Syl's Aristocrats

I like aristocrat strategies (units dying hurts the opponent and helps you) and couldn't really figure out how to make one somewhat viable on Eternal. Then I looked at Gauntlet stonescar and found its strategy is really close to what I was looking for. I made a lot of changes from that original deck and now I'm left with something very close to a true aristocrat style deck, except with a lot more attacking. The main idea is that all but like 2 or 3 of the gauntlet decks play a ton of units, and units are going to die throughout the game through no extra work from you. So pick cards that want to see death and reap the rewards.

New for V 1.1: Dangerous Gambit and Skullmarket Delivery.

The Aristocrats: Argenport Instigator, Syl, Cabal Strongarm, Raniya, Miviox Maniac, Statuary Maiden, Tasbu, the Forbidden. All of these are the units that want to see death and get uncomfortably excited about it. Maiden is an absolute house with her effect shutting down your opponents death triggers and giving you very relevant buffs for the team. If you have not played with/against Maiden: do not under estimate her weapons. Syl's effect, while perhaps the weakest of the group, still puts in some fair work due to giving more fodder for more death triggers or becoming real evasive threats when Maiden's weapons. Honestly, I'm considering reducing Tasbu to 2 copies just because of often you have wait to play him well beyond turn 5 in order to make sure you can force some combat deaths for him to get good value. Often times it’s just a lighting rod for removal, but at least he replaces himself with another card.

The Accidental Lifegain: Raniya, Miviox Maniac, Spiritweaver, Vara, Vengeance-Seeker, Syl, Cabal Strongarm. I call it “accidental” because it took me a while before I noticed just how much life I ended up gaining through no special effort. Spiritweaver is decent to run for power fixing, Syl you want to run for the power fixing and more death triggers, Raniya's contract steals games you should have lost, and Vara is regularly killing 2 or 3 units each time. Then you combine that with lifegain and you no longer care that Instigator, Tasbu, or Desecrate might be hurting you more than the opponent is because the rest of your team is healing you for twice as much.

Board control: Vara, Vengeance-Seeker, Desecrate, Victimless Crime, Dangerous Gambit, Raniya, Miviox Maniac: Sometimes you do have to reach out and choke out some problematic creatures, and doing so after the AI loaded it up with a spell or weapon makes fast spells too good not to use. Vara getting rid of Ageis and taking out a creature (or getting too big to ignore) is almost always a big swing in your favor. Raniya's contract is now known to really screw with the AI, as it will regularly decide to double block to kill the stolen creature, giving you a little bit more value than you deserve. However, even against human opponents, the fact that the stolen creature *must* be blocked makes figuring out how to force a 2 for 1 much easier. Be warned though, if you use the contract and *don't* kill off at least two or more creatures with an attack, you will be in big trouble due to the power cost basically forcing you to take a turn off from developing the board.

Because Attacking Still Matters: Champion of Chaos, Syl, No Regrets. This is still Eternal, where a 5/5 overwhelm and deadly on turn 3 is still pretty good. So then why not also give it double damage and quickdraw as well while further developing the board? Seems good. Syl of course works with anyone else as well, but the built in overwhelm and deadly on champion just slams the door shut on games more often than not.

Gotta draw cards to play cards: Tasbu, the Forbidden, Cull the Deck. Tasbu I complain about being difficult to use on curve, showing up too early in the game, and being too easy to kill for a 5 drop, but when he does work its great. I can see an argument for Cull being replaced by any number of different draw cards (Display of Will, Quarry, Scheme, Catalyze maybe) however I value the combination of digging through 3 cards at just 2 power quite a bit. It allows for more chances of finding something and giving you flexibility to play more things later in the match. If you have Quarry then go ahead and try that and see if you get more mileage, it may be the better pick.

The Market: Skullmarket Delivery has come in to replace Shadow Etchings. After testing it out I realized it is just miles ahead of etchings is so many ways that i had to bring it four of. It’s cheap, it’s a fast spell, doesn’t require you to swap a card (which can be super relevant) and even draws you further into the deck if you don’t use the market card right away. It’s good. Saloon Massacre is a boardwipe all star to keep in mind. Syl's Stronghold is much more fun and is what I reach for when you sometimes find an opening to close out the game quickly or need yet another piece of removal. Xenan Fanatic is just plain goofy and probably should be something else... but I mean, sometimes you can set up a board where you hit the opponent for 10, gain 14 life, then fanatic comes down and just ends the game. Xo, Conquerer of Stonescar I've been experimenting with and have been enjoying as a finisher and removal card, but its just a bit too slow/expensive to put into the deck proper. Pale Rider's Timepiece is another card I should perhaps reconsider, but the times when it is helpful it is very helpful, which is the whole point of the market.


But why not Hearth Smasher: I tried it out for a long time and the deck just did not work as well. It comes down to the fact that almost every card in the deck fills multiple rolls at once and Smasher does not. It does what Instigator does, but being a four drops puts it at harsh competition and it just doesn’t do nearly as much as maiden or vara.