I'm just too **** excited to go to bed right now. Yeah, that's what this set did to me.

So, before I begin this quick little analysis, I'd like to point out some facts:

Back in Legacy, Fire's main face was Aggro, Aggro, Aggro. However, lost in this aggro was the actually defense that Fire could pack. Friends and Rivals and Idyllic Kamui Kotan, to name a few, were very potent offensive and defensive pieces that gave opponents headaches. I can recall a fair amount of matches that I didn't win by Turn 2, but thanks to the aforementioned cards plus the ease of passing low block checks, i managed to survive into the late game to get the kill then.

And here's how that relates to what I'm about to say.

Without a doubt, Fire is back to it's old ways. The pumps fire was granted (and there's so many to choose from that you don't even need to use them all!), combined with previous existing pumps (Savage Fighter, Commitment to Excellence. OM NOM NOM NOM) have given fire MASSIVE damage potential.

On the flip side though. Take a look at these next few cards:

Stand Off: This card SCREAMS offense and defense. a 2/5 with two AMAZING abilities. Though your opponent can choose to negate your reduction or pumps, it costs them just as much to defuse such a situation as it costs you to create such a situation. This is Friends and Rivals reborn, but, imo, much more balanced (F+R would let you choose between +2dmg and a changing of zone, or committing two foundations. Far better). This foundation is quite possibly the best Fire foundaiton.

Enraged Golem: a 3/5 that gives attacks +X damage, where X=the lowest CC in your opponents ENTIRE STAGING AREA. This card screams 2 things. Scream 1-Don't you DARE fail your first CC. If you do, get to the scooping. You won't be surviving attacks coming at you pumped by 6. And 2-Way of the Mightest 2.0-now in the Balanced flavor! This card will NORMALLY get a +4 (+3 if you run into any Defenders). Great card, fair cost.

Amy's Assistance: It needs no introduction. We all know what it does. It's being listed here since it is a great defensive piece.

Communing with the Ancients: Float Like a Butterfly 2.0. Balanced Flavor again! My favorite! (anyone noticing a trend, yet?) Simple +1 to all your attack checks. Yum.

Willful-The best side board card for Fire I've ever seen. (I don't count Chinese Sword Style or Dodge step since any deck would run those side board if you were afraid of discard). Up against a stingy Order hack deck? Run 3 or 4 of these babies in your side. Free Response: Negate a CC hack, discard this card from your card pool, then draw a card. 2/5. It has another effect. Don't care. Juicy Response.

Blinding Rage/Makai High Noble: Again, another courtesy call. Like Air, Fire packs probably two of the top 5 concerns for Owlface. Not only that, they sport a 1/6 and both come with great blocks. So if you aren't up against Owlfaces...don't fret. They get by on stats alone.

All in all...it feels great seeing the Fire symbol back to its old tricks. Nice multiples, good characters (To name a few: Promo Zi Mei, Akuma, and Ragnar whom I think should be built slightly differently than a normal Fire aggro deck), strong attacks, Great offensive foundations along with some great Defensive foundations. I was more or less trying to call attention to the Defensive side of Fire, while highlighting some of the new stuff.

Feel free to post as usual. And, seriously, I said it before, I'll say it again. Anyone notice how old cards are coming back in far more balanced forms? Pretty good idea I say.

Bitter rivals. Still dumb, but this time it has the attacks to abuse with it. A card that can make your character into promo tira? Along with the whole "get those rejections out of there. Oh yeah, and those throws, multiples, powerfuls, ranged attacks, stuns ect. I think many will agree when I say this card is a little ridiculous.

Also, I think the new set will make a return of an old favorite: KFT. I think this card fell out of style for many when we could do nothing but defender loop and feline spike each other. Now I believe it will be back in full force, much in the same way it was used in block 2.

Also, I mentioned this in another post, but Cobra blow, especially with hilde and her new support, is still pretty good. There are a lot of quality speed pumps in the game, and Senkutai is still in the format so we may be seeing a return to those deceptive look decks of old.

Fire's about the only symbol that has 3-check throws now (besides Mega Spike and a few others). The beauty of these new throws is the fact that they're blank, no more Chain Throw nonsense, you wanna throw? Then that's all you're doing! Which I think is the right way to go with throws.

Fire became uber good this set I can't wait too see the decks next weekend at POTM. Hopefully not everyone was like me and got crap pulls and can build some cool decks.

Makingsenseofus said:

I just want to point out one card that I think will be a huge boon to Fire decks everywhere -- Hope for One's People. It's a 0/5 with a +3H block, not bad at all, but once you hit Desperation it turns into Trade Your Passion For Glory . Hide your babies, everyone, because this thing will eat them all.

What I find Ironic is the name of the foundation Hope For One's People.

Hell if it's hope for your opponent. =p. There is much laughs to be had!

I'm very happy with the new set So many fun options <3
I think i'm going to start with Astrid. Then Ragnar...then Hilde...then Zi Mei... etc So much fun stuff <3

As for tech it speaks for itself. We have a lot of high damage cheap attacks, i'm looking forward to seeing what people are running.

