Round 5: Strategy

[bripod]

Currently I am LOOKING at a variation of Val's "Good ole Grabow" for my duel with UW... thought EQ would work well vs Quantum Pillars...

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

590 590 590 590 590 590 593 593 593 593 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5ro 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 77j 7q8 8pm

Tested the above deck and it's a bit too slow for a Novabow/RB deck...

Also tested GhostMare and while it can be fun, it's mostly not vs RB's...
Also tested the Exploding Times deck vs their winning decks and well, let's just say that I prolly won't be using it for the 3rd week in a row...

Our LightStall is promising but not the complete package. The version I was using is:

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5lm 5lm 5lm 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5ro 5ro 5rs 5rs 5rs 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 7k6 7k6 7k6 8pq

When considering the possibility of Pulvy, our Exploding Times was the trick! Hmmm, anybody got a precog handy?...

Any suggestions are most welcomed...

  Gen vs   
    Lt  vs    Gen
         vs    Gen
         vs   

132 cards in vault   (12 more than 4 decks at 30 cards)

UW's Winning Decks Last Round:

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 52q 590 590 590 5c1 5c1 5f6 5f6 5og 5rk 5v1 61q 6qq 6qq 6qq 6qq 713 77a 77a 7k6 7k6 8pm

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vl 4vl 4vl 50u 50u 50u 50u 50u 590 590 590 593 593 593 5f6 5og 5oi 5oi 61q 77a 77a 77a 8pm

UW's Loosing Decks Last Round:

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vi 4vj 4vj 4vj 58v 58v 592 592 5c1 5f3 5ia 5oo 5oo 5oo 621 713 713 7q5 8pr

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vl 4vl 4vl 52t 590 590 5c1 5c1 5f6 5fa 5ia 5og 5up 61q 6u3 6u3 6u3 74f 74f 74f 8pj

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vf 52h 560 595 595 5bt 5f2 5i7 5i7 5op 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rr 5rr 5rr 5ul 80d 80d 80d 8pu

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vp 4vp 4vp 5c2 5c2 5c2 5f4 5f4 5f4 5i8 5i8 5i8 5lm 5lm 5lm 5on 5on 5on 5ur 5ur 5us 5us 5us 61q 61q 61q 8po

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 58u 58u 58u 590 590 595 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f6 5f6 5f6 5f9 5fa 5fa 5fa 5fc 5fc 5fc 5og 61q 77g 7dp 7dp 8pm

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 52o 52o 55q 55q 596 596 5f6 5f6 5i5 5i5 5i5 5ia 5og 5og 5rt 5rt 61q 61q 718 71a 71a 8pk

UW's Salvage Decks Last Round:

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55k 55k 55k 55k 55o 55o 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 58v 58v 58v 593 593 593 595 595 595 595 595 595 745 745 745 8pm

by bripod

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f6 5f7 5f7 5gi 5gi 5gi 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5l8 5li 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 5mq 7dl 7dl 7dl 8po

[inthisroom]

In view of my aether match, I had a look at what they played last round, so we can have a rough idea of what to expect.

These are the decks they lost:

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 590 590 5up 61o 61o 61q 61q 61r 61r 61r 61r 61t 620 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 77g 77g 77g 8pm

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f6 5f6 5fa 5fa 5fa 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61p 61p 61p 61q 61q 61r 61r 61r 61u 7dp 7dp 7dp 8pm

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55t 561 561 61o 61o 61o 61r 61r 61r 61r 61t 61t 61t 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

They won with those:

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61q 61q 61q 61q 61q 622 622 622 622 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 7dm 7dm 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 8po

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55v 55v 55v 55v 55v 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61q 61r 61r 61r 61t 61t 61t 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 745 745 745 8pl

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5um 5um 5um 5um 5um 5up 61o 61o 61o 61o 61t 61t 622 622 622 622 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 7ta 7ta 7td 7td 7td 81q 81q 81q 81q 8pt

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61q 61q 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 61v 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 808 81q 81q 8pu

And they salvaged from these:

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vl 4vl 4vl 5ia 5og 5og 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rs 5rs 5rs 5s4 61q 7dm 7dm 7q5 8pj

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52q 52q 52u 52u 52u 52u 55k 55k 55k 55l 55l 55l 55l 55q 55q 55q 55q 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 576 71b 71b 71b 8pk

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vl 4vl 4vl 52t 590 590 5c1 5c1 5f6 5fa 5ia 5og 5up 61q 6u3 6u3 6u3 74f 74f 74f 8pj

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5f6 5f6 5f6 61q 61t 61t 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pu

They might use Deftal, they also should be capable of building Bonebolt, Fractix, Black Hole Chargers, Fractal Chargers, a Novabow and mono aether of course.

