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[4Tran]

Yeah! I got into Diamond again. I've been trying out so many new decks against the AI that I didn't realize that I'm actually on a 14-game win streak. Special thanks to Karsticles, cause his deck helped me on the way.

Just to let you know, the Grandmaster Zendo is working out great as a one-of; I don't think that any more are necessary. I'm still trying out the Chaos Elementals, but I don't like them as much as the Lantern Fox. The main reason is that they and the Zendo are the only minions that can't be activated out of hand for some burst damage. And since this deck is effectively a combo deck, the out of hand burst can be very high. Losing that for a higher base attack doesn't seem worth it. Sword of Mechazor, Sworn Avenger, and Venom Toth seem like better alternatives in the 3-spot.

Crap now I have to find a new beginner deck now that the one I put together for kara is mostly toast.

Kara decks seem pretty decent, but they require a lot of expensive cards so they're not newbie-friendly. I suggest you try out one of Mogwai's beginner decks. They all use either basic or common cards so they should be easy to build. The Magmar (20 commons) and Lyonar (14 commons) ones seem particularly powerful, and I just beat a Diamond level Reva player with the Vetruvian beginner deck.

 

[Karsticles]

Yeah! I got into Diamond again. I've been trying out so many new decks against the AI that I didn't realize that I'm actually on a 14-game win streak. Special thanks to Karsticles, cause his deck helped me on the way.

Just to let you know, the Grandmaster Zendo is working out great as a one-of; I don't think that any more are necessary. I'm still trying out the Chaos Elementals, but I don't like them as much as the Lantern Fox. The main reason is that they and the Zendo are the only minions that can't be activated out of hand for some burst damage. And since this deck is effectively a combo deck, the out of hand burst can be very high. Losing that for a higher base attack doesn't seem worth it. Sword of Mechazor, Sworn Avenger, and Venom Toth seem like better alternatives in the 3-spot.


Kara decks seem pretty decent, but they require a lot of expensive cards so they're not newbie-friendly. I suggest you try out one of Mogwai's beginner decks. They all use either basic or common cards so they should be easy to build. The Magmar (20 commons) and Lyonar (14 commons) ones seem particularly powerful, and I just beat a Diamond level Reva player with the Vetruvian beginner deck.

I'm glad it's working so well for you. I haven't lost a match in S-Rank with it yet.

Thank you for trying out the Chaos Elementals. That was what I thought might happen. I'm more inclined to try Tusk Boar in the deck now. Lantern Fox is going to be stronger than ever with 2 dispel sources getting nerfed, so I should probably keep that one - haha. I actually won a game with an 8/10 Lantern Fox (no buffs!) hitting face followed by 3x Phoenix Fire from previous Lantern Foxes.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Come on, I can do this!

 

[4Tran]

Mogwai just uploaded his Vanar beginner guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsVw0x4H_zE

For reference, here are the other ones:
Lyonar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t95DnLSvisk
Songhai - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9thk3mR4P9w
Vetruvian - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy50YivLupM
Abyssian - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZN5sV5XB4c
Magmar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWvEfB3sE34

This would be a great place for any beginner to start. These decks are cheap to build - usually 600 spirit or less, and most of the cards are going to be necessary for even high end decks. Of these, the Abyssian deck is sort of weak and the Songhai deck is just okay, but they should be able to push a decent player into Gold without too much problem. The rest should be enough to reach Diamond, so anyone starting out or looking to branch into a new faction can give them a shot.

I'm glad it's working so well for you. I haven't lost a match in S-Rank with it yet.

Thank you for trying out the Chaos Elementals. That was what I thought might happen. I'm more inclined to try Tusk Boar in the deck now. Lantern Fox is going to be stronger than ever with 2 dispel sources getting nerfed, so I should probably keep that one - haha. I actually won a game with an 8/10 Lantern Fox (no buffs!) hitting face followed by 3x Phoenix Fire from previous Lantern Foxes.

