Challenge of the Fortnight 5 12/17/08 - 12/31/08 Results

It's that time of the fortnight again when the jury's walking back in and ready to deliver a final verdict. As always, we'd like to thank all participants in this CotF,  and everyone had some interesting ideas. Hopefully, Holy Mother of Blood / Velvet may see more use in the near future, especially since the second EX expansion will be disappearing in, ironically, a fortnight. So be sure to pick up a copy soon if you're able, and then you too can enjoy her wonderful synergy with cards such as Broken Iron Soldier, Magic Shade Soldier, and Crest Halberd Soldier (a personal favorite), much like our Fortnight Challengers did. In any case, there was one particular card that caught our attention very early on, and one Iczer did take advantage of it. The Iczer's name was...

The Details
Coordinator:    CSquared (Pronounced "see-skwayrd"), a non-GM staff member of Alteil
Begins:    Approximately 12:00 AM Thursday Mornings
Ends:    Precisely 12:00 AM Thursday Mornings two weeks later

Challenge - A call to take part in a contest. A task that tests one's ability.
Fortnight - A chiefly British term that means a period of two weeks.

The History
This is a regular mini-event that began as the brainchild of CSquared due to assertations in the Alteil forums that the Rapidshot Magic Archer was a worthless card (at the time, RMA only did 50% of her AT to two targets). Being the self-appointed "patron saint" of all hidden-gem cards deemed worthless, CSquared took it upon himself to prove that it just wasn't so. After successfully proving his point (and scaring a veteran Iczer or two), he then challenged others to do the same, thus sparking a regular GM-sanctioned event to get people's creative juices flowing.

The Rules
The Challenge of the Fortnight occurs on a regular basis, giving Iczers two weeks to come up with File ideas for a particular card. One week is then taken for judging, with the results being posted on the same day the next challenge card is announced. Unless otherwise stated, the challenge card is always to be used in the body of the File, not as a Soul Card. At any point during the two weeks,  Iczers may formulate, test, and submit Files. E-mail all submissions to:

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Be sure the entries include the following:

1) Your Iczer name
2) Your File's name
3) A full card list that also includes the Soul Cards
4) A description of how the strategy works

Files will be judged on the basis of:

1) Innovation (Using card combinations never previously thought of before)
2) Strategy (How effective the Iczer is at utilizing higher-level tactics)
3) Effectiveness (How competitive the File is)

Note that this is the order of priority, and that innovation will always trump effectiveness. The point is to find things that others may never have considered, not to create the newest top dog in the Folrart arena (though the winning File may have a great impact on that particular area, naturally).

The Prizes
150 gran
2 2-star rarity cards of CSquared's choice

Bonus Prize
100 gran if the File in question has more than five wins (Be sure not to change the File once you have achieved 5 wins so that it can be verified.)
 

With the arrival of the Wrath of the Four Gods expansion comes the tools needed for efficient mutli-sphere Files, as well as additional mechanics that turn card subtypes into a force to be feared. We hope to cover more of these fantastic and sometimes obvious, sometimes not, combinations in future installments of this new feature we're calling Combo Spotlight. Hopefully this will help remind our Iczers of the incredible synergy to be found in places other than what is currently popular in the arenas.

Here are the results of our first Across the Spectrum Card File building event...

Card of the Week 12/08/08 A new addition to the Lawtia lineup who solidifies the Duchy of Crest’s lead in the cute girl department, and has some pretty nasty tricks, to boot. I’m talking about the Virtuoso / Rutina this week.

Challenge of the Fortnight 3 Results

Another fortnight has come and gone. Who would have guessed that two weeks could fly by so quickly, almost as swift as the Swan Cavalier, our featured card, appears to be. Many Iczers saw the true value of this versatile hidden gem, but not everyone was able to harness her power as effectively as it could have been used. Some mistook her Combat Support Lv2 as an Auto Skill. Alas, it is even better than that since it is a Start Skill. Once you're beyond the Open Skill and Soul Skill phases, no amount of agility will prevent her from buffing her neighbors. Also, the rules of her Open Skill, Spell: "Lightning Strike" were sometimes misinterpreted. Unfortunately, she hits all units on the field, including your own, so please keep this in mind when wielding the might of her lightning.

