The article below appears in the Argenport Gazette
Tasbu has always been a power player in Myria's showbusiness, but something always held him back.
And then he met Sodi at the Argenport Gala, a newcomer in the business making waves with her ABSOLUTE CHARM. She can even deal with those pesky paparrazis FLYING around, something Tasbu has always had trouble with in the past.
The two hit it off and the rest is showbiz history. The power couple took Myria by storm with countless box office draws and can we mention the endorsements?
Vara, established showbiz royalty and current PR Manager for the couple, has one thing to say, "These two lovebirds are just so good together. They complement each other's weaknesses."
She has given the couple countless FAVORS to make sure they make an ETERNAL stamp on the business, and she loves to STRATEGIZE together with them in their newly-purchased Argenport mansion.
Road manager Rhysta never complains. She just loves setting the ground for the couple and makes sure they appear at their events on time, and with a bang. She knows they love a grand entrance.
*We just noticed she kept glancing around at the couple's stunt double, Oizio, during the interview. There might be a story there in the future!
Speaking of Oizio, the commercially successful stuntman is providing body double services for the couple since Day 1.
However, Oizio has also been rumored to "step in" for either actor whenever one of them breaks down during movie shoots. The couple has denied these and has mentioned that they have always done their own acting.
"Oizio only does our stunts, that's it. He's a good friend," says Sodi during the premiere of their recent actioner "Trials of Grodov."
The couple has also recently acquired Dizo's Office, made possible by their PA, Ms. Blight P. Smuggler.
She says, "Dizo's Office wasn't even in the market, but when Tasbu says he wants it for Sodi, you do it. After spending some time with Mr. Chairman - his office was ON the market, and OFF the market in no time." She winks at me as she says this, so I told her I'm married, to which she whispers back, "They all are, hun."
Ms. Smuggler has also purchased a pet dragon for the couple as well as the services of events organizer Champ Cunning to make sure their events start and end with a bang.
So there you have it. An insight on the latest love story to hit Myria. Will this be forever? Stay tuned.
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UPDATE: October 24
Now at 153 - 5 (19 successful runs, 5 incomplete)
No Flames of Xulta update except for 2 Emblem of Makkar. Ran it, and it's still smooth. Changed the powerbase a bit because I forgot I already have the crests.
UPDATE: August 19
Now at 146 - 5 (18 successful runs, 5 incomplete)
Only got 2 runs in recently. Been testing other gauntlet grinders, and this is what I'm currently enjoying:
Brotherhood of Steel.
But if you have shiftstones to spare or a better collection, this one has been doing good as well:
Here Be Monsters!
UPDATE: August 6
Now at 132 - 5 (16 successful runs, 5 incomplete)
5th loss was 19th boss fight: Sudden Death (double damage boss).
21st run was sweet revenge VS Sudden Death. I was saved by back to back Vara's. The lifesteal from 2x 3/3 Vara + removals were enough to seal the game (won it with 25 HP).
***Didn't get much time to play with this deck since I'm busy tweaking my Killers deck which got some losses after the initial 28-0 record. This deck is still my fastest gauntlet grinder right now.
UPDATE: August 2
Now at 98 - 4 (12 successful runs, 4 incomplete).
Removed Feeding Time from market and added Crest. I fetched Crest 5 out of 14 games and 2 of those were critical to playing Tasbu on time.
***Thank you EgaL for the suggestion (comment section)!
UPDATE: July 31
Now at 84 - 4 (10 successful runs, 4 incomplete).
3rd loss was 5th game of my 11th run to Grenadin Revolt. Marketed for an early hailstorm but I might have timed it bad.
4th loss was 12th boss fight: The empower boss. Spent my removals on key units like Ironthorn, the Empower-stun unit, the Empower-sentinel unit, but completely forgot there's an Empower-flying one so I didn't work around it. Suddenly I'm facing a 256/256 and 128/128 Order of the Spire, LOL - the look on my face as I resigned.
Still no sign of the double damage boss, although my Killers gauntlet deck (now at 28-0) has defeated it on 1st run.
