The Ultimate Quest Mode Thread

[Agkistro]

Agkistro, what surprises me most about that screenshot is that you have a stop set at every step. I would wear out both my spacebar and my patience if I did that. I only have stops set at AI's ET and my own M1 and M2. I set extra stops on a per-case basis (such as when I have a combat trick) and immediately remove them when I no longer need them.

I didn't even know you could get rid of those.
My client came with all the buttons green default.
XD

[Fizanko]

I usually turn the DR phase red for both side (me and AI) and keep the other green. I don't turn off any other as all the other one can have something happening

I got my first Ravnica themed quest Planeswalker from a booster pack i purchased with the credit earned from my last victory, Vraska the Unseen but i'm very puzzled by it



Not sure how this one will be able to work, as the only way to get +1 loyalty is to have the planeswalker recieve damage.
While the attacker will be killed, it's -extremely- rare that an attacker doing damage to a planeswalker will only do 1 damage.
So i can't really see how it will gain any loyalty, as the +1 loyalty will be more than countered by the -X loyalty it will take from taking X damage

[KrazyTheFox]

Not sure how this one will be able to work, as the only way to get +1 loyalty is to have the planeswalker recieve damage.
While the attacker will be killed, it's -extremely- rare that an attacker doing damage to a planeswalker will only do 1 damage.
So i can't really see how it will gain any loyalty, as the +1 loyalty will be more than countered by the -X loyalty it will take from taking X damage

You need blockers or ways to prevent things from attacking you. Going along with the black theme, creature removal can help a lot with that. I think last time I built a deck around Vraska I used Royal Assassins and cards that caused opponents' cards to enter tapped. That was BGW. Alternatively, run Doubling Season and ultimate as soon as it enters.

[Fizanko]

But if you prevent creatures to attack her by blocking them, she will not get any +1 loyalty as the card mention the +1 is if she gets damaged ?

And even if she get 1 damage, it will trigger the +1 loyalty but in the same time it will remove 1 loyalty (the 1 damage)
That's what is really puzzling me actually ?

Now hoping i can get Doubling Season one day

[friarsol]

But if you prevent creatures to attack her by blocking them, she will not get any +1 loyalty as the card mention the +1 is if she gets damaged ?

And even if she get 1 damage, it will trigger the +1 loyalty but in the same time it will remove 1 loyalty (the 1 damage)
That's what is really puzzling me actually ?

That's not how Planeswalkers work. The +1 is a cost. When you activate the first ability it goes up 1 Loyalty and do what the ability says. No matter what happens later, it permanent has that extra loyalty. Now, when you activate it, Vraska protects herself if she takes any combat damage, sure she'll lose counters at that time, but she'll also kills things. If she doesn't take any combat damage (because you are protecting her with blockers) her Loyalty stays higher from when you activated the first ability.

[Fizanko]

Ah i see my misreading, thanks for the clarification, so basically if i understand well :

- in the beginning of your turn you trigger manually the card for its +1 before being attacked, triggering the "enemy damaging her will get destroyed" effect on the AI following turn" .

- Then on the AI turn it will attack you (and will very likely massively target her) and you'll have to block to avoid losing the loyalty gained this way.

- you next turn, you will activate the card manually to get the +1

etc...

Suddenly the card become much better than i thought, the +1 is a proactive action, not a reactive one.

[mastroego]

hmm, no, the +1 applies immediately (not sure what you mean with your points, maybe you're saying that already)
In the next turn, if she's still alive, you'll have the chance to gain another +1.

Also remember she comes with 5 loyalty.
You may likely want to use her -3 ability even as soon as you cast her.
Basically you have a "destroy permanent" effect for 5 cmc. If you can keep her alive after that, then it's a bargain.

[timmermac]

3/4 of the way through my first "season" with the sliver/dragon and now discard quest, I'm 52-70 and on a 2-match winning streak.