The way I see it is that a 4/4 body is pretty strong in the early game, but it's pretty irrelevant by the time the Onyx Jaguars roll out. I'm still going to test a bit, but I think that Lantern Foxes are going to be the best card in the slot. Best of all, a lot fewer people are going to run Zen'ruis to steal them!

Come on, I can do this!

Go, go, go!

 

[Szadek]

Made it to gold rank, I suppose that's not too bad for a new player.
I mostly played a budget Vanar deck that I found online and modfied it a bit.

 

[Gotchaye]

I need a one man army Magmar list to get to gold or diamond this month

 

[Menome]

Terrible day today. All the way down from being one point away from 13, to 16 in one session of play.

 

[4Tran]

I need a one man army Magmar list to get to gold or diamond this month

Are you looking for a completely minionless deck, or just one that focuses on letting Vaath do all the damage. If it's the latter, you can try out Mogwai's list:

It's cheap, it's devastating, and it'll only get better as you add better cards.

Terrible day today. All the way down from being one point away from 13, to 16 in one session of play.

Ouch. What deck are you playing?

 

[Gotchaye]

Are you looking for a completely minionless deck, or just one that focuses on letting Vaath do all the damage. If it's the latter, you can try out Mogwai's list:

It's cheap, it's devastating, and it'll only get better as you add better cards.

Spirit isn't really a problem. I'm just wanting to put something together with Grove Lion, weapons, healing, and Bonded Lifeforce. Happy to bring Makantors. Probably 3x Thumping Wave and Egg Morph. I hadn't considered Silhouette Tracer though. I only play constructed for a day or two each month but I like to pick a neat deck to use.

 

[Menome]

Ouch. What deck are you playing?

Normally I do reasonably well with it, I just had a real off-day yesterday. Kept forgetting to cast spells in the right order, moving minions to the wrong square by accident, and in one case: Got to Turn 3 without drawing a single Minion card and just conceded.

Hopefully today goes a bit better!

 

[Szadek]

This is the vanar deck I'm using right now:

I have over 3000 spirit and I want to slowly move towards a wall deck.
Any ideas what cards I should craft?

 

[Draggyrider]

Oi. Of course the VoD expired, but top player Kolos got to S-Rank in 17 hours as F2P. He's absurdly good at the game, though. Here's where the video was, but it's dead now.
https://www.twitch.tv/kolosthedragon/v/85887545

I think that was right before Shim'zar dropped.


I just ignore those quests and keep playing for 15g/2 wins. It's so generous that it doesn't matter if you miss the quest.

Nice, wish the video wasn't dead though. Just hit gold again this month, playing whichever my faction quests give me (since I wasn't at lvl 11 for most of them). Had the most success with Abyssian, Vanar and Vetruvian. Tips are welcome =)

Spoiler

These are all core only, and based on what I opened (haven't done any crafting yet). Some thoughts on the decks

Zirix
Try to control the centre of the board and get control early game. 3x Entropic Decay is your main removal and you should save them for large/buffed minions. Ideally, in mid late game, they drop a large minion, and you remove it with decay while trading general hits + hits from a 2nd Wished/Ranged/Blast minion. If an obelisk is far from the action, use the dervish to run away and allow you to create a range/blast minion far from the action.

Faie
Do some early game damage (trading hits is usually beneficial early) and try to set up your minions some what forming a vertical wall, since a surprising number of people don't play around your bloodborne spell (in silver at least). Vanar has really good removal, in general dispel those with abilities (esp those that start with 2 health), use transform or bounce the large minions. Hearthsister is used to drag a small minion close to kill with your general, line them up for your bloodborne spell, and set up hits with 10 attack Vespyr (Airdrop in a corner, next turn cast Hearthsister in range of their general and hit for 10). At late game, if you lost the board start running and use avalanche and bbs to hopefully close it out.

Lilithe
The most dust heavy right now, since I opened 1x Deathfire cresendo and 1x Vorpal Reaver. 2 more Priestesses would be nice. Keep your shadow watchers out of dispel range and try to make sure they get one hit in. If they have good damage based range removal (e.g Songhai) kill a few minions immediately after summoning one to make it harder to remove. Otherwise, keep your swarm alive to block to make it harder for them to dispel until you get in a hit.