***MaxiXVI (in the comments below) also has his own version of this deck that has also found success: https://imgur.com/a/smeJEdT
UPDATE: July 27
I'm now 60 - 2 (8 successful runs, 2 incomplete).
The 1st loss was 1st game of my 5th run. I faced the Perfectly Even deck and couldn't get a good hand from the redraw (all power, 1 Suffocate, 1 Favor) then drew more power. By the time I started to get something on the board it was over.
The 2nd loss was the 5th game of my 8th run VS War Scavengers. I only drew 2 power the entire game after redrawing a 2-power hand. Funny because I was able to play 3 Strategize and didn't even get a single power. I was able to stall with a Suffocate and a Desecrate but there's not much you can do on 2 power. One more and I would've been able to play any of the 3 Rhysta I had.
The hardest non-boss was 2nd game of my 7th run: Ancient Power. AI got a Siraf to stick and got to use the ability for 4 TIMES IN A ROW! Our 2-cost deadly units + 2 Annihilate held everything back until I finally got Dizo's Office in play to deal with that short-haired butch Siraf.
The hardest boss so far was on my 10th run: the Company of Exiles - the one where spells transform into units. Our spells are so efficiently-costed that I was on the short end of the stick with this boss. So I finally took Feeding Time from the market but got a 3/4 meh unit for it. After that I rushed to get Dizo's Office in play but Cut Ties gave me a 3/3 flying (wth?). Site got destroyed immediately but I was able to go wide with our smaller units so that won the game.
Still no sign of the double damage boss.
July 26 Original Write-Up
This is my latest gauntlet favorite, and is standing at 28-0 (4 runs). I haven't encountered the double damage boss so let's see.
Our 2 drops are both deadly to make sure they take down something with them all the time when they trigger Tasbu + AI tends to avoid their attacks unless "crucial to their AI plans" which allows us to trigger Sodi's onslaught.
As for the market, I've never used Feeding Time so I might switch it with Honor of Claws.
Oizio has been great as a 2-of and is key to "surprise-replenishing" a Tasbu or Sodi that just went to the void for only 3.
Lastly, I don't have all the crests, so there's only 1 in there. Feel free to replace the banners with those.
Suffocate
x4
2
Annihilate
x3
2
Kerendon Steward
x4
2
Ripknife Assassin
x4
2
Strategize
x4
2
Vara's Favor
x3
3
Blight Pass Smuggler
x4
3
Desecrate
x4
3
Oizio, Adaptive Spy
x2
3
Rhysta, Acantha's Herald
x4
4
Nullblade
x2
4
Vara, Vengeance-Seeker
x4
5
Sodi, Wingbreaker
x4
5
Tasbu, the Forbidden
x4
Primal Sigil
x4
Shadow Sigil
x7
Crest of Cunning
x4
Emblem of Makkar
x2
Feln Insignia
x4
Seat of Cunning
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
I haven't thought of bringing this to the ladder but I'm glad you're having a lot of success with it. Just curious, what are your typical matchups?
Good luck with your climb :)
do you have any recommandations as a replacement for tasbu. would be the 5/1 flyer when it dies it drains 5 life a good budget replacement for a (recently started) player?
regards
MAIN DECK:
+ 4 Permafrost
+ 1 Annihilate
+ 4 Auric Interrogator
+ 4 Bam, Sneakeepeekee
+ 4 Champion of Cunning
- 2 Suffocate
- 3 Vara's Favor
- 2 Oizio, Adaptive Spy
- 4 Rhysta, Acantha's Herald
- 2 Nullblade
- 4 Tasbu, the Forbidden
POWER:
+ 4 Cobalt Waystone
- 3 Primal Sigil
- 1 Shadow Sigil
MARKET:
- 1 Champion of Cunning
+ 1 Nullblade
Bam, Sneakeepeekee and Auric Interrogator both provide a draw effect, while Champion of Cunning triggers the draw effect for Auric Interrogator + buffs the rest of your units to give you an additional oomph that Tasbu, the Forbidden used to give. I've kept the powerbase almost the same so you can always trigger the GROW buff from Champ.
