Welcome to the world of the Trailblazer!

Trailblazer [[Pathfinder]] is my version of a "Red Deck Wins" in Sorcery. While mono color Pathfinder decks tend to frowned upon due to the lack of sites needed to obtain threshold, I find that I haven't faced this issue apart from 1 game out of about 40 so far at the time of writing this.[[Ruby Core]] has been added to the list to try to help with the threshold situation as well.

Try this deck out if you enjoy aggro playstyles with lots of interactive and valuable minions, versatile burn spells, cool synergistic mechanics, and drawing spells every turn!

What this deck wants to do:

Play aggressively in the early game! Build towards the center of the map just about 100% of the time so that you can get your minions into action sooner (accept against Battlemage generally).
Burn your opponent out in the mid to late game to finish them off!
Trade life points for stronger board presence

What this deck does not want to do:

Play passively in the early game by building to the left or right of your avatar's home square (unless you are facing a Battlemage)
Overextend by being too greedy!

Individual card breakdown:

Minions:

[[Vile Imp]] is pretty straightforward - a 2 drop minion that deals 2 when it comes into play. Use the Genesis ability to clear out any of your opponent's minions if possible in order to make way for your units to attack! Generally speaking, I tend to not play Imp on turn two unless I have a valid target for its genesis ability.

[[Colicky Dragonettes]] - Get them into play ASAP and start chipping away at your opponent's life with them, unless you see that they have a decent minion that you could kill instead. My logic is that killing a minion that could potentially defend my attack on a future turn is more valuable than pinging my opponent for 1. Keep in mind that you can always shoot the projectile at nothing as well, don't feel like it needs to hit something if there isn't a good target!

[[Morgana le Fay]] - She is basically an unblockable 3 power minion that kind of allows you to draw three cards. Morgana is a huge removal target, so don't fixate on keeping her alive for too long. Play her when you can, draw some cards with her, prioritize playing those cards, and swing away with her in most cases. The upside of keeping her alive is that having a Stealth Spellcaster is huge in the late game, so keep that in mind!

[[Quarrelsome Kobolds]] - The best Goblins in the game! Kobolds are able to clear out smaller minions with their end of turn ability, or double the damage that they output if you can get them adjacent to the enemy avatar! Pair these with a [[Torshammar Trinket]] to push more damage!

[[Redcap Powries]] - No need to read too much into these guys. Simply a 3 drop minion with Charge is reason enough to add 3 copies of them into this list. Pathfinder is all over the board naturally, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find an advantageous angle to use them at.

[[Outback Strider]] This is just a dude on a horse that can move around the board easily. It is nice to hide away from [[Earthquake]] and [[Poison Nova]], then move up and attack during your turn. They can also move around the board to defend as well!

[[Boudicca]] - I am still deciding if the juice is worth the squeeze on this one. So many triple threshold cards can be difficult to pull off, and Boudicca doesn't do anything by herself which is another disadvantage since I like all of the minions in this list to be able to carry their own. Boudicca seems like a 'win more' kind of gal, but I'm here for it.

[[Siege Giant]] - Might seem like an odd pick at first, but they are really in here to help with potentially repositioning my Pathfinder if need be. They can also throw things like [[Quarrelsome Kobolds]] & [[Colicky Dragonettes]] as well which is nice. Not to mention they can gain Charge if Rebecca is in play.

Speaking of which.....

[[Rebecks]] - I don't think there are any other 4 power minions with Charge to my knowledge [except Lion] so Rebecca makes the cut simply for being a surprise 4 damage that could also potentially give your [[Siege Giant]] Charge as well, if the odds are in your favor.

[[Clamor of Harpies]] are a cool little tech card in this deck as they can teleport your [[Quarrelsome Kobolds]] over to their location as well without striking them if you need to reposition. With [[Jihad]] in play, you can also teleport and strike enemy minions with 3 or less power which is insanely impactful. They are nice against [[Avatar of Air]] since they can kill [[Palliburrie Bats]] and defend against airborne minions as well.

[[Brother Knight]] - This just seems like insane value, but we will see how they perform. BK is simply a 2 for the price of 1 type of situation, and who doesn't like that?

[[Infernal Legion]] is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with immediately. As such, you can expect to see a [[Chaos Twister]], [[Earthquake]], or other removal spell played the turn after the Legion comes into play. If possible, try to play them with a [[Magellan Globe]] or [[Jihad]] in play so that you can either drop them on your opponent's side of the board, or at the very least hit their avatar/minions with its end of turn ability with Globe.

[[Courtesan Thais]] - The best minion in this deck. Red aggro/burn decks tend to run out of steam in the late game and Thais is able to equalize that by ruining your opponent's game plan from the inside out. Knowing what decisions to make with Thais simply takes time, so the more you play with her the better you will become. My advice - try to save Thais for the turn you get you opponent to Death's Door so that you can make their avatar attack one of your minions and lose the game, if possible (sounds like a very specific plan, but the situation comes up quite often). Also, there are a lot of [[Roots of Yggdrasil]] decks running around at the time of writing this primer (June 2024). Thais can be INSANELY good against them as well. If your opponent plays a [[Sinkhole]] and passes the turn over to you, I will almost always play Thais so that I can activate [[Sinkhole]] on their turn and blow up the wrong site. I've even used 2 [[Sinkhole]]'s on an opponent while controlling their turn and they flat out conceded.

