One Collection Battlebox Decks

Coal: None Shall Pass

No phoenixborn enjoys drawing cards as much as Coal, and this deck is built around letting you draw and use a ton of cards, put them back in your deck, and then draw them and use them again. 

The deck is oriented to the battlefield, with Squall Stallions and beefy allies giving the opponent a lot of threats to worry about. They're backed up by a toolbox of spells, made more useful by the recursion engine letting you play the most needed spells over and over. Once the spellboard is set up, a single ally death will fill all copies of Memorialize and Chants. The spellboard provides plenty of Main actions, so Coal always has ample time to slash, build up stallions, or use memorialize. Ritualist is good for both chant search and recursion, and a chant that you can painlessly bring back with Ritualist is among your most reliable slash fodder. The deck has the ability to recur all of its cards in one way or another (provided you've played at least one Memorialize) and figuring out what to play, slash and recur is key to getting the best out of it.

Coal is capable of some incredibly cheeky plays late game by recurring then immediately drawing and replaying key spells to dig himself out of a hole. Humble spells like Channel Magic or Bound Soul start to feel like an engine if played repeatedly, and if you're in dire straits there's always the option to meditate or slash away your hand and play Final Stand a few times! If in doubt though, just keep bringing back One Hundred Blades - it's almost never bad. 

The Suggested First Five a middle-of-the-road option, giving you the core of your draw engine with some units to hold down the fort. However, this deck's first fives are very flexible. Going aggressive with Hammer Knight and Master Vampire in Round 1 is an option, as is going slower by playing more of the spellboard.

Jessa: Crown of Blood

This deck offers the most focused burn plan of any deck in the battlebox, rooted in Jessa's powerful Screams ability. That makes it very dangerous in PVP, although it also means the deck can be tricky to pilot against the chimera.

Jessa's gameplan relies on controlling the flow of the game and deal incremental damage to the opponent until they are in range to be finished off with Screams. Blood Puppets and Playtime offer the potential of burdening the opponent with ongoing damage, while Living Dolls combined with Serve The City and Chant of Transfusion can send wounds from the battlefield directly to the phoenixborn. Screams and Final Cry further punish the opponent as units are killed, making death slow but inevitable.

When dealing with aggressive opponents - especially the chimera - you'll need to do more than just burn. Chief among your control options is Blood Archer which can hand out a ton of damage, especially when combined with Chant of Transfusion. Given enough time, the archers can clear an entire opposing battlefield, and it's well worth using the ceremonial dice power or Undying Heart to get them back into your hand if they're killed. Nightshade Swallow is a solid defensive unit, and in a pinch the Blood Puppets from Puppeteer can be kept on your side to be used as blockers or spell fuel. Your ace is the Fear spell, which can be held back to deal with larger units that your allies can't effectively handle. 

The Suggested First Five is one of several possible FFs this deck can run, and Jessa needs to be a bit more flexible than most - especially when shifting to PVE where the burn plan takes longer to deliver results.  Blood Archer and Ritualist delivering Chant of Transfusion are likely to find their way into most Fives, but any of the other 3 cards can be considered for flexing out for cards like Blood Puppeteer or Fear.

Noah: Dream Stalkers

Featuring a whopping 14 reaction spells - plus 4 allies that can be played at reaction speed - Noah's deck leverages Reimagine's synergies with illusion dice to simultaneously dominate the battlefield and pressure fatigue via dice spindown.

The deck is relatively unit-light, but the units it brings pack a punch. Masked Wolf is one of the rare side-action summons, able to be declared as an attacker the same turn it comes in to play. They won't stick around long, but the Wolves are guaranteed to do some damage while they last. Shadow Hound, by contrast, is one of the hardest conjurations for opponents to interact with since it can't be targeted while unexhausted; but watch out for AOE effects that don't target. Shadow Hound becomes even deadlier late in the game, when the focus effect on its summon book can pick off small units for no extra cost. These two hunters are backed up by a small selection of allies.