I think i'm going to surprise everyone at Can Nats

For the first time in over a year I am looking forward to building a fire deck. I have been wanting to play the new Cassandra and ATM I think fire would be the most viable strategy for her. She is a bit trickier to build since I have to look for attacks with high block modifiers but I hope to have done in time for some side games and such at Path of the Master.

I'd love to get some games against your fire deck olexa.

Fire right now is like so crazy. Promo guy is so amazing with cobra blow. and he can run exp comb off fire. he's so good against all these decks that draw millions of cards. he can push the initiative so quick it's so much fun to play.

I also really like hilde off fire/good. so much cheatery.

other fun fire characters are yang from domination(god he's so pringles), and ragnar. dood is so beast mode.

Drewkasa said:

Andrew, I'm certain with the advent of this new set, that won't be a problem.

For the first time, like...ever...I want to build Fire characters! Akuma and Zi Mei are a given, but I really want to build Hilde and Astrid, and ESPECIALLY Nightmare. RAWR

GOD Hunger for Shouls is awesome =D

The issue with Hilde, as I see it now, is that she requires a bit more setup (there are a lot of specific cards that need to be used in order to win with her) and with only 18 vitality, despite the defensive tools Fire has, I'm not sure she can live long enough. Also, I feel an aggro job can be done better with the general wealth of pumps that fire has overall. That being said, Hilde could prove that to be wrong.

HolyDragonCloud said:

She only needs one lynx tail to send a 9 damage million speed attack at them turn 2. I say million cause I'm too ADD to math right now. Tack on a dual wielding or an aura of strength and its 13 damage. That is still a significant chunk of life. She also gets access to a card that may have been overlooked, but shares every one of her symbols: Kazuki's Pyronetics. Its kind of like a higher costed rejection, better in some cases than in others.

Thoughts on the new hammer (Zerker Rage)? +5 seems gigantic in a format full of the smaller order characters and chunners.

Ragnar's support is rad as hell too. Not just for fire but for earth as well. So many solid grabs in earth atm. But thats for another topic Yeah, fire seems really solid. FFG did a great job with these sets. I am looking forward to coming back to UFS now that its going to start playing more like a FIGHTING game and not SimCity.

ShippuJinrai said:

Trust me Drew things starting this weekend at POTM will be far different then the regionals thus far or nothing but order and chun li .

HolyDragonCloud said:

Preliminary Hilde building/testing leads me to agree; she is definitely going to be tough to make work in any reliable manner. Tag Along, specifically, is a nightmare of an issue - being in a situation where you *must* try to kill with Midnight Launcher is not good because now you have to find it, plus another attack, and it's a good bit tougher to get up to lethal than Lynx Tail is. (Even with Dual Wielding, passing a 5 for ML and then a 6 is no trivial matter) Seal helps, and BR can give you confirmation of times that they do have their pants down, but it can be a pretty uphill battle nonetheless. When things go right she looks very, very good, but the number of times she's just fallen flat on her face in early fishing is feeling a bit too high for me right now.

The beauty of Fire, imo, is in it's simplicity. As you said, Cetonis, she is more or less creating a situation where your win condition is both situational and a lot more complicated than it needs to be

ShippuJinrai said:

Yeah, no kidding, when did you take your break by the way?

First off, @Shippu- hello Drew, missed you <3

Second, I'm on the bubble about Zerker Rage. It's stats aren't stellar as a 3/4 and the vitality cost has me wondering if it's worth it. What I plan on doing is running the deck i have in mind with it and without it when I get to the testing phase, and see which works better.

HolyDragonCloud said:

I missed you too shippu!!!! OH BABY~!!!

Berserker Rage seems like one of those cards that won't get played now because other block 3 cards tower over it, but come block 4 or whatever it'll probably see more play. Losing 3VIT is nothing when that +5dmg is going to kill your opponent.

That's another good point, Shane. As of now, Fire has enough tools that overshadow it, such as Fight or Flight, Enraged Golem, Stand Off, and Savage Fighter. Finding room for it in a non-Ragnar deck is pretty tough, since you basically have other effects that are reusable and far safer.

Ragnar or Death I can see using it. After helping two people build Earth and Fire decks respectively since the pre-release though, I have my hands full finding cards to cut because everything is too good.

Look at it like this. With all the pumps fire already has, is it really necessary to put in another one?

Yup.

Fight or Flight gives +5dmg on average AND works defensively as well against multiples and pumped to hell attacks.
Savage Fighter gives +5dmg.
Stand Off gives +/-4dmg and can bait opponent's foundations.

Those cards alone outshine Berserker Rage. Why lose 3VIT and clog your pool or fail the check when you can just commit a FIght or Flight or Savage Fighter?

I am probably the only one who finds this card extremely amazing:

That's basically a free enhance for +1dmg. Sure you lose life, but it can get you to that Desperation point where you can use Hope for One's People: