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Grind the Sh*****(adow) out of Gauntlet

Gauntlet Deck By
ElmoLesto

+10

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

Reaaaaaally strong and consistent deck right now. The recent additions of Blightmoth, Dizo, Cabal Racketeer and Icaria, First Reaper have filled out every spot in the curve with VERY powerful units. The idea of the deck is to 2 for 1, 3 for 1 or even 4 for 1 with each and every unit of the deck. Let me explain:
-Avoid Death is a great scouting card, allowing you to remove a threat before it is even a threat and giving you key information on the opponent's next turns. It almost always hits something and it can even make your Dreamsnatcher grow.
-Annihilate is self-explanatory. Try to abuse the fact that it is a fast spell by playing it mid combat to get a 2 for 1, and always remove an enemy unit with it on your opponent's turn (because, quite often, they will play a weapon or a spell on the unit, netting you a 2 for 1).
-Cull the Deck is here for consistency. These two copies used to be the fourth Veteran Mercenary and Icaria, First Reaper, but I think this way the deck is more reliable.
-Dreamsnatcher is a unit with a solid statline, with very useful lifesteal, and that can grow when you discard opponent's cards. There's more than one way to accomplish this in the deck, namely Avoid Death, Unseen Longbow or using the ultimate of the card. BTW it has a very useful interaction with Tavrod, Auric Broker.
-Ripknife Assassin is a great, cheap board staller. The warcry on it is occasionally useful. But it is there mainly because it stops those huge time units dead on their tracks.
-Blightmoth is the MVP of the deck, IMO. Solid 2 drop, bane of all go wide decks. Very often wll you get a 3 for 1 with this card, and, worst case scenario, it at least buys you two turns by blocking. Keep in mind that its summon effect will not spread if you apply it to a unit with aegis, but you can use it on non-aegis units to pop aegis off the rest of the units that share the type.
-Dizo, Cabal Racketeer is an awesome 3 drop, that is more often than not a 4, 5 o 6+ cost unit. Stealing a unit is very powerful, allowing free atacks, and occasionally delivering back breaking blows to the opponent (like stealing and attacking with a Direwood Beastcaller). The unblockable stat is also great paired with Unseen Longbow. It is both interesting and useful that the A.I. rates this card very highly on the to-kill list (even above Incarnus, Makkar's Listener)
Unseen Longbow works more often than not as an extra power (you want to make sure you get to 4 power). Later in the game, it can deprive the opponent of two high cost cards, and can get you the extra power needed to play multiple cards in your turn.
-Kerendon Merchant gets you access to extra removal or the site. Big vara is a flex spot. Being deadly makes it quite useful, for the same reasons already mentioned for Ripknife Assassin.
-In Cold Blood is extra catch all removal, that may or may not make Dreamsnatcher grow.
-Incarnus, Makkar's Listener gives you up to two extra cards, and reach. Also great paired with Unseen Longbow.
-Veteran Mercenary also replaces itself, and has a reasonable statline. The 4th copy was tossed after I realized that the Gauntlet boss that gives you a lot of different coloured influences shuts that effect down.
-Finally, Icaria, First Reaper is a game ender. automatic 2 for 1. It is very hard to reach the influence requirement to play it on curve (so we only have 3 copies in the deck), but that does not hurt the deck much. Discarding 4 spells out of the opponent's hand is also really satisfying.

The deck is rather reactive. In general, you will want to play your units after the opponent has played theirs, Always try to gain an advantage with your cards (postpone Blightmoth or Dizo, Cabal Racketeer so the summon is not wasted, or to make the most out of it). The deck will naturally outvalue all AI decks, so play it cool. Having said that, the deck is by not means slow, and will reach the Gauntlet boss almost 100% of the times.
Pro (cough cough) tip: WAIT BEFORE YOU PLAY YOUR POWER, as I have missed MANY MANY times the opportunity to play a warped Seal of Devotion

Try it out and leave your suggestions in the comments.This deck was based on a deck that Locopojo brewed, I just tweaked it for gauntlet a bit.

