The Way of Fractal OverviewFractal is an expensive yet very powerful card that was included into the game in Elements 1.21. The effect of this spell is filling your hand with the selected creature. This being said, there is a wide variety of strategies involving this card.
Fractal decks are immune to non-massive creature control and can also offer a burst damage when it is casted. Aside from that, Aether element has various useful additions that come helpful, like Lightning and Silence.
GameplayFractal decks don't tend to be rushes, but they always have a strategy behind them that makes them particularly fun.
What creatures can I play Fractal with? | Phase Spider is a cheap  creature. It's ability is removing the Airborne passive skill of flying creatures, like Vultures and Dragons.
It only costs 3 quantum, what makes it a viable creature to be fractalled. Fractalling an creature, although, requieres some timing and practice, specially when you are based also in Dimensional Shields as main defense source.
Although, Fractal + Phase Spiders can be used as a decent attacking source while defending with  Wings shield. Combined, they are a competitive and strong combination. |  | Psion is another Aether creature with the ability of dealing Spell damage, making it shield-bypassing (not  Reflective and  Jade shields, though). It costs 4 quanta and some people tend to fractal them, specially when there is expected a shield-based deck in any kind of environment. |
 | Fractalling Sparks makes you deal fast bursts of damage, as they cost no quanta at all.
This combo can be played easily with Dimensional Shields if you have good timing, but the real synergy comes when  cards appear:
Bone Wall uses the deaths of the Sparks to grow and make a decent defense, Boneyard can generate Skeletons to get a constant attacking source, Vultures gain attack and HP with each death and Soul Catchers can be used to feed all those cards, even with the possibility of getting a final bunch of Bone Dragons for the final hit.
|  | When Fractal is used in Schrodinger's Cat, the opponent uses to know what they will face: an enormus Bone Wall and fat Vultures. Basically, once you managed to play the shield, it is practically unbreakable unless anything strange comes in. |
 | This card gains +1 attack and HP with each death, so  Schrodinger's Cat's, Sparks and Virus use to be present when Vultures appear. Fractalling Vultures are generally powered by Soul Catchers and is a good way of getting a decent amount of high attakers. |  | Virus is an extremely cheap card that costs 1 quanta and offers the possibility of poisoning an opponent's creature. Fractalling them makes you have tons of CC in the field, so in a few turns the oponent finds himself without creatures.
When Virus are fractalled, they usually come with Vultures or Bone Dragons if you are running Soul Catchers.
The build seems similar to Fractal + Spark, but keep in mind that you will need quanta to start! |
 | Deathstalker is another cheap creature, which deals 2 poison damage per hit. When Fractalled, combined with  Nightfall, they make a burst of damage and poison the oponent won't forget till the end of the game. |  | Horned Frog is a cheap and efficient attacker, often used in Frogtal decks in Wars, the biggest PVP event. The advantages of getting element in your decks are the healing sources, like Heal and Emphatic Bond. Frogs offer a better attack ratio when upgraded, making being one of the most efficient attackers with 5 attack and 3 HP for 2 cost. |
 | Wardens are good at stalling, as they can prevent any creature from attacking. Getting many of them can totally lock the oponent's field while you attack (or not) with anything else you want. Shard of Patience may be the best friend of this strategy. |  | As Graviton Mercenary has been buffed in 1.32, it is now a viable fractal target. It doesn't have any ability on its own, but  can help you with Chimera, Gravity Pull and other useful in-element cards. |
 | Fractal + Minor Phoenix, also known as Fractix, is a powerful combination that lets you get many cheap, good and practically immortal attackers combined with a high amount of CC and PC  element has. |  | With a decent quanta structure, some  Shard of Patience and maybe some Inundations, they can make a pretty decent rush.
You can also put some quanta in and make a funny poisonous Fractal deck. |
 | This is a classic combo, which gets powerful when packing Hope shields.
It ends basically blocking 100% of your opponent's damage, and after that you can fractal any attacking creature to make some damage. You will have plenty of quanta because of the RoLs' Bioluminisence skill.
The same effect can be made unupped by fractalling Photons and playing Luciferin spell, which gives Bioluminisence to every non-skilled creature. |  | Dragonfly is a creature that costs only 1 quanta and has the ability to generate 1 quanta every turn, since 1.27 patch.
