Raph's "How to get Top 5 in Meltdown" guide - Deckbuilding strategies (Shhhh......!)

[Raphael Majere]

Intro:



This Guide is written for new players and maybe as a refresher for older players. First published at BP forums. Still in draft stage. Please read this on web browser as colored text is used. I re-downloaded the SE app to see how it has improved. It's much better now. But I am currently involved in other hobbies so I am just a casual player. (I am still an honorary inactive member of BP) But I kicked-ass this week in Meltdown and I didn't even put in effort (top 5). I do want to share my ideas cos many players have absolutely no idea how to win/build a deck in meltdown.

If you want to know whether it's worth your time to play meltdown to grind gold and win prizes, read Gondorian (Design Team)'s post here: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....uly-onwards%29

Copied from there:

1st - 5 Prize Packs, 5 Premium Foil Packs, 5 SF Packs, 2000 SC
2nd - 3 Prize Packs, 3 Premium Foil Packs, 3 SF Packs, 1500 SC
3rd - 2 Prize Packs, 2 Premium Foil Packs, 2 SF Packs, 1000 SC
4th - 1 Prize Packs, 1 Premium Foil Packs, 1 SF Packs, 750 SC
5th - 1 Prize Packs, 1 Premium Foil Packs, 1 SF Packs, 500 SC
6-10th - 1 Prize Packs, 1 Premium Foil Packs, 1 SF Packs, 250 SC
11-25th - 1 Prize Pack, 100 SC

If you are just playing Meltdown for fun, you can stop reading now. Hardcore stuff ahead.

The basics

1. You can view the meltdown 'scores' here: http://www.shadowera.com/content.php?146-Rankings

2. In MD, you can be matched with anyone: a noob, a casual player, a pro. You are not matched by ratings or 'skill levels'

3. I have no idea how the scores are calculated - I didn't bother to find out since my method works. If you know the formula, I would appreciate the info. My formula: VOLUME x WINS. So if you want to rank high in MD, you'll need to achieve a high quantity of both. It's as simple as that. As I have mentioned earlier, it was pretty easy for me.

VOLUME

This simply means the amount of games you have played. Losses = no points. You are unlikely to get a draw in MD. You'll want to WIN in MD (duh). You'll want to rack up as many wins as you can. If you have 5 hours to play a day, you'll want to win as many games as you can within the 5 hours. If you are a slow player, you will lose out a lot.

WINS

1. This component is the complex one and needs to be divided into 3 parts. WIN = (a) building the best and smallest deck with the best cards + (b) a good hero + (c) actual good playing skills.

2. there is no need to sit through a game if you know you will lose. Meh, quit and start another game. It's easy to overwhelm others in the first 4 turns and likewise you will inevitably be hit by some marauding unstoppable first-3-turns combo. Remember, you only have that much time to play and losing sucks.

(a) building the best and smallest deck with the best cards

1. An open but CRITICAL "secret":

Select your boosters. ALL in the cards in the boosters of your selected configuration change when you leave and select another configuration of boosters. Example: You choose 1 SF, 1 DP, and 2 Cotc. There are 2 tomes of knowledge (COTC) and No Blood Frenzy (COTC). You leave, and now you choose 4 Cotc boosters; there are no tomes and 4 BFs. This is very key because if you want to win, you'll want the best and most powerful selection of the 4 boosters. There are a TON of configurations, of course, the best ones to try are always at least TWO cotc packs.

2. Next, You can see the cards pretty early, before you select your hero. I take a quick scroll; remember DRAW is KING. You need RELIABLE draw cards that can provide you with a STEADY supply of draw.



3. If I don't see tome/blood frenzy, I am ready to scram and change, but I'll stroll a bit further down and sometimes I see ILL Gotten Gains, Wrath of the forest, or Wizient staff. those will work. If it's hopeful, I'll walk on sometimes there are goodies like hunter's gambit or amulet of Conjuring or stardust extractor. In short, if I don't get 2 solid card engines (AKA reliable draw cards) like BF/Tome/IGG/Amulet, I scram. I Don't waste my time.

4. Allies: Fatties, aka high life + high atk allies. You'll want them. They provide invaluable dmg to kill your opponent or forces your opponents to use multiple sources and cards to kill them. Whenever you cause your opponent to waste cards/SE/resources/effort to kill/stop your fatty allies, you cause a lot of pain and delay to his own game plan. He cannot summon his weak allies unless he removes your fat ally first.

