Ixtol's Pendant, 5-cost Treasures! (budget)

What if we wanted our cards to be more expensive?

I've been mulling over Ixtol's Pendant lately, and I've got something worthwhile to show you now! It's your classic Gleeful Firebrand/Rust Machine big-spell affair, but now all your 2-drop spells trigger it! Took me a while to find Far From Home, but it's surprisingly synergistic! It lets you make use of the little guys that get neutralized, explodes with Rust Machine post-Ixtol, and clears the way for Ramba, Arena Showman! Just make sure your influence is prepped for him beforehand.

It's a bit tricky to figure out whether to trigger Ramba's 7 ability or not, and when to drop the pendant, as it's not always turn 1. Do remember, though, that the pendant always comes LAST in a turn, or else you'll brick yourself! Also, playing a 2-cost with Ramba's ability will not trigger Firebrand.

Ramba's an easy slot in this deck, however. I've lways thought of Ixtol as reducing activation costs & amplifys (& contract, now), rather than actually increasing your max power. You likely only want one up at all times unless you've got a Crackling Bauble on.

Important note: Crackling Bauble does get enhanced by Ixtol's Pendant, but Equivocate doesn't. Something to do with what actions happen when on the cards.

For plunders, aim, as always, for cards you won't care about until later. Usually this means your Far from Homes and Crackling Baubles.

Bannerman used to be Volunteer Corps, as the contract & ultimate breeze away with Ixtol. It's just not a good card, though. a 3/2 with flying later is not worth Not Having A Turn Three now, and that slot needed to attack and block effectively. It's a draft card anyway :P Speaking of slots, the Mandatory Retirement and Swirl the Sands slots aren't quite finalized, I just currently need something to deal with Valkyrie nonsense. Swap out with whatever you need to neuter the decks you're facing. Just don't forget to pack in relic removal somewhere, it's required in every meta now. An early choice for this slot was Antique Polisher to dodge stun and squeeze out your high-cost relics easier, so consider that.

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Ixtol's Pendant is a notoriously difficult card to build with, for good reason: it only affects cards in your hand. Not your field, so no evolve shenannigans like Unstable Form, Not your deck, so no Spire Shadows either, and "free" cards still cost 3 so none of that either! I don't think I'll be revisiting Ixtol's Pendant for a long while after this! Whew! Also, this deck being easy on your budget was comlete accident lol. I don't usually plan my decks around cost, just the cards I have.

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You will feel like an absolute genius once you start winning with this deck, I promise!