Your gameplan becomes a little more aggressive this time though. Note that I'm testing this version as I'm replying to you so we're in this new one together lol. Will keep you posted.
EDIT: Don't craft Bam, Sneakeepeekee if you don't have him. Just keep 2x Oizio, Adaptive Spy and 2x Nullblade, then add Vara, Fate-Touched in the market.
EDIT2: Went 7-0 with this version. Boss: Limitless Possibilities (random battle skills) - 7 turns. Bam, Sneakeepeekee was a key performer for me. If you don't have a full set of him, slide in Memory Dredger instead or play around with the card choices :) Good luck! Will try to squeeze a few more games soon!
big thx for the alternate card choices and budget rework of your whole deck :D
i have all the cards from your original decklist, but i only don't have tasbo.
as you mentioned that champion of cunning is a good 5 drop, since it looks like a solid drop anyways, should i play four of this card instead of Tasbo?
since i am not sure if i have 4 auric interrogator and 4 Bam, Sneakapee.
thanks for playtesting :D
regards
Khan2k14
I think Champion of Cunning should be okay, but I haven't really tested him. I suggest you keep + 4 Permafrost, +1 Annihilate, - 3 Vara's Favor, -2 Suffocate if you go with Champ.
Although if you have Rost, the Walking Glacier - he's a better replacement. You just have to re-work the powerbase and exchange Rhysta / Vara's Favor for something else.
Goodluck!
EDIT: Btw, you will also lack some draw power without Tasbu, so you might want to remove Oizio and add Wisdom of the Elders.
I ended up crafting Tasbu, Oizio, and Black-Sky Harbinger to try out this deck and am not having the amazing success with it that I had hoped I would, but it is a really good deck and fun to play, too, as there are open-ended options almost every turn as to what you want to do. I love the amount of card draw you can generate each turn, too. I'm also blaming Master Gaunlet a little as the AI is known to cheat and you often get sigil screwed or flooded just for the fun of it.
I found it was a little slow for me so I wanted that tiny extra bit of potential damage to close out games faster so I replaced Kerendon Steward with Argenport Instigator. I took your advice from a previous comment and replaced Suffocate with Permafrost and replaced Annihilate with In Cold Blood in order to not worry about enemy faction amounts. I only have one Nullblade from Livia's Armory so I moved it to the Market. I also replaced the Banners with Crests. It seems like there is just enough sigil draw through Rhysta, Vara's Favor, and the Crest's Scout ability to not need to add more ways to draw power.
Thanks again for this deck and the write-up! I'll keep having a go at more Gauntlet Runs with this deck and I'll be trying out your other Gauntlet decks, too. Cheers!
4 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Argenport Instigator (Set1 #268)
4 Desecrate (Set1005 #17)
4 Ripknife Assassin (Set1003 #13)
4 Strategize (Set3 #165)
4 Vara's Favor (Set0 #35)
4 Blight Pass Smuggler (Set6 #235)
2 Oizio, Adaptive Spy (Set6 #318)
4 Rhysta, Acantha's Herald (Set5 #168)
4 In Cold Blood (Set1003 #15)
4 Vara, Vengeance-Seeker (Set1004 #19)
4 Sodi, Wingbreaker (Set1006 #16)
4 Tasbu, the Forbidden (Set6 #217)
3 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
10 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Crest of Cunning (Set3 #267)
4 Feln Insignia (Set6 #234)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
--------------MARKET---------------
1 Hailstorm (Set1003 #11)
1 Nullblade (Set6 #209)
1 Champion of Cunning (Set1 #371)
1 Black-Sky Harbinger (Set1 #385)
1 Dizo's Office (Set5 #182)
I like your changes as well, and maybe you'd like to consider Blackhall Warleader VS Ripknife Assassin since you're going the more aggressive route.
In Cold Blood fits the curve nicely, but don't you find it expensive at all? I'm curious if it's a good replacement for Annihilate. I like Annihilate for the speed, and I especially like using it on Predatory Carnosaur to prevent it from taking out one of mine by surprise.
