[Trumanator]

I assume by "dies" you mean he pops back to your capital with a few afflictions?

Also, its possible to use the phoenix as a solo turn 2 expansion god so long as you target indies w/low armor and semi-small numbers. However, you're depending on the RNG to a certain extent, so results can vary wildly.

A phoenix is also a good F*%& YOU pretender when someone w/a SC pretender or double blessed sacreds comes knocking, since there's very little they can really do besides take the hits.