Aether/Light/Water deck for arena platium farming

[Blues]

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7gq 7gq 7gq 7hi 7hi 7hi 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7k2 7k4 7k4 7k4 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pp

As you can see, this is a variant of ROL/Hope.
Idea is to fractal Rays of Light and let them grow via Shard of Patience.
Purify provides protection against decks that poison you.
This deck works fine for me so far, won quite some games.
Problems are decks that steal your quantum (because mark is the only source for water quantum), air decks and decks that direct your life points directly, ignoring the shield.

[ArtCrusade]

Add Sanctuaries to the deck to counter denials

[xyan]

I agree with the sanctuary suggestion, but I also think some of your pillars could be changed to pendulums to improve your water quanta.

I think the number of each of the cards could be messed with, personally I would look at the number of quanta sources to shorten, and maybe -1 fractal -1 purify

[ColorlessGreen]

This is a very well-known and well-tested deck.

It is perfectly 100% fine to power SoPs and purifies off of the mark. There is no real need to have three purifies - two is plenty and one is sufficient. Unupped hope is generally better than upped hope due to costing less. Four hopes is generally better than three hopes for better draw chance. Aether quanta is just fine - I've run it with 8 towers and not had a problem, since there's nothing to spend it on besides fractals (unless you add lobos, and even then it's fine). Five fractals is pretty much the minimum I personally like to run it with, with six being preferable. A single luciferin can be added for an easy post-miracle EM (and every once in a rare while as a way to counter lobo spam interfering with hope). Six RoLs is basically a requirement IMO. Sanctuary isn't super necessary but if you find yourself having more problem with late-game denial than I usually do, go for it. Some people like to add sundials for additional early-game stall, though I personally prefer the non-sundial version.

[laxnut90]

This is the version I like to run:

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5if 5lk 5lk 7gq 7hi 7hi 7hi 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7k2 7k6 7k6 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80i 80i 80i 8pp

I personally believe that Sundials are very effective in an SOP deck.  Since your creatures will not be attacking due to the SOP, a Sundial will only hurt your opponent.   Furthermore, the drawing power of the Sundials help you cycle through your deck more easily.  This allows you to get away with running only two Hopes, one Purify and one Mind Flayer. 

Some people prefer to run only one Sanctuary.  I feel that it is important to run two since denial is usually most relevant in the early game (you might as well double your chances of drawing it early.) 

I also like to include a Miracle.  However, I can see an argument for taking it out and putting in another ROL.  Some people believe that, if the game has gotten so out of hand that you need the Miracle, you will probably lose anyways.

[dragonsdemesne]

This is the version I made not long after shard of patience was changed to its current version:

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7hi 7hi 7hi 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7k4 7k4 7k4 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pp

I've always felt that, contrary to most of the community, that an upped hope is better.  Except in the case where you are at exactly 7 light quanta, an upped hope is always preferable, and I've had more games that were won by the +1 damage resistance than I have lost by the +1 cost.  You could probably play my version with -1 fractal and be just fine, particularly with the sundials, but I hadn't actually meant for the deck to be very serious at the time.  (despite it somehow making it into the newsletter as deck of the month :p)  I've also seen some people suggest either lobotomizer or mind flayer, but I found I didn't need it most of the time, so I ditched them in favour of other cards.  Purify would make sense against the arena, as poison and shard of sacrifice are far more prevalent there, but against FGs, I think it would be a waste of space.

[dawn to dusk]

I don't understand why people use the unupped hope rather than upped. I mean, it's +1 cost for +1 DR. It could save your life

[timetock]

I don't understand why people use the unupped hope rather than upped. I mean, it's +1 cost for +1 DR. It could save your life

maybe because we're poor

[omegareaper7]

I don't understand why people use the unupped hope rather than upped. I mean, it's +1 cost for +1 DR. It could save your life

Getting it out a turn earlier could be more life saving then one damage reduction.

[laxnut90]

This is the version I made not long after shard of patience was changed to its current version:

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7hi 7hi 7hi 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7k4 7k4 7k4 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 7q9 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 80i 80i 80i 80i 80i 8pp

I've always felt that, contrary to most of the community, that an upped hope is better.  Except in the case where you are at exactly 7 light quanta, an upped hope is always preferable, and I've had more games that were won by the +1 damage resistance than I have lost by the +1 cost.  You could probably play my version with -1 fractal and be just fine, particularly with the sundials, but I hadn't actually meant for the deck to be very serious at the time.  (despite it somehow making it into the newsletter as deck of the month :p)  I've also seen some people suggest either lobotomizer or mind flayer, but I found I didn't need it most of the time, so I ditched them in favour of other cards.  Purify would make sense against the arena, as poison and shard of sacrifice are far more prevalent there, but against FGs, I think it would be a waste of space.

Although I disagree with your assessment on using an upped Hope, I am in full agreement with your other card replacements for a FG farming version.  However, I would still recommend reducing your deck to 30 cards.  I would suggest removing one Fractal and two Aether Towers. 

You are correct to exclude Purify in an FG version since you are far less likely to encounter a SoSa or Poison deck.  I also agree with excluding a Sanctuary since FG decks do not use quanta manipulation as much as the arena. 

The Lobo/Flayer is definitely debatable.  Your main concern would be creatures destroying and/or neutralizing your Rays of Light.  Momentum is much less of a problem against this deck due to the Sundial chains (Note: The ability to chain the Sundials is the reason you want exactly 30 cards no matter what). 

For safety sake, I would recommend replacing one ROL with a Mind Flayer (unupped since upped costs 1 extra).  In a 30 card deck that relies on Fractal, 5 ROLs are all you really need anyways.  I personally prefer Mind Flayer over Lobotomizer in this deck because Mind Flayer can grow with SOP and is sometimes left untargeted by computers going after your already plentiful ROLs. 

[Froglord]

I've also always thought that upped hope shield is better than unupped in most situations.

The quanta cost barely comes up for me anyway, if you have 7 quanta only and you need a shield this turn or you're dead, you probably have very few RoL out, which is only really going to save you against unupped life rush or something, so having the +1 DR for 1 extra cost would probably be better in the long run as it's at these early stages in the game where +1 DR is monumentally huge.

An interesting alternative is to have a few upped a few unupped, it's luck reliant that you get an unupped for when you have 7 quanta, but it gives you the possibility to play the better one asap, and if you do play the weak shield, it also gives you the opportunity to upgrade halfway through the game, if you survive that long.

I've ran Dragon's deck -1 frac -2 tower +1 hope +1 purify against plat with decent results. (never done before, but I'd un-up 2 of the hopes in future :p)