How To Beat Alteil Falkow Mission 5

Falkow's single player mission level 5 was really tough to beat. Props to the developers for putting up such a challenging mission. It took me several tries but I was finally able to find the right combination to beat Galdirea.

I start out with Carbuncle then Pucera. After that, make sure that the shield requirement of level 5 Refess will trigger. Then, plant Refugee Citizen to get rid of Galdirea's grims. Then, try to get Limier followed by Stronghold. Then use Turn to Dust and Chaos Absorption to try and thin out the opponent's deck. Simulacrum helps in trying to match the opponent's troops modified HP while getting rid of a card if the HP is less than or equal to zero. And if you still haven't zeroed out the cards in the deck, then speed it up with Magma Golem as another shield on the frontline.

For the SS lineup, Annette is really helpful in setting one unit of opponent's troops to max HP of zero. And you then add that HP to Pucera. The second one, you can add to Limier to prolong his presence on the field. The rest of the SS are worth 3 LP, hopefully enough to last Galdirea's assault on your LP. (Cause she gets to hit it for free every other turn or so).

Galdirea will also send one random grim from your deck out of the game. I tried using Mirelia to recover these but it just doesn't work. And the second SS of Galdirea prevents level 4 and above cards for a couple of turns so it's best to keep your units and cards at level three and below.

Hope this helps out other players who are struggling with that mission. Good luck!

The Current State of Alteil in 2016

Alteil until now remains for me as one of the best card battle games available online. They have made significant improvements since they transitioned from a Flash based game to Html 5. I have now been able to play and finish games against both AI and human players compared to matches I've tried about two years ago when the transition began. It has been a slow process, but given the limited resources of the team behind the game, it is actually amazing that the game has been kept alive after all these years, considering I was already playing this game since 2008.

While there are still some random bugs, overall, the game is now playable. You might have to wait a long time since the images for the cards are cached in your browser. If you have a single deck for your card collection, the wait time might not be that long, but if you've amassed cards from the 1st set up to set 13, then you can imagine how long it will take to store all the card images on your device. But after the first time you do this, successive logins should be quick to load.

There are many ways to acquire cards even in this new version of Alteil. There are single player quests that can award a new player 1-star to 3-star cards upon the completion of a quest. Card rarities range from 1-star to 5-stars (rarest). There are also EX-cards that can be considered like 5-stars and are available for purchase during certain events or occasions. There is also the Free Daily Lotto that awards a player a single random card if the player has participated in a match with an AI or human that has at least ten turns. Winning against human players will also sometimes give the player a card for a prize, as well as materials for card crafting. I haven't really tried crafting yet, because the results seem to be random. But there are a few players who are trying to build a database / guide of materials that will result in certain cards on a consistent basis. I hope they succeed. And finally, you still get a card for every 10 levels you achieve in your rank. But it no longer gives you four choices like the old Alteil used to. (I think new players will still appreciate being given a choice from four cards from each primary sphere since when you are starting out, you initially chose a deck built around a certain sphere.) Point cards are still available. These are special cards which you can exchange for a card of your choice depending on the card rarity minimum. 1-star cards are worth 10 point cards while a 5-star card is worth 50 point cards, if I remember correctly.

Mirage Master is gone. This memory game used to be the most viable way of earning gran, one of Alteil's currencies. Now, you earn FM or fight money for every match against a human opponent. I used to use FM for purchasing avatar related items. I think that FM can also be used to purchase cards, but I haven't really tried it yet. As a point of comparison, I think that you will have to amass a lot of FM compared to gran to buy the same card. Only Premium players can sell cards now. To be a premium player means paying for membership. In the past, you could actually sell a card in exchange for gran. That means that if you had a fourth copy of a certain card, which you no longer need, you could at least recycle this copy in exchange for gran. Now, you can still try to sell these cards, but you sell them to fellow players, no longer to a recycling machine. So, it is possible that the card is stuck in the store since no one wants to buy it, especially if it is a common card. I hope that they bring back recycling so that fourth copies of cards, or cards that I don't plan on using since they are not part of the sphere I'm concentrated on could be exchanged for useful gran.

