Meltdown: A How To Guide

[Jeromy]

I believe that Meltdown is a great way to learn.
I'll admit that I am not a pro, but since starting in May, I think MD has helped me to become pretty competitive for a newb.
You often have to use odd card pairings to gain tempo, think ahead, and anticipate possible plays when your opponent can be holding absolutely anything. Switch to a quickmatch, and this because much easier, as you are able to "guestimate" what they have in hand, based on their deck type.
It is definitely not for everyone, but something about it keeps me coming back, week after week. That being said, once you have built up your "seed money" for a good MD run, it is way better than farming AI when you need to earn gold!

[magiuspaulus]

It seems the current week ends this night and i certainly want to give this a try tomorrow!
Any advice on the booster balance (base set / DP)?
Also, what amount of gold do you need to play enough to reasonably break even (approx. i understand it depends on the results)?

[Mongoosey]

A good article. Well done.

[magiuspaulus]

I like to repeat my questions above (because i think they are important):

Any advice on the booster balance (base set / DP)?

Also, what amount of gold do you need to play enough to reasonably break even (approx. i understand it depends on the results)?
In your article you only state the points needed for a top 50 spot. My question is if there is a full payout table somewhere.
I don;t have a lot of time playing MD and i don;t mind if i play about break even, because for me the practice (learn all the cards) is the most important reason to play this

Also, is it an idea to put the general meltdown rules in the support-->Game Rules segment of this website?

[painful_smile]

You forgot anti-mill cards:
Infi core, Ressurection and Ethernal are killer cards.

Also Transference is pretty strong.

For boosters I go 3-1 normally.

my best advice for meltdown:
Put ALL cards into your deck, that you would use in normal decks too.

Good heroes: BB, Zaladar, Elad, Majiya, Boris
Why is BB the best? He gives you board control very early and in MD its harder to regain board than in normal games.

Some cute combos:
silent strike + xer
Amber + WBT
Melbourne + wave/nova

[danae]

...
Some cute combos:
silent strike + xer
Amber + WBT
Melbourne + wave/nova

I'm in Melbourne and I was wondering why me being in Melbourne and using Nova would be considered "cute" as compared to someone in New York.

It took me a while to figure out what that combo was supposed to be. lol.

[Jeromy]

Note: Below numbers are designed to reflect a new MD players stats, and I had to quit games to make win percentage attainable for all players. More seasoned players will see a better return.

Test week: Gold Spent:15,000 gold. Games Played: 75. Games won:37
Some wins, you get 80g, others 40g, so i will use the median. Total Investment:15,000 - (37x60) = 12,780
Result: Rank: 43rd Gold Won: 18,771
Total Profit: Foil: Lance(hero) XP: ~8,000 Gold:18,771-12,780= 5,991

As you can see, even with a below 50% win average, this wasn't too bad! MD games are much quicker than QMs due to board control being so hard to regain if lost, so averaging 10 games per day is less than 2hrs. If you do the math, this is exactly the same amount of gold (profit) that you would win from 75 games against the AI. The difference is, you're not mindlessly grinding it out with an elemental is deck, these games are actually fun!

***Updated post below the OP with some tips and tricks***

Hope to see y'all in game!

[luminosg]

Thanks for this guide, I found it very useful. I just started playing meltdown last week and I already feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I invested about 6000 gold and made all of it back with a very small profit. Now I'm aiming for top 50 and it feels very doable. >60% win rate is definitely possible using good deck building and good tactics in the game. Sac choices can have a huuuge impact on the game, so getting a feel for what to sac in an opening hand is important, and takes practice.

[Jeromy]

Exactly! Your gold return will start off small and grow from there. Good point though! I left out one thing that you gain from the Total Profit portion above:
Card and Game experience! Playing against veteran players without their super tweaked tournament decks, getting paid to do it, and not losing ranking during your learning process.

[Marckitos]

Thank you very much for this post I've been playing thus game since min req. Was 30cards lol. I enter meltdown games and come up short in My deck. Now I know why. Once again tyvm!