Oizio really is cool when you 1) have the mana 2) something good dies and 3) you warp him in , but that's so rare. Mostly I resent drawing him.
Rip knife is good but steward not so much.
I'll be throwing Spiteful strike in there and seeing if my luck changes. It's IMHO among THE best Gauntlet cards.
I don't really prioritize Oizio that much. He's usually a strategize or a market target in most games but he's been key when I needed him. He could be Permafrost split with Suffocate if needed.
Steward is there mostly for the deadly + I almost always have spare power to buff him into an attack, and then does more late game VS big units. He could be an Instigator or a Warleader, but if I go that route, I'd change a couple of things in the deck (Permafrost VS Suffocate is the first thing I can think of, but it's going to be a lot more aggressive than this version. I have a bad record with Aggro decks though as I can't deal with late-gamers in Gauntlet).
Spiteful Strike is something I had in there prior to this version, but I encountered a lot of games during my playtest where I wished it was another unit so I removed it.
Maybe it has something to do with how I play?
If you get the time, please let me know how your updated version works! I haven't played a lot with this deck lately so I might playtest again. But as always, feel free to tweak to your playstyle!
Well I didn't play much today, but I will say that if you are using this for gauntlet, then Memory Dredger can be fantastic!
AI never understands that when we attack with a 2 cost AND dredger, that him blocking the 2 wont help since we will instantly play it from void!
I only stuck 2 dredger in to start but am finding him good enough that i might try 3 or 4. Not sure where i will find the room.
As far as spiteful strike, I dunno what to say. I always like having it VS the AI, since there are soooo many times where you can take out a big unit (or severall small ones) without the cost of your own unit, just by playing Spiteful Strike, and the lifesteal is a bonus.
Using Cabal Standards is another thing u might try. Right now I am trying to decide which of the 2 (or both) im gonna keep. Definitely going to take one or the other at least, since quickdraw on a deck with lots of deadly AND some big units is just too juicy!
When I have the time ill try to give more feedback.
Cheers
Thanks for the deck, I've been having a lot of success with it!
Quick suggestion: you should put the crests in the official list, with the banner in the market. Players shouldn't have to go through all the comments discussion to realize than you don't have crests in your list simply because you don't own them.
Nice presentation article :)
About your suggestion - I'm not really sure about it because:
1) It will make my results inaccurate if I list cards that I don't have and haven't played with, and
2) I've been successful using banners anyway so maybe it's fine staying that way. Oh and speaking of which, I just added 2 more successful runs with this deck, so maybe, just maybe crests or banners don't really matter? I'm curious about it too! :)
I'm a new player and I'm having some mixed results with this deck...I figure I'm probably not using it properly.
Could you give me a few pointers? What do you look in the opening hand, when to mulligan, what is the first thing you pull from the market or anything really that you consider to be crucial for such consistent wins in gauntlet.
Tnx a bunch.
If I got a hand with ONLY 2 power but has something that could get me to 3 or more e.g. Vara's Favor, I keep it.
If got a 2-power hand with no way to get to 3 power, I mulligan.
Anything with 3 power + Rhysta/Merchant should be good too.
I also strategize or market either Tasbu or Sodi if I know I couldn't play them soon (e.g. I lack influence, stuck at 3 power).
If you're waiting for influence, you have 8 deadly 2 drops to help you stall.
I don't play Vara's Favor on an empty board unless I really need the power.
I suicide my units into AI units (favorable exchange of course!) if I feel like AI is starting to build a board that's wider/better/scarier than mine. It's also fine to use Suffocate on 1-cost units in the early game (e.g. Initiate of the Sand or even Grenadins), just so you can keep your health at a manageable level.
Having said that, remember that there are matchups that rely on key units to snowball. In those cases, save your premium removal on said units, e.g. Katra The Devoted, Marshall Ironthorn, or that 2/4 rare Time-Primal flying dinosaur.
As for market, if I'm lacking power, I get the crest/banner (whatever you power-fixing you have there). The rest of the time, I get Champion. BUT know your matchups. If you're facing go-wide decks such as Grenadin Revolt or Rising Up or Arcanum Army, grab Hailstorm of course :)
I only pull Dizo's Office if I'm at 6 power, or I know I can get to 6-7 power. I never get it in the early game. I also almost never get Harbinger unless I desperately need another unit, or a flying blocker.