Using Reimagine to stretch your dice is what sets the deck apart. The illusion dice power should be used aggressively provided you have reactions in hand to spend the stored dice; With a total of 18 cards that can be paid for with Reimagine, you usually will. Chief among these is Noah's lethal Shadowblade unique, but all the spells have useful applications. Don't forget that Shadow Guard and Gates Defender can also be paid for with Reimagine dice if they are played using their blue box ability! This combination is one the rare examples in Ashes where it's possible to get a unit on the table for less than its full dice cost, and doing so can quickly turn the tide in your favor.

The Suggested First Five for this deck only gives you a couple units to start, relying on Shadowblade to help check early aggression and draw in to more threats. Particle Shield, fueled by Reimagine, will also draw a card and help ensure both your wolf and shadow hound have a chance to do some damage. While most Fives will start the books, any of the other cards can be flexed out to add an ally or two for matchups where you expect to need more blockers in Round 1.

Brennen: Small Sacrifices

The philosophy of 'easy come, easy go' is at the heart of this agile engine deck. Brennen can play a lot of units, but few of them will stay on the table long. The deck can play aggressively to the battlefield supported by synergistic removal tools, but it has a capable burn-based plan too. 

Salamander Monk and Guilt Link form your first line. The Monks ensure a steady supply of blockers and spell fuel, and Guilt Link will both punish early aggression and give you a way to deal with big threats later. Small Sacrifice is the real star of the show though, especially working alongside String Mage or Living Doll who can throw the extra wound at your opponent in the same turn. This can be supported by Change of Heart throwing even more damage while letting you use allies' enter-play abilities over and over again. Note though that you won't always want to use Change of Heart; if your opponent is vulnerable to being burned down, Brennen's default ability Spirit Burn can be more useful. 

An important aspect of playing the deck is recurring allies via the ceremonial dice power. You will almost always meditate and recur allies in Round 1 since, while the spellboard is inexpensive to set up, it does require three cards of your first five. Late game, recursion is important to keeping key allies like String Mage on the field. Reclaim Soul can provide the little bit of extra HP to recur more allies when needed. Calamity Golem won't see play every game, but can be a game-winner in some matchups, and Small Sacrifice and String Mage can move wounds on to and off of it as needed. 

The Suggested First Five sets up the full spellboard, but it will require meditating for some allies to recur to make use of all your dice. An alternate First Five can be built around starting Change of Heart with an ally you'd like to play multiple times. It's also possible to open with Calamity Golem, which can put the opponent on the back foot right out of the gate.

Aradel: Death in the Mist

The core gimmick relies on getting repeat value out of Shade Prowler using the Rejuvenate ready spell. Prowler is frequently able to kill two opposing units with a single attack, and since it disappears at the end of the round anyway the opponent does not have a strong incentive to clear an exhausted prowler. Don't worry about using Rejuvenate every round or on every prowler, but always be looking at opportunities to capitalize on the extra attack. If you get a lot of tokens on rejuvenate, it's possible to buff prowler with Massive Growth and get multiple swings with it - this can do a ton of damage very quickly.

The deck includes a selection of spells to help Aradel deal with threats her units can't easily handle. Mist Typhoon and Steady Gaze are straightforward answers to other swarms or taller threats. Meditate ahead if you plan to use Out Of The Mist; since it's a side action you can summon another unit and play a bigger OotM on the same turn. In a pinch, Hidden Power can also give you the dice for an untelegraphed OotM. From Darkness can give opponent's a nasty surprise fueled by a Sleeping Bear or a Massive Prowler that's already attacked. Mist Typhoon, OotM and Hidden Power also all draw a card, helping Aradel find more of the summoning books that fuel her battlefield.

The Suggested First Five works equally well for PVE or PVP. Lead with fox spirits, who will help by charging up rejuvenate for a prowler later. Mist Typhoon is generally useful, but don't be afraid to flex it out for another 2-cost card. Note you will have an extra die unless mist typhoon draws something useful; Keep an eye out for chances to make use of a dice power.

Koji: Capricious Growth

The first true status token engine in the battlebox is Koji's army of medium-sized conjurations and allies, which starts slow but can quickly grow into an avalanche once the engine gets turning.

