Ejecty here to tell you all about the world of Fires of Creation (FoC) Loop, or as I have so elegantly named my deck: Fires of Ouroboros. For an excellent primer of FoC as a whole check out erobert's article from a week ago, this may help you to feel and understand some of the nuances of playing this path along with understanding the underlying reason of why this deck was built using FoC in the first place.
The most recent version of Fires of Ouroboros can be found here
1) Deck Origination and Overview
FoC Loop is a deck created out of circumstance. For those aware, FoC Loop is based on a deck called Angel Loop, a deck that utilized very few minions and loads of enchantments to gain board control and then, using Root of the World, continually cycle its Armageddon Angel. Angel Loop had a few core problems.
It often lost to itself, meaning if you didn't draw your enchantments off the rainbow path, or if you drew the wrong enchantments for your match up, you could end up dead before the game really even began.
It lacked a reliable finisher
Problem 2 was eventually remedied by placing a Freki Sidecar in the deck that allowed for Armageddon Angel to drop and then immediately swing. This could also be done with Sapo on a Speedway. Unfortunately with the recent Freki Sidecar nerf (requiring the minion to cost 5 mana or less to gain rush from sidecar) this is no longer an option. The deck has the ability to still win by attrition and using Earthslide, but it essentially no longer has the guaranteed end game finisher, thus FoC Loop was born.
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After numerous conversations with fellow Kryptik Gaming members erobert and Rune, I determined that FoC as a path to utilize Loop may be a viable option. It could run all the same colors but rather than go heavy into enchantments it would lean heavily into artifacts, in theory this could work perfectly. You could still keep a smaller amount of minions in your deck since artifacts played generate minions. So when you use Root of the World to loop you could still find reliable bombs. In turn this would also cause the deck to have a better more consistent early game.
2) Game Plan
The game plan of Fires of Ouroboros is simple, you want to stall out as you create a bigger board, usually involving Ollama Rings until you can finish with a devastating Horn turn. Every other card in the deck is used to reach this game plan, including Root of the World and Armageddon Angel. Where Angel Loop relied very heavily on this win-con, Fires of Ouroboros uses it as a way to create advantage.
The ideal setup of artifacts near the end are:
Orbital Jamming Satellite
Double Ollama Ring
Model of Duality
Either 2x Norn Datacore or 1 Norn Datacore and 1 Draupnir Band
Every other artifact in the deck is used as a means to achieve this goal.
Your early turns are about setting up a defensive board and attempting to get one of your mana artifacts (Norn Datacore and Draupnir Band) out early to allow you to ramp into heavier threats.
By turn three ideally you'd like to have burned 1 of each gem color (the deck is built in a way that no good turn 3 play should ever require double gems), this allows for the most flexibility heading into turn 4. From turn 4 you make the decision based on how the game is going. A few turn 4 options would include:
Burning a second yellow gem to play Ollama ring on curve, buffing whatever units you have out for better trades.
Burning a second orange gem to play Peri at the Gates, maybe your hand is running low and you don't want to further commit to the board
Burning a second blue gem to play Thunderclap or Magnus using ramp tools, this could be in response to a heavy minion filled board.
Your ideal finishing gem burn would look something like:
2 Blue/4 Yellow/4 Orange
2 Blue/3 Yellow/5 Orange
3 Blue/3 Yellow/4 Orange
Blue is your least important gem color and you do not usually want to burn past 2, as there are no triple blue gem cards, but in some cases where you desperately need the mana it can be done.
Note: You can also burn foreglings which allows you to go over the mana cap or additionally not get yourself stuck burning too many gems of a single color.
What makes Fires of Ouroboros so good as it rolls into the late game is its ability to gain card advantage quickly. Model of Duality allows you to continually refill your hand as you play out small minions. Root of the World, while useful for looping Armageddon Angel, also serves as a way to play smaller cost minions to dig for your bigger threats. The existence of Lamp of Wonders allows you to divination before using Root of the World to select your threat or to find answers to threats from your opponent.
Eventually to end the game you'd like to set up a massive board using double Ollama Ring and big bodies, some of the best bodies for this are Twins, Solomon's Gale, Scion of Pride, and Kushiel, along with any foreglings gained from playing artifacts. Using the power of Allfather's Horn you can swing in twice with these bodies, often times utilizing the overrun many of them come with to finish off your opponent.
3)Specific Cards and Their Purpose
Norn Datacore and Draupnir Band - These blue artifacts are a core piece to Fires of Ouroboros. They are important to get out early to ramp quickly but at the same time are important to have late so that you can utilize the extra mana on things like Root of the World.
Root of the World - Root of the World serves a few purposes in the deck. Unlike traditional Angel Loop it is far less important to get this card down early. Instead you want it down as your mana artifacts become more potent so that you can cycle your smaller cards or even Cobblejacks to find your stronger minions. Of course it also has the ability to cycle your Armageddon Angel back into the deck.
Allfather's Horn - This card acts as the big finisher. As Ouroboros builds up the board eventually Horn allows you to swing in twice to really put a dent in their life total or straight up destroy them.
Model of Duality - Model is the perfect card for FoC Loop. You run enough small minions along with reconstruct to guarantee great draws from it. This card allows you to make use of the mana artifacts as well to continually throw down threats without losing card advantage.
Ollama Ring - Ollama is a key artifact and must be protected at all costs. This is what allows your board of minions to really turn into scary threats.
Armageddon Angel - This is pretty self explanatory, but the ability to drop Angel and then cycle her back into the deck is what can help you to win the late game control matchups. Having a Datacore out when you drop Angel also allows you to refill the board.
Lamp of Wonders / Peri at the Gates - These 2 both provide divination and draw. As your enemy begins to drop threats you can make use of the ability to dig deep in your deck for key answers.
4) FAQ
Q: This list is expensive, is there a budget version? A: I am working on a budget version but it will be hard to do, much like Angel Loop before it many of the expensive cards are necessary.
Q: Can I replace X Mythic with X?
A: Maybe! The Mythics I consider necessary are
Armageddon Angel
Magnus
Model of Duality
Orbital Jamming Satellite
At least 1 Twin
Sapo
Scion of Pride
Lamp of Wonders
I would make sure to keep your colors balanced as they are in the original deck when making substitutions.
Q: How does it fare against X deck?
A: Fires of Ouroboros has a lot of good matchups. The only very bad matchups seem to be Valks and RB. The aggro version of RO can be bad but with the clears and life gain it's very doable if played right.
Q: Why is the deck 41 cards?
A: Because I don't believe that going over 40 is as big of a deal as other people do. I think most of the cards in the deck serve a very distinct purpose in winning the game. If you absolutely can't play a 40+ card deck your cut options are probably Desertification Engine (who is great vs RO as a solid blocker) or more likely Rune of Denial (very situational card but a good burn for blue gems).
Q: I keep losing with the deck, what am I doing wrong?
A: I can't say for sure. But you can always DM me on discord or talk to me in twitch. I will offer any advice I can!
5) Conclusion
This has been just a short primer on Fires of Ouroboros. I have been playing it a lot on my twitch stream and you can find some vods here. I have also finished a youtube video highlighting some of the games here. I hope you can have as much fun with this deck as I have. It excels at being a fun, boardcentric, control deck, that makes the best out of its path and powers! Give it a whirl and let me know how you feel about it!
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