Challenge of the Fortnight 2 October 15 2008

[Logress]

We've finally gone through all the entries and are now ready to announce the winners of our challenge. There was a little bit of misunderstanding in the beginning regarding whether the challenge required the use of the two challenge cards together or apart, but after that was cleared up, we received quite a number of fantastic Files. Granted, most were Ignition Files, but everyone was able to see the utility of the challenge cards in the end, so all was good. Now, without further ado...

Rapidshot Magic Archer
Iczer: Teasel
File Name: None
Soul Cards
1) Sage Owl
2) Judge of Heretics / Bardia
3) Sylph Soldier
4) Lapierre
5) Lapierre

Unit Cards
3 Rapidshot Magic Archer
3 Folrart Shield Knight
3 Wind Sorceress / Femiel
2 Enchanter
3 Folrart Paladin
3 Ruby Carbuncle
3 Deep Squid
2 Wizard Soldier Apprentice

1 Will'o the Wisp


Grimoire Cards
2 Recovery Powder



This File essentially plays like a Falkow swarming File in the end. Where it diverges is having ways to offset the Rapidshot Magic Archer's weaknesses, but at the same time strengthen the other units on the field. The only true support units in the File are the Enchanter and the Will'o the Wisp. So because all other units are capable of both buffing and attacking, the File won't crumble if any one unit is taken down. In our testing, this particular File was able to stand toe to toe with many other Files out there.

Once the Rapidshot Magic Archer is out, the boosts from Femiel, the Enchanter, the Wizard Soldier Apprentice, and hopefully the Soul Skill will ensure that the archer goes first, hits hard, and be able to take a hit or two. 30 and 60 damage really are the magic numbers for efficiently putting down Units, and she can do both. Using her action skill is completely optional depending on field conditions. You may use her to take down a front-line unit, or if there are more units in the back with low hp, rain your magic arrows on your foe's ranged and support units. Either way, the option is there, and this File is definitely about options. Without the archer, the units on the field are good, but she adds just the right elements to make things tough for your opponents.

What it comes right down to is the fact that the Rapidshot Magic Archer is a threat on the field. A pretty major threat because she can hit any enemy unit if not dealt with right away. And with her obvious place in your back row, your rival Iczer is forced to expend limited resources in order to contain her, drawing fire away from your pretty effective first and second rows. And even if they do manage to get to her, you have the option of moving the Enchanter's attack or range bonus to something else, like the Wizard Solider Apprentice right next to her. She's the classic example of having an open-ended field position, as well as the higher-level tactic of misdirection, both important things for evolving Iczers.


Ignition
Iczer: Gota
File Name: None

Soul Cards
1) Dryad Soldier
2) Azure Beastmaster
3) Sun and Birth / Weissvogel
4) Fire and Gaia / Rougeerst
5) The Solar Eclipse / Alphonce

Unit Cards
2 Dryad
2 Wise Swordsman / Steel
3 Blitz Soldier
3 Bellydancer / Kurina
1 EX: The Red Mantle / DeFau
3 Roaming Predator / Asuet
1 Exploding Spores
1 Salamander
3 Highland-born Hunter
3 Combat Monk


Grimoire Cards
2x Ignition
1x Rapid Growth

We received many Ignition Files, but this one stood out the most. It may not be the most effective file out there during testing, but the concept of placing an Ignition on Wise Swordsman / Steel was just too irresistible to ignore. While most other Files focused on placing the Ignition on big units and attacking with them to achieve field dominance, this one was more elegant and gives Gowen what it needs most, versatility. Also, giving a huge AT score to something that's already big and mean doesn't serve much help if that unit can already take down most units in one shot without Ignition.

The setup was surprisingly easy to achieve, though maintaining your field position proved to be more difficult. Steel's ability is a Start Skill that adds his AT to a warrior of his choice, a great open-ended tactic that can make your Blitz Soldier, Roaming Predator / Asuet, or Highland-born Hunter a force to be reckoned with. The main weakness of the File was in terms of agility, and it was hard to get up to speed against the faster Files out there. Still, the concept is there, and more combinations exist to offset that agility disadvantage. One only needs to look towards Falkow for some excellent solutions, both in terms of agility manipulation as well as some warriors who are fleet of foot.

