11th 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 for information on Phase 1 tasks.

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
- Evidence of PvP Event Participation
OR
- Evidence of PvP Event Achievement

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 War Bonus:

-Evidence of participation/WMing 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/BMing/Voter's Panel position 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

You can find more information on the Phase 1 tasks in the Phase 1 Rules. Remember, the Requirements to Challenge are:

• Any ONE from:
• 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
• OR ALL of the following:
• 30,000+ score in Elements
• 100+ 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.)

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:

• Zyardran
• Ryli
• ValerianFlame
• worldwideweb3

Master RootRanger of has decision pending.

[Zyardran]

Spoiler for Requirements:

Score w/ Acc info
Forum Account

PVP Participation Proof
-EtG Leagues 3/2015-1/2017 [Leagues HoF reference]

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

Brawl#6 Pyrocloaks Boss - 3rd place

Spoiler for War Bonus:

War10, Light general

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Soontm

Spoiler for Cultured Contender:

Spoiler for Forum Expert:

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/fire-70/ancient-arts-of-fire/new/#new

[ValerianFlame]

Finished. I may or may not edit more (finished product after initial Phase 1 time ends)

Spoiler for Requirements:

Spoiler for Score:

Forum Posts and Account Age: Go look at my profile at http://elementscommunity.org/forum/profile/?u=10219

Participations in:

July 23 - Armedilgo Wars VI: Return of the Dilgos - Unupgraded
July 30 - Reverse Choice of the Community - Upgraded
August 20 - Flytrap and the Beanstalk - Unupgraded
October 1 - Double Trouble - Unupgraded
March 4 - Mark of the Beast - Unupgraded
March 18 - The Grand Return of Axiom - Unupgraded

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Reminder for unlocked elements and upgrades:

Elements: (Underworld represents elements unlocked by opponents)
Upgrades: 3 non-pillar/pend PERMANENTS, 4 pillars/pends, and 6 of any upgraded card.

Spoiler for Task 1:

The Cultured Contender

Spoiler for Trials Banner:

    In the beginning, there was only one person: Zanzarino. He created Elements the Game, and with it, a community to thrive for years to come. There was only one element in the beginning; we do not know its name, as it is lost in the history books. Zanzarino knew there would be people who wanted to spread out; be unique. Zanzarino broke a crystal, the crystal that bound the 12 elements together. Shards flew everywhere, waiting to be discovered; discovered they were, in 2012. It's not like the community needed shards back then, for it was booming with veterans and rookies alike.
    Zanzarino was right about the 12 elements. People would not only prefer elements over others, but become outright enthusiasts. A competition was made for every element, and in some cases, an element, darker than light but lighter than dark, had to creep from the shadows, for that was how popular the Trials have become. The enthusiasts and veterans could finally earn recognition, and especially praise! The title of Master was fought between elementals far and wide. However, this competition was organized, and had rules, which made things... interesting.
    War, the event after trials, is for outright competition, element versus element. Though with a similar lore, War became a large-scale event to prove what was the most dominant element, and with Trials' help, determined who would be the Grand Master. Therefore, Trials were a very important competition for every member that could apply. Even the rookies who barely met the requirements could rejoice in happiness as they happily fought, not caring whether they won or lost. The ruleset is what set Trials and War apart. Trials gave a chance for rookies and veterans alike to create decks they've never created before, all because of a few restrictions. The restrictions even inspired the deckbuilder in some people.
    With the rulesets, the organized competition went on, spectators watching tense matches. Every time a final battle rolled around, every digital spectator felt like the were watching a battle encased in water and ice, or high in the sky, or sometimes even imagining the sounds of the battles because it was too bright or dark to see. Many strategies were created, and many friendships were made. Trials, to this day, evolves in many ways that no other competition, not even War, can.

    "So, are you all ready to battle, trialists?" Zawadx asked enthusiastically, watching over the crowd of trialists. Every trialist responded with cheers, chants, and even a few bottles of beer were thrown into the air. No one seemed to mind, as everyone was having a blast at the opening ceremony. "I can see a lot of energy in your cheers. I hope you can channel that into the 11th Trials!" Zawadx exclaimed.
    "Now, Master iancudorinmarian of Entropy is defending, Master rob77dp of Death is defending..." Zawadx listed the masters according to whether they were defending their title or not. The hype was all coming to this, a meeting for all trialists, followed by the beginning of Phase 1. I will have to say, I was pumped at that meeting. Needless to say, I would be going for fire, and I wished a few people good luck as the meeting dispersed.