Here's the discard deck

{Discard} | Open

Code: Select all

[metadata]
Name=Discard
[Main]
4 Abyssal Specter|8ED
3 Asphyxiate|BNG
4 Assassinate|TSP
4 Coercion|PO2
4 Corrupt|M14
2 Cruel Edict|9ED
4 Cruel Edict|PO2
4 Dark Banishing|TMP
4 Death Stroke|STH
4 Diabolic Edict|TMP
4 Diabolic Tutor|8ED
4 Disfigure|ZEN
4 Duress|M14
4 Fugue|EXO
4 Guul Draz Specter|ZEN
5 Hand of Death|PO2
4 Haunting Hymn|TSP
4 Hideous End|ZEN
1 Howling Mine|10E
2 Howling Mine|8ED
1 Howling Mine|M10
2 Hymn to Tourach|FEM|1
4 Hypnotic Specter|9ED
2 Lash of the Whip|THS
4 Last Gasp|RAV
3 Liturgy of Blood|M14
4 Megrim|9ED
4 Mind Peel|STH
4 Mind Rot|8ED
4 Mind Sludge|ZEN
4 Mindstab|TSP
4 Nightmare|M14
4 Nightmare Lash|MRD
1 Nightmare Void|RAV
1 Pulling Teeth|MOR
4 Raven's Crime|MMA
4 Rise of the Dark Realms|M14
4 Sadistic Sacrament|ZEN
2 Silence the Believers|JOU
4 Spellbook|EXO
3 Strands of Undeath|RAV
4 Strangling Soot|TSP
4 Sudden Death|TSP
12 Swamp|TMP|1
9 Swamp|TMP|2
11 Swamp|TMP|3
6 Swamp|TMP|4
26 Swamp|ZEN|1
17 Swamp|ZEN|2
22 Swamp|ZEN|3
22 Swamp|ZEN|4
2 Terror|MRD
4 Three Tragedies|BOK
4 Unburden|SCG
2 Underworld Dreams|8ED
3 Wrench Mind|MRD
[Sideboard]


[Fizanko]

As i was nearing the 25 won streaks (that i had reached in a previous quest) that has some really nice reward, i decided to keep using and refining the Ravnica themed red/black deck i was building.

Fizanko-RavRedBlack | Open

[metadata]
Name=Fizanko-RavRedBlack
[Main]
2 Balustrade Spy|GTC
1 Bloodfray Giant|RTR
4 Deviant Glee|RTR
1 Flaring Flame-Kin|DIS
1 Foundry Street Denizen|GTC
3 Gore-House Chainwalker|RTR
2 Hellhole Flailer|RTR
1 Hellkite Tyrant|GTC
1 Legion Loyalist|GTC
3 Madcap Skills|GTC
1 Molten Primordial|GTC
10 Mountain|RTR|3
1 Necroplasm|RAV
1 Nettling Curse|DIS
1 Rain of Gore|DIS
2 Rakdos Cluestone|DGM
3 Rakdos Guildgate|RTR
1 Rakdos Keyrune|RTR
1 Rakdos Shred-Freak|RTR
1 Rakdos Signet|DIS
1 Rakdos's Return|RTR
1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots|RTR
1 Shadow Alley Denizen|GTC
1 Spike Jester|DGM
2 Stab Wound|RTR
1 Swamp|RTR|1
9 Swamp|RTR|4
1 Utvara Hellkite|RTR
1 War-Torch Goblin|RAV
1 Warmind Infantry|GTC
[Sideboard]

And it brought me there :


I incorporated immediately the Rakdos's Return in my deck.

From now i'll give a try to a black/green one, trying to make good use of that previously earned Vraska the Unseen card and that amazing Doubling Season that just popped up recently



I have a lot of fun with the 2 Ravnica blocks+expansions only quest, it really feels very balanced, out of the challenge i have not seen any decks based on utterly broken combos like in the Main World.
I have the feel i really "fought" to win most of my battle.

I am not used to the other worlds (and so blocks) , but i wonder, is Ravnica blocks considered the most balanced , or is there other ones that are as much ?

