Asking for Deck critiques, new to CCG type games

[William Hawk]

Hi friends,

So I picked up Shadow Era on my iPad (playing on PC till Apple updates 1.7), and I really love the game. I dropped $10.00 twice and have a good collection of cards, and a little gold. I never played the WoW tcg, or Magic, so I'm trying to figure out how to set-up solid decks. I have read a lot of great posts here in the forums, and tweaked my decks several times. I was winning about 50% of my games until recently, and I've been getting destroyed pretty consistantly now. Here is some info on that:

Started with a Nish deck, won first 5 games in a row. Lost next 3.
Switched to a Gwen deck, won about 3 of my next 6 games.
Built a Maj deck, again won about half of, oh let's say 8 games.

Been playing with those 3 heroes now, tweaking here and there, trying different things. Last 10 games I have only won 1 or 2, and many of the games I lost have not been close.

Oh, and I seem to be going second A LOT. Out of 30 games I have gone 2nd 20 times :/

My decks look like this at the moment:

Nish 39 cards

1 Jas Rose
4 Kristoff
3 Puwen
1 Erika
2 Raven
2 Aldon
1 Sandworm
1 Oracle
1 Marsh Sent
1 Aeon Storm
4 Fireball
2 Poison Gas
2 Engulfing Flames
3 Lighting Strike
2 Research
2 Nova
2 Portal
1 Arcane
1 Rain Delay
2 Snow Sapphire

Majiya 36 cards

2 Gargoyle
2 Keldor
1 Plasma Beh
1 Chimera
2 Fire Snakes
2 Belladonna
1 Medusil
2 Hellsteed
2 Dark Flayer
1 Death Mage Thaddeus
1 Carniboar
2 Shadow Knights
1 Brutal Mino
4 Fireballs
3 Lightning Stike
1 Engulfing Flames
2 Portal
1 Supernova
1 Bloodlust
1 Shriek of Vengeance
2 Snow Sapphire

Gwen 37 cards

1 Lilly Rose
4 Kristoff
3 Puwen
1 Erika
1 Raven
2 Aldon
1 Marsh Sent
1 Oracle
1 Earthen Protector
1 Aeon
2 Poison Arrow
2 Flaming Arrow
2 Rapid Fire
2 Into the Forest
1 Cover of Night
1 Bazzar
2 Night Prowler
1 Crimson Vest
4 Soul Seeker
3 Beetle D Bow

Ok so now that I list them all out I realize that maybe there are too many cards in all my decks? Or maybe too many different cards? I didn't realize that till seeing them listed like this.

Genereally I start off strong, but my middle game is weak. Except for Maj, I almost always run through the cards in my hand quickly. Within 5-7 turns the games turn from my favor and I see an army of enemy allies building that is too strong to handle.

I have seen a lot of good looking decks posted, but I don't want to just copy them. I want to learn from my mistakes and know how to build on my own. Sorry if it seems like I am throwing a lot out there, any advice on any of my decks is appreciated, thanks in advance!

[Raphael Majere]

Unless you are gearing up for 40 cards meta or competitions, my first advice is to play at 30 - 35 cards.

In a typical deck, you'll realize that you are always killing your opponent in a similar way and/or with certain key cards.

Hence you'll want to draw these cards on a consistent basis. The easiest way to do that is to play at 30 - 35 cards. Simple probability.

My second advice is related to my first one. Consistency.

Hence your decks needs to have either "4 of every Key card, 2 of any good support cards". (This is only a general rule.)

Your decks are lacking in focus.

I admire your spirit in wanting to learn from scratch.

I would suggest the following articles:

He-man's articles: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....=deck+building

CodeDomination's articles:

1. http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....1720#post91720
2. http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....g-Tips&p=92883
3. http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....Theory&p=94560

Brontos's : http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....=deck+building

All the best, my friend!

