Minotaur Gifts

I've gone 9-2 with this deck so far against mostly Gold and Diamond players. Wins were against a range of decks, from frenzy-based aggro, mid-range AP and Hooru control. Losses were to a Poacher's Menagerie deck and an Eclipse deck.

The deck plays a midrange beat down game that put units on the board, removes the opponents' then finishes with Gift of the Auric Bank, unleashed Golden Horn Security, and/or a big Hidden Garotte to the face.

The early drops don't seem impressive, but backed up with some of AP's excellent removal options (Call The Hit, Shrivel and Slay) and Finest Hour, they're able to punch through most threats and stack up the Warcrys which pay off in the late game.

Black Book, Pit Boss does a great job at hand disruption, discarding removal/board wipes, while putting a threat on the board and can be devastating when followed up by Gift. Even on its own, the Warcry 2s make the next threat you draw huge.

Hidden Garotte has been surprisingly good in this deck and should possibly be a 4-of. In some games, the right move was to go face instead of removing units, especially once Gift of The Auric Bank was out. Defending the relic weapon is also relatively easy with the Endurance on Auric Sentry and Black Book.

In the 4-drop slot, I've used Minotaur Lighthoof and Sharp Tactician, with a 3/2 splt. It was originally 4/1, but I quickly found that Tactician was really pulling its weight – there are a lot of battle skills around around at the moment, and Tactician was a 4/4 or 6/6 often enough (or an 8/8 when silencing Bloodsucking Skeeter!). Lighthoof can help push damage or be relic removal. The relic removal side is not irrelevant with Mystical Shackles around, and this might be reason enough to keep it in the deck, I'm not sure what the final split should be, but if the Tacticians go up, the powerbase probably needs an update.

The weakest card in the deck is easily Lurking Brute. Again, with all the removal, it's not that hard to connect and start growing, but it is relatively slow, especially if played later than turn 2 or 3, and doesn't help much in the lategame. It's possible that something like Tinker Unionist would be better, even if not a Minotaur, for its Warcry and Taunt, and the potential to Unleash in the late game.

I'm sure there's room to tweak and improve – enjoy!