DK,
I know that data is for your personal use and all, but be careful when making assumptions based off of 50 game tests. Through my extensive testing, I found that at 50 games, your margin of error is almost a whole turn and at 200 games I would make a fair estimate that the actual TTW recorded at that point probably varies by about .15 turns. Just food for thought.
I don't know if this deck helps you solve some of your mysteries, but here:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,21375.msg291949#msg291949I made that way back when, as I first started to make EM decks. Notice the creature spread? This may not translate perfectly, but over thousands of games of testing, I found this is the most efficient spread for the deck posted.
Why does this matter? You might ask.... if you notice the deck I referenced has NOTHING supporting the fire quanta other than cremations. Which has issues by itself, but the takeaway to gain from this is that, I would imagine this setup is probably close to optimal for the best start out of the gates when you consider just the fire creatures. The supported earth quanta in the decks you are working with, along with the fact that destroyers are very low cost might make for a different story, but as you are always eager to gain knowledge, I thought maybe you could take something away here.
P.S. Keep up the good work. I love it when people use a scientific approach, you don't see that sort of thing enough imo.