Elf Cage

With the changes to Star-Reader Severin and Lethrai Hideaway, I've been playing around with the intersection of relics, elves, and empower. The game plan here is to amass a small army to pump up with empower that is easy to rebuild after a wipe. Many of the units in the deck are elves, which can be powered up by the Hideaway turning otherwise irrelevant dudes into threats.

I think there may be something here buried under all the silly, but this deck is very, very rough and I am working to improve it. The power is a bit of a mess; it wants JJPPSSSSS, which is not that hard to get by midgame, but the first few turns can be dicey. I could use some help from more experienced deckbuilders.

Strengths - The deck is strong against reanimator, tokens, and removal piles.
Weaknesses - It is very bad against aggro and has trouble with decks that have a high number of fat flying or endurance units.

I want to talk about some of the cards and how they fit in:

Regent's Tomb: The best card in the market and usually your pick. Pump that team!

Rat Cage/Lethrai Hideaway/Siraf's Beacon/Marionette Cross: These are the meat of the redundancy value engine. Rats are terrible on their own, but the cage makes every relic drop another dude. They stack up when the other relics also drop dudes. Cage is great to recover from a sweeper. The hideaway turns a dork into a snowballing threat that demands a response and works well with most of the units in the deck. The beacon makes a guy (or two, or three) and then pumps your team later on big turns, but you have to be careful of how many triggers you can use as sigils are few. The cross makes a fat guy and the deck skews heavily toward shadow, so it's not as hard to play as you'd think.

Avigraft/Runehammer/Curator's Spear/Pitfall Trap: Relics that are also removal. Hopefully they make a rat and bust up a guy. Avigraft rocks right now. Pitfall Trap is great after they block and lets you filter; playing it with a cage out and then discarding Severin is super value.

Tavia/Rysta: Elf empower/value cards. Tavia makes more dorks and pumps part of the team. They both are decent threats early and are still good draws later. Beware running out of sigils again with Rysta.

Permafrost: I hate this card in this deck and will likely change it to a combo of Annihilate/Vanquish. It is bad against Time and gets broken by endurance tricks and Bore, which people already nab from market to hit your other stuff. It also sucks with relic weapons as it protects the enemy player from your avatar if they have no other dudes. However, it is tons easier to play while you get your power set up in the first few turns.

The weird stuff:

Lethrai Intimidator: I think I either want more of him or to maybe put him in the market, but Regent's Tomb and he kind of occupy the same purpose. He pumps your team (including the rats) and also happens to be an elf.

Champion of Cunning: Also an elf. He basically never hits 5 Primal and he is really here for the pump. Even if you play him and pass to pump your team, he's done strong work in setting up your winning turn. I'm really not sure if he shouldn't be in the market, I should have more, or I should cut him altogether, but he's so good when he's good.

Elvish Swindler: I wish this was cheaper or that it did not require PP! This might not be good enough, but consider what it usually does: it makes a 2/3 and a 2/1 elf and creates a relic (that might add rats too) that lets you pump them. The best play after Harsh Rule and if you've already played a hideaway, you can pump both elves the next turn for a 4/3 and a 4/1. Alternatively, grabbing removal in the spear or Pitfall Trap that can activate right away can also be great. He's a heavy lifter, but he really wants to be cheaper. I may end up cutting him just to bring the influence requirements down and shift the power base even further toward being Severin-friendly.

Zende: Crazy swing in the late game brings back most of the relevant guys. (Again, Swindler wants to be cheaper.) Intimidator/Rysta is a crazy combo to return.

Oblivion Spike: All those tokens hitting the void can turn to your benefit later. A decisive sweeper in the late game after they manage to survive your big turn betrays as you drop a 10+ strength weapon and finish them off.