10th Trials - Challenger's Entrance

[Zawadx]

TIME TO ENTER THE TRIALS
HAS RUN OUT



Please make sure you've read the Rules very carefully. Also, here are the Phase 1 Rules.
To join these Trials, post in this thread a single post containing the following information:

Spoiler for Requirements:

-Evidence of Score Requirement
-Evidence of Established Account Requirement

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Task 1:

-Name of Task
-Evidence of completion

Spoiler for Task 2:

-Name of Task
-Evidence of completion

Spoiler for Task 3:

-Name of Task
-Evidence of completion

Spoiler for War Bonus:

-Evidence of participation last war
-If you were a General, and were in the same War team as the element you are trialing for, evidence of your General-ship

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

-Evidence of participation last brawl
-If you were a Boss, evidence of your Boss-ship

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus:

-Tell us how many times you have participated in Trials for this element before
-Give us evidence of your participation in each of those trials

Remember, the Requirements to Challenge are:

• 30,000+ score in Elements
• 200+ forum posts
• Joined the forums no less than 3 months ago (at the time of signing up)
• Participation in at least three separate PVP Events (Leagues, War, Weekly Tournaments, etc.)

Spamming the forums to get those 200 posts is not allowed, and you have to provide a screen shot of your score.

A player may participate in Trials without meeting the 200 post and 30,000 score requirements if they are able to provide evidence of a significant PVP achievement. Examples of sufficient achievements are:

• Winning a Weekly Tournament
• A top 3 finish in either of the PVP Leagues
• A top 3 finish in a PVP event
• Finishing on 1 of the top 3 War teams
• Becoming a Master of any Element

Note: In the event more there are more than four challengers for one element, priority will be given first to players with the higher Phase 1 scores and second to a combination of score/post count.

Challengers:

• Sera
• jippy99

Master rob77dp of is defending.

[rob77dp]

I will defend.

Spoiler for Requirements:

Evidence of Score Requirement Met:


Evidence of Established Account Requirement Met:

Spoiler for Phase 1:

"Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?"
--Plato
{Credit to Aves for most of the Formatting for the tasks portion of this post (Aves' Phase 1 Task 1 post) +rep to Aves for it}

Spoiler for Task 1: Mastering the Cards *WARNING: Very large spoiler*:

Name of Task: Mastering the Cards
Evidence of Completion:

