Roshi & Danica (thanks to Calebovitsch and Chat!)

So this is a deck that Calebovitsch and his chat were working on when I tuned in. I found it to be interesting and decided to make my own version of it. I added a 5-cost market, which helps with finding the right influence (Ark of Sol), fight against board flooding decks (Shen-Ra Speaks), play a value card (Grodov's Burden), give your big guys Deadly and Overwhelm, quite likely Berserk as well and sometimes Crownwatch Longswords (Word of Power) and finally, a way to fight relics (Bastion of the Dawn). Note that Vision of Austerity doesn't hit Sling of the Chi, that's why there are 2 Sabre-Tooth Prideleaders in the main. We all know how good the card is and I found that there has to be some counterplay to Sling. There's a single Jotun Hurler for Snowball to pop face Aegis, kill pesky 1 health units and have market fodder - card's just too good at this not to have at least 1.

The main gameplan is putting down some dorks and then Imbue on them with Danica for the draw and having a sizeable unit. If Danica sticks, you have your other Imbue units for continued draw. Roshi obviously wants Danica to be on the board, quite the value play outside of opposing Endurance units. As for the actual Imbue targets, you want them to be unsuspicious, otherwise they will just be killed, leaving you with an understatted unit. Now Danica actually demands removal, since you can shrink her, but the draw effect will stay. Roshi has a similar role if he stuns an enemy unit. Killing the Imbuee shrinks him, but the unit stays stunned, so you will want to kill Roshi himself in that situation. Amber Acolytes are great Imbue targets, killing them will leave you with a card for your trouble, as they draw on summon. Trail Maker is great in the deck for the influence fixing, but it's actually a card you could consider killing, as it ramps and doesn't replace itself. If you target him with Danica, she will most likely be the removal target, so that's a good situation. I've added 2 Kosul Battlemages, 3/3 with Aegis that grows when spells are cast. They are in the deck to have an Imbue target that is sticky, so they can't just shrink your Imbuer down by killing the stunned unit. It makes the Imbuers quite large and has game if it gets unstunned. There's 4 Bubble Shields to protect Danica or Roshi and potentially block effects with face Aegis. The card is just too good not to run, even though you won't always have JJ/PP for it. I play the card in many decks and if you have it, it's often better to wait until you can cast the unit you want to stick and have 1 power open. It can create great value turns, super stoked that DWD added this card.

There's another inclusion that should be mentioned: Land's Edge. The card makes all the stunned units grow into real threats if left unchecked. Even after 1-2 turns, you will find that you've gotten Xenan Obelisk/Archmagister's Portal value on the units you had stunned - while ideally drawing cards with Danica.

This leads me to another fun aspect of the deck: the relic package. There's an Infinite Hourglass, which is great if you get to Word of Power territory. It will unstun all your units, you then cast the spell and have a very wide board with great potential for lethal. It can easily be marketed away in the early game and is fetchable with the singleton Elvish Swindler in the deck. Swindler can also grab Porcelain Mask or Eye of Winter, both useful relics. It may be meme territory, but it felt fun to add.

Apart from these aspects, the deck is quite straightforward. I've added some removal (Permafrost, Maveloft Huntress, Vanquish, Polymorph, Eye of Winter, Shen-Ra Speaks in the market). There's 1 Dazzle and 2 Stand Together to protect against board wipe effects, Sword of Unity as a slow speed board protection with Lifesteal and Overwhelm for a big unit, card's great overall, like to play it in a variety of decks that can cast it. There are some more Imbue units in Inspiring Captain and a singleton City Constructor since sometimes you want a big flier that occasionally plays justice sigils. Easy cut if you don't want the effect but (playable) Imbue units are valuable in this deck.

One final aspect I want to comment on is the power/influence situation. Obviously, Trail Maker is a MVP in this aspect as even if it's killed, you get one closer to the amount you need for Danica and Roshi, mostly. I've included 3 Petitions, card's really strong with the additon of Cylixes and there's 2 Time/Primal Symbol, as well as 1 Justice Symbol, so you can really fix the missing influence well. As mentioned earlier, there's Ark of Sol in the early game and Amber Acolyte fetches a power on summon, so that helps as well. Overall, there's an even spread among all the factions with some Seats, some Crests and enough basic Sigils not to be embarassed if your Acolytes can't get one.

Ok, that about covers it. I hope you enjoy playing the deck, building your own version, it's been a blast to work on and I had quite a lot of fun playing with it so far. Thanks for your time, be well, stay safe, take care. <3 Osidan