Every Single Phoenixborn - Ninja's Tier List and Guide
Recently I've completed my ten wins on Ashteki with every phoenixborn in the game. I thought I'd share my thoughts on each one, how powerful I think it is, strengths and common combos. This list was written just before the release of The Siege of Lordswall.
A Tier
Hope
How to Win: Duplicate is unbelievable value. You should definitely be using it every round to apply pressure with key 1 life conjurations especially those that have 2 or more attack. Combo this aggression with Void Pulse to take out enemies and either hit face or control the battlefield.
Deck Styles: You generally want to max out Void Pulse damage so swarming and playing lots of cheap units is a good plan. Taking out a 3 or 4 health unit can be amazing value, but don't get too greedy and wiped by card like Nature's Wrath. Start your deckbuilding by choosing what 1 life conjurations you can duplicate. You can utilize your giant spell board to insure you still have multiple different 1 life units you could duplicate, should your opponent take one of them out. Duplicate and Void Pulse together do make for a pretty aggressive package, so an aggressive attacking deck strategy will work well here.
Common Combos: What makes Hope so powerful and my number 1 PB is the flexibility they provide with Duplicate. Common targets for the ability are Shadow Hound, Vampire Bat Swarm and Light Bringer. Shadow Hound is the most expensive conjuration with 1 life so it makes sense you get a lot of value from duplicating it. Vampire Bat has a great on destruction ability you can trigger and Light Bringer can really help with your aggressive strategy, forcing your opponent to attack when it's least beneficial and then hitting back hard when they exhaust their units.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Carl's LKA V Winning Shadow Hounds deck: https://ashes.live/decks/50100/
Killercactus's Collection 2023 Top 4 Aggro Burn deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/8534a00b-f6ff-487d-acbd-90cbf4742ab6/
Brian B's Pod II Top 2 Shadow Hounds PACT deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/975e32d4-cea7-4b2e-b2d8-ef7f540078ec/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/44410/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Hope is this Shadow Hound deck which combines the time dice Fighting Spirit spellboard package with classic Hope Shadow Hounds.
With so many 1 life units to choose from I have a lot of options during the game. Every card I draw helps me build up my spellboard with focus effects, so quite often I duplicate the Wishing Wing instead of the Shadow Hound, depending on if there is a juicy target to stalk and kill. Build up your Fighting Spirit with tokens and hit your opponent with a big attack, using some combination of Void Pulse, Accelerate, and Stand Still to ensure your opponent cannot block the beatdown. Just be careful to avoid getting clogged, always leave a battlefield slot open for a Seafoam Snapper to eat something or a conjuration to duplicate into!
Harold
How to win: Harold is the master of controlling the battlefield, and outvaluing your opponent in combat. Hunter's Mark is versatile and can be used in several different ways to ensure victory. First you can use it against high life enemy units to trade efficiently. Put the Hunter's Mark on an opponent's 4 life knight unit and attack with literally any 2 attack unit to take them out. There's usually nothing the opponent can do as every round Hunter's Mark allows you to go up at least 1 dice in combat every round.
Another combination is to use direct damage to take out the enemy with the mark. Any main action direct damage in particular can be used with Hunter's Mark on the same turn to take out a 2 health unit.
Trying to taking out a large enemy unit with a big attack usually means the opponent guards with their PB, using their life as a resource. Hunter's Mark can be used to deny that play so try putting large attack units and combos into your Harold deck, knowing that you can use the large attacks without fear of PB guarding.
Deck Styles: Harold is amazing at dominating and "winning" the battlefield, so your focus should be on what to do with that control. Stack your deck full of knights or burn cards, just remember you have to actually win at some point by attacking your opponent's PB once you have control of the battlefield.
Common Combos: There are many cards which combo with Hunter's Mark. Old Salt is already a great value proposition of a body and a ping damage made even better when combined with Hunter's Mark. River Skald can seem like overkill but allows you to discard 2 cost cards for 4 damage or take out something with annoying Root Armor. Use Hunter's Mark and knights with combat kill effects like Sonic Swordsman to ensure those effects get triggered.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Carl's Collection 2023 Winning PACT deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/3a12679a-bfab-4847-a9ec-cbdc58bcbdf0/
Killercactus's Pod I Top 2 PACT deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/236d8dd9-44b7-4875-9be9-4224cc3c75e4/
Brian B's Collection 2023 Top 2 PACT deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/6600553b-6cc7-4a2d-870d-e27d31f4103a/
The Treatment's Pod II Top 4 Spindown deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/763330d1-ff15-4889-aa8e-d8fd49fac398/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/43621/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Harold is this slow burn list. It has just about enough control of the battlefield, using Old Salt, Frostback Bear and Hammer Knight in combination with Hunter's Mark you've got every type of combo option available to at least avoid losing control of the game. Meanwhile you can slowly heal Harold with Butterfly Monk and Consume Soul and burn your opponent with Chant of Revenge and Molten Gold. Use Dark Reaping on your own ally if your opponent refuses to trigger your chants.
Rin
How to win: Winning with Rin is all about using his Ice Buff ability on the unit which benefits the most from it. Changing a 2 life unit to a 3 life unit can have the largest impact since placing your unit outside of double ping removal range can make a big difference. An already tough unit to take out with 3 or more health like a knight becoming even more difficult to kill can also work well.