Mastering the Cards
Flesh Recluse / Flesh Spider

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The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web. --Edwin Way Teale In specific meta - that is limited card choice for yourself and/or the opponent - a narrow strategy can be leveraged for your gain! Let us consider the case of the  Flesh Recluse [unupgraded: Flesh Spider] where the former is a power play at 6 ATK for 3 quanta and the latter is situational. In-depth discussion of the Spider is excluded here with the general premise of being useful in the non-power-only instances of the Recluse's best uses. With Fractal Fractal is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, combinations with Flesh Recluse. The 6-copy limit of any non-pillar non-pendulum card per deck puts a practical cap on how much power you can pack using Flesh Recluses. However, add Aether quanta and Fractal and the power cap is nearly eliminated! The Recluse's 6 attack for 3 quanta ratio of 2-to-1 is tied for 2nd best in the game (Giant Frog of Life is 2.5-to-1) and in many ways surpasses the other 2-for-1 options. Graviton Guard, Elite Antlion, Minor Phoenix (attack-to-card slot ratio) Spoiler for Additional commentary: These are all 4 attack for 2 quanta tying Recluse's ratio of 2-to-1 but they are typically inferior in pure damage considerations where card slot aspects of Elements are accounted for. What this means is that your hand (8 slots) and game board (23 creature slots) have limited card space which assigns relative value to each card taking up a slot. More power per card slot should be considered in breaking ties of attack-per-cost and Recluse offers 6-to-1 attack per card slot against these three's 4-to-1. I would be remiss not to mention that Recluse is not categorically better than these options. Obviously certain game and deckbuilding environments limit element choices but also other aspects of each card come into play: Guard has SEVEN HP placing it out of range of any non-aggregate single-hit Creature Control (CC) in the game. Antlion can burrow and protect itself against CC - this mechanic also synergizes quite well with Shard of Patience resulting in a de facto "+4" if burrowed to grow then unburrowed to attack. MP is very resistant to most hard CC, becoming resurrectable-Ash upon its initial death. All three of these are very viable Fractal targets (even beyond the very real application of a saying of Higurashi that "Fractal anything is viable").   "2 for 1's" such as Ash/Brimstone Eater, Elite Deja Vu, Physalia, and Micro Abomination (attack-to-card slot ratio) Spoiler for Additional commentary: The tie for attack-to-cost ratio is present here as well but these creatures offer even less in the attack-to-card space consideration. "Free to plays" such as Gnome Gemfinder, Photon/Ray of Light, Damselfly, and Spark (attack-to-card slot ratio -and- mulligan/draw effect) Spoiler for Additional commentary: These are special cases where attack-to-cost returns an infinite value lending cause to more carefully consider and weight attack-to-card space and mulligan/draw related aspects. Recluse wins out here for purposes of this discussion. A Fracluse deck (the more proper name for the Flesh Recluse + Fractal combination -- you can probably imagine another way to combine the card names) might look something like this (variations might be proper given various upgrade limiting, elemental composition, and similar deckbuilding restrictions): Fracluse for Mastering the Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52h 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 622 622 622 710 710 713 713 713 72i 72i 72i 8pu Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as playing a shield or Fractal, playing or holding early-drawn Recluse(s), etc. With Wings Applies to Recluse or Spider Wings is a very strong shield hailing from the Air element. Given Elements' somewhat limited creature card pool, in comparison with most other card games such as Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering, and the rarity of "flying creatures and ranged weapons" the Wings shield is a strong defensive play of its own accord. The Flesh Recluse's active ability " :web" which removes airborne aspects of the target (i.e. - ranged (flown Owl's Eyes) and flying (dragons, etc)) creature has two opportunities for application. The least useful and rarely practical application would be to bring a creature into the "damage dealt" situation for Warden's 'guard' ability. The more frequently implemented and practical application is to increase the effectiveness of Wings. When building a deck to combine Recluse and Wings consideration must be given to available information about the expected encounter or duel/match. Recluse Wings for Mastering the Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52h 52h 534 534 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5ol 5ol 713 713 713 713 713 7n8 7n8 7n8 7n8 7n8 8pr Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as more/less hard/soft-CC, more dragons if Steal (or opposing Wings!) or shield-bypass (Poison) if Steal or a strong opposing shield are expected, etc. With Shard of Bravery Shard of Bravery is all about temporary card advantage. Cheap efficient hitters like Flesh Recluse are a great way to leverage such temporary card advantage. Let's indulge in the rush-heavy fully upgraded realm of Elements, shall we? Here is a place that speed trumps all but not heavily enough to completely eliminate consideration of flexibility and nimbleness. Flesh Recluse being a Death creature opens up the possibility of using the Recluse for fast hard-hitting and in-element shield-bypass of Deadly Poison. Combine with a quanta-sync like a Dragon or two and the stall-breaking-over-time ability of Arsenic and you have flexibility and nimbleness present with speed available with the addition of Shards of Bravery. A deck combining Recluse and Bravery frequently plays like an old Street Fighter match -- mash the buttons and spam what you get as fast as possible! However, a skilled player will be able to find the intricacies of balancing speed and card advantage of the nature that Shard of Bravery brings enjoyable alongside the thrill of 5 turn wins. Arachno-Courage for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 711 711 713 713 713 713 713 718 718 718 718 718 71a 7ee 7ee 7ee 7ee 8po Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as when to Shard and when not to Shard, choosing Recluse or Poison plays, etc.

