Birdie’s Hero Breakdown – Elementalis

[Preybird]

Intro

For a very long time dear old Elementalis has sat in the shadow of Zaladar, always being the ugly ducking Elemental used only by the casual and very new player. Recently he’s experienced a resurgence primarily due to Edgenel, who took Elementalis to 330+ rating in the last season.

Overview

Elementalis is the monster maker. His ability allows you to have heavy duty allies as early as turn 3, and push your heavy allies out of kill range with ease. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? The problem is that there are many many cards within Shadow Era that care not for health, they will just as easily stop the ally with 1000 health as the ally with 1. And a lot of these cards are CHEAP. That being said he is a dangerous prospect if he gets a good start, which is what the “Edgenel” build (as it is now known) exploits.

Elementalis has the extremely versatile Elemental card pool at his disposal, which basically means he can do a bit of everything (however with very limited success). He has effective heal (Soul Reaper, Infinity Core, Conversion), ally control (Mind Control, Synchronicity), a board wipe (Energy Discharge), graveyard manipulation (Infinity Core again, Eternal Renewal), ally buffing (Shard of Power), a draw engine (Anti Matter) and some solid allies (Xar Modulator, Crystal Titan).

Unfortunately all of Elementalis’ board control options require either high resources and/or ally sacrifice (Synchronicity pushes the ally to the top of your deck, but in a hero where board control is king that’s almost as bad), which means that it’s very hard for him to regain the board once he has lost it.

Allies

Elementalis likes cheap allies so that he can constantly apply pressure with threat after threat. And with his ability low health isn’t so much of an issue.

Call of the Crystals

• Fire Snake: The Oracle of Overpowered, the Scion of Slaughter, the almighty Serpent. Yeah, Fire Snake actually sees use in a lot of Elementalis decks for that turn 1 aggro drop, filling the role of Kris in human aggro. On turn 1 he is guaranteed to survive due to his 2 health (unless going second and your opponent decides it’s wise to Retreat it ) so he’ll almost always deal some damage.

• Brutalis: Still useful in an Elementalis deck, Brutalis can tank significant damage and even more so when boosted. And even a boosted Brutalis is less likely to attract ally control than say a Gargoyle.

• Infernal Gargoyle: We all love 2/4 Gargoyles. You know what’s better? 3/7 Gargoyles.

• Belladonna: Seen in very aggressive Elementalis’ she gives you draw and when boosted she’s a respectable 5/5 ally.

• Plasma Behemoth: Buffing one of these guys to 8 health puts the board under intense pressure and generally means your opponent will have to use some kind of instakill spell to deal with him. And if they can’t well…..

Dark Prophecies

• Ironhide Karash: Everybody loves Karash. And in Elementalis he can be really evil. Combines beautifully with attachment buffs to deal with 3 drops going second.

• Morbid Acolyte: Acolyte is another Gargoyle with the bonus of cutting through stealth, damage reduction, protector etc. All those things that make Elementalis’ life a misery.

• Death Collector: A very aggressive 3 drop for Shadow, the Death Collector has great survivability with Elementalis’ buffs. Plus he can make himself bigger too!

• Wulven Savage: While normally weak to ability damage, Savage can be a real monster in an Elementalis deck, immune to weapons and ally combat he’s your beatstick and item destruction in one.

• Xar Modulator: Huge survivability even without buffing, Xar will keep your strategy ticking over simply because he’s so damn hard to kill. And he can bring back attachments for another pass.

• Darkwood Wraith: One of Elementalis’ few control options that won’t cost him the earth (as he gets an ally included in the cost). The Wraith is a great addition in your deck. They’re also the bane of your existence if your opponent is using them.

• Furrion Terror: An odd choice, Furrion is really good vs Mages. A buffed Furrion is almost completely unstoppable by mage burn (you need double Lightning Strike to kill it, and it’s immune to fire), and it’s another control option at Elementalis’ disposal. And with buffed allies everywhere the damage he does to your allies is less relevant.

[Preybird]

Abilities and Items

Elementalis had very few tools of note in CotC, but DP has given him some lovely damage buffs to use.

