March of the Tribes

I'm going to strip Chaotic down to its bare roots now and talk about the most obvious things that any and every chaotic player should know... The Tribes.
You may all say, yea I know the tribes, it's pretty straightforward yadda yadda yadda. But to emphasize the point - I'm going to do it on the 5 Tribes of Perim anyways. Focus on the themes of their decks, Advantages, Disadvantages, Unique Abilities, What Kind of Player is it suited for. And then a full-on Tribe Deck in a another post after describing the tribe. So get ready for a long post! After all every single master knows the basics inside and out!
FIRST-up - The Mipedians
The Mipedians
I haven't done anything regarding Mipedians for a while, Danians, OW, UW even M'arrillian but not so much Mipedian as I like so... I'm going to do them first.

These lizards have developed by an incredible amount since the beginning of Chaotic. The card above - Ario is an old time favorite of Mipedian Players which I think is one of the best examples of a Mipedian Classic out there. Mipedians had dominant control over the Air Element which in my opinion is the most uncommon element in the game. Mipedians had Invisibility which created the famous motto, "Strike First, Strike Hard, Strike Last" and had low energy to compensate for his hard first strike. Mipedians generally had low counters - in fact, none of the Mipedians had 3 Mugic Counters until Xelfe came out. And Mipedians also were the swiftest tribe overall in Perim - even non-swift Mipedians like Ario here would have their speed boosted by the legendary Owayki.

Now, I'm actually quite disappointed with Mipedian Players these days, everyone uses the same stereotypical decks - I mean when you think of a Mipedian deck, you can immediately envision Headmaster Ankhyja, Owayki with no source of creativity. Even in Masters gameplay, you've got Xelfe and the back, Owayki in the middle row and Mipedians to boot in the front. It is simply uncreative. Mipedians were designed to be the trickiest tribe there is, they're supposed to play mind games with your opponent and not straight-off wham there's my strategy. They have the trickiest of mugic and abilities which I never see use of these days. They're the only tribe with invisibility, yes people abuse that to a great degree. Have you ever once considered Song of Deflection to deflect a Consuming Cacophony or even an Fanfare of the Vanishing? Chances are... you have not. Have you considered running Trills of Dimunition in your deck alongside your staple Melody of Mirages, Fanfare of Vanishings, Fighter's Fanfare etc.? The mugic below is another testament to the fact that decks are so predictable these days.

Mipedians LIVE for the first strike. They need the first strike to be the biggest hit in their battle. To make the opponent not even consider winning. If you had a Maliph, Champion of the Guard and did a Turbulence Funnel to a Maxxor, Protector of Perim without Xerium (30 damage + 15 damage = 45 damage). Leaving Maxxor with 15 Energy (Considering Maximum Energy), chances are... Maxxor isn't going to bring in a 3,4 or 5 build point attack to fight back without healing. This mugic above (Melodic Might) rids of your 0 build points when you have a disastrous hand and is simply amazing waaay better than a Refectorium.

Now I'm going to stop rambling about how disappointed I am and go straight into the disadvantages of these Invisibility Strikers. Unfortunately, playing the Mipedians meaning you're relying on the first three strikes to slay a foe, any longer and you pretty much lost the battle. Mipedians do no good in a drawn out battle. Mipedians have low mugic counters which invites the use of their Mipedian Balladeer's Flute for the extra counter but they have unique and tricky abilities to make up for it. So... That pretty much wraps it up for Part 1 of the MIpedians Overview
Next Post - Mipedians Overview Part 2 - The Warbeasts.

Look it's Arctus! Hear me Roar!

Alrite guys, this is probably one of the last articles I'm going to do based on cards that can't be played online as of the time of post... BUT... I also want to do some Fire and Stone Cards... But generally those are pretty straightforward so... Let's move into Arctus, Heptadd's Squire

You guys probably remember me already touching on Arctus briefly in a couple of articles ago... But I'm going to look at Arctus again simply because he is fantastic. First-off, a couple of things you have to note.

1. Arctus' ability - Though its similar to Ebkeex, The Clockwork Minion - it is actually more complex. Arctus only gains elemetns which adjacent creatures have meaning that you wanna play this guys when he's with friends.
2. His Statistics - His Stats and energy are just mind-blowing... They're waay better than Gimwei or almost any elementalist in fact... He's much better than Heptadd in any way... So... they should remake the best creature ever - Heptadd.

