A. Propst

I am hearing this question over and over again: “How exactly does your game differ from “Magic: The Gathering”?”

So in order to sort it out once and for all, i will here describe the major differences between MTG and E.C.:

I can identify three (pretty obvious after having read the rules) major differences:

Major difference # 1: The win condition:

In MTG your goal is to bring your opponent down to zero life in order to win. in E.C. however, each point of damage dealt to a Player by Creatures or Spells results in the top card of his or her Spellbook (Draw-Pile) being put onto his or her Discard-Pile. If a Player is required to draw a card, but can’t, he or she loses the game immeditaley. That is a huge difference in gamplay.

Major difference #2: The resource system:

In MTG you play lands which produce mana for casting Spells. In E.C. you build Element-Stone-Piles with the lowermost Stone determining what type of Energy the whole pile produces. You cannot rearrange the order of the Element-Stones after they have been played. Creatures and Spells are played to suitable Element-Stone-Piles. At the beginning of your turn, the piles are emptied (Creatures move either to the ATK- or to the DEF-Zone and Spells are put onto the Discard-Pile) so that new Spells and Creatures can be played to them.

Major difference #3: Combat:

Contrary to MTG there are two Zones where you can place Creatures in: The ATK- and the DEF-Zone. Creatures in the ATK-Zone can attack either your opponent or Creatures in the opponent’s ATK-Zone and can be attacked by opposing Creatures. Creatures in the DEF-Zone however can neither attack nor be attacked, but may block the opponent’s Creatures’ attacks on you.

These are the three most obvious things that make E.C. differ from MTG, thus making it not just a bad MTG-Clone, but a decent and creative, new fantasy card game.

I almost forgot major difference # 4: price! no comments…

here you find two simple, monocolour intro decks, which have only 30 cards instead of 40. they are ideal for anyone who wants to get started with elemental clash!

ready-made intro deck earth

ready-made intro deck fire

Here is another take on an almost creatureless deck. Bloody Tribute, Darkwood Judgement (which both have DPT, thus ensuring that they always will do their job), Flood and Tsunami help to keep your opponent’s Creatures at bay. In order to outlive your opponent, you have lots of restocking-cards (Earth Ritual and Venus Wurm). In contrast to the “Burning Waters” deck from my previous article, this deck is a very passive one: Basically, your strategy is to simply sit back and wait for you opponent to draw a card each turn and to summon Creatures, which you then annihilate with your Spells, while refilling your own Spellbook. Similar to the “Stronghold-deck” you may already know from an earlier article, you may go into a virtually infinite card loop by combining Venus Wurm and Excavate/Necromancy. And having to sacrifice your own Wurm by casting a Bloody Tribute or Flood may not be a bad thing after all, as it allows you to return a minimum of 4 cards from your Discard-Pile to your Spellbook.

Powerstone makes your Worm even bigger (gaining you an additional card when it dies) and Islandstones give you a reliable Element-Stone base.

Murky Waters.dec:

Creatures(3):

3 x Venus Wurm (E/BS)

Spells (22):

3 x Bloody Tribute (E/UW)

3 x Earth Ritual (E/BS)

3 x Darkwood Judgement (E/UN)

3 x Excavate (E/BS)

3 x Forbid (W/UW)

3 x Necromancy (E/BS)

3 x Flood (W/BS)

1 x Tsunami (W/UW)

Element-Stones (15):

1 x Stone of Wisdom (N/UN)

2 x Powerstone (N/BS)

3 x Islandstone (N/BY)

6 x Venus-Stone (N/BS)

3 x Mercury-Stone (N/BS)