[friarsol]

My current deck is 31-0, playing with Wolf Pet and Plant Wall, although I have some code locally that you can't buy the next level of pet until your own level has reached the same level. So I wasn't able to level them up to level 4 until, 15 wins or whatever that number is. I think I'll be committing that sometime soon, as well as probably increasing the costs across the board of the pets.

If I remember, this deck started with the 5 mana Garruk and Heliod. Ante is on. Desolation Giant and Phytohydra are my unsung heroes, winning a lot of games by themselves.

RGW | Open

[metadata]
Name=rgw
[Main]
1 Angelic Overseer|ISD
1 Arid Mesa|ZEN
1 Armageddon|5ED
1 Copperline Gorge|SOM
1 Desolation Giant|APC
1 Dwarven Miner|MIR
1 Fiend Hunter|ISD
1 Fireblast|PD2
3 Forest|4ED|2
1 Garruk Wildspeaker|M10
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter|M13
1 Hammer of Bogardan|MIR
1 Heliod, God of the Sun|THS
1 Journey to Nowhere|COM
1 Jungle Shrine|ALA
1 Kird Ape|3ED
1 Lightning Bolt|M10
1 Lightning Helix|RAV
1 Mold Shambler|ZEN
3 Mountain|4ED|2
1 Mountain|4ED|3
1 Oblivion Ring|DDG
1 Path to Exile|ARC
1 Phytohydra|RAV
4 Plains|4ED|1
1 Selesnya Guildmage|ARC
1 Steward of Valeron|ALA
1 Stomping Ground|GPT
1 Taiga|2ED
1 Temple of Abandon|THS
1 White Knight|DDG
1 Windswept Heath|ONS
1 Yavimaya Elder|DDE
1 Zhur-Taa Swine|GTC
[Sideboard]
1 Comet Storm|COM
1 Disempower|MIR
1 Dragonmaster Outcast|WWK
1 Flame Slash|DDK
1 Hoofprints of the Stag|LRW
1 Imposing Sovereign|M14
1 Inquisitor Exarch|NPH
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast|NPH
1 Nantuko Monastery|JUD
1 Shatterstorm|ATQ
1 Slice and Dice|ONS
1 Squall Line|TSP
1 Squirrel Nest|ODY
1 Tranquility|4ED
1 Wax // Wane|ARC

[Xyx]

This deck I built in Ravnica, no travel, no pets. 29/5 record. It's gotten to the point where it's hard to make improvements, but as it's Ravnica-only it's not super special. Does give a good idea of my general approach, though (which is RDW).

Ravnica | Open

1 Annihilating Fire|RTR
1 Boros Reckoner|GTC
1 Burning-Tree Emissary|GTC
1 Firefist Striker|GTC
1 Five-Alarm Fire|GTC
2 Foundry Street Denizen|GTC
1 Frostburn Weird|RTR
2 Gore-House Chainwalker|RTR
1 Legion Loyalist|GTC
2 Madcap Skills|GTC
1 Mizzium Mortars|RTR
1 Mountain|RAV|2
2 Mountain|RAV|3
1 Mountain|RAV|4
8 Mountain|RTR|3
4 Mugging|GTC
2 Pyrewild Shaman|DGM
1 Rakdos Cackler|RTR
2 Rakdos Carnarium|DIS
1 Rakdos Guildmage|DIS
2 Rakdos Shred-Freak|RTR
2 Rubblebelt Maaka|DGM

This deck I built in Shandalar, no travel, no pets. 28/1 record. It's about halfway done. It started out as RDW but had enough good Blue stuff added that it morphed into more of a control deck. My go-to cards are Power, Mishra's Factory and Strip Mine, though here I haven't yet found more than a few Strip Mines.