Tested Light Stall, can work vs some decks, but to vulnerable vs most of their decks imo
vs Deftal: 5-0
vs Bonebolt 1-4 (only victory with perfect draw vs stupid AI...)
vs Fractix 3-2 (result doesn't reflect reality, victories are only due to AI's incapacity to play this deck, any human would have stomped me)
vs Mono Aether 0-3 (impossible to beat, no need to go through 5 matches)
vs Black Hole Chargers 5-0

Tested Phoenix Deflag deck, definitely not a viable option vs
vs Deftal 3-2 (unrealistic, AI played it so poorly, I could have beaten it with a pillar deck)
vs Bonebolt 0-3 (impossible, even with good draw vs bad draw)
vs Mono Aether 0-3

[valuka]

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52o 52o 52q 52q 52r 52r 52r 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 718 718 718 8pk

I tested today this vs several winner air decks.

Against Light duo was useless, vs Life and DeflaggedDragons ws near 50%. Vs DimWings and vs Entropy duo was nearly 90%.
And more to come here too.

[dragonsdemesne]

For my match vs fire, I want to test a novabow.  I'm going to take a look at what decks they have left; since their vault is only 132 cards, it might be possible to figure out almost everything they have left, minus salvage.

[inthisroom]

After much testing, here's the deck that covers most of their decks so far (5 out of 7 in Trainer), it beats Bonebolt, Deftal, Mono and Fractix quite consistently, should have a chance vs any Novabow they could make, but loses to their Black Hole Chargers and Fractal Chargers.

The first version is the one I've tested, the second replaces the Fate Egg with an RT following DD's suggestion for CC.

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vl 4vl 4vl 5f6 5ia 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5ri 5rn 5rs 5rs 5ru 5ru 5v1 5v1 749 7dm 7qk 8pj

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vl 4vl 4vl 5f6 5ia 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rn 5rs 5rs 5ru 5ru 5v1 5v1 749 7dm 7qk 8pj

The previous tests were with
Light Stall (beats Deftal and Black Hole Chargers but loses to most others)
Phoenix Deflag (loses to almost everything)
Dune Scorps (beats Mono but that's about it)

Another idea might be Ghostmare, with a lot of steals for Dim Shields, if we think they will go for a fractal deck, something like that maybe

by inthisroom

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5ro 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5up 5up 5up 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 7q0 7q0 7ri 8pt

I guess all that seems to cover most options, now it's about precognition again...

[ffun]

I'm currently testing this deck for my match against  :

by ffun

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 52q 52q 55q 5og 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rt 5rt 61q 74a 7n0 80a 8pk

From testing it seems to do great against Earthquake Grabow, but so far it's suffering a bit against DiscoBH. Throughout the day I'll test it against DicoBHbow, MonoEntropy and some other Grabow versions to see how it fares.

[valuka]

Testing results vs  with this:

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rm 5ro 5ro 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 622 622 7q5 7q5 7ri 8pu

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5ll 5ll 5ll 5ll 5lm 5lm 5lm 5oi 5oi 5oi 5on 5on 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 7k2 7k2 7n5 7n5 7n5 7n5 7oe 7oe 7oe 8pq

3-0

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vc 4vc 4vd 4vl 4vl 4vn 4vo 4vo 50u 50u 5oc 5oc 5oc 5od 5od 5og 5oi 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 6tv 6u7 6u7 7mv 7mv 7n5 8pj

4-1 BE can hurt

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f9 5od 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5p0 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 621 7oe 7oe 7oe 80g 80g 80g 8pu