In general Shattering Fist is a much more powerful removal card than the more situational and expensive Rin's Fury which can admittedly catch an opponent off guard attacking with a knight, since it's rarely played. Note the side action cost for this event and get your Ice Buff or other disposable alteration out early so that you have the option to shatter an enemy whenever is best. A good move to exploit this side action destruction can be attacking a 4 life knight unit with a 1 attack ally. If your opponent doesn't guard the single damage then the extra 3 from shattering fist is enough to destroy their 3 dice investment and make them regret their decision.
Deck Styles: With superior unit health and a powerful removal spell Rin is best suited for controlling the battlefield to his advantage and converting that control to PB damage later. I find Ice Buff is generally more powerful when combined with higher health units, so focusing on making kills without losing your units in the attack can give your opponent very awkward combat math to deal with. However there are also some 1 life units with powerful effects that usually don't get triggered since they die so quickly, you might want to consider building around buffing them instead.
Common Combos: The main reason Rin is in my A tier of PBs is how Shattering Fist combines with Adaptodon for amazing round 1 value. The downside of Shattering Fist removing an alternation turns into a positive since you can trigger Adaptodon's Adapt ability again, and conjure another Adaption alteration. Altogether this can combine for 5 direct damage and a 2/2 unit just for 3 dice, split up however is most useful.
Other common combos are units that benefit from the extra 1 life. Frostback Bear is already a great value proposition that can get even harder to remove with 4 life instead of 3. Ruin Dweller is an example of a 2 dice summon that is often the target of removal, so getting it up to 3 health is great protection against direct damage. Shadow Spirit often doesn't get to even trigger its spindown effect before dying to 1 direct damage so 2 health might just be enough to see it actually attack. It's worth mentioning Ice Golem as an obvious choice for the Ice Buff to trigger the additional life from Skin Morph, but even so the investment of 3 dice into a large unit can be underpowered, so I don't recommend this unit unless you're fine with playing something janky.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Fred's LKA II Winning Adaptodon Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/49763/
Chaos Theory's GenCon 2023 Winning Forstback Bear Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/38694/
MBauer's LKA I Top 4 Spindown Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/48695/
MBauer's LKA IV Top 4 Spindown Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/662608d1-a5c2-4511-8986-68c2ca458e41/
Ninja's LKA II Top 4 Adaptodon Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/48880/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/48880/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Rin and Top 4 at LKA2 is this extremely fun to play big beastly deck of large units and alterations.
Use the now classic Rin combo of Adaptodon and Shattering Fist to blast your opponents units in round 1. Then tactically decide which of your four summons best suits the Ice Buff in any given round. With 8 dice every round spent on summons the rest of the deck is full of situational actions and alterations. Pump value into your 2 dice beasts by giving them just the right amount of attack, or extra ping to dominate the battlefield. Don't worry to much about losing your large units, just make your opponent waste energy and attacks to take them out!
Maeoni
How to win: There are two main flavours of Maeoni, split between classic combo builds for exploiting the best conjuration in the game Silver Snake with the goal of turning it into a game winning attacker, and less tried and tested alternative strategies with Venom Strike or some other exploitation of Maeoni's Command Strike ability.
With Silver Snake employed on the battlefield you can make your goal a multi stage plan: protect, grow and then finally strike. Use allies with Unit Guard to protect your snake from getting killed early while it has no attack. Then use direct damage and removal, or even something like stalk attacks, to take out enemy units and stack those status tokens high on your snake buddy. Finally when they are big enough, the snake can attack with a fearsome total.
Command Strike can be used in combination with the Silver Snake as well. Once you have enough tokens your snake's attack value will kill whatever you desire and fuel the growth of your serpentine monster even more. Just be careful of Fate Reflection!
Deck Styles: With the classic Maeoni combo deck you can grow your snake to a massive attack value and then use bypass tools to hit your opponent's PB life total. Most games of ashes reborn are a back and forth of PB guards and incremental damage, but with a big enough snake 2 or even 1 attack can be enough to clinch victory.
Alternatively you can focus less on comboing the destructive power of the snake and build a more well rounded battlefield deck. With only a couple enemy deaths the Silver Snake is an amazing value proposition on its own with 4 life for only 2 dice. Your opponent may overspend resources removing the snake threat before they realize you have backup options for victory.
Instead of waiting for your snake to grow, Command Strike can also be used in conjunction with units that already have high attack, so consider adding a 3 dice knight ally to your first five for example.
Finally you can go in a completely different direction and focus on the less traditionally powerful Venom Strike unique action card, spamming out Charm Dice across your opponent's battlefield before burning and milling them. Spam those Charm Dice as early as possible in the round and avoid actually killing their units with a more passive game plan.
Common Combos: Despite being number 4 in my PB power rankings, Maeoni isn't my favourite PB, in part because I find the tried and tested cards that work so well with her Silver Snake don't leave as much room for the creative deckbuilding Ashes is known for. Gilder is an amazing conjuration for both protecting the Silver Snake with unit guard, slamming direct damage into enemies and even more status tokens for the snake when the Gilder dies. Explosive Growth is also almost a must in any snake deck, the multiplication factor can provide your snake with insane amounts of attack. Finally Hypnotize is usually the go to bypass combo card to guarantee your massive attack is the game winning move.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Kaile's SB5 Winning Bypass Combo Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/de331ca9-2626-4615-82d3-4ec1c7558776/
Carl's SB3 Winning Bypass Combo Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/751e31fd-1c5b-4b01-8a2e-f96d241dd709
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/47599/
Helping me get 10 wins with Maeoni is this unorthodox and slightly silly rush burn deck that aims to get as much damage onto your opponent's PB before they have a chance to react and then burn them to victory in subsequent rounds, in the style of Realm of the Absurd decks but without the Realm Walker.