Shandalar | Open

2 Air Elemental|4ED
1 Clay Statue|4ED
1 Clay Statue|ATQ
1 Control Magic|2ED
1 Control Magic|4ED
2 Counterspell|2ED
1 Counterspell|4ED
1 Earthquake|3ED
1 Fireball|3ED
1 Flood|4ED
3 Island|2ED|1
5 Island|2ED|3
1 Jayemdae Tome|3ED
2 Lightning Bolt|2ED
2 Lightning Bolt|3ED
1 Mana Drain|LEG
1 Manabarbs|2ED
6 Mountain|2ED|2
1 Phantom Monster|4ED
1 Sol Ring|2ED
2 Strip Mine|4ED
1 Triskelion|ATQ
2 Yotian Soldier|ATQ

This is the deck I used for the first quest I played. 75/1 record. Main world, unlimited travel. I think I used pets, too. All super broken. This is the natural evolution of the previous deck, with more broken Blue stuff and only the sweetest burn.

Broken | Open

1 Ancestral Recall|2ED
1 Ancestral Recall|LEB
3 Black Lotus|2ED
1 Chandra Nalaar|LRW
1 Compulsive Research|RAV
1 Control Magic|2ED
1 Control Magic|LEB
1 Izzet Boilerworks|GPT
1 Izzet Charm|RTR
1 Library of Alexandria|ARN
4 Lightning Bolt|2ED
2 Mana Drain|LEG
2 Manabarbs|2ED
1 Mishra's Factory|4ED
1 Mishra's Factory|ATQ|3
1 Mishra's Factory|ATQ|4
2 Mox Ruby|2ED
1 Mox Sapphire|2ED
1 Mox Sapphire|LEB
2 Preordain|DDI
1 Sol Ring|2ED
1 Sol Ring|3ED
3 Strip Mine|ATQ|4
1 Su-Chi|ATQ
1 Time Walk|2ED
2 Volcanic Island|2ED
2 Volcanic Island|3ED

[friarsol]

This deck I built in Ravnica, no travel, no pets. 29/5 record. It's gotten to the point where it's hard to make improvements, but as it's Ravnica-only it's not super special. Does give a good idea of my general approach, though (which is RDW).

I'm mostly curious, don't you find your general approach rather... boring? Picking the same color everytime and just building from there? I generally build a 3 color deck with the strong cards, basically the same as I'd build a limited deck (or 2 if I get a strong enough pool), and keep that until some specific synergistic cards fill in enough gaps, like when I was getting a whole bunch of GU cards that cared about drawing cards.

I would think getting rid of 80% of the card pool by default, I'd never get to play with a whole bunch of the cards from the time in the middle years of Magic that I'm less familiar with, which is really one of the things I like the most about Quest. I mean I guess it's fine if you like it, but I would never recommend that for other people.

[Xyx]

don't you find your general approach rather... boring?

Not the first time. I would probably go down a different path if I were to replay a particular quest world.

Also, my pool does not always permit a red deck right away. My first quest's pool was Hero of Bladehold, some OK green stuff and no decent red stuff, so I played a green/white deck for the first dozen duels. But the thing about RDW is that its cards are very easy to get, lots of commons, so it doesn't take long to get it up to speed.

RDW is a very straightforward deck, so it's a little dull in that regard, but on the upside the games are fast and often tense enough that they rarely get boring. If you win, it's usually either very quickly or after getting put on the back foot and topdecking burn the turn before you would die. There's no games where you know you'll probably win but it still takes you 20 turns. Mostly fast, always furious.

[timmermac]

Another question for everybody, as I delete all of my quests and start over with a main-world, all-set quest going with an Elf deck. How many cards do you allow to accumulate in your quest card pool? Do you have a no-sell policy? Do you try to get 100% completion on all sets? Does the client start complaining if you get too many cards in your pool?

[friarsol]

How many cards do you allow to accumulate in your quest card pool? Do you have a no-sell policy?

Early on I basically sell all the cards that aren't good enough for my deck/sideboard or are in off-colors, especially if it's not a card I might later build around. There are a handful of times where I'll have a card that I know I can't quite play yet, but may fit into the color scheme I have that I hold on to. Typically, I'll sell a decent amount in the first 10-15 matches, unless I need something from the shop, so I sell more immediately. Once I get over like 25 wins, I don't sell all that much unless I'm just trying to clean out my collection.

I never travel outside of Standard Quest, I usually level the Plant only to level 3, and the Pet up to the max. And once I start fighting only Hard decks, I'll buy up to 20 life.