The featured card is chosen!
Immolation | Cremation
Sorry for those who voted for Fahrenheit or Rage Potion. Good thing I left the poll running for one more day, huh? 
(I voted for Immolation)
You...
I wanted Rage Potion to win, but meh. Immolation was just as fun to write about (if not just as complicated). >.>
Immolation initially seems like a bad deal: you have to sacrifice a creature to obtain the same amount of quanta equivalent from the Nova spell (with additional
quanta). However, because of its free cost and impressive synergy with several other creatures, Immolation is a commonly used card in decks that revolve around playing offensive (Fire) creatures as quickly as possible. Thus, its potential in speed is almost unmatched when it comes to quanta generation.
Immolation generates exactly one quanta of each elemental type (except Fire, which generates 7
quanta Unupgraded, or 9
upped) upon sacrificing a creature on your side of the field – this means that it must target one of your own creatures for it to work, and that it cannot be used on the opponent’s creatures as an instant-kill card. While losing a creature may seem detrimental in a battle, being able to pump out hard-hitting Fire creatures is easily accessible by using this spell on cheap creatures. Trading a weak creature for a Phoenix or Lava Golem greatly boosts your attack in the long run, all the while providing you additional quanta to either utilize (using upped cards from other elements for cheap CC) or hoard (to prevent things such as Devourer or Discord from disrupting your quanta completely).
Two of the most commonly used cards with Immolation as a basic sacrifice critter are Photon and Spark (both which require no quanta to play). Their free costs synergize well with Immolation for this very aspect. Oftentimes on the first turn, players find themselves being able to avoid mulligan situations because of the 0-cost cards in-hand, and in addition, having all of these free-cost cards prevents the exploitation of Earthquake. As that card focuses on denying quanta by destroying pillars, Immolation is a spell and thus cannot be countered by one of the top cards for quanta denial.
It should be noted that although there are no direct counters to stop the person using the Immolation spell, that the effect of using Immolation can be halted or slowed by certain forms of creature control. For example – using Rewind on any creature that is played with the quanta generated by Immolation could essentially waste the effect, unless there’s another reliable source of
quanta generation that supplements the burst (Fire pillars or Brimstone Eaters). Damaging spells are often the bane of the Fire element as a whole; most of the creatures are frail to various spells, as most of them have 1 HP upon being played. Halting creatures with Freeze or Basilisk’s Blood can also slow down the pace of the card’s potential, and thus ruin the flow of a Fire rush. Black Hole can also be used to heal against Immolation, and prevent the usage of other cheap splash cards (such as Improved Fog, Vampire Dagger, or Precognition).
Various rush decks that use Immolation often counter CC or stalling tactics by using special creatures or spells to ensure that their momentum isn’t stopped. Explosion (1
) can help destroy dangerous permanents, while Unstoppable (1
) can help your creatures punch through annoying shields. Phoenix (especially when upped) is hard to get rid of using traditional damaging spells like Lightning or Drain Life, as it can self-revive again to continue doing damage. Phoenix can also be sacrificed by Immolation to help generate more quanta, which can then be resurrected from Ash to continue doing damage. Nova can also help supplement quanta for other elements to provide other cheap critters – Giant Frog, Elite Graboid, and Flesh Recluse are good supplemental (or main) damage dealers in a deck with Cremation alongside Phoenixes and Lava Destroyers, provided the right quanta. Many decks often have an Earth mark to help supplement the Lava Destroyer’s Growth ability, with Cremation to generate the quanta needed to play them (alongside other Fire cards). Unless the opponent has massive forms of CC, such decks often overwhelm the opponent before being able to set up suitable defenses or tactics.
Because of its overall speed and versatility, Immolation | Cremation is a very lethal card to use against various opponents. As a spell that is specifically designed to provide fast offensive potential against both A.I. and players alike, it would be wise to be prepared when facing someone with Immolation, because you may find yourself at a major disadvantage quickly…
Quick Facts:
-Requires a friendly creature target for it to work (you cannot use this card on the opponent’s creatures)
-Generates 7
quanta and 1 quanta of every other element (9
quanta when upgraded into Cremation)
-Has no quanta cost to play, and thus is always available to use
Use This Card Together With:
-Spark | Ball Lightning
-Phoenix | Minor Phoenix
-Lava Golem | Lava Destroyer
Decks Using This Card:
-DEMA: Destroy ‘EM All!
-Lava Rush vNG – How to rush like a Master!
-No Land Stompy
There were a lot of decks to choose from, but I decided to take the ones that were the most discussed but were from different players to show 'variety' in decks (if you feel that one of the three choices above should be replaced, just tell me and I'll be glad to change them for the Wiki article).
