Defiance Hooru Fliers

Reasons to play this deck

* You want to hose large chunks of the meta with Svetya, Orene of Kosul and Hooru Pacifier
* You want to laugh at people with Avigraft as most of your important big threats are fliers while being able to run it yourself
* You like playing Mirror Image on Unseen Commando a bunch of times to pump all your units to absurd levels
* You enjoy a bit of a Valkyrie sub-theme

Card Choices

2 Drops

One of weaker parts of the deck that could do with some improvement. Icaria is especially fragile and will need the 1 power tricks to survive, but has some great payoffs later. Kothon has seen better days as he gets bullied by Teacher of Humility, but is able to stall out just enough stuff until he can add another 4/4 flier to the board. Dusk Raider is great for setting up draws and adding extra keywords for Commando.

3 Drops

Here's where most of the juice comes from. Pacifier dodges a ton of removal while hosing the Rakano weapons going around. Commando pumps most of your units, especially with help from Dusk raider, and the lifesteal helps against other aggressive decks. Enforcer strong as always and even benefits from the valk subtheme going on in the deck.

4 Drops

Svetya buys your fliers time to beat down opponents in the air and is a great mirror image target. Spireguard is just a big dumb threat.

Tricks, Removal, and Interaction

Finest Hour doesn't need much explanation. Rolant's intervention helps keep your valks alive and occasionally helps win combat with the -3.

Avigraft is the new hot removal in Defiance and it certainly lives up to the hype. Vanq blade might look weird in a deck with pacifier, but I've included them for now as a way to stop grave recursion and more removal; this slot is subject to change though.

Mirror image has lots of good targets in this deck. Commando and Svetya will often be your main targets, but most of the other cards make fine copies too.

Market

Jennev because the Winchest body just sucks, even though it's a flier.

Unstable Form as a pseudo-silence

Permafrost for efficient removal

Vision for relic hate

Unseal to protect the board from sweepers when you can't find Svetya

Mirror image for consistency

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Hooru merchant will be in the next expansion as only mirror image is in the main deck.

Other Cards to Consider

Amilli, Cloudmarshal: Great card for grindier matchups. I could see replacing the spireguards with these, but it felt a bit slow when I was laddering.

Vanquish: Probably makes more sense overall than blade so it's your choice really. Great budget option if you don't have blade/avigraft.

Frostwave: Could be tested against permafrost in the market slot. Usually 1-2 turns is already enough to swing in for lethal and the option to stun more units seems good.

Eager Owlet/Honored Skyguard: Some other two drops to potentially try. You could move away from the valk sub theme entirely and replace Rolant's with mainboard perma frosts or some other trick.

Shelterwing Rider: If Vara, Vengeance-Seeker ever disappears from the meta, this card can come back

History
I started out wanting to update JPT midrange, but found the support was lacking and the power base isn't supported in Defiance; hopefully this improves with the next set.

I had a good time with Rakano Valks prior to the Icaria nerf and liked cards like Rolant's Intervention and Valkyrie Spireguard

Still tweaking the deck, but overall quite pleased with how it currently plays.