NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2011
Board Game Logo
Dear Members,
Quantuum Magic is currently developing X610Z The Board Game. Of course with a new version of the game, you need a new logo. Well, this is the result! The original logo won't disappear, as it will still be used on the X610Z cards.
The board game is still in the testing phase, but we can already spoil some cool facts about it.
First of all, the whole map is redesigned to a fantasy world, which makes it more interesting for board gamers. Furthermore there will be a lot of new cards. There will be many new insane Summons with new abilities, card types and special energy (double) crystals in the decks. Also with amazing artwork. Quantuum Magic found new talented artists and also hired famous artists from other well known TCG's.
The decks will be completely balanced and constructed to get the best performance out of it. These decks will be made from ACT I, ACT II and of course ACT III cards!
There is no official release date for the board game yet, but we will keep you posted about the ongoing progress.
If you want to know more about X610Z The Board Game, our lead Game Designer Chaos spoiled some more on the forum such as the name and where it come from.
Golden Game Moment Contest extended
Post your most insane, crazy, funny or extravagant game moment at our forums and you may be one of the lucky winners. It doesn't have to be a long post, as long as it contains a minimum of 150 words.
Prizes:
1st place = Booster Box (36 Booster Packs)
2nd place = 18 Booster Packs
3rd place = 9 Booster Packs
Additional prize = 1x Ancient Amulet (v1.2) for which one of the contestants will randomly be selected.
All winners will be informed by email. There will also be an announcement in the X610Z Newsletter and at our website.
Click here to post your Golden Game Moment.
Online Test Play ACT III
Now the core of ACT III is made, it is time to test out the cards. The testing goes through three levels.
1) The X610Z crew check out all cards, see if there have to be major changes
2) X610Z crew will test out cards together with the online test players
3) Public test play: The last phase of testing. There will be public test days where all people can join and see the real first things of ACT III.
Soon the online test play will begin and we are looking for 10 online test players! The test plays will begin when Silv and Rover are done with the last fixes of the program.
Are you motivated and willing to spend at least 2 evenings on X610Z a week? Then you are the person we are looking for!
Write your application in this thread and you might be in the X610Z test team soon.
The Ambassador Combo
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Last month I discussed two combos that you could try out for an extra tech in your deck. In this article I'm going to discuss 'The Ambassador Combo'. It'll use your whole deck and gameplan to be able to work, but in my opinion that's totally worth it. Because if you pull it off, it’ll win you most of your games. For those that like playing with fire, this combo is right up your alley!
For the Ambassador Combo you need to include the following cards in your deck: |
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During the game the following requirements have to be met before you can trigger your combo:
- Your deck has to be empty
- You need an Energy Crystal in play which produces 2 Mystic Energy and 2 Robiumm Energy
- You need to have 1x Sacrifice, 1x Ambassador in your hand
- And you need to have 1x Lava Bolt, 1x Sacrifice, 1x Pirate’s Flesh and Bone and 1x Ambassador in your Discard Pile. It's not always necessary, but I recommend you also put 1 Heal in your Discard Pile.
Here we go....
Ok, now that you know what the requirements are. Let's trigger!
First, activate your Energy Crystal, so you have 2 Mystic Energy and 2 Robiumm Energy in your energy pool.
Then, play your Ambassador to shuffle your hand back into your deck 1x Ambassador, 1x Pirate’s Flesh and Bone and 1x Sacrifice.
After that, you play Sacrifice using part the energy you released earlier. Choose to discard all cards in hand and draw 3 new ones. Of course, you’ll draw the cards you just shuffled back into your deck; Ambassador, Pirate’s Flesh and Bone, and Sacrifice.
Next thing you do is play Pirate’s Flesh and Bone and target your own crystal. It’ll be under your control, and you can reactivate it. The situation of the game is pretty much the same, except that you have 1 Mystic Energy and 1 Robiumm Energy extra in your energy pool. You can repeat this for as many energy as you like.
Now, with ‘infinite’ energy, we can do the same thing over and over again, but then just play a Lava Bolt instead of a Pirate’s Flesh and Bone. To kill a normal unbuffed Life Base, you will have to cast 9 Lava Bolts, dealing 27 Damage. It’ll deal 18 Damage to you, but that doesn’t matter, because most likely, you’ve won! If you can’t take the 18 damage, just play Heal instead of Lava Bolt one time. This will make sure you can handle the damage.
(Especially in Multi play it is recommended to include Heal in the deck, since you have to kill multiple Life Bases.)
Well, this is one of the more complicated combos of X610Z. I hope you guys realise that some tricks in X610Z are way beyond the basic rules. If you have any questions, remarks or ideas regarding this article, feel free to post them on the X610Z forums!
