Praxis Flame Blast, anti aggro edition v2.0, set 4 ready [Tilt Proofed]

Hello! I am Magnnarot, a long time Eternal player and currently a Praxis lover.

I have been toying with the idea of making a Flame Blast Praxis deck for a while and after experimenting around and playing ladder enough to advance from the very bottom of diamond 3 to master in mere 5 hours and hit top 50 with a consistent 70-75% win ratio I am confident that this deck is good in the ladder. [Asof Set 4 the core strengths remain the same, with a more consistent ramping style, turn 3 worldbearers for everyone!]

This deck's initial idea was about substituting Purify for Flame Blast in praxis midrange, which netted it some more issues regarding meeting the influence requirements properly and enabled it to run more power dorks such as Trail Maker on top of the Initiate of the Sands for the added payoff, while running Xenan Obelisk to make these cards useful in the late game if drawn excessively. That said, the overwhelming amount of power and maximum power units can indeed create scenarios where you draw strings of power without anything to play and this makes me caution suggesting the deck for people prone to tilting to bad draws. [NO LONGER THE CASE, Auralian Merchant managed to let us cut 4 power cards at minimal screw increase, gone are the days of drawing strings of 5 power!]

Flame Blast: A very interesting and unique card in that the more power you play, the stronger it gets, meaning that cards such as Worldbearer Behemoth get added value and that its ages old combo with Mystic Ascendant becomes even more threatening in that it can go over a wide board earlier. This card is also usually key to win midrange matchups, since the deck has a somewhat low win ratio vs other midrange and will usually need a straighforward draw early on and rely on outplay in order to win under fair conditions, even then it will usually lack the ability to finish off other midrange in time, flame blast can bridge that by hitting for the last 7-10 damage. The card is indeed somewhat limited by its FFF influence requirement, but the combination of Temple Scribe, Trail Maker, Lunar magus and Worldbearer Behemoth often enables it early enough for it to do what a purify would often do (minus the silence part), killing smaller units, while still scaling very well into the late game.

Lunar Magus: This card was added instead of Dawnwalker as the deck tried to maximize its winratio vs aggro decks while fixing its curve with the nightfall trigger, this also added more consistency vs control decks that run Hailstorm such as feln or unitless control, it has proven to be an all-star in the deck (as an added tip, do not block with this card against aggro decks unless you have already gotten the nightfall lifegain trigger or the opponent has absolutely no power up, the lifegain part is VERY important, and often ofsets the amount of damage you take on early turns anyway).

Devoted Theurge: Another card used in order to increase the aggro win ratio and further abuse the huge amount of power you can output with your cards, a combination of theurge, magus and Amber Waystone lifegain can easily put you out of range from even channel the storm decks[/card]

Worldbearer Behemoth: An excellent card without much place in the current meta, it will always be hit or miss, but a worldbearer that sticks on the board is a worldbearer that eventually wins you a game, not very different from most other good 5 drop units, the key here is the aforementioned combo with ascendant and the power to flame blast for more damage, also the occasional enabling of xenan obelisks.

Mystic Ascendant: Everyone's favourite 6 drop, currently out of flavor, but still does the job. The card is here simply because we run behemoth and is our gameplan together with flame blast vs other midrange and great-kiln titan, also excellent vs control.

Cards to consider:
Talir's Intervention: A great trick vs both Haunting Scream and TJP midrange, silence their fliers into your bigger units for easy value. Also great vs control if you manage to save your Heart of the Vault from being killed and replaying them for value, or even as a way to have a Sandstorm Titan not be killed.

Miner's Musket: A good card vs control, agro and time midrange that use maximum power units somewhat unreliable but can lead to really impressive tempo.

Great-Kiln Titan: This card is harder to get to than mystic but will often win you games and synergyzes with a mystic on board, all in all a well rounded card that can indeed be dead in your hand vs aggro or the more aggressive midrange decks.

Sandstorm Scarf: A really good card in the market, usually very hard for flier heavy decks to address.

Novaquake Titan: Another good market card, quite possibly the best stall breaker in the game, seeing as the current set 4 meta isn't very midrange heavy and the stalls often happen vs midrange I don't see a reason to include it there, as carnosaur can often tilt the tempo in a stall slightly in your favour or keep you in it long enough for flame blast to finish the game.

EDIT: As of set 4, -4 trail maker, -4 Temple Scribe, -1 Initiate of the Sands, +4 Teacher of Humility, +4 Auralian Merchant, +1 Xenan Obelisk. The Deck seem to perform even better than before, Novaquake on the market makes our stall breaking vs other midrange even better than before, obelisk gives consistency with the power dorks, Brushstalker destroys control.

EDIT 2: Turns out that Auralian Merchant more than made up for removing power, some changes in the general card distribution and a market tailored to the TJP heavy meta compose the rest of the changes. Trail Maker added back in, GKT and a single shatterglass cut (shatterglass doesn't seem to have as many targets these days, permafrost is kind of losing space).