Post by Erik G. on Sept 3, 2013 20:22:09 GMT
So I hope people are starting to experiment with making their own decks. This game can be tricky in the sense that a lot of cards seem very powerful and you might just want them all. At the same time, some cards may not seem worth it to include in your deck at all, but all of that can be very deceiving. So I'm going to give you guys 3 tips for making effective AIR:FiM Decks.
1) Pick a Strategy, Commit, and Synergize
This game is all about synergy. The better your cards can work together, the more effective they will be at helping you win the game. This means that throwing in cards for the sake of having them may not yield the best results. Even the strongest of cards like Princess Celestia or Nightmare Moon cannot be used to their full potential without support.
A good way to start is by using cards with Friendships. In my Cutie Mark Crusader deck, which contains Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, it's obvious that those three offer me a stead stream of Harmony, Honesty, Generosity, and Loyalty. Their flaw is that if one of them is missing they don't give me the Harmony I need. Applebloom is the lynchpin to ensuring the Crusaders can all come out. So the strategy is no longer just to get all the crusaders out, it's to get Applebloom into my hand so that I can get the Crusaders out.
This is why the deck runs Apple Family Reunions, since with only one Apple Family character I really want, I either can fetch for Applebloom or I don't need to. But why stop there? Why not throw in Red Gala who not only is a low costing Element producer, but basically becomes an Honesty Vinyl Scratch with Applebloom out. Also, Twist how generally gains me Harmony but also gives me an Element with Applebloom Basically, I start a chain reaction where Red Gala and Twist gain me Harmony for Applebloom, who gains Harmony with the other crusaders, who also gain Harmony from each other. In total, these five cards gain me 5 Harmony a turn, 1 Honesty, 1 Generosity, 1 Loyalty, and 2 Elements of my choice because they all work together. This all stemming from my commitment to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Alternatively, your strategy can be more of a blanket strategy of using a particular Element to it's fullest potential. In which case you still need to find the best cards with that Element to create synergy with. The Sparkle family for example is a good one for Magic, having a good number of different Twilight Sparkles, a good Cadance who can be your main source of Harmony, and Shining Armor who can protect them. Sometimes though being able to support that strategy within the Element could prove harder than not.
2) Consider Going Multi-Element over Single Element
It's tempting to choose a single Element if you want to just make a deck with your favorite of the Mane6. However, each Element has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses. Generosity for example, is the fastest at gaining Elements but has low Harmony. Magic on the other hand builds up it's Harmony quicker but gains Elements are at an average to slower pace than the other Elements. Combining the two means that you can have your faster Element gain with big Harmony gain to make it easier to claim victory.
This game was designed so that the Elements have two others they work well with and two that share an opposite strategy. It works like this
Magic works well with Kindness and Generosity.
Generosity works well with Magic and Laughter.
Laughter works well with Generosity and Loyalty.
Loyalty works well with Laughter and Honesty.
Honesty works well with Loyalty and Kindness.
And Kindness works well with Honesty and Magic.
It can go a bit deeper as well. Kindness, Magic, and Generosity are the more defensive types, with Magic having a bit more offense than the other two while Laughter, Loyalty, and Honesty are more offensive with Laughter being a bit more chaotic and the others more focused. Your strategy will determine what kind of Elements you should use, but it's not always such a clear and cut answer.
For example, Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon is difficult to use because she requires a constant fuel of Generosity and Harmony to pick things off. Her cost also makes her deceptively difficult to pull out (not actually that hard for a pure Generosity deck). So the question comes in how to keep giving her the Harmony to use her ability, and how to gain Harmony to win the game after she has weakened your opponent's team? Well first let's look at the two Elements Generosity best works with: Magic and Laughter. Magic obviously has cards like Vinyl Scratch, Fire of Friendship, maybe even Letter to the Princess to gain you Harmony. Alternatively, Laughter can gain Harmony in bigger chunks and can use cards like Corrupting Mist to gain fuel and stall opponent's from winning (it's also free with Nightmare Moon out). These offer very good sources of fuel for Nightmare Moon.
But then we can also observe how the deck works with any other Element. If the point of the deck is to use Nightmare Moon to keep your opponent's team low, consider the removal capabilities of Honesty. If you want to go quicker, Loyalty offers quick starts that can finish off by the usually end game focused Generosity. You can stall opponents even more effectively by using Kindness cards that blur, protect, or end turns, giving Nightmare Moon enough time to generate some Harmony. All in all, it doesn't really matter which Element combination you choose, but just know that 2 Elements working together in Harmony is better than 1 Element trying to win by itself.
3) Be Prepared to Cover Weaknesses, But Don't Go Overboard
In this game, you can go from winning to losing pretty quickly depending on your strategy. For me, Princess Cadance is always a scary character to stare down, because her +7 Harmony gain with Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle means you only have a few turns to deal with her before she wins it for your opponent. Not every deck can be filled to the brim with removal cards (a bad idea by the way) but you need to be prepared for like that with some way of stopping her. (I prefer Plain and Simple Attire, as it can neutralize a threat with Protected, even though it doesn't stop other character's Friendships from happening).
Alternatively, the weakness can be from your own deck. Once I played a game where my Cutie Mark Crusader deck got hit by Night Time Eternal while I had Cutie Mark Crusader Theme Song out, with no way of replacing the Crusaders. This meant that losing Elements every turn and not gaining any back or any Harmony. I eventually just had to run out of one of my Elements to let the card be forgotten. Nowadays, I run Doesn't Make Any Sense specifically to get rid of my own lingering memories once they stop helping. There are plenty of instances where cards have a high risk high reward factor where your risk doesn't pay off and you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. This kind of analysis of your deck will help prevent self-inflicted losses.
