Spoiler for Hidden:
Hm... so the idea is to hit your own Salamanders with damage spells? Seems interesting.
I can't help but feel both versions are overcosted - compare this card to the rest of the Earth 'playing curve'.
Considering Salamander costs 8 
, I'd expect it to compete with Shrieker in an Earth deck as an 8 midhitter.
Shrieker Advantages :
- 3 More ATK
- Protection against everything at the cost of 1/2 attack.
- Pseudo 'Tribal' with Graboid.
Salamander's Advantages
- 4 More HP, unupped only.
- Fire synergy/protection.
IMHO, I think the +3 ATK by itself makes a big difference when it comes to picking Shrieker over Salamander. 
/ would probably also prefer Lava Golem + Rage Potion as opposed to Salamander + Rage Potion, because Lava Golem can continue to grow even if you waste your Rage Potions on other cards, and the heavy fire emphasis makes it much easier to power with Immolation as opposed to having no 'instant acceleration'-type card. There is also a greater offer of flexibility in Lava Golem + Rage Potion because you can distribute the damage better with a repeated growth ability as opposed to "Do I buff Salamander or do I kill this creature?"
Compare :
A card with a reliable duo ability may not raise it's cost due to requiring duo - sometimes, as Puffer Fish shows, the creature will even remain more cost/ATK efficient than a vanilla Abomination. Lava Golem may have much less HP, but the defining CC spells of the game tend to deal 5 or more damage at some point (Lightning,Rage Potion, etc...) or have a different way of removal that ignores HP (Shockwave's instakill check, Freeze and Delay ignore HP entirely).
I think this card could stand to lower it's cost to 6, maybe even 5 - it's ability is almost a forced duo and it can be outperformed in both a well-designed mono or / duo as it currently is.
Upped salamander is something like damage "transformator"(I don't know how to say), for example if your enemy has a spell reflecting/absorbing shield, you may hit your salamander and deal damage.
Some statistics:
Salamander has chances to survive against
- Most of spells are useless
- Probably will steal most of your cards, including spells and shield, also it will probably get more then one copy of most of these cards
- Sometimes earth use fire too. And it probably will include red nymph
- Sometimes gravity use earth and fire too. And it probably will include red nymph too
- May steal your shield
- May use nymph tears
- Using unstable gas is a bad idea, if your opponent has a lot of salamanders
Salamander has simple chances to survive against:
- it's not too agressive in most of situations
- It's not too agressive in most of situations too
Salamander has bad chances to survive against:
- paradoxes, mutations, chaos seeds and other spells, that may change salamander's spell, or kill it
- reverse time will annoy you enough. When it's combined with aether, it may copy your deck with more power. Then it has shield and weapon, that also has annoying effects(especially for upped Salamander)
- poison, aflatoxine, skull shields, etc. it has best things to kill salamander
Sorry, if I have said something not right, It's night for me. Hello from 2013
Probably upped salamander will cost less then unupped one. And their cost will be decreased. Probably I will change their hp and attack.
Happy New Year!
