Round 1 Strategy

[ffun]

Ok, I've decided to make a separated strategy thread to organize it better

Only 2 matches, so that's easier for us (and for our opponents) to plan our strategies and decks.

Aether
Checking team Aether choices last war, they've used Bonebolt agains us 3 out of 4 times in the first rounds, while in the other match they used a grabow. We've lost all for times
So, even though they might try to surprise us with something new, bonebolt would be their safest choice, and we definitely need to be ready to counter that. We would need to either use creatures that can take the lightining bolt punishment (anubis, dragons or scarabs) or some way to avoid the bonewall (scorpions) - need to start playtesting these choices!

Round 1
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,24230.0.html
Aether 2

by ffun

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 52r 52r 52r 52r 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61v 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pk

Time 1

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55m 55m 55m 55m 55q 55q 55q 55q 55q 562 562 5ro 5ro 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2Round 2
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,24724.0.html
Aether 2

by ffun

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 52q 52r 52r 52r 52r 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 61v 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pk

Time 0

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590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 593 593 5rj 5rj 5rr 5rr 5rr 5rr 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2Round 3
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,25126.0.html
Aether 2

by ffun

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4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 5ia 61q 61q 61q 61q 61r 61r 61r 61r 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pm

Time 0

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55m 55m 55m 55q 55q 55q 55q 55q 562 562 5rj 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2Round 4
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,25678.0.html
Aether 2

by ffun

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52q 52q 52r 61q 61q 61q 61q 61t 61t 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 71b 71b 71b 8pk

Time 0

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5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5up 5up 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1
Another option they might consider is devtal:

by ffun

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5um 5um 5um 5um 5um 5up 5up 5uq 5uq 5ut 5ut 5ut 61o 61o 61o 61u 61u 622 622 622 622 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 8pt

and monoaether:

by ffun

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Earth
We only played Eath once in the first few rounds, and they also won playing a poison stall.

Round 1
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,24179.0.html
Earth 2

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52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58s 58s 594 594 594 594 595 595 595 595 595 71a 71a 7n2Time 0

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4vh 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vl 4vl 4vl 55q 55q 5f6 5f6 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru

[10 men]

Nice post ffun, taking a look at old war results is a good idea, especially for aether as it's the same master as last war.
My ideas for our matchups:
We're currently testing the aether matchup - at first I thought Dunes were the way to go but with all those RTs they don't really have a chance against bonebolt. Maybe a Grabbow with Purifies. We might have to decide whether we think they will go with bonebolt and if yes take a specific counter, or take a normal deck that beats their other decks but loses against bonebolt.

For Earth I think I'd go with our Discord deck - it's strong all around, maybe a little weak against creatureless decks, but could work against them too, plus they probably wouldn't dare playing a deckouter vs Time.

[ffun]

Yes, grabbow+purify, leaving the graboids burrowed if a bonewall is up, might be the way to go if we want an all around better chance, since it would also work well against some other options Aether might throw at us. Otherwise a larger creature deck (pharaoh or anubis) which can withstand the bolts. Indeed we unfortunately can't rely much on decks in which we have too many RT, as immaterial critters or bonebolt will make most of them useless.

Earth has a great deckouter, but as you mentioned the main problem is that a single Eternity will counter it, so I can't imagine them trying to add deflags or such in it just to use it against us, unless they are either very bold or foolish! Earhquake is a problem for many of our decks, so we have to consider them using it when playtesting.

[TheManuz]

Moving all of my post from the other thread.

Thinking about earth, i would play a duo for two main reasons:
their creatures: big creatures can be rewound, but there is also the possibility of burrowed graboids so i'd like to use titanium shield.
earthquake: time really needs its quanta, so it's very vulnerable to quanta control. I want to protect my pillars! This could also help in case of PC, to protect an Eternity.
Then i need an effective offensive strategy.

If someone can test some deck or build something that follow these lines, it would be of great help. I'll be online in 9 hours from this post (when i finish at work).

EDIT: I just saw we've got only 2 titanium shields and no protect artifacts in Vault... 

Do consider the possibility of Earth playing something without creature as well, such as the deck I posted in the strategy thread for this round: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,32242.0.html

It would help them bypass the RT/Eternity threat and render many of our cards useless - we should playtest against both possibilities.

Oh, you're right! That was the other reason i wanted the titanium shield! It can stop the (unupped) Arsenic while the Procrastination can not.

the more i think, the more i fear earthquake...
maybe i should think to make and test a time-bow, so i can use nova and supernova and avoid the earthquake effect...

[dragonsdemesne]

For the bonebolt deck, what about a pharaoh deck splashing purify off a water mark?  It would be rather risky because if they use something else, it will probably suck, but against that one particular deck, it should be deadly.  Pharaoh takes 2 lightnings to kill, scarabs eat away at bone wall, and purify pwns poison obviously.

