I've been tinkering with this deck for months and this is the best version so far. Pretty consistent, fast, cheap.
It works decently in Master's Gauntlet. See an example 10 runs below. I estimate >1/2 tries get to the boss and >1/3 beat the boss.
Also does okay in ranked (Diamond 3), but worse there because players have more cheap removal and sweepers.
Give it a try, let me know how it works for you and what you would change!
General Gameplan
Play Empower cards (
District Infantry,
Hojan, Crownbreaker,
Resolute Monk,
Awakened Student,
Gilded Glaive) and buff them with ramp cards (
Hojan, Crownbreaker's Renown,
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain,
Siraf's Beacon). Hit face and finish them off with your fliers (
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain,
Unseen Commando,
Valkyrie Enforcer).
10 runs example
Nr. of wins | Final deck |
---|
7 | Company of Exiles |
4 | Chilling Touch |
7 | Limitless Possibilities |
3 | None Shall Pass |
7 | Power of Progress |
2 | Minions of Shadow |
7 | Highly Skilled |
1 | Power of Fire |
6 | Defender of the Spire |
1 | Elvish Raiders |
Card guide
District Infantry is our 1-drop. Empower and aggro fits the deck perfectly.
Finest Hour is our only spell. Simply too good vs the AI which falls for it every time. Can be used to save your units from
Torch or other damage spells. Also activates
Hojan, Crownbreaker's Renown.
Hojan, Crownbreaker good Empower, great Renown. Activate with
Finest Hour or
Gilded Glaive. Lifesteal allows you to stabilize versus aggressive decks.
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain is more of a 5-drop than a 2-drop, because you want to get the value of her ultimate. Try not to play her too early.
Awakened Student is our weakest Empower unit, but it can grow into quite a threat. Play it before you play your power for the turn.
Nocturnal Creeper is a flex card. Nightfall provides a bit of consistency, and the AI is very scared of deadly. I simply haven't found another better 2 drop.
Resolute Monk is a great empower card. Overwhelm is very strong in pushing damage.
Temple Scribe is a body to activate
Siraf's Beacon while thinning your deck for more consistency. Only drawback is the influence.
Gilded Glaive is decent and fits the Empower theme. If you don't use it for
Hojan, Crownbreaker then try to put it on a flyer or
Resolute Monk so it doesn't get chump-blocked.
Siraf's Beacon is very strong. If possible it is best to play another unit on 3, and then play this on 4 before you attack. Try not to throw away your units by chump-block or -attacking unnecessarily.
Unseen Commando is a strong flyer that buffs
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain and itself. Not core to the strategy but very nice. Can stabilize with Lifesteal so it is the best flyer on which to play
Gilded Glaive.
Valkyrie Enforcer can be an absolute lifesaver against things like
Sandstorm Titan. It's also buffed by
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain. Try to keep it in your hand as a counter unless you can threaten lethal.
Time Sigil is needed because of
Temple Scribe's influence cost.
Justice Sigil is much more prevalent because of all the ramp that fetches it.
Combrei Banner,
Combrei Insignia,
Seat of Progress try to limit influence screw.
Diplomatic Seal is best played as Justice if you have the choice because of
Icaria, Valkyrie Captain's passive.
Why not ...?
Winchest Merchant is a bit too slow. While it would be nice to have more top-end and situational cards available it doesn't really fit the deck.
Pearl Abbey Smuggler and
Auralian Merchant are worse.
Teacher of Humility is not as effective vs AI as in ranked where people run much more card draw and markets. Also has difficult influence to play on 2.
More combat tricks like
Reinvigorate or
Barrel Through would hurt consistency by being dead too often when you do not have units to play them on. Also we need as much units as possible for
Siraf's Beacon.
Removal like
Vanquish is too situational.
Stand Together is good against sweepers but otherwise probably not great. If we had a market it would be in there.
Other weapons like
Vanquisher's Blade and
Sword of Unity might be good but see above.
Crownwatch Standard and
Amber Coin are interesting but I'm not sure what to cut for it.
Order of the Spire,
Auralian Infestation,
Knight-Chancellor Siraf are too slow.
Initiate of the Sands and other +power cards don't really lead into anything
Seek Power makes you liabl to get 5+ power in your opening hand.
Seek Answers could work maybe.
Desert Marshal could replace
Nocturnal Creeper or
Temple Scribe