Call of the Crystals

• Mind Control: The number one control tool available to Elementals. Like all of Elementalis’ tools this bad boy is very high cost, and without a board control ability to cover you the next turn it’s far weaker for Elementalis than it is for Zaladar.

• Energy Discharge. A one sided board wipe should be a thing of beauty right? Unfortunately the cost is oh so steep at 5 resources, an ally and five health. Because of this it’s almost impossible to consolidate board post wipe, which means you’re just delaying the inevitable, not turning things around.

• Bad Santa: Draw to power the aggression. Elementalis needs this like zombies need brains. A lot.

• Sacrificial Lamb: I’m going to mention this one to warn you about it. While in most Shadow decks it’s a top notch card, in Elementalis it’s subpar. The reason being is that you have to sacrifice your only win con to play it, allies. If you’re way ahead you won’t need the draw so you don’t play it, and if the board is in contention this will actually hurt your chances of keeping it. The only time this is playable for Elementalis is on crippled/disabled allies or allies that are otherwise out of the fight for good.

• Dimension Ripper: Instant damage and draw, two things that Elementalis really struggles with. But while Ripper can do both of these things it is still a bit of a stopgap measure, used not so much because it’s good but because there’s nothing better.

Dark Prophecies

• Bloodthirsty: This card is awesome with Elementalis, because it allows you to take control of the board with your T2 ally + ability. It also gives you card draw, which is always a good thing! Also buffs your ally’s attack too!

• Mindless Ferocity. This doesn’t give you draw but does give you an extra point of attack, which means with your ability your Karash can one shot a Gargoyle.

• Nocturnal Advantage: This is useful because it allows your allies (all of them) to punch through stealth. Very useful vs Moonstalker but the attack buff is good vs everyone, and it can also deal significant damage to Lance’s plans.

Millamentalis? Can it be done?

Yes.

I personally had trouble believing it could work until I saw Fou DeLile win rounds in TWAIN with exactly that, an Elementalis that milled and kept itself alive with Infinity Core. It would then basically dedicate the rest of the deck space to draw and ally control, the only allies being ones that had utility value (Death Mage Thaddeus and Furrion Terror).

This was a decklist that Fou graciously provided me:

Elementalis

4 x Rotling/Firesnake
3 x Death Mage Thaddeus
4 x Furrion Terror

4 x Evil Ascendant
4 x Bazaar
3 x Bad Santa

4 x Armor of Ages

4 x Mind Control
3 x Infinity Core
2 x Energy Discharge
3 x Eternal Renewal
2 x Conversion

So basically the strategy here is to simply control your opponent’s allies until such time as they run out of steam then fatty roll them for the big finish.

But with all that being said it is not a QM deck. TWAIN was a hero lock tournament and you could rebuild your deck after every game (not just round), which meant there were some very unique conditions of play, and as it is with tournaments play is generally slower than QM, which allows a deck like this to set up.

Basically what I’m saying is don’t try this at home kids.

[Preybird]

Playstyles

• Aggro: Also what I refer to as beatdown. You’re the aggressor, the proactive player aiming to force responses from your opponent. You hit fast and often. This sort of playstyle generally uses a lot of allies and/or weapons/direct damage. Aggro is a style of play that relies heavily on maintaining tempo. Mess that up and chances are you can overrun an aggro deck.

• Control: The flip side to aggro, control aims to win by being reactive, constantly having the right answer until it’s ready to produce threats of its own. Control doesn’t so much rely on the tempo play, it’s more reliant on card advantage for the majority of the game.

• Stall/Mill: The ultimate slowdown. We all know the main culprit here (Millstalker), though there are other stall decks around of varying levels of effectiveness. While these decks claim to win by decking you out (milling) they’re actually stalling you, milling is just a by-product of that.

Elementalis is an aggro hero, there is no two ways about it. Even control builds are aggressive right off the bat, because that’s the best way Elementalis can control.