For that earth matchup, with those two decks, I don't see how time could have lost unless it was to bad draws.

[ffun]

Now here comes a test for our prediction skills. If we really think they'll go with Bonebolt, the deck you suggested would be perfect. On the other hand, team Aether probably knows we expect a Bonebolt, so.... mind games anyone? Anyway, we are back to our original doubt - go with a hard counter considering they will play the obvious, tried-and-true choice (pharaoh/anubis) or an all-around deck (grabbow or something else).

As for the earth matchup, yeah, I recall that match was really close. Indeed, it would probably be wise to bet on discord against Earth once again.

[dragonsdemesne]

I don't know if this is optimized, but we tested it against last year's bonebolt and it beat it every time we tried.  (4 games I think?)  Pharaoh takes 2 lightnings to kill, purify is obvious (timing it right is important too), momentum gets around bone walls and should be saved preferentially for dune scorps, gravity shield stops phase dragons dead, explosions for arsenic or whatever, and nightmare as a finisher/healer.  I'd hoped to squeeze in forest spirit or arsenic or a 4th pharaoh or a golden nymph but I couldn't justify cutting something for them.  The pillar/pend split could probably go heavier towards pillars for pharaohs.

by dragonsdemesne

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edit: this completely fails against devtals as hard as it beats bonebolt so I'm going to try and figure out a way to beat both with the same deck.

[dragonsdemesne]

by dragonsdemesne

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Came up with this, went 1-1 vs devtal, haven't tested vs bonebolt, but I have to go now, so here's a couple thoughts on my reasoning:

discord: fractal and the resulting creatures take loads of quanta, as does bone wall and phase dragon in bonebolt, so this disrupts that fairly nicely, plus whittling down bonewall (no pc in bonebolt)

purify: for bonebolt obviously, not that great vs devtal

anubis: hard to kill with lightnings, if it lives and you have played 2 novas it quints something (maybe worth upping this?)

pharaoh: hard to kill with lightnings, breeds for bone wall destruction and scarabs can eat devtal creatures

gotp: heavy hitter, obvious synergy with nightmare

nightmare: clogs hand, rapes fractal if played before fractal, heals/finishes opponent

explosion: pc

[dragonsdemesne]

Has anyone given much thought to what we should use against Team Earth yet?  I really don't know what to expect from them.  A graboid or grabbow seems the most obvious to me, but we have reverse time as well as stuff like wings that will completely wreck those decks.  However, I think Earth will go with something less predictable, though I have no idea what.  I can't really see them using that one from last war, and if they do, I don't think it would be very hard to beat.

[TheManuz]

For the earth match, this is the deck i'm using for now:

by TheManuz

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4ve 4vl 4vl 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 6u5 7q0 7q5 8pj

I tested it vs Valuka (only one match because i've had to eat my pizza!) that used a graboid deck with earthquake, and i owned it, even if i played all the pillars.
Watching  cards, the most dangerous seems to be Basilisk Bloods, but in that case i can use reverse time on my creatures to unlock them.
I'd like to test a BB deck vs my deck to see the result.

Someone should try to build a deck with little but burrowed attack (antlions and groboid to evolve only for the final attack), so it can resist reverse time. The deck should be a stall, it must have earthquakes and stone skin and BB. And the damned titanium shields!

Something like this (note that i've not tested this!):

by TheManuz

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58s 58s 590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 593 594 594 594 594 594 595 595 595 595 595 8ps

[inthisroom]

So we've tested the deck Dragonsdemesne suggested for aether and it went pretty well, Bonebolt was beaten every time and it went 4-1 versus Devtal, that's quite encouraging 

This is the final version after some discussion with DD, BP and 10 men, the upped GotP was changed to an upped Time Nymph.

by inthisroom

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[ffun]

Someone should try to build a deck with little but burrowed attack (antlions and groboid to evolve only for the final attack), so it can resist reverse time. The deck should be a stall, it must have earthquakes and stone skin and BB. And the damned titanium shields!

Ok, following your request, at first I came up with something like this (I though I never had much earth quanta to make SS really shine):

by ffun

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 593 593 595 595 595 595 5rk 5rk 77c 77c 77c 8ps

Maybe this would be even better, but I never tested it (because of the next deck):

by ffun

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58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 593 593 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 77c 77c 77c 8ps

The idea of earthquake+rewind seemed much better than the BBs, so I came up with this, which I like better - it can establish a lock very fast, unless if fails to draw an Eternity or all the Earthquakes come too late (I was almost tempted to take out a BB for a 4th Eternity):

by ffun

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58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 593 593 595 595 595 595 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5ro 5ro 5ro 78q 78q 78q 8ps

In the end I took out the shields, because you don't need them when your opponent can't play any creatures at all!