Feln control - Masters gauntlet for cheap

Easy gauntlet wins to master, based on RNGEternal's starter guide's Feln Control budget deck.
This deck is mostly comprised of cheap (common/uncommon) cards, and rares gained in campaign and free theme decks.

This deck is designed to use the IA's flaws to your advantage. You can win a few rounds in casual mode, but don't expect anything in ranked.

Before playing

- Always mulligan if you don't have at least 1 (ideally 2) cheap removal and the influence to cast it : Permafrost, Suffocate, Annihilate, Lightning Storm, Lightning Strike, Vara's Favor, Amethyst Acolyte, and do not underestimate the Snowball of Jotun Hurler.
- Having 2 primal influence on turn 3 is important, so you can cast Wisdom of the Elders, but prioritize removals first.
- Having 2 shadow influence on turn 4 is also important for Deathstrike, but you have many other removal, and Vara's Favor will fetch you a shadow seal.

The first few turns

- The IA always plays very aggressively at the start, and exhausts itself quite fast. Play very defensively at the start, and wait to have board control before attacking.
- Save your non-conditional removal (Deathstrike and Feeding Time) for threats you can't handle otherwise. Do not hesitate to trade units (both creatures die), but chump block (only your unit dies) only if you're getting low on health, or in danger to become so.
- Don't hesitate to wait a few turns before casting Lightning Storm to hit multiple units. The IA doesn't understand card advantage, and will flood the board with units, even if you have shown that you have mass removal. Don't wait too much against decks without many small creatures, though.
- Protect your health total carefully, but do not use removal on 1/x units (except for Vara's Favor on 1/1) unless you're starting to get low, on in danger.

Controlling the board

- Against decks heavy on removals, don't hesitate to send your "basic" units (Borderlands Waykeeper, Jotun Hurler) to die in order to exhaust the IA's removals, because it doesn't think that you might have better creatures in hand. Sending Umbren Reaper to the chopping block is also a good idea since it gains you value. Be wary of decks with many silence effects, though.
- The IA will prioritize heavily Staff of Stories, and will not hesitate to send multiple creatures to die if one of them can destroy it. Plan accordingly, but the staff can also be used to save a few health points if needed.
- Always play Champion of Chaos with 5 primal influence so it has aegis. At the very least it will eat 2 removals, which is card advantage for you. You can fetch it back with Vara or Dark Return.
- Vara, Fate-Touched recursing Umbren Reaper is fun, unless you're playing against a deck with silence effects.
- Venomspine Hydra is here because I have one, to fill the top-end of the curve. Having said that, against the IA it's pretty good, and doesn't understand the fact that it will wipe its board if it dies. Attack into deathly things freely.

Key cards and interactions

- Removal is essential against the IA's decks, but don't pack too many. I found the current suite to be pretty good, although it could use one more Deathstrike.
- Your primary win condition is Champion of Cunning, so handle it with care and always play it with aegis. It can boost your flyers to win in a few strikes. Keep your Dark Returns for it.
- Vara, Fate-Touched is great in "optimized" feln control, not so much here because you have so few shadow creatures. However, recursing an Umbren Reaper with an Amethyst Acolyte is very powerful. You also have Dark Returns to grab a unit to recurse another one.
- Do not underestimate the power of Jotun Hurler against the IA. You're always happy to draw one : at the start it provides you with a cheap removal ; in the middle of the game it blocks, holds the ground, provides an aegis popper, and eats removal instead of better units ; and at the end game, boosted by a champion, it can trade with a bigger unit.
- Borderlands Waykeeper is not very good, but there just isn't a common or uncommon early drop fitting the game plan, that can block 2/x, and difficult to deal with. Stormcrasher is a better end-game card (4/4 flying) but worse early game (it dies a lot, and easily). Prefer Feln Bloodcasters if you have them. Remember that if you Dark Return a boosted Waykeeper or Stormcrasher, you get to boost it once more.
- Umbren Reaper is great : if the IA uses removal on it, or you use it to trade, it still hits them for 5 and gains a bit of life. If you can recurse it with Dark Return or Vara, Fate-Touched, it's even better.