Exp Kerendon Armory

The idea for this list came from some of the synergies I found while working on my Exp Cheap-as-Free Upgrade for Diana's Faithful Theme Deck. The base strategy here is to outlast your opponent's game plan by stalling or slowing down their attacks with your unit base; ramping up until you're able to play a large relic weapon or two; control the board state with your sweepers; and gain in tempo with the various card drawing effects in mid- to late- game.

The Unit Base can be classified into two groups: units that are here to die and units that allow you to control the board. Desert Alchemist, Unfamiliar Interloper, Temple Scribe, and Jadehorn are here to speed up your own game plan and to stall your opponent's own plans: The Alchemist's Plunder ability lets you cycle through your deck should you be flooded, and her ambush ability serves as a very nasty trick form time to time; As this deck really begins to hum once you can use either Argenport Cylix or Xenan Cylix, the Interloper lets you fix your influence base, twice over if you can use his corrupted form; The Scribe simply put replaces himself once you play him; And, the Jadehorn either serves as a meat shield or as a way to pressure your opponent if they are running slow.

The other Units are primarily here to buff your Relic Weapons: Siphoner Paladin can make use of any of the aforementioned Units to create a 3 / 3 weapon or buff an existing weapon, of note here, if you play a Jadehorn and then sacrifice it with the paladin's Summon, you'll be able to attack twice with a 3 / 6 weapon; Diana, Faith's Shield works like an upgraded Temple Scribe in the sense of replacing herself, but rarely have I had her Ultimate go off in a game where it mattered; and From Beyond's Maeve, Walker of Aeons has been an excellent late game play. Not only does Maeve's recursion ability on summon help your deck in games that are running late, but also she allows your subsequent Units and Weapons to have the same impact as the Temple Scribe's replacement ability. If you can get a Maeve or two on the board drawing extra cards each turn then you should have little difficulty gaining card advantage over your opponent.

For the Relic Weapons, I settled on Authoritarian Creation and Spectral Scythe, but they could be traded up for either a Backbreaker or a Massive Greatsword depending on your own style. I have enjoyed Authoritarian Creation's ramp effect and its nurfing of spell damage effects. As well, the Scythe's unlockable effect can serve as a Win Con on its own.

As for the rest of the deck, both Pillar of Progress and Bartholo's Keepsake serve to ramp your deck and to support your board state later in the game. From Beyond lets you dictate your opponent's early hand through its selected discard effect. Of note here, since this card transforms at 3 Time and 3 Justice influence, Maeve's recursion effect will also shuffle any transformed From Beyonds already in your void, so play this card early and often. And Shen-Ra Speaks allows you to reset the board for those games where your opponent's own plan unfolds faster than yours.

The deck is built around a Fearless Crescendo Market. The Crescendo's effect to give a Unit flying can also help you defeat an opponent faster if they cannot easily deal with flying units. As for the Market, Curtain Call is here to do what it does well, support your board state at the expense of your opponent's Units. I have successfully paired this with my own Shen-Ra Speaks to win a few of my games, wiping my opponent's board only. Wind Conjuring works here as a one-unit Curtain Call with an Invoke ability. This card can also let you turn a loosing match into a winning game. Equalize serves as a fifth copy of Shen-Ra speaks by sweeping the board should you also have no units around. Turn Back Time is a fifth copy of whatever you may need at the time. And Master's Blade is effective in removing any opposing unit without battle skills. This scenario has come up more often then not given the current state of the meta.

To reiterate, your game plan with this deck is to spend turns 1- to 3- setting up your board and influence base with your 2- and 3- drop units; turns 4- to 7- creating a nasty relic weapon, taking out your opponent's units one after another; and turns 7+ grinding your opponent's deck down through using Maeve's recursion and drawing effects.

Please feel free to leave any questions or comments in the section below.