I greatly appreciate the number of ways you can win in this game. There are many different types of decks you can build. There are many different strategies for winning. That is why there are still players who have stayed loyal to this game all throughout the years. A player could be using a discarder (a strategy that diminishes the amount of cards that a player can draw from his card pile) on his first match, and an energy-drain deck on another (a strategy that prevents a user from putting cards into play since each card requires a certain amount of energy). Another player could use a deck that uses small fast units while another could rely on a single unit that wipes out most units on the field. Alteil is filled with variety, and even now, I'm surprised to see new strategies after playing this game for such a long time. (Yes, I'm talking about you Kraken users) Other card battle games, say like Clash Royale are pretty much one dimensional. And the player who can send out units the fastest will more likely win. But Alteil is like a chess match. You have to think about your moves from the first turn up to the last. Otherwise, you will lose to a well prepared player who built a deck out of common cards even though your deck is stuffed with rare cards. Card synergy, timing, and creativity are necessary for playing a masterful match.

There are currently about 5 to 15 players who are active daily. I wish more players played this game. A growing user base is necessary for a game to succeed. There are plans to roll out the game in Steam and also as a mobile app and I hope that it happens soon and it succeeds.

There are still a lot of things I could discuss about this game, but it is best for a person to try it out himself/herself. Perhaps then, you too will discover this gem of a game called Alteil. 

Epic Cards Battle v2.10 Crafting System

Version 2.10 of Epic Cards Battle was released recently and players are given another opportunity to gain higher rarity cards through the Crafting system. Five cards of the same rarity and faction can be combined in the hopes of successfully creating a card of the next level of rarity. Five one star cards will result in a two star card.

So I'll share what I have been able to come up with so far.

1 apprentice swordsman + 1 silent archer + 3 dual daggers rogue = 1 haste
1 dryad + 1 harpee + 3 elf sentry = 1 tauren axe
2 hero + 3 sweety pirates = 1 kendoka girl
1 blade shield + 1 the crusader + 3 silver knight = 1 frost trap
1 kobold + 1 bear warrior + 3 harpy = 1 meteor
2 blessing of mother earth + 3 overpower = 1 centaur warrior
2 sweety pirate + 3 amplifier = 1 kitty girl
3 sweaty pirate + 2 amplifier = 1 kendoka girl
1 skeleton archer + 1 dire wolf + 3 cyclops = 1 queen of spiders
3 overpower + 2 blessing of the mother earth = 1 pit trap
3 slashing strike + 2 apprentice swordsman = 1 blade shield
3 queen of spiders + 1 troll + 1 black widow = 1 skeleton king
3 shadow assault + 2 dire wolf = 1 hellhounds
3 silent archer + 1  dual daggers rogue + 1 ice elemental = 1 silver knight
3 Centaur warrior + 1 Treant + 1 Tauren Axe = 1 Master Druid


I don't know if these results are repeatable since I didn't have the same set of cards to reproduce the same results. If it is, please note it in your comments below. And I'm hoping other players will post their results in the comments below.

Epic Cards Battle Invite Code

Need an Epic Cards Battle invite code? No problem. Use 844cb and you'll hopefully get a three star card. Happy gaming!

Alteil EX 13: Legacy of Darkness

Christmas came early with the release of Alteil's EX 13 expansion. And from what I've seen so far, it looks like Solar Kingdom and Wizard Kingdom seem to be the best picks from this bunch. I still haven't seen the Lawtia cards though, and I'll try to post about those if I see them in play and think they have potential.

Solar Kingdom gets two new level 3 cards that will probably work best with an HK Lapierre deck. Both have AGIs below 2, and while one serves as a tank, the other acts as a reviver.

Wizard Kingdom gets another AGI unit in Leyte, a level 2 card that might work well with Wizard Kingdom AGI decks that seem to be prevalent in Folrart Arena. But I'm more excited about the level 5 card that has the ability to return cards that are HP 0 or lower.

The gowen cards seem kinda meh at this point, but I've been wrong before.

I'm excited to see how these new cards will affect the existing playground and whether new metas will arise.

Below is a preview of the cards I've seen so far.

 

 

 

Alteil's Latest EX Cards as of September 2013

Below are the latest EX cards from Alteil's card list. I think the first 4 are part of the rewards for joining Alteil's Horizons Kickstarter while the last 4 are the characters from the Batora challenge last year. I'll try to discuss each card and what decks I think the cards might fit into in the future. Just click on the card name links.

