhere, but i couldn't find it. What is rank and what is rating?

[RootRanger]

I'm not sure how being creative helps if it won't make your deck stronger. Even if people won't enjoy playing it (which I disagree with), an uncreative deck will have as many plays.

If you want your deck to do well, make the best deck you possibly can. That won't always mean it has to be creative.

[TimerClock14]

I'm not sure how being creative helps if it won't make your deck stronger. Even if people won't enjoy playing it (which I disagree with), an uncreative deck will have as many plays.

If you want your deck to do well, make the best deck you possibly can. That won't always mean it has to be creative.

Creativity is the core of elements. Being creative is building the best deck you can.

Not being creative is going to the forums, picking up a blueprint, shoving your 5 fat guy cards in it, and posting it to the arena.

[MatrimKK]

Also being creative is making a deck that may counter what everyone seems to be trying to grind with

[RootRanger]

The best decks are creative in lots of events. I haven't found arena to be that way.
I've made a speedbow, light/death stall, fire/air stall, and immoskelly deck. The speedbow is significantly stronger than the others.

While Matrim is right when it comes to events like BL, I haven't found that very many people grind with anti-rainbow decks.

[wavedash]

It annoys me when people say that creativity is better than tried-and-true. The only case when this is so is if you can take advantage of the element of surprise, which doesn't really apply in a game with so limited options.