Eladwen Death Race on Ice Deck

I'm interested in opinions on my Eladwen "Frost Race" deck which has been evolving since I started playing the game yesterday.

Cards:
Eladwen Frosmire

Kris (x4)
Fireball (x4)
Freeze (x3)
Poison Gas (x3)
Lightning Strike (x3)
Engulfing Flames (x3)
Research (x3)
Supernova (x3)
Arcane Burst (x2)
Clinging Webs (x4)
Misplaced (x2)
Bazaar (x2)
Snow Saphire
Voice of Winter
Dagger of Unmaking

I'm pretty happy with how it's performing.

Kris is mostly there for harassment and hopefully first turn damage. The center piece of the deck are the Poisons and Engulfing Flames which maintains a constant damage tick, provides sacrifice cards and has enough that if a hero is able to clear them then they'll find them popping right back up again. The other direct damage cards provide artillery bursts and to clear away the Popsicled and webbed allies if necessary.

I just switched Special Delivery for Misplaced as I've found the deck is a bit weak when the opponent has items and I rarely used Special Delivery as there were better options from the Mage Ability pool.

Thoughts?

Kieren

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kieren Martin

...which has been evolving since I started playing the game yesterday.

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Lol @ that.

Anyway, that seems like the standard burn deck. You don't really need more than one copy of both gas and flames since only Jerihco and the Wulven can remove it. A DoT like that is not something you want to rely on to win the game for you, it's more of a supplement. Replace it with more reliable cards.

Another Research, another Supernova. Nix the bursts. Add Retreat x4. Add a lightening. No Bazaar, get a few BS if you need more draw.

Im not a massive eladwen player however for this deck i would:

Remove
2 special delivery
2 archane busts
2 bazars
2 poison/flames

Add
1/2 of each weapons i,e, daggers snows ans voices
3 misplaced

eladwen speed burn, cards in order of importance

4 Kristopher Wylde
4 Puwen Bloodhelm
4 Fireball
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Research

(already 21 out of 40)

3 Poison Gas
3 Engulfing Flames
3 Arcane Burst
3 Voice of Winter
3 Snow Sapphire
2 Supernova
2 Clinging Web

Well the deck as it stands has carried me to rating 200, with relatively few losses, once I'd sorted out the initial kinks. Like how to play the game.

The gas and flames have multiple copies not just because I'm afraid that they'll be removed, but because I want them around when I hit turn 4. I don't rely on them to win me the game as such. I rely on a fairly constant pounding with fireballs, lightning bolts and novas to do that. I do rely on them to keep a damage momentum going. They ensure that I've got enough of a hit point lead that I can nova with impunity. The first two turns should have Kris hitting something. Third turn the fireballs start, and up to now I've found I've hardly been touched by the opponent who is still setting up.

Through the iterations of the deck I found that having less than 3 would mean that I was not guaranteed having one of them to hand on turn five. Four of each which I carried for a while is a bit too much.

I'm hitting a bit of a snag when weapons and armor make an appearance, as well as Hero abilities. I know there is nothing I can do about the Hero abilities as a Mage but is Poor Quality a good card to put in? I'd probably replace the Bazaar (though that's another card I've found useful in keeping momentum going for all that it also gifts the opponent a card).

I'm keeping all the advice so far given under advisement as I expect the deck as it stands to start failing me more often as I move up the rankings. I want to resist putting more allies in, Kris is there as a sort of 1 cost first turn damage tick rather than as an ally (sorry Kris). The only think stopping this being a solo deck is the lack of any 1 cost first turn direct damage options. Also if he's not killed Kris can just keep on plugging away at the enemy. A pre-dot if you will.

One thing this deck has taught me. Supernovering 5 frozen enemies is a lot of fun.

From my experience, I find that including 2 copies of flames/poison seems to be the magic quantity. You do not really want or need one early on. Even at 4th level, you usually cannot afford to cast it yet, your mana is better spent on cards like lightning strike. Then its supernova on turn 5, then maybe flames on turn 6 + retreat or webs.

Plus, once you cast one, all other copies are effectively useless save as resource fodder. Having 2 lets you comfortably sac 1 as resource in the first few rounds, while card drawers like bazaar should ensure you draw at least a flames or poison soon thereafter.