Open the round with Grave Knight, give them Hunting Weapons and use Red Flower to attack your opponent twice. Between the ping damage of Hunting Weapons and the massive 4 attack Command Strike available to you from the Grave Knight, the goal is to deal a large up front hit to your opponent's life points. Then in subsequent rounds use all the burn cards in the deck like Frost Bite and Final Cry to finish off your opponent, using Maeoni's massive 20 life to hopefully survive long enough to see victory.
Odette
How to win: That sword isn't just for show! Odette brings consistent destruction down upon the enemy. Enter the Fray is the bane of every 0 attack 2 life unit out there, and can also be used aggressively against anything that needs taking out asap regardless of damage to PB. It doesn't get more removal than simply destroy an unit than Sword of Virtue, the ultimate send off for any high health enemy.
My advice, if you suspect a 0 attack unit will get played, like the Raptor Hatchling or Ruby Cobra then hold off on your Enter the Fray, but don't be afraid to use your PB health as a resource and take out that 2 life Winged Lioness or pesky Adaptodon. Between PB guarding, Enter the Fray and destroying a unit with Sword of Virtue you should be able to establish control of the battlefield quickly, just make sure you have a plan to convert that battlefield control into big PB damage in later rounds before all that Enter the Fray damage adds up.
Sword of Virtue is 2 dice for removal, so if your opponent plays a 3 dice knight round 1 its a fantastic trade for you. However what if they play all cheap units round 1? By also playing a large unit yourself you can make the most of the sword's flexibility, take out their knight, or refresh your own.
Deck Styles: With the ability to take out key enemy units round after round Odette is the perfect home for combo decks that require protecting specific special units. Combo Enter the Fray with side action damage and you can take out most threats before they can attack. By sacrificing your PB health you can establish control of the battlefield, so even if you don't play big unit combo consider running high attacks units that can convert that battlefield control into enemy PB damage.
Common Combos: Bypass decks are a common combo with Odette, starting with the cornerstone bypass card Frostback Bear. Take out their units with attack high enough to block your fearsome ursine friend, and leave the rest to scramble as you hit their PB. Unit Gaurd summons can make things even more awkward to navigate for your opponent, like Turtle Guard or Butterfly Monk. With only 3 spell board slots you have to make those summons count!
Then there is the question of what units will benefit most from protection and Sword of Virtue refreshing. Realm Walker is always a frustrating threat for your opponent if you can keep it alive long enough. Massive Growth or Wallop can turn your Frostback Bear or other attacker into a unit worthy of attacking multiple times.
There is a possible specific combo with Odette and Shining Hydra you may wish to consider. Use Enter the Fray on the Hydra while it has 1 attack, then give it Massive Growth while you use Regenerate Heads to heal the damage. With just a 2 card combo your Shining Hydra will end up as a 7 attack Terrifying 2 unit, quite possibly enough to win the game with multiple attacks against your opponent's PB health.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Clu's SB LCQ Winning Realmwalker Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/dfda61e5-a82a-4dd2-9f91-1506b3b97775/
Shadowfire's Phoenix Pod I Top 4 Battlefield Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/32f91b2c-1ec6-42f4-b304-4a703ac1279d/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/37819/
Helping me get 10 wins with Odette and first place at the Sunhold Webcam Tournament is my personal variation of the bypass deck, with Steadfast Guardian. Root Armor on the Guardian can make it very difficult to deal with, and if they deal incremental damage Sword of Virtual refresh can be devastating.
Use the classic combo of Shining Hydra, Enter the Fray and Massive Growth to close out the game. To add consistency to the deck, Polarity Mage can pull either Root Armor or Massive Growth from the discard. Use Light Bringer to make your opponent attack awkwardly into the armoured Steadfast Guardian. You can even play Call To Action in response to get another attack out of your bypass Bear or Hyrda. A fun unexpected trick unique to this version of the deck is to play the Massive Growth onto the Steadfast Guardian if you need to. This can really put your opponent in a bind.
Finally, when it comes to closing out the game don't forget those charm dice! Using a charm dice power to reduce an enemy unit's attack below the terrifying threshold of my bear has won me several games!
Astrea
How to win: The combination of Astrea's consistent and removal-like Beguile and the ultimate destructive power of Judgment makes her my top rated slow control style PB. Use Beguile on anything that looks like key threat, a 3 dice knight ally perhaps, or an important expensive conjuration. Even if you don't actually use Beguile, the threat of it can prevent your opponent from overcommitting on a single unit. Nothing entirely wipes the board quite like Judgment does, so play slowly, and punish your opponent from overcommitting on controlling battlefield.
Mark of the Goddess can also be a nasty surprise, even if its hard to justify giving up even 1 of your Judgments. What seems at first like a downside of the card, burning your opponent instead of destroying a unit, can be amazing value for 1 dice if your opponent is foolish enough to leave a high attack unit as their only unexhausted unit.
