This is a control deck, not a speedrisk deck. Even if it was, +5 or 6 attack across two cards is terrible, with the only compromise being an extra PC after three elixirs, a rare event, rarer if you use any for CC. The red nymph is powerful alone and spams CC like an eagle eye would. Using it on the SoFs is merely the mana dump, the win condition.
When you move past AI3 to AI4 or arena, many games involve lots of removal, a new cockatrice or mummy every turn. The lances and fire shield were meant to help keep up, and smooth RNG. I don't approve of unstable decks susceptible to RNG, imagine something like 24 towers and 6 30/30 superdragons with a ridiculous quant cost. Balancing QI doesn't mean a proper mana curve.
Nerfing SoF to 0/1 makes them fragile for a turn, but affects their growth very little.
After perhaps 100 plays to iron out performance, the missing piece was healing. Any long-term playstyle needs some, otherwise a couple of early poisons or sheer deterioration pile up. I ended up with something like this:
5fk 5fk 5fk 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6s2 6s2 7al 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dh 7dh 7dh 7dh 7dh 7dh 7dk 7dk 7dk 7dl 8pn
I use the same splash on my immortal-wisdom deck. Another SoF is probably better, four would be the absolute maximum. They're largely idle and dependent on nymph presence. This is basically nymph-angels with free PC, if you've ever played it. The lances often bring fatties into nymph CC range, and at 1quant are good for all those devourer decks in arena.
Technically this is a mono-fire deck if I drop the staff, but I don't like that flavor. Anyway, I've been playing 6xSerendipity to stave off the grind so it hasn't been distilled for a few weeks, including the nerf. Control decks are fun for a while but play slow.
