Elysian Midrange

This has felt like a great gauntlet deck in my initial testing. My only loss was one game due to grave pilot error, and a nut draw from the AI, losing with it at 1 life. The mistake was this... I had an Ice Bolt in hand, and the AI slapped a Mantle of Justice on a Valkyrie Enforcer for a 7/7 flier. I fired off the Bolt thinking the damage would be dealt before the sigil was played. What resulted was a ramped opponent with an 8/8 flier, 8 damage to the dome and loss of a premium removal spell. So, keep that in mind and don't make similar mistakes (Obelisk hitting 8 power can also throw off the math.) Onto the card choices as well as possible improvements:

Borderlands Lookout allows for an early 3 health blocker against aggro and can potentially pressure the life total as well. For that reason it gets the nod over Initiate of the Sands a card that is also vulnerable to numerous pings from the AI.

Crack the Earth generates a 1/1 at instant speed which can trade with Oni Ronin or chump block and most importantly give us access to the market. It can pull Evelina, Valley's Guardian to be used as an early power drop if needed. Evelina can also generate card advantage on empty boards having charge.

Albon, Fallen can be used to blow out opposing fliers decks especially useful when you can't stick a Sandstorm Titan

Cirso, the Great Glutton is a great beater but I have chosen to run it in the market for reasons I will discuss soon.

Crystallize allows you to win the game easily after building a board presence.

The last market card is a definite flex slot and is only accessible with our merchant. I have yet to pull it in any game as the deck has handled aggro fairly easily. Saber-Tooth Prideleader is a great utility card and could be used to get rid of a pesky Xenan Obelisk as well as stabilize against aggro and follows Merchant on curve. Other possibilities would be a card like Sandstorm Scarf to really lock down the board against fliers. I can't think of any other card that would be useful at this time (open to suggestions)

Desert Alchemist is a useful removal and the plunder can ensure your hand has the right balance of power and threats.

Kickflip Monk may very well be the best two drop in gauntlet. Inscribe helps hit power drops and a 2/4 flying blocker is gold. The AI is also happy to double torch it which is an acceptable result.

Plunk Wumpkin has greatly exceeded my expectations and overperformed in every gauntlet deck I've run it in. Aegis gives the AI fits and generating card advantage is great. Trading off with an Argenport Instigator is also a fine result. The goal is to survive the early game and win with our heavy hitters. Don't get too greedy drawing cards though.

False Prince is an auto include as a cheap 5/5 overwhelm. The AI will not kill it with a ping. If they torch it then you can safely conclude they have another 2+ damage spell in hand playable that turn. It happens.

Field Medic plays its role of anti-aggro admirably. Correctly using contract or not is important, but most of the time it's a fairly obvious decision. It can also intercept relic weapons.

Great Valley Smuggler can pull our entire market. Obvious choice.

Sandstorm Titan is the gold standard 4 drop in gauntlet. Not much to be said here.

Moonstone Vanguard ensures we don't miss a power drop out of the opening hand, attacks with card advantage, blocks with lifegain and is only mildly under-stated for a 5 drop. Endurance is great in gauntlet. For power base consistency it gets the nod over Cirso. Curving out is so important!

Permafrost and Ice Bolt are the removal of choice. Ice Bolt's drawback is nothing compared to the ability to wipe a big aegis unit off the map. Just be careful calculating the board state after a sigil is played!

Torgov's Wares adds some consistency to the deck and can rid you of excess power or a clunky hand with too much late game action.

Temple Standard is in the deck as a way to not lose to a surprise flier that broke a permafrost with a giant deep forged plate.

The rest of the powerbase is mostly standard I think. It gets our needed influence in the least depleted way I could build. You must hit TTP by turn three as often as possible. I'm fairly sure it can be improved on, however but it has worked well for me. You could try Sigils and Seats instead of Diplomatic Seal and Waystones, maybe the new Sketch's or Runes, and Crests over Cylix is a close decision but I think Cylix is a little better (running both is too depleted of a base.) Feel free to experiment here. The priority is hitting TTP ASAP and the second P can come later in the game for your market cards.

Overall this deck has felt very consistent. It has a strong linear gameplan, with plenty of ways to avoid power screw and flood. Sequencing your power drops and managing pledge and inscribe is probably the toughest part of the deck. Once you survive the early game and start slamming fatties on curve the deck plays itself for the most part. The two drops do a great job in taxing the AI's removal to clear the way for your late game units.

Listing it Work in progress only because I'm sure the powerbase can be tweaked a bit and the 5th market slot is up in the air. The deck has handled plenty of nut draws from aggro, Aerial aegis onslaughts etc and thanks to pledge and inscribe units it has had no trouble curving out in spots that could otherwise have been disasterous. Hope it works well for you!

Updates:

Currently testing Scorpion Wasp in the market flex spot to shore up a potential weakness against giant flying Aegis units (think double deepforged plate).