Deck Styles: Unlike previous PBs so far in this tier list the key to success for Astrea lies beyond the battlefield, using her control tools to prevent your opponent from gaining a large advantage while you burn, mill, or combo your opponent to death. Astrea can give you a lot of time between board wipes and slowing down your opponent with Beguile, you just have to make the best use of that time to seize victory.
Common Combos: With a small battlefield her as main weakness make sure to pack ping or AOE cards like Nature's Wrath. It might seem like overkill with Judgement in your back pocket but you'll want to wait for a better moment to play the almighty obliteration than when your opponent simply plays a Raptor Herder.
To Shadows can combo in the same turn with Beguile for a 2 dice removal of any unit. Chant of Revenge and Frostbite can provide a slow burn engine to work with Astrea's slow game plan, Abundance or other ready spell mill cards can work well with a slow mill plan. Orchid Dove works well with a Judgment wipe as well as being a mill staple, and Shimmer Wing can give you the card draw you need for the big wipe.
Using Strengthen but on your opponent's unit for a big Mark of the Goddess hit is a great fun combo, though Strengthen itself is generally a large dice investment so you'll want to maximize the value it provides even when you don't have Mark of the Goddess.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Ninja's LKA I Winning Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/53108/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/53108/
Helping me get 10 wins with Astrea, first place at LKA I tournament and top 4 at LKA V is this slow burn control deck.
Use Ritualist in round 1 to setup the Chant of Revenge burn engine. Every card in this deck is extremely important, either burn or something to discard for Judgment, so don't be disappointed when you never get to trigger Ritual Flames on your Shimmer Wing, its just there for the card draw!
Between Frostbite in later rounds, recurring Fire Archer with a ceremonial dice power and Chant of Revenge, you should be able to close out any game that lasts long enough, the trick is not to lose the battlefield too badly while you drip feed damage.
Use Judgment at a crucial moment just after your opponent has control of the battlefield, not too early! If you've still got blockers and Beguile you can hold out for a long as possible for resetting your opponent's progress.
Finally once your opponent is within lethal burn range you can go for the kill. Completely abandon the battlefield in favour of burn cards like Sympathy Pain and Molten Gold, to finish off your opponent before they can attack your life point with the units they've foolishly invested time and dice to play.
Tristan
How to win: Tristan's 1 basic side action Magnify ability is a bit like Hope's Duplicate with slightly less flexible aggressive power and more about specific combos with units. Nevertheless, getting the most of out Tristan is usually also about playing aggressively, you want to be able to proactively unitise your ability every round. Tsunami Shot is quite possibly the best unique in the game, with the flexibility to take out whatever combination of enemies you want. Don't be afraid to use it on enemy 4 health knights, it still trades nicely with 2 dice against their 3. Whatever you decide to hit with the 4 deathly arrows, make sure to destroy your opponents units before they have exhausted them, for maximum value.
Deck Styles: Start your deck building by choosing which unit or units you can combo with Magnify. You can diversity you spell board with multiple summons that trigger from the ability, but committing to a single unit having a backup for the dice spend can also work out well. With the second largest battlefield in the game, you can afford to go extremely wide with your units. Just beware the board wipe, and make sure to take whatever aggressive opportunities you have.
Common Combos: For an instant swarm of fish, Prism Tetra is a classic staple of Tristan decks. With magnify on all 3 of them, the 6 attack for 3 dice can be an efficient attack, just keep in mind this locks you into a super aggressive strategy since the fish don't stick around from round to round. Ruby Cobra can supplement or form the backbone of a Tristan deck. The extra attack and mill combine for something fairly high value, especially if you boost it situationally to attack into 2 health units, or combo the Magnify with a second, 1 health unit. Vampire Bat Swarm and Raptor Herder are common options for simply boosting the attack or your wide swings. Frost Frog can be an interesting option to magnify and exhaust a troublesome blocker impeding your agro progress. Frostback Bear offers something completely different from the other attack boosting options, powerful bypass, since your opponent is far less likely to have a 3 attack unit than a 2 (especially if you focus on killing them!).
Proven Competitive Lists:
Brian's LKA III Winning Agro 0 Attack Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/4a01dae3-5bed-4458-ac0b-7097b940231a/
Carl's LKA IV Winning Agro Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/96baba07-63a1-48bb-97f1-c8772eee9210/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/53361/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Tristan is this pretty straightforward and extremely aggressive deck. Magnify the Prism Tetra and throw in a Vampire Bat Swarm if needed to hit your opponent hard and fast. Play Sleeping Widows when they board wipe you for even more attackers. Guilt Link is perfect for trading your exhausted fish for their... not useless unit. The burn in the rest of the deck can close out the game while you never stop applying pressure with attacks.
The key here is not to wait for a perfect swarm attack opportunity. The moment you can trigger any of your group tactics you should swing, otherwise a single Nature's Wrath can set you back significantly. Keep the Tsunami Shot for anything that smells like a unit with alert, like a 4 health 3 dice knight, which may otherwise be a problem for our go wide plan.
B Tier
Coal
How to win: Starting out my B tier is the often times tricky to play yet high damage ceiling master of the ping damage. Slash is an oddity amongst the PB abilities, costing a card instead of a dice and being repeatable during the round. To win with Coal the question often becomes how to get the most opportunities and value out of your slashes, without milling yourself to fatigue with card draw, or running out of cards in hand to actually play with your dice. Either you need to be a little more conservative than you might expect, slashing at key moments to remove 1 life enemies, or alternative go for the win quickly with Coal, spamming Slash as much as possible before running out of a deck becomes a problem.