Bone Wall

+

Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze. --Horace Bone Wall (BW) is a unique shield card with interaction of the game board events (defense counter increases with death effects), effectiveness of blocking (non-bypass attacks are each entirely blocked - it is not damage reduction nor chance-to-block dependent), and built-in resistance to Permanent Control (PC) (Deflagration and Steal affect only a single counter). Also, BW's resistance to PC is a boost against many rushes that might pack just a few copies of Steal/Deflag or heavier control decks employing Pulverizer or Shard of Focus/Butterfly Effect. With Fire Bolt The power of combining BW with CC could not be farther from an original concept. Avoiding the mainstream and more well-known Bonebolt (BW+Lightning), Pandebonium (BW+Pandemonium), and Cat Walls (BW+Schrodinger's Cat -- albeit this is less common or well-known than the previous two) let us consider the concept from a more flexible and stall-breaking view...! <Root-nod> Bolt gives additional flexibility, similar to Lightning in Bonebolt but with scaling damage output, with variable use as CC that kills and stacks BW counters or direct damage to the opponent to break an opposing stall. A deck with Fire Bolt and BW could win by deckout {rare}(kill opposing creature damage threats but face healing > poison) or dealing damage reducing opponent to 0 HP (Poison attrition and/or Fire Bolt to face). This would be using BW as long-term defense (building counters through CC) or ability to use BW as basic defense (slow the opposing control deck's damage to allow Fire Bolt to break the opponent). Fire Wall for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52r 52r 52r 52r 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f4 5f6 5f6 5f7 5f7 5f8 5f8 710 710 718 718 718 718 718 718 72i 72i 72i 72i 8po Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as bolt calculations, using or saving Deflagration, replacing Fire Bolt with Rage Potion/Elixir, etc. With Cremation Cremation (upgraded version of Immolation) is a guaranteed death effect if it is played - death effects synergize with BW! Typically, Cremation is employed alongside powerful Fire-centric rushes (ex: common Crema-rushes) or as instant-infusions of Fire quanta (ex: Unstable Gas spam). It also can be combined with BW to take advantage of the wall-bonus that deaths give to the shield. As with Arachno-Courage, above, upgrades greatly enhance the rushing style of this deck so here we build it completely upgraded: The Counter Mod for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 711 713 71a 71b 71b 71b 71f 71f 71f 71f 71f 74a 74a 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dq 7dq 7dq 7dq 7du 8pk Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as discard priority in case of poor draw, baiting CC, etc. With Schrödinger's Cat Among the many ways of building decks with BW and the many ways of building decks with Schrödinger's Cat, some upgraded and some unupgraded, some more stall and some more rush, and so on. Here we will focus on integrating Schrödinger's Cat with our be-loved Bone Wall! This is an opportunity to show off the speedy and versatile power of a deck like this - Bone Wall is great defense and when combined here with Soul Catcher provide 2 layers of deterant of opposing CC. The versatility of Death and Entropy duos is touched on here as one could sub Anitmatter for Discords if expecting shield-bypass (Chargers?) or splash Butterfly Effect when you just _know_ a Dim-chain is headed your way. Also, for more firepower the Discords can be removed in favor of our features card above, Flesh Recluses. Cat Wall for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 4vl 4vl 4vl 4vl 4vq 4vq 4vq 4vq 4vq 4vq 52h 52h 52h 52h 52r 52r 52r 534 534 534 6ts 6ts 6ve 6ve 71f 71f 71f 71f 71f 71f 8pj Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as specific support card choices, CC baiting, etc.

