I think we broke it!

Nah, just kidding, but this combo is REALLY strong!

Last night on my SPLtv stream, we switched to modern for a while to play in bronze and test this team as much as possible. We got 13 battles where we were able to play this combo (Fire, melee and no attack allowed, 18+ mana) and achieved 11 wins with them, for a 84.6% win rate. We plowed through all the way up to Diamond 3 in just four hours of play time.

Game 1 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
This game went pretty quickly and didn't shine a great spotlight on Ferexian Hero and Idri Fyre as they both died in the first round, but the damage output (7 damage coming from a 3 melee and a no-attack monster, due to +1 melee from summoner and 'Weapons Training' ability)
I included it because, as the first match we played with the team, we weren't 100% sure how exactly Iidri's attack would be calculated. I do not have a source of 'Inspire' in fire, so I am unable to fully test out stacking melee damage, but this is what we've got so far:

1. Tarsa grants Ferexian Hero +1 melee, total 4
2. 'Weapons Training' grants Iidri half of 4 damage, total 2
3. Tarsa grants Iidri +1 melee, total 3
   My takeaway from this, is that when Hero receives additional melee damage by leveling, Tarsa (*or Malric or Daria Dragonscale) will increase damage to 5 which will grant Iidri 3 instead, which said summoner would then increase to 4.

Game 2 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
This game also doesn't show anything particularly special, as we just steamroll the opponent with damage.

Game 3 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
Here we see the utility of Iidri's 'Taunt' ability destroying the opponent's sneak plan, and we also notice that Tarsa's buff and 'Weapons Training' both apply before the opponent's 'Demoralize' ability. This changes our thinking from game 1, as 'Inspire' will most likely apply in the same manner. The debuff did not change Hero's stats enough to change the amount given by 'Weapons Training', so further testing is needed to figure exact interactions.

Game 4 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
Here we see that even without the power of a summoner's melee buff, and in the face of an opponent's 'Demoralize', Iidri's 'Taunt' and high speed combined with another high speed 'Taunt' from Coeurl Lurker allowed our Ferexian Hero and Sand Worm to pick apart our opponent while minimizing damage taken.

Game 5 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
This is the first time where Iidri's 'Taunt' ability seems irrelevant due to the "Aimless" ruleset giving every monster the 'Scattershot' ability, but we can see how she effectively stops the opposing Silent Sha-Vi from 'Sneak'ing our Halfling Alchemist into oblivion, allowing Alchemist to apply 'Halving' to Cursed Windeku at the end of the battle rather than dying in the first round as he was targeted twice by 'Scattershot'. This didn't matter at all in the end, as we didn't lose a single monster in this instance, but it does speak to the efficacy of 'Taunt' even in situations where it is typically considered worthless.

Game 6 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
This game doesn't have anything flashy about it but does show that even with a summoner without abilities (in this case, Kretch Tallevor but also including Prince Julian, Talia Firestorm, and the "Silenced Summoners" ruleset) our combo is still super powerful and can deliver victory against strong teams.

Game 7 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
Here we see the combination of the above factors, with both Kretch Tallevor as our summoner and the "Aimless" ruleset. Things look bleak for us at first, particularly when we remember (too late) that our Chaos Dragon isn't leveled enough to have 'Blast'. Iidri doesn't appear to do much here, and indeed may not have been necessary as Chaos Dragon has 'Flying' and therefore would have likely dodged a few Unicorn Mustang 'Sneak' attacks, but it's always better to be safe than sorry especially with Splinterlands' RNG system.

Game 8 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
'Taunt' vs. 'Taunt'! If you line them up in a vacuum, Shieldbearer seems much more imposing than Iidri Fyre with more armor, more health, and native damage. When we add in Tarsa and Ferexian Hero, however, the tale of the tapes changes significantly. We're still shy 1 armor, but the health is even and we actually have 1 more damage PLUS an advantage of 2 speed. In this game, we only get one dodge but that one dodge makes all the difference, potentially saving the game as Iidri survives into the second round and gets another shot in on the Shieldbearer and helps to break 'Taunt', allowing our team to wreak havoc on the opposing backline.

Game 9 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
Thanks to Flame Monkey and the "Weak Magic" ruleset here, Iidri is allowed to soak up enough damage for our double-'Sneak' lineup to take out the opposing back line and push through. We ultimately lose both Iidri and Hero, but attain victory regardless.

Game 10 (LINK)

Our first trial in Gold!
PKM-DECK
The real ALL-STARS here are Tusk the Wide and Runi, but it's great to see how 'Inspire' works and break it down.

1. Tarsa grants Ferexian Hero +1 melee, total 4
2. 'Weapons Training' grants Iidri half of 4 damage, total 2
3. Tarsa grants Iidri +1 melee, total 3
4. 'Inspire' grants Ferexian Hero +1 melee, total 5; no change to Iidri
   4a. 'Inspire' grants Iidri +1 melee, total 4
5. 'Demoralize' penalizes Ferexian Hero -1 melee, total 4; no change to Iidri
   5a. 'Demoralize' penalizes Iidri -1 melee, total 3

Game 11 (LINK)

PKM-DECK
This is the only game we played wherein we had the opportunity to run Iidri other than in position 1, and unfortunately she got fairly well blown up. The importance of this placement, even in the "Super Sneak" ruleset, is that she drew fire from the opponent's Lira, which allowed our Countess Sinash to take out Ancient Lich before any damage could be dealt and life gained. She kept Dhampir Stalker from damaging Tusk the Wide and allowed him to continue to buff our damage, to ensure the win.

Conclusion

The pairing of 'Weapons Training' legendaries and no-attack epics are a clearly intentional part of the new cycle of SBRC and, honestly, are the most exciting aspect of the entire release IMO. This is the only set I've been able to test yet, although I did pull Snok and Will-o-Wisp so expect to see some coverage of that team soon as well.
Let me know in the comments which teams you've been able to try, and how you like them! Who is your favorite? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

This team is STUPID strong!

I'll see you on the mountain and as always:
Good Luck, Have Fun!
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