Welcome to my guide on the most beautiful Avatar in the realm :)

This list is the Gothic upgrade for my older List "Vulcanic Realm (Pre Gothic)", which had won me 2 tournaments at my local game store.

I hope you enjoy!

Strategy

The main plan is to play 4 sites (one under your Avatar and 3 in front of you in the second row). After you played the 4 sites, you try to get your Avatar on the opponents sites as fast as possible (Mad Dash / War Horse). Once you achieved that, you deal at least 4 damage to the opponent every turn, just by attacking with your Avatar. In addition, you are playing valueable minions on curve for additional pressure. You rarely play the fith site, because you want to attack every turn with your Avatar, which is the reason for the very low mana curve. There should be a very good reason for playing a site instead of attacking. For example if you need to remove an enemy minion that you can't trade or ignore like Daperyll Vampire, so you need your 5 mana for a Common Sense + Bury or Earthquake / Poison Nova.

Card choices

Minions

Arjaro Exorcist:

A 2 mana / 2 power minion which can banish an enemy demon or spirit is already very strong. The fact that this 2 drop can banish cards like Atlantean Fate makes it a must have in every AoE deck.

Bosk Troll:

Bosk Troll is just a strong 2 drop with 3 power. He can pressure the opponent very well while being the aggressive player and also trade very good against other aggressive decks. It always feels amazing to trade enemy minions like Saracen Raiders with your 2 mana troll.

Vile Imp:

Very good early threat and anti aggro card. Can also be very helpful when you`re trying to finish your opponent while he`s on DD since you have ways to manipulate the site placement with cards like Earthquake or Rift Valley.

War Horse:

Important card which helps you to get to the opponents sites faster after you have played your fourth site. Moreover the horse is very strong combined with cards like Meat Hook. Keep in mind that it is always good to have some 2 power minions like War Horse and Vile Imp in your deck as long as there are some archimagos hiding behind their Gnome Hollows.

Autumn Unicorn:

Autumn Unicorn is here for the same reason as Bosk Troll. 4 Power for 3 Mana is the early game strength we need.

Order of the White Wing:

3 Mana for 3 Power and Ward is already good enough. The effect can be very strong in some matchups like Deathspeeker or Necromancer.

Root Spider:

Broken card that is very hard to get rid off. Can be used defensively by disabling enemy minions, but also in an aggressive way by letting the spider chill under the enemy site your Avatar is attacking. This way, enemy minions won`t be able to defend against your constant damage, since they get disabled the moment they step on the attacked site, which means that they can`t defend it. The spider makes it also very hard for your opponent to survive when he`s on DD, because you just can put it under the site he occupies, so his minions can`t defend him. Root Spiders on their own had won me so many games. I always play 3 of them when i`m playing earth.

Dalcean Phalanx:

Same reason as Bosk Troll and Autumn Unicorn.

Gargantula:

Very strong card! Can disable an enemy minion and has 4 power for 4 mana. I would run 2 copies in every deck that can enable 3 earth threshold. Keep in mind that Gargantula can also drag minions with stealth or airborne.

Pudge Butcher:

Pudge Butcher is just an overall strong minion. In this deck, hooking the enemy Avatar is an automatic win most of the times, because you can also start attacking with your Avatar between your earthsites, where he is very strong.

Archangel Michael:

The strongest angel in my opinion. He is the only 5 mana minion in this list, because it is always worth playing the fith site to play him. Just an overall good card you should run in every earth list.

Artifacts

Ring of Morrigan:

Do I need to explain this?

Torshammer Trinket:

To good not to play. Enables your minions to trade stronger enemy minions or gives your Avatar 1 extra power each turn, which causes you to bring your opponent to DD one turn earlier (5 turns 4 dmg --> with trinket 4 turns 5 dmg). It`s also a good combo with Ring of Morrigan, because you can get one extra ping every turn with Trinket most of the times.

Meat Hook:

Perfect new card for this shell. Meat Hook has an advantage over Pudge Butcher because you can use it the turn you have played it, which makes it extremly hard for your opponent not to get hooked. Most of the times you will hook with your Avatar. It can also be very useful for reaching the enemy when he`s on DD.

Torrid Omphalos:

The lack of card draw makes it sometimes very hard to keep up with some decks, especially Sorcerer, when he survives too long. Torrid creates so much value in these situations and ensures that you don`t fall behind to much.

Toolbox:

Gets you the right answer in almost every situation.

Examples:

Opponent plays a very strong aura like Atlantean Fate or an annoying relic like Ring of Morrigan or Angels Egg = Toolbox --> Dispel
You are on turn 5 and want to start attacking your opponents sites with your AoE, but didn`t draw a Horse, a Meat Hook or a Mad Dash = Toolbox --> Mad Dash
You must get rid of an enemy minion = Toolbox --> Bury
If the minion occupies a water site = Move your Avatar so he is adjacent to that minion. Then Toolbox --> Duel (most of the times, your Avatar is strong enough to kill it)
Your opponent is on DD and you need a way to kill him = Toolbox --> Heat Ray
Heat Ray is also good when your opponent has too many small minions like Skeletons.
Exorcism against demons and undead minions
Scent Hounds against Stealth
Cast Sandworm or Amazon Warriors when you`re on topdeck and need a strong minion

Spells

Divine Healing:

The strategy is to play a very aggressive game while our Avatar stays on the opponents sites most of the time. This makes every game feel like a race where the goal is to bring your opponent on DD first and finish him as quick as possible afterwards. In this scenario, healing 7 life for 1 mana is very strong and can make the small but important difference between winning and losing.

