Sahin Pit Midrange

Contents
(1) Introduction
(2) Deck Breakdown
(2.1) Power Base
(2.2) Combo Pieces
(2.3) Ramp
(2.4) Cantrips
(2.5) Midrange Core
(3) The Market
(4) Hard AI Deck Matchups
(5) Boss Matchups

(1) Introduction

Overview

Want to play a fun, bombastic combo, but without all the fluff cards that are weak to gauntlet's relentless high-roll aggro strategies?

This gauntlet deck is a sturdy, efficient, time-based midrange/ramp beater with a compact Governor Sahin-Pit of Lenekta combo. It's based on Sahin The Fremen and other predecessors.

The combo

Play Sahin, then activate his ability. we now have a Pit of Lenekta in play, since it's the only relic in the deck. And then it's really hard to lose. Even one bout of double 7/7 sandwurms means the AI is immediately on the back foot. From there, we just overwhelm them while gaining life from their trades or chump blocks.

Deck construction

My deckbuilding goal was to (1) make a Sahin-Pit deck without any bad cards, and (2) make a stable gauntlet deck that's strong without the combo. This combo is compact, and playing bad synergy cards makes our deck worse, so let's avoid it.

We only need 2 ingredients to execute the combo: Sahin and a relic. We can go easy on the relic producers: 4 First Shipment and 8 ways to get relics out of the market. We don't want weak combo enablers or synergy cards.

Besides that, my general gauntlet deck building principles are to ensure consistent power draws, have answers common gauntlet problems, and finish games quickly once I'm ahead.

The bulk of the deck is filled with reliable ramp and midrange cards, and some card selection. If we don't get wer combo out, we crush with big monsters like Sandstorm Titan and Riftfeeder Wasp.

The market provides defense, hosers, combo assistance, and a big ramp payoff.

(2) Deck Breakdown

Our deck contains a midrange core of 19 "good cards" - efficient and powerful, these help us survive and either win on their own, or get us into a winning position. We have 6 combo pieces, 12 ramp effects, 8 cantrips, 20 ways to draw power, 8 ways to access the market, and 8 removals.

(2.1) Power base

Our power base is straightforward, but there are a few things to explain.

We run the usual 25 power cards, but we have 12 pieces of ramp and 20 cards that let us draw more power. Generally, we do our best to play a power every turn while not getting flooded.

5 Time Sigil
We need these because of Time Etchings and First Shipment, but also because having a power that's always undepleted is a beautiful thing. We almost never run out of fetch targets, so 5 is fine, but I wouldn't go any lower.

1 Shadow Sigil
We play exactly 1 shadow sigil so that we can get it with First Shipment.

4 Amber Waystone
This is our "not a sigil but not a dual" slot. Helps stabilize against aggro and almost always gains life past turn 3.

4 Crest of Mystery
Always being depleted is unfortunate, but this helps dig for combo or survival pieces while getting our influence in order. Watch out for sneaky Lost Travelers.

4 Xenan Cylix
It's a power that draws cards. It got a huge nerf and it's still stupidly powerful. But don't be afraid to play it early to save an undepleted power on a later turn.

4 Xenan Insignia
4 Xenan Tome
These two just do their job, getting us the influence we need while being undepleted. If we had a painting, we'd probably still play Tome because hitting our 4+ power plays is more important than 1-2.

(2.2) Combo Pieces

4 Governor Sahin
Sahin is a beautiful combo enabler and I wish there were more like him. His body survives a lot of removal, he's easy to cast, and he blocks aggro. He can activate his ability even when stunned or exhausted, and he can do it a second time for the disgusting double Pit.

2 Pit of Lenekta
This card is so fun - for some reason DWD tends to make expensive cards terrible, and I don't know why. But Pit on the other hand gives us an appropriate payoff even when hard cast, stabilizing ourlife and putting our board way over the top. With our 12 ramp cards and plethora ways to draw power, we're often in a position to hard cast this. If drawn early, put it in the market. But when you're at 7 or 8, consider keeping it around.

Why two pits? Three isn't necessary - I've never wanted to do the combo but been unable to. I haven't tried one but I think it would be fine? Really, I just like the obscenity of double Pit, and we can always stash untimely pit draws into the market.