• Tezcatli
  
• Jacques
  
• Wildcat
  

• Hirumi
  
  
  
  Previous Batora Cards
  
  
• Helcuras
  
• Rosetta
  
• Kanyu
  
• Albert
  

Alteil: Special EX Aisha

The new special EX cards have been released by Alteil today. The Gowen card, Rusted Colossus seems complicated, so I'll probably have to see that in play to get an idea of its usage. One thing I can say about that card though, its a better SS than Russel in that it gives LV+2 and DF+5 to a friendly unit. That's a welcome bonus against return files.

Anyway, HCS Aisha, being a Refess warrior, seems like she would fit really well in a Catira - Toromea file.

As usual, we start with stats. AGI 3, HP 60 and RNG 2 would seem fine for a Level 4 card. Attack is dependent on positioning, but area 5 is usually free in a Toromea file. Placing her there would even allow her to survive Blackstorm. She would also benefit from buffs from Folrart Swordswoman, and of course, Toromea. That means, her attack would roughly be either 50 or 60, and AGI could be 5 or 6, depending on the setup.

Her action skill HCS seems like fun with Toromea around, giving you the SP needed to trigger it, and again, potentially hitting enemy units in area 1, 3, and 5 for 50 or 60 ATK. The 10 HP penalty to a friendly unit in area 3 seems a must though. I would probably position Catira in that slot.

Her other action skill, HT should be good against undeads, lycanthropes, or Dilate. As a bonus, she self-heals.

Finally, her SS is like a nerfed Sergis. Useful against undeads or EN files. But you'ld only use her as an SS if you didn't have Sergis.

But at 1000 Gran a piece, despite all the added extra level 4s and level 3s, I'm afraid I won't be able to get her. 1 card is even more expensive than 2 Set 11 EX packs. And with 200 more Gran, you could get a complete set of the coming EX 12 cards. (Dunno when these will be released, but that's what I'm trying to save for).

Still, those with money to burn should find no trouble completing an Aisha set. And I guess I'll just enjoy watching the action from the sidelines.

Alteil Set 12: War Heroes Crimson Hero / Dilate

Alteil Set 12 was released today. It is kind of early, considering that EX 11 was recently introduced, but I guess the developers are trying to cash in on the holiday shopping spree while people still have money.

In my opinion, some of the cards in this set have been overnerfed compared to the Japanese counterparts previewed in the Alteil forums. I guess, it is to be expected since Alteil Set 11 was a "strong" set which allowed even newcomers to the game to compete in Folrart Arena.

Perhaps it is still to early to predict whether or not Set 12 will result in new meta files. But one card I see becoming integrated with mid Gowen BKR Winston files is the new Crimson Hero /Dilate - an early to mid game version of Bringer. Let us analyze the card.

For a level 4 Gowen unit, his HP might be considered sub-par, but the AGI and the AT are okay. Being a level 4 unit is always great in avoiding Returns and the much abused Withdrawal Strategy cards these days.

The most useful skill in my opinion is his Open, Scream of Red Death which is as powerful as Bringer's and costs 1 SP less. But the 6LP or higher restriction  means you have to use Crimson Dilate early in the game. This card is good for killing that pesky Diondora, Eskatia, or Alliria.

Nightsinger's Blessing as a start skill is probably a bonus of sorts, unless you intentionally splash an Eskatia type card which changes the battle-time to night. The recent EX card, Violet General has proven that even a AGI-1 skill can be an advantage during certain matches, but this being a time dependent skill on Dilate makes me question how effective it will be. It will certainly help against Eternal Night files, allowing Dilate to attack before say Fenrir or even Eskatia. 

His trait allows him to gain attack x2 and "send to cemetery" immunity along with say, Bringer if Song for a Hero is played on Bringer.

Finally, the action skill Crimson Death seems better than the Dilate Set 10 skill since it has no "number of enemy vs friends" restriction or Falkow level penalty. I don't know though if Crimson Dilate will still be around by the late game when your LP is down to 4 or lower. I guess this could be a different way of playing Crimson Hero Dilate, instead of taking advantage of his Open skill, you take advantage of his "mass wiping skill" ala Samurai Girl.