Spoiler for Task 2:

The Determined
Super Shielders - Unupgraded

• Upgraded Cards and Shards are banned.
• No more than 3 PC cards.
• Max deck size is 40 cards.
• Banned Cards: Fire Bolt, Dimensional Shield, Earthquake, Enchant Artifact, Discord, Bone Wall, Black Hole, Momentum, Titan, Sapphire Charger, Chimera, Trident, Flooding, Wings, Reverse Time, Eternity, Sundial, Nightmare, Devourer, Mindgate, and Fractal are banned.
• Every deck must include at least 6 shields. Any shield that is not banned applies.

Spoiler for Banned Cards:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vl 50a 52r 53e 55l 55q 55s 55v 560 56i 592 593 59m 5cq 5f4 5fu 5ic 5ih 5j2 5m6 5oo 5pa 5rk 5ro 5rp 5se 5um 5v1 5vi 61t 622 623 62m

Spoiler for Permanent Control Cards:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vk 4vm 4vo 58v 5f6 5ig 5io 5ll 5ri 5up 5v0

Let's start off with the elephant in the room: Shields. Some shields won't seem like much, and you can just deflag any shield you need to, right? Wrong. Use your deflags wisely, or you won't be able to do much to the opponent.

Fire is known for being a glass cannon with creatures like Seraph and Crimson Dragon, which is heavily affected the shields themselves, specifically Fire Shield and Thorn Carapace. This also affects Phoenixes and Lava Golems, as they can only hit once if unbuffed. Immo rushes can be hit hard by this rule, but some are still viable.

Fire Bolt and SoB are banned, which denotes Fire's ability to rush extremely fast. You are not left with much after all of this applies. There are some strategies that will work.

Fire/Entropy: Maxwall (Win, as there would not be any creatures to Paradox. Fire Shield and RoF take care of the Maxwells)
Fire/Death: Soul Catchers + Immolation. (Win. RoF and Fire Shield)
Fire/Gravity: Rage + High HP (Win, Outmaneuvered by Healing)
Fire/Earth: Lava Golems w/ Plate Armor. Can be applied to an immo rush. (Win, RoF and Fire Shield)
Fire/Life: Creature Control w/ Carapace and Wall, RoF, and others. (Win, no creatures to attack, Fahrenheit and Healing)
Fire: Mono Rush, Immo or not, or CC stall. (Win, Outmaneuvered by Healing and CC)
Fire/Water: Steam Machines with or without Rage Potion (Win, no creatures, RoF, Fire Shield, and Healing)
Fire/Light: Obviously, Firestall. (Depends on type. One usually outmaneuvers the other.)
Fire/Air: Immo Rushes (Win, RoF and Fire Shield + Healing)
Fire/Time: Precogs for SoB Replacement (Win, Heavily outmaneuvered. Possible Hardcounter.)
Fire/Darkness: Voodoo + Rage. Limited due to Voodoo's PC ability when targeted with Freeze or Delay. (Possible Loss, Likely win, due to direct damage from Voodoos, but healing takes care of that.)
Fire/Aether: Fractix (Though maybe inconsistent) or Spark Rushes. (Possible Loss, Likely Win, due to how inconsistent the Fractix deck would likely be. Outmaneuvered by healing.)

Here is an example of a Firestall that would work with this ruleset:

Spoiler for Example Deck:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f5 5f5 5f5 5f5 5f5 5f5 5f6 5f6 5f6 5f7 5f7 5f7 5f7 5f8 5f8 5f8 5f8 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5li 5li 5li 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 8pq

Stalls and shields work hand in hand. Firestall, though not much of a stall as it is more of a control deck, it utilizes what Fire CAN do and places in Fire's amazing synergy with light. Sanctuaries and Miracles are for healing, which requires the Fire Pends and Mark of Light. For extra quanta, there are Burning Pillars to fill in the gaps. Fire shields are there because of the ruleset. Deflags are PC, RoF is CC, and Fahrenheits are there if damage is needed.

Other Strategies include (and are not limited to):

Mono Entropy with Diffuse
Schro-Decks w/o Bone Wall (Because BW is banned)
Mono Time Rush w/ Procrastination
Spark Decks with the Other Shield
Limited Voodoo-Monium
Grabbows with Fog
Aflatoxin + Skull Shield or Solar Shield
A lot of mono decks.
Scarabs + Procrastination (Time/Gravity)
Reflect Stall
A lot of decks involving the Other Shield, but the decks don't need the shield.

Spoiler for Brawl Bonus:

6th Brawl - Pyrocloaks - 3rd place - 1 pt. Check out Brawl Rosters and Standings.