(2.3) Ramp

We play ramp because (1) we're in time and ramp is powerful (2) more power helps us play our combo and (3) it enables big top-end cards like Grodov's Burden and a hardcast Pit.

4 Initiate of the Sands
This classic set 1 ramp card gets us ahead quickly.

4 Logistics Expert
High power ramp card that's relevant in the early, mid, and late game.
Tip: The overwhelm works nicely once Grodov's Burden is in play.

(2.4) Cantrips

Cantrips and draw effects are pretty weak in Eternal, but these cards help us find what we need. They help us either get our combo pieces or draw through unwanted combo pieces. And our ramp strategy combined with our defensive posture means we have the time and power to play cards that don't affect the board.

4 Cull the Deck
It's surprising that this is still the best cantrip with card selection at 2 power, but I'm not sure what else to run. It just helps us find what we need, whether it's power, a sturdy unit, market access, or a combo piece. In the ramp shell, this card feels surprisingly good to cast because we can often play what we found immediately.

4 First Shipment
This piece of sweet, sticky glue does everything. Just read the card: we get a relic, thus enabling our combo. We choose a sigil, fixing our influence and setting up an undepleted power. We gain 2 life, stabilizing us against aggro and offsetting the do-nothing nature of this card. And finally, we draw an entire extra card, giving us card advantage. We can even sac the honey to gain 3 life if we need to. Wow, what a perfect card for this deck!

Tip: I usually grab the shadow sigil so our Time Etchings can continue getting time sigils and to help enable Xenan Cylix.

(2.5) Midrange Core

Most of this deck is just high-quality generic midrange cards that help us survive and stabilize. We need to eat our vegetables so we can enjoy that delicious combo dessert guilt-free!

3 Alhed Ascending
This is the "2 drop that helps us survive aggro" slot, and it's the most flexible slot in the deck. Alhed is just a pile of value that blocks aggro and gives a massive top-end.

Other options: Send an Agent, Master Archivist, mana dorks, or perhaps Exploit.

4 Desert Alchemist
An unexciting card that's not proactive, this is a powerful defensive toolbox. It kills almost everything that doesn't have quickdraw, but more importantly, it stabilizes our deck's power development. With this card, we're never stuck on two. It also recycles extra power draws, which can happen with Riftfeeder Wasp, Time Etchings, and First Shipment. And finally, it provides a convenient way to deal with uncastable Pits in hand.

4 Lost Traveler
This is a beauty of a midrange card. It cleanly takes out one of their guys, while often drawing a card, and it can even block 1 drops! Just incredible! What a gift of a promo - they even gave it cool art!

4 Sandstorm Titan
Titan is the ultimate gauntlet card, single handedly brickwalling the plentiful aggro/flyer strategies, while beating down hard.

4 Riftfeeder Wasp
I actually dislike this card, mostly because everything else in the game is so much weaker that we're just forced to find a way to put this in our decks. The fact that it has antisynergy with our flyer-hoser suite doesn't even matter. Just play this dummy and win. It often wins the game by itself with zero interaction or support.

(3) The Market

The market's flexibility makes it core to any gauntlet strategy. A well constructed gauntlet must contain powerful, efficient solutions to the problems we expect to face. Usually, this includes answers, threats, and utility.

In this deck, our market cards are especially useful because they let us get rid of unwanted combo pieces, especially a too-early Pit or an extra Sahin.

Our market provides three defensive cards: Infinite Hourglass, Sandstorm Scarf, and Gnash, Desert Prince. Grodov's Burden is our unbeatable top-end. And Amber Lock is a cantrip that enables our combo without putting bad relic-makers in the main deck.

General market strategy

Generally, we're looking to lock down the AI's aggro strategy, then implement our combo. The biggest priority depends on what we're up against and our ability to execute our combo given our hand. If you're expecting pressure, grab Sandstorm Scarf or Infinite Hourglass. If you're lacking a Sahin enabler or just don't know what else to grab, get Amber Lock. If you need to clear fliers or stabilize against little dude aggro, get Gnash, Desert Prince. And if you need something that absolutely ruins the AI's day, get Grodov's Burden.

No power in the market?

