challenge mode experiences

[serprex]

Back in the day cg created the NBC thread on original. The thread collected various experiences players had in traversing their challenge

See relevant thread for details re challenge mode alts
I've spun up a hardcore alt, went with packs only, & then spent all my free packs on random element. Had 3 skele / 3 command in those packs, so made a command skele crapbow. Won a fog at one point, but lost that, & lost my chroma shield too. But my skeleton hoard has remained loyal so far

Spoiler for dear diary:

33-15 vs Commoner

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(aside, Command Skeleton is pretty great CC)

Spoiler for made some backup decks:

57-17 gathered enough to fill out a duo in deck slot 2, won deflag in test drive

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(okay, wow, so much better not running skeletons)

monolife is easy since many green cards a good deck make

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skeleton deserted at 82-30

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A bug causing first card in deck to always be removed went unnoticed until I'd lost all my weapons & novas & lycans. Whim was MVP

By 200 games in I'm 156-44. Starting to get enough critical mass to escape Commoner. Bow is pretty stable, but started on some more decks

Spoiler for Hidden:

weak life/dark duo

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monoaether, waiting for more pieces before I risk these cards

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[Septima Rhay]

MadameSophia_bitchensizzler
League: Spins-only; hard
Build your own: fire and light packs
200-26 vs. commoners (as of 2/17/24)

Spoiler for starting deck first 100 games:

Excellent starting deck, super surprised at reliability of draws despite 5x immo and 4x non-quanta fodder. Fire spirit/ash (which can serve as fodder in a crunch), Fire mark, and Fire pillars help balance out some of the immo-fodder inconsistency.

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Spoiler for games 100 and beyond after losing starting deck core:

Chroma deck ends up being a very solid grinder vs. commoners.
 A mono focused deck will eventually lose some of its core components and the random cards won won't be focused on your mono element. In other words, you'll lose your mono element cards faster than you can replenish them through wins. So a chroma grinder is more stable and you use the 'fodder' cards from wins, while also building up cards for your mono/focused decks.

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Septima_stubtoe_in_darkness
Roguelike: spins-only; self-found hard
Build your own: fire and light packs
25-5 vs. commoners

Spoiler for first 10 games:

Immophoton; had 5 photon, lost one very first game; photon/spirit/mirror for fodder; magma spark army

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Spoiler for first 30 games:

25-5


Immophoton.  Surprisingly reliable draws with 4 photon in the past 29 games.  If I was losing more, I'd have trouble replacing fire cards. So a strong start is needed in rogue like. Otherwise quick crash and burn.

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[Mixnmatch]

From experience - self-build  : mono is probably best for early game. Currently sitting at 38-7 with this build

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[serprex]

What do people think of removing no-up-pillar from presets?

[Elemensch]

If there were any way to get upped pillars -- including grinding for them -- I'd be more interested in the challenge modes.

Right now it feels like there's a disproportionate reward for going pillarless and that's already one of my favorite ways to play vanilla, so it's not really worth digging into as it stands (for me at least).

[serprex]

Removed no-up-pillar from presets. Existing alts using presets are now custom alts. Leaderboards still exist, hopefully soon custom leaderboards can be looked up in a more easy way than loading the custom alt & checking leaderboards

[Septima Rhay]

General notes on chroma decks as related to alt account for Spins-only; hard: Madame Sophia_bitchensizzler. 

Chroma deck ends up being a very solid grinder vs. commoners. A mono focused deck will eventually lose core cards faster than you can replenish them through wins. So a chroma grinder is more stable and you use the 'fodder' cards from wins.

Pacify and GP have been more clutch than lightning.  Commoner creatures are often either very weak (and not worth lightning) or 6hp and higher.  Seldom did I find lightning to be needed as a direct spell finisher in close games.  Flayer has been absolutely awesome.  AI seems to not target flayer due to weak stats?  Not sure.  I think deflags are the right choice for PC.  Commoner PC is often not worth stealing.  Embezzle, Anubis, Golem defender, Tomb all outperformed my expectations.  Alpha Wolf, Goose performed below my expectations. Stacking shields should be good.  Creatures with control actives also should be good. Dolphin is good.  BigDieck has shown me this card deserves more attention (and there is PatientDolphins by Serprex).  Slightly not related, but Waterfall is going to be considered a good card in the near future given the stronger shield meta.

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