In the end, the one who was able to capture our attentions was an old pro from the Folrart Arena. A brief glance at the file would have most of us wondering if it were underpowered. However, upon closer inspection, the hidden strength would be revealed in this fortnight's champion:

Iczer: Mavel

File Name: None

Soul Cards

1) Dragonrider / Wasseir

2) Roaming Predator / Asuet

3) Salamander Soldier

4) Solar Prince / Verlaat

5) Saber Saint / Lapierre

Unit Cards

3 Aqua Sorcere / Mystere
3 Undine
3 Swan Cavalier
2 Witch Queen / Catherina
2 Black Cat / Fellana
3 Sea Hunter
3 Deep Squid

3 Wizard Archer of Regus
3 Shade

Grimoire Cards

None

Many of you are probably thinking to yourselves right now, "This deck is nothing special." Well the units in it may not be the most powerful in the game, nor are the soul cards, while rare, as effective as others. However, all the cards together seem to have a remarkable synergy. Ask any of Mavel's 30-plus opponents how the File is and you will probably be showered by details of its horrors. Still have doubts? Listen on.

Obviously, with Fellana in the File, one cannot expect to have Grimoire Cards stay around for long, so they are not to be found in this File. The opening is very basically Catherina in the rear, Sea Hunter in the front, and Fellana and Swan Cavalier in the middle. This allows a solid front row tank with some decent hitters behind him. Fellana's Grimoire Bane will protect your second row against any Grimoire Cards while also raining fairly decent damage on your opponent, thanks to Swan Cavalier's power up. Mystere will be able to return anything that might be a threat, with the help of Undine. And should creature come up that you can't possibly handle, a second Swan Cavalier's Lightning Strike will clear your field, allowing you to setup your Salamander Soldier Soul Skill and send your opponent's monster to the Cemetary in the middle game. This file is distinctly versatile in what it can do, allowing it to take on a lot of different situations.

One of its other key advantages is the fact that it gets around Fellana's anti-Grimoire effect by having Swan Cavalier as a Grimoire replacement. After all, Grimoire Cards are basically Unit Cards with no statistics that go out of play as soon as their Open Skills trigger. Something to keep in mind when crafting a File around Fellana. Since field clearing effects are especially useful against Assassin Soul Skill Swarm decks that are not uncommon right now, the Cavalier can be a lifesaver. Area of effect Soul Cards can also used so you can unleash field clearing damage with Swan Cavalier, then don't revive one of your smaller units who was killed by it, and use it to set off a second wave of damage with your soul card on the next turn. Swan Cavailer also is a big help to Wizard Archer of Regus, bringing her up to the magic number of 50 damage that will let her one shot the tank of her choice.

As you can see, the Swan Cavalier has great synergy with the rest of the deck. Does this really constitute a super combo? Not sure, but with 34 consecutive wins I'm inclined to run away in fear, tossing his prize over my shoulder in an effort to slow him down...

Mavel, I salute you for breaking Teasel's two-fortnight winning streak. We also have an honorable mention that I'd like to share:

Iczer name: Azul
Deck Name: Wings 3rd

1) Lycanthrope [Seraph]
2) Lycanthrope [Seraph]
3) Kesaran Pesaran
4) Judge of Heretics / Bardia
5) Solar Prince / Verlaat

Unit Cards

2 Owl Sage
2 Undine
1 Fountain Knight / Elneith
3 Griffon
3 Priestess of the Holy Weapon
3 Swan Cavalier
3 Coatl

Grimoire Cards

2 Recovery Powder
3 Meaning of Failure
1 Dispel
1 Return

1 Judgement Hammer

This File is an interesting one not only because it is a dual-color File, but because it uses the fact that Swan Cavalier damages your side of the field to its advantage. If you have any of Refess Units on the field with Counterskills, then you can count on them being activated for sure. On top of that, if it's a Coatl, then it's just piling even more damage on to your poor rival Iczer. There's only one wild card in the train of thought however, and once again, it comes down to the advanced rules. When Counterskills activate, they always do so in a phase of damage resolution. So as soon as the Swan Cavalier's lightning hits all the units, they don't close immediately. Instead, the Counterskill's effect happens, and the Coatl will smack a unit, reduce its agility and increase its defense. All before the units close. So you can conceivably smack a unit that's already dead, thereby wasting some of the usefulness. Another something to think about.

A while back I mentioned I'd love some strategy articles from our top players.  Well, I got a few but didn't have the time to polish them and I think I ended up losing most of them.  In any case, recently a very skilled Iczer by the name of Arfort sent in this article, and it looks like it could be an interesting read for new and old players alike, so I decided to put it up.  He breaks Alteil down into four basic resources, and he's not talking about the four colors.
 