Generally, I consider it correct to play a power in a gauntlet market, because stability is how we win gauntlet runs. But this deck has 25 powers, 20 2-or-3 cost ways to draw power, and 12 ramp cards. We just don't need a power in the market. If we played one, it would be an inscribe card like Cloudscraper or maybe Containment Sphere.

Market access

4 Time Etchings
This gives us cheap access to the market with the fallback of ensuring our next power. Every unit except Sahin can be exhausted with this, and our 1-drops provide ample exhaust fodder.

4 Auralian Merchant
A great follow-up to a turn 1 dork, this gal gives us extra power while fixing our hand and getting our hoser relics in play.

Market options

Infinite Hourglass
There are a few uses for this card. First, it stabilizes against the various primal or justice decks that want to tempo us out with stun effects. Second, it protects against one-hit-kill spells like Crystallize or the brutal Deep Freeze. Third, it ensures that our sandwurms are ready to block the same turn they're played, which is important in many perilous gauntlet scenarios. And finally, it simply gives us the ability to smash chump blockers while not leaving us open to counter attacks.

Sandstorm Scarf
This crucial piece of time gauntlet tech defends us against the scourge of flyer spam. I grab this against any deck known to contain flyers. Usually we want this before Gnash, so we can safely let them play their board before obliterating it.

Amber Lock
This is a flexible slot, but one which brings great stability to the deck. By giving our 8 market cards the ability to play a relic, we can cut bad relic producers from our main deck. This is often the card I grab in situations where I don't have a clear market need, since it draws a card while enabling our combo. There are other cards we could play here, but drawing a card - and sometimes two - seems to be the best effect available on a cheap relic.

Gnash, Desert Prince
Gnash is a gauntlet legend, easily clearing flyer spam, while leaving a big body that generates an army of dudes. It feels less necessary these days with Wasp serving as 4 more copies of Sandstorm Titan, but I still like the security and blowout potential of having Gnash around.

Grodov's Burden
This card goes extremely over the top and makes it very hard to lose, and our ramp package means we can cast this plus spellcraft without trouble. Remove their best thing, buff our team, and make our board unkillable. And then why not draw some cards? The stacking effect blasts through stalled boards after we establish our lockdown. Especially when we start giving one giant unit deadly, overwhelm, and endurance.

(4) Hard AI Deck Matchups

Here I'll list a some of the notable non-boss gauntlet decks, and how to beat them.

Strange Return

This deck can beat us on a few axes, but our market and midrange core helps counter that. Look to nullify their stuns and fliers, with Sandstorm Titan being ideal, and the cheap market relics shoring up any problems. They can't deal with Sahin, so we can easily combo and win.

Stalking Beasts

This deck is relentless with its early units, stuns, unending draw, and big top-end. Look to lock things down with Infinite Hourglass and Sandstorm Scarf, then combo as they have almost nothing that deals with Sahin.

(5) Boss Matchups

With the changes about a year ago, we see a lot more boss variety these days. But gauntlet bosses are just as dangerous as ever.

Double damage

Prioritize playing blockers over cantrips. Our combo will absolutely win, but we have to survive first. Gnash is a good market fetch.

Decay

Gnash is pretty great against this deck, providing an endless supply of blockers and killers. We should readily trade off our blockers, and try to avoid giving the AI extra value. Our combo wins the game as usual. Keep in mind Grodov's Burden does very little here.

Free scion

This is very beatable if we can dodge an early Kaleb. I don't believe they have a way to remove Lost Traveler, so save him for their scion, which also shuts off their reanimation. Survive and then get the combo going if possible, as the AI can't beat it.

5 influence in each faction

Their fliers are the biggest threat here, so use the market accordingly. Desert Alchemist efficiently deals with their huge beaters. Champion of Glory holding Mantle of Justice is a problem, but it can be chumped, blocked with wurms, or simply removed.

Units start with 1 health

You know what doesn't start with 1 health? Sandwurm tokens. Just force the combo if you can. Use the market to try and deal with their fliers. Gnash is helpful, and Grodov's Burden can help get past the crucial 1-health stat. Try to find ways to avoid playing units that die to 1-damage effects. Alhed and Logistics Expert can both arrive with greater than 1 health.