The Book of the Fire Drake

[Quintaton16]

The Book of the Fire Drake
Champion of the Phoenix Elves - Starter Set 1: Phoenix Elves vs. Tundra Orcs

Character Bio: This ancient beast has long dwelt among the Phoenix Elves, ever since the Elves found it nestled deep in the molten halls of the volcanoes. Like a faithful pet, it is loyal to a fault and viciously defends its masters when threatened.

Rulings and Clarifications
-N/A

Community Contributions
-N/A

[esper88]

This guy never seems to hit the field when I play the elves.

Most of the time I can pull off the 7/8 cost summon in a deck if I play conservatively for a turn or two, but the phoenix elves don't seem to lend to this. They're not volatile enough to rack up a pile of magic.

Can't wait for reinforcements. Fencers and Fire Beasts way very well change the Drake's fate.

[killercactus]

This guy never seems to hit the field when I play the elves.

Most of the time I can pull off the 7/8 cost summon in a deck if I play conservatively for a turn or two, but the phoenix elves don't seem to lend to this. They're not volatile enough to rack up a pile of magic.

Can't wait for reinforcements. Fencers and Fire Beasts way very well change the Drake's fate.

I find the Elves to be exactly the opposite - I always seem to be sitting there with a pile of magic. The Fire Drake is my favorite PE Champion, and I work to summon him almost every game.

[Kaiser Cat]

I find the Elves to be exactly the opposite - I always seem to be sitting there with a pile of magic. The Fire Drake is my favorite PE Champion, and I work to summon him almost every game.

I agree verbatim.

[darkbladecb]

This guy never seems to hit the field when I play the elves.

Most of the time I can pull off the 7/8 cost summon in a deck if I play conservatively for a turn or two, but the phoenix elves don't seem to lend to this. They're not volatile enough to rack up a pile of magic.

Can't wait for reinforcements. Fencers and Fire Beasts way very well change the Drake's fate.

See, I hate Guardians and to a lesser extent Archers. So when I play PE I only play Warriors and Champions and, particularly as the PEs are very good at making sure their targets die, it's very easy to get 10+ Magic with the PE very, very quickly. Which means you can get the Drake and one of the girls out in the first five turns quite easily.

[Sujoah]

See, I hate Guardians and to a lesser extent Archers. So when I play PE I only play Warriors and Champions and, particularly as the PEs are very good at making sure their targets die, it's very easy to get 10+ Magic with the PE very, very quickly. Which means you can get the Drake and one of the girls out in the first five turns quite easily.

I'm the exact same way. You can take an assured hit, or possibly two hits on whatever, for one less cost with the Warrior. I always burn a Guardian for magic to get one of the girls or Fire Drake out.

[esper88]

Tee hee. I think I spoke too soon.

I'm new to the game so my initial post was after playing 5 games with the elves, this is after playing 10:

The Fire Drake is worth it in the deck if you're playing the deck right. I used to hate guardians and archers in favor of warriors, and that was where I was wrong. Guardians are the backbone of the deck, to a certain extent. If you can work your guardians across the field and score those calculated definite hits, you'll have a nice magic pile. It's all about the guardians and warriors working together with a little help from archers (and champions).

Elves are great. Fire Drake is great. Just have to be willing to dive into the deck.

[Quelmotz]

I don't think Guardians are really that good unless you're trying to slaughter hordes of goblins. Most of the time I just dump them into my magic pile.

In fact, I would think they're slightly overpriced...I mean, standard 2-cost units have 2 melee attack and 2 health, with some ability. At least, that's what I think the baseline is. But Guardians have only 1 attack value, and the ability only makes them do a guaranteed 1 hit. Compared to an average of 1 and 1/3 for other 2-cost units, not forgetting that they often have other abilities (e.g. Berserkers - Assault, Smashers - more health, Priests - healing, Stalwart Archers - range + potential increase in dice, etc.).

I mean, it's always nice to be able to be completely sure of things, but the chance of a Warrior missing totally is only 1/9, about 10% of the time. Fine, it might be game-changing if you miss, but if it's really that important, an SotP can easily guarantee the hits. Or if you're arguing about health, a Berserker has the same health as the Guardian, costs the same, has the same dice as the Warrior, and an ability that discourages crowding to a certain extent.

[esper88]

I don't think Guardians are really that good unless you're trying to slaughter hordes of goblins. Most of the time I just dump them into my magic pile.

In fact, I would think they're slightly overpriced...I mean, standard 2-cost units have 2 melee attack and 2 health, with some ability. At least, that's what I think the baseline is. But Guardians have only 1 attack value, and the ability only makes them do a guaranteed 1 hit. Compared to an average of 1 and 1/3 for other 2-cost units, not forgetting that they often have other abilities (e.g. Berserkers - Assault, Smashers - more health, Priests - healing, Stalwart Archers - range + potential increase in dice, etc.).

I mean, it's always nice to be able to be completely sure of things, but the chance of a Warrior missing totally is only 1/9, about 10% of the time. Fine, it might be game-changing if you miss, but if it's really that important, an SotP can easily guarantee the hits. Or if you're arguing about health, a Berserker has the same health as the Guardian, costs the same, has the same dice as the Warrior, and an ability that discourages crowding to a certain extent.

You're very right. This was my reasoning back when I hated using Guardians. Warriors are cheaper and they have more attack. Not only that, but Spirit of the Phoenix can be used on them, which is redundant on Guardians.

It's very difficult to explain unless you've gone ahead and depended upon Guardians for a few games. That 2 life makes all the difference. That means odds are they'll get in 2 attacks before they die. A warrior dies immediately when attacked. Sure, you can defensively use Blaze Step, but then they'll never be able to attack.

The 2 life means they'll stick around longer and give the opponent less magic. A drove of warriors will do damage, but it will also give the opponent the opportunity to reap in the magic.

As for the comparison to other 2 magic cost summons, Guardians are the only solid and consistent soldiers of the Phoenix Elf commons, so they fit into the deck. At a base comparison the Guardian does seem to pale to the Berserker or Smasher, but those are filling different niches in different armies.

All in all, I understand the stigma surrounding Guardians, but if you give them a chance they might just surprise you.

[Quelmotz]

Many good players seem to be able to do well without relying too heavily on Guardians though, focusing more on champions while playing more defensively with Archers and Warriors. I don't think the PE are really that aggressive, in the sense that the 2 health doesn't matter than much since you're not pushing into enemy territory a lot unless you have champions.

2 health is nice, but it's quite fragile still (Berserkers still die easily whenever my opponent or I use them). 2 health is nice against summoners though definitely, especially the 3 2-dice-ranged attack ones (i.e. Sera/Ret-Talus/Oldin), since they have a significant chance of failing to roll two hits.

Still, I'm by no means an expert on the PE (or any faction for that matter), so I'll take your advice and try to use them a bit more heavily in upcoming matches.