Defiance TPS Crown

I love TPS. It is unescapable, I always come back and play more TPS. With the introduction of set 5 we were given some good new cards. Everyone loves Crown of Possibilities (what's not to love) and so I figured we could use build something good with the new cards.

First I'd like to say that I love the new Smuggler set as it allows you to access to more options in the market. Here I used Great Valley Smuggler to give me access to Darude and BSH which is great when I have Dusk Raider or Crown down. They are also pretty good cards should you find yourself in a pinch. Smuggler will be a 4/4 for 3 when Crown is down (as it should be) so that's fairly decent. Even a 3/3 on 3 isn't terrible.

Before Set 5 I kept a Clockroach and a copy of Crown in my market, but thanks to Display of Knowledge I basically have 3 more crowns in the deck (at least that's what the math says). So now I don't have to rely on a merchant for my crown, and Display costs just as much anyway while also providing utility in the event I don't need to fetch a Crown.

Post set 5, I decided Cykalis, the Burning Sand and Dread would be great adds to this deck as A) they both have charge B) they both have two key words AND pledge (which helps the power base dramatically) with more keywords being better with crown and C) they provide more utility than just the raw card themselves with Dread offering the chance at an extra Dark Return while gaining you life and Cykalis allowing you to get damage through no matter what since your opponent likely won't waste a blocker on him unless he's posing lethal. Both cost 4 and I think they're attack is well worth the cost, despite them both having low health. I have enjoyed them both in play testing and the fact that they both have charge is amazing as it makes for a great top deck when you just need to irk out a little more damage.

I have fallen in love with Messenger Hawk recently, I feel it goes great in a TPS deck, especially one oriented towards Crown as you can copy your skill-full cards into your deck and when you pull them all the better. Other than Seek Power this is usually a good turn 1 play. I like copying Dark Return, Piercing Grief, Clockroach, Cykalis, and Feeding Time if I'm playing midrange.

The rest is black crown goodstuffs. Piercing Grief is life, he has plenty of keywords, comes back via revenge, has charge (yes please), and lifesteal (helps you stay alive vs aggro). Dusk Raider and Second Sight are used for draw, Dusk Raider works well by giving your units Berserk which is great for all the charge units in the deck and Second Sight is great for Clockroach and getting more keywords on your good units.

Ayan helps vs aggro by keeping you alive, I have debated Ayan vs new Vara, that's personal preference. I still need to playtest more to see which of the two I like better. I like Feeding Time as it's a good answer to a lot of powerful cards albeit a bit expensive. I have wanted to put more removal in such as Banish or Rindra's Choice but I didn't find myself with the room for it.

This deck is 78 cards and if you want to drop it down to a standard 75 card deck I would suggest just dropping the two Messenger Hawk and a power of your choice.

Let me know your thoughts, hopefully you have as much fun playing this deck as I do.

EDIT:
I swapped Dread and Black Sky Harbinger in the main deck/ market. I now have a full set of BSH in the main with one copy of dread in the market. I didn't care for dread a whole lot (though I still like him, and this card was one of the reasons I started this deck anyways) when playing and BSH really helps me hold on when I need it. Dread is still useful as a market card, I have seen many a use for him so don't discount him.

I also removed my messenger's hawks in favor of dissociate. I have recently been turned onto this card from a friend and let me tell you it is amazing. It is main deck attachment hate AND spell negation. Yes you have the downside that they could potentially play the card again, but for all intents and purposes it really helps slow them down. This card is the least helpful against scream though as they could likely just play scream the following turn at a cost which often happens. So you have to be mindful of when you are using this card, but it is very useful IMO.