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  1. #1
    Senior Member Narziss's Avatar
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    Competitive Eladwen Deck

    So what does my Eladwen deck look like? ---- And I think this is just about the best an Eladwen deck can look like. You might think otherwise because I'm not in the top 5 anymore, and although I haven't had the time to play that much and keep my rank in the top 5, I assure you that I've beaten everyone I've played in the top 20, and I've beaten them significantly more often than they've beaten me.


    Hero:
    1 - Eladwen Frostmire

    Allies:
    4 - Blake Windrunner
    2 - Puwen Bloodhelm
    4 - Aldon the Brave
    4 - Sandra Trueblade
    3 - Aeon Stormcaller

    Abilities:
    4 - Lightning Strike (or) Fireball*

    Items:
    4 - Research
    4 - Portal

    (30 cards total)


    *the decision between Lightning Strike and Fireball is up to you. Lightning Strike favors occasional 2-for-1 situations, while Fireball does that 4 damage that is able to one hit many more allies (and Fireball can combine with Eladwen's ability to take an Aeon out). Plus, having 4 Fireballs favors matchups against Darkclaw moreso than having 4 Lightning Strike.


    (i) Typical opening when I play first (playing style: Tempo; key card: Sandra Trueblade):

    T1 - Resource (6->5 cards in hand).
    T2 - Resource, Blake Windrunner (6->4 cards in hand).
    T3 - Resource, Aldon (5->3 cards in hand).
    T4 - Resource, Sandra (4->2 cards in hand).
    T5 - Sandra or Blake or Aldon / Resource, Sandra or Aldon or Blake / Blake, Blake / Resource, Aldon, Blake / Resource, Research, Blake or Aldon / Research, use "Research" / {and use Eladwen's ability if necessary}.



    (ii) Typical opening when I play second (playing style: Card Advantage; key card: Research):

    T1 - Resource (7->6 cards in hand).
    T2 - Resource, Research (7->5 cards in hand).
    T3 - Resource, use "Research", {use Eladwen's ability} (6->6 cards in hand), .
    T4 - Resource, Portal or Lightning Strike.
    T5 - Resource, if I played Lighting Strike on T4 then I play Portal on T5 (or) if I played Portal on T4 then I'll drop some allies like Blake and Aldon on T5.



    Another reason why Eladwen is so good, besides the power of humans and mage cards and her solid ability that compliments these, is the fact that an Eladwen deck can incomporate not just one but two playing styles! In many other card games, you make a deck that specializes in tempo at the expense of card advantage or you make a deck that specializes in card advantage at the expense of tempo. Shadow Era is an interesting game because you can tactically choose to take one of these two strategies in the midst of the game and then use the cards in your deck that pertain to the other strategy as resources. The Eladwen deck is powerful because you can either choose to play tempo, as in example (i), or you can choose to play card advantage, as in example (ii). You can also change these decisions up as each game progresses based both on what your opponent is playing and on what he does.

    Lastly, to explain these playing styles, I'm going to quote myself from the strategy forum:


    Quote Originally Posted by Narziss View Post
    What to keep in mind when building a competitive deck:

    1. Card Advantage (Does the card trade 1-for-1 "okay" or 1-for-0 "bad" or 1-for-2 "excellent"; Sandra, Belladonna and Lightning Strike are two clear examples of awesome 1-for-2 trades. If you can get a card to count for two or more, then you are on the right track. Obviously, cards that let you draw give you a great advantage in that they slim down your deck and give an immediate card advantage, like Research or Blood Frenzy. However, be careful of playing cards like Bad Santa which actually can benefit your opponent more than it benefits you, since playing it when both players have empty hands actually nets you a -1 card advantage because you both gained three cards but you paid one. Unless Bazaar is part of your long term strategy, be careful in using it since it gives you both a -1 card advantage and a loss of tempo, since your opponent gets to take advantage of the extra draw before you).

    2. Tempo (Sometimes cards don't give you a card advantage but they give you some tempo, letting you outpace your opponent. Examples include "Here Be Monsters" which trades 1-for-1 but grants you a tempo advantage. You might think that Rain Delay falls into this category and that it makes up for the 1-for-0 card disadvantage by granting you tempo, but in reality, Rain Delay just slows you down since it takes time and resources to cast it which could have been instead allocated toward strengthening your defenses, instead of just stalling the game and putting yourself at a card disadvantage. Sandra Trueblade is the best example of tempo since it not only slows your opponent down but it leaves you with an ally to attack with; she is a Puwen Bloodhelm and a Here Be Monsters in one card at a lower resource cost).

    3. Board Presence (This is really important since attacking allies get first strike. Portal is a great card for facilitating Board Presence since you are able to kill enemy allies before they get a chance to attack you.)