Central to the deck is Indiglow Creeper, which like a pokemon evolves from a modest beginning in to an unstoppable monster. The opponent has some limited opportunities to suppress the build up of creeper while it's in its creeper or seedling form, but once things get rolling and you have multiple seedlings on the table, it becomes almost impossible to check. Backing that up are the Mirror Spirits, a low-cost high-threat X/2 that serve as a useful outlet for any excess status tokens produced by the engine. Empower is included as an extra status token producer when you're in a pinch, and if it gets Focus online can double as a powerful source of direct removal.

Your allies and spells are there to keep pressure on, especially in early rounds, and to support the main plan. Hunt Master and Wolfpack Leader both bring additional conjurations with them, capitalizing on Koji's wide battlefield. Lick Wounds keeps Koji alive but it can also get an extra turn out of your units, and Explosive Growth threatens to turn any token-holding unit in to a one hit kill.

This straightforward First Five sets up your key engine pieces, and then gives you a couple allies to help protect them. You will generally open the round with either Indiglow Creeper or Hunt Master, and Mirror Spirit will usually be held until late when there are a lot of exhaustion tokens on the table to fuel it. If you can, try to get Empower down before the creeper dies, as it will allow you to fuel up the seedling in a single turn with Koji. The opponent is likely to focus on the more immediately threatening Wolfpack Leader and Hunt Master, which can provide an opening to use Blossom in Round 1.

Lulu: Hunting Pack

This midrange battlefield deck sports another variation of the status token synergy package, this time built around Fighting Spirit.

The spellboard is fairly slow to set up, with 3 dice sunk in to playing ready spells in Round 1. But the deck is stacked with durable units and punchy removal spells, and can reclaim momentum quickly. Emberoot Lizard and Omen Bringer both want the status tokens provided by Tidal Crab and Lulu's ability, and all your units with tokens will feed the growing threat of Fighting Spirit when they die. Backing up the conjurations are the Gorrenrock Brawlers (which are a great place to dump extra status tokens, fueling their refresh). And the beast allies, normally only at full performance every other round, get to be "on" much more often thanks to Stamina Burst.

Ultimately the deck's goal is to dominate the battlefield, clear away any opposing blockers, and kill the enemy phoenixborn with big swings. The deck's many large units are good at making positive trades, and get even better when Fighting Spirit lets them trade up in to something more expensive. Omen Bringer is especially good at this, as its ability allows it to unexhaust the Fighting Spirit powering it on the same turn, feeding its token right back in to engine when it dies. The battlefield-centric plan is backed up by a small suite of removal and buffing, including Lulu's own Spark and the expensive but deadly Phoenix Barrage.

The Suggested First Five is all about getting the spellboard set up and holding the line during Round 1. Jungle Forager can fetch whichever alteration is likely to be most helpful, often Root Armor. An alternative option is to forgo summoning one of the units to start with Phoenix Barrage or Survival of the Fittest, a good counter to the opponent starting a big, expensive unit.

Rin: Arctic Adaptability

Rin comes to the battlebox with a conjuration-heavy midrange battlefield deck, backed by a range of alterations that can be moved from unit to unit as needed.

First among the three conjurations is Adaptodon, whose Adaptations both give it versatility and serve as fuel for Shattering Fist and Emberheart. The adaptations can also be placed with Clashing Tempers, but keep an eye on the conjuration limits - there's only 2 of each! Frost Frog gives you a smaller unit, but one with an attack the opponent can't ignore. Ice Golem (provided you can buff it) is a super tough anchor for the line, sporting a whopping 5 Life with Ice Buff. Ember Hearts and Frost Fangs make up the second line, and can be incredibly difficult for the opponent to deal with, with the Ember Heart letting you get extra use out of alterations on your exhausted units.

The remainder of the deck is a mix of additional alteration spells and direct removal. Shattering Fist, Freezing Mist and Ice Trap give Rin options for dealing with small to medium units, freeing your heavy hitters to focus on the tearing apart whatever's left of the opponent's battlefield. Rin's Fury punishes attempts to trade up in to your units. Crystal Shield and Wallop can make your big beaters even scarier. and Glaciate can be used to both take an enemy unit offline for a round or to protect one of your own from being removed by the opponent's attacks or damaging spells.