So... Arctus fits nicely in a 3v3 apprentice match where no mugic can annoy Arctus and he'll always be close to allies. Arctus is also very flexible and if you ever want an elementalist deck, you can simply stick Arctus in first and actually build the deck around Arctus. Another thing about Arctus is that you shouldn't neglect the amazing statistics that he possesses. His high courage is a benefit to any player allowing them to use strong earth attacks such as Enlightened Tenacity and his wisdom let's him pull off attacks like Telekinetic Bolt. Hmm... High Courage, Wisdom, potential of any elements... Wow... he goes well with Maxxor (Any), Tartarek Psi Overloader, Intress Natureforce, Heptadd (Obviously)... Almost any and every deck can implement Arctus to a great degree... Need a deck with extra counters? No worries put in an IKKATOSH and Arctus gets counters. Arctus dying? No problem, the Overworld are famous for healing mugic. It is simply no wonder why Arctus is a Super-Rare Elementalist Wonder that is going to cause even the greatest players to put in Numid Voidlands to avoid problems with this furry monster of energy. We also haven't considered the fact he isn't Unique which allows 2 Arctuses in deck. 1 Arctus is scary enough and I recommend that 1 Arctus is good enough. However, if you feel aggressive, 2 Arctus' may be what you need in your elementalist deck.

Let's consider now if Arctus is not in an Overworld deck as he isn't loyal. Any ideas? The first one I think of is an Underworld - Magmon, Engulfed x2 for Fire 10! I would probably have to give him a Khy-bon Mechblade though for the 40 Power boost but that's pretty much it...

 Danians can make use of his amazing courage and his formidable ability to gain Earth Element. Giving him the Mandiblor's Crown allows him to reap the benefits of Makanaz in your discard piles making Arctus and insane monster.

The Mipedians grant Arctus Air element and possible Range and Swift with Xelfe. And the last thing your opponent wants is an Arctus with Range and Swift. Put in a Prince Mudeenu Champion of the Guard, Owayki and General's Standard and there's a nightmare in your opponent's sight.

As you can see... Arctus is a scary scary useable creature for all the clans in perim (except M'arrilian who should go back hiding behind the doors) and is a fantastic addition to the Overworld Arsenal.

Unique, Mysterious... Powerful? Pt 3.

Hey people, today is a public holiday for Australia (Queen's Birthday), so I decided to whip up an article continuing the series - Unique, Mysterious... Powerful

Beginning with the Overworlder Ebkeex, the patchwork minion. Whoever patched  him together did a good job... I mean he has nice speed and wisdom and energy not to mention. His air element helps Overworld Elemental decks use all elements without Heptadd, and best bit of all is... He doesn't require elementalist Pauldron. Yes, he is definitely a favorite in the elementalist decks. Unfortunately, he hosts no Mugic counters which shouldn't bring him down in value much considering he isn't unique or loyal. There isn't much we can say aside from good stats, energy, nice choice in elements, great ability for apprentice, all in all good card. His only weakness being - locations similar to Numid Voidlands which removes his element, which in that case play a wisdom/speed element deck using attacks like Mind Strike.
Now, we move to his Brainwashed ability... and despite his subtitle having the word, "Minion", he's actually much harder to use... Sure, you've got attacks like Symmetry Slam which deals more damage now, but generally - you can't rely on his ability. Although, his stats still work in a Speed Marrillian deck like Vitar'Zu + Jus'hebben or Wisdom M'arrilian decks like Erak'Tabb and Ikub'ra. But overall, Ebkeex is much better not brainwashed.
P.S His art looks fantastic!!!!

