Growth and card economy

Wildfire needs both Energy and cards to play: Energy because it has an awful Energy track but fairly costly Uniques (cost 4-1=3, since Flame’s fury gives 1); cards because its Reclaim turns are extremely weak, as placing presence is the main way of dealing damage via Blazing presence. Thus, G3 needs to be used in between Reclaim turns, and G2 should be used a few times, especially early. When to use one or the other depends on the game state and the range of presence placement needed.

Since Reclaim turns are a lot more passive, they need to be delayed as much as possible. The main way to do that, besides using G2 to gain extra Powers as mentioned above, is being very mindful of card economy, i.e. not playing cards if they are not needed. This might even mean not playing any card at all in the first turn(s)! For the same reason, if the situation is under control this turn it might be worth reclaiming even with cards still left to play, in order to be able to place presence in the following turns.

For all of the reasons mentioned above (bad Energy from track, needing G2, card economy), Flash-fires should only be played if really needed, because it’s a terrible card: weak effect (particularly if not thresholded), high cost, bad elements (no ). All low-cost Majors have much better effects.

Card economy is less important when going the Majors route because reclaiming allows you to re-play the Major, but should still be kept in mind.

Presence tracks

Wildfire’s top track is terrible. Rushing 1 Energy means delaying 2 CP to turn 4 and 3 CP to at least turn 6, which is too slow, while the advantage is negligible: the cumulative Energy gain at turn 5 due to unlocking 1 Energy on turn 2 is +4 Energy, which corresponds to a single G3. Wildfire can afford to play its Uniques or even low- or mid-cost Majors using G3 and Flame’s fury alone, without the need to rush 1 Energy. For these reasons, you should just ignore the top track besides the first , unless you have already emptied the bottom track.

Early presence placement

It’s hard to access blighted lands once 2 are unlocked, as you’ll either have to take away the blight (requires good Minor RNG) or cascade. During the first turns, when you still only have uncovered 1, it’s thus worth considering placing presence in the already-blighted land or creating a sacred site in a land that’s about to Ravage, especially if it has a City. This might even be worth ignoring a lightly-built early game, as Explorers and Towns are easier to handle with Minor Powers with range 1+ (or by a lucky Event or Fear card), even if the land is blighted.

Power drafting

For Minors, element priorities are > > .

A Power that only grants is better than one that only grants because getting to 3 doubles the effectiveness of all you have. For example, assuming 2 from presence tracks are unlocked, playing Powers for 31 (totalling 51) gives 2 damage for Firestorm, while playing 13 gives 3 damage.

Blight management is extremely useful on Wildfire, and Powers that help that should likely be drafted over Powers with better elements (many such Powers even give , which is great). For example, getting a Power like Entrap the forces of corruption can make the game a lot easier. Defend effects are also very good, since Wildfire can move Dahan with Blazing presence, and with Asphyxiating smoke.