Challenge #3 (contains spoilers)

[aww1979]

Wow... this one was hard. I tried all kinds of stuff; avatar of hope, lifegain, weenie, control, as well as my 'i hate winter orb' deck, and a modified version, and nothing worked. It's really, really hard to win when you get smacked for lightning bolt/lava spike/fireblast on turn 2 and started with 6 life or something. (nothing like a turn 2 tidehollow sculler, only to realize... you won't get a turn 3)

Anyway, I finally beat it, after taking a page from Shandalar and making a Black Vise deck, sped along with affinity, card draw, some very nice lands, Etherium Sculptor, and the titular Master of Etherium. The 19 mana count didn't actually impede me much at all, since several gave more than 1 mana point, and affinity and the Sculptors meant I very rarely paid more than about 2 or 3 for any spell, and often cost zero. Dropping a 15/15 Master of Etherium for U is... fun, and oh look, he pumps my other dudes, too!

I give you... the Master of Etherium deck.

;master of etherium
;
;#oldgames
;
;11/08/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.510 4 Mishra's Workshop
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1879 4 Etherium Sculptor
.1706 4 Master of Etherium
.1547 4 Frogmite
.1548 4 Myr Enforcer
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.249 1 Time Walk
.1521 4 Font of Mythos
.114 4 Howling Mine
.1216 4 Seat of the Synod
.17 1 Black Lotus
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.230 1 Sol Ring
.126 3 Island
.18 4 Black Vise
.1666 4 Thoughtcast
.1891 4 Echoing Truth
.287 3 Winter Orb

I tried a few versions of this deck. Broodstar stunk, due to the UU in the cost. Somber Hoverguard was a little better, but I ended up ditching them for the 4 Echoing Truth in order to handle permanents, which was key in several games. 3 Winter Orbs took the place of timetwister/windfall/island to slow the opponents down; I barely noticed them on my turns, given the full moxen set and workshops/academy.

I nearly lost the last game when the AI disenchanted a Frogmite, clearing a path for his Isamaru, but I fortunately had Echoing Truth ready It also synergizes well with Black Vise.

The unlocked card is Mystic Remora, and the name of challenge #4 is Onslaught, but I stayed up late enough tonight that I'm not touching that until tomorrow!

[somacat]

Yeah this was a tougher challenge than the first two. As I said in another thread, be glad jatill changed the last deck from a red burn deck! That was almost impossible to beat in testing.

aww1979, I think you need to download the update to challenge mode (featuring round 6). It will also unlock an extra card for you from winning round 2, and an extra 2 cards from beating round 3! I'm not sure which ones though, I'd beaten these modes already when jatill updated. The update is on page 3 of the Challenge mode thread.

Challenge 4 I think is my favourite. Good luck on it!

[Zeek]

For me the decks are in rather random order. I sometimes see the burn deck in the 12-6 starting life area.

Yeah, this one is incredibly hard. Honestly, for most of the matches, Tendrils of Agony is the best. However, there's almost no answer to turn one 2/1 creatures when you start with 2 or 4 life.

I had a bit of luck with WUG fish, trying to use Aether Vial and Standstill to either get cheap draw or stall the game. All the creatures are 2 casting cost, and Meddling Mage works very well naming those "all other [creature type] get +1/+1" creatures in swarm matchups. Gaddock Teeg is also a nice way to say no to Force of Will (which I opted not to run because the "pay one life" sometimes was the dealbreaker) along with other big name spells. But the problem with Fish is that the merfolk deck would islandwalk all over it, whereas most other decks could be blocked. Elves can technically forestwalk over it too, but the difference is with no counters, Elvish Champion can be removed, or even better, named with a Meddling Mage which is sure to resolve and cast a turn earlier.

Lifelink.dec also had the landwalk issues, although if it lasts long enough, it does have that "fog on a stick" legendary cleric. It also contains a Test of Endurance if I can't get damage through, but yeah, sometimes it's too slow to start, with Vial taking too many turns to reach 3 counters without disruption backup.

I eventually had to kinda cheat the system to avoid having to replay 7-8 games just for a new shot at getting lucky enough to win the last 2 and get to the 4th challenge. I try to win 9 in a row, but absolutely no deck can 100% guarentee 1st turn answers, and sometimes you may not see turn 2.

[MalkolmX]

Zeek did you got the card rewards using the best of 3 tactic?

[jatill]

Zeek-
Please do not share cheats (and edit your post above). Thanks.

[aww1979]

Yeah, the decks are in random order, except the last one is always the same. It has a lot of shadow dudes and 2/1 weenies and stuff to try and take your precious 2 life away quick. The burn deck seems to show up most often around the 4-8 life mark, but I've seen it as early as 18, too.