Plague

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Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague. --William Safire Plague is a seldom used (competitively, at least) CC spell for Death. In the style of Death element, it kills but not instantly (think Retrovirus but a spell... or vice versa). Staying in line with many cards within Death it adheres strongly to the death-effect theme that runs through the Element. The most effective use of Plague, when it is used, combines it with other cards that stall or benefit/boost from death effects. With Sanctuary / Miracle For example, combining Plague and a few other Death control cards one can create a fairly feasible stall. The healing from Sanctuary and Miracle provides the time for Plague to do its CC thing (delayed fashion as it is). Death's nymph (Grey Nymph) is somewhat useful here too as you can fill the board with cells if you are not facing any PC such that your Skull Shield is safe - the 1|1 Malignant Cells cannot penetrate the shield. In this example deck I have also included some other supporting cards like Retrovirus (CC and death effect) and Shard of Divinity (increases healing capacity). White Plague for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52l 52l 52l 52p 52p 52p 52p 52p 534 534 534 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5m6 5m6 712 712 712 7k2 7k2 7k2 8pq Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as varied upgrade quantities, alchemy card(s) or Nymph(s), etc. [color=lime green]With Shard of Gratitude / Heal[/color] This is similar to the White Plague, above, however a few key differences can be noted and discussed. 1. Shard of Gratitude (SoG), given the deck's Life Mark, heals for 5 HP which is 1 greater than Sanctuary. 2. SoG is -1 cost to play. 3. SoG does NOT provide quanta protection. 4. Heal is less expensive than Miracle. 5. Heal is capped to +20 HP compared to Miracle "total HP minus 1". 6. Spine Carapace is a more active and aggressive AoE shield than Skull Shield. 7. Spine Carapace is a more expensive shield but it does allow for 'less other CC' to be required to control spam decks like NT, Scarabs, and some of the high HP Gravity and Earth attackers. Plagued by Gratitude for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52p 52p 52p 52p 52p 52p 534 534 534 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 5c2 712 712 712 712 7aj 7aj 7aj 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 7ba 8pn Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as which cards are optimal to upgrade, how many Nymph(s) or alchemy card(s) to use, and choice of shield as Carapace or Skull or *both*!?, etc. Elite Otyugh Elite Otyugh is a creature - this is an attempt to illustrate a way to use Plague in a non-stall deck. Plague can be used to assist in bringing larger creatures into Oty's devouring range and to improve chances Skull activates (Sidenote: Skull Shield's chance to activate/Skeleton-ize is %chance=100*(1/(2*[creature's HP])) i.e. - Phoenix is 1 HP so chance% = 100 * (1 / (2 * 1)) = 50%)[size]. The struggle with type of approach to implementing Plague is that the offense in this deck a bit slow - Poison is hard to stop but Oty grows from 0 ATK initially - and it lacks any sort of healing. Hungry Plagues for Mastering Cards, 10th Trials of Death Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52l 52l 52l 52p 52p 52p 52p 534 534 534 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 55t 55t 55t 718 718 718 718 718 74b 74b 74b 74b 74b 8pl Note: The scope of this article does not cover many aspects of deckbuilding, gameplay, and in-game decision-making such as deciding when it is best to Gravity Pull your own creature, when to devour and when to let Skull Shield block, whether to devour cells or let them fill opponents' board, etc.

Spoiler for Task 2: Aiding My Allies:

Name of Task: Aiding Your Allies
Evidence of Completion:

Aiding Your Allies

I pretty much operate on adrenaline and ignorance. --Johnny Knoxville
#1: [/color]Help for aspiring cells seeking adrenaline or ignorance!


If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends. --Enoch Powell
#2: [/color]A journey on a river... Underground River (deck help!)

Spoiler for Task 3: Starting My Own Little War:

Name of Task: Starting Your Own Little War
Evidence of Completion:

Starting Your Own Little War
"Without football, my life is worth nothing." --Cristiano Ronaldo

Tournament Idea: Footy Tournament... without a single ball, net, or header!

Spoiler for War Bonus +2:

General of Death in 9th place = 2 points:

General of Death, War #9

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus +0:

6th place, not Boss = 0 points
(and 12 points is grossly overpaying for my services, dawn!)

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus +3:

There is no pattern here... is there? 
9th Trials of Death, Challenger - Won.
8th Trials of Death, Defending Master - Lost.
7th Trials of Death, Challenger - Won.

[Sera]

Spoiler for Requirements:

PVP Participation:
Battle League 1/2015
Battle League 1/2016
Trenzalore

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Trials 2: Waging War against the False Gods:

Reverse Ideology

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

710 710 710 710 710 718 71c 71c 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 7jo 7jo 7jo 7jo 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7u2 7u2 7u2 7u2 7u2 7u2 8pt

Reverse damage. Reverse max hp. Spawning creatures on the wrong side of the field. Time halting, but going faster at the same time.

Play SoV's to slowly reduce the opponent's HP to 1, then poison to win (this can remain unupped). Stall first using dials as they bait out some of the PC, and they give you the drawpower if you need it. But don't draw too much! Remember that you need to stall for some time for the SoV to reduce HP to 1 before you deckout. If the FG is putting out damage too slowly, or if a creature is becoming a little too dangerous (e.g. Destroy), you can use Aflatoxin. Then use the only slightly overpowered SoSacs to stall your way to victory.
 

Spoiler for Trials 6: Building the Game:

If we want to see a meta change then a drastic change is what we need.

