Thoughts on the Ice Deckathalon, now that I've done it

First, I didn't see in the rules about tc that you make using things like Monstrous/Gargantuan/Unstoppable, etc. Don't do this. They won't appear in your deck during the event, even though you can see them in your sideboard outside of the event. My very first fight, and I had to flee (sad trombone).


Second, the difficulty is good. I've noticed some winning strategies out of this. The may-cast healing pets are a big help. Also, hint hint, lots of Snow Shields, some Fireblades, and several Fire Dragons will help you get through the fourth tier. If you don't have the higher crafted decks, you may want to have some other blades in as well, like Balance Blade, or Elemental Blade (though that extends the fight a turn).

Third, so far, the event progress bar has barely filled and it's the second day into the event. I will be surprised if the bar crosses the half-way mark by the end of the week. It could be the initial difficulty of the event, or the gold sink aspect (continually buying treasure cards will drain your coffers quick), but it just doesn't look like that many people are participating. I'm ranked 700ish with only 140 points. The top ten (as of midnight central time 5/15) was a range of 1800 points to 3300. That's a steep drop off in points in the first ten. A dedicated few are spending all day racking up points, but where does that leave the rest of the player community?

Which brings me to my fourth point. I'm not one to complain too much about the game, but... this post will be one such rarity. The mechanics are great, the prizes stink. Well, that's a bit harsh. Let me rephrase. The prizes stink for the amount of effort those top 10 guys are putting into it. Breaking down the things you can get from the event:
- a variety of treasure cards that can only be crafted using the reagents you get from the event itself
- 3 different wands that look like oversized fists that give no stat bonuses, but rather a single gear spell (good for stitching if you are into the big hands thing)
- 4 specialized decks of which the last is powerful, but of a very specific and limited use
- players who fall between the ranks of 25 and 2500 get a cool-looking pet that has unknown stats (sort of a tawny hamster)
- players in the first 25 rankings get an ice version of that hamster
- the top 10 also get a perm gobbler mount and a special booster pack

Now that booster pack may be AMAZING, especially since they are so limited, they can be specifically packaged instead of random, the cards carefully chosen by the devs for the event. But if you're not going to earn several thousand points in the next five days... there's not too much to look forward to for burning through your time and gold. The costs to craft those fists and decks are quite high with the amount of farming you have to do to get the reagents (random drops, I could do the math, but you need a LOT of fire runes to craft the final deck). And all those cool treasure cards you can craft, like Power Link, Scald, and some high damage low-pip spells, those all require the same fire runes that you need for the equipment.

The incentives just don't seem to be great to want to farm through this. I had THOUGHT from the description that the wands that resemble hands would be very powerful, as that was in the description of the event before it came out. But it doesn't look to be that way from the crafting recipes. Plus you get the first one automatically from one of the stage rewards. And it has no stats. That puts me in a quandary. Do I try and farm through and craft the final Ice Glove (that gives an Ice Blade gear card), hoping that KingsIsle soups it up during/after the event? Or just forget it? I've already beat tier 4. I've bought the recipe for the Treasure Card display. What else is there, besides lost time and gold?

ADDENDUM: I looked over my last post, and I'm sure most already know by now, the cost of additional plays is not bad at all. You get four more attempts per 1000 gold. Ad infinitum.

Upcoming Deckathalon in Wizard101

It was announced in the Spring Update for 2019 that the Deckathalon would be coming to the spiral. Since I don't play on the test server, I don't have any first hand knowledge of the event. However, I have read the rules and looked over some videos of people who have played it.

Here's what I know.
- The first deckathalon event will be ice based. That means you will want to use fire spells for best effect.
- Everyone will automatically convert to a low level wizard and none of your gear will count toward your stats during play EXCEPT your deck.
- Your pets stats will be discarded, and I think so will any cards that the pet normally gives EXCEPT all of your pet's may-cast abilities will count.
- There seems to be four stages per event, with each stage consisting of three rounds.
- You will have no normal spells in your spellbook, being only able to cast what Treasure Cards you put into your deck.
- You will not regain any health or mana after a round is done until the end of a stage.
- You will not be able to alter your deck after a round is done until the end of a stage. This means you will need to have enough Treasure Cards to last through 3 rounds.
- At the end of each stage, a vendor offers a deck recipe. They will help versus the school you are fighting (in this case, the crafted decks will boost fire). You will also get special reagents pertaining to the specific deck crafting as drops from the round victories.
- You will be able to play the event twice per day for free. Thereafter, you will need to spend 1000 gold for subsequent event playthroughs for that day. (I do know it starts at 1000, I don't know if it stays at a thousand. The cost may rise with additional plays).
- You won't generate power pips. I noticed in a video that shadow pips can appear, but I don't know if this was a fluke.

So, without having played yet, a good strategy seems to be working toward one of these crafted decks, which will require multiple playthroughs of the event to get enough drops. If you're fire, using tc enchants for your known spells can help you craft good tc's for the event. You'll need to craft the spells before hand.

Additionally, monstrology can be a tremendous boon here. Good summons will overpower the enemy and will only cost you two pips.

Another pre-deckathalon strategy is to get a specialized may-cast pet setup beforehand. The kiosk is super helpful here, since you're gonna have an easier time to browse through the pets looking for one with a lot of may-cast talents to hatch with. Talents that would appear to be good fits would be: Guardian Wall (tower shields), Charm Chopper (for their blades), Ward Wrecker (for their shields), Fairy Friend, Spritely, Energizing Battery, (for self-heals), and Incredibly Infallible (to boost accuracy and blunt enemy shields). This is what I am currently doing on my wizards to prep for the event.

Finally, constructing your sideboard right is really going to be the key to doing well in the event. Too many cards, and you'll potentially fail to draw the right cards in time. Too few cards, and you won't make it throught all 3 rounds. Shields will be helpful until they start casting a lot of dot spells