They are a good option for Fractal decks as they offer same damage while generating massive amounts of quanta to finishing with a Fractalled Dragon strike, while Air element is good for stalling with Fog shield and Shockwaves. |
 | Firefly is not the most efficient attacker, but they can offer a great advantage in the game. As it generates every turn, you can quickly fractal them to end with a Hope shield, blocking all your opponent's damage while you kill him with lots of 3-damage attackers. |  | Eggtal is used mostly in fun decks, where you will surely end with tons of different creatures. Weeeeee!  |
 | This card was introduced in Elements 1.27 and is considered a killing machine. As it is expensive, usually Ghostals rely on a big, stall with Dimensional Shields and a pair of Silences played with the Fractal to prevent your opponent kill the ghosts or play a good shield too early. |  | Devourer is an extremely annoying card when playing in unupped environment. With Fractal, they can make a total lock down of your oponent's quanta gain.
This strategy lacks on attack power, so Vampire (and sometimes a pair of Nightfalls) is a good option as an attacker. As another option, as Devourers will give you much quanta, you can pack a pair of Black Dragons for a late Fractal. |
| Charger's inner Momentum makes decent rushes, specially in restricted environments like War. Its ramp damage and skill bypassing walks through Hope decks and their high HP make them resistent to many CC cards. In some environments, the Charger is the only upgraded card in the deck.
|  | Minor Vampire, besides fractalled in late-game in Devtals (see above), is used as main creature to have a deck not with a tremendous total damage but with a damage advantage over your opponent. In a simple Rush vs Rush example, the opponent's damage has to be more than the double of the damage you make to have an advantage over you.
Lightnings are seen a lot in this decks, as they can serve as CC to get this damage advantage or as damage support against your opponent. Steals are a good addition to get rid of any shield, as 1 damage reduction can make a huge difference against your little 2-damage attackers. |
 | Golden Dragon is used a lot as a finisher in RoL + Hope decks and in stalls to use your excess of quanta. It also prevents decking out and being out-damaged in late game. In Light stalls, at most 2 Dragons and 2 Fractals is the usual build. |  | Bone Dragon is fractalled as a finisher too, in Bone Bolt decks (Bone Wall + Poison + CC or CC or CC). 2 Dragons and 2 Fractals is the usual build, but some people prefer Mummies instead to be less countered by single-targetting CC. |
Generally they aren't. At least, they won't start as fast as other decks, although some decks are able to make bursts of damage starting from turn 3-4. As it consumes the remaining
quanta, you probably won't be able to play a fractal every 1 or 2 turns, except when you are fractalling 0-1 cost creatures so you can pack a bunch of
pillars.
Fractal consumes ALL the remaining quanta! is it viable to use it with other creatures?Yes. There is not much problem if you are running Spiders (with or without Wings) and Psions other than knowing that they will be a bit slower than other cards as you will have to wait until the next turn to play them.
What about stalling with Dimensional Shields?Using Dimensional Shields, however, requieres a bit of timing if you don't want to break the shield chain. It's not that hard, just looking if you must wait a pair of turns to play the next shield before playing the Fractal or if you sacrifice a turn of your opponent hitting you in order to play an early Fractal.
How many Fractals shoud I get in my deck?If you are fractaling many cheap creatures and want to play them ASAP, then no more than 4-5. Packing 6 gives you high chances of getting them clogging your hand resulting in less fractaled creatures, as getting more Fractals you could play in the while game. If you want to stall and play expensive attackers in late game, then 2 should be enough to get 1 by the moment you want to make a burst of damage.
How many fractalling creatures should I pack in my deck?About the creatures you want as many creatures as you can ASAP, you should pack no less than 5 to ensure you will get one early. If you want to fractal any creature in late game - like Minor Vampires after quanta locking your opponent with Devourers or Ghost of the Past or any Dragon or expensive creature after getting much quanta to play them - then you can only pack 2 of them and you will probably get one for the moment you want it.
What would be a possible limit to the quanta cost of the fractalled creature?It depends on your strategy. If you are going with little stall or no stalling at all, I would say 5 quanta cost is extremely expensive. Although, can stall with Dimensional Shields (maybe fractalling quanta generating creatures like Dragonflies, Gnome Riders and Brimstone Eaters) in order to get late dragons or high attackers without any quanta limit in their cost.