With this build I attempted to build a viable, almost creatureless burn-deck. Burn Spells are Spells that deal direct damage either to the opponent or to his or her Creatures. Burn decks contain loads of this kind of Spells. The decklist you can see below contains 12 burn Spells. If you add up the damage all these Spells could potentially deal (I took the minimal amount of 3 damage for Scattershot) you get a total of 43 damage. So, theoretically, you should have enough burn to dismantle a deck of 35 cards (40 cards minus the cards your opponent draws at the beginning of the game). In order to save your burn Spells for your opponent, you have Flood to deal with his or her Creatures and destroy whole armies. If you manage to get a copy of Spirit of Mars out, your opponent’s fate is as good as sealed. Your humble Fiery Arrow deals not 2 but 4, and your mighty Mars Rage deals a massive 20 damage instead of 10. To ensure that you do not run out of cards, I added Wave of Wisdom and Stone of Wisdom to the mix. What is more, with Summon the Legend you can fetch one of your unique powerhorses: Grimlock, Mars Rage or Dragonstone. The lonely Creatures in the deck are there to ensure that the last bits of damage get through. Use Grimlock the Cruel on Dragonstone to deal massive amounts of damage fast and deadly. Phoenix keeps coming back over and over again, thus acting either as a reliable blocker or steady source of damage. The Steamstones, which produce both Fire and Water Energy give you a decent Element-Stone base.

Burning Waters.dec:

Creatures (2):

1 x Phoenix (F/BY)

1 x Grimlock the Cruel (F/UN)

Spells (23):

3 x Fiery Arrow (F/BS)

3 x Flaring Flames (F/BS)

3 x Purging Flames (F/BY)

2 x Scattershot (F/SF)

3 x Spirit of Mars (F/BS)

1 x Wrath of Mars (F/UN)

3 x Wave of Wisdom (W/BS)

2 x Summon the Legend (W/UN)

3 x Flood (W/BS)

Element-Stones (15):

1 x Dragonstone (N/UN)

1 x Stone of Wisdom (N/UN)

3 x Steamstone (N/UN)

8 x Mars-Stone (N/BS)

2 x Mercury-Stone (N/BS)

The following deck takes full advantage of the coolest Creature-type around: Dragons! It combines the sheer might of Dragon-Creatures with the power of Reanimation. Nifty special Element-Stones give the deck additional force. With cards like Stonelore and Stone Shaman, you can search your Spellbook for powerful Element-Stones like Dragonstone or Rainbowstone, which allows you to play your Dragons on turn 2. It is especially funny to block a Creature with Stone Shaman, which dies so that its Destroy-Effect triggers, allowing you to fetch a Dragonstone on which you may then play a Dragon, giving it both a +1/+1 counter and “Quickattacker”. And that already on turn 2.

The side-theme of this deck is reanimation: This is especially useful regarding your unique “Dragon-legends”. They naturally land in your Discard-Pile sooner or later, from where you can bring them back with Necromancy and Reanimate. If they end up in your hand however, you may still discard them to Burning Thougts and then reanimate them. Another way to play your “off-colour” Dragons (Ascarius and Finborg), is through Rainbowstone, which produces Energy of every element.

What is more, the deck has a decent Element-Stone base. Besides Dragonstone and Rainbowstone, Stone of Wisdom is a must have one-of. Through DPT, you are sure to get it into play sooner or later and it gives you 2 free cards if you decide to destroy it. Your Magmastones produce both Fire and Earth Energy. Powerstone strengthens your Creatures in general and Hastestone ensures that your Creatures dish out their damage as soon as they enter play! Here comes the decklist:

Dragons.dec:

Creatures(12):

3 x Stone Shaman (E/OW)

3 x Skeletal Dragon (E/OW)

3 x Fire Dragon (F/SF)

1 x Bargost Thundertail (E/UN)

1 x Ascarius, Lord of Storms (A/UN)

1 x Grimlock the Cruel (F/UN)

1 x Finborg, Sire of the Seven Seas (W/UN)

Spells(13):

3 x Stonelore (E/SF)

2 x Burning Thoughts (F/UW)

3 x Necromancy (E/OW)

2 x Reanimate (E/BY)

Element-Stones(15):

1 x Dragonstone (N/UN)

1 x Rainbowstone (N/UN)

1 x Stone of Wisdom (N/UN)

1 x Powerstone (N/BS)

2 x Hastestone (N/BS)

3 x Magmastone (N/UN)

4 x Venus-Stone (N/BS)

2 x Mars-Stone (N/BS)