Creating a Control Freak First Five with String Mage

Hard 30: First Fives – An Ashes Reborn Deck Building Walkthrough Starting with a Control First Five

Want a peek behind the veil or at least a helping hand in deck building walkthroughs? Depending on the response to this article I may write more. Let me know in the comments! In Excavating for a Winning Ashes Reborn First Five (huh, that title is less than great… I don’t care what the analytics think!) I wrote about identifying your first fives. This week I want to walk though the process of putting together a control first five and how to pair it with the rest of the deck.

First You Get the Control

With creepers being all the rage and cross talk on discord about counter meta I decided I wanted to start with String Mage. This versatile ally can handle a load between siphoning status tokens and turning damage into removal. There are a couple problems with the red-haired harpists.

The Problem with String Mage

1. Her abilities are useless if there are no tokens to manipulate
2. A 1 attack, 3 life doesn’t punch even equal dice weight for attacking OR defending
3. Double magic type cost (and one power!) locks the dice into heavy Sympathy

With those points in mind, we have a lot to tackle outside the normal thought process for building a first five. To make sure she remains useful even beyond round one we pair her with Small Sacrifice. There isn’t a more iconic duo in the game that can seriously control the board. Main and side pinging actions means you can dispatch a single two butt or two mono butt units for one die.

Since I think the String Mage/Small Sac engine is this powerful I want to lean into it by unexhausting the spell book. Previously I had used Fiona but with the introduction of Tidal Shift I want to give that a go. Currently I can machine gun out 4 pings and a single exhaust for a bigger unit.

Since we are hinging a lot of our round one plans on String Mage, we need to keep her alive. I went with Golden Veil. Since the harp wizard can clear her own damage, this seemed more useful than Fate Reflection or Angelic Rescue. Ok, so far, I have tagged seven dice and four cards.

The Fulcrum of Decision Points

There are a lot of directions I can go here. My knee jerk reaction is to play a knight. Cause I like big beefy bois now that they are mostly out of favor. Anything that can hit a two for one trade is preferable. I don’t feel naked sinking that much into a single unit since I’m already running a cancel. But, for long term play a summon would be better.

A solid two cost unit that can hold its own and threaten to take out another unit is key here. Otherwise, my opponent will just tee off on String Mage on every attack. I need to force a damned if you do, damned if you don’t type choice. And all of this hasn’t even touched upon what phoenixborn ability I want to trigger!

Three dice, one card, and a pb trigger is a vast space to explore. If I go with my initial gut reaction, pairing Sonic Swordsman with Harold is a win/win situation. I wax and exhaust a second unit leaving a final tally of 8* damage and two exhausts. *Not counting Hunter’s Mark

Build the deck you desire, fight the patriarchy, fix the dice later!

Battle cry? Mantra? You decide.

The next idea revolves around going all in on the String Mage round one with Gilder. This provides an additional layer of protection AND removal. Paired with Aradel starts to feel gross. An absolute killing field for opponent two life units.

Finally running a summons to help extend my game. If the game goes longer (which it should considering my initial control build) I need to have consistent units to get onto the battlefield. Here is a crazy long list of interesting ideas:

Phoenixborn Interesting Unit Pairings

Aradel Gilder or Any 2 cost, 3 attack unit

Astrea False Demon

Brennan Indiglow Creeper

Echo Realm Walker

Harold Sonic Swordsman or Hammer Knight

James Butterfly Monk + Any 2 cost unit

Jericho Who cares what you start with, Blinking Skalds!

Koji Omen Bringer

Leo Finch + Any 2 cost, 3 attack unit

Odette Frostback Bear

Xander Illusion Powerside + Earthquake

Ultimately, I would want to test all of these ideas!

I feel too many players get honed into one type of design space when first designing a first five and limit their creativity. Ask yourself what the deck is doing already and how can I compliment it? Don’t ask what I can put in to keep doing the same thing! Note that the pairings listed above do not take magic type into consideration. Build the deck you desire, fight the patriarchy, fix the dice later!

Beyond the First Five

My first attempt at building this deck is going to use the Harold plus Sonic Swordsman. For the rest of the way I’m going to reference a previous article Identifying Your Winning Ashes Strategies (man, who writes these headlines?!) Since I roughly know my starting dice, I can start filling in the other 25 cards.

My dice are two ceremony, one charm, one divine, four sympathy, and one time leaving one die up for debate. I am using the calculations from Balancing the Colors of the Ashes Rainbow and the fixed dice averages from Flat Argaia’er Theory. The only dice that are tied up so far is one ceremony for Small Sacrifice.

Removal

Area of effect spells are not really needed since String Mage can hit multiple targets in one turn. However, if you have never Nature’s Wrath into a mage ping you haven’t lived. I’m going to horn the last die into nature and add x3 nature’s wrath. It also opens up a secondary knight play of Hunt Master.

Target removal is a little easier because I have access to just about every magic type available. Since I have a frog available if I need it, I’m going to cherry pick Fester. To Shadows could be a devastating combo with Sonic Swordsman. Finally, I’m going to sneak a cheeky single Shatter Pulse. The floor is quite low on this card considering it costs a whopping three dice to do the same thing these other one cost cards! However, I am already scheming for some future combos. I haven’t played a lot of Harold so I should consider his ability as removal too. I might be over saturated in my targeted removal.

The incidental removal is going to get slotted in after reviewing my other needs first.