[Ryli]

Spoiler for Requirements:

- Evidence of Score Requirement


- Evidence of Established Account Requirement
Ryli "April 08, 2012, 16:40:11" listed on profile as sign up date to new forums, been around since Summer(?) 2010 on the old forums.

- Evidence of PvP Event Participation
Battle League
3rd Place Weekly Tournament 8/4/17
Double Double Double Double

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for The Warrior:

Results in Phase 2

Spoiler for The New Recruits:

Spoiler for Cards:

ART: N/A IDEA: Ryli NOTES: Thematically, this card generates it's bottle of alchemy stuff, rather than casting it like other elements. SERIES: Trials 11: The New Recruits

ART: N/A IDEA: Ryli NOTES: Shares the full effect of the Alchemy card, just limited on card space. It's intended that hitting herself with her own effect creates both Ashes and Nymph Ashes. SERIES: Trials 11: The New Recruits

ART: N/A IDEA: Ryli NOTES: SERIES: Trials 11: The New Recruits

Anyone wishing to solidify this concept in any way for use in the CIA section is free to do so.

Spoiler for Writing:

^{Losing Rage Potion/Red Nymph}

-Loss of a hard CC card, replacing with a soft CC similar to Muation.
-Firestalls rely more on losing their primary win condition (Fire Bolts) as a CC. Creates problems against rushes and Creature based stall/stallbreaker hybrids
-Loss of a buff in duo decks. Voodoo Rage, Lava Golems/Steam Machines stall breakers.
-Other elements with weaker CC options (Light, Life, Entropy) lose out on the potential to splash Rage Potions and Deflagration for strong control, forced to turn to elements and lose Deflagration as a good PC option if they need the CC.

Despite the potential drawbacks, decks that produce larger amounts of Fire quanta still have enough control cards to keep board advantage through Firestorm and Firebolt, losing Rage Potion hits other elements splashing Fire harder. Cremationbows without the quanta for these more expensive control cards still benefit from cheap off element control such as Thunderbolt, Rewind and Shockwave.

Gaining Sacrificial Ashes/Phoenix Nymph

-Instantly removes creatures with high hps such as Titan, Voodoo Doll. Gravity Pull Voodoo Dolls are usually problematic for Fire's high damage, and Catatitans are now vulnerable in both the Weapon and Creature slots.
-Mono Creature swarming, more stable quanta generation than pendulum or tower split reliant decks, resistance to Devourer, Discord and Black Hole.
-Creates an alternative to Aether duo swarming. Creature swarming under another duo, Life for Empathic Bond.
-Synergy between Phoenix Nymph and Immolation. Cremate for instant Quanta and recieve an additional Phoenix on her Rebirth.
-More difficult to remove Nymph, requires opponents to waste multiple CC card. Most Fire cards are fragile and lose out to high CC elements. Still relatively fragile, can be put out of action by only being hit every second turn.

Spoiler for War Bonus:

-Evidence of participation/WMing last war
Team Earth Soldier 4th place - 2 points

[worldwideweb3]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

Spoiler for Requirements:

Icons to the left.

Spoiler for Phase 1 complete:

Spoiler for The Determined:

Rule: Only cards costing even amount of quanta allowed. 12 Upgrades allowed. Shard banned.

Spoiler for allowed cards:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vf 4vh 4vj 4vm 4vn 52h 52p 52q 52s 52t 52u 52v 534 55o 55p 55q 55r 55t 55u 55v 58p 58q 58r 58s 58v 591 592 594 595 59c 5bt 5bu 5c1 5c5 5c7 5cg 5f2 5f3 5f5 5f9 5fk 5i8 5i9 5ia 5id 5if 5ii 5ij 5io 5la 5lb 5lj 5lm 5oe 5of 5og 5oj 5om 5on 5oo 5p0 5rj 5rk 5rl 5rm 5rn 5ro 5rq 5rr 5ru

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5s4 5ul 5um 5un 5uo 5up 5uu 5v0 5v1 5v2 5v8 61p 61q 61s 61t 621 622 625 62c 6u1 6u3 6u7 6u8 711 712 715 718 719 71a 71e 71f 747 74g 74i 779 77a 77b 77c 77e 77f 77h 77j 7ad 7ae 7ai 7al 7am 7ap 7di 7dl 7dm 7dp 7ds 7gm 7h0 7h1 7h3 7jp 7jr 7js 7jt 7ju 7jv 7k0 7k2 7k4 7mt 7mu 7mv 7n1

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Deck import code : [Select]

7n3 7n9 7q3 7q5 7q6 7q7 7qa 7t5 7t6 7t7 7t8 7ta 7tb 7tg 809 80b 80f 80g 80j 80k 80l

All nymphs that are allowed unupped are allowed upped.