• Aggro: Fire Snake, 5-6 2cc allies, 9-12 3cc allies, Xar Modulator, Belladonna, Bad Santa, Bloodthirsty, Mindless Ferocity, Dimension Ripper

• Control: 5-6 2cc allies, 9-12 3cc allies, Darkwood Wraith, Shadow Knight, Anti-Matter, Bloodthirsty, Energy Discharge, Mind Control, Infinity Core.

• Stall/Mill: Death Mage Thaddeus, Furrion Terror, Bad Santa, Bazaar, Mind Control, Energy Discharge, Evil Ascendant, Conversion, Infinity Core, Armor of Ages.

Matchups

Here’s the deck:

Elementalis

4 x Fire Snake
3 x Brutalis
4 x Ironhide Karash
4 x Infernal Gargoyle
3 x Morbid Acolyte
2 x Death Mage Thaddeus
3 x Belladonna
3 x Xar Modulator

3 x Mind Control
4 x Bloodthirsty
3 x Mindless Ferocity

3 x Bad Santa

39 cards + hero

This is a little different to the standard “Edgenel” build, with some more draw in Belladonna and no Dimension Ripper, instead running your only control tool in Mind Control. This can be useful when your rush falters, allowing you to get the last few points of damage in, and will generally deal more to the hero than Ripper will (as your opponent will beat down Ripper with allies).

Note: Success with decks like Edgenels are very meta dependent. In a Mage/Banebow/Zaladar meta it will shine, but in a Warrior/Rogue environment it’s a tough battle.

Boris Skullcrusher
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Boris has lots of cheap control, an ability that wrecks you and a crapton more draw power than you. This is a fight that starts out well but will turn bad in a lot of cases. You need to focus on his allies while dropping more threats until you’ve got SO MANY allies out that he can’t stop them.

Amber Rain
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Amber is difficult for slightly different reasons than Boris. Simply put she can simultaneously swing at you while keeping your allies under wraps with Crippling Blow, Retreat and Seductress. The tactics are the same here as for Boris.

Note: For Warriors Plasma Behemoth is a great choice to apply pressure. If they can’t deal with it immediately it will wreak havoc. It also is a fantasic meatshield for your other allies

Victor Heartstriker
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Victor cares not for your high health allies. He will kill them off and slowly take control of the board. With no tools bar Mind Control to deal with fat allies he will eventually steamroll you if your rush falters for even a second. The goal here is to drop an ally every turn once you have board, no exceptions. Flood him.

Gwenneth Truesight
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Gwen is much easier than Victor because most of your allies will be outside of one shot range. This means that she put in a difficult position, go for the throat and leave herself open or control and lose the effectiveness of Soul Seeker. That being said if she gets an ITF chain it’s GG, as always.

Nishaven
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Nishaven suffers against Elementalis, mostly because his allies almost always ending up outside of Nova range. Not to mention the fact that you can rush just as well as him, and if you go first with a Fire Snake you’ve shut his rush down instantly. Hit hard and never let up.

Eladwen Frostmire
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Much the same as Nishaven, but with Eladwen you cannot afford to tower build (stack attachments and buffs on a single ally) you need to spread the love, as her freeze will shut you down if you focus too much on one ally. Watch out for Priest of the Light, they are super annoying.

Jericho Spellbane
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: Board Wipes, Retreat and an ability that removes your attack buffs. You will get the early hits in but as soon as the first Wave comes you’re in trouble, and after the second you might as well say GG and walk away.

Zhanna Mist
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Zhanna will punish you just as badly as Jericho will, and her heal will keep her alive even longer. If you don’t get the God rush and have plenty of draw to back it up you will lose this.

Lance Shadowstalker
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: You might think this an odd rating for Lance considering no board wipes, but hasted Ravens and Anklebreakers allow Lance to bend Elementalis over and give him a good spanking. Not to mention Nightshades combined with Assassination. Basically Lance has everything he needs to make your life a misery. Morbid Acolyte and Karash are key cards here.

Serena Thoughtripper
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Serena is a little easier than Lance as she doesn’t run as many heavy allies and can’t haste them, but she will still wreck you a lot of the time. Black Garb and Fan of Blades is evil, and with no item destruction you HAVE to swing your allies into Anklebreaker to shut it down.

