[LL] Relentless Elementalis

[FDL]

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).

[tafkad]

Cool deck and good write as always, it's funny I was just testing (trying to anyways) some Elementalis builds Vs the AI after watching a whole slew of Jack of Clubs' games. He mentioned not having much success getting past 300 and staying there with his deck. Your deck contains some of the cards I felt his deck was lacking (Mainly the 2 from LL in that Feasterling is a much needed addition to the deck and so is Savagery) as well as some interesting considerations I'd not even pondered. I also like Hulk Vs the Arachnids since the use of SE for Ele is important, and you're correct about Tidal Wave it wrecks people who overextend when having little draw options to come back from a wipe so Troll makes a good addition as well. Thanks for sharing I've always liked this Hero and the strategies offered by ummm it? cheers

[Argus McInnis]

I think Arachnid would be nice to add with the trolls.

Belladonna?

[segalion]

What about grimghast?

[samu313]

Not even a 1-2x Exaltation? I know it's a pricey card but if played correctly is almost a death sentence

[FDL]

I think Arachnid would be nice to add with the trolls.

Belladonna?

I played with Arachnid a bit and it is indeed a fine ally. It's not an extra Hulk though. In fact, I never activated its ability once. Unless you expect a lot of Moonstalker (which isn't as terrible a matchup as one might think), I prefer Gargoyle's extra toughness. Starting on 1 attack is a real drawback too (plus it's not a great Relentless Savagery target).

Bella isn't often playable, but here I like her a lot. She's the most conditional ally in the deck and gets sacrificed a lot, but the pay off is worth it IMO. You're often ahead on board early so it's often possible to play her on a board on which she won't be killed by opposing allies. Even if she eats a removal ability or is killed by the Hero, you get a card back and chances are they're now pretty low on removal and your next threat will carry you to victory. If they can't answer her (and it will happen because they can't let your buffed Karash run rampant), it's gg more often than not.

She's also invaluable against Tidal Wave (and to a lesser extent Supernova). Playing her before a wipe to force them to use it isn't too damaging (and again if they don't have it, they're in trouble), but playing her after a wipe (or anytime your opponent just spent a lot of resources dealing with your board) is gas (I'll grant you that Sabreen makes this play a little more risky than it was).

Turn 4 Hulk Turn 5 Hulk's ability + Bella comes up a lot.

I tried everything from 0 to 4 Bella and I'm pretty sure that the right number is either 3 or 4.

What about grimghast?

I'll admit I hadn't considered Grimghast and he should probably get a slot over either one Bella, Garg or Troll. Having fire attack (i.e. non-claw) on a weenie is a drawback, but the ability is pretty good.

Not even a 1-2x Exaltation? I know it's a pricey card but if played correctly is almost a death sentence

Mind Control, Overwhelm and Exaltation are all awesome when we're ahead and could all be played in the deck. Mind Control being a removal spell that isn't reliant on having any kind of board control pushes it over the edge for me. It's just a more Unique effect. Being able to hit the opponent's face with our team, deal 2 to 4 damage and kill one of their guys (hopefully their only guy) puts them pretty close to death most of the time (taking of weapon durability is a nice bonus).

It also happens that you put yourself in a position where you have 2 or 3 turns to draw Rampant Krygon or Mind Control to close the game after your opponent wiped your board.

Exaltation is countered by pretty much everything that already hurts our deck (except Retreat).

You could also make an argument for Energy Discharge, but I don't like the card in this archetype. If ED is killing multiple enemy allies, you're either doing something wrong, or you're dead anyways.

I will almost always sacrifice 5 cost cards in my opening hand (unless it's a matchup in which Shadow Knight is awesome - i.e. Priests).

[qaz92zaq]

I like claw Elementalis a lot. I personally would run Vermin though the 1/5 stats can be a life savor in some match ups going second. Definitely a solid deck though.

[FDL]

I like claw Elementalis a lot. I personally would run Vermin though the 1/5 stats can be a life savor in some match ups going second. Definitely a solid deck though.

The 1/5 body is indeed useful against other aggressive decks. I have seen so few opposing 2 drops this month though. I'm willing to go more aggressive (similarly, I haven't felt a need for the ability).

Definitely a card to keep in mind though.

[Phantom]

Nice write up

[seedog]

I have never seen belladonna for ages. If that's the deck to make her comeback, I am gonna try it. Thanks for sharing!

*Bella fan here*