The Suggested First Five gets your spellboard set up, starts you off with a solid battlefield and backs it with a little removal in Shattering Fist. You generally want to lead with the books, ideally use Shattering Fist to remove an Adaptation, Adapt again, and pick up the second Adaptation with Ember Heart. Rin's Ice Buff will generally go on golem unless you plan to trade it. For a less sequencing-dependent FF, try flexing out Shattering Fist for Jungle Forager.

Maeoni: Slow Poison

The battlebox's version of the infamous Silver Snake deck backs the deadly serpent up with charm dice synergies and a secondary path to win via fatigue.

Silver Snake is one of the scariest units in the game, capable of growing over multiple rounds the point where it can swallow a phoenixborn whole. And if you can keep it alive long enough, Hypnotize will all but guarantee it reaches its target. The snake is also incredibly resilient, capable of tanking multiple hits and then healing back up with Recover 3. Its most important support piece is the Gilder, who both feeds and protects the snake. In combination they're a threat that opponents need to play very carefully to avoid. Though lacking the gilders' synergies, Biter supplements the plan by providing a reliable unit you can use for Command Strike from the beginning of the game.

While Snake is growing, your other units and spells control the game and grind down the opponent's resources. Charm dice power debuffs are cheaply available with Royal Charm, Snakebite and Chimera Charmer, with the later two getting extra benefit from using them. Once the charm dice are placed, Venom Strike layers on the pain; It's a reasonably good return even with only a couple charm dice out, but scales quickly to very dangerous levels. The rest of the spells support the snake in various ways, providing removal, refresh and protection as needed.

While Maeoni has some flexibility with her Suggested First Five, virtually any Five will start with Silver Snake and Gilder, one of the game's classic power combos. This variation focuses on building up the rest of the spellboard first. Open Memories can be used to grab whatever seems most needed, but if in doubt go for a second copy of Summon Gilder. That will ensure you have a plentiful supply of unit guards to handle whatever your opponent throws at you.

Saria: Enthralling Aura

This versatile control deck brings a mix of units and tools that can win the game on the battlefield, via burn or fatigue, and do it in any combination.

Abundance, in combination with Saria's Heart's Pull ability, gives the deck incredible draw power, allowing you to rapidly find engine and combo pieces. Saria likes having a big hand to keep Willpower live, and draw ensures you can find tools when you need them. Raven and Badger round out the spellboard, giving options to control the game and remove threats as needed. The final spellboard slot can be flexed between Owl or Magic Syphon depending on the matchup.

The deck's allies fill gaps and help deal with opposing units to which the conjurations aren't especially well suited. The deck is spell heavy, and uses them to both keep the opponent locked down and to advance Saria's win conditions. Farewell and Return to Soil deserve special mention for their ability to rapidly reduce the opponent's draw pile, in concert with the slow inevitability provided by Heart's Pull. Sympathy Pain can be used to burn away an opposing phoenixborn's life total, but it's equally useful when dealing with units, and its trigger window means it can sometimes kill attacking units before they have a chance to resolve their damage. Lastly, Willpower offers an answer for anything too big to fight; its damage is capped only by your hand size.

The Suggested First Five starts off by getting your spellboard set up, and has some flexibility in how it spends its dice. Each of the spellboard pieces is a matchup call, and can be flexed for more useful options from the toolbox of spells and allies. Farewell is a flexible removal pick for the Five if you’re not sure what you might face. Druid can be used to get a second Owl or Badger in Round 1 if you meditate the book after summoning and then pull it back to hand.

Astrea: Divine Mandate

Astrea sports the hardest control deck of the battlebox, with multiple ways to stifle (and infuriate) opponents. Its units are tough to engage effectively, and spells like Law of Fear, Kneel and Judgement mean it's a challenge for opposing battlefield decks to capitalize on any small lead they do manage to create.

The deck has two ways it can win: either via direct damage with Eternity Flame and Mark of the Goddess, or on the battlefield by getting repeat value out of a buffed Steadfast Guardian. It's possible to pursue both of these simultaneously and then lean toward whichever is bearing fruit against a given opponent. If the opponent has few blockers it can keep on the table, a focused Steadfast Guardian can get a divine die or Holy Relics and attack up to 4 times per round if it started on the table, healing itself each time.