Game improvements:
Upgrade cost reduced to 800, sell costs adjusted accordingly.
PvP optimizations and queue lists.
Match logs usable for replays (only records the board, not the hands)
 
Game balance:

Spoiler for Hidden:

(B) means unupgraded.
(Up) means upgraded.
The rest apply on both unupgraded and upgraded.
 
General Balance:
Venom now occurs on every hit with Adrenaline.
Growth reduced to +2|+1
Reflective now redirects to the caster instead of the opponent.
Gravity Pull now redirects weapon damage.
New status effect: Resistant. Blocks one instance of a negative effect, removal, mutation or lobotomy.
 
Entropy:
Nova now produces 15 | 25 random quanta.
Abomination now has a 100% chance to turn into a mutant when mutated.
Chaos Seed (B) now has a 50% chance to bounce to a random target in the same side of the board.
Discord now shuffles quanta one at a time instead of all at once.
Butterfly Effect target restriction removed.
Shard of Serendipity (B) cost reduced to 2.
 
Death:
Virus (B) skill changed to Plague, cost increased to 4.
Vulture now gains +2|+1 per death.
Bone Wall initial charges reduced to 5.
Aflatoxin poison increased to 3.
Shard of Sacrifice cost changed to 30 | 25 HP, and now affects max HP as well.
 
Gravity:
Armagio ability cost removed. Resistant.
Otyugh (B) HP and cost increased by 1.
Black Hole now absorbs 2 per element + 2 random quanta.
Shard of Focus turns into a Black Hole at 30hp. Gains 20 HP per Accretion.
 
Earth:
Antlion now starts burrowed, unburrowed base stats increased to 4|2 and 6|2. Unburrowing costs 1 earth.
Earthquake can now only destroy up to 2 pillars/pends in a stack.
Plate Armor now adds Resistant.
Shard of Integrity effect changed: Construct a Shard Golem out of the top 4 cards of your hand. Cost increased to 5|4.
Note: Same rules and effects as the current shard golem, but any card works now. Other cards give +2|+2. Upgraded cards no longer give a +1|+1 bonus.
 
Life:
Cockatrice changed to airborne. Resistant.
Forest Spirit HP set to 3. Upgraded cost reduced by 1.
Emerald Shield now loses Reflective after 5 turns. (B) damage reduction increased by 1, cost increased by 2. (Up) Cost reduced by 1.
Empathic Bond cost reduced by 2.
Mitosis cost reduced by 1.
Shard of Gratitude heals 5 regardless of mark.
 
Fire:
Fire Spirit attack increased by 2.
Fire Bolt damage rescaled to 2 + 2 per 7 fire.
Rage Potion rescaled to +6|-4 and +7|-5
Ash HP reduced to 3.
Shard of Bravery mark bonus removed.
 
Water:
Blue Crawler becomes cloaked in the presence of Flooding. (does not need to be in a flooded area)
Arctic Squid HP increased by 3.
Flooding upkeep removed.
Shard of Patience now has a 3-turn limit, and no longer increases HP.
 
Light:
Holy Light removed from the game.
Reflective Shield removed from the game.
Luciferin cost reduced by 1.
Solar Shield now has Reflective for the first 4 turns.
Guardian Angel (B) cost increased to 6, attack increased to 5.
Improved Blessing (Up) cost reduced by 1.
Shard of Divinity max HP increase set to 18 regardless of mark.
 
Air:
Dragonfly (B) cost reduced to 0.
Wyrm (B) attack increased by 1.
Fog Shield cost increased by 1.
Blue Nymph stats reduced to 2|2 and 3|2.
Shard of Freedom chance stack is now multiplicative. Cost increased by 1.
 
Time:
Fate Egg cost reduced to 1, ability cost increased to 3.
Golden Hourglass (B) cost increased to 6, ability cost reduced to 1.
Anubis cost reduced to 6.
Reverse Time cost increased by 1.
Sundial stasis removed, and delays creatures on play instead. Affects immortal creatures.
Procrastination now affects weapons.
 
Darkness:
Devourer cost increased by 1. Unupgraded and upgraded names switched.
Vampire Dagger cost increased by 1.
Cloak lasts 4 turns and no longer shows HP and quanta.
Shard of Void reduces max HP by 3 regardless of mark.
 
