A Brelicous Dish

I started playing some defiance amory lists and realised, Brel, Solist Apostate is a really powerful card. Also, lost scroll helps those slow winchest decks to get to their top game. This is what i wanted to utilize. I blended the deck with the "classic" valkyrie ramp strategy by adding Bulletshaper. Rizahn, Greatbow Master and Privilege of Rank.

Rizahn, Greatbow Master is a great card to ramp towards, because it usually generates a 2 for 1: his initial shot kills something, while he still has to be dealt with. Against aggressice decks he's often game winning, because he not only kills a threat immediately, but also represents a wall that the opponennt has to pummel through before he can reach your precious life (while gaining life) and constantly attacks your enemy afterwards (while gaining life), threatening them.

Brel, Solist Apostate is a stunnning unit on her own because of warcry 2 (and the fact she gets played in the "late game" (This deck tries to get her going asap, so late might be earlier than you might expect), but because she gives you another weapon/buffs your current Auric Runehammer (or maybe even Brel's Mallet) heavily, she usually causes a hefty swing the turn she comes down. She is basically a 7-cost Icaria, the Liberator ;)

Quarry fits naturally, as it synthesizes well with ranks while supplying card selection. I wanted to play smugglers instead of merchants because they not only supply you with situational cards but also are reasonable cards on their own and also wear buffs from Brel, Solist Apostate extraordinarily well, also are new, also give more flexibility when it comes to market choices during deck building. Additionaly, traditional merchants just are too weak on their own in respect to the decks strategy (the best one would be [card[/card], because it is reasonable sized and overwhelm is a type of evasion, but Hidden Road Smuggler supplies you with extra life while Red Canyon Smuggler is often just scary and can often fight against large opposing threats).

Only 2 Privilege of Rank beacause space is limited (usually, Bulletshaper decks play 3). Sure, you could cut some units and weapons, but then the initial idea (Brel, Solist Apostate, and especially her warcries) become too diluted. Having approximately 1/3 hits seems about right, but increasing that number might be beneficial.
Finding the right composition is tough, so i highly suggest to play around with some numbers. First and foremost, if you have trouble finding a specific type of influence, adjust the numbers of pwer cards, maybe even introduce some banners or tokens. Reducing the number of merchants while increasing on varas is an option. And if you're facing a lot of go-wide token/aggressive strategies, slay might not make the cut as it only kills a single tiny soldier, while Vara, Vengeance Seeker puts a stop to their assault (or maybe try Leave a Witness in the marke while putting some amount of End of the Story in the main).

The black market includes Borebore, because everyone likes to cook. Also relic weapons, rats, distortions, obelisks, Masks, Frosts, you name it. Statuary Maiden should be used to target graveyard shenanigans or when you are power stuck, but need to deploy a threat. Jekk, the Bounty Hunter serves a similar purpose, silencing annoyig stuff while asking the opponennt for answers. End of the Story gives an option in dire times. And you're virtually playing 12 harsh rules, you can't argue with that, right?! In case your opponent just doesn't want to die, you can stash up and show them, how much you have up your sleeve.

Obviously, this deck hast trouble against decks with a inevitable card advantage engine. while brel's cries and the stash are huge, crying and stashing can't defeat infinity. This deck plays no "limitless" cardadvantage engine (Cauldron Cookbook would be the obvious option, but fire markets featuring Bore are just too common right now), so try to put up some pressure in slow matchups.

I initially started with 8 smugglers, but it just felt like little too much during playing. 7 seven feels like the place to be, because they are reasonable units on their own, while basically acting as a flexible looter. I swapped one Hidden Road Smuggler[cardfor a Vara, Vengeance Seeker, because she seemed fitting. (honestly, i tried Jekk, Hunted Fuigitive and Amilli, Cloudmarshal before, but they seemed slow and not impactful. Both of them will only do something if your opponent let's them live until your next turn, and also often block awkwardly (especially jekk, 5 toughness might seem like enough, but by turn 5/6 it's not), while the princiess supplies you with life, anti-aegis and a big butt).

4 Red Canyon Smuggler over Hidden Road Smuggler beacause of Bore. I want to make sure I have all the choices available more often than not. However, if you're facing alot of aggressive decks, favoring Hidden Road Smuggler over Red Canyon Smuggler is an option.
Don't be afraid to market "away" a merchant. But generally, the cards you want to smuggle out your hand and replace with juicy goods are scrolls, priviliged sigils, excess power, bad contrabands, cards that are not useful in the current situation (like Harsh Rule when you have multiple (big) units on the board) and if opponent refuses to play proper targets, useless removal. (Sidenote: if opponent is on a slow strategy, don't use Torch to kill their merchants (and other low impact units). You will kill those eventually with rizahn, runehammer and brel's mallet. Torch solely is a "I don't want to die" or "SILENCE, I KILL YOU" card)
torch, runehammer, slays, rules are common sight within slow winchest decks, and the reason is that they are powerfiul interaction, espicially against aggressive and midgame-oriented strategies.

The power base tries to support all the cards on curve as much as possible, but in my experience it is relatively easy. You only need FFJJSS, and cargo helps reaching this while occasionaly suppliying you with a threat in the late game. Bulletshaper helps reaching JJ by turn 4 for runehammer or 5 for harsh rule, while lost scroll supplies a similar purpose while also bursting out vara. The purpose of privilege is mostly to hit big drops like brel and rizahn, thin the deck and hand you cards to sell on the market.

I hope you have found something that inspires you woithin these linese, maybe even take this list to your next eternal fight, and would love to hear your opinion and feedback :) [url=http://][/url][img][/img]