While most of the deck's spells are straightforward, a few interactions bear mentioning. Mark of the Goddess requires careful timing, but it can be potent as either a removal tool or to directly damage the opponent. Most opponents will work hard to keep high value units from getting exhausted, and that can leave windows for big Mark plays. Judgment is your panic button, and even the threat of it can keep opponents from pressing an advantage. The Laws offer a versatile choice for the 4^th spellboard slot, allowing you to temporarily shut down a range of opposing gameplans.

The Suggested First Five is fairly conservative and focuses on getting the foundation of your battlefield set up. Devotion on Holy Knight makes for a roadblock that many decks will struggle to remove. You won't usually be summoning an Eternity Flamt in Round 1, but getting the book down and starting to make Shimmer Wings is a threat your opponent has to try and answer.

Leo: Sharp Fangs

Leo's deck brings a hybrid burn/mill deck to the battlebox, using a range of humble units to grind down the opponent and controlling the battlefield with the dreaded 0-Attack Swarm.

Admonisher, Ruby Cobra and Glow Finch each keep pressure on in their own way. Admonishers will punish the opponent continuously for failing to remove them, while Ruby Cobras and Finch guarantee an empty deck if they're not countered. Both can be given an attack buff from Serve The City as needed, and with Amplify + Serve a Ruby Cobra can threaten Attack 5: a very dangerous threat, especially if a Gifted Rose is left sitting on the phoenixborn. Serve The City can also be used to kill your own glow finch, providing some extra fatigue pressure in games where your opponent isn't polite enough to kill it for you.

The spell that casts the biggest shadow is undoubtedly Rile The Meek. Rile offers incredibly efficient direct removal, provided your 0-attack swarm is permitted to flourish, and it's a spell the opponent needs to fear in every round of the game. Anguish is a spell that requires careful timing, but when played at the right moment it reliably lives up to the name, giving the opponent agonizing decisions where both choices lead to a game loss. More than most, this deck also uses a lot of meditation and dice powers. Don't be afraid to burn through your deck - as long as you burn through the opponent's life total too!

The Suggested start sets up your spellboard and gives you a Beast Tamer to help stabilize in Round 1. Generosity is used to refill the hand as the FF only spends 7 dice otherwise. Some options for flexing the FF include Anguish (which opponents will usually just take as 4 damage in R1), Flock Shepherd and/or Shield Mage to get the wall going early, or Rile The Meek for removing an early threat.

Hope: Ephemeral Swarm

Featuring three different 1-die conjurations, Hope's deck is a balanced swarm that brings a ton of pressure to the battlefield and backs it up with a secondary spindown-based win condition.

Scrawler, Seafoam Snapper and Whisperer are, die for die, three of the game's most effective conjurations, and bring utility besides. Scrawler’s careful timing takes practice but offers the promise of exhausting opponent's units on enter, especially when paired with Hope's Duplicate ability. Snapper is a highly-efficient combat machine, and it helps manage your battlefield by clearing exhausted conjurations so you can keep summoning. and Whisperer, in concert with Dream Fracture and Dreamlock Mage, will slowly grind down your opponent's decks and life total - offering a second path to victory.

The spells and allies included are all in service to the goal of overwhelming the opponent with the swarm. Realm Walker and Inkspill compound the exhaustion threat that Scrawler brings. Void Pulse and To Shadows give you options to deal with bigger units that your swarm would struggle to take down, while Double Down will continually frustrate your opponent's attempts to curtail the swarm.

The Suggested First Five is a fast opening designed to put pressure on your opponent immediately. Gates Thrown Open allows you to use each of your books twice in Round 1, bringing no fewer than 7 conjurations to bear with Hope's duplicate. Knowledge Seeker provides an extra blocker and helps dig for more of the summoning books you'll need to keep things rolling in later rounds.

Sembali: Consecrated Ground

Rimea: Ancient Bonds

Victoria: Knives in the Dark

James: Death's Dominion

Xander: Monster Ranchers

Dimona: Radiant Host

Odette: Sanctified Blades

Echo: Rhythmic Assault

Harold: Harvest Moon

Fiona: Mystic Menagerie

Namine: Cyclone Cantata

Tristan: Storm Surge

Orrick: Invincible Equilibrium

Rowan: Day of Reckoning

Jericho: Temporal Paradox