Aether:
Spark removed from the game.
Phase Salvager attack and cost reduced by 1. Airborne.
Lightning cost increased by 1.
Immortal attack reduced by 1, and increases by 1 each time a spell is used.
Dimensional Shield cost reduced by 1, duration reduced to 2 turns.
Fractal now leaves 2 card slots open.
Shard of Wisdom does not add attack for the first use on an immortal creature.

Spoiler for Trials 7: Waging War against your Enemies:

fite me

Spoiler for War Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus:

Once: Trial of Death #9

[jippy99]

I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring for old time's sake 

Spoiler for Requirements:

PVP Participation:
<---- The two trophies over there show War and Tournament participation, and the loyalty bonus shows trials participation.

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Task 1: Waging War Against the False Gods:

Waging War Against the False Gods

I've always felt that aflatoxin was one of the more fun cards in the game, but competitively it doesn't have much use. However, combine it with SoP and SoSac to stall, and you've got yourself a decent FG deck. I give you Cell Warfare.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

710 710 710 710 710 710 710 716 716 716 716 716 71a 71c 71c 71c 71c 71k 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 71u 72i 72i 72i 7hi 7hi 7hi 8pp

The strategy is fairly simple: Play a skeleton, afla it, wait for it to die, play a SoP and watch those cells grow. SoSacs are used to stall to give you a few turns for the effects of SoP to stack. Once you have enough cells with that have been buffed by SoP, remove the SoP and watch the fun happen.

I wasn't expecting it to be very effective, but I was actually surprised with how well it worked. The deck had 4 wins and 13 losses, but several of those losses were very close and I was one turn away from winning. Here are the wins:

Spoiler for Destiny:

Spoiler for Morte:

Spoiler for Jebezel:

Spoiler for Serket:

Spoiler for Task 2: Starting Your Own Little War:

Starting Your Own Little War

Three's Please
Rules:

• All cards must be cost a multiple of three quanta (excluding pillars/pends)
• The total deck size of each deck must be a multiple of three
• Each card must be in the deck a multiple of three times (including pillars/pends)
• The number of unique cards in a deck must be a multiple of three
• Three elements must be used in each deck
• Each element must make up at least 1/6 of the deck
• Decks can only contain elements that are multiples of three away from each other (for example, a deck can contain  ,  , and  )

A nice little twist on something that I feel we've done before, this includes all of the 3 related rules I could think of that allow for creativity without making the decks unplayable. I think it works better as an upped tourney because it gives the players more options in the cards they can use (see my deck below).

Spoiler for My Deck:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5le 5le 5le 5lf 5lf 5lf 5uq 710 710 713 713 713 713 713 713 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 7t4 7t4 7t4 7t9 7t9 7te 7te 7te 7te 7te 8pq

A mix of upped and unupped cards, the strategy is straightforward: cast liquid shadow on the buffed spiders and use the angels to heal them.

Spoiler for Task 3: Aiding Your Allies:

Deck 1 and Deck 2. Both Death decks!!!

Spoiler for War Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus:

Once: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/trial-of-death/5th-trials-registration-36159/
(There's a throwback)

[Captain Scibra]

First it was my favorite, Gravity, and now to conquer myself (my zodiac).

Spoiler for Requirements:

Spoiler for Score:

Spoiler for Account:

Participation - I was formerly Master of Gravity

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Task 1:

Mastering the cards

Big on poison, this little bugger needs a second element to get his stinger going.  Once it is buffed to have a positive (or even negative) attack value, it works like a natural Ablaze with only a slight delay on the poison it increases each turn.  While that may stack up, so does the poison, and it doesn't stop just because this fragile creature dies.  It works great with the following cards:




For Momentum, it means that no shield can stop the poison effect until the Deathstalker is Lobotomized, turning it into a vanilla creature.  Gravity also offer some stall elements to allow the poison plenty of time to stack up to lethal amounts.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52p 52p 52p 52p 52u 52u 52u 52u 52u 52u 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 55p 55p 55q 55q 55q 55q 55q 55q 55r 55r 55r 55r 8pl

The strategy is simple.  Buff the Deathstalker with Momentum, then use Otyugh and Gravity Shield to kill opponent creatures or disable them from attacking.  Use Plagues to control swarm decks and also cover that gap between the Otyugh and Gravity Shield until they have devoured enough to cover it.