I took out the kris - having a 1st turn drop sounds good in theory (especially when you can follow up with a bad santa on turn 2), but it tends to die too quickly to cheap creatures like snake or another kris, or removal. I found it to be quite underwhelming. It was also irritating having to click on multiple kris'es to have them attack the opponent.

I also found that freeze isn't really that great. For some reason, the extra 1-resource cost means I invariably favour webs over it most of the time, and the longer duration isn't always relevant, especially you are just delaying it in a bid to force your opponent to overextend his hand so you can wipe the board with nova.

I agree that this deck has fits when facing weapon-wielding heroes. However, misplaced really only works as a last-ditch all-out effort against darkclaw, I found it to have minimal benefit against other weapons/armour. Arcane burst also sees less game time than lightning strike; however it can still be situationally useful. Special delivery is plain inefficient for its cost, but in a deck with no creatures to serve as constant pressure, you need every last drop of damage you can squeeze out. I rarely ever got to use voice of winter either - it was just too slow.

My recommendation for a budget Eladwen burn/freezer deck.

4 fireball
4 lightning strike
4 supernova
2 engulfing flames
2 poison gas

4 retreat
4 clinging webs
4 rain delay
2 freeze
2 bazaar
2 research

6 other cards of your choice, depending on what counters you want to run.

Jeez can anyone list games of this deck?

Hi there, I started to play SE a few days ago and i'm really enjoying Eladwen hero but i'm not understanding one thing on this forum: has your Eladwen deck allies? If yes, how many and which ones are used to be a competitive deck? My Eladwen deck has allies with low cost to counter enemy allies and i used to damage enemy's hero with magics, such as fireball and other stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kieren Martin

I'm interested in opinions on my Eladwen "Frost Race" deck which has been evolving since I started playing the game yesterday.

Cards:
Eladwen Frosmire

Kris (x4)
Fireball (x4)
Freeze (x3)
Poison Gas (x3)
Lightning Strike (x3)
Engulfing Flames (x3)
Research (x3)
Supernova (x3)
Arcane Burst (x2)
Clinging Webs (x4)
Misplaced (x2)
Bazaar (x2)
Snow Saphire
Voice of Winter
Dagger of Unmaking

I'm pretty happy with how it's performing.

Kris is mostly there for harassment and hopefully first turn damage. The center piece of the deck are the Poisons and Engulfing Flames which maintains a constant damage tick, provides sacrifice cards and has enough that if a hero is able to clear them then they'll find them popping right back up again. The other direct damage cards provide artillery bursts and to clear away the Popsicled and webbed allies if necessary.

I just switched Special Delivery for Misplaced as I've found the deck is a bit weak when the opponent has items and I rarely used Special Delivery as there were better options from the Mage Ability pool.

Thoughts?

Kieren

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Kris (x4) - Keep
Fireball (x4) - Keep
Freeze (x3) - take out all these. Might explain.
Poison Gas (x3) - Either remove or take out 1. Will explain more below.
Lightning Strike (x3) - NEED to add 1
Engulfing Flames (x3) - Either remove or take out 1. Will explain more below.
Research (x3) - NEED to add 1
Supernova (x3) - take out 1. Typically nova's a 1 use card, meaning usually only 1 situation requires it per-game if you're playing like you're supposed to.
Arcane Burst (x2) - Depends. I'll explain later.
Clinging Webs (x4) - keep...tentatively...
Misplaced (x2) - I don't like misplaced, but for non-armor items, could be a temporary stall. Keep
Bazaar (x2) - TAKE OUT
Snow Saphire - Why do you only have 1....? What if you get it in your first draw/first 3 turns? It's going to be hard holding on to it while making consistent sacrifices. Include 3 to guarantee at least one draw excluding destruction and/or sacrifices
Voice of Winter - same as above. In fact, depending on how much you feel you need this, use 4. i think for weapons, it's ok to include 4. Must be prepared for item destruction. Note: also, is it possible to target your own weapon w/poor quality? if so, it'll be impossible to destroy because it won't lose durability unless it's destroyed completely. I don't think you can, but it'd be an interesting idea. Especially for wizent's staff. I know misplace boomerangs damaged staves back to you, but still.
Dagger of Unmaking - Include 2 for if Voice of Winter is taking forever to get to you (which it shouldn't) or if you've had to sacrifice it early and are waiting for one. DoU makes a good stall for ally-intensive opponents kind of like me....unless i throw poor quality on you. which leads me to this next point:

