More-so of an experimental deck that performed substantially better than I originally anticipated. This play-style is pretty simple, yet fun. It is centered on overwhelming and burning the enemy. The beginning phase of the game will want to be focused around obtaining and placing Giant Salamanders into the battlefield. Per usual, most cards will not be covered, but the main components of the deck will be iterated on.
Giant Salamander is a “beefy beastie” that only costs 1 flame aura and yields a base 25 damage and 50LP. However, if a Forest Terra is in the field he gains another 50 damage. On top of which, “if there is a felled tree within eyesight or if a Forest beastie was placed into Limbo, the Cemetery, or the Afterlife within the last two turns” he gains an additional 25 as well. For a simple 1 aura beastie, Giant Salamander can reach a max of 100 damage. This beastie is exactly what we want to focus on getting onto the battlefield ASAP.
To go with the theme, we have Salamander Queen. She is extremely powerful coming onto the board as long as you have a Giant Salamander, preferably more than 1, as she gives them a +10LP buff and a +25 damage buff if there’s a Desert Terra on the battlefield as well. This could ultimately provide your Giant Salamanders with a total of 110LP and 125 damage. That’s if all buff factors came to fruition. The only downside of of Salamander Queen is her ability as it forces you to sacrifice any Flame beasties you control. Only do so when you are really aiming for a heavy hit to destroy a beastie providing you with trouble or if you can destroy the enemy Caster themselves. Applying a Powerup Red prior to using her ability would not be the worst play as it could very well be the killing blow.
Long story short, it’s basically a small buff to a beastie of the Caster’s choosing. The beastie will gain an additional 10 damage and make their attacks inflict burn. This will be a nice little touch to the deck for dealing with the likes of Gumberoo (Gumberoo is automatically destroyed if burnt). Also perfect for application on one of the Giant Salamanders as they do not inherently have the burn effect.
A 2 aura costing card, however the Caster must send a Flame beastie you control to Limbo to utilize. Upon doing so, the spell does 50 damage to target beastie or artifact. Be sure to strategically cast this (as with any page in your deck) as you do not want to just sacrifice any beastie you have. This is perfect for sacrificing an already damaged beastie to destroy an enemy beastie or artifact that is providing pressure.
The Caster is permitted to include 10 of these per Spellbook. However we will only be needing 3. Fire Elemental has two traits; Fleet and Convert. Fleet allows Fire Elemental to enter the battlefield awakened while Convert allows the Caster to fatigue the beastie to generate an additional aura. This is perfect for her ability, “Living Flames, which targets a flame aura page which then becomes a flame beastie with 30LP and 30 damage and then goes to the Afterlife at the end of the turn. Generally only sacrifice the aura when you have plenty to “dispose” of and be sure to utilize the convert trait whenever possible.
Piasa Bird will be one of the priority beasties to get onto the battlefield ASAP as there are a fair share of spells, like Fireball, and will make these 0 aura to cast. Piasa Bird also has the unique 4th wall effect that if there is fire within eyesight, Piasa bird’s Attacks gain +50 damage, yielding him 125 damage (without the Desert Terra applied) and inflicts burn but yet also does forest damage instead of flame. Quite unique but also a massively intimidating presence on the battlefield that only costs 3 aura to bring in.
The last page we will cover in this deck overview, Pheonix Rain is, in my opinion, one of the strongest spells currently in the game. However, it should only be used if the situation calls for it as Phoenix Rain does 100 damage to both Casters. This spell can easily set the tone for the game or even just set the player up to finish the game. Just simply be wary of your own LP.
Conclusion
There are just so many beasties in this deck that can do a fair share of damage, let alone the amount of spells that will be “slung”. Its quite fearsome and overwhelming, just be sure to not make any unwanted sacrifices and you are sure to come out on top!