Phoenix Elves

Maldaria is the star of the deck, and winning or losing will usually depend on how involved she can be. The more she attacks, the closer Phoenix Elves are to victory. If necessary, position her in front of an enemy gate to do so.

The basic cycle of Maldaria is as follows: Summon a unit, move it to the best position to attack, attack with it, attack with Maldaria, then move that unit from the unsafe position to the front of Maldaria. This protects both Maldaria and the unit. Maldaria is now blocked with a unit that can’t be forced, and now attacking the front unit will be complicated. If the opponent chooses to attack that front unit, it puts itself in Maldaria’s threat range, repeating the cycle.

This is Maldaria’s cycle, and the more you do it, the better you will do in games. While Royal Guardian is the best unit for this as it helps to put enemy units into Maldaria’s range, all commons and champions are good targets for this cycle.

The utility unit of Phoenix Elves, and likewise the core common. Its main role is to shove units into Maldaria’s range, effectively increasing her threat range, making it the best unit to do the Maldaria's cycle.

Shoving in general is a powerful effect and that is the main reason to summon them.

Engage has some uses in the control of space, but have in mind that they are not a very health efficient unit, so your opponent will have little problem focusing them down.

Ember Beasts are the most damaging tool in the deck’s arsenal, as they can dish out a high amount of damage for their cost. The problem is that they need the board state to be just right. Wildfire needs to trigger at least on one unit to make its cost worth it. If it triggers on more than one, then it can become devastating, especially on Spirit of the Phoenix turns. Born of Fire is the main way to increase this threat range, making Ember Mages, Ember Archers, and Holleas key for their use.

Trying to force the opponent’s movements into ending their turns with units one space away from a gate or an Ember unit is a big part of the Phoenix Elves’ play, which is a lot easier against heavy melee factions and where Ember Beasts shine.

Against factions with a stronger ranged game, Ember Beast effectiveness becomes harder to implement, and the Phoenix Elves rely more on Holleas, Fire Drake, and Ember Mages to make such match-ups work best for them.

Ember Archers are the utility damage of the Phoenix Elves. Do not count on them as straight-out combat units as they are not very efficient cost wise. Don't expect to win ranged wars with them.

Their power rests on the ability to to do 1 damage without even attacking, just moving. This is important for the Phoenix Elves as they do a lot of circumstantial damage and often enemy units are left with just 1 life. The Ember Archers are great to finish them off without having to use an attack. Often allowing you to attack a unit that was being protected with just a 1 life unit.

Having said that, they are still good to use in "Maldaria's cycle", and they are quite efficient in Spirit of the Phoenix turns.

Despite being ranged, Ember Mage is the “tanky” unit of the Phoenix Elves, with the main role of covering flanks and blocking spots. Their attack isn’t good, but their major threat is being the potential source of Ember Beasts.

Be careful against factions that can do direct damage to units. Against direct damage, the Ember Mage is a very poor unit. Against those factions, it is better to use champions or even Royal Guardians instead of Ember Mages. Still, they are cheap enough that you can use them if entirely necessary.

The Epic Event of the Phoenix Elves is not particularly powerful most of the time, but when it can trigger for synergy with a lot of their other abilities it can add up quite quickly. Wildfire is the primary synergy target, often a double Wildfire + Spirit of the Phoenix can be game changing. But also Royal Guardians and Ember Archers become quite scary, and Divine Retribution becomes oppressive for opponents. It also synergizes with Fire Drake and Fanessa, though those tend to be much more marginal bonuses.

Often the major way Phoenix Elves punish an overextended/aggressive enemy is with a Spirit of the Phoenix turn, where their commons clean up the board and a simultaneous Divine Retribution makes a counter-strike feel terrible for the opponent. However, if you are not careful, Spirit of the Phoenix can clog your hand as you are waiting for that perfect opportunity. Remember if you can trigger 2 abilities to synergize with this event, it’s often enough to pay for itself, so don’t be afraid to use it if hand space is getting tight.