For Nightfall, this is a smoother strategy, as only one in play is needed to buff ALL of your Deathstalkers.  Also, any other Death creatures or any Darkness creatures will be included in this nifty buff.  Darkness offers great ways to delay the opponent, including healing.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52u 52u 52u 52u 52u 52u 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5uo 5uo 5uo 5uq 5uq 5uq 5ur 5ur 5ut 5ut 5ut 5ut 5ut 5ut 8pt

Get out Nightfall, and play those Deathstalkers to start racking up the poison.  Vampires will help with damage while giving that damage back to you as health, and Dusk will make the opponent frustrated when his creatures miss half the time.


For Blessing, it gives the Deathstalker a great buff.  It will have enough attack to bypass most shields, and also durable so that some creature control will need to take a second swing.

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52u 52u 52u 52u 52u 53e 53e 53e 53e 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5lf 5lf 5lf 5lf 5lf 5m6 5m6 5m6 5m6 5m6 5m6 8pq

Playing Deathstalkers and buffing them with Blessing is as simple as it gets.  Use Shard of Divinity to heal yourself and increase your max HP and then Shard of Sacrifice to gain opponent damage as healing, including up to your higher max HP.

Useful as a double infection, but once the creature dies, the opponent can have a problem on his hands.  Those Malignant Cells will clog up his creature space if he cannot deal with them properly.  Useful with these cards:




For Skull Shield, a nice mono option.  Use aflatoxin on a creature, and watch as the opponent's board fills with Malignant Cells once the creature dies to the poison.  Then keep watching as their creatures die to the Shield, turning into Skeletons.

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52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52h 52h 52h 52h 52i 52i 52i 52i 52i 52i 52l 52l 52l 52s 52s 52s 52s 8pk

Use the Aflatoxin on the first creature they play, or the weakest if they have more than one.  The board should fill up in a matter of a few turns.  Skull Shield will keep them from hurting you, and also kill the opponent's creatures and turn them into Skeletons.  When the opponent is all locked out, use Viruses and other Aflatoxins to poison higher health creatures to make them more susceptible to the Shield (or kill them outright) and go in for the kill with your Bone Dragons.


For Spine Carapace, the upgrade is necessary.  It will stop the damage of the Malignant Cells, and usually poison the opponent creatures as they attack over the shield's reduction, allowing their board to get clogged.

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711 711 711 711 711 711 71c 71c 71c 71c 7ai 7ai 7ai 7ai 7aj 7aj 7aj 7aj 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 8pk

As before, try to get the weakest creature possible to get the Malginant Cells swarming as soon as possible.  Get a Carapace down so that the opponent creatures start dying fast from the stacking poison.  Use Improved Heal to assure your life doesn't get too dangerously low before you can lock out the opponent.  Finally, go in for the kill with some Dragons.


For Otyugh, you can use him to eat the other opponent creatures to open the space for more Cells.  You can also eat the opponent Cells to buff your little Otyughs up to higher damages and also more capable of eating the larger creatures.

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4tc 4tc 4tc 52s 52s 52s 52s 52s 542 542 542 542 542 542 55k 55k 55k 55k 55k 55k 55l 55l 55l 55l 55l 55l 55r 55r 55r 55r 8pl

Again, get the Cells going as quick as possible, and play a Shield to keep them from hurting you.  Devour the other creatures with your Otyughs, and eat the Cells to buff em up to take on the heavier ones.  Once the opponent is locked, Chargers come in for the kill, and Otyughs can keep eating to contribute damage.

A newer card to Death's arsenal, it amplifies your ability to play cards as you are able to kill any creatures.  While Death itself struggles to kill rapidly, that is of no concern.  This card works great with these cards:




For Schrodinger's cat, you use this little kitten to give yourself a death trigger every turn for each one you have out.  With a lot of Catchers out, you are getting a lot of quanta.

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4vi 4vi 4vi 4vi 4vq 4vq 4vq 4vq 4vq 52h 52h 52h 52h 52h 52r 52r 52r 52r 52v 52v 52v 52v 52v 52v 542 542 542 542 542 542 8pj

Simply put the Catchers in play and start 'killing' your Cats to rack in the quanta.  The Cats will also increase your Bone Wall.  You should easily get your Dragons out under such conditions, with all that quanta, and go in for the kill.

