Phoenix for AI3 [Unupped | Fire | Water | Dark]

[Egfryth]

by Egfryth

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Similar has probably been posted before - this is hardly ground-breaking stuff - but I thought this might be useful for anyone looking for an easy deck that pretty much always wins vs AI3 (terrible draws excepted) and isn't horribly dull to play (different opponents need different priorities).  Struggles vs the AI3 deck that uses Pharaoh/Scarab/Heals, but will win as long as your phoenix aren't all sitting at the bottom of your deck.

I'm also currently 3 out of 3 on AI4 using this, but I put that down to luck!  Definitely not recommended ...

If you don't have a squid, chuck in another freeze.  If you don't have the stiletto, chuck in another freeze or funky-weapon-of-choice  (you're going to end up stealing whatever the AI throws up anyway) or omit to bring down to 30.

EDIT :
Some Fire / Water pillars converted to pendula : saves getting a bad draw on water, and thus taking too much damage through not being able to freeze. 
Rate of getting Fire at start is less important.  Also enables easy trimming to 30.

[Pineapple]

Why would you ever put your hopes in drawing a few Darkness Pendulums before you need Steals when you can switch the Darkness Pendulums with Fire Pendulums and Steals with Deflagrations?

I'd make it a Fire-Water Duo, since you seem to be needlessly investing in Darkness Quanta. If you're going Fire-Water, I'd use a variant that looks like this:

by patchx94

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While this looks quite different, it has the same concepts of Freeze/Rain of Fire with supplementary Permanent Control, although I admit that I have taken liberties to take out a few of the titular Phoenixes for Steam Machines.

[Egfryth]

Why?  Well, it seems to work, for starters  

A few thoughts :

I do understand the point regarding darkness, but I have not found it to be a problem.  There is usually plenty of darkness after a number of turns, and the deck is definitely not "fast": there is therefore nothing the AI can play early-on that can be stolen that will be a serious problem.  It takes a while (usually) to get a couple of phoenix out, by which time one is also likely to be under threat of taking significant damage.  I'd rather steal the AI's shield (and empathy, for the pesky scarab deck), rather than simply destroy it ...

This deck did begin life as Phoenix+Deflag/Freeze, but I found that I could not balance it: there were combinations and lucky draws by the AI that would squish me.  Phoenix have the nice ability to remain in play once they are placed (as the AI is stupid enough to ignore ash unless there are no more targets).  Steam machines don't, and having 5hp makes then vulnerable to rage and lightning, as well as later-game bolts.  Losing creatures with only 5 in deck is a bad thing ...

I've found having immolation with phoenix is a must: perfect way to gain Fire fast but also break delay effects.  Nice too when the oracle has donated a pet ...

I note you have replaced the ice bolts for freeze: I found that I was running a large surplus of water after a number of turns, and the bolt was therefore good for CC as well as an unreliable freeze.  Freeze on its own is useless vs higher HP creatures, insofar as one needs to have sufficient in hand to keep such nasties frozen: I can't see it being sensible wasting 7 Fire for 3 damage vs critical singles. Using steam machines in place of phoenix will up the damage output significantly, assuming they remain in play, which might make freeze-only acceptable tho (But I loathe steam machines - dont ask why: I'm irrational :p )

It also results in rather more fun play, as its not just a question of stacking up the damage over-and-over.  Steal a boneyard and generate a skelly army from phoenix.  Or deal more effectively with DS.  Or perhaps you've been hit by mutation and have a creature with an ability that requires antoher quantum?  Steal a pillar.  Sure, these aren't things that one builds a deck for, but having steal in the deck allows for a bit of occasional fun ^^

Will try your suggestion though, and see how it compares   Will report back ...

[Egfryth]

Not a large sample, but I've just done 10 games vs AI3, with 3 losses (vs aether and light/wind.  Did not face time/life ~ don;t see it turning out well)  and 3 wins with fewer than 20hp remaining (but this happens regularly with my steal deck anyway), using your Steam Machine deck.  Replacing freeze with ice bolts would have helped a bit, though.  SM seemed vulnerable.  Also found myself occasionally short on Fire. 

With some balancing, perhaps others will have a better time of it, but as it stands I'll stick to my steals for now

[omegareaper7]

rather than simply destroy it ...

Patch's point is that you shouldn't splash an element just to have a little extra effect, just lessens how effective the deck can be and makes you rely more on the extra cards. Like he said, take out the dark part, there is no point to it.

[Egfryth]

I realise that is common wisdom, and I appreciate the guidance.  But I do attempt to justify it on the basis of more than simply being able to swipe the odd shield in times of need  

Seriously, go play it.  You will find it plays more consistently vs. AI3 than the duo deck suggested as replacement.  The fire/water deck is indeed stronger, till you come up against something it cannot counter.  The steals are in there to give flexibility: it will not lose vs AI3 (occasional scarabs excepted) unless one has a truly atrocious draw.

[furballdn]

Trios are unstable. Why not just use a duo? Vampire stilleto can be pulled out with immo, and you can replace steals with deflag.

