FTS Profane Nexus - The Flame of Xulta Expedition

*Update: Happy to see so many people enjoying the deck and testing variations. While I haven't been fully convinced of changes to the body of the deck, I realized that Amber Coin is probably inferior to more Emblems. The Coin is great when you high roll an opening hand and can grab the token while also developing power for turn. But otherwise, Emblems are more reliable units in the mid / late game, the bodies themselves are of course better, and perhaps most importantly they are undepleted which allows you to curve out early / mid game more consistently. It's not a strict improvement, so feel free to keep testing Amber Coin, but I've replaced them with emblems. This also allowed me to rebalance the colors in the deck a little more, based on the shiftstoned.com power calculator and the importance of being on each color early game (Shadow in particular for Slumbering Stone and Devour).
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Token-sacrificing decks ("aristocrats" for MtG players) is one of my favorite deck styles. I've been fiddling with FTS versions as far back as set 1, leveraging win cons as janky as Brimstone Altar. As of set 7, I think it's in the best place it's ever been particularly in Expedition, due largely to Profane Nexus and the absolutely nutty Worthy Cause.

I've gone through a few iterations of this deck since set 7 dropped, and I'm pretty happy with where it is now. It's very consistent and most matchups feel favored (granted, we don't really have a meta or optimized decks yet). The power base can probably still be improved (maybe fit in some more emblems), and the market might have some flex. In any case, I've seen a lot of people do Xenan Cultist decks and a few people do FTS tokens, but they didn't quite have my take on it, so I thought I'd share.


General Strategy / Matchups:
The deck has inevitability in most matchups, and it's just a matter of setting up in time, stabilizing, and getting an engine going, like an unchallenged Profane Nexus or a Vault of the Praxis. The main issue is when flyers or overwhelm units outnumber your removal, and so something like Stonescar Dragons can be a rough matchup. Playing around Aamri's Choice can also be difficult when all your blockers are all 1/1s. Otherwise, the deck can handle most big idiots on the ground by just chump blocking and then putting a swarm of deadly spiders in front of them, so use your hard removal wisely.

Also, while we don't really care about full sweepers like Shen-Ra Speaks in control, one-sided sweepers in a tempo matchup are brutal. I've lost a couple times now to a Crystallize from the market. Nahid's Choice can be vital in saving you from these.


Token Generators:
Amber Coin, Lumen Shepherd, Kennelmaster, Slumbering Stone, Nahid's Choice, Shadowlands Guide, Torrent of Spiders

I'm fairly confident these are the best token producers in the format. Kennelmaster is probably a surprise to some people, but the card is gas for a 1-drop when snowballs are nowhere to be found. The only awkward part is when you find your reckless dogs running into mastery or lifesteal units. However, there are a ton of sac outlets for your dogs and with some forethought, it usually isn't an issue.

If I were to make room for more token producers, Proselytize and Recogulator would be next in line, but I think they're both significantly worse than what we already have, and I'm happy with the density of tokens in the deck.


Sac Outlets:
Combust, Worthy Cause, Devour, Profane Nexus

The deck pretty comfortably supports 16 sacrifice effects (4 of which repeatedly sac each turn), and all of them are extremely good. This includes 8 1-cost removal spells, and Worthy Cause in particular is insane, as it can be used at fast speed after a chump block, can 2-for-1 combat tricks, and shores up nasty text boxes.


Market and Win-cons:
Wurm Bait is another that has seen very little play, so some people might not know what to make of it. The card is very good at closing out games. Token-sacrifice decks often get into a controlling position, only to stall out on the board because the opponent has a couple 2/2s or better, which gives them time to find outs, like evasive threats. Wurm Bait regularly pumps out 10/10s and 15/15s , which lets you put a real clock on the opponent.

It might seem weird having both Wurm Bait and Vault of the Praxis in the market, but I find myself grabbing both in different scenarios. If you can't afford to feed Wurm Bait and just need gas, obviously Vault of the Praxis is better. That said, there have been games where I went for Wurm Bait early because the game state allowed it. Obviously, getting big unblockable units going that early is worth it if you can.

All that said, I probably grab Kairos' Choice and Cremate from the market more than anything, so I definitely don't think you cut those - though you could possibly replace one of them with an alternative piece of removal, like one of the edicts.

I have yet to get Disjunction out of the market even once, so it could probably get cut. However, I still feel like it makes sense, in case of a troublesome attachment of if your Wurm Bait / Vault of the Praxis gets removed. It probably gets better in the mirror match.


Just as a heads up, the deck has a lot of micromanagement, and misplays are easy to make. Just keep in mind that it comes with a bit of a learning curve as you get used to it.