The soul skill is "meh" compared to Thunderbolt or even Russell. There are times when you want SS pinpointing. Why not just design the skill so that you select the specific units you want to target instead of creating an instance where the skill might not hit any units at all. But I guess Crimson Hero wasn't intended to be a staple SS.

Even thought it's early, I will say that this card is one of the best Gowen card of Set 12. Even better than the 5-star Gowen card. I think developers are intentionally making 5-star cards suck since these are auto-rewards to high level players gaining a "tenth" level. So if you want players to spend, make it more difficult to get the better card. I'm probably over-thinking this conspiracy theory.

Still, check out Set 12 which is sure to add variety to the decks you currently see in Folrart.

Alteil EX 11: Gregory

If you specialize in the Gowen sphere, you'll be glad to know that one of the strongest cards in the new EX 11 Set is Exiled Swordsman Gregory. Let's check out the cards skills and stats.

The Start skill, Void Slash, allows Gregory to wipe out a single enemy row every turn as long as his Attack power is zero. And this is a Start skill that essentially bypassed DEF and gets to trigger before anything else. Of course, the condition is that the unit has to be focused and has an AT value of zero. How does one get AT to zero? Grim cards like Brave Strike, might be an option, allowing you to hit possibly 2 units in the back rows and the entire front row gets wiped out when the Start skill takes effect. Angel's trumpet is another grim that could be of use in Refess Gowen hybrids. Hunter Rosa and EX Brahma's soul skill even combos nicely with Gregory. 

The Action skill, Reason to Fight has turned Gregory into an effective buffer. Of course, the ideal target would be a level 3 unit so Light Heierrat Fighter, Heierrat Broadsword Soldier, or Heierrat Field Commander are ideal candidates. Field commander helps generate the SP needed to trigger the skill too. But I've seen players buff Jack Winston, Heierrat Revolver, and even Bear Killing Axe-man for kicks.

In case you didn't have the SP to trigger Reason to Fight, you can still focus Gregory by standing by. So even if his Start skill doesn't wipe out the enemy row next turn, the HP of the enemy units is still reduced to 30 HP.

While Gregory is slow, his HP and DF can more than compensate for it. He fits nicely in a Mid Gowen build, where BKR and Winston used to be the mainstays. Gregory along with other Mercenary Nation / Warrior types can serve as a bonus for a late game New Hunter Alisa.

I want to see him work with a pure Mercenary Nation build, but I haven't seen an effective one yet.

So if you miss playing Gowen, and are tired of the current Refess Meta, Gregory might just be the card that might breath life into that sphere.

Alteil EX 11: Lost Guardians - Violet General

Alteil EX 11 Cards for the set dubbed as the Lost Guardians, were released today and this is great news for Alteil players who haven't had new cards in a long time. Let's take a look at the card, which in my opinion, has the best art for this release - Violet General / Amethyst Eater.

The already competitive Carbuncle deck gets an added boost with the entry of Violet General. Aside from worrying about Red General, an opponent now has to deal with another card with healing abilities and HP manipulating abilities.

Her Open Skill is allows a level 3 friendly unit to gain an additional 5 MAX HP. Since most of the carbuncle units are level 3, targeting one shouldn't be an issue. The additional SP gain is also a plus since Refess suffers from slow SP generation during the early part of a match.

Her Start Skill may give your deck a slight AGI advantage over similar speed decks. But her strength is in her Action Skill which allows you to heal a friendly unit and at the same time, damage an enemy unit. With her Defense of 5, you might even place her at the front row as a tank, to reach those second row enemy units with her 3 Range.

Her Soul Skill will be great for any deck that suffers from quick depletion and needs replacement. Afel and even Lelein decks would probably be ok with it as a second to the last SS.

A set of 3 would set you back 1200 gran (400 gran per pack). The set also comes with EX Brahma and Hanuman (which are great additions for Eternal Morning Decks) and the two-star hard-to-complete-sets of Opal Carbuncle and Jade Carbuncle.

Check out EX 11, the best addition since the Alteil re-launch with Apocoplay.

Postscript:

Purple Stone is practically useless if your units are fully healed. And having a base AT=10 is no help either. Perhaps the developers can rework this skill in the next errata.