Overall
Probably too many 2-ofs, but the variety and flexibility is nice. Kron used to be a huge problem since it was likely to 4 for 1 me (Even with a dispel, dealing with a 4/6 and 2/2 body is a pain), but now the main body just needs a minion + general hit)

 

[Karsticles]

I need a one man army Magmar list to get to gold or diamond this month

I hate this archetype more than anything in this game. Basically run a bunch of clears/rush minions (Elucidator, Tiger, Makantor) plus heals and weapons. I feel like it gets way too little exposure as a strong archetype.

Made it to gold rank, I suppose that's not too bad for a new player.
I mostly played a budget Vanar deck that I found online and modfied it a bit.

Aggro Vanar?

Come on, I can do this!

Did it happen? :-O

Nice, wish the video wasn't dead though. Just hit gold again this month, playing whichever my faction quests give me (since I wasn't at lvl 11 for most of them). Had the most success with Abyssian, Vanar and Vetruvian. Tips are welcome =)

Can you explain the Repulsor Beasts?

 

[Szadek]

Aggro Vanar?

I used the decklist I posted above.

 

[Gotchaye]

Racked up a bunch of wins with Vaath Smash pretty quickly. I love being able to play a Grove Lion with Adamantite Claws already equipped. I've had several really explosive turn 5s where I'm down to one charge on my claws, play another claws, and then swing for 11 damage.

Not getting much use out of Plasma Storm. Spirit Harvester seems better, and is awesome. Natural Selection is good for Foxes and similar early on. In general this seems like a great "fuck Songhai" deck.

I do feel like it's missing a curve topper other than Bonded Lifeforce, which is purely a finisher. It just doesn't have proactive plays at 7+ mana, though Makantor is a great reactive play.

 

[Menome]

I'm consistently stuck at 16 now and I know the reason why. It's because of the change to Siphon Energy. I thought I could work around it, but I can't. Opposing players will bring in Provoke, Ranged etc. and there's no longer much I can do to counter it from the other side of the board.

As such, I'm just getting constantly frustrated by being locked down constantly and I'm at the point where after a few days, I'm not enjoying playing any more. Would have much preferred a cost-increase than a neuter. Especially as Lyonar get a 2x2 anywhere-Dispel which just rubs salt in the wound.

 

[Karsticles]

Racked up a bunch of wins with Vaath Smash pretty quickly. I love being able to play a Grove Lion with Adamantite Claws already equipped. I've had several really explosive turn 5s where I'm down to one charge on my claws, play another claws, and then swing for 11 damage.

Not getting much use out of Plasma Storm. Spirit Harvester seems better, and is awesome. Natural Selection is good for Foxes and similar early on. In general this seems like a great "fuck Songhai" deck.

I do feel like it's missing a curve topper other than Bonded Lifeforce, which is purely a finisher. It just doesn't have proactive plays at 7+ mana, though Makantor is a great reactive play.

Mandrake?

I'm consistently stuck at 16 now and I know the reason why. It's because of the change to Siphon Energy. I thought I could work around it, but I can't. Opposing players will bring in Provoke, Ranged etc. and there's no longer much I can do to counter it from the other side of the board.

As such, I'm just getting constantly frustrated by being locked down constantly and I'm at the point where after a few days, I'm not enjoying playing any more. Would have much preferred a cost-increase than a neuter. Especially as Lyonar get a 2x2 anywhere-Dispel which just rubs salt in the wound.

Rush, flying, and blast are all great ways to deal with ranged units. Rasha's Curse is a good punish.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Did it happen? :-O

Rank 7 happened At least I have enough room to accelerate now.

 

[TheSeks]

Having to rank up a class to 10 to do Ladder/Drafts... -_-

 

[4Tran]

Normally I do reasonably well with it, I just had a real off-day yesterday. Kept forgetting to cast spells in the right order, moving minions to the wrong square by accident, and in one case: Got to Turn 3 without drawing a single Minion card and just conceded.

