Brel Armory

(updating description soon)

Trying out Armory with some Defiance cards. Most of it is just a standard Armory build from the last time this was meta-playable, so in addition to finding which new cards fit, I'm sure this will require some tuning.

Winchest Cargo - Replaces Seek Power. It serves the same purpose in the early game, but doesn't become a dead card in late game. I've picked up win-conditions off this thing.

Display of Ambition - I usually use the third mode of this as a pseudo-Vanquish, occasionally I'll use the second mode to get back some of my threats. Second mode is also good after attacking with a Tavrod, Auric Broker and discarding your Brel, Solist Apostate. It doesn't straight up replace Smuggler's Stash though, since it can't bring back your weapons which are objectively better recursion targets, so I haven't cut those yet. First mode is essentially useless in this deck, but there was one corner case where I was able to use it as a combat trick, simply because the opponent didn't expect a combat trick from Armory. I use the other modes enough that I think it's worth running this over Vanquish, but I'm still deciding. I may cut it back to a 2x or cut it completely if the extra cost and higher restriction turn out to make the card significantly worse. Should the Display not serve its purpose I could also easily swap into the Market, run Vanquish in main and Display in Market, but I think the multiple modes make it less likely to be a completely dead card in your hand vs Aggro.

Hidden Road Smuggler - So I chose the JS market over a FJ market mainly so I could run Annihilate. Also, a 3/3 lifesteal is better than a 2/3 double strike, hands down.

Brel, Solist Apostate - The reason I made this deck. This one is getting underrated by a lot of people because of the high cost, but it's easier than ever now to reach the influence you want, and she's flexible. Yeah, if you just play her on an empty board, she's decent, equips you a 4/4 relic weapon with Warcry 2, and I've definitely won games with her that way. But the real power comes when you buff your existing relic weapon. 12/12 Sword of the Sky Kings, 8/8 Starsteel Daishos, all with Warcry 2. When I can pull this off (which may get harder if Relic removal gets popular) I basically win the game every time.

Market choices: As long as they aren't in the main list, Vanquish and Annihilate are obvious choices here. Statuary Maiden comes in handy in aggro matchups but just didn't make the cut for the main deck, so she's here in the Market. She also fits here because I see her as a threat but one that is especially threatening vs certain kinds of decks (Aggro, Midrange decks that go wide, Tokens, anything that plays lots of dudes), so it's better to pull her out just when needed. End of the Story is there because I can't put a Harsh Rule in a Black Market, otherwise it'd be 3x HR 1x EotS in main deck and 1 HR in market. Originally I had Sword of the Sky King in the main deck and Starsteel Daisho in the Market, but I realized how much synergy the Daisho has with Brel, and how much easier it is to play so I swapped 'em.

Let me know what you guys think! I'm not an amazing deckbuilder at all, but please try the deck out for yourself and if you have any card swaps that make sense, let me know.

The main stuff I'm considering changing right now would be:

- Cut some or all of the Display of Ambitions and put Vanquish back in the main deck.

- 2x Starsteel Daisho because the Brel synergy is just too tasty. Probably cut one of the Auric Runehammers? Maybe cut a Throne Warden? Maybe that's what I put in after taking out some Displays? Currently the only thing holding me back from the second Daisho is not knowing what to cut.

- Not sure about Throne Warden in general but I'm hesitant to cut bodies out of this deck because sometimes just having a 4/4 comes in handy and it's a cheaper and easier way to buff your weapons earlier than Brel, keeps you alive vs Aggro when you don't have Harsh Rules, etc.