AP Valkyrie: Gauntlet Grinder

Intro

This deck is not the fastest one, but not too slow. This deck is very easy to play. If you get used to it, you can pilot this deck pretty well even while watching your favorite TV series or anime. Just clear the board and build the board with Valkyries.

Please consider English is not my primary language, so this article may contain some weird or broken sentences.

Main Strategy

We usually follow this plan.
- Use removals to kill enemy threads.
- (If needed) Get and play board wipe from market.
- Build your board.
- Kill opponent with Flying units.

About Cards

Units

Not using any 1-2 drops and using that much removals.
Vara, Vengeance-Seeker is one of reason you play Shadow in gauntlet.
Valkyrie Enforcer and Deathwing are good Valkyries.
Sediti, the Killing Steel is great for both its 6/6 body and Onslaught. Sometimes worth playing without onslaught.
Hidden Road Smuggler is market access with Lifesteal.

Removals

Call The Hit is my favorite card from Set 12. It works as both removal and power. However, using 4 Call the hit makes it less likely to have JJJJJ on Turn 5. That's why we run only 2 Sedities.
Rolant, Iron Tyrant has great synergy with lots of fast removals.

Weapons

Deathwing's valkyrie-warp ability is related to weapons. Ironclad Oath from site will give you small additional armor. However, those are not enough reason to use many weapons.
Weapons on units are not great because the deck has low unit count. Those weapons can't played unless you played a unit already.
Auric Runehammer works just fine. It also has good synergy with Rolant, Iron Tyrant.
Backbreaker is good additional health. I'd love to have one. But I don't want to have more 6-cost cards in my deck.

Sites

Lord Steyer's Tower does everything. Play units, weaken opponent units, buff a unit, gain armor. It's strong enough without its Valkyrie-warp ability. Only downside of this card is it's a bit high on curve.
AIs do not deal with site very well. Sometimes they ignore and go face when they should kill it.

Power Base

Always make sure to hit 3 power. Using 35 power access. 25 Powers, 4 Justice Etchings, 4 Call The Hit, 2 Lost Scroll.
Justice Etchings are like Seek Power with market access.
Justice Sketch sometimes finish the game very quickly or get more Lifesteal. Also makes good synergy with Ironclad Oath from the tower.

Market

Alchemy Student: Cheap and fast Lifesteal.
Know Thy Enemy: This deck doesn't have any 1-2 drops. Can sometimes kill valkyrie tokens though.
Nothing Remains: Turn 3 Hidden Road Smuggler, Turn 4 Nothing Remains. Better Harsh Rule unless you kill your own Makto.
Inquisitor Makto: Place for big unit.
Argenport Banner: For power and fixing.

Cards didn't make cut

These are cards I've used or considered for this deck. Some of these can be good.
Previous version: Valkyrie-Warp Gauntlet Grinder

Winchest Merchant: It's good, but I prefer lifesteal. May consider if I need more merchants.
Regent's Tomb: Nice market card. Works best against control decks. But control matchups are not bad and enough with Makto.
Pristine Light: Was in market. Replaced with Nothing Remains. It's good because of its low cost, but Nothing Remains is good enough for the purpose.
Reappropriator, Raniya, Wings of the Cabal: Strong card but too high shadow influence.
Vanquisher's Blade, Master's Blade, Stormhalt Plating: Decent market options.
Exploit: It was good when plunder was best alternative power. Call The Hit replaces it.

Matchups

Should note that some AI decks contain Rolant's Fist. In Master tier, 'Forgemaster', 'Wings of Valkyries', 'Army of Justice' each have one copy of it.

Budget Replacement

This is not a cheap deck. But by cutting some legendary cards, you can still make a decent build with similar strategy.

Rolant, Iron Tyrant

In case you don't have them and don't want to craft, I think more Vaklyries and less removal build may work better.
Here is example of changes.

+4 Icaria, Valkyrie Captain
+4 Steyer's Eyes

-4 Rolant, Iron Tyrant
-2 Defiance
-2 Lost Scrolls

Big units(Makto, Sediti)

Try other big and good cards. Focus on stabilizing the board and keeping yourself alive.
I recommend Rolant's Honor Guard because you already have one from Expedition Vault. You can also consider getting Stormhalt Plating and Hojan, Beloved Son from preconstructed deck 'Ijin's Army' in the store.
Up to two copy of Telut, Queen's Hand will be good too. It's in Vara's set.

Towers

Similar to replacement on big units. But I do not recommend replacing Towers. Those are on highest priority if you want to craft something for this deck.

Mass Removals in market

Devastating Setback(from EXP Vault), Vara's Authority, Harsh Rule