Posts I've Written on Alteil

Below are some of the posts I've written about Alteil:

• Alteil EX 11: Lost Guardians - Violet General
• Alteil EX 11: Gregory

• Alteil is Back!!!
• Alteil Set 11: Mermaid Harpist
• Alteil Set 11: Beast Emperor / Rivera
• Alteil Set 11: King of Mankind / Verlaat
• Alteil: Defender of Seasons / Sakon

Alteil Is Back!!!

Below is Logress' write-up about the return of the game. I also tried logging in and was able to do so. So for those who have been waiting and hoping that the game would be back online, you're wish has been granted.

Pre-Release Opening -- Game Is Open

Written by Logress

Sunday, 07 October 2012 00:20

Pre-release Welcome Announcement Welcome everyone, to the Apocoplay (that’s the name of my our company) Alteil Pre-Release.  In two weeks we’ll have a big release (after you guinea pigs… er, honored Iczers have found any remaining bugs), with events and ads and a mass mail and hopefully a little press.  But for now, we’re turning the game on and letting our loyal forum-ites, and regulars, and Iczers who come back and check on us every now and then for the heck of it… all log on and run rampant! We’ve already made some big improvements, like the monetization system is totally fixed. By that I mean, the Cashier has been completely removed. You know, judging by how worked up everyone was about the whole topic, I thought it was going to be harder to work out. But, whatever, problem solved!  Seriously, though, The Cashier isn’t on because this is technically a beta period.  Also, you might notice the Google/Facebook/Twitter login functionality. And that won’t be the last of improvements, bug fixes and evolutions. Apocoplay is basically a software company with me added to manage the game, and it’s run like one.  So, if you end up talking with one of my esteemed colleges on the forum you might find yourself having to Google the word ‘SCRUM.’  And to prove we’re in it to improve it… I just nerfed Emana (and Chaos Anna and Harpist). There’s so much to say, plans, hopes dreams, etc.  A few policy changes… IE a general up-frontness about the good and the bad…  But this is supposed to be a welcome post and not a ramble.  Besides I gotta save some stuff for the general release announcements.  So for now, log in, and get dueling!

Sword Girls Online Collectible Card Game

From http://www.swordgirlsonline.com/

Alteil U.S. is gone and doesn't appear to be coming back. I'm still hoping my three year investment would resurface. But, in order to pass the time, I decided to look for a free to play online collectible card game (CCG) that would serve as Alteil's temporary replacement.

I was still hoping I would find a Robotech / Macross type of CCG, but alas, there seems to be no market for it... else there would have been one already.

Sword Girls, on the other hand, appeals to the hormones of young boys. You'll understand this as you see the vivid images portrayed in the cards.

The game play is similar to Alteil where two players go head-to-head and try to destroy each other's Character, one of the three types of cards in the game (the other two are Followers and Spells). The Character is the "LIFE" representation of the player, and different Characters will have different "LIFE" sizes. Some can have 30 life (or SP for Alteil fans), while others only have 20 SP. Some Characters have abilities that affect its Followers (or Units) at the beginning of the turn. The player who goes first during turns is also randomly determined, just like Alteil.

There are five slots surrounding the Character so you can play a maximum of five cards per turn. Unfortunately, there is no Range concept in Sword Girls. But some abilities will affect certain slots, so positioning your Followers is still key. The card's Size will determine how many you can play in a turn. A player is given a maximum playable size of 10. So as long as the sum of all card sizes you are playing during the turn is less than or equal to 10, you can play all of these. (Two 5-sized cards, Three 3-sized cards and a 1-sized card, Five 2-sized cards... I hope you get the idea.)

Spells are laid out just like units, but take effect first before any unit can attack. The thing I hate is that your units randomly attack the enemies units. There seems to be no sense of focus, where you can concentrate your attacks on bringing down a single unit first. (Perhaps this changes as you get better cards in the game, but I'm only at the beginner stage.) Still, the objective of the game is to get the opponent's Character down to zero life.

And like Alteil, there are also spells which remove units from the playing field. Once the opponent's units are gone, your units or Followers are free to attack the opponent's Character.

This game is playable for "free players". It has different types of quests where you can play against the game's AI and win different cards, depending on the quest. You can use these cards, (Materials and Accessories) to create new cards, which is reminiscent of crafting in Star Ocean. (I was even able to create a Rare card after only playing the game for three days. But the game has double and triple rares and to create these, you would need to have multiple rares, uncommon, and common cards, so I don't know how long it will take to create these cards.) You can also buy tokens, which is the "gran" or money for Sword Girls. They offer booster packs and even random single cards.