In the end, Ignition is an often-overlooked card with some fantastic potential. The point of this particular challenge was an exercise in the timing of phases. The way skills trigger is in the order of Open Skill, Soul Skill, Start Skill. So by using this to your advantage, it's possible to Ignition your Steel, have him fully healed by your Weissvogel or Rougeerst Soul Skills, and then ready to give his bonus to a warrior of your choice. It's a pretty unpredictable move to make, and you still have leeway of one turn to get your Steel out of death-by-Salamander range, whether it's by having a way to heal them, standing by, or even a healing/HP gain spell the following turn. Open skills resolve at the same time, so even if your opponent uses a damage Grimoire or Open Skill, the healing effect happens at the same time, saving your unit. Something to keep in mind.


Honorable Mention
Ignition
Iczer: KitsuneKit
File Name: Snakes on a Flame MKII

Soul Cards
1) Lycanthrope [Serpah]
2) Solar Prince / Verlaat
3) Solar Prince / Verlaat
4) Fire and Gaia / Rougeerest
5) Fire and Gaia / Rougeerest

Unit Cards
1 EX: The Red Mantle / DeFau
3 Coatl
2 Priestess of the Holy Weapon
3 Salamander
2 Salamander Soldier
3 Exploding Spores

Grimoire Cards
3 Blessing
3 Burning Sun
2 Recovery Powder
1 Ignition
2 Cure

Not only does this File have an interesting name, it also was the only one to follow the not-so-subtle implication that Refess would benefit most from Ignition. After all, with high HP and low AT, you can’t deny that Ignition is filling a need. An Ignitioned Coatl is a monster on the field that will take down most units in one shot, and will probably get multiple attacks for round thanks to its Counter ability. It's actually a fairly obvious choice due to its high HP. The hope was some Iczers would uncover the overwhelming power of an Ignitioned Phoenix, a regenerating monster of a unit that can kill all but one dragon in a single blow. The fact that it has regeneration can means you don’t necessarily need to time it with a healing soul skill right off the bat. Not to mention the sheer joy of setting your fiery Phoenix ablaze.


Challenge of the Fortnight 2

With the ending of the first challenge comes the beginning of the next one. Now that everyone knows the rules, let's just get down to business. As promised, the challenges will only revolve around one card from this moment forth. And since we've already covered Refess and Gowen, let's move on to Lawtia. There are plenty of powerhouses to be found in the sphere, but there is one glaring black sheep of the family, and that unit is...

Ancient Zombie Lord

Before you all go, "That unit is useless!" remember the point of this challenge. Most people will at first glance notice how inefficient this unit is in terms of its statistics. At 50 HP and 20 AT, it's definitely on the weak end of the spectrum for level 4 units to say the least. And its 2 AGI and 1 RNG sure don't help matters. And it can kill itself for 0 SP as an Action Skill, so it's almost as if Ancient Zombie Lord wants to die. How could it possibly be a useful card? Well, why don't we find out together? There are some subtle benefits to the card, and we will explore some of them briefly to get the gears in your minds churning.

1) 0 SP revival. It basically revives for free since its Close Skill gives you the 1 SP you need to bring it back.

2) Instant Soul Skill activation. You can choose to activate its ability and let it die, allowing you to activate your Soul Skill the next turn as you choose.

3) Get rewarded for sacrificing. Need a sacrificial lamb for Phimilliar, Sacrifice, or Dical’s Soul Skill? Here's your perfect candidate. Not only do you get the choice of sacrificing him for free three times, you also get an extra SP should you choose to let him go.

There are more combinations out there, and more potential uses for Ancient Zombie Lord. It's up to you Iczers to find them. Don't forget the prize, 150 Gran plus two rarity 2 cards of my choice.



--CSquared

[DanTheTimid]

How come no iczer name was listed for the Rapid Shot Magic Archer card file? Was that a home brewed card file of your own because you didn't get anything you felt was truly good submitted to you?

I love the ignition files, they make much better use of ignition then most of my initial thoughts (which in almost all cases would work just as well if not better with just a magic weapon) and though I question just how viable they truly would be against top decks I think they could at least hold their own against the average deck.

