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Azindel and Friends (Gauntlet Grinder)

Gauntlet Deck By
Cooo505

+9

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

Hello. I just finished getting my 12th consecutive Master Tier gauntlet run with this deck (84-0). Unfortunately on the 13th run I lost to a turn 4 Nahid, the Immortal, preventing me from setting up. But getting 12 gauntlet wins in a row is a first for me. Out of all of my other decks, I haven't been able to get more than 4 wins in a row, so that should give you an idea of the consistency of the deck. Also this deck doesn't need a market, so you don't have to worry about not drawing into your market access cards.

Card explanations:
Logistics Expert is there to ramp 1 turn, but can be used as a finisher if the game goes long.
Master Archivist is actually one of the best cards in the deck, since we run so many depleted powers it's common to play it as a 4/5 on turn 3.
Send an Agent is useful for dealing with big single-faction units, or units with powerful effects like Dran, Won't Back Down.
Spiritweaver the main board-stabilizing tool along with Azindel, Mastermind. Once you have a big unit, Spiritweaver should heal you back up to full in no time, especially with Riftfeeder Wasp. It also has plunder if you need a power card, or have too many of them.
Banish is another good removal tool for Xenan. 5 or less may sound restrictive, but it hits almost anything you could need to kill.
Expand the Reach is another ramp card, but has the added bonus of plundering, if you need another power to get to the 5 mana sweet-spot of the deck.
Huntmaster Vikrum is so good. Even if they kill Vikrum immediately, they still lose an attack with the unit you took, unless it had endurance, but if it did, you could have swung with it the turn you stole it. Not always, but many times the AI will target their own unit you took, rather than killing Vikrum. It makes me cringe and smile at the same time.
Azindel, Mastermind is such a powerful card. The AI will almost always deal with the known threats before they deal with stealthed units, so Azindel almost always triggers at the start of your next turn. Even if he just pulls two power cards, you ramped 2 power and got an 8/8 with lifesteal. Just make sure you don't block with Azindel, even if there would be a good block, as it reveals him and turns off his ability.
Riftfeeder Wasp is a staple in almost all time decks, for just how insane it is. It fixes your power plays for 2 turns, and gets bigger until dealt with, and since it has flying it is an excellent defender in the air, or a potentially unblockable finisher.
Worldbearer Behemoth is in the same vein as Riftfeeder Wasp. It fixes your future power needs while being a giant beater. It's especially nice when he pulls Crest of Mystery to scout or Xenan Cylix to draw a card later.
Severin of the Dark is probably one of the most game-changing units I've ever seen. Just playing a power after Severin is out deals 6 lifesteal damage and another 6 lifesteal damage when you redraw the Piercing Grief's. Just insane.
Azindel, Revealed is a game ender. Thanks to Wasp, Behemoth and Mastermind (all the 5 drops) Azindel is very easy to drop on the board. The turn after he is played the value you get from him (even on an empty board) is very hard for the opponent to recover from, unless they are one of the 2 gauntlet decks that run Harsh Rule. But even if they do, you should still have enough gas to close out the game.

Deck Tips:
The best cards to try and start with are Master Archivist and Expand the Reach. They really smooth out your first few turns. Even if you don't get a Master Archivist early, try to play as many powers as you can depleted, so when you do draw one it's big, and may even gain lifesteal with Spiritweaver. If you have Expand the Reach and the 3 powers to play it, it will guarantee that you can get to 5 power, which is the amount needed for the 12 board-stabilizing power houses. Each one can also ramp you into Severin of the Dark and Azindel, Revealed. Either one will end the game in short order.

Final Suggestions:
You may be able to switch some cards for budget reasons (I know it has a lot of Campaign cards) but just know that your results may vary, as I probably haven't tried using what you substituted. If you used this deck, and got a good gauntlet streak, please let me know, I'd be super interested to hear what anyone has to say about it. Good luck and have fun.

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
30,000

Premium Cost
272,000

Influence Requirements
3 2

Power Sources
26 25 24

Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned

Deck Rarities
8 24 20 4 16

Card Types
36 0 12 0 27

Contains Cards From Campaigns
Into Shadow [Set1004]
Bastion Rising [Set1097]
Buried Memories [Set1105]
Hour of Glass [Set1115]
Valley Beyond [Set1125]
The Devouring [Set1145]

Archetype
Control Midrange

Added
July 10, 2024

Views
2,137

Eternal Version
Separate Ways

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Deck URL

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Comments

UrbanNinja Eternal Version: 24.06.19
It does work a lot more than I expected and it's fairly nice when it works. However you get hands where you draw 1 power then redraw to 2. You have like 2 big Azindel and 2 Severin. Your archivists and Logistic Experts get vaporized by whatever when they enter the board. You drop 1 power per turn without fail, but on turn 5 or 6 when you can drop other units, it's too late.

It's fun and I'll play it some more, but I got nowhere the 84 wins streak you had.
CheezWhiz Eternal Version: 24.06.19
You won the lottery, my friend because out of 10 runs, I won maybe 6 games. This deck is just too cumbersome to deal with S-Tier AI lists.
Cooo505 Eternal Version: 24.06.19
Dang, that’s what everyone is saying. I guess I used all my luck up. To be honest, right after I posted this I had 2 terrible runs where I lost on the 3rd game. I can’t believe such variance is possible.
241ackerman Eternal Version: 24.06.19
Neat take on ramp, but it does feel quite a bit too top heavy, severin is cool but very win more and big azindel is the same, 90% of the copies I drew either got turned into power or went unplayed until I had secured victory. I think a build that’s more midrange will do better in gauntlet because this deck is sketchy vs anything that dumps its hand and threatens a t4 or 5 win. But that build is a bit more boring and does less sweet things, so the trade off is real. Overall a solid strat with some really cool underutilized pieces. I give this a 7 out of 10, fun if you have the pieces but not worth crafting anything to play.
Cooo505 Edited Eternal Version: 24.06.19
I've only ever had one loss, because I've been able to recover to rough early games, thanks to the AI not attacking if I have a big Master Archivist. But I'm sure you're right. Severin and Big Azindel are probably too win more. Do you have a similar deck in mind that you'd recommend for me to try out, that's more mid-rangey?
DarkLou Edited Eternal Version: 24.06.19
Hey man, I was running a similar deck with those azindel boys, I like to run Saloon Massacre for hyper aggro opponents, but the deck was still lacking something, obviously the costs are high and the bigger cards felt unimpactful cause you pretty much won with the other cards or you screwed for being slow, so I started it all from the scratch and this is what a came up, a more midrange and also dino oriented build, no azindel (sadly) but very consistent, zero losew till now by the way. (Also running inscribe is much better than just more power)

https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/y66v8gfjZpI/xenan-dyno-mid
SaltySparrow Edited Eternal Version: 24.06.19
Cool deck! It's a bit slow to get through the games but performance is consistent and you do some fun over the top stuff <3
>very much appreciate the detailed deck explenation =)
Cooo505 Eternal Version: 24.06.19
Thanks. Yeah, definitely not the fastest deck, but I had nice results. I'm glad you liked the explanations. :)