In general main action direct damage pairs nicely with the additional side action Slash. You always want to be spending your resources on killing enemy units before they have a chance to exhaust for any value. One Hundred Blades is generally the superior option Final Stand and can nicely to combed with slash to simultaneously take out 2 and 1 life remaining units. Nonetheless, I like Final Stand as a nasty surprise for taking out an expensive unit when your opponent thought they were somewhat safe.
Deck Styles: There are two main ways to deck build around Coal in my opinion. To best use the Slash ability you going to need cards, so one way to build your deck is around a card drawing engine. The sheer amount of dice-less direct damage can be extremely hard for your opponent to deal with. Alternatively with a more expensive spell board of conjurations you can Slash more with the 5 cards you draw every round, since you already have something to spend your dice on.
The side action nature of Slash means you can play a strange mixture of aggression and control with Coal. Take over the battlefield and destroy your enemies by flinging cards at them, but also use the windows of opportunity your slashes open to attack the enemy PB. If the game is a close one with both players low on health, Coal can put pressure on early in the round by dumping their hand at the opponent and swinging an attack in for the win.
Common Combos: There are a few different options for extra card draw in a Coal deck, but Wishing Wing has the highest potential, since the more tokens you stack on it, the more cards you draw. You can include whatever parts you want of the entire time dice ready spell token support package. Time Hopper and Tidal Crab to add extra tokens, Seafoam Snapper to ensure the Wishing Wing dies and you get the card draw when you need it, and Fighting Spirit as a payoff for all your units inevitably dying. Even with only one source of extra tokens or the focus 2 effect on its own card, Wishing Wing can be enough card draw for a lot of Slashing.
Abundance on the other hand offers a very different kind of card draw, one that strangely leans Coal into mill. Without this card playing for fatigue damage seems like an odd choice for Coal, since you might Slash your way out of a deck faster than you can mill your opponent, but the consistency of Abundance's extra 2 cards per round is a hard opportunity to pass up so you might as well also try to leverage the potential burn damage if your opponent runs out of a deck and you can get all 3 copies into play.
Fester is another common card worth mentioning. The side action slash followed up instant death can be the cheapest removal in the entire game, and a worthy inclusion in any Coal deck.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Mbauers' LKA V Top 4 Battlefield Control Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/ddade9ae-5036-4292-93b0-04ee5d7ad688/
Brian's SB Worlds 2022 Top 2 Wishing Wing Deck https://ashes.live/decks/share/759bff2a-1634-4b67-a663-2073ff8a1558/
Mbauers' SB Worlds 2022 Top 4 Spindown Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/cf330532-27e3-445f-aa05-0364f36cdb75/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/share/96dc4827-514c-449c-9ec5-6bed9ac9ae24/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Coal is this tricky but incredibly fun wound token deck. Use Tidal Crab and Wishing Wing for some classic Coal card draw ammunition. Then in later rounds, the spell board and allies are so expensive that you should be able to toss quite a few cards away from hand for Slash. With only 2 time dice just make sure to summon the Wishing Wing first before the Tidal Crab!
Combo Infuriate on the Dread Wraith with Flute Mage for multiple attacks. Adept Duelist can be key for removing your opponent's annoying Root Armor and Slash Fester for anything else large enough to be a threat. Blood Brawl is the key to the deck, between Dread Wraith attacking or blocking an enemy unit, Old Salt and Phoenix Attendant you should be able to set up a nasty 3+ damage wipe on your opponent, and finish the stragglers with a Slash.
Jessa
How to win: Jessa's Screams of the Departed offer a strange inversion of most PB abilities which usually help you establish control of the battlefield or empower the rest of your deck. Instead Screams offer a way to close out the game, adding inevitability to your strategy. The key is to identify when and how much to Scream, too early and your opponent will covert their battlefield advantage into victory, too late are you'll struggle against an opponent with a different powerful PB ability that's helping them win the game.
Fear is a fantastic removal card which can even avoid your opponent's on death triggers as a bonus. The downside of killing your own unit can be turned into an advantage with your own cards that trigger on death. Playtime in contrast is a generally much less powerful card but for a more prison focused blood puppet deck is a great inclusion. 1 dice for 1 Blood Puppet is the normal ratio for your summoning book which isn't that amazing value. Avoid deliberately killing the unit you attach this card to and play it on a fairly large unit, locking down down the board and frustrating your opponent.
Deck Styles: The ratio of 1 dice for 1 burn Screams of the Departed provides isn't as good as the best dedicated burn cards you can play in Ashes Reborn. There's 2 ways to deck build around this fact, focus on your deck providing a means to control the battlefield and use Screams to finish off your opponent in a close game once their health drops low, or go all in on burn, spending your dice in later rounds not only on more efficient burn cards but also on Screams, for a big burst of direct PB damage.
Besides the burn Jessa always provides to finish off your opponent, a great number of styles are available. You can play super aggressively and try to hit your opponents life total as quickly as possible, though you'll need to focus on bigger units like 3 dice cost knights, since your battlefield of 4 prevents you from going wide. You can alternately play prison, with blood puppets or even a kneel deck. In general your plan is to slow the game down enough for your Screams to eventually win the game. If you really play your prison cards right your opponent might have leftover dice each round while you've spent yours on Screams.