Note: With the Rogues, you will fuel their IGG like no tomorrow, making their control antics even worse.

[Preybird]

Ter Adun
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: With no items Ter Adun’s ability isn’t very useful, so there’s nothing to worry about there. Swarm the board and don’t let up. One thing I would be watching for (besides Crippling Blow) is Punisher’s Gauntlets. Those things will stop you in your tracks if you’re not well on the way to victory.

Logan Stonebreaker
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Logan’s ability will shred your allies and Crippling Blow will help keep down any that Logan can’t kill. Coupled with his draw power it’s a tough battle but without access to Retreat or Seductress he is easier than his human counterparts.

Banebow
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Banebow hates tough allies, and your deck is full of them. Even with A Perfect Shot he struggles to keep up. Your biggest issue here will be Wrath of the Forest feeding Banebow’s draw, so beat it down as quickly as you can, or have such a tight grip on the board by that point the draw is irrelevant.

Baduruu
Matchup Quality: Easy/Hard
Tactics: Depends on the Baduruu. Tempo Baduruu can give you all sorts of trouble if you’re not ready with all that hasted damage. RD Baduruu on the other hand is a walk in the park. Without item destruction of any kind you have to beat into his weapons, which largely negates your health buffs and leaves your allies in danger. Keep the board locked as tightly as you can and flood the board.

Majiya
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: While Majiya will take the early game hits, mid/late game she will start swinging in with high attack Portalled allies. Keep 2 allies on board at all times to encourage her to use her allies to try and control, and keep summoning allies. If you can get a couple of allies with more than 5 health down begin to flood the board, as they will survive Nova.

Gravebone
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Gravebone lacks the early control of Majiya which makes it easier for you to overrun him. Get Bloodthirsty onto a tough ally like Gargoyle or Xar and use GBs resurrected allies as a draw engine while your other weenies go for the throat.

Note: Shadow Mages regularly run Consuming Fear (particularly Gravebone), so be wary of it as it can really put holes in your strategy.

Elementalis
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: He who breaks the others board first wins. It’s that simple. FTA is very important in this matchup, even though the person going second will get the first heavy on the board. This is because they’re fighting to take board back, which is a position Elementalis hates.

Zaladar
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: This matchup isn’t as easy as it used to be, but it’s still a decent one for you. Drop as many allies as you can as fast as you can, don’t stop for any reason. Spread the love around with attachments and ability use like you do with Eladwen, it’s painful building a big ally only to have it Mind Controlled.

Darkclaw
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: If he doesn’t get all his stall you’ve generally got this. You can just keep dropping allies and waiting him out, plus your ability means that it’s much harder for Evil Ascendant to kill off anything. Don’t use your ability on allies as they drop, wait until they’ve survived the turn first.

Moonstalker
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: With only Morbid Acolyte and Mind Control penetrating stealth this can be a tricky match. That being said it’s also much easier to keep an Acolyte alive when it’s a 3/8 (though Captured Prey is ever present). Once an Acolyte sticks you’re generally ok, or at the least competitive. Millstalker is an auto-loss. You can build up and you can buff up but without being able to attack it’s largely futile. Only if the Millstalker player gets the worst draw in history will you win this one.


Conclusion

Elementalis is a one trick pony if ever there was one (right up there with Gwen), he has one tactic and only one, ally swarm. It really does make me wish for the old Elementalis again (2SE, Sacrifice an ally: Gain 5 life), as that allowed a more controlling style of play and there were (at the time) some fun little combos to be had. But anyway back to the present.

As he stands Elementalis is very much reliant on constantly maintaining pressure. Break that even for a moment and he’s gone. One thing that is definitely on the horizon however is at least one hasted ally for Shadow (The spoiled card Frostmare has haste) which may mean that Elementalis will get a nice boost in Shattered Fates.

[Mightyoak713]

Read every one of these. Just great. I miss old ele too...especially now as I really don't see it being as...op...as I read before.
Granted atm I had hated him and mind control. Still miss him tho

[Jo3yb0i]

I wonder how this will change when SF is released