Somacat: I didn't know there was another update! I'll be sure to get that right away.

Zeek: I tried a Tendrils deck at one point, actually, but when the AI dropped a turn 2 Gaddock Teeg in one match, I had to concede, and I didn't run Tendrils again after that.

edit: Ok I installed the 7/28 update, and I see new cards in the deckbuilder. Could someone post which of these should be unlocked after completing challenges 1,2,3, so I don't have to test 18 cards? Since I had the old version, I only know I unlocked Mystic Enforcer, City of Traitors, and Mystic Remora.

[aww1979]

Bug report (put here to avoid spoiler in bug thread)

Against the Meddling Mage challenge, my hand size keeps shrinking permanently by 1, until the 8th turn, when I am asked to discard even with no cards in hand and cannot escape this dialogue, and must quit.

[Zeek]

Bug report (put here to avoid spoiler in bug thread)

Against the Meddling Mage challenge, my hand size keeps shrinking permanently by 1, until the 8th turn, when I am asked to discard even with no cards in hand and cannot escape this dialogue, and must quit.

The Meddling Mage thing is buggy. I had it call the same cards multiple times because of topdecked land, and while I couldn't cast spells called once, spells called twice were castable, and actually required no colorless mana (Moat cost only WW, Platinum Angel cost 0, etc). Because of this, I found the challenge rather easy. >_>

[reng0r0]

I can't believe I beat this one. Sheer luck I tell you. On the last match I got a battlegrace angel out on turn two thanks to black lotus and turned the tides rather quickly.

[jackthelad]

This one is tricky. I think it'd help a lot to draw the direct damage guy early one, as the two times i've faced him, he's killed me immediately (having 4 and 6 life respectively). The other decks don't seem too bad so far, although I haven't reached the boss yet. I'm tempted to play sneak attack deck just for the speed; although combo elves and my anti-aggro deck cruised through until the direct damage guy, they take soooo long to win.

[Zeek]

Yeah, part of the challenge is in the variety. Back in challenge 1, if your opening hand was land, mox, oath, greaves, by second turn you had sealed the deal if Platinum Angel was oathed into play. Most times, the greaves were redundant.

The fun part of this challenge is activating Mirror Universe early on. Unfortunately, that typically doesn't hit play until turn 2, and won't activate until the upkeep of 3, which may be too late. Although Workshop Affinity may give you enough blocking power to last that long.

[Salbei]

this is the list i´ve used to beat challenge 3.
mirror universe won the last two battles for me while i was barricading behind multiple isochron scepters with swords to plowshares and lightning helix imprinted.iso+ancestral recal is nice to have aswell.
balance is a monster in this one. got an empty hand on turn 2 and threw a balance at game 7 with one land in play

mulligans:i just had to take 2 mulligans with shaky hands. usually as soon as you got 2 isochron scepters online you are safe.you need one iso at turn 2 or 3+ spot removal spells to keep a hand.
i got paired to a nimble mongoose deck (shroud) ,was a tough fight. was glad i got 2 lightning helix imprinted.
the divining tops where really good in this to fetch what you need.you might wanna add a mystical tutor.

the deck seems to do the job pretty well.

Code: Select all

;iso helix
;
;Salbei
;User E-Mail
;17/08/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.10   1   Balance
.240   4   Swords to Plowshares
.1965   4   Isochron Scepter
.1254   4   Incinerate
.145   4   Lightning Bolt
.1888   4   City of Traitors
.189   4   Plateau
.457   4   Mox Diamond
.165   1   Mox Emerald
.166   1   Mox Jet
.167   1   Mox Pearl
.168   1   Mox Ruby
.169   1   Mox Sapphire
.230   1   Sol Ring
.254   4   Tundra
.1   1   Ancestral Recall
.266   4   Volcanic Island
.499   1   Brainstorm
.249   1   Time Walk
.312   1   Ponder
.402   2   Sensei's Divining Top
.1729   4   Standstill
.1328   4   Lightning Helix
.1351   1   Tinker
.725   2   Mirror Universe



[reng0r0]

I might have to try out that ISO deck. Very cool! I always that it would be too slow, but maybe not. I just wish Orim's Chant or Silence were coded...such a beast on Isochron Scepter.

[Salbei]

you really just need stp or helix on it to beat the challenge.there are just 2 matchups that can get tricky.
it is not the fastest deck in the world , but it is consistant enough to beat this challenge.
slow and steady wins the race

standstill in there feels like bugusing but hey - the AI had started to cheat first

[Reid]

I just finished this one. IMHO it was easier than the first two. I beat it with a simple elves deck with some white cards. There are only few decks which can destroy Worship which has been my triumph card for the last match.