Whichever deck strategy you play, don't Scream too early! You'll want to avoid any in round 1 for example while you setup your board, which will put you at a disadvantage vs an opponent with a powerful ability they get to use while yours is irrelevant. However, stabilize in time and Jessa can make it look easy, screaming your way to victory.
Common Combos: Chants are often used in conjunction with Fear, since you'll be killing your own units. Chant of Revenge is the common choice, and you can double down with Ritualist round 1 for maximum burn. As well as Fear you can also run Blood Chains or Reclaim Soul. These cards will ensure you don't get clogs as well as triggering your chant engine. Since you're slowing down the game and can't afford to play too aggressively mid round with such a tiny battlefield, Butterfly Monk or Turtle Guard are often used to try to survive while you Scream. Then of course there is the usual trio of hyper efficient burn cards, Molten Gold, Sympathy Pain and Final Cry often included to match Jessa's general burn victory plan.
Alternatively you can try to get maximum puppeteering with all three Playtime, Summon Blood Puppet and Blood Puppeteer. Mix in Chant of Transfusion to remove wounds from your opponent's puppet "friends" and some self sacrifice tools to ensure your Puppeteer actually dies at the right time.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Brancus' LKA IV Top 4 Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/25601f86-829b-4652-a5e2-6fff91982a55/
Ebfritz's LKA IV Top 4 Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/5343b4de-910e-4789-a151-c21e9a695969/
Brancus' LKA II Top 4 Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/43a5002a-9510-44e9-9105-1244c9439e39/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/37164/
How much burn can you burn? The answer is yes. Helping me get 10 wins with Jessa is this slightly silly and a little evil version of Jessa burn. Other decks take time to setup and use Chant of Revenge or something else to gain board control. Bah, who needs any of that stuff where you are burning your opponent all the time every time!
Start with the Light Bringer book and then play Hunt Master. The goal here is you then summon the Light Bringer, force them to attack (which you guard) and then hit their PB with everything you've got. After the goal is simple, survive and Scream!
In round 2 you'll obviously draw 1 copy of Meteor and all the burn spells. Wipe the board at exactly the right time just before your opponent swings for damage and finish them off with some burn and also some more burn. Law of Fear also works to slow down your opponent from actually achieving anything while you spend everything else on burn. Bonus points if your opponent is playing a low life total PB like Coal, it might be a short game.
Leo
How to win: The Glow Finch is an extremely high value unit, a basic dice sink to provide flexibility to your other cost, often sought after unit guard and when it dies you're actually pretty happy since you get to mill 2 cards and summon it again next round. The key to getting the most out of the Glow Finch is therefore in 2 part, the cheap and easy guard and the mill.
Anguish is an interesting card, since you might think its also a mill card of sorts, forcing your opponent to discard cards and lose dice. In reality your opponent usually simply cannot afford to lose those dice and cards, so Anguish actually ends up being a fairly powerful burn card instead! This puts Leo on a strange third trajectory. If things weren't confusing enough for Leo,
Gifted Rose represents another potential line of play, making key big attacks you really want to hit their target, essentially Harold's amazingly powerful Hunter's Mark (he is the number 2 PB in the list for a reason) but at a cost of 1 dice.
Its worth noting here that neither unique card is particularly powerful compared to other PBs, the value of Leo is mostly in his Glow Finch. Some players will even build decks with neither card included if they don't suit the deck.
Deck Styles: With all these different powerful yet different elements deckbuilding for Leo can be tricky but rewarding. The most obvious place to start is the 2 mill you get from the Glow Finch. With an all out mill list you can also use the Finch to protect your other mill units. Slow the game down enough and your opponent will eventually (or quickly with what they call Turbo Mill) lose to fatigue. Alternatively you can focus on the unit guard of Glow Finch, with the mill an incidental nicety if the game turns into a longer slog. Control the battlefield with Gifted Rose, and play big key attackers you know you can protect and hit hard with. Finally with Anguish you can even play a strange mill burn hybrid. After all, what is fatigue damage if not burn that takes a while to kick in?
Common Combos: If spamming the Glow Finch is your kind of thing, then consider the common inclusion of Generosity to summon it more than once per round. If your opponent refuses to kill the Finch or perhaps even more annoyingly exhausts it, Redirect or Natures Wrath can be nice ways to ensure it dies anyway and you can resummon it.
Charm dice in general are a good fit for Leo mill decks, with the usual suspects of Farewell, Rile the Meek, Flock Shepherd and any combination of the 0 attack charm summons for your spell board. Abundance can also work well if your goal is to mill your opponent as quickly as possible.
For getting value out of Gifted Rose the same logic here applies that it did for Harold's Hunter's Mark. Units like Sonic Swordsman that benefit from ensuring their attacks don't get guarded can be a nasty combo.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Brian's LKA VI Top 2 PACT Battlefield Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/49061/
Brian's LKA IV Top 2 Mill Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/50977/
Carl's Gifted Rose Deck (LKA VI Top 4 by Alfred): https://ashes.live/decks/share/7f174d8d-e0ba-460b-abff-911a40ac82c4/
Killercactus' LKA I Top 4 Turbo Mill Deck https://ashes.live/decks/share/bb7aaf92-5dc0-454e-9d93-3ced8d865833/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/46398/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Leo and at the risk of repeating my earlier burn lists this deck is another burn list this time for Leo. However I would encourage you to check out proven competitive lists for something more traditonal.
