Fire Goes Face

Noticed a few Mono Fire decks popping up in throne recently, here is my take on the format. The most important aspect of any low-to-the ground aggro deck is to use all our power every turn. So you want to only keep a hand that goes 1-drop into 2-drop, hopefully with a solid turn 3 as well. It is usually correct to go to 6 if you are missing a turn 1 play. It is important to sequence our power properly to ensure maximum benefit so pay attention to which power you play when. It is worth going

1-drops form the heart of any aggro deck. Here we are running 16 total (4x4) so we can drop them from turn 1 and beat face. Battlefront Dasher, Kazuo, Melee Virtuoso and Pyroknight are all great turn 1 plays, while also providing mid game utility. Grenadin Drone could easily be any other 1-drop (Oni Ronin), but is here mainly to counteract opposing x/1s. Try to avoid contracting Battlefront Dasher on turn 1, unless you DON'T have a unit for turn 2, and even then, it is nearly always wrong to contract turn one if you are on the draw. It is just too easily removed leaving you way behind on tempo.

Moving to our 2-drops, League Explorer is the premier example of an aggressive unit that MUST be dealt with ASAP, in multiples they can end the game in short order all on their own. Yeti Pioneer hits hard while providing a small power boost. Given we are nearly always the beatdown, reckless is hardly a draw-back. Midchief Salus likewise gets in for 3, while giving us the late game option of giving our whole board warcry, a buff that can quickly add up. Our final 2-drop is D'Angolo Houndmaster we can only find room for 3, since we don't really want to be dropping it turn 2, preferring to save it until we have aleady emptied our hand.

Our 3-drops are headlined by Jekk, Mercenary Hunter who is the main reason to run heavy fire, swinging the matchup against other aggro decks all on his own, helping us to empty our hand for D'Angolo Houndmaster/League Explorer, and also providing a constant source of (slow) card advantage if he manages to go face. The Shingane Marks from Chizue, Silver Hilt help our other units to push damage, and leave the opponent with no good options, either they keep taking damage from the buffed unit, or they give us card advantage if they spend resources to remove it. Often the ground will get stalled, and Thunder of Wings allows us to fly over and push the last points of damage. They can however sometimes prove difficult to play, so we only run 3 to ensure they don't clog up our hand.

Our Supporting Cast is headlined by Torch, the premier fire removal, that goes face probably as often as we use it to clear out a blocker. Ornate Katana allows us to buff our units while not going down on cards, and will sometimes also draw an extra card thanks to Chizue, Silver Hilt.

Most of our games should be decided before we would need to go to our Market, but Jekk, Mercenary Hunter loves sigils, and so 2 copies of Fire Etchings allows us to grab impactful cards form our market in longer games. Halotipped Spray functions as both a finisher, as well as dealing with those decks that spam relics and can even act as an extra power in those times we need it. Inferno Den is our grab for the control macthups, giving our units charge so they can at least get a hit in before being Harsh Ruled away. Inferno Phoenix will fly over stalled ground units, while also continuing to provide a benefit when it has been dealt with. Kaleb's Persuader allows our existing units to push damage, while also giving us the sigils we need for Jekk, Mercenary Hunter. And finally Melt Down is in there simply to deal with single relics that must be answered NOW (The Creation Project, Dinosaur Nest, Sling of the Chi, or even Dichro's Ruin). The market is definitely the weakest part of the deck, and open to change.

The main attraction to running a single faction deck is the flexibility your powerbase provides, an opportunity with significant dividends here. With such a low curve, we rarely need more than 4 power in play, and Emblem of Shavka allows us to convert excess power into units that can contest the board. The Grenadin from Granite Waystone may only be a 1/1, but is great for discarding to Jekk, Mercenary Hunter, wearing an Ornate Katana, or my favourite turn 4 play, play Granite Waystone, play the Grenadin so we can play Thunder of Wings for 3 and fly over for 4 charge damage. Granite Coin is great for picking of x/1 utility units (Initiate of the Sands etc) or providing the last point of damage to finish off larger blockers. The powerbase really only has room for a single factionless power, so Signing Bonus gets the nod over Seal of Devotion as it allows us some measure of control over our influence to ensure we can hit FF or FFF when we need to.