Farhkaj
The danian that looks like a Mipedian... His ability is extremely interesting to think about and both works in interesting ways. But first, the card overall... The stats aren't that cranked up honestly, with 70 courage, he can barely do an enlightened tenacity, his other stats are just borderline 50-55 region, he also hosts no elements which combined with his not very nice stats brings him down to a support creature. His 50 Energy is enough for a support character to not get knocked out by a single canon of casualty and his mugic counter is a stingy 1 (which isn't a problem for Danians anyways). It's a sad fact that many players don't play danians for unknown reasons - maybe they can't be bothered "setting-up" the game in their direction or maybe they really hate bugs... but in either case, Farhkaj is interesting card in masters gameplay. His non-brainwashed ability allows you to uninfect ALL of the opposing creatures for his one and only counter and in exchange, infect your creatures for each creature uninfected. With that said, you may ask the question, WHY would I bother doing something stupid like that? I mean when they're infected you can use it to all sorts of advantages so... why would I want to uninfect them... The answer is fairly simple. You can "expend you horizon", meaning as an example you infect all 6 creatures in your opponents team. You demolish the 3 Creatures from your opponent's team and leaves 1 rly buffed up warrior (let's use Blazvatan as an example). Now your opponents has 3 Creatures infected, 3 infected Creatures in your discard pile/removed from game and you've got an angry mob of uninfected danians protecting the queen herself, Illexia. Illexia gains 1{} each time an infected creature hits the discard pile and now with Blazvatan ready to obliterate your warriors, you can use Farhkaj's ability - uninfect your opponent's 3 support, infect your 3 warriors and give Illexia an extra boost in counters (as you know your warriors are goin down anyways). Then with the counters on Illexia cast a symphony of mugic - Song of Symmtry etc. etc. Fairly big example but yer...  The examples are endless... but moving on... quickly...
His brainwashed ability is straight forward, infect your guys, so you infect your opponents. The difference is... 1. They're refrain of denials/cadence clash/whatever else... Won't work on an ability
2. It's them getting infected so Infectorium is gonna hurt
Pretty Simple... It's your choice which one you wanna use... And I hope you see Farhkaj as of some use... rather than a card rotting in a collection =D

Unique, Mysterious... Powerful Pt 2

Hey guys, so I have an exam tomorrow on Saturday, but I love ya'all so much... here's part 2 =D

Blak'drin... Interesting crab dude huh... He's like he gets damaged bad by Air and Water attacks but... if he is dealt Air and Water Damage, you deal 10 damage back... Kinda like an Unstoppable Recklessness 10... His stats aren't that crabby, each reaching 50 and climbing to the 70 benchmark. His energy like most Kha'rall is below 50 and meant to be paired up with a shard to hit approximately 70 Energy Average. But, is he a good card? Because Air element is involved, we immediately think Invisibility Strike which would harass Blak'drin by dealing insane gap in his health. Headmaster can do a nice Turbulence Funnel for 50 Damage easy... Leaving Blak'drin with 20 and Headmaster himself with 55e (Let's assume both sides have average e). Obviously Blak'drin doesn't stand a shot against the Mipedian. Now Chaotic was made for masters and not apprentice play, so let's assume we're playing masters... here the possibilities open up. Unfortunately, Mipedians do not have a lot of denying mugic and have to rely on generic ones such as Cadence Clash and with the want to defend Blak'drin and take down the toughest of your opponent's army, you can expend mugic such as Rhyme of the Reckless or mugic that reduces the attack damage even Aegis Aria even... Yes, M'arrillians can do this... all you need is a Minion/Fluidmorpher with Heptadd's Crown or Mugician's Tuning Fork. Mipedians will easily fall in Masters. The same thing, of course, can apply to Water attacks.
Blak'drin's abilities work interestingly in the sense Blak'drin takes extra damage whilst dealing extra damage on the two most uncommon element combinations in the game. Against Blak'drin, attacks like Allmageddon, Winter-Claw, Unsanity, Essential Evaporation with both Air and Water aren't reccomended. It is true they deal heavier than usual damage, but with Blak'drin's 20 damage hit-back + Fluidmorpher's scary tide-turning abilities - Blak'drin really chops some of those decks... But of course, I would still prefer Mik'Bannin over him as a warrior simply due to the amazing hammering capabilities of Mik'Bannin. But if you want to try a defensive all-rounder Kha'rall - Blak'drin is the way to go.

Another interesting card... Equipped Creature gets Fire 5, Water 5... and then he deals 25 damage or more and the battlegear is flipped down thereby stopping the additional 25 or more damage. Thus doesn't seem all that great... Thus, when using this crazy piece of machinery (which should be given to dudes like IKKATOSH, Gronmor even Tanagath), its advised to use single element attacks such as Consuming Flames and Fluid Fugue I think its called (15 Water Damage). This battlegear is unique in the sense that it allows you flexibility in your deck making choices. Wherelse if you go with say a Torrent Krinth, you won't  have the flexibility of  Water 5. And after dealing low bonused damage... and you calculated you can finish your opponent - bring in the pain with a Flaming Coals for 40 Damage which cannot be stopped =D. The other pretty sick thing with this gear is... if you are against Xerium Armor. It kinda makes it 20 damage every turn and the battlegear won't be flipped over. Sure it doesn't seem like much, but if you think about it Gear Grind would hurt them more than it'll hurt you in the long run. As Xerium is more valued than this Bodal's belt thingie... He probably whipped this thing up in like 2 minutes lawl!