So if you miss Alteil and want to play a decent CCG, then Sword Girls could be the game for you. With an iterative card crafting system and new quests being introduced every season, I think it will take a really long time for a player to reach the "plateau".

Alteil Set 11: Mermaid Harpist

One of the surprisingly powerful cards out of Alteil's Advent of the Sun Expansion is a common card called Mermaid Harpist. It reminds me of another common card, Storm Wizardress that has become a staple in Wizard Kingdom files combined with Volfied, or Giant Squid files, or even Big Falkow files.

Mermaid Harpist IMHO has the potential to make mermaid decks into another commonly used meta file. Let's check out this card.

The strength of this card lies in it's Open Skill. Imagine an opponent's side full of mermaids which you just happened to wipe out, say with Allind, or with Afel, or even Game Over. Is the mermaid player at a disadvantage? Hardly. All he has to do is play this card on the succeeding turn, and as long as there is an open or closed unit on the field to return, all the mermaids in the field are revived. As if Emana's revive skill were not enough, mermaids get another reviver in the Harpist.

The way I have seen this card abused in Folrart is that the mermaid player will return the copy of Mermaid Harpist already on the field next turn by using another Mermaid Harpist. So even if you field wipe his units that turn, he simply keeps repeating this cycle, since he has 2 free SP given each turn. The only way to break the cycle would be to drain his SP, using shade for example, so that he cannot play Mermaid Harpist on the next turn. (But he might opt to sacrifice one closed unit for SP). Perhaps one can try to prevent any open of closed unit from being returned (but highly unlikely because of the field wipe). Finally, one can probably play a card like Stronghold to decrease the Refess level from one to zero.

It's Start skill even provides AGI advantage. And being a level 2 unit, Emana can always revive it, and sacrifice herself only to get revived by a second copy of Mermaid harpist, that will also return the first copy of harpist, and the cycle again continues and is difficult to break.

Newbies and free players will probably be able to take advantage of common cards like these. Its good to know that there are alternative deck strategies opened up by non-rare cards like Mermaid Harpist. Doesn't have to be a 5-star to be a game changer.

Alteil Set 11: Beast Emperor / Rivera

For a time, once of the most dominant decks in Folrart was BKR (Beast King Rivera). But with the entry of Brave Hero Dilate, it seems that many Gowen players have removed BKR from their decks in preference of Dilate. Perhaps BER (Beast Emperor Rivera) will bring back the popularity of BKR decks. Check her out.

Rivera is faster now with 4 AGI, tougher with 70 HP, and stronger with 60 ATK, albeit at a higher SP cost since she is now a level 6 unit. But achieving a Gowen level of 6 should be easy if you use Winston before her. BKR and Winston can start off early, while BER ends up as one of your end game units. 

As an end game unit, you will rarely be able to take advantage of her Counter Skill if your field has been well developed. She will probably have two to three friendly units with you by that time. But if ever she's alone, you can even trigger this skill with a rightly timed salamander to engage a potential enemy threat.

Her Action Skill, Scarrion's Memory, is a great waiting move, and should stack with the ATK bonus already given by BKR's auto skill. And if BKR happens to be alive by the time you put BER on the field, that's a possible 15 permanent ATK buff per turn for all friendly units.

Finally, her other Action Skill, Sword of Orthos is great for bypassing DEF and for dealing with cemetery recycling decks like undeads, Ascarat, Skeleton Master, and True Emperor Retear. It even engages the enemy unit it hits, which more than compensates for the weak Counter Skill.

Overall, a great addition to Mid Level Gowen decks. Perhaps BKR decks will now be renamed BER. 

Alteil Set 11: King of Mankind / Verlaat

Alteil has launched Set 11 today and out of the new card set, one of the most anticipated cards would be King of Mankind (KoM) / Verlaat and how it will affect the Refess Sphere. Refess Solar Kingdom has seen a decline in play ever since Holy Knight Lapierre and Kaldrao were nerfed. Is KoM Verlaat the solution? Will Solar Kingdom once again become OP? Let us analyze this card.