With a wide array of cards, no one deck is unbeatable/OP. However, there are some strong decks that i will talk about.

Strengths of fire that are useless here: Unupped phoenix? banned. Golem? banned. Want deflag? use your ups. Weapon? you wish. Want cc? Better hope oracle was generous with those fire nymphs. Cremation looks good on first sight, but is massively hampered by the lack of creatures it can actually fuel.

Spoiler for some sample decks:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f2 5f2 5f2 5f2 5fk 5fk 5fk 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 7dg 7dm 7dm 7dm 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7f2 7f2 8po

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 61o 61o 61o 622 622 622 622 622 7dm 7dm 7dp 7dp 7dp 7dp 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 8pu

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f2 5f2 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 5up 5up 5up 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 7dg 7dg 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7ds 7f2 7tb 7tb 7tb 8pt

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f0 5f2 5f2 5f2 5f2 5f2 5gi 5gi 5gi 5gi 61q 61q 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dm 7dm 7dm 7f2 7f2 80b 80b 80b 80b 8pu

Mono Fire - Mono fire is always strong. Though this one lacks quick, high damage. Luckily, i got nymphs, so they are there to help with cc, and pesky antimatter, that i think will be used quite a bit.
Fractix - works both, as stall breaker and as quick damage. This deck should fare pretty well, though it is the deck that will be most likely expected from a fire triallist in this ruleset.
Domin - Dark domin solves the problem of lack of control in fire in this ruleset. Especially good when expecting psiontal/fractal decks, but good in general too. Also, no need to spend ups on PC as steal is a nice 4 quanta.
TU Dragons - One of the weaker decks here. Mainly made as a surprise, as it won't really be expected. However, this deck will also be pretty quick, it hits like a truck.

Other decks from other weird people who don't use fire for some reason:
Psiontal - beatable by domin, fractix will be close. If they have dims, probably their win.
Blue Nymph UG - I'm inclined to say that all decks beat UG nymphs, but fractix will be really close and can go either way.
Lycans domin + AM - bit difficult this one. The best chance is with mono fire. If you really suspect lycans, then a more solid counter like quint dragon or sanc something might work better.
Rol/hope - This is an extremely difficult match, due to lack of AOE, if you do not have any nymphs. Luckily for me, the nymphs in mono fire, make this a winnable match.

When starting a Bo5, I would start with dark domin as it is the strongest deck and is strong against most of the other strong decks. One possible mod is to swap dragons with 2 nymphs, to help against AM/rol hope, but it depends who my opponent is. As rol hope will need upped hopes, some newer people won't have that, so i dont really need to worry about it when taking into account which deck to start with.

Spoiler for Task 2:

The Warrior
-Evidence of completion

Spoiler for War Bonus:

Gravity - 2nd. 3 points. Evidence - You defeated us Afda!.

Spoiler for Brawl:

Voting panel - http://elementscommunity.org/forum/forum-brawl/boss-applications-voter's-panel-applications/msg1255419/#msg1255419

[Blacksmith]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

What's wrong with ?
Don't get me wrong I don't like gravity after a 6-1 result vs you in war, but still? 

[worldwideweb3]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

What's wrong with ?
Don't get me wrong I don't like gravity after a 6-1 result vs you in war, but still? 

Want to try something different

[JonathanCrazyJ]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

What's wrong with ?
Don't get me wrong I don't like gravity after a 6-1 result vs you in war, but still? 

Want to try something different

W3 is a journeyman master. He values expertise of the game as a whole rather than elemental specialization.
Basically, he's a SPLITTER!

[Blacksmith]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

What's wrong with ?
Don't get me wrong I don't like gravity after a 6-1 result vs you in war, but still? 

Want to try something different

W3 is a journeyman master. He values expertise of the game as a whole rather than elemental specialization.
Basically, he's a SPLITTER!

SPLITTERS? People are so weird and have so strange ideas these days. Good luck on your journey www and see you in war 

[worldwideweb3]

In. Just wanna make sure the spots dont get filled. Still deciding between this or light.

What's wrong with ?
Don't get me wrong I don't like gravity after a 6-1 result vs you in war, but still? 

Want to try something different

W3 is a journeyman master. He values expertise of the game as a whole rather than elemental specialization.
Basically, he's a SPLITTER!

SPLITTERS? People are so weird and have so strange ideas these days. Good luck on your journey www and see you in war 

Will you be defending? 

[iancudorinmarian]

The term I use for the likes of www3 is "chameleon".

[worldwideweb3]

The term I use for the likes of www3 is "chameleon".

I like to use "Grandmaster" - Master of all elements After all, that's what the icon symbolises.