0-3 Impossible to win

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vc 4vc 4vd 4vf 4vf 4vl 4vl 4vn 4vo 50u 50u 50u 5oc 5oc 5od 5od 5of 5og 5oi 5ol 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 6u7 6u9 7mv 8pj

4-0

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f6 5f6 5f6 5f6 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5od 5od 5od 5od 5od 5od 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5og 5on 7mu 7mu 7mu 8po

4-2 it is possible to win (no explosions, not enough quanta for, but with 9 ups are and vs not the AI, it is harder i think)

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5c5 5c5 5c5 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c8 5c8 5c9 5c9 5c9 5og 5og 5oi 5oi 5oi 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 7mu 7mu 7mu 8pn

4-0
So if they dont come with massive PC or Stall i can win

* Edit: Testing with this:

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55q 55q 55q 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 5ro 5ro 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 5rt 74a 74a 74a 8pl

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5ll 5ll 5ll 5ll 5lm 5lm 5lm 5oi 5oi 5oi 5on 5on 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 7k2 7k2 7n5 7n5 7n5 7n5 7oe 7oe 7oe 8pq

3-1 but we know AI is studip i think vs human i would lost easily

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vc 4vc 4vd 4vl 4vl 4vn 4vo 4vo 50u 50u 5oc 5oc 5oc 5od 5od 5og 5oi 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 6tv 6u7 6u7 7mv 7mv 7n5 8pj

3-1 Good drawing is your best friend here, discord hurt not too much

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f9 5od 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5oo 5p0 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 621 7oe 7oe 7oe 80g 80g 80g 8pu

3-0 Near impossible to lost, i think

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f6 5f6 5f6 5f6 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5od 5od 5od 5od 5od 5od 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5og 5on 7mu 7mu 7mu 8po

3-1

by valuka

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5c5 5c5 5c5 5c7 5c7 5c7 5c8 5c8 5c9 5c9 5c9 5og 5og 5oi 5oi 5oi 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 7mu 7mu 7mu 8pn

5-2
Not so bad, but vs not the Ai is it harder.

[10 men]

@ffun, I've changed your deck to Time-Aether for the moment, it's a fun deck that we haven't used against Entropy so far, and it should also do well against many of their decks (very good vs DimShield Fractal, Wings, still good vs mono Ent, a little difficult against the Grabbows (worst probably the Eq bow), but should still be doable).

[ffun]

No problem, ten! What a day it was at work - I didn't get any calm moments today to playtest a bit!

And to top things off, this evening I had to take my wife to the hospital (fortunately nothing very serious), and I only got back home now (1h45 am) when I was finally going to continue my playtesting. Since you're considering changing decks, I'll halt all playtesting with the poisonbow unless we change back to it again on chat tomorrow. If I can manage to stay awake, I'll have some fun with my old acquaintance, the Ghostal, to see if I notice any big problems with it vs .

===============
edit after some Ghostal playtesting: Mono Entropy (5-0) and Wings (5-0) were a joke indeed - very similar to my round 2 match (the early discord only delays the shields, but once I play them it's easy. The only card that could potentially screw me would be a Butterfly Effect, but I don't think it's so easy to fit it in either deck. OTOH, Quake Grabow was pretty awful (2-8): you need great draws and the opponent should have some bad luck.

DiscoBH - I went 7-3 - I feel I have a slight advantage, but it's basically a decision on whether I find a shield and get the scrambled aether quanta do play it (then I win) or if he gets to play his 2nd or 3rd BH before that (2 BHs can be a problem, but seems manageable most of the time; but 3 BHs means I never get to play a shield before I die).

I didn't test it yet against other grabows, but it should be much easier if it doesn't have quakes. Let's hope we don't get that match up if we decide to go with Ghostal.

