This match up at first look heavily favors the Sand Goblins. They have movement tricks, mortar for ranged direct damage, and can attack down a single lane with wrench rats and thrusters. Their assassination abilities definitely give them the edge in this match up. However, I think this match up is a lot closer than the stats show, probably around 55-57% in favor of SG. But when playing PE in this match up you have to change to a very different play style than most PE players are used to. PE can win the econ game if they are careful. First and foremost, protect Mal at all costs, keep her out of range of everything. Stick her in a corner if you have to, but keeping her at higher health is crucial to winning this match up. Next utilize SoP with beasts/archers to try and get a huge turn on krusk. If no opening presents itself on krusk then you can use them to clear the board or preferably remove silts/sparks/clink. This should give you an economic advantage. Also utilizing the fire drake to finish rusk/champs is a solid play. Guardians can also help with biter but if you find yourself in a ranged fight then they might not be as useful. I tend to discard burns in this match up due to the range being too far from Mal and use that magic for champs, I will do the same with flare and divine ret if the opportunity to play them well isn't there immediately.

Sand Goblins have all the right answers to deal with Maldaria and her Elves. They can play for value using their 10 life Gate to create a big economical advantage. Dealing with a moving Gate which gathers explosives under it costs Phoenix Elves a lot of resources and it is very likely that these investments do not pay off at all! Their units just trade so efficiently against the Phoenix Elves’ units, Maldaria is forced to play more aggressive. But, she only has 9 life which can melt away very fast. Sand Goblins have crazy reach, Krusk carrying units into position, Rust Rider moving across the whole board, a Biter can just deal two damage to her with ease and let's not forget about Mortar and Silts. Another nice trick is to use Wrench Rats to slip them under the unit/gate blocking Maldaria and then blow it up! Thrust causes more headaches for PE, especially in the long game it enables so many hit and run tactics, it feels unfair sometimes. I feel like PE's best bet is to use their champs, had good success with Fanessa, Drake can be viable as well. Guardians are also quite handy, they are more beefy and can stop Biter's movement to get to the Queen. And of course they can have big turns with Spirit of the Phoenix and Ember Beast, a good chain of Beasts can help a lot. Being aggressive can force SG to burn some cards for a Mortar strike or Burn Hot, losing key cards by this. It is an uphill battle for Maldaria for sure! Very easy to overcommit with her, the results in the league represent that.