Hopefully today goes a bit better!

Most Sajj decks I've come across run Staff of Y'Kir; it's a cheap way of boosting her power.

This is the vanar deck I'm using right now:
I have over 3000 spirit and I want to slowly move towards a wall deck.
Any ideas what cards I should craft?

If you want a wall deck, then you'll want 3x Gravity Wells and probably 2x Jax Truesight, so that's going to be pretty expensive. In the meantime, if you play walls, then Glacial Elementals are going to be pretty good, so and some more and support them with some Snowchasers and probably at least one more Razorback. If you want to go heavier with Vespyrs, then Vespyric Call and Iceblade Dryad could be good additions.

Zirix
Try to control the centre of the board and get control early game. 3x Entropic Decay is your main removal and you should save them for large/buffed minions. Ideally, in mid late game, they drop a large minion, and you remove it with decay while trading general hits + hits from a 2nd Wished/Ranged/Blast minion. If an obelisk is far from the action, use the dervish to run away and allow you to create a range/blast minion far from the action.

Faie
Do some early game damage (trading hits is usually beneficial early) and try to set up your minions some what forming a vertical wall, since a surprising number of people don't play around your bloodborne spell (in silver at least). Vanar has really good removal, in general dispel those with abilities (esp those that start with 2 health), use transform or bounce the large minions. Hearthsister is used to drag a small minion close to kill with your general, line them up for your bloodborne spell, and set up hits with 10 attack Vespyr (Airdrop in a corner, next turn cast Hearthsister in range of their general and hit for 10). At late game, if you lost the board start running and use avalanche and bbs to hopefully close it out.

Lilithe
The most dust heavy right now, since I opened 1x Deathfire cresendo and 1x Vorpal Reaver. 2 more Priestesses would be nice. Keep your shadow watchers out of dispel range and try to make sure they get one hit in. If they have good damage based range removal (e.g Songhai) kill a few minions immediately after summoning one to make it harder to remove. Otherwise, keep your swarm alive to block to make it harder for them to dispel until you get in a hit.


Overall
Probably too many 2-ofs, but the variety and flexibility is nice. Kron used to be a huge problem since it was likely to 4 for 1 me (Even with a dispel, dealing with a 4/6 and 2/2 body is a pain), but now the main body just needs a minion + general hit)

For Zirix, if you're running Obelysks, you'd be better off switching the Windstorm one to go with 3x Fireblaze. I'm also not sure if the Fire Spitters are going to be great in the long run.

For Faie, I'm not convinced by the Fenrir Warmaster - that 2 health hurts too much. He's good with Kara though. You'll also have to decide if the tempo gain from the Hailstone Prison is going to be worth a whole card, and whether 2x Frostfire is going to be that great in a deck with only 5 Vespyrs.

Racked up a bunch of wins with Vaath Smash pretty quickly. I love being able to play a Grove Lion with Adamantite Claws already equipped. I've had several really explosive turn 5s where I'm down to one charge on my claws, play another claws, and then swing for 11 damage.

Not getting much use out of Plasma Storm. Spirit Harvester seems better, and is awesome. Natural Selection is good for Foxes and similar early on. In general this seems like a great "fuck Songhai" deck.

I do feel like it's missing a curve topper other than Bonded Lifeforce, which is purely a finisher. It just doesn't have proactive plays at 7+ mana, though Makantor is a great reactive play.

Mandrake is the standard Magmar topend minion, but Silithar Elder and Dark Nemesis seem like good options as well.

 

[Draggyrider]

Can you explain the Repulsor Beasts?

Mostly as soft removal in the late game, mainly for big bodies that still wreck me even if dispelled (e.g iron cliff) Generally at 6 -7 mana, both generals are at 10-14 life, and I have a small board advantage with 1-2 2 mana minions or a dancing blades. repulsor generally buys me the one turn or 2 needed to close it out.


4Tran, 2 Fireblazes is because I only have 2 of them . Windstorm is actually alright in the end game since it makes your iron dervishs survive a general hit. Flamespitters could definitely be changed since they die rather easily, but having a decent ranged threat really helps control the board when they can't get to it. Any suggestions on what to swap for it?