--Logress

 
Welcome to my first article! For those who don't know, the GMs started a trainer program recently so that new players could learn the game from veterans. Unfortunately, I lack the time to actively contribute to this program. Instead I decided to write this article so that more players could still learn something from me.
 
In Alteil there are basically four resources. Spell Points, Life Points, cards and each turn's card play or "Set Phase." Each player uses their resources to the best of their ability to cripple the opponent's resources.
 
Gaining a resource advantage can mean two things.  First, it can mean that you're spending less SP removing something from the opponent's board than what your opponent paid to put it into play. The easiest examples are Merciless Death targeting a level 7 or more unit or Witch targeting a level 2 unit. Secondly, if you're removing from the board something that took your opponent two or more turns to put into play with only one card. For example, if your opponent plays Panther Soul   on one of his unit and then you play Return targeting the same unit. You've effectively removed two cards from the board using only one card. This is what makes powerful grimoire cards that boost your own unit very risky. These two definitions aren't exclusive to each other, if you play Cyclone   while you have no level 2 or less in play and your opponent has 3 level 2 units in play you've taken 6 SP out of him at the cost of 4 SP and at the same time you nullified three of his turn using only one of yours.
 
Because of revival, there's also what I call temporary tempo advantage. When you use a grimoire card, such as Fire Arrow to kill a unit you're only taking it out for 1 round if it can still be revived. If not, then you're taking 1 Life Point out of the opponent but he does get back his SP. So during the turn when you use such a grimoire card your opponent's board will have one less body defending him and usually you're preventing damage going on your own unit at the same time too. But two turns after you set your grimoire card, the SP of the unit you killed is back in his hand and will allow him to play another big unit while the Spell Points you spent on your grimoire card are gone forever. New players more often try to burn down the opponent's unit during the early to mid game. This does give the illusion that you're gaining the advantage over your opponent but in truth you're only gaining temporary tempo at the cost of real tempo. For this reason most players keep their fire arrows for the late game. If playing something only gives you an advantage for two turns but you play it when there's only two turns before the game is over you've actually gained an advantage for rest of the game.
 
To gain card advantage, you have to destroy two or more cards with one single cards. If you spend two or more cards removing one enemy card you're giving your opponent card advantage. For example let's say you have one Haste Soldier in play and your opponent has two Girl Spectres in play all at full health. If you use Magic Weapon on your haste soldier he'll be able to kill one of the unit on his turn but then the remaining enemy unit will kill your own. This is a two for one gain for your opponent.

Other than the obvious ways to gain card advantages, such as grimoire that can close two or more of your opponent's unit, you can also try to design your file to make some of your opponent's cards obsolete. If none of your units are level 3 or bellow, Return becomes obsolete. It's the same as if you had removed the card from the opponent's file, technically at no cost... other than not having level 1-2-3 in your file. It's less of a stretch to play only or at least mostly cards that ignore the defense statistic when they attack to make your opponent's LeBeau useless. But then it's in your opponent's best interest to not play LeBeau anymore to make your unit's ability to ignore defense obsolete.
 
When you're building your file you can sacrifice Life Points to gain or lose card advantage. Soul skills are very powerful effects but they come at a cost. If a card gives you only 1 Life Point the effect has to be very powerful. The power of these SS varies wildly but you want to put something in there that at least has the potential of giving you a good board advantage for a turn at least. If you're going for a slow file with high level cards +2 SP is also good but +3 to your Sphere Level is usually even better. In any case, if you put soul cards with 1 LP put them first. This way you'll gain their powerful effect early in the game and in this game if you get the advantage early it's easier to keep the advantage for the whole game. Soul cards with 2 LP have weaker effects but you should try to put cards that can still have very positive effect on the game. Damage wise in this category, it doesn't get better than cards that deal 50 damage to a single card of your choice. There are a lot of cards that weaken one of your opponent's unit while also dealing some damage to it. These don't have the same raw power as a card that can outright kill a unit. Finally there are soul cards with 3 LP but these actually hurt you somewhat when they're triggered. It's best to put them last since they don't contribute anything to the field other than keeping you alive in the late game. Obviously try to put in 3 LP cards that have very small draw backs. For example in a file that doesn't have any defense on any of it's unit, put a 3 LP card that reduce your unit's defense to 0 when it is triggered.