This burn list is actually all about Anguish which has the potential to be the best burn card in the game at 4 damage for 2 basic dice. Everything else in the list is standard burn stuff, Final Cry, Molten Gold ect. With Meteor, and Nature's Wrath however this deck has a lot of board wipes to play, and Light Bringer should force your opponent into your Glow Finch. Open with an aggressive Hunt Master and then play the survival game to close out this extremely fast burn deck.
Saria
How to win: With a massive life total of 20 Saria is going to be in the game for a while, and threaten some explosive power and some subtle power while doing so. In most cases you want to play with Seaside Raven one of the best summons in the game. Your opponent will inevitably try to play around their units getting eaten, but the threat alone can be powerful. And of course, given the option snaking on a lovely 2 health 2 dice unit doesn't get much sweeter with Prey. For later rounds, Willpower is just an incredibly high value removal card, you don't even really need to deck build around, just play it early in the round to take whatever you feel like off the board. Hearts Pull is where things get a little tricky since on the face of it mill 1 and draw 1 for 1 dice is pretty good but not exactly what you need every round. Should your opponent pass before you, is a really nice side action ability to trigger before passing yourself, just like a frog dice power.
Deck Styles: Seaside Raven is a powerful unit on the battlefield, but often you have to wait for the right time to play it. Hearts Pull also leans into a more long term plan with incidental milling. I find therefore Saria usually suits a control style of gameplay, not so extreme to give up control of the board, but something that is happy to pass early in the round and force your opponent to make mistakes. Having 3 basic sinks with Seaside Raven is something you can utilize to play a more particular dice spread without leftover awkward dice and nothing to spend them on.
Common Combos: Seaside Raven offers some fun combos to get the best value from the super powerful prey ability. Body Inversion can be used to swap the stats of a low attack unit and feed them to the hungry bird. Resummon can get you double the bird each round. Attacking with quick strike often leaves the Seaside Raven alive for resummoning and if your opponent kills the Raven, at least you can summon it next turn and get the Prey effect again.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Ninja's LKA III Top 2 Burn Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/49140/
Mbauers' LKA III Top 4 Control Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/5298a54a-da73-4656-a84e-8c14f3e67885/
Mbauers' SBI 2022 Top 4 Mill Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/c560530f-be57-4a60-a59f-3b49b7cf67ed/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/49272/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Saria is this hybrid mill battlefield deck with tons of removal. Each type of threat has an answer, Farewell and Willpower can take care of large units, Seaside Raven and Ice Trap can eat mid-range units like nothing else can, and between Ruby Cobra and the ping damage from Adaptodon, Enchanted Violinist and Return to Soil you've got something for 1 life units as well. Should you need to, you can lean into bypass with Clashing Tempers to take out blockers for an attack, or the classic Wallop on a Frostback Bear.
The idea here is that while destroying your opponents units and trying to control the battlefield, you're also milling your opponent slowly, so a long game can benefit you as well as your opponent goes to fatigue. Don't focus on mill too much though, the priority here is battlefield control. If you can afford to get a cheeky Heart's Pull in before passing in a round, all the better but don't feel like you have to use the ability if you can spend your dice elsewhere.
Xander
How to win: Another Phoenixborn with maxed out life points of 20, Xander can outlast a lot of damage, and the recursion of Reincarnate make him somewhat mill resistant as well. They key then for Xander is to play the long game, a nasty counter pick against burn and mill, but with a semi-one sided battlefield wipe Earthquake, unlike other Phoenixborn Xander doesn't have to rely entirely on alternative win conditions or strange play styles to win, he can play the battlefield pretty effectively.
Reincarnate isn't something you want to incorporate into your first five, its just too inefficient. Instead you can build your deck around a key ally, and bring it back when it dies, using Reincarnate as the ultimate backup plan. If that ally is important enough to your strategy, then your opponent will get frustrated when they see it return, even though it cost an extra dice. Reincarnate also allows you to leave the ceremonial dice type behind without losing out on ally recursion, something that's worth considering when deckbuilding. Earthquake is a super powerful card to be able to rely on to wipe your opponent of cheap swarming enemies as well as a large unit. Consider running units with Armored or simply higher life totals that 1 to survive the damage and make the wipe even more one sided. Try to time the Earthquake to hit something big enough with the 4 damage and watch out for a illusion or time power side showing in your opponent's dice pool, they may have first fived Fate Reflection against you.
Deck Styles: Since Xander's power is quite generic, with excellent stats and resistant to both mill and burn strategies, he plays best with a solid plan B and a pivot depending on matchups. Against a PB trying to mill you out to fatigue damage, you can focus on reducing your meditations, putting on battlefield pressure the while game, and recurring allies with Reincarnate. A key Earthquake might be enough to secure you the battlefield. Against a burn deck you can focus on pumping out as much attack as possible, with big units and the extra time your high health affords you in the matchup. Your plan B needs to be pretty solid however, since against the powerful battlefield focused PB like Harold and Rin, you may struggle to obtain an edge. Instead, you can develop your own plan B alternative win condition incrementally, while not giving up too much battlefield pressence.