[dragonsdemesne]

Fire can build either fire/death, fire/earthEQ, novabow, or fire/aether fractal MP.  They probably can't do anything else due to their vault size.  10 men thinks the fire/aether is unlikely due to Dogg being a soldier and having only 3 upgrades.  (their general used it last time)

by dragonsdemesne

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 595 5f6 5og 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rs 5rs 5ru 5ru 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5t2 5v1 77g 77g 77g 77g 7q5 8pm

I whipped this up in about five minutes tonight, but this is the basic idea of what I want to play against fire.  I won't have time to test ahead of time, but here's my reasoning for some of the cards:

Elite Graboid: 10 men pointed out that the upped evolved version survives a 3 damage firebolt
Pharaoh: I want this in case they play Bone Wall; I need a way to get through that quick
Nightmare: Hurts fractal MP bad and gets past Bone Wall, but it's just a good card in general.
Explosion: I don't think they'll have many permanents, but it would be nice to have something for a weapon; they have at least arsenic and fahrenheit left
Hourglass: I just love these   Upped to save on quanta
Basilisk Blood/Reverse Time: For CC.  Other than lava golem or phoenix, they don't seem to have many creatures left. BB controls phoenix fairly well, and RT works on golems nicely, and evolved graboids if they use novabow.  (though I don't expect novabow vs us, and even if they do use it, I have more ups so I should win that matchup)

Cards I considered but didn't include:
Lightning: Good card, but it sucks vs phoenix.  It is nice vs golems, graboids, and other novabow creatures, though.
Lycanthrope: Already using 2 dark quanta for nightmare
Forest Spirit: Probably not able to get big enough to be worth using
Vampire Stiletto: Competes with nightmare for darkness quanta; used arsenic instead since it's using death
Earthquake: Figured I'd have to include a lot of these to make an impact, and didn't have the room.  Although, using just one or two could make the opponent keep pillars back if they know I have it early on, and get 3 pillars easy if they don't.
Purify: Not needed; other than arsenic I don't think they have anything to poison with
Fate Egg: Could be useful, but I probably don't need it
Momentum: Would be useful vs bone wall, but fire has cc out the ass, so it probably wouldn't last anyway.
Black Hole: Would have to be upped to be usable, and wouldn't do much except vs novabow anyway, which I should be able to beat
Golden Nymph: Don't own one.  Barring a miracle at the one oracle spin before deckbuilding is over...

QI is a bit high here, counting the novas, but I also need extra quanta for pharaohs, hourglass, and evolves.  There's also a decent chance they'll play earthquake.  If you think it's too high, feel free to replace a factory/pend with another TIME card.  (so there is still 15 time cards)

Apologies for not being able to be around more this round.  Working has me busy, and also has me very tired in the evenings, so I've been going to bed early.

A few ideas for other matches:
ITR vs aether: Not sure what I'd recommend here, but his novabow seems to have things under control.  I'm surprised he says it loses to fractal chargers, though.
bjessee vs water: Time/aether beat them pretty good in the past, but they might be ready for that, now; if they played lots of deflags it could be a problem.  This is also vs their lieutenant.
10 men vs light: When I played time/aether vs light last round, it was an easy 3-0.  They might be ready for it this time, though, but then, they might not have the titans or steals they'd need to beat it, either.
Ffun vs entropy: He posted he's still testing; I'll leave this in his capable hands.  Entropy is always a hard one for me to predict, as it has more options than the other elements due to nova.
Valuka vs air: This is vs their general, so they might have some tricks up their sleeve.  If he goes with time/aether, I'd recommend a 3rd upped hourglass rather than an upped pendulum.  I played that deck using 4 dimshields and 3 hourglasses and it was fine.  (though one turn I did get rather lucky, drew 3 cards one turn and needed a dimshield to live; got it on the 3rd)
TheManuz vs earth: A tough opponent, and a lieutenant as well.  They've been using a lot of crazy good decks; not sure what to recommend.  Maybe exploding times?
Bripod vs UW: The time/earth duo seems strong.  I'd worry some about CC though, but one of the ones they've been using has earthquake, so I'd recommend an upped tower and pend.  Bripod just told me in chat that 10 men recommended a novabow, and it looks pretty good to me.  I was thinking an upped BH would be nice vs UW, though it might be tough to fit one in.

edit: oops used only 5/6 ups.  Whatever you think is best on the 6th one; I won't be able to do much more for deckbuilding; I'll be at work when the deckbuilding phase ends.
edit: Oh I see what I did.  This is the slightly older deck code; I replaced one pend with an RT because the QI was really high and then upped the explosion.  Too lazy/tired to edit my post, but that's what I meant to put above.