Welcome to Argenport V.2

I’m back with another budget Argenport deck for new players. This one differs enough from the last that I am posting this list separately with its own write up. You can find the original list here if you're interested. Welcome to Argenport

This is what I originally said about Poacher’s Menagerie.

“Poacher’s Menagerie is a game-winningly strong card in gauntlet. It can take a few turns to get going, but the value and inevitability that it generates is absurd.”

More extensive testing really hammered home the point of just how strong Menagerie is. I mean, this isn’t exactly surprising, but Menagerie’s strength, combined with the budgetary constraints of the deck’s other cards, created a noticeable dichotomy between games with Menagerie and games without it. With this perspective, I asked myself what could be done to better utilize the deck’s marquee card.

The first thing that came to mind was the merchant/smuggler cycle which originally introduced the market mechanic. These are actually great options… if you can afford them. However, merchants and smugglers are rares and would quickly inflate the price of the deck beyond the budget of a new player. This really only leaves one other budget-conscientious option; the Etchings cycle.

Etchings are a powerful cycle of cards, they grant market access while also helping to smooth out power issues. However, Etchings come with some pretty heavy deck-building requirements if you want to be able to utilize them effectively. The first is that in order to access the market, you need FOUR influence of that color. This condition can really only reliably be met by building your deck so that ALL of your power cards contribute the same color of influence. This limits the cards you can support outside of your primary faction. Secondly, you need to have a unit of the correct color to exhaust. This means that you need your units to be predominantly of that same faction as well, and it can really hamstring your tempo if you are aggressively focused.

These were not conditions which the first version of the deck was prepared to meet organically. Playing an essentially mono-colored deck and using dual power to support a splash is pretty easy to do… when you have access to more cards. It’s a bit more difficult here because it involves color restricting a card pool that’s already restricted by budget. With that being said, I think that I have been able to build a functional unit base which supports the effective use of Shadow Etchings.

This deck building strategy does have its benefits though. Shrivel is one of the best removal spells in gauntlet, but originally wasn’t included because of early influence concerns. Having all of your power be guaranteed to produce your primary faction’s influence means that you can play cards with heavy influence requirements without having to worry about whether or not you will be able to meet those requirements on time.

This version still has efficient removal, efficient units, and an even better ability to find and abuse Poacher’s Menagerie.

The removal package is a hedge against getting outclassed by more powerful units, but is also cheap enough to be able to blunt early aggression if needed. Between Shrivel, Annihilate, and Slay there is a lot of it. The large removal package may not be able to win you the game on its own, but it will probably be able to keep you alive long enough to leverage Menagerie.

Vine Grafter, Shadow Etchings, and Skullmarket Delivery are included for market access. Most of the time, as long as you aren’t too far behind, you will want to grab Menagerie. If you lose control of the board then you’ll probably want Nothing Remains. I had originally considered including power or an Inscribe card in the market, but so far I have been able to manage without it. I think that having 12 market access cards means that the deck can’t afford to have low impact cards in the market without running the risk of running out of useful targets to pull if the game goes long.

While this is a budget deck, a brand new player likely will not be able to craft it immediately in its entirety. Though I do not anticipate it taking too long to gather the required shiftstone to build it, I also suspect that a crafting priority might be useful. This is the rough order I would follow.

Finest Hour
Unseen Marksman
Corrupted Umbren
Vine Grafter
Poacher’s Menagerie
Shadow Etchings
Skullmarket Delivery
Dark Return
Dangerous Gambit
Shrivel
Annihilate
Deathwing
Xenan Lifespeaker
Glory Seeker
Zido, Cabal Housecat
Nothing Remains
Mark of Skullhaven
Spiteful Strike
Argenport Insignia

Here are some general gameplay tips for the deck:

Try to avoid keeping two power hands. This is probably a generalization that applies to most gauntlet decks, but I make a point of mentioning it here because the inclusion of many 1 and 2-cost cards increases the temptation to do so. While you can play many of this deck’s cards with only two power, your most powerful card, Poacher’s Menagerie, isn’t one of them.

Try to abuse Poacher’s Menagerie as much as possible. This is the most powerful card in the deck, and this version of the deck was created to be even better at finding it. If you are playing against an opponent with relic removal then try to trade the units it generates instead of walling up behind them. That way, even if the opponent is able to eventually remove Menagerie, you will still have gotten some value out of it. Also try to be aware of your available board space as Menagerie will not generate a unit if your board is full. If you are the sort of person that enjoys playing drawn out games, be warned that potential 7 and 12-cost units exist which may accidentally destroy your own Menagerie.

This deck has a lot of removal, but you don’t necessarily need to kill every unit that the opponent plays. Some units will effectively be shut down by your units and will simply sit there having no meaningful impact on the game. Just because you CAN remove them, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. This is especially true because this deck’s removal is all fast speed, which means you can often use it to ruin double blocