[LL] Relentless Elementalis
Coming back from a few months off of the game, I decided to revisit an archetype I had played in Call of the Crystals, Dark Prophecies and Shattered Fates, aggro Elementalis.
The approach is the same: get ahead early and never let the pressure drop. The deck has never really been Tier 1, but I think it's worth it to have it in your arsenal as it is still very solid and can tear through some specific metagames (this season, I plateau'd at 290 after a late start, not spectacular, but good enough for top 100). If nothing else, it's a good deck to learn the importance of board control and tempo. The list has much less draw than popular archetypes, but it generates so much advantage through tempo-based plays that you can beat decks that severely outdraw you.
Looking through all 4 iterations takes us through 4 years of expansions and evolution of Shadow Era (shameless plug: I did something similar with Serena).
In CotC, the deck ran a motley crew of allies and abilities. Most of the game was underdeveloped at that point, so that's hardly surprising. I remember that the list did rather well against Shadow and/or going first, but rather poorly otherwise. Infernal Gargoyle, Death Mage Thaddeus, Belladonna and Mind Control are the only surviving original members. I think I like playing the deck mainly because it makes good use of Belladonna, one of my favorite cards in the game. A Turn 4 Bella on a controlled board is simply a thing of beauty (and a healthy source of rage quits).
Dark Prophecies brought Ironhide Karash, an elite 2 drop that is more than fine going second and can tank most weapons, and Bloodthirsty, an hydrid between a removal spell and a draw engine. Both cards really solidified the archetype.
Shattered Fates came with two new pillars: Rampant Krygon (removal + body + so much more) and Murderous Hulk (a great win condition on the cheap). SF also allowed me to play 30+ allies. In a deck that aims to capitalize on early board control, being able to lay threat after threat until you overwhelm your opponent's defense, drawing air is a death sentence. We need density.
Lost Lands gives us one absolute All-Star: Feasterling. Feasterling gives us so many ways to deal 4, 5 and even 6 damage on turn 3 (often while developing our board further) that it's often unfair to our opponent. The card is nuts. (Unfortunately, it's pretty bonkers against us too...) Relentless Savagery is also a very solid addition. It kills an opposing ally when it comes down and trades with removal when the bearer dies. Apart from DMT, all our cheap guys have claw attack. Savagery also turns Extractor into a legitimate threat. Finally, Eternal Troll gives us some added resiliency to removal, wipes and weapons and is worthy of inclusion. The first Troll is always welcome but Gargoyle remains a better play going second most of the time (I started with fewer Gary's but went back up to 4). Savegery on Troll, suiciding Troll and replaying the Savagery on another ally on the same turn is, well, savage.
x1 Elementalis
x4 Ironhide Karash
x4 Feasterling
x4 Infernal Gargoyle
x3 Eternal Troll
x2 Rampant Krygon
x2 DMT
x4 Murderous Hulk
x4 Belladonna
x2 Stardust Extractor
x2 Shadow Knight
x3 Bloodthirsty
x3 Relentless Savagery
x2 Mind Control
This is the leanest iteration yet with only 4 5cc cards (average cc of 3.18!).
The deck remains a bit soft to Anklebreaker and Tidal Wave (probably the two best cards in the format unfortunately), but a good starting hand can beat either. We're still underdogs. Retreat is thankfully underplayed, that card is a beating. Still, the deck can produce explosive starts that can beat pretty much anything and it's resilient enough that it won't just sputter out if the opponent can survive the early turns (but you need to be emotionally capable of conceding some early games, that's the price to pay to live the aggro lifestyle).