A lot of Phoenix Elves' value is setting up board situations where the opponent can’t find value, and Blinding Flare is the maximum representation of that strategy. It’s not cheap, and it is very hard to set up (though Call Protection helps).  But when you do get a quality Blinding Flare it can really make your opponent almost skip their attack phase altogether.
In addition to that it can allow Maldaria to push safely that turn, knowing it’s going to be very hard to be punished, gaining control of some specific area and hopefully setting up a forward gate, pressuring the opponent. 
Setting up key Blinding Flares is part of Maldaria's strategy, and this is especially true when Maldaria needs to go onto the offensive.

Divine Retribution is, in a way, another version of Blinding Flare, making it harder for the opponent to attack you, especially with units with low life.  Unlike Blinding Flare, it is a lot cheaper and a lot easier to set up. While playing this card just in a vacuum is not very valuable, it’s never terrible either. This becomes a massive event when you have Spirit of the Phoenix also active. Other good uses are when the opponent has a 1 life unit to attack you or your opponent has units that can attack twice. Even when the opponent’s units have 2 life, Divine Retribution is still pretty good, as it can make the units have only 1 life left the next turn, when you can then easily clean up with Ember Archers and Ember Beast's Wildfire.

Burn is really a pretty simple event, allowing Maldaria to do some cleanup faster than the opponent expects, but it is also a “trick” event, since it’s playable in the move phase, so it can allow the Phoenix Elves to attack targets the opponent doesn’t expect, or get into spots the opponent didn’t expect (or want) you to get in. For example, you can use this to take the front of a gate that has a 2 life unit in that spot.
Despite its short range, Burn is a very powerful and versatile event, because 2 damage on a whim for a single card is very efficient, and so it is generally worth it to just throw it on most units that are not super life-efficient, so at worst it’s a very efficient event, and at best it can be a swingy trick that wins the game.

Holleas is the Phoenix Elves’ champion with the highest ceiling of potential game impact and arguably their best champion to take over Maldaria’s role to carry the game if Maldaria needs to sit out.

Also, it is one of the main ways for Phoenix Elves to have a strong range game. Holleas + Ember mages can fight at range effectively against many factions.

However, Phoenix Elves need to shift the focus on playing around her to get maximum value as you probably need to use all your movements to reposition her every turn.

She is still good to support an active Maldaria, especially helping her during pushes to bring forward fresh units.

Often a favorite champion of the Phoenix Elves because she’s just so versatile. In theory, she should only be good versus melee units with low attack strength. But in reality, against those units, she is just devastating, and against the rest still performs quite well. Her decent attack and high life allow her to move forward quite carelessly, often cornering ranged units into melee combat where they lose value. Fanessa is an extremely efficient damage soaker, something Phoenix Elves desperately need. She is good to be part of the "Maldaria cycle" as she is one of the best units to protect Maldaria thanks to her high life and her champion status.

She is not as good versus high-attack units but she still never disappoints, making her a very safe bet to summon in all match-ups.

Fire Drake is a niche card. Unlike Holleas and Fanessa you can’t blindly summon Fire Drake with confidence you'll get good value. Not only does it need a lot of magic, which means less magic for other powerful cards, but Fire Drake is very fragile for its cost. If you are not careful, a lot of your magic can fade away, and with it, your chances of winning.
Its abilities are also of marginal, niche use, though in the right situation can be just what you need.

One of the strongest ranged options Phoenix elves have is Fire Drake working in tandem with Maldaria doing the "Maldaria cycle". Having two, 4-strength ranged units that become one, with only Fire Drake exposed, is a very powerful force and not easy to take at range. Against factions where Maldaria can struggle to push, this is a very solid option.

Remember that you can shoot through your own units, and while that may not seem ideal, it can allow you to use Fire Drake without exposing it and also to do a lot of damage through a single flank.

But Fire Drake's best use is against factions that swarm the board with units, then it's high cost becomes less of an issue and Fire Breath becomes especially powerful as it can effect several units with one attack.