But don't go overboard. Some strategies might hinder your deck but still not be the worst possible thing. For example, a deck that wants to gain Harmony quickly and remove all potential threats is going to end up being bad at both.
1) Pick a Strategy, Commit, and Synergize
This game is all about synergy. The better your cards can work together, the more effective they will be at helping you win the game. This means that throwing in cards for the sake of having them may not yield the best results. Even the strongest of cards like Princess Celestia or Nightmare Moon cannot be used to their full potential without support.
A good way to start is by using cards with Friendships. In my Cutie Mark Crusader deck, which contains Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, it's obvious that those three offer me a stead stream of Harmony, Honesty, Generosity, and Loyalty. Their flaw is that if one of them is missing they don't give me the Harmony I need. Applebloom is the lynchpin to ensuring the Crusaders can all come out. So the strategy is no longer just to get all the crusaders out, it's to get Applebloom into my hand so that I can get the Crusaders out.
This is why the deck runs Apple Family Reunions, since with only one Apple Family character I really want, I either can fetch for Applebloom or I don't need to. But why stop there? Why not throw in Red Gala who not only is a low costing Element producer, but basically becomes an Honesty Vinyl Scratch with Applebloom out. Also, Twist how generally gains me Harmony but also gives me an Element with Applebloom Basically, I start a chain reaction where Red Gala and Twist gain me Harmony for Applebloom, who gains Harmony with the other crusaders, who also gain Harmony from each other. In total, these five cards gain me 5 Harmony a turn, 1 Honesty, 1 Generosity, 1 Loyalty, and 2 Elements of my choice because they all work together. This all stemming from my commitment to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Alternatively, your strategy can be more of a blanket strategy of using a particular Element to it's fullest potential. In which case you still need to find the best cards with that Element to create synergy with. The Sparkle family for example is a good one for Magic, having a good number of different Twilight Sparkles, a good Cadance who can be your main source of Harmony, and Shining Armor who can protect them. Sometimes though being able to support that strategy within the Element could prove harder than not.
2) Consider Going Multi-Element over Single Element
It's tempting to choose a single Element if you want to just make a deck with your favorite of the Mane6. However, each Element has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses. Generosity for example, is the fastest at gaining Elements but has low Harmony. Magic on the other hand builds up it's Harmony quicker but gains Elements are at an average to slower pace than the other Elements. Combining the two means that you can have your faster Element gain with big Harmony gain to make it easier to claim victory.
This game was designed so that the Elements have two others they work well with and two that share an opposite strategy. It works like this
Magic works well with Kindness and Generosity.
Generosity works well with Magic and Laughter.
Laughter works well with Generosity and Loyalty.
Loyalty works well with Laughter and Honesty.
Honesty works well with Loyalty and Kindness.
And Kindness works well with Honesty and Magic.
It can go a bit deeper as well. Kindness, Magic, and Generosity are the more defensive types, with Magic having a bit more offense than the other two while Laughter, Loyalty, and Honesty are more offensive with Laughter being a bit more chaotic and the others more focused. Your strategy will determine what kind of Elements you should use, but it's not always such a clear and cut answer.
For example, Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon is difficult to use because she requires a constant fuel of Generosity and Harmony to pick things off. Her cost also makes her deceptively difficult to pull out (not actually that hard for a pure Generosity deck). So the question comes in how to keep giving her the Harmony to use her ability, and how to gain Harmony to win the game after she has weakened your opponent's team? Well first let's look at the two Elements Generosity best works with: Magic and Laughter. Magic obviously has cards like Vinyl Scratch, Fire of Friendship, maybe even Letter to the Princess to gain you Harmony. Alternatively, Laughter can gain Harmony in bigger chunks and can use cards like Corrupting Mist to gain fuel and stall opponent's from winning (it's also free with Nightmare Moon out). These offer very good sources of fuel for Nightmare Moon.
But then we can also observe how the deck works with any other Element. If the point of the deck is to use Nightmare Moon to keep your opponent's team low, consider the removal capabilities of Honesty. If you want to go quicker, Loyalty offers quick starts that can finish off by the usually end game focused Generosity. You can stall opponents even more effectively by using Kindness cards that blur, protect, or end turns, giving Nightmare Moon enough time to generate some Harmony. All in all, it doesn't really matter which Element combination you choose, but just know that 2 Elements working together in Harmony is better than 1 Element trying to win by itself.
3) Be Prepared to Cover Weaknesses, But Don't Go Overboard
In this game, you can go from winning to losing pretty quickly depending on your strategy. For me, Princess Cadance is always a scary character to stare down, because her +7 Harmony gain with Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle means you only have a few turns to deal with her before she wins it for your opponent. Not every deck can be filled to the brim with removal cards (a bad idea by the way) but you need to be prepared for like that with some way of stopping her. (I prefer Plain and Simple Attire, as it can neutralize a threat with Protected, even though it doesn't stop other character's Friendships from happening).
Alternatively, the weakness can be from your own deck. Once I played a game where my Cutie Mark Crusader deck got hit by Night Time Eternal while I had Cutie Mark Crusader Theme Song out, with no way of replacing the Crusaders. This meant that losing Elements every turn and not gaining any back or any Harmony. I eventually just had to run out of one of my Elements to let the card be forgotten. Nowadays, I run Doesn't Make Any Sense specifically to get rid of my own lingering memories once they stop helping. There are plenty of instances where cards have a high risk high reward factor where your risk doesn't pay off and you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. This kind of analysis of your deck will help prevent self-inflicted losses.
But don't go overboard. Some strategies might hinder your deck but still not be the worst possible thing. For example, a deck that wants to gain Harmony quickly and remove all potential threats is going to end up being bad at both.