For Faie, again I'm more on the aggro side, so tempo plays don't really hurt me. Warmaster doesn't really stay on the board much, but generally becomes a trade of their 2 drop + general hit. So 3 damage to their general + removing their 2 drop, which is not fantastic, but not too bad. Any suggestions on what to use in its place?

 

[4Tran]

4Tran, 2 Fireblazes is because I only have 2 of them . Windstorm is actually alright in the end game since it makes your iron dervishs survive a general hit. Flamespitters could definitely be changed since they die rather easily, but having a decent ranged threat really helps control the board when they can't get to it. Any suggestions on what to swap for it?

The problem with the Flamespitter is that they die to just about everything, and they can't do anything on the turn they're summoned. You can't really afford that in a 4-drop, so they'd be the first thing I'd replace. What you really need is to craft Falcius. I know that it's from Shimzar, but it's probably the best common in the entire game, and every Vetruvian deck is going to run 3 of them.

In 4-drop, Wind Shrike, (more) Primus Shieldmaster, and Sunsteel Defender would be good. Or you can just add that third Starfire Scarab or Dancing Blades. You shouldn't overlook the golems either: the Hailstone and Stormmetal Golems have great stats for their cost.

For Faie, again I'm more on the aggro side, so tempo plays don't really hurt me. Warmaster doesn't really stay on the board much, but generally becomes a trade of their 2 drop + general hit. So 3 damage to their general + removing their 2 drop, which is not fantastic, but not too bad. Any suggestions on what to use in its place?

For Vanar 3-drops, I like (more) Cryogenesis, Blazing Spines, Blaze Hound, and Sojourner/Spelljammer. If you're running a Vespyr deck, then Glacial Elementals would be good as well. Otherwise, it's looking pretty good for an inexpensive deck. Oh, and if you're fully committed to aggro, go with that third Snowpiercer. And unless you really need the extra dispell, I'd drop the Ephmeral Shroud - you've already got 7 other cards to make any big minion go away.

 

[Szadek]

If you want a wall deck, then you'll want 3x Gravity Wells and probably 2x Jax Truesight, so that's going to be pretty expensive. In the meantime, if you play walls, then Glacial Elementals are going to be pretty good, so and some more and support them with some Snowchasers and probably at least one more Razorback. If you want to go heavier with Vespyrs, then Vespyric Call and Iceblade Dryad could be good additions.

Right now I have 3.6k spirit,so I can craft a few cards.

 

[Karsticles]

Walls is one of the most expensive decks in the game.

So I just tried Reva Spellhai for the first time ever (always been more of a Kaleos guy). Wow, this deck is insane. Definitely the top of the top right now.

Rank 7 happened At least I have enough room to accelerate now.

Ooph.

What deck are you using?

Having to rank up a class to 10 to do Ladder/Drafts... -_-

The worst part of every card game out there.

Mostly as soft removal in the late game, mainly for big bodies that still wreck me even if dispelled (e.g iron cliff) Generally at 6 -7 mana, both generals are at 10-14 life, and I have a small board advantage with 1-2 2 mana minions or a dancing blades. repulsor generally buys me the one turn or 2 needed to close it out.


4Tran, 2 Fireblazes is because I only have 2 of them . Windstorm is actually alright in the end game since it makes your iron dervishs survive a general hit. Flamespitters could definitely be changed since they die rather easily, but having a decent ranged threat really helps control the board when they can't get to it. Any suggestions on what to swap for it?

For Faie, again I'm more on the aggro side, so tempo plays don't really hurt me. Warmaster doesn't really stay on the board much, but generally becomes a trade of their 2 drop + general hit. So 3 damage to their general + removing their 2 drop, which is not fantastic, but not too bad. Any suggestions on what to use in its place?

This is my current Aggro Faie deck - I went 2-0 in my Team Wars tournament matches today with it:

http://manaspring.ru/db/96Z2/

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Did it! Played couple of games during the launch break at work. It is so annoying to play Gro first turn into Songhai's Fox. I will show my deck later once I get home and figure out how to do so fast.

