Siraf's Burden

Just a fun gauntlet deck that I've been winning 7-0 at masters very regularly with. Could probably be optimised a bit more and I'd love any suggestions!
Also runs are a little on the slower side but it's consistent even against some of the harder AI decks.

So...
Strategy:

On the opening hand it's good to look for market access. Since this deck mainly relies on either Grodov's Burden or Maeve, Walker of Aeons coming into play (win's quite easily without the market but that's the main win con). Sword of Unity is also very often a finisher, and martyrs chains for if the game goes on too long.

Against flying heavy decks (highly skilled/ hooru etc.) gnash is a god tier drop. Would be good to try and reroll a hand for smuggler or SST.

Aggro decks (Sudden death, wumps, strength of numbers etc.) siraf/hojan/tocas/finesthour/alchemist/evangel are all good starting cards. Especially evangel and sometimes hojan if it's sudden death. Although I would advise to try to bait out the cub that deals 1 damage (x2) before dropping hojan or Kodosh.

The annoying kill all your units decks (chilling touch etc) market and burden for draw helps a lot. Never found a problem with these type of decks though usually they run out of gas super quick.

Apart from those decks it's pretty much just ramp/market for Grodov's, Maeve, or Sword of unity depending on the game.

Cards/synergies

Siraf, Grand Strategist with burden is just fantastic in gauntlet, once both are down and you start twisting it's pretty much over. Siraf on her own generates massive value and usually wins against the gauntlet if she goes unanswered. With grodovs burden passing around double damage and whatever else just makes it GG pretty quick.

Other wonderful synergies include Minotaur Platemaker with pretty much everything (espeically maeve, those weapons produced by the twists also draw a card every turn, and so does exalted weapons if you have grodovs!)
Gnash + Grodov's = unlimited killer being spread about!
Finest hour + Hojan, goes without saying that sweet ramp and lifesteal.

Kodosh Evangel might seem a little out of place but I find it a pretty vital card for
1. spreading around lifesteal.
2. good vs aggro and double damage boss.
3. AI seems to hate this card and will use kill spells on it, so you can usually drop something like tocas next turn.

Beseech the Throne really helps makes sure you're rarely screwed or flooded. And can just produce value midgame if you have too much power etc.

Desert Alchemist Again helps with power adjusting perfectly, while also removing threats. And of course spreading deadly around With Grodovs burden (rarely needed but has come in handy a couple of times).

Tocas, Waystone Harvester is pretty great for ramping and blocking. I never really twist (especially against fire or shadow) because the AI decks usually have waaaay more 3 damage spells than 4. Sometimes that twist for more power has won me the game though so it's still a handy option.

Other cards go without saying too much about them, Enforcer for flying and silence, finest hour cause the AI blocks terribly. Vanq blade for Siraf and hojan. Sandstorm titan is just a straight beast against every type of deck.

Possible improvements

1. Kodosh's Armor is most likely a better card than martyrs chains in the market, at the time though I was saving shift for something else. I'll be trying that out soon. Martyrs is still great though and has easily cleaned up messy games. Edit: Just tried it and it's much worse than I thought, exalted weapons can't be passed to multifaction units if Kodosh armor is up. Even if there's only 2 units (1 multi 1 single faction)

2. I've also been wanting to add more brokers in because I think it'll help speed this deck up when waiting for market access on a stalled board... but I'm really not sure what to cut. Maybe a vanq blade or two even though they feel really handy

3. Might drop a few power because the beseech and alchemist. But not felt like I've been flooded or screwed too often so unsure of this yet. Will test it out a bit.


Any ideas, thought's and comments are more than welcome! Thanks for reading!