The card is level 5 which means that it will take some time before KoM Verlaat can be played on the field. His AGI of 4 is pretty good for a big unit, and his DF makes him a pretty decent front liner. His card type is Solar Kingdom which means that he will benefit from Folrart Knight Captain, Safiria and Aliria. The Royalty subtype allows you play Priestess of the Royal Guard on him to gain an attack immunity for the turn.

His Start Skill will benefit all Solar Kingdom units except himself. And while the ATK does not stack, it is still a decent boost for a full field every turn. Makes you wonder if KoM Verlaat will be a key component in a Solar Kingdom rush file. Watch out for Shining Knigt Zero though (a case where the added DF is bad).

His Open skill reminds me of Storm Wizardress' open skill. But it is dependent on the number of units in your field. The more friendly units you have, the more enemy units you can engage. Again, developers are probably hinting at the possibility of building a Solar Kingdom rush file. SP wise though, it doesn't seem to match if the crucial unit is a level 5 unit. We'll just have to see how ingenious players in Folrart will get.

His Action skill reminds me of Bringers, but it is instead, dependent on the number of friendly units on the field. And instead of healing himself fully, he heals the entire friendly field 20 HP, for a cost of 1 SP. While not as great as HK Lap's auto heal, it is still better and will probably be complemented well by Safiria. It is also a bane to undead units, since it is a MAX HP reduction.

The irony is that his Soul skill will probably be a good addition to an undead deck or decks relying on high HP buffs like Annette and Alraune.

Overall, a card that makes great first impressions. Can't wait to try it out!!! 

Alteil US is Closing Down

Alteil made the sad announcement earlier today that it is going to close down. Below is the message from Alteil's website.

This gives players a time frame up to July 23, 2012 to enjoy their favorite game.

I know I for one am disappointed. Although I have not invested any amount in the game, I have been playing it for almost 3 years now and have invested that much time in it. It is sad to see all the time I have spent accumulating cards go to waste. It is even sadder for those players who have actually invested thousands of dollars in the game. If this was a real collectible card game, one could still keep the cards, and perhaps sell it or just keep playing with it. But the problem with an online playground is that once the people running it are no longer earning from it, it is shut down.

What surprises me is that gaming sites like Yahoo Games and Ikariam are still around, and have existed longer than Alteil. And I am doubtful that Yahoo Games acts as a major revenue provider for Yahoo. But I guess the major difference between Yahoo and Alteil is the player base. Almost everyone can find a game that they would like to play on Yahoo Games. But Alteil is not for everyone.

I would like to think that there is still hope for Alteil US. Perhaps another investor would like to purchase it from its current owners and try to change or tweak their revenue production model. Alteil is a game to the players, but a business to the owners. And if a business is not earning any money, it will close down.

Part of me wants to believe that this might be an April Fool's prank. But that date has long since passed. Perhaps it is a marketing gimmick for Alteil's Set 11 (logo seen above). But the message above shows that they are releasing it for FREE, perhaps as an act of good will to all the players that have supported the game. And releasing it for FREE just makes the closing down of Alteil more real.

Perhaps I would have to learn Japanese so that I can shift to Alteil 2 instead. Perhaps Alteil 2 US is the next chapter in this book.

Thanks to the makers of the game. I wish it would not end.

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Alteil: Defender of Seasons / Sakon

Sakon seems to have more potential than her counterpart Meltiria. Let's look at the Defender of Season's skills and stats.

As a soul skill, Sakon would probably work well with a Discarder file especially when dealing against Rush files. The grammar may be wrong (1 cards) but you get the idea. For every enemy unit with HP 0 or lower, send 1 card from the file to the cemetery. Its a trade-off between sending a card after sacrificing 2 LP in Lria or sending potentially more cards in Sakon. Of course, if your up against a Biggies, you might not even be able to send a file to the grave. And if you don't have Lria, then Sakon might be a good SS alternative.

For SP Stealing Decks, Sakon's start skill might be of use too. The battle-time night clause might be bypassed by Eskatia (though I've yet to see an SP Stealing deck use her). But Sakon just might create a new SP Stealing type of deck, and along with Mad Priest and Nightmare Given Form, might completely create an SP lock for your opponent.

Sakon is a two hitter (like Winston, Shvara, Folrart Dual-wielders, etc. with a twist. You are penalized an LP if you kill an enemy unit). Now why would a player want that? Must be desperate to use this skill or you want to trigger a certain SS. 