Allies

Using the past essays, we have now drained the open ceremony and time dice. This leaves us with charm, divine, and loads of sympathy. Our average cost per card can trend towards two(!) because we aren’t using many repeatable effects. I also want to experiment with drawing into spell books to lock down my battlefield.

Sonic Swordsman is super good with Harold so I don’t see why I wouldn’t go x3. That mostly takes care of the divine die unless I can think of a one off. One of the nice things about being forced into a color is it narrows your choices down. Scanning the list pops up a must run for someone with gobs of green dice, River Skald. He does three things, provides incidental removal, anyone that has read my essays knows I love card draw, finally he will provide a lovely voice for the harpist! I think Flute Mage should be seriously considered anytime you have multiple knights. Unexhaustive abilities are a rarity and often surprise opponents.

On to the experimental bits. I’m testing a theory that spell books can be just as good as a drawn card. Salamander Monks are a natural fit in any deck with Small Sacrifice in case the magus bites it. I’d like to make sure the charm die gets used so I’m taking a leap of faith here. I’m going to try Majestic Titan. With the majority of my cards being cheap removal, a little cancel, and now the Flute Mage it makes a lot of sense.

Reaching for the Win

The best-laid plans of Gilders and Phoenixborn often go awry. I wrote the articles you would think I could do it in the right order? Instead, I got excited about allies when I needed to focus on reach. I did a quick (over an hour!) game to test what I had. Ooof. It was against Hope which was exactly what I’m gunning for. The deck felt great. I’m pinging dudes, I’m exhausting threats. But all of my dice were going to the battlefield. I lost with my opponent still having a mitt full of cards. There wasn’t a clear play line for me to win the game. I had no reach… So! Consider this a failure and a reboot of sorts.

The deck! I Memorize Magic Missle and Sleep. Deck name curtesy of 20 years of playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Scrapping and Reimagining with a Win Condition

Ok, let’s take a look at what I’m working with here. I’m only planning on playing two units in round one. With such a low board presence it’s tough to imagine an effective bypass strategy. This may prove a problem because the magic types I’m locked into don’t tout a lot of burn or mill unless I get super creative.

What are my options? I made a list (and consequently it will be an essay later on) of all possible bypass prospects. Think of everything that allows a unit to attack. Cards that have the terrifying keyword or are side actions to remove defenders. Tidal Shift already slots in nicely. I just need a couple more. I decided on one staple and one largely untested: Crescendo and Confusion Spores. I maxed out my allotment of eight for consistency’s sake and plan to pare them down once I get some testing done.

It may sound like a lot of work going into this part of the deck. And there is! This is the part that allows you to win games.

Allies Redux

My theory being if I can keep units in play let’s go big. That way I only need a couple big swings for the win. I love playing knights anyway so let’s see if this works. Majestic Titan still fits the mold. I want to add another large body with a high ceiling. Hammer Knight may possibly be the best three coster in the game so I would be bereft if I didn’t try to get at least one in the deck. I’ll fill out the ranks with a couple Beast Mages. The only thing I’m going to be doing is attacking to the face with my other units. Finally, a couple things knights appreciate is a little shepherd and flute mage action (may have to change the name to ‘The Band is All Here – Magus Knight Edition’).

Testing 1..2..3..4..5..

First of all, big shout out to everyone that took the time to play games with me while I’m testing something out! Not all the decks are tuned. The games may involve the dreaded control pace, but I hope I gave everyone at least an interesting time. As you can guess the deck has gone through several iterations. I like to keep track of them ala Iron Man:

I Memorize Magic Missile and Sleep Mk II

I Memorize Magic Missile and Sleep Mk III

I Memorize Magic Missile and Sleep Mk IV

The biggest update I made was going from MkII to MkIII. I skewed closer to the original build and kept a much closer eye on my own advice. Focusing solely on the Reach *before* choosing Allies made a monster difference. The deck operates on a completely different level. I removed To Shadows and Fester realizing that Consume Soul works almost the same way AND it heals for two. It comes with the added benefit of lowering meditations.

Final Round: Admitting Defeat

After extensive testing the deck is so very close to being good. But the results tell a story of six loses and two wins. I’ll be the first to tell you eight games doesn’t necessarily give you a solid data pool, but I am willing to call it. It’s quirky. It gives you a real control platform versus Hope which is what I was going for.

If you plan on taking this out for a spin it is important to remember the String Mage and Sonic Swordsman are there to control the battlefield. All of your other units are focused on swinging to face. Just sit back and let the game come to you. Feel free to pass all day. You’ve got some time, your first five can feel delicate but it is a powerhouse of control. It’s the rest of the deck that needs a complete overhaul.

The easy method would be going Sympathy Pain, Final Cry plus a sprinkling of a little bypass like Crescendo and Shifting Tide. Throw in the winningest unit in the game of Enchanted Violinist along with Cobra and you probably have a monster on your hands. Burn? Check. Bypass? Check. Fatigue? Check!

I Memorize Magic Missile and Sleep Mk V

Don’t forget, the journey of a thousand victories starts with a single game. Heyo and GL!

About the Author

Jerod Leupold (clu) has been an avid gamer and advocate for over 30 years. Founder of Paroxysm by Design and Critical Hit Games storefront in Iowa City, Iowa. He has been published under the Gamenomicon franchise for Party First RPG and is currently launching his own rpg, Goblin Market. He cut his teeth playing the red book D&D but found his passion for writing articles about ccgs with A Game of Thrones. Follow Jerod at Paroxysm by Design on facebook, itch.io, or drivethru RPG!