Non-Minions:

The burn spells in this deck are pretty strait forward, but I'll provide a high-level overview either way! [[Firebolts]] are mainly used to kill enemy minions, but you can also point them at your opponent's face as well if need be. If [[River of Flame]] is in play, you can use River to cast Firebolts in the subsurface at an enemy [[Root Spider]], [[Pit Vipers]], or [[Cave Troll]] as well, but that is a rare scenario.

[[Heat Ray]] typically is used as a way to finish the game once your opponent is on DD, but it can also be used to kill minions as well. I especially approve of using it to kill [[Foot Soldier]] tokens made by cards like [[Border Militia]], if everything lines up!

[[Minor Explosion]] and [[Major Explosion]] are just vanilla burn spells. Major Ex can be a real game swinging card due to how many squares it can hit simultaneously, so try to get some extra value out of it if possible. Casting Magics that care about location (i.e "up to x steps away) can be difficult with [[Pathfinder]] at times which is why I also included [[Standing Stones]] as one of the non-fire sites in this build.

[[Infiltrate]] is in an interesting place right now. A few months ago this card was in basically every Fire deck as AT LEAST a 1 of and as a result we started to see more anti-stealth tech being played in the main deck such as: [[Watchtower]], [[Scent hounds]], and [[Hounds of Ondaros]]. As a result, some players took [[Infiltrate]] out of their decks altogether. Personally, I still think that this card is amazing and I opt to run 2 of them as a result. Use these to remove enemy defenders, steal powerhouse minions, and even gain control of burrowed minions if you have [[River of flame]] in play by casting [[Infiltrate]] in the subsurface.

[[Flame wave]] usually hits your opponent for 3 damage while also killing multiple of their minions. [[Pathfinder]] especially likes this card since we can move to the edge of the realm before casting it.

[[Jihad]] is an absolute bomb in this deck. With [[Jihad]] in play, you can drop [[Vile Imp]], [[Quarrelsome Kobolds]], [[Colicky Dragonettes]], and [[Infernal Legion]] behind enemy lines for massive value.

[[Magellan Globe]] is named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who completed the first successful circumnavigation of the Earth in history. It seems like [[Magellan Globe]] was designed to be used by an avatar who traverses the Realm without knowledge of what lies ahead (or in this case, what Site is on top of our Atlas). This card is so so so good in [[Pathfinder]] decks in my opinion, especially this one! Being able to hit your opponent with [[Vile Imp]], [[Quarrelsome Kobolds]], [[Colicky Dragonettes]], and [[Infernal Legion]] from our side of the Realm right away is incredible. The ability to also move [[Pathfinder]] herself around the Realm with ease allows you to get extra sites in play easily while also invading your opponent's side as well.

Sites:

There aren't enough sites to support 30 Unique Fire sits at this time, so there are some seemingly odd choices of Sites in the deck at this time. Things like [[Mirage]] and [[Dwarven Forge]] are simply there to give you 1 mana and Fire threshold, that is it. [[Smokestacks of Gnaak]] have actually found themselves to be useful when they land next to an enemy site, or if you have a [[Magellan Globe]] in play which causes them to be nearby an enemy site. Generally speaking it really doesn't matter if your own Sites get shutdown due to Smokestacks, so don't worry too much about that.

The other non-Fire Sites are flexible, so feel free to swap them out. I do think that [[Standing Stones]] should stay in since they give you additional Spellcasters for your Magic spells.

Mulligan Guide:

Here are the cards that I think you should "auto-keep" in your opening hand just about 100% of the time:

[[Jihad]] since it is too impactful to send away
[[Courtesan Thais]] since she wins games by herself
[[Quarrelsome Kobolds]] and [[Colicky Dragonettes]] since they are the bread and butter of the deck - minions that beat your opponent down with abilities that push extra damage.

Here are the cards that I think you should situationally keep in your opening hand:

[[Vile Imp]] should be sent back to the bottom if your opponent is playing a [Deathspeaker]]
[[Magellan Globe]] if you believe that your opponent is playing an aggressive deck, such as a [[Sorcerer]] or a [[Battlemage]]
[[Clamor of Harpies]] so long as your opponent isn't playing an [[Enchantress]]. This choice is totally up to you though! Harpies will not be able to teleport any of their animated Auras apart from [[Evil Spirit]], but that seldomly shows up in [[Enchantress]] deck lists.
More than one burn spell should be sent back as you would always prefer to have minions in play than having burn spells in your hand. One burn spell like a [[Firebolts]] or a [[Minor Explosion]] is fine to hold on to in the beginning, but outside of that you should be sending the extras back.
[[Infernal Legion]] or [[Major Explosion]] - In most cases, you don't want cards that are going to sit in your opening hand until turn 6 or 7 (or later). These cards are VERY good overall, but not ideal to find in your opening hand.

Trailblazer

@_glenn_