Unique, Mysterious... Powerful?

Yes, People, I am back, the night before the beginning of all my exams. But excuse that... I will be doing some work... I just need to shake some "gaming" off...
Anyways... I have been stumped as in what to write about... I mean decks have become rusted, I haven't played in a while - I tried playing in Hotekk but couldn't find a match-up. However, I have just decided to write on Organized Promotional Cards. These cards are very interesting and feature the most unique abilities in the game.
So, today, I will be presenting 2 Cards... Or the first 4 Cards of the Organized Promotional Set... Here they are

Abin-Wor

Raise your hand, if you neglected this card in your Warbeast Deck... Good... Now that everyone's hands are raised, let's go into the reasoning behind this...

1. Low Statistics, Lousy Energy 
2. He only reduces Recklessness by 5...
3. Only hosts 1 Mugic Counter which for a muge is lousy

Great, now let's try and establish what makes this card different, unique from other cards... or even what makes him good 

1. He has the Earth Element
2. Waterproof 25 to all Warbeasts

Perfect... So now, let's see what can we say about this card. He's a very interesting and unique card, its funny how many people see the first ability as a liability in their decks. They'll be like, "Only 5?", nah not going to use him. His second ability gives EVERY SINGLE Warbeast Waterproof 25. That's an extra 25 Energy... That's quite a bit, of course requiring the opponent to have water, not do water attacks... have water element. So... what is the best way to use Abin-Wor? Personally, I like throwing him into a Masters Deck with Ixxik with locations like Stronghold Mourn (Giving Creatures All elements), The Garden (All engaged creatures gain water), other locations that give water... mugic that gives water... There is a whole heap of them since the M'arrillians came out. That's Ixxik with potential 90 + 15 = 105e - Not counting battlegear. And if you want to make FULL use of Abin-Wor give Ixxik battlegear like Ur-Shard which has the useful side ability that if Ixxik is destroyed whilst equipped to Ur-Shard (90% of the time Ixxik dies, they will be holding on to good gear), destroy the opponent's gear and they now are equipped with Ur-Shard and have Recklessness 5. 

As Abin-Wor is a Conjuror, do not forget his ability to gain Mugic Counters from Ravita Flower... To bring it up to 3... And if you want to use higher recklessness Warbeast (Blazvatan, Titanix etc.), Go ahead, screw in a Savell and other dudes... Don't forget with Abin-Wor on your team and locations giving water element, you can fuse Water and Air attacks together... 

Last thing about Abin-Wor... you can cast Melody of the Meek on him... and do crazy stuff due to his low energy, waste your opponent's high build point attacks with Kha'rall Husk Armor and a Melody of the Meek... Is he that useless to you now?

This card, never actually got released and it's a "gambling" card... My favorite kind... However, like all gamblers, I like to find loopholes or ways to counteract or minimize my losses... Personally, I think this is a really Overworld-ish Card... I mean Mugic Counters and Initiative Wisdom points directly to the Overworld... And that fact that Creatures with one or more Mugic Counters gain 10 Energy. But after further thought on the card, I supposed that cards like Mipedians with Surprise would need the extra counter just for mugic casting (as they are known for their low counters), help Fluidmorphers in battle, Dror'niq anyone... And saving the best for last... Najarin, Fluidmorpher's Foe... 

The ability is pretty straight forward, generally you want creatures with 1 or more MC battling on your turn and attacking creatures without MC like Warbeasts... Although, you could gamble on trying to snag a counter of Maxxor POP or another one on Chaor, The Fierce... Though as you might have figured out... you lose the gamble... you can be in a world of hurt... That's why its best used with Najarin, Fluidmorpher's foe where he acts as a counter for this gamble being lose... Either they get a counter and you get a counter or... you get a counter and they get nothing.

Note that this is also a good opportunity to try cards like Hidan and Olkiex when a creature gains a counter, they get swift or flip a gear up or down... The combinations are endless...

But that's it from me... I hope you don't think Organized Promotional Cards are that worthless anymore and I'll see you guys next time with Blak'drin and Bodal's Energy Convertor

=P Malcolm9