The close skill seems to be aimed as a counter against MAX HP - 60  hate SS and similar effects. But I don't think it is effective against Sergis or Folrart Paladin SS. Perhaps the conditional use should be changed to MAX HP = 0 or lower for wider coverage.

Decent stats for a level 4 unit at 60 HP, and AGI 4. ATK could have been higher, but I guess Aoizakura's DEF bypassing ability more than makes up for the low ATK. Again, similar to Meltiria, it is just strange that the card type does not match the decks that I think this card should be placed in. Still, this card just might see more playtime than Meltiria. I would recommend trying her out to those who can afford buying a set.

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Alteil: Song of Spring / Meltiria

New card boxes are selling for 1000 Gran a pop. If you are a collector and have amassed most of the cards, this will be like shelling 3000 Gran for a complete set. Are the new EX Spring Cards worth it? Lets look at the first one called Song of Spring, Meltiria.

It seems strange to have a new Faerie card for Refess when Faeries are considered Gowen's territory. So this must mean this card isn't really meant for a Faerie deck. And if you look at the soul skill, Treasure hunter is still better since it only returns your cards, not your opponent's.

The open skill, Message on the Breeze seems to be appropriate for Refess rush files. Sort of an alternative to Lavende maybe. But the non-character clause is still icky to me. Would have been great if the non-character clause of the lower than LV 3 clause were removed. Meltiria would have then been useful in Star Dragon files. Perhaps she's supposed to be useful in an Eternal Morning file, but again, Lavende and Brahma seem to be better suited for cemetery recycling in an EM file. Meltiria's being a level 4 card also seems to work against Refess rush files.

Does this mean she's supposed to be used in a Refess level 4 and above file? Time of Budding again seems to contradict this too because you can only return a card of level 3 or lower to the unit you healed. And again, the non-character clause seems to rule out Meltiria's usefulness in current Refess metas like TGC, Toromea, and even Alphonse-Annarose.

Perhaps Meltiria is supposed to create a new Refess meta file. Can't wait to see players in Folrart create one.

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Alteil Disconnections

One of the most disappointing aspects of Alteil gaming would be the random disconnections that happen when players are having a match. Below is a typical scenario of an Alteil disconnection.

As you can see, I was clearly ahead of my opponent in terms of field control. So this match should have been a win for me. But because of Alteil disconnections, I ended up losing this match, lower RP, and an ended winning streak.

Reasons for a disconnection have been attributed to a player's browser, his computer, or his ISP. I have re-installed Flash several times, tried different browsers, and the disconnections only seem to happen when I am on the Alteil website. So I really don't think the problem is happening because of my computer or my ISP.

The only time a disconnection during a match is acceptable should be during the website's maintenance. Players have suggested several solutions to this problem on the forums. Some suggestions are prone to player abuse (say the match is not counted for the losing player), but I specifically like the suggestion of a reconnect button. Websites like Yahoo Games allow players to reconnect in timer-based matches like Chess. So as long as the timer has not run down to zero, a player has a chance to reconnect to that same match. So if Alteil incorporates one, a player should have roughly about 5 minutes maximum time to reconnect.

Yahoo Games are also made using Flash so I don't understand why Alteil developers seem to have a difficult time implementing this despite the disconnection issue being present until now. I have been playing Alteil for 3 years now and I have been getting disconnected in random matches since my first year. Perhaps this feature presents too much trouble with very little gains for Alteil management. But they should also see it as an opportunity to show that they hear their players concerns and are doing something about it.

Addendum:

An alternative to having a reconnect button is to add logic to the game which analyzes which Player was ahead and awards the win to that player. There are several factors that could be analyzed.

• Which player had the lower remaining time during the time of the disconnection
• Which player had more units on the field during the time of the disconnection
• Which player had more LP (life points) during the time of the disconnection
• Which player had more SP during the time of the disconnection
• Which player had more cards in their deck during the time of the disconnection

Based on these questions, it should be easier to piece which player deserves the win during a disconnected game.

I still don't know if there is a flaw in Flash that allows gamers to force the opponent to get disconnected. If there is, no one would share it since they have an advantage in having that secret. But if the developers are made aware of this exploit, perhaps a fairer playground could be created in the future.