Lastly, I think it's also about knowing your matchups. Once you know what type of enemy you're facing, it's easy to plan your steps and you can really farm Gauntlet efficiently.
Goodluck! Feel free to PM if you have more questions.
Tnx again Roxie.
Happy grinding!
I am running crests instead of banners main deck with a banner in market as EGaL suggested.
Go Feln ! :-)
Yesss Feln!
Btw, you can get 1x Nullblade from the in-game Store under Theme Decks for 3k gold. The deck is called Livia's Armory :) Another replacement for it would be Steward of the Past (same cost + deadly, but Nullblade is more flexible).
Harbinger also isn't that necessary since you got Hailstorm as a better sweeper and Dizo's Office for lifesteal. I think you can replace it with Big Vara since you have lots of targets available (I might try that too!).
I took out the Banners for Crests and replaced the Feeding Time with a Banner. This works out pretty well since it gives you another 4 three drops that can get you from three to four power.
I remember this girl Meg (yes like the shark Statham killed) - we were simply not good for each other so we parted ways. But I'm happy she's married now with someone who's right for her.
I believe that about you VoidKing! Go back to the main page and BROWSE! Find the one that's gonna make you happy! Find your VoidQueen! Make some VoidBabies! We're rooting for you :)
PS. Still having success with this (+2 other decks I have in rotation) - have enough for next league + 2 drafts!
PPS. Looooving the "Ariana-Grande-Thank-You-Next" vibe you have going on there! Werk it ;)
To be honest, one of the lists I use a lot is the Stonescar Aggro deck that was taken to Worlds this year. If you don't have a guaranteed two-drop in your opening hand, mulligan. Other than that, just play aggro as aggro was intended and it will win the whole gauntlet up to three times in a row (my experience).
I tried several times with this Tasbu/Sodi build and all it seemed good at doing was frustrating me. Power screw is a HUGE problem with this deck, but even when it wasn't doing that to me, it didn't seem particularly powerful vs. many of the other builds I use (Rakano Icaria, Feln Midrange, Jennev Peaks, etc.). But, oh well, I needed to craft those Tasbus anyway.
If it works for you, good on you, Sir, and thank you for not biting my head off for my comment above made, desperately, with much aggrivation.
PS: I've definitely browsed.. I've browsed until I can't browse anymore. Sadly, it takes a lot to impress me.
I've been lurking around this website for a few months now and I absolutely love reading about everyone's experiences and how certain decks work - so I thought it's about time I pay it forward and add some value in even the smallest way.
All in all, I'm glad players are having success with this deck and are even willing to contribute to it especially since I'm no expert - I'm just going to keep writing about my progress for anyone who's interested.
Cheers! And keep BROWSING :)
They are good cards, but power screw is a problem, so I prefer to sacrifice some power in favor of greater consistency. There were times when I couldn't play Tasbu, even Sodi or Hailstorm. So, seek power is necessary for me. I would like to put a banner on the market, but you can't...
I will definitely continue playing it in the next few days. It's fun to play, and the two wins againts Mindless Aggression boss, were unforgettable.
* I made changes while I was testing the deck, this is the "final" version (for now).
I've encountered power screw but I almost never get problems in the first few turns - I'm usually the aggressor especially with the well-costed kill spells. We might have different play styles but I'm glad the deck works either way!
I'm going to try your changes as well to see if it plays smoother for me. I'm 60-2 right now by the way, feel free to check my update on the main article :)
Waiting to face Sudden Death or Company of Exiles bosses, this deck is one of the best and most reliable I've played with in Gauntlet. I hope more people try it!
I also get why you'd include Rindra's Choice. Annihilate becomes a market card for me when I face the multi-faction opponent (the one running multiple Champions).
I'm 84 - 4 right now and I've included your version in my update just now!
Thanks again for your inputs - gives other players some insight on how they can use the deck better!