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
37,900

Premium Cost
228,000

Influence Requirements
6

Power Sources
21 4

Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned

Deck Rarities
4 20 25 3 11

Card Types
31 4 19 1 25

Contains Cards From Campaigns
Dead Reckoning [Set1003]
Homecoming [Set1005]
Promises by Firelight [Set1007]
Whispers of the Throne [Set1085]
Shadow of the Spire [Set1087]

Archetype
Midrange

Updated
May 13, 2020

Added
May 12, 2020

Views
3,859

Eternal Version
Shadow of the Spire

BBCode For Comments

Deck URL

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Comments

VaylinArcher Edited Eternal Version: 20.06.19
Deck has been lights out so far. Unseen Longbow has over performed imo. However, I got tired of zIcaria being uncastable, so I swapped with Aurapiercer and I have not been disappointed. You get to draw a card and also have the benefit of aegis not being able to block your kill spells. You get an evasive threat that can plow through pretty much anything. The best part is being able to play it ahead of curve if you generate enough extra power off of Longbow. Overall, great deck and thanks for posting it!
ElmoLesto Eternal Version: 20.06.24
Awesome idea! Will try out inmediately. With the new set out, I'll be trying to update the deck, so there will probably be more changes in the future. The new market card / seek power seems promising. I am having trouble with veteran mercenary right now, don't know if it is a bug or what, but it won't create the card. Anyone else having that issue?. Anyway, thanks for writing and glad the deck worked for you too.
Artukka Edited Eternal Version: 20.06.19
Nice write up. This is the first deck I've actually been able to use to grind Gauntlet effectively with since I got out of noob tier Gauntlet MMR, though I'm running baby Vara over Veteran Merc since I don't have that one in my collection and I'm being stingy with my shiftstone. I will probably try it out at some point though.
ElmoLesto Eternal Version: 20.06.24
Baby Vara is a great replacement. Right now, veteran mercenary seems to be malfunctioning anyway, so I have done the same swap. As soon as I get more cards of the new set, I'll update the deck
Shoogoo Eternal Version: 20.05.15
I have been stuck at 2 power on 2 consecutive runs on my first battle. feelsbadman >_>
fxyang Eternal Version: 20.05.12
Veteran Mercenary was cut from my squad very quickly, especially in mono shadow deck. I suggest trying the baby Vara. The 3/4 flyer that play a 2 drop from your void is also very very good in Gauntlet.
ElmoLesto Edited Eternal Version: 20.05.12
I have tried baby vara, and I'm not entirely convinced. If the opponent can kill a non faction 4/4, they almost certainly can kill a mono faction 5/5. The lifesteal is nice, granted. The clock you put on the opponent is also not that different. If they sacrifice a unit (most likely fodder) you get a really underwhelming 3/3. The aegis removal is not that much of an issue with blightmoth and vara's favour. But all of that is less relevant than the fact that I really enjoy all the random options you get with the deck, which allows me to play cards I normally wouldn't, and make every match feel different.
You're probably right about vara being more consistent though, but I like having random cards :) (I DO think it's quite valuable to get an extra card, either because you get something useful, or because you get something to throw in the market. Baby vara may be a replacement for big Vara in market, I almost never take her over the site, I may try her there later, currently I'm testing waylay).
I will try the 3/4 flyer, haven't done that yet.
Abednegogogo Eternal Version: 20.05.12
Very good deck and tech write up, thanks.

With a deck this influence hungry, I think Seal of Devotion is prob more trouble than it's worth, though I do see the need for card draw. Any thoughts?
Martel Edited Eternal Version: 20.05.12
ElmoLesto Edited Eternal Version: 20.05.12
As fxyang stated, I still think it's worth having the seal. With only 3 Icarias, you're fine being stuck on 3 shadow influence without much issue. Having access to the warped power reduces the need for card draw, and my idea when building this deck was to try to avoid as much as possible paying for card draw. That's why I chose both veteran mercenary and Incarnus. Btw the two issues I have with the deck (not counting the gauntlet boss getting a perfect draw, which is pretty much unbeatable) are flooding and (less often) flyiers. Even with 25 power I sometimes draw more power than I need, so I don't think I'll be trying anything to fix the power base just to play Icaria (at least, not for a while)
Crodley Eternal Version: 20.05.21
Quote: "Btw the two issues I have with the deck (not counting the gauntlet boss getting a perfect draw, which is pretty much unbeatable) are flooding..."

With flooding in a Shadow deck, I usually put a The End is Near in the market to stop the flooding end game if needed.
fxyang Eternal Version: 20.05.12
I have been playing heavy shadow deck a lot myself. I think Seal of Devotion is still good. The only real problem is Icaria. It does delay her a little bit. At the same time, Seal of devotion allows you to decimate your emblem more aggressively. The emblem nicely makes use of the extra power you gain from seal and provide the influence you need at the same time. The 2/2 deadly is also very relavent most of the time in Gauntlet.
Watermelon Eternal Version: 20.05.12
Very nice write-up my man.
ElmoLesto Eternal Version: 20.05.12
Thank you, I really appreciate the comment.