Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tips on How to Win in the Weekly ELO Tournament

The ELO tournament in Urban Rivals is one of the only few ways a player might win those coveted Collector cards in the game. The other two being buying the cards themselves (which can be worth millions of in-game currency) or participate in official once-in-a-blue-moon games/events which are hosted by certain moderators.

Going back to ELO, there's an important thing to remember before joining in on the fun of this weekly event, and that is how to create a winning ELO Deck. There are many cards which are banned from ELO play. Add to that, every week, one clan is banned from the ELO tournament entirely. That is a pretty tough situation, especially for ELO newbies.

First Step: Make an ELO Deck

One thing you can do is scour through the multitude of pre-existing user decks, get some ideas and then build your deck from there. Urban Rivals has a wondeful and helpful community which are actively posting "deck recipes" everyday. Make good use of this and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to actually build a deck which can be used for ELO. Take note that ELO is strictly Type 1 so you must be mindful of the 25-star count limit. Don't confuse it with the other ELO tournament which is Survivor ELO. That is completely a different thing altogether.

Second Step: Play ELO

Now that you have your deck, the next thing you need to do is pretty straightforward: play ELO.

You might notice that there are two ELO rooms available, one is Random and the other is, you guessed it, Non-Random. To keep this guid more easier to understand, I will assume that you pick the Non-Random room because it's the only room which leaves space for an actual "strategy". Random rooms, as you will soon know, depends on luck and it can be quite headache-inducing in the long run.

As you play games in the Non-Random room, get a general "feel" of the current set of opponents. Make mental notes of the types of deck and the strategies you encounter. Don't worry if your score goes below the starting score of 1000, you can still change your fate even if your score is on the 800 region. If there's anything someone needs to learn about ELO, it is this: Have perseverance and take a lot of risks!

Third Step: Vary Your Strategies

Of course, if you keep on losing with your deck and you never won even once, then there's something seriously wrong. Stop for a while and assess the cause of trouble. Is your current deck competitive enough with the ongoing trend in the ELO room? If not, try going to the message boards and ask for specific help on beating the opponents' decks. Some people will usually give you great tips, especially if there's an overused deck which needs serious countering.

Fourth Step: Understand the Current Meta-Game

The other thing you must understand about Urban Rivals is the sudden shifts of the meta-game. At the time of writing, the most used clans are Roots, Sentinel and All Stars. The year before it was Uppers, Montana and Rescue. See? It's a constantly changing trend. You have to understand that sometimes, even the strongest clan has one or two weak points. These weaknesses can be taken advantaged of. Actually, all clans have weaknesses and strengths, don't believe the hype some people put in a single clan, there's really no strongest clan in Urban Rivals. If you feel like testing a theory regarding a certain clan and their weakness, do it in the practice rooms other than ELO. Afterwards, you can get back to the ELO room and have your vengeance.

Final Step: Maintain your ELO Ranking

This is easier said than done. I have noticed that certain UR players have different goals when it comes to ELO. Some people just want to get the 10 bonus credits at the end of the week. Some aspire for rare cards that they cannot normally buy because of lack of funds. Still, others have that dream of attaining the Holy Grail of Urban Rivals: the Collector Cards.

The road is never easy. One must maintain a score that is within the Top 100 to be eligible to get those Collector cards. The ranks keep on shifting every hour and you might see yourself on top today and then drop a couple hundred places the next day. As I have said previously, it will take great risk and determination to actually reach Top 100. If you really want to get that Collector card, then don't ever stop playing until you get to that point! It might sound cheesy, but it's true. Don't let a sudden losing streak get you down and give up on that ELO dream. Just follow the simple rule of adapting to different sets of players and changing strategies midway: You are bound for ELO dominance.

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