[Egfryth]

Keeping this deck as Phoenix / Rain / Freeze, the simplest changes to get rid of Dark cards, as you suggest, would be the following :

Keep stiletto
3 x steal => 3 x Deflag
1 x dark pend => 1 x Ice shield (as can no longer steal on demand)
2 x dark pend => 2 x fire pillar (Fire was previously balanced, but now added deflag plus lost pend from adding shield)
Leaving 1 x Dark Ped => 1 x Water Pend (Fire should be in slight surplus.  Adding water will increase surplus for bolts)

So what is the net effect of those changes? 

GOOD : We now generate (upto, when all three pend have been played) an extra 1 of fire and 0.5 of water per turn instead of "unneeded" darkness.

BAD : We are now limited to a single weapon (which can be - and often is - destroyed/stolen)

BAD : We lose the ability to acquire a better shield/weapon according to opponent (the Aether deck, for example, can almost chain DS, which is, situation dependent, better than an ice shield against its endgame phase dragon / immortal / phoenix [as acquired with PU] lineup).

BAD : We now rely on our draw alone to provide a shield / weapon.  If they are on the bottom, we do without, whereas previously we had a better chance of avoiding this by yoinking one from the AI.

BAD : We lose certain situational options that might give an edge.

This considered, I still think I'd prefer the flexibility of steal to 1.5 quanta/turn. A win is a win, easy or otherwise.  Not having steals (or some other? method) will result in upsets.  Once again, I'll go and try it out, but I'm not convinced

[omegareaper7]

Keeping this deck as Phoenix / Rain / Freeze, the simplest changes to get rid of Dark cards, as you suggest, would be the following :

Keep stiletto
3 x steal => 3 x Deflag
1 x dark pend => 1 x Ice shield (as can no longer steal on demand)
2 x dark pend => 2 x fire pillar (Fire was previously balanced, but now added deflag plus lost pend from adding shield)
Leaving 1 x Dark Ped => 1 x Water Pend (Fire should be in slight surplus.  Adding water will increase surplus for bolts)

So what is the net effect of those changes? 

GOOD : We now generate (upto, when all three pend have been played) an extra 1 of fire and 0.5 of water per turn instead of "unneeded" darkness.

BAD : We are now limited to a single weapon (which can be - and often is - destroyed/stolen)
You only have one, you don't need to steal their weapons.
BAD : We lose the ability to acquire a better shield/weapon according to opponent (the Aether deck, for example, can almost chain DS, which is, situation dependent, better than an ice shield against its endgame phase dragon / immortal / phoenix [as acquired with PU] lineup).
You shouldn't need to steal against ai3 more then twice, the splash just slows it down.

BAD : We now rely on our draw alone to provide a shield / weapon.  If they are on the bottom, we do without, whereas previously we had a better chance of avoiding this by yoinking one from the AI.  You shouldn't need a shield against ai3, and the lone weapon suffices

BAD : We lose certain situation al options that might give an edge.Again, shouldn't need to even try to improve the situation, ai3 is easy as is, 3 cards for perm control will be to much more then not.

This considered, I still think I'd prefer the flexibility of steal to 1.5 quanta/turn. A win is a win, easy or otherwise.  Not having steals (or some other? method) will result in upsets.  Once again, I'll go and try it out, but I'm not convinced

[Pineapple]

Not a large sample, but I've just done 10 games vs AI3, with 3 losses (vs aether and light/wind.  Did not face time/life ~ don;t see it turning out well)  and 3 wins with fewer than 20hp remaining (but this happens regularly with my steal deck anyway), using your Steam Machine deck.  Replacing freeze with ice bolts would have helped a bit, though.  SM seemed vulnerable.

These are very interesting results. I played a few games myself, beating the decks you lost against with well over 50 hp. Let's examine your claims that ice bolt is better than freeze and SM is vulnerable:

aether:
I concede that ice bolt are better than freeze against the phase spiders. However, phase spiders do not make up a large portion of the deck's damage potential. As for PU'd Steam Machines, freeze is better (although the inclusion of steam machine causes this advantage, I admit).
steam machine survives at least 1 hit of all CC. The only problem is the PUs, which will target Steam Machine if its attack is greater than phoenixes.
Also note that RoF can 1hko phoenixes/phase spiders, and the extra ice shield makes it very hard for this AI to kill you before you can draw at least one Deflagration, and that you can easily kill the AI by dealing damage equal to the rest of its HP in that turn of vulnerability.

light/wind:
Crusaders have 4 HP, so you need to either be lucky to get 10+ or purposefully build your deck to generate excessive amounts of water. If the Crusaders get to endow, then you need 20+ water. Note that freeze stops crusaders from endowing.
Wyrms have 3 HP, which means that they can't be killed by Ice Bolt but can easily be killed by Rain of Fire.
Pegasus can be killed by both Ice Bolt and Rain of Fire.
Flying Owl's Eyes can be frozen, but are extremely resilient to death by Ice Bolt.
Steam Machine takes 2 turns (4 after it's played) to be killed by Owl's Eye, and can survive at least one Shockwave.
Again, note that this AI does not have permanent control so the extra ice shield helps a lot. Also note that pretty much all of the creatures can be killed by two Rain of Fires.

time/life:
Freeze is better for pharaohs, and killing scarabs one-by-one isn't really effective if you leave their pharaohs alone.
Steam Machine can't be killed if their field is cleared. Extra phoenixes would actually be a liability against this AI.
Rain of Fire easily clears the field as long as you save them until they have 3 scarabs out. With this, their Empathy Bonds are useless and you can save your Deflagrations for Procrastination.