[Deck help] Shidai face damage

[zerounderscoreou]

After maining Aby for about a year and getting a bit lost with it lately, I decided to change things up a bit. Songhai caught my attention, particularly idea of a deck build around direct General damage (now that Phoenix Fire has got so many flavors).

This is what I currently run. I called it “Song of Fire” (yes, it’s a pun on “A Song of Ice and Fire”).

Deck list

Main question for me is what to craft now, because I don’t have many cards and not sure if I need them.

I had Mist Walking for some mobility but was rarely using it and switched out for Rockadoptera.
I probably don’t need Gotatsu and can switch it for something else (same as third Geomancer, Sister and Magi).
Crescent Spear should be instead of Alkyone, but I don’t have it and don’t want to craft as it will be rotated out in like a month.
Onyx Bear Seal should be instead of Bamboozle, but I don’t have it.
I don’t have Firestorm Mantra and don’t think I really need it as I have plenty of other damage sources (and it’s kinda a point to show off with, that I win without using the most annoying cheese, like I didn’t use Revenant).
I don’t have Lantern Fox, but it probably will be the first card to craft for this deck.
I’m not sure if I need Whiplash and Mana Vortex.
I’m not sure if I need Eight Gates. Wildfire Tenketsu seems more versatile, but Eight Gates is safe to craft.
I probably need Alcuin Loremaster or Abjudicator or Manaforger. All 3 will be too much as it’s not an Arcanyst deck, Loremaster seems most useful.

[alexx55]

i read you didnt want to play mantra and kinda pressed delete comment

[zerounderscoreou]

i read you didnt want to play mantra

It’s not that I completely don’t want to play it, it just an added point. Main point is that I think the deck I’m trying to build will win with Phoenix Fire by the same turn Mantra is played.

[baharoth]

You definitely need 8Gates and Fox for a deck like this. I’d also recommend playing 3 Thunderbombs, the card is awesome. Geomancer you will most likely find that you don’t want 3 of them, he is only good if you can either ramp him out turn 2 or at 7+ mana, anywhere in between he is far too much of a tempoloss most of the time.

Mantra could be added but from my experience playing 8 gates it’s kinda mood. It’s neither faster nor more consistent and both decks play pretty much the same way. You could add 2 Spirals though to get a finisher if your 8gate combinations can’t quite finish the job.

[reignzu]

As @baharoth said, 8gates needed if you really want to play Spell Burn. If you don’t have it yet, you can craft Tenketsu first. Lantern fox is also important.

Personally i like Reva the most for spell burn, because Shidai usually overload your hand (especially if you will decided to play Tenketsu).
I have a spell burn Reva deck, it works pretty great and i dont even need 4winds, alkyone, nor any artifacts for extra ping. Tenketsu and Geomancer are enough.

For Mantra Shidai deck, i avoid it for now. Not only because people hate it, but it really depends on RNG which is i dont like (because most of the time rng hates me and i didnt get the Mantra. Lol).
And also spell burn deck still have lot of minions which you can use to trade some enemy minions.

[fanggod]

Is Crescent Spear really getting removed? Can anyone provide a source of cards getting removed next rotation?

[alplod]

Looks like it’ll be anything Shim’Zar.

On topic. I’m playing smth like this from time to time:

I’m not sure if this is diamond worthy as it is since I stopped playing diamond, but it’s quite fun in gold.

I believe, crescent spear, tenketsu and sarugi are unnecessary, though quite efficient at times. Notable effective choices include Geomancer + bloodbound mentor who allow you to stack loads of fires. There’s plenty of pseudodraw with tenketsu, lfox and mentor, supported by occasional endgame hand refill with bamboozle.

Smth like this.

BTW, about your list. Calligrapher, oni and Xho seem like not the best draw options for the burn deck since they are random and you reaaly want to get your damaging spells. Consider something more conventional, like heaven eclipse or spelljammer.

[fanggod]

You want real face damage, play this deck. Get Eight gates to 1 cost and game is already in your hands.

Also make sure to get the most out of your Foxes. Especially vs Healyonar or it’s GG for you.

[zerounderscoreou]

Personally i like Reva the most for spell burn, because Shidai usually overload your hand (especially if you will decided to play Tenketsu).

I feel like Reva’s BBS has no synnergy with the deck while Shidai allows for 2 cheap pings. Yes, there’s some problem with overdraw, but usually it’s because of Calligrapher or Xho rather than BBS.

bloodbound mentor

On a slightly related note, I faced an annoying but interesting deck built around Faie BBSing with Cryptographer & Mentor. Somewhat close to what I’m trying to make.

Calligrapher, oni and Xho seem like not the best draw options for the burn deck since they are random and you reaaly want to get your damaging spells.

That’s true and I’ll consider swithing them out, but I have to say Calligrapher seems to constantly pull a finisher for me.

[alplod]

I faced an annoying but interesting deck built around Faie BBSing with Cryptographer & Mentor.

Yeah, I was inspired by this exact deck. The good part for Songhai is that they have much more ways to effectively get phoenix fires, and they also have 8gates

[unreason]

Song of Fire, huh? I like your naming sense.

This seems like a good spot to drop Reva’s Phoenix Rave.

The healing mystic can be whatever. It’s just there as a seventh turn-one play. Cryptographers give you more heartseekers or more phoenix fire, mean either way, and replicants thin your deck nicely and keep card advantage, very solid starters, and if you need to stall for a turn later you can summon two to block space and cycle the third. Three phoenix fires, three lantern foxes and two geomancers (I don’t want three because a second geomancer doesn’t do anything) give the deck its name.

The gotatsus are basically mandatory cards for Songhai at this point, so I hear. They’re cheap deckthinning and you can do annoying things with them, like pinging your own lantern foxes just before suiciding them out to wring an extra phoenix fire out of them. Lots of removal and lots of strong minions, often the same card, make this thing unkind to your opponent once the game runs late.

@alplod’s personal most problematic cards when it comes to balance are thunderhorns and EMP’s, and I’m running three of each, so I know he doesn’t like this one.

[alplod]

@alplod’s personal most problematic cards when it comes to balance are thunderhorns and EMP’s, and I’m running three of each, so I know he doesn’t like this one.

Not really. The deck is very good and I like it. My personal problems don’t change that.

[unreason]

I’m just teasing, man.