Dispel:

Good against Atlantean Fate (our worst nightmare) and other annoying auras and relics. Don't use it on any target just because you have it in your hand. Always think of the possible auras and relics your opponent could play. If they play water, always keep it in your hand until they play Atlantean Fate. This card really destroys our whole gameplan.

Mad Dash:

Same as War Horse. We need this card to get the AoE to the enemy sites. It also helps when your opponent is on DD.

Bury:

Good removal. I used to play 3 copies but cutted one off, because it does literally nothing against water decks.

Duel:

Even if there might be certainly better cards for specific scenarios, Duel is always an okay choice for every possible scenario. The reason why we want to play one copy is that it is ordinary and can be searched by using Common Sense. Here a some situations where a Duel can be useful:

You want to have one of your minions or your Avatar fight an enemy minion to kill it. A good example is a Daperyll Vampire who occupys a water site. You can't bury it and can't attack it since it has airborne. It is always important to kill the Vampire as fast as possible, because the healing is just too strong and when your opponent has a Grim Guisarme in his hand, the game will be almost lost on the next turn. Duel is sometimes the only way to not loose in these situations.
Your Avatar is adjacent to the enemy Avatar and you want to deal some extra damage to get him to DD earlier. As mentioned before, every game is a race with this deck!
Duel makes it easier to kill your opponent on DD.

Heat Ray:

Common Sense target for the final death blow most of the times.

Searing Truth:

This new card felt really strong while playtesting. With this mana curve you get 3-4 damage most of the times. This is a very good trade for 2 new spells in your hand. It also enables a new way of killing your opponent or deal him the last points of damage so he gets on DD a turn earlier.

Infiltrate:

In a race situation, stealing one of the enemy minions and attacking with it afterwards is too strong not to play it. It feels especially unfair when you play against big mana decks and steal one of your opponents 6 or 7 drops right after he played it.

Shatter Strike:

Better than Duel, but not searchable using Common Sense. Most of the times I use it to strike the enemy Avatar and destroy a Ring of Morrigan or something else. If you have it, use it to push some damage. Don`t wait too long for your opponent to play a relic.

Earthquake:

Mass removal + site manipulation. Yes please!

Poison Nova:

Drawing Poison Nova feels great almost every time because it generates so much value. Since your Avatar stays on the middle sites most of the time, there will always be enemy minions in your reach. I used to run 2 copies but cutted one to make room for other new cards. It also got nerfed a little bit with the new ward ability.

Sites

11 Ordinary Sites:

Blessed Village (If you can, place it in the second row)
Common Village (Good on turn one)
Hunter`s Lodge (against stealth units)

It is very important to run enough Sites that are immune to Atlantean Fate. With 11 ordinary Sites and 3 Bedrocks, there are 14 immune Sites in this deck.

Bedrock:

Immune to Atlantean Fate, Roots of Yggdrasil or Sinkhole. Keep in mind that you can`t move it with Earthquake or Rift Valley.

Sites for Threshold:

Steppe
Glastonbury Tor
Caerleon-Upon-Usk
Valley of Delight

We wan`t to play at least 3 Earth Sites in the second row to make our Avatar as strong as possible. Therefore we need many Sites which provide both. Never place a Site that is not Earth in the second row if you don`t have to.

Active Volcano:

I`m not sure if we really need this because most of the games you draw two Fire Sites anyway and the only card that needs two Fire threshold is Searing Truth. On the other hand, there really aren`t other good Fire Sites we could play. Deserts are suboptimal cause we don´t wand to place mono Fire Sites in the second row. Most of the times, the desert would ping nothing. I used to play Forges before Gothic. They felt a little bit better than Deserts, but still not really good.

Mirror Realm:

Always a good card. The best targets are Rift Valley or Pillar of Zeiros most of the times. Can also copy a Steppe or a Tri-site if you need the second Fire Threshold.

Pebbled Paths:

Good anti aggro Site. Before Druid got nerfed, i used to play 3 copies and also 3 Holy Grounds to survive the early game. At the moment, 2 copies should be enough.

Pillar Zeiros:

Graveyard hate and heal in one card is very strong right now.

Rift Valley:

This card won me many games. Always play two copies. Example: An Archimago played a Perilous Bridge in his second row and Gnome Hollows on the left and the right to it. It would take me years to get my Avatar on sites I could attack. With Rift Valley it is possible to build a way to the enemy`s backrow through the Sites in his / her second row. Without Rift Valley i would have lost that game. Rift Valley is also a way to get your avatar closer to the enemy`s sites when you don`t have a mad dash etc.. Just place it in your backrow while pushing your Avatar`s site to your second row. From there you can attack in one step on the next turn.

Smokestacks of Gnaak:

Good Counter against cards like Perilous Bridge, Bottomless Pit or Gnome Hollows.

Other usual card choices i do not run in this list

Grim Guisarme:

Not strong enough since it got nerfed.

Atlas Wanderers:

Very strong card. I used to play 2 copies but cutted them off to make room for new gothic cards. The cost of 5 mana is a little downside, because the strategy is to play 4 sites and start attacking with your avatar. On the other hand, switching the places of your site and a site of your opponent makes it nealy impossible for them to defend your attacks against it.

I will continue this primer step by step in the future.

Vulcanic Realm

@Nico_felder