So I really enjoyed pikerblocker's
Mighty True Heart, but I felt it was lacking in consistency. So I threw it together with another praxis gauntlet deck I enjoyed a while back - cammomilk's
Praxis Ramp.
Cammomilk's deck still works great, but I felt it could use a few of the newer cards we have available.
The deck I put together is slower in general than both of these, but I feel it will be more consistent overall. I've done the "requisite" 5 successful runs in a row before posting, and my games lasted between 8-10 rounds on average. I rarely felt in trouble during any of those games.
Cards I'm not 100% sure about:
I could see myself swapping out either
Logistics Expert or Initiate of the Sands for something like
Torch.
EDIT: ((Trying out Torch in this slot after all, and -1 Ramba))
Desert Alchemist - This card may have slowed me down some. I rarely plundered in my games, and often just held this card up just in case. Torch might be better for this slot.
Trail Maker - Since my power base is so time heavy, I occasionally found this guy useful for adding the second Fire influence I need for Ramba and Arcanum. Otherwise he just adds another time influence to flip Alhed into a late game finisher. BUT ultimately he's still a 2/1 unit, and the AI has a lot of ways of killing 2/1 units. I'm not sure what I'd replace this guy with. Maybe the shift-able bonus power 2 drop to guarantee 3 rounds of ramp. Maybe Initiate of the Sands (or Logistics Expert).
Market Choices:
-I haven't pulled the Endurance relic yet, but I'm glad it's there. This deck is soft to stuns. Could possibly replace this with
Exodus.
-
Purify is occasionally useful. For the silence if not the damage.
-Gnash is an MVP, probably my most pulled card.
-Kairos closes out games that have gone on too long, and he does it REALLY well.
-
Worldbearer Behemoth is a card I rarely pull. It sometimes useful to put charge on him and immediately attack. Probably the first card I'd swap out of the market, but I'm not sure for what just now.
Random ramblings about some of the deck's cards:
-Arcanum's True Heart is a great card for gauntlet. The AI doesn't deal well with it, and it provides a great deal of "inevitability." I often know a game's going to end in a win once he hits the board. Of course he's vulnerable to silence, transforms, and negative stat curses, but those are a lot less common in gauntlet compared to other removal.
-Sandstorm Titan is just classic consistency in time midrange, both for the stat line and as an anti-flyer.
-Ramba is iffy, but he's pulled his weight so far.
-I have no regrets about the Moonstone Vanguard or Grodov.
-Alhed is just a great 2 drop.
Initiate of the Sands
x4
1
Logistics Expert
x4
1
Time Etchings
x4
1
Torch
x4
2
Alhed Ascending
x4
2
Speed Grafter
x4
2
Trail Maker
x4
3
Ramba, Arena Showman
x2
3
Tocas, Waystone Harvester
x4
4
Arcanum's True Heart
x4
4
Sandstorm Titan
x4
5
Moonstone Vanguard
x4
6
Grodov's Stranger
x4
Fire Sigil
x3
Time Sigil
x6
Crest of Impulse
x4
Praxis Insignia
x4
Praxis Painting
x2
Praxis Tome
x2
Seat of Impulse
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
The deck just doesn't seem to have very many answers. It is mostly mid-sized units and ramp, which don't get the job done against a lot of decks if you let them get established... they can just out value or pressure too hard.
Besides chunky midrange units, I do like Alhed Ascending because the AI is very bad at handling Decay. You can whittle down their problem units by attacking in to offer "favorable" trades, sometimes. (This is of limited utility because if the enemy is already attacking in with their problem units, of course they'll usually be exhausted, so the AI can't make the mistake of blocking.)
Also in my experience the AI frequently had answers to Arcanum's True Heart. It is true that the AI will sometimes waste deadly units or damage spells trying to remove it, but I'm not sure how impactful those misplays are since the decks most prone to that behavior can't answer the True Heart anyway.
A replacement for Worldbearer Behemoth in the market might be Grodov's Burden. The buffs hit most of the deck, it's hard removal at 9 and a good power sink that's stickier than Ramba. Also, it has good synergy with Alhed — offer a trade with one of your weak exalted/decay units to get a permanent decay weapon onto another unit. [Edit: Also, exalted/killer shenanigans via Gnash's tokens.]
[Edit: Also, I do like Infinite Hourglass in the market in part as a counter to some of the stun-heavy decks, but also because it lets your True Hearts serve double duty as virtually invincible blockers.]
I suppose there's a heavy reliance on actually knowing the AI decks and how the AI plays. The main reason this deck is so unit heavy rather than running removal is because generally the AI will always make worse trades than an experience gauntlet player.
The AI takes the dumbest blocks (never expecting tricks or a follow up torch), values certain cards really highly based on a preprogramed priority system, and doesn't respect decay or True Heart at all. I generally win by making trades then beating them down, or by stalling and winning about 1 turn after playing Kairos.
Grodov's Burden's a good suggestion, though I'm slightly concerned that it's a slower option than the Behemoth. I'll have to give it a try.
It feels as if you put together a sentinel deck, then took out everything that actually helped the sentinel gameplan except for Mysterium Orb. A card I didn't see very often either since there's only 4 market access cards in the deck.