Whenever you put a card in your File you have to ask yourself not only what you gain from the card but also what you lose from it. Is there anything else that would be more useful more often? During games whenever you play a card it needs to not only help you win, it has to help you win more than what your opponent is playing. This is obvious but I hope my writing helped you understand how to decide if a card or a decision is strong or weak.
 
--Arfort

Another fortnight has come and gone. Today is the day after the most monumental United States presidential election in recent memory, and it seems a fitting time to announce the winner of the second Alteil challenge. Most of the contestants understood the utility of the Ancient Zombie Lord right away, and there was much discussion as to whether or not we ought to have revealed it on the day of the challenge. To those who have not guessed yet, the Ancient Zombie Lord is a walking SP bank, there to preserve your SP from any who might dare steal it. And you're able to get a withdrawal of one SP right away, with another four SP coming to you in the next action phase if you decide not to revive the AZL. Just another one of them high-falutin' expert-level tactics that builds off of the basic one of graduated summons, ie. going in order of lower to higher level units as you get the SP back from non-revived units. In any case, the winner of this Challenge of the Fortnight is...

Iczer: Teasel

File Name: None

Soul Cards

1) Magic Doll -Support-

2) Magic Doll -Support-

3) High Priest / Abel

4) High Priest / Abel

5) Flame Emperor Allind

Unit Cards

2 Ancient Zombie Lord
1 Ruler of Crest / Eskatia
1 Lycantrophe [Fenrir]
3 Chaos Ogre / Dalos
3 Dark Emperor / Zu-jyuva
1 Zombie Lord / Zugateroza
3 Shade
3 Black Dragonrider / Millia

Grimoire Cards

3 Soul Pact

3 Life Conversion
2 Sacrifice

Once again, Teasel wins big in the challenge. Someone, take him down in the third one if you can! In this particular case, most of the entries that we received basically abused the SP gain of the AZL in order to power the ever-present Dalos. Some used it for Zugateroza. This File goes even further and focuses the middle and end games on fairly big units that are SP-hungry with their Action Skills. And what we were looking for was something that could showcase the card in question, not just use it as a vehicle towards the path of ultimate domination with already-powerful cards. How is this File any different? One only has to look at the Soul Skills.

At first glance, it's your standard big monster File that uses the first two soul cards to ramp up the sphere level to where it ought to be. But that's where things start to diverge. Using a standard low-level opening composed of a Fenrir and Eskatia followed by Soul Pacts, it's now time to bring down the dreaded Ancient Zombie Lord on your opponent. Will it die, easily? Sure. But it won't be going alone. Because the Shades you're throwing down to contain your opponents SP will probably die first.  Whenever a Shade dies, it’ll happen before AZL gets his turn, because he’s really slow.  Then, on AZL’s turn you just use his Sacrifice power to kill him and don’t revive either of them.  Next turn the Shade is removed from the field first, because it dies first.  This triggers Abel’s Soul Skill and revives the AZL, and also gives you +2 SP.  Bam! You've suddenly got a net gain of three SP, one courtesy of your AZL, and the other two courtesy of your Abel Soul Skill. On top of it, since AZL is tanking, killing and reviving him has got him back up to full HP.  Then rinse and repeat another time if you so choose. You don’t even have to do shades if you don’t want to, because you can just wait until you run out of copies of another unit and do the same thing.  You don’t even have to worry about the Ancient Zombie Lord dying too early, because you can always revive it for free!  If this strategy is working out, you can even add a third Abel into the Soul Cards, or try other variants, like 1 or 3 AZL’s.  You might even want to combo him with one of the other Soul Cards that does a Revival and then one other action if the Revival occurs.

In general we’re excited about the basic combo.  AZL’s close skill plus his ability to die on command plus Abel’s Soul Skill yields very high SP.  Then just add in the various Lawtia units that convert SP into rampant destruction, or rampant regeneration, and you have an extremely powerful Card File.

The last soul card is actually a bit deceiving as well. With Allind having three life points, you would assume that the Soul Skill is quite negative. And indeed, having all your closed units removed from the game could be quite damaging. But luckily you have all the SP you need to revive the units you still have copies of. And if you should get unlucky and get field wiped, the Allind will stop you from losing that last precious LP by removing your closed units from the field. Of course, there’s always a risk of being overrun and having the Allind go off when the enemy takes a swipe at your LP, but Zugateroza plus lots of SP makes that unlikely.  A nice little last-ditch effort that may win you the endgame. There's also a trick to the Zu-jyuva, but that's a story for another time.