[iClipse]

Indeed. Your decks lack consistency. If there is a certain card you think is awesome while also good, you should have multiple in your deck. Right now I see for example in your Gwen deck 1 aeon.

That's not a good number. I you want a deck that's consistent at the start, add at least two. If you want more late game punch, add more.

Also, regarding your gwen deck: something that's very important is knowing what route you want to go with your deck. There are 2 possible routes you can take. Ally heavy, and ally light.

If you go ally light, into the forest, Night Prowler and Rapid fire are your best friends. And then cut on the allies.
If you want ally heavy, just add 7-8 bows, and for the rest a good amount of high quality allies. Jasmine, Aldon, Raven and Aeon spring to mind. You might then also consider using Wrath of the forest. When used correctly, it's a very solid card. When you use it, make sure you add 4 to your deck though!

That are your best choices for Gwenneth dzcks. There are some in between decks as well, but those are harder to make, so I don't recommend that to start with. First you should get a solid understanding of how your hero works.

One last piece of advice, choose one hero and keep tuning it until you get a decent winrate with it (>75%). this way, you'll truly understand your hero and you'll get a better grasp of the game and deckbuilding in general.

[William Hawk]

Thank you both for taking the time to post here and help me out. I will take all of those words into consideration, and continue on my quest to conquer the world! Well, at least the SE world

In all seriousness though, thanks! This should help a lot.

[He-Man]

Here I was, preparing to write a wall of text to help you out, only to find out Raph and iClipse beat me to it...
I can only add that I agree with everything they say

[William Hawk]

lol, thanks He-Man

[William Hawk]

Well alright! Tweaked my Maji deck, rolled a first turn, got a Carniboar out second, killed his Kristoffer, Froze his Puwen, LS and killed his next ally w/ Carni, got the Carni to 5 / 5, dropped a Shadow Knight and that was game! I got them high-tailing it out, YEE-HAW

LOL! Feels good to have a win again

[iClipse]

Care to share the decklist? We might be able to help you even further.

[William Hawk]

Yes iClipse, I will post it later tonight. At the moment I'm about to start an essay for English class, but trust me I'd rather be playing SE
It's not too different though. I pulled some of the single cards and started thinking of how to streamline it. I added a second Carniboar, since I could see how that card could help me early game, and sure enough I pulled one in the opening hand and it was the game. Post list later...


By the way I like your tomato quote!

[William Hawk]

OK so I finished the damn essay for English About to leave for school tonight but real quick here is the new deck (and old one again to compare)

Majiya (old deck)

2 Gargoyle
2 Keldor
1 Plasma Beh
1 Chimera
2 Fire Snakes
2 Belladonna
1 Medusil
2 Hellsteed
2 Dark Flayer
1 Death Mage Thaddeus
1 Carniboar
2 Shadow Knights
1 Brutal Mino
4 Fireballs
3 Lightning Stike
1 Engulfing Flames
2 Portal
1 Supernova
1 Bloodlust
1 Shriek of Vengeance
2 Snow Sapphire

Majiya (new deck)

2 Gargoyle
2 Keldor
2 Plasma Beh
2 Fire Snakes
2 Belladonna
2 Hellsteed
2 Dark Flayer
2 Carniboar
2 Shadow Knights
4 Fireballs
2 Freeze
3 Lightning Stike
2 Portal
1 Supernova
1 Bloodlust
2 Snow Sapphire


I took out the Medusil, Death Mage, Minotaur, and Chimera, doubled the Carniboar and Plasma Beh, took out Shriek of Veng, and added two Freeze. I think that's all. I'm not done tweaking, and advice is still welcome. One thing though, will I miss the higher powered Mino, or even the Death Mage? I kind of liked them but decided to try the deck without. Maybe there is still too much variance, but I think I am at least going in a better direction now.

Also, just curious to know what you guys think about luck in this game. How much does luck factor in against strategy (going first, which cards you draw, etc). Any thoughts on this subject?