Spoiler for Task 2:

Waging War against your Enemies

No action needed

Spoiler for Task 3:

Building the Game
Incomplete

Spoiler for War Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

None

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus:

None

[Fippe94]

Spoiler for Requirements:

Significant PVP achievement:
<--- I was a Master as you can see in my award list.
Two more PVP participations:
<--- Another award is from a weekly tournament.
I was also in Devil's Gate recently

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Task 1:

Shard Revolution

NAME: Shard of Decay ELEMENT: Death COST: 6 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Put a decay counter on target permanent. That permanent will be destroyed in one turn.	NAME: Shard of Decay ELEMENT: Death COST: 4 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Put a decay counter on target permanent. That permanent will be destroyed in one turn.

ART: IDEA: Fippe94 NOTES: Introducing PC for Death! Now you can deal with those pesky weapons and shields. Repeatable PC maybe feels strong, but it is after all on one turn delay, so your opponent will always get at least one turn use of it. This also means you cannot destroy sundials. Stacking more of this on one permanent won't do anything, all counters are lost when it is destroyed. This also means you cannot use this to destroy more than one pillar from a stack per turn. Deck using this: Hover over cards for details, click for permalink Deck import code : [Select] 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 710 71a 71a 71u 71u 71u 71u 713 713 713 713 713 713 71b 71b 711 711 711 711 8pk (Sacrifice = Decay) As you can see, this isn't really a card you build your entire strategy, but rather a good support card to existing decks, especially in a meta were poison is banned. SERIES:

Spoiler for Task 2:

Wagering War against your Enemies
No action required.

Spoiler for Task 3:

Starting your own Little War
Can you count?

Your deck must contain 1 copy of one card, two copies of another card, three copies of another card and so on...
Your count can go up to 5 or 6.
The cost of any card must be higher than or equal to the cost of any card with lower amount of copies. In other words, the cost of the cards must be in reverse order of the copy count.
Pillars and pendulums can have any number of copies.

Example: I include 1 copy of card A, 2 copies of card B, 3 of card C, 4 of card D and 5 copies of card E.
The cost of card A must be higher than or equal to the cost of card B, which must be higher than or equal to the cost of card B and so on.

Spoiler for deck:

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Deck import code : [Select]

52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52o 52j 52j 52j 52j 52j 52p 52p 52p 52t 52t 52t 52t 52r 52r 52h 8pk

A balanced deck that can mostly play as a rush, but contains a few card to protect itself as well.

Spoiler for War Bonus, 0 points:

None

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus, 2 points:

<--- I won Brawl #5, wasn't a Boss

Spoiler for Loyalty Bonus, 3 points:

7th Trials
8th Trials
9th Trials

[rob77dp]

in, will post more later

NOW it feels like a Trials of Death to me: Full challenger/defending-Master list + Fippe.

[Fippe94]

A lot of doubt was had, but in the end the death in my heart won. And how I could I resist another chance of having another Death Trial final vs rob?

Spoiler for There is indeed a pattern here:

There is no pattern here... is there? 
9th Trials of Death, Challenger - Won.
8th Trials of Death, Defending Master - Lost.
7th Trials of Death, Challenger - Won.

Be afraid.

[rob77dp]

Publicly posting that I am seeking a Captain Scibra and jippy to get in bands for our phase 2 matches.

[Linkcat]

Publicly posting that I am seeking a Captain Scibra and jippy to get in bands for our phase 2 matches.

Settling it with music rather than cards? I like it. What's the name of your band?

[rob77dp]

Publicly posting that I am seeking a Captain Scibra and jippy to get in bands for our phase 2 matches.

Settling it with music rather than cards? I like it. What's the name of your band?

You've misunderstood -- I am requesting that these two challengers JOIN A BAND for our phase 2 match.  This keeps them preparing less for our match

[Physsion]

Settling it with music rather than cards? I like it.

DEATH METAL

You've misunderstood -- I am requesting that these two challengers JOIN A BAND for our phase 2 match.  This keeps them preparing less for our match

...dreams crushed