 

[Menome]

I think Draft just isn't for me.

Ten runs at it now as of a few minutes ago. One 2-3, one 1-3, and the rest 0-3.

 

[4Tran]

I'm currently playing my most rarely played factions, Magmar and Lyonar, and I'm doing surprisingly well with them. I didn't intend to go for S-Rank this month, but I made it to Rank 2, so it doesn't seem that unreasonable.

Did it! Played couple of games during the launch break at work. It is so annoying to play Gro first turn into Songhai's Fox. I will show my deck later once I get home and figure out how to do so fast.

Good work! Now you get to choose between trying to get into S-Rank or just try out all sorts of random decks.

I think Draft just isn't for me.

Ten runs at it now as of a few minutes ago. One 2-3, one 1-3, and the rest 0-3.

Ouch. I haven't played Gauntlet since May - it must have changed a lot since then. And I wouldn't suggest new players play it at all. Gauntlet heavily favors players who are familiar with a wide breadth of cards so more experienced players have a big advantage.

 

[Blank!]

I think Draft just isn't for me.

Ten runs at it now as of a few minutes ago. One 2-3, one 1-3, and the rest 0-3.

Some heroes/factions have it much easier than others. I've had the most luck with Lyonar and Valar as both seem to have really strong basic cards.

Draft "stong" 2 drops. Your want 3+ health to avoid being taken out by the general, and non-pet to challenge mana tiles. Not having any turn 1 play is usually disaster or gives opportunity for the opponent to trade up/establish support minions.

Ranged is a lot more powerful in gauntlet. A buff class/spell with ranged minions can win games by themselves. Have answers for ranged if you aren't drafting them yourself.

Look for 2 for 1 cards (cards that can create card advantage). AoE cards are the most basic form of this, ideally killing off 2+ cards and only using 1.

Don't grab "trap" cards. You can read up on gauntlet tier list but avoid heavy combo cards (unless you drafted the components already) or uber specific cards.

Draft a few 'finisher' cards. Something as simple as repulsor beast to bypass provoke and push through lethal counts but any sort of burst from hand (artifacts, rush, etc.) is great. Lethal should (rarely) be on the board but hidden in your hand and "un-answerable".

 

[Karsticles]

Did it! Played couple of games during the launch break at work. It is so annoying to play Gro first turn into Songhai's Fox. I will show my deck later once I get home and figure out how to do so fast.

Grats!!!

Every faction has a battle pet "punish" card. Songhai's is cheap, but not as amazing as others (omg free Frostiva proc!).

I think Draft just isn't for me.

Ten runs at it now as of a few minutes ago. One 2-3, one 1-3, and the rest 0-3.

Have you read Zelda's guide?

 

[Evolution of Metal]

I am actually a bit ashamed of this pile of cards that I call "deck":

I might need to replace some cards, perhaps kolossus + clone isn't a good combo. Dancing Blades might be a better 5 mana card. I don't know what Red Synja is doing in there, but it comes handy from time to time...

I would like to try Egg Burst + Hatch Artifact.

Also mechs for Mechazor and heavy removal to buy time.

And that is just with Vaath

 

[Szadek]

Well, I tried to make wall deck with my limited spirit and this is the result:

I'm doing decently well at rank 10-8 right now, although I just had a losing streak.
Some cards are placeholders, such as Snowpiercer for White Asp.

 

[Karsticles]

Well, I tried to make wall deck with my limited spirit and this is the result:

I'm doing decently well at rank 10-8 right now, although I just had a losing streak.
Some cards are placeholders, such as Snowpiercer for White Asp.

White Asp really is about the wall - instead of Snowpiercer, consider Icy. You 100% want 3x Snowchasers in any wall deck.

I am actually a bit ashamed of this pile of cards that I call "deck":

I might need to replace some cards, perhaps kolossus + clone isn't a good combo. Dancing Blades might be a better 5 mana card. I don't know what Red Synja is doing in there, but it comes handy from time to time...

