Gauntlet Grinding Xenan 2: Return of Jafar

Guess who's back, back again.

I revisited my Xenan gauntlet deck after building up my collection over the past few months, gave it an overhaul, and then went on a few test runs. In 3 tries it reached the boss every time but choked twice: first to Defender of the Spire being the asshole boss that it is, and the second time to Labyrinth Treasury spewing out Sirafs and Darudes until I choked on the girth of those statlines (the successful run was against Power of Progress, which feels a bit free but w/e we take those). 19-2 isn't completely terrible so I figured I may as well toss this out into the world again. please notice me again kcbandit-senpai uwu

The deck isn't trying anything too spicy, just the standard Xenan Lifeforce fare. The 4-ofs should all be fairly self-explanatory: Aspirant and Katra are the wincons (never play Katra without an immediate activator though, as the AI rightfully hates her with extreme prejudice; likewise be wary of playing a 1/1 Aspirant early against Shadow decks due to Vara's Favor, the bots hate Aspirant too), Scribe and Magus are cycling Lifeforce activators (Magus also being good at stopping the aggressive decks for a spell so long as weapons or Annihilate/Suffocate isn't involved), Bauble is a constant activator, Becky-Lu is a draw engine, and Wasp and Ayan are plain good cards (Wasp being particularly good at buying you time until it gets removed by force, as the AI is notoriously spooped by Deadly). The 3-ofs are cards that we want, but are cumbersome when drawn too often: Matron blocks the sky and churns out yet more Lifeforce activators and board presence with bat chumps, and the removal trio of Banish/Extract/Deathstrike covers the multitude of threats you'll face in Gauntlet fairly well (with Extract also giving the deck a bit of reach since it can hit face as well). Lastly, Dark Return and Favor are 2-ofs as they have helpful niches that aren't urgently needed most of the time. Katra and Beckoning Lumen are your highest priority Returns since their Lifeforce effects are so powerful, but don't force yourself into saving it for just them if it can help you win the board and the game.

My goal with the deck was to take a page from Wingflier's Consistency Elysia book (which btw is a fantastic book, go check it out at your nearest digital library if you have the shiftstone) and make it consistent. Unfortunately, we lack the AI abuse angle outside of the Wasp bodyguards as we don't have the influence for False Prince/Cirso, and Xenan lacks a crest to reliably recur Dawnwalkers, so we just have to make do with traditional removal and being the HEALTHIEST BOIS ON THE BLOCK. Scribe, Magus, Lumen, and the Amethyst Waystones result in 16 card draw methods (18 if you count the Favors, but I'm picky and don't), while there are 28 cards that can activate Lifeforce for Aspirant/Katra/Becky-Lu (or even 32 if you play Amethyst Waystone with Magus on the field). Once you stick a Lumen on the field, she'll pretty much be drawing you a card every single turn. What a gal, 10/10 would waifu.

I might tune the numbers a bit more on the removals, but overall the deck feels good to me so far. Have fun, at least until Defender of the Spire decides to be a dick and ruin your dreams with its presence.