Bassiuz
The Deckbuilding Guide
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Step by Step, building your deck |
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Deck strategies
Before we move to step 2, it's good to know what type of deck strategies there are within the game Existenz. At the moment, the more popular types are: Control, Desource, Speed and Attack. Most decks are a hybrid of these strategies. I will give you a short explanation about them:
- Control: With a deck like this you control the whole game. Stealing, countering, stopping are keywords for a control deck. This strategy is mostly quite slow, but extremely effective!
These sort of cards would fit well in a control deck:
- Stealing Cards (Summon Steal / Act of Piracy)
- Counter Cards (Stun / Denial)
- Preventing opponents from moving (Red Alert)
- Desource: Force your opponents to draw cards as much as possible, which will speed up the pace at which his or her deck is emptied. When a player is unable to draw a card, he or she loses the game.
Cards you would like to bring to the table are cards like:
- Desource Cards (Tokyo Rose, 2nd Chance)
- Counter Cards (Stun / Denial)
- Reshuffle Cards (Recycle)
- Attack: Destroy your opponent's Life Base with fierceless attacks. If you are a death and destruction kind of player, this strategy is your bloody answer.
Card you would like to use for a deck like this are:
- Summon Cards (Hunter Dragon, Jelly Fish Vessel)
- Summon Effect Cards (Dragon Saddle, Peta Volt)
- Stat improve Cards (Alien Technology, Red Barbarian Stone)
- Element Boost Cards (Rocks and Boulders, Thunder Storm)
- Speed: Rush your Life Base to safety, unstoppable, to one of the ending dots. Your Life Base must be able to deal with everything the opponents throw at it.
Cards that are good for a deck with this strategy are:
- Speed Cards (Navigator, Life Base Steam Engine, Rogue Sky Captain)
- Protection Cards (Universal Flower Power, Back Fire, Camouflage)
- Heal Cards (Heal, Spirit of Discipline)
There are also a lot of neutral cards, that fit in any type of deck. These type of cards are relatively easy to get, for example:
- Research
- Discount
- Vital Essence
2. Sort your cards by strategy
Now that you know what type of decks there are, you can sort the cards by deck type. This will give you a better overview of what cards you own for which strategy. Now let’s start building.
3. Pick your strategies
You can pick a deck type and make your deck totally focus on that strategy. But most players enjoy playing a combination of different strategies. Best advise I can give you is to play what you enjoy most. So try out all the strategies, combine different strategies, and find out what gives you the best game experience.
Please note that while making your deck you have to keep in consideration what deck restriction cards have. For example: Research has a deck restriction of 1, so even if you own more than 1 research you may only put 1 of them in your deck. A deck must have a minimum of 50 cards, there is no maximum limit but you should be able to shuffle your deck properly.
4. Add Energy Crystals
Once you've selected the cards you want to bring to battle, it’s time to select the right amount and the right type of energy crystals. In most decks it's best to put 1 Energy Crystal for every 2 Non-Energy Crystal Cards in your deck. So if you have selected 40 non energy crystal cards, you should add around 20 energy crystal cards to your deck. This should give you a sufficient amount of energy throughout the game. As for what types (Boost, Robiumm, Mystic) to pick, you should check the casting and activation costs of your Effect Cards and the movement energy costs of the Summons you have selected. For example, if most of your cards require Boost energy and only a few require Mystic energy, it's best to add more Boost Crystals than Mystic Crystal.
(There are cards that are not energy crystal cards but do give energy, for example: Boost Stone & Vital Essence. Count these cards as energy crystal cards while constructing your deck.)
5. Choose a Life Base
Last thing you need to do is to pick up your deck, add a Life Base that suits your strategy, and bring it to the table to start the battle.
6. Test through Playing
No great ideas throughout history have been without setbacks. Neither will be your deck building career. When you have played a couple of games with your deck, sit down for a moment and evaluate your deck. Remember what cards came out handy when you drew them and what cards worked well in your strategy. Change things within your deck over time; switch some cards, lose some energy or add more Summons. Your deck will keep improving with every game you play with it. That's one of the challenging aspects of this game.
Trading your cards can be very helpful
What if you don’t have the right cards to construct a deck with the strategy you have in mind, or you have some really cool (Super/Ultra) Rare cards that you would like to build your deck around? If you find yourself in this situation you can always try to trade cards with other players. For example, you have the card 7Shooter, but are lacking summons. And your friend wants to play a desource deck but doesn’t have enough cards like 2nd Chance, Recycle or Legendary Stretch. Why not see if you can make a deal with your friend and trade your “spare” cards with his? You can both benefit from it.
Sharing Ideas at our forums
Exchanging ideas with other players can be very helpful. We would like to invite you to share your ideas or post your deck at our forums at www.x610z.com/forums. Here you can discuss strategies and ideas with the rest of the community and get inspiration from other players' decks. You can also ask all your questions about game rules, mechanics or card workings. We have a very friendly and helpful community and our moderators are always happy to help you out.
I hope I helped you a bit with the first step of becoming a deck builder. Hope to see you next time when I will get into the basic steps of building a deck for team and multi player games.