After trying with the decks I own to beat Gauntlet for the past 4-6 days, I made a random new deck. Aced the Gauntlet with little to no hicups.
It's actually a kinda fun deck, and not entirely different than a Rakano Plate deck might be, just less Warcry and efficiency, more attempted toolbox with
Crowd Favorite and ramping. The star is still
Silverwing Familiar holding anything and everything. Although the deck can produce power reliably enough to keep
Gilded Glaive running, and one game was won on the back of two
Amber Acolytes both wielding one of their own. I also found it was fairly hard not to hit the influence demands as required.
Vodakhan's Staff won a few games just due to recursion, and getting to 8+ power isn't too hard, so as long as your creatures are trading 1-for-1 it can easily keep pumping what is left on the board.
Infinite Hourglass simply added to avoid being screwed by buffed creature getting frozen / locked up.
I should mention the Boss this deck ended up beating was the Spymaster, which granted me no benefit at all. A Silverwing with Vodakhan's and Plate ended up sealing the deal, or it may have gone south. Boss had two infiltrators with 3-5 power and Quickdraw +Infiltrate repeating.
Might try to run against Gauntlet again a few times to see if this is reliable enough for other people to care about, otherwise it's just a silly deck to admire. The
Ijin, Imperial Armorer is only in there because I cracked a foil one earlier in the day :P
Elder's Feather
x1
1
Infinite Hourglass
x2
1
Initiate of the Sands
x3
1
Seek Power
x3
1
Warhelm
x1
2
Crownwatch Longsword
x2
2
Crownwatch Paladin
x2
2
Inspire
x2
2
Kaleb's Favor
x1
2
Ornate Katana
x1
2
Rakano Artisan
x4
3
Amber Acolyte
x4
3
Copperhall Bailiff
x3
3
Gilded Glaive
x2
3
Ijin, Imperial Armorer
x1
3
Secret Pages
x3
3
Shogun's Scepter
x2
3
Silverwing Familiar
x4
3
Vodakhan's Staff
x2
5
Deepforged Plate
x2
5
Twinbrood Sauropod
x2
6
Crowd Favorite
x3
Fire Sigil
x4
Justice Sigil
x5
Time Sigil
x4
Combrei Banner
x2
Seat of Glory
x3
Seat of Impulse
x3
Seat of Progress
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
I actually learned a bit playing the deck more. I certainly don't think having 2 Crownwatch Longsword is needed, and while I have used 2x Gilded Glaive to success, it could drop one. The Elder's Feather is also something I find myself fetching with Crowd Favorite less than expected. Most creatures I am buffing are either so big I'm just swinging to trade 1-to-3+ or already have flying; the best use out of Elder's Feather is early evasion for someone like a weak Crownwatch Paladin so she can continue to warcry, and neither are in high enough volume to reliably see that happen on curve. I will say that by far the most frequent fetch from Favorite is Vodakhan's Staff, which itself ends up recurring due to Empower and the ease this decks scales into 8+ Power. That's also one of the reasons I'd suggest Order of the Spire since it could easily enable it's buff, especially with weapons. Initiate of the Sands also doesn't necessarily boost too much or serve a great purpose, but if I cut it, it would only be for more creatures, perhaps Grenadin Drone for extra bodies.
The Deepforged Plate obviously win games, but if you have the Vodakhan's Staff..s, I'd say the deck wouldn't be too lacking. Adding in Ornamental Daggers was originally something I avoided because the Crowd Favorite tutor puts it into play, voiding some of it's benefit, and the deck isn't playing the most Warcry ever. But if I were to add it in, I would do so in multiples rather than a singleton, cutting a few other weapon 2-ofs down to 1-ofs.
Either way, hope you end up finding something you're happy with. My primary purpose is just to put up decks that are working within the collection I have (Which is not nearly complete, at least for Legendaries). But if you find some stroke of interest in it, by all means, I hope it works as well for you.