I would like to try Egg Burst + Hatch Artifact.

Also mechs for Mechazor and heavy removal to buy time.

And that is just with Vaath

It seems like you really want to make multiple decks, and you're trying to cram all those ideas together. How is Red Synja doing for you?

 

[Szadek]

White Asp really is about the wall - instead of Snowpiercer, consider Icy. You 100% want 3x Snowchasers in any wall deck.

Thanks, I took out 2 Snowpiercer for 1 Snowchasers and 1 Icy( at least until I have better cards).
There are other cards I want to add to the deck once I can afford them, like Jax Trusesight and the already mentioned White Asp, but I'm not sure what cards I should take out.

 

[Karsticles]

This month's cards are the best since I've started playing. Wintermu7e was a good hire. Incoming Millhorn!

 

[Afrocious]

I stopped playing the game when I reached Gold during the end of a season, and then when the next season started, I got placed back in Silver for no reason. I hadn't played a game in the new season.

 

[Karsticles]

I stopped playing the game when I reached Gold during the end of a season, and then when the next season started, I got placed back in Silver for no reason. I hadn't played a game in the new season.

That's how literally every card game out there works.

That's why they're called "seasons" - you work back up to the higher ranks each month.

 

[TheSeks]

So, apparently winning practice games doesn't unlock cards like Pokemon? You have to do matches against actual people to get the last 4-10 cards in each faction?

 

[Menome]

So, apparently winning practice games doesn't unlock cards like Pokemon? You have to do matches against actual people to get the last 4-10 cards in each faction?

You can do Practice games up until about Level 10 I think it is. Once you have your second general at Level 11, I believe all the cards afterwards are Prismatic versions of your existing Basic cards. i.e: Just prettier.

 

[Sora the Cat]

Hey so, I started playing today and I'm loving it. But I can't seem to find a way to play against other players without being ranked, isn't there a normal mode?

 

[4Tran]

So, apparently winning practice games doesn't unlock cards like Pokemon? You have to do matches against actual people to get the last 4-10 cards in each faction?

That's right. A lot of those faction cards are essential so you don't really want to take on other players without them.

Hey so, I started playing today and I'm loving it. But I can't seem to find a way to play against other players without being ranked, isn't there a normal mode?

There used to be a casual mode, but it was being abused so Counterplay got rid of it. So the only regular vs. mode is Ranked. There's also a friendly mode when you challenge other players in your Friends list. However, you should first try out the factions and rank the ones you like to level 10 before jumping into Ranked. The most beginner friendly factions are Lyonar and (probably) Magmar.

 

[Sora the Cat]

That's right. A lot of those faction cards are essential so you don't really want to take on other players without them.


There used to be a casual mode, but it was being abused so Counterplay got rid of it. So the only regular vs. mode is Ranked. There's also a friendly mode when you challenge other players in your Friends list. However, you should first try out the factions and rank the ones you like to level 10 before jumping into Ranked. The most beginner friendly factions are Lyonar and (probably) Magmar.

That sucks, as I really enjoy playing in casual mode. Practice against bot bores me to death. I'm winning almost all of my matches on ranked tho, I was leveling up my factions there all day.

The game is amazing, btw.

 

[4Tran]

That sucks, as I really enjoy playing in casual mode. Practice against bot bores me to death. I'm winning almost all of my matches on ranked tho, I was leveling up my factions there all day.

The game is amazing, btw.

Casual mode was sort of nice for some people while it lasted, but it was being abused by veteran players. It wasn't tiered by player skill, so you'd have players using their 15K spirit decks to stomp newbies.

By the way, if you or any other posters want to add me to your Friends lists, please feel free to do so. My in-game name is also 4Tran.