The RMA deck... eh... it certainly makes better use of RMA then I've seen anyone use her, but it still seems to me like an awful lot of work is being invested into making her a threat (and dual-sphering) that would be better invested in units who are already threats (Magic Scythe Soldier, etc) and focusing on a single sphere. I also question if you couldn't just replace RMA with say a Wizard Archer of Regus and have the deck actually be better for it since she costs less, hits harder, and gets to pinpoint her target. Throw in some extra range and attack from enchanter and unlike RMA whose only a threat in theory (her huge range and lack of pinpoint means your odds of hitting the target(s) you desire are often extremely low) WAoR has the potential to really put fear in the hearts of opponents. You might also consider rifleman knight too for almost identical stats to RMA (including that 5 RNG) yet being only level 1!

I'm still iffy about ignition but this challenge atleast opened my eyes that it may indeed have some worth while combos. RMA... still not convinced she's worth a level 3 investment. Guess I got my hopes up a little high for something that would blow me away of just how useful she could be.

[Logress]

The missing Iczer name is a mistake... will fix.

I can't explain exactly why RMA works so well here, but she does. It's more of a combination of factors, right amount of damage, enough HP to survive a salamander, salamander soldier or an exploding spore, (the latter which are so ridiculously common, 10 HP units pretty much are not an option right now), the ability to hit the back row from the back row, she can't pinpoint but if you're trying to hit a 30 HP unit, using her ability doubles her chances. The other advantage of Regus Archer is the 10 extra damage, so you don't need the Apprentice to hit magic number 60 but why wouldn't you want him? He's a great unit, he can pump up one of your other cards at the same time and does a much appreciated 30 damage at range. All of these factors and the synergy she has with the other cards really make a difference. For example, with the Wind sorceress able to wound a bunch of the enemies for 20 damage, it's very likely RMA will have a chance to pick off two units at once. If you're up against Lawtia, they often run nothing but a few super units that are vulnerable to 60 damage strikes and have trouble clearing swarms so their unlikely to get to the RMA in time. The AGI bonus in the soul cards and on the Wind Sorceress more than make up for low any AGI cards. The one thing to consider is adding more sacrifice units to trigger your soul cards while you have as much on the field as possible.

Even if this deck is decimated by a few row clearings or something else, it has a surprisingly effective recovery, you just bring out your Squid and he works really well with the Wind Sorceress, RMA, the Apprentice or Enchanter, if just one or two of them survived you'll have a strong endgame.

[kitsunekit]

Heehee my deck got special mention; Yay! ^o^b

And I got a free counter-attack. Very funny Csquared >.>' lol Coatl...Counter Attack...not Ignition...get it? I thought I did XDDDD Thank you *bows*

And just incase anyone is wondering, the salamanders/soldiers are there to hit your own Coatl (for free counter-attacks), while the Priestess is there to heal your Coatl after the Salamander/Soldier hits AND to destroy the inevitable high DEF opponents that will appear given the Coatl's backdraw. The salamanders are also there to activate the soul cards...

Also, you got my Soul Cards out of order. I go Verlaat-Rogueerst-Verlaat-Rogueerst.

And I would have used more Ignition if I owned 1-2 more...

[teasel]

well i'm surprised i won... to tell the truth i tought of adding vordore to the deck since RMA needs all the attack it can get but then at that point it would be vordore who would win the game... it would just be another vordore deck which just runned some refess card so i thought of something else instead

[Gota]

Yay!

This event is fun =) I'm really enjoying it.

Even though I don't have the cards to test it out, I'm glad that the combos and combination of cards that hit me is going to be tested + used rather than staying as imagination =D

Though the files in this event might not exactly be super competitive, but it sure will be a lot of fun to duel with and/or against. Seeing the same decks over and over again that are the top dog in the arenas sure isn't fun .. I'd like to see more "fun" decks in the arenas than "win" decks :/ Don't some people get tired of winning with the same top 'meta' deck? *-* have some fun!

Also, looking at what else other people have thought of as well are really nice inspirations.

-Kudos to whoever thought of this event =D

[teasel]

sooooo... i don't want to sound pushy but when do we get ze prize?

[Gota]

I've gotten mine already =x

They put it in my Gota account at first, then I had to request it to transfer to my current account, since I don't play my Gota account anymore. So maybe its in your teasel account.

[teasel]

problem is i only have a teasel account

[Peralisc2]

This "ancient zombie" request is ment to annoy us to no end. :/
Almost anyone knows something much better to replace it with.
The other 2 cards seem so much better.

Anyone got an idea, but wonder if it's worth anything.