DRAW CARDS + FAT ALLIES: these are the 2 most important factors when deciding whether to change the boosters configuration!

BIG tip for new players: When selecting boosters, use this order:

- 3 Cotc, 1 DP
- 3 Cotc, 1 SF
- 4 Cotc
- 2 Cotc, 2 DP
- 2 Cotc, 2 SF

(b) a good hero

So you are ready, you select your hero. (This is also very important)

My tiers:

a. Zal/BB - direct damage that can hit your opponent and extremely effective ally control
b. Maj - gives your draw
c. Elad/Boris - kills/slow down allies

For advanced players: Serena/Gwen/DC (Depending if I have SS, RF, Spotter and a bunch of at least 4 solid weapons) are on the same rank as Elad/Boris

(Note: always remember that weapons have a fixed dura and allies (if they are not kill or crippled) can deal damage for many many turns, so generally (fat) allies > weapons)

d. Everything else is really meh. (Skervox and Ele and MS - slightly better than the rest of the shit)

While the choice of hero is pretty important, it's not as important as having good draw engines and fat allies. The truth is: even if you have a weaker hero like Zhanna/Ythan/Gravebone/Tala/Nish, you can still win. But if you have Zal but don't have good draw and fatties, you will lose.

Next step:

What cards to put into the deck:

(a) Deck size: I am 100% NOT a fan of large decks. When my opponent throws a fatty on the board, I do not want to draw my cute poison/engulfing flames. I want my Freeze/Crippling Blow/retreat like NOW PLEASE. That means around 30 - 34 cards. If I have eternal renewal/resurrection, I stick to 31 Max. I sacced it most of the time anyways. Repeating myself, when your opponent summons a fatty, you do not want to draw Eternal renewal. There's no real 'need' for life gain cards if you will kill your opponent before he kills you. (For that reason, always pack some Item-Destruction vs armors)

(b)The ally control cards and Direct Damage. Take them all. Freeze/clinging webs are amazingly good because they can take down ANY fatty. Take all the decent weapons and almost all the allies.

(c) actual good playing skills

sorry, I can't help with this. Practice makes perfect though.

Bonus:

Some 'weak' cards that are really good in MD:

- Curse
- Healing touch (removes all enemy ally attachments and heals your ally!)
- What Big Teeth
- crypt (advanced aggro players building aggro decks don't need this)
- infinity core (advanced aggro players building aggro decks don't need this)

For advanced players, this is my order during selection:

- 2 Cotc, 1 DP, 1 SF
- 2 Cotc, 2 SF
- 3 Cotc, 1 SF
- 3 Cotc, 1 DP
- 2 Cotc, 2 DP

Enjoy!

Questions and inputs are very welcomed!

[Gondorian]

Great to see you back playing again in a competitive fashion, Raph! I didn't read the guide yet, but will definitely have a look.

[renew]

I personally like Tala a lot in MD.

[oggtheman]

I personally like Tala a lot in MD.

Does nothing to board unless you have lots of cards. Useless if you have no allies

[fordfff]

Does nothing to board unless you have lots of cards. Useless if you have no allies

Tala is a beast in md. That +1/+1 boost on t3/4 coupled with protector means you can easily get board early. And with protector you can hold it. I usually boost some crappy ally and hide my more serious dudes behind it. Of course you have to build a super aggressive deck for this to work

[oggtheman]

Tala is a beast in md. That +1/+1 boost on t3/4 coupled with protector means you can easily get board early. And with protector you can hold it. I usually boost some crappy ally and hide my more serious dudes behind it. Of course you have to build a super aggressive deck for this to work

I don't play aggressive decks

[fordfff]

I don't play aggressive decks

Pacifist eh?

[Shadows R Us]

Awesome write up. It's been awhile since I've played melt down, I think I'll give it another go.

[Raphael Majere]

Regarding tala: my experience: she's good if you have 1. Decent draw and 2. Good allies and 3. Sufficient allies. I dropped a 5 life , 3cc ally in t3. My opponent took ages to get rid of it while my other allies (including a marshland sentinel) hid behind it. That initial lock gave my sufficient momentum to hold and maintain control and led to a decisive win.

With all that said: I played that game for fun and didn't do the 'switching around boosters configuration' thingy: if I did, I might have gotten a zal/bb with better cards.

So it depends on your goals. Playing zal/bb for every game can be incredibly boring.

[Pandevmonium]

This topic is absolutely crap. Victor is not even mentioned.