 

[Gotchaye]

This is what my Vaath Smash deck ended up as (~4k spirit):

Vaath The Immortal x1
Dampening Wave x3
Healing Mystic x3
Iridium Scale x1
Natural Selection x3
Saberspine Tiger x3
Thumping Wave x3
Adamantite Claws x3
Earth Sphere x3
Egg Morph x3
Emerald Rejuvenator x1
Lightbender x1
Silhouette Tracer x2
Spirit Harvester x3
Grove Lion x2
Makantor Warbeast x3
Bounded Lifeforce x2

The most questionable cards are the Emerald Rejuvenator and the second Bounded Lifeforce, and maybe the third Egg Morph. Something could be swapped for a third Grove Lion and a Skorn or two. But I didn't really miss Skorn and swarm Abyssian was pretty easy to handle with Spirit Harvesters plus Thumping Wave for backline value minions. Lightbender is occasionally invaluable, especially vs Cassyva. Iridium Scale just isn't appropriate most of the time so it's a one-of.

But it works pretty well. I only dropped two games between gold and diamond. It just wrecks Songhai which is like 50% of matches. Tiger and Selection are both used as early game removal, and if you have both you pick one based on the matchup (hold Selection for Lantern Fox vs Songhai, for example). Control the board into the late game and then play a strong 6-drop every turn. It typically wins on 9 or 10 mana but occasionally wins much earlier if the opponent was aggressive and I drew multiple Claws.

 

[Lumination]

What hour does the season end? I can make it to Gold, just not sure if I have time in the morning to play the games. =(

 

[TheSeks]

That's right. A lot of those faction cards are essential so you don't really want to take on other players without them.

So I have to play against actual players and win(?) to get the last 4 cards (just to understand you right)? :/

Seems kinda a tall order when I'm having to go through the other classes AND probably facing others that have all the cards unlocked in the meanwhile.

 

[Lumination]

Definitely could've kept climbing, but I got caught up in Shadowverse this weekend. Oops!

Overall w/l was 36-6!

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Got to Rank 3

 

[Szadek]

I just had my first wallnar mirror match. It was so weird.
Most of the time were standing and the other players side of the field and waited until
one of us got sick of waiting.

 

[Blank!]

So I have to play against actual players and win(?) to get the last 4 cards (just to understand you right)? :/

Seems kinda a tall order when I'm having to go through the other classes AND probably facing others that have all the cards unlocked in the meanwhile.

You don't have to win and I could of sworn playing against the bot AI would give EXP (albeit not very much) for the first couple levels anyway. I don't know when it stops, I thought after 11 (?) and the 2nd general unlock.

You can also play Gauntlet and gain EXP for whatever class. That's what I did to max out everyone classes's level. Highly recommended for Songhai. They can be very hit or miss in arena, but they're absolutely awful with the base general/deck (moreso without the card unlocks if you can believe it). The others are at least playable at low levels and not too bad with base deck + couple improvements.

 

[Draggyrider]

So I have to play against actual players and win(?) to get the last 4 cards (just to understand you right)? :/

Seems kinda a tall order when I'm having to go through the other classes AND probably facing others that have all the cards unlocked in the meanwhile.

Speaking from experience (I just started two months ago), its not so bad. Most people in the lower ranks are also unlocking cards just like you, and at < rank 25 probably are using the starter decks without any edits, so you should be pretty on par in terms of cards.

For me I just played whatever the daily quest gave me, and ended up around lvl 8 in all factions (and rank 10) by the end of the first month. I do have CCG experience, so your mileage may vary, but winning is definitely possible. Though its probably a good idea to wait a while since the season reset as players are a lot lower than they should be. Also you don't have to win to get experience, just play. And Bot XP gets you up to lvl 10 (unlock all cards, but not alternate general)

One tip is to immediately customize your deck once its unlocked and change out many of the default cards. A good shell is:

3x Bloodtear Alchemist
3x Healing Mystic
3x Ephemeral Shroud
3x Saberspine Tiger
3x Repulsor Beast
3x Primus Shieldmaster
3x Fire Spitter

Thats 21/39 cards(last card is your general) . Sprinkle in your factions 2 mana creatures (e.g windblade adept, obelisk, etc) (at least 6 more) , some spells, and some late game creatures (pick whichever you like and swap if you find them not working out). Stormmetal and hailstorm golem are both pretty good.