all ill say is this. INCLUDE POOR QUALITY. It has countless uses

+ Reduces damage & Offense by 1 = PERFECT for:
1. Wulven Teeth on solo decks,
2. Jeweler's Dream,
3. Berserker's Edge (before they get a hit in to completely neutralize it - unless w/Amber),
4. Gravedigger's Cloak (RARELY used, but have come across it once), old iron dagger (prevents attacking), and is the ONLY human defense against KING'S PRIDE or SNOW SAPPHIRE (if you're unlucky enough to deal w/it in a weird circumstance).
5. Guardian's Oath (unless buffed, has NO attacking ability), also COMPLETELY nullifies Dagger of Unmaking. You'd like that, wouldn't you?
6. COUNTLESS STAVE CARDS - Wrath of Summer, Wooden Staff, GhostMaker, (I don't list Voice of Winter or Wizent's Staff because if you reduce attack to 0, there's no chance of durability wear...at all and you don't want that)
+ Again, it's the only defense against weapons or armor w/Mages.
- Doesn't completely destroy...but what else are you gonna do...use misplace...>.>...yeah right. Would you rather misplace a Dagger of Unmaking, or completely nullify it? Either way, they're wasting 5 resources. YES, misplace is cheaper, but poor quality nips it when it needs to be nipped.

Eventual Degeneration: Poison Gas & Engulfing Flames vs. Straight Damage: Ok, lets think about this in a number of ways:
1. Drawing. Assuming you have 4-6 degenerative cards, that takes up a small percentage of your deck...but its a percent nonetheless. Are you ok potentially drawing it extremely early and potentially having to sacrifice...or extremely late?
2. Ticking Effect: lets think about this shall we. Poison/Flames do one damage per turn. Together, obviously they do 2 damage per turn. However, the cost is for 4 resources. The only way for it to be efficient is if the effect extends beyond 4 turns and has done a grand total of 5 damage (for each card). The same still applies if both have been used. For 8 energy, you need to have dished out 10 damage to warrant inclusion of these cards. Why? Because we have a simple bar to compare them to: Fireball. I'll just say right now, I don't like degeneration cards. Fireballs do damage all at one time (obviously) and are QUITE efficient at one LESS energy, and 4 damage. degen cards are more expensive, and require you to wait. Why not pelt your opponent and send them to the grave before next Christmas instead of belaboring the point? I get its for ticking damage, but if you want more consistent damage, then just include another damage card w/the standard fireball/lightning bolt combo. I don't know a better way to say this, but more time you're spent waiting, the more time the opponent has to wait for a regeneration card such as enrage, soul seeker, regeneration, or Mugged. We dooonnnn't want that. Kill them while you have the resources and give them an advance to the grave. Besides, by the time you get to that 3rd or 4th turn, you should have enough resources to use an extra damage card. Trust me, it might seem like a good idea to use these cards, but they just take up valuable space which could be used to draw pure damage cards. And on top of that, what if you only draw poison gas, but can't seem to get engulfing flames...or worse, you got it, but had to sacrifice it? Think about it

Freeze: You don't need this. Whatever chance you have to destroy the opponent, or use a similar card for less resources (but equally/more efficient), you need to use. Freeze requires 3 resources just like fireball. What if you only have 5 resources and NEED to get rid of a baddie and don't have shadow points? Freeze leaves you waiting the next turn to do any damage. However, if you have clinging webs, you still have room for a fireball. Win win. Get rid of freeze. It's not efficient.

Drawing Engine: This one's simple. There's a reason why Mages have research: because they need unilateral draws to stay ahead. Damage is a mage's strongpoint, but it's not enough. Other heroes have other things to get by, including more draw engines. When you give other opponents a chance...it's over. Don't wanna do that.

Is not so dangerous to have only 4 kris in the deck?