Common Combos: For an insane amount of survivability, Heal, Butterfly Monk and/or the classic PACT Phoenix Attendant and Chant of Transfusion combo can be used to heal your life points. Just make sure you actually have a plan to somehow win while surviving damage. Frostback Bear or Turtle Guard can work well with Xander since a unit with 3 health can thrive in an Earthquake rich environment. If you do run a bunch of high health units that can survive the Earthquake, Blood Brawl can be a powerful follow up the next turn.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Ninja's LKA VI Winning 0/2 Fatigue Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/7c8802d7-585b-4a26-9317-e96fbed9593c/
Brancus' LKA V Top 2 Burn PACT Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/52072/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/share/491775c3-d59f-407e-978d-943c2297ee43/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Xander and win LKA VI is this removal heavy 0/2 mill list. Each of the 3 summons have 0 attack and 0 health, so they can benefit from Flock Shepherd's protective abilities. Try to sequence the Flock Shepherd after you have a Gilder in play, who then should be able to protect you from at least 1 lethal attack to the Flock Shepherd. Later in the game, you can recur the Flock Shepherd with Reincarnate, which can be very annoying for your opponent if they are expending a lot of effort to kill it the first time.
Shimmer Wing can put a lot of pressure on your opponent to swing at units, which can save you in the long game. You generally want to attack promptly with Ruby Cobra for the mill, unless your opponent only has an alert unit don't be too precious about lining up the perfect attack, you don't want to have the Ruby Cobra attacked itself. Farewell is as powerful as ever, don't waste it on a low health unit if you can help it, taking out a 4 health knight for 4 dice is definitely worth it for the 4 mill. The more you can keep your 0/2 around for the next round the more likely you can pull off a nasty Rile the Meek, 2 damage is acceptable to kill one or 2 key enemy units, 3+ damage from Rile the Meek and you are having a wonderful time.
0/2s work well with Earthquake but there isn't much strategy here, just value, since your 2 health units won't die from the Earthquake. Finally its worth considering using Reincarnate on Rose Gardener if you don't draw into it. Spam cultivate side actions until you have enough class sides for a big Farewell without eating into your own deck.
Koji
How to win: The boy wonder of ashes is all about status tokens and having a massive battlefield. Accelerate Growth is free, often the sign of a good PB abilities, and can pump out a token every round wherever it is needed. With 10 battlefield (the largest in the game) you basically don't have to worry about getting clogged or stuck in an awkward battlefield prison, so feel free to ditch those self-sacrificing cards in favour of spamming lots of cheap units without a care in the world. Your starting point for exploiting Koji is to work out what will best benefit from status tokens, and building your deck around those cards. Wolfpack Leader provides an inbuilt beneficiary for the Accelerate Growth, but only use it to get an extra Pack Wolf if the tokens run out and you won't hit the conjuration limit. Even without any extra tokens, the Wolfpack Leader is fantastic value and a worthy inclusion in the first five. Lick Wounds is a less obviously powerful option, but does provide the flexibility of even more status tokens from Koji becoming unexhausted, or a unit swinging twice in the round.
Deck Styles: Koji's big problem is his low life point value at only 16, going aggro can be difficult without dying first. Nevertheless, one option for Koji is to fully unitize his large battlefield and swarm the field. For this strategy I'd recommend attacking often, and don't let your battlefield of unexhausted 1 life units build up and get decimated by a Nature's Wrath. Another option for Koji is to focus on the status token combo. Find a card to really exploit with status tokens, and pack the removal, protection and control tools to ensure that it happens.
Common Combos: You can't talk about Koji without talking about the specific cards he can add a status token to. Having a few of these cards in your deck to exploit is the key to success. The most powerful is the Indiglow Creeper who has no in built way of getting status tokens, but rockets in value every time you trigger the Luminous Seedling's Blossom ability and turn it into 2 Brilliant Thorns. With a large, swarming deck, Hunt Master can be topped up, turning your Accelerate Growth into an extra free attack. Sticking a status token on Guilt Link provides a sneaky guaranteed kill, and with Koji you'll probably have a unit you don't mind dying lying around somewhere. Just don't do it if it looks like your opponent will attack and give you the token anyway. Mirror Spirit and Wishing Wing gain attack from status tokens, as does the Emberoot Lizard, so may be worth including. Then you can all the other status token support cards, like the ever valuable Guilder or ultimate spam unit the Time Hopper.
A different direction to take Koji is to combo with Fallen the slow moving ultimate value engine that's perfect for his massive battlefield. You could also consider a Prism Tetra build for similar reasons, even the janky but fun Radiant Leviathan has a sort of a home with Koji.
Proven Competitive Lists:
Carl's Phoenix Pod II Top 4 Creeper Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/c22685b7-610a-459c-a6f0-9c1cbef390b7/
Ninja's SB LCQ Top 4 Creeper Deck: https://ashes.live/decks/share/c22685b7-610a-459c-a6f0-9c1cbef390b7/
My Best Homebrew: https://ashes.live/decks/55382/
Helping me get my 10 wins with Koji is this classic Indiglow Creeper list that's all about cracking open those seeds! Everything is centred around the creeper. The Gilder keeps the Luminous Seedling alive and gives it a token upon death. The Tidal Crab is the ultimate token dispensing machine for the Seedling.
If your opponent refuses to counter the Creeper, use Seeds of Aggression with your exhausted Creeper and take it out along with an enemy. Fate Reflection can protect your Seedling from direct damage effects like annoying Odette and Aradel. Then, should you still have extra tokens, stick them on the Wolfpack Leader or the Hunt Master. Build up wave after wave of Brilliant Thorns and outvalue your opponent to death on the battlefield!