What other cards fit well with Fractal?Sometimes it's good to have some cards supporting your main strategy, for example:
Silence can fit well when fractalling big creatures, preventing your opponent from playing shields and CC and making another big hit.
If you are stalling with Dimensional Shields, Mind Flayers can be useful to prevent Momentum and other annoying skills.
When running Deathstalkers or a devtal with Minor Vampires , which have many low-attack creatures, a pair of Steals can help at removing a shield that nullifies the decks.
When fractalling Horned Frogs or Cockatrices, Heal and Emphatic Bond can help you survive long enough.
If you are playing with Phase Spiders, as mentioned before, Wings make a good synergy with them.
When fractalling Ray of Light, Fireflies or playing with Luciferin, Miracles are great additions, as there can be some momentumed creatures, poison, growing creatures or just dragons that make some damage in case you couldn't make a Hope shield big enough to protect you from 100% of the opponent's creatures.
When playing with
usually Arsenic and Poison are good damage dealers, as poison is hard to cure.
You can find many cards that can fit well in your deck, but beware: Fractal decks use to consume much quanta and you don't want to risk yourself having much wasted space.
Balancing trio decks with FractalQuanta balancing trios is almost always a pain.
The most easy one to build can be the Firefly + Hope combo, as Firefly generates the
needed without any help from other cards.
If you want to play with Luciferin in order to get Hope and/or Miracles, 5 is a good number for them, so you can play one pretty early after the first Fractal and the other ones after the consecutive Fractals.
In the other trios, you will notice there is a non-
element much more consumed than the other one:
Running Chrysaoras, you can easily power them with the mark and get the
and
quantum with pillars and pendulums.
If running a deck with Deathstalkers, a good option is powering a Nightfall with your mark and don't include much more
consumption, as you will want the rest of your pillars/pendulums for Fractal, stalkers and maybe some
CC cards as well, like Plague and Skull Shield.
You can always have a more defensive style, like getting more
for Dimensional Shields and getting a bunch of Deathstalkers/Chrysaoras in mid-game.
What is
NOT recommended is making a deck with 3 different elements powered by pillars or pendulums. That makes trio decks wonky, as you have high chances of not getting the desired quanta by the moment you need it.
How can I make my Fractal deck faster?The secret is the Quanta balance:
Basically, get as many Aether quanta generation as you can.If you are going to fractal 0-cost creatures, like Sparks and Photons, there is not much Science:
mark and
pillars.
If you want to combine Sparks with
cards, you can use 5-6 Soul Catchers to get all the
quanta you need and use the remaining space in your deck for
pillars and any other complement you want.
If running 1-cost creatures that generate their own quanta, probably getting their element with your mark will be enough to start the first Fractal and after you play a couple of them they will generate enough to play anything of their element, even fractalling expensive attackers if their element.
Running Virus can combine the 2 last lines mentioned above:
mark, Soul Catchers and
pillars.
If you want to fractal any mid-cost creature, try balancing your quanta to get the first Fractal ASAP but also getting enough quanta of the other element to play the creatures. Sometimes, so ensure a consistent fractal timing, it's a good option get all pendulums and balance "half and half" the quanta consumption between the elements. Pick the mark as the most consummating element.
If you want to stall with Dim Shields until you get expensive attackers, you can try with
mark and some pendulums to ensure a safety shield chain and then just the off-element's pillars.
Is that all I can use with Fractal?Of course not! Fractal is full of other synergies or deck strategies, but I couldn't just mention every single one of them. For example, you can fractal Deja-Vu, Horned Frogs or Graviton Mercenary to cast Luciferin and play Hope later, or fractal Sapphire Chargers to have some momentumed attackers, or fractal Mummies while packing Plagues and Bone Walls, or fractalling Gnome Riders to later play Hermatite Golems and Stone Skins. Fractal is free to everyone's imagination.
ConclusionFractal offer a wide variety of possible strategies, every single one with a strategy behind them and full of possible personal additions. Getting into Fractal decks being relatively new to the game can take you a pair of fail attempts in the beginning, but they are totally worth it!