    4. Resource Curve (This is basically a subfield of tempo, which basically reminds you to not have too many expensive cards or too many cheap cards but to balance your deck such that you are doing something appropriate to how much resource is available to you on each turn).

    5. Damage (So in the end you win the game by dishing out enough damage to kill your opponent; nevertheless, this is your long term goal. The more important goals, your short term goals, are card advantage, tempo, and board presence. In fact, don't think of damage as a separate long term goal, just think of these short term goals (tempo, card advantage, and board presence) as indirect but highly effective means of working toward this long term goal. In other words, starting a game off by hurling a Fireball at your opponent hero is usually a bad idea since, although you are dealing 4 damage, you are putting yourself at a -1 card advantage. Cards like Fire Snake that can't survive enough to trade one-for-one are really bad. On the other and, Belladonna is great because she gives you the card advantage to establish your presence in the long term, and she is an intimidating ally with 4 attack. Dropping a Sandra grants you both tempo and card advantage. Sandra gives you the tempo to dish out more damage before your opponent is able to set up defenses, since they are now down one resource, and she also gives you a card advantage, since Sandra is two cards in one).

    6. Minimum Deck Size (Lastly, every competitive player should really keep a no more than 30 card deck, since the more cards you add, the less of a chance you have of getting to your best cards. Getting to your best cards sooner aids in all of the above).


    A final note: The fascinating thing about Shadow Era is that you can make a deck that is strategically balanced in both card advantage and tempo and then you can tactically choose to play one or the other (and use the other's cards as your resources).
    Last edited by Narziss; 03-02-2011 at 10:21 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member arebelspy's Avatar
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    Great writeup.

    Should be helpful for the newbies looking for what a top tier Eladwin deck looks like.

    I personally don't care for Lightning Strike, but to each his own.

    Quote Originally Posted by Narziss View Post
    You might think otherwise because I'm not in the top 5 anymore, and although I haven't had the time to play that much and keep my rank in the top 5, I assure you that I've beaten everyone I've played in the top 20, and I've beaten them significantly more often than they've beaten me.
    The difference between top 5 and top 20 is top 5 has time for more games. There's not a ton of skill difference, IMO, between number 4 and number 15 (both rated 375+). Congrats on your success with it.

  3. #3
    Senior Member revZloco's Avatar
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    yes, I think that deck is actually printed on our cornflakes box... sorry, I just couldn't resist

  4. #4
    Member HomieK's Avatar
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    I play the same list exept no puwen and one less portal for 3 lightning strikes, it is IMO the best deck and can only be challenged by the gravebone decks or mirrors.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by HomieK View Post
    ... it is IMO the best deck and can only be challenged by the gravebone decks or mirrors.
    I beg to differ..... This deck will give you a good run...

    http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....ulven-PvP-Deck

  6. #6
    Senior Member arebelspy's Avatar
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    Yeah, the annoying darkclaw deck can beat it. It's by no means invincible, but it's top tier for sure, probably the most solid overall deck.

  7. #7
    Member HomieK's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=Vernimator;5734]I beg to differ..... This deck will give you a good run...

    Lol, no....
    Just becuase you have beaten a bunch of eldawen decks dosn't meen anything right now. Almost everyone i play have bad lists(becuase they are new to the game and they just dont have all the good cards yet.) I would love to play agains your deck tho, havn't played any good wolven decks.(mostly because its probobly not good)

  8. #8
    Senior Member arebelspy's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=HomieK;5742]
    Quote Originally Posted by Vernimator View Post
    I beg to differ..... This deck will give you a good run...

    Lol, no....
    Just becuase you have beaten a bunch of eldawen decks dosn't meen anything right now. Almost everyone i play have bad lists(becuase they are new to the game and they just dont have all the good cards yet.) I would love to play agains your deck tho, havn't played any good wolven decks.(mostly because its probobly not good)
    Supermof, the guy who started the thread he linked to, is ranked #2 right now. I lost to his darkclaw deck he describes in that thread last night (and I'm obviously ranked high enough to be matched up with him, top 20 right now).

    So don't dismiss stuff so readily.

  9. #9
    Member HomieK's Avatar
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    ^Im not saying all wolfen decks are bad but verminators has 60 cards so i dont see it being the best. I would like to play agains a good wolven deck soon. Im in the T20 rank so hopefully i can start playing the better players.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by HomieK View Post
    ^Im not saying all wolfen decks are bad but verminators has 60 cards so i dont see it being the best. I would like to play agains a good wolven deck soon. Im in the T20 rank so hopefully i can start playing the better players.
    Actually I have 65 cards in my deck. Just because the deck is twice as big doesn't mean it's inferior. It is part of the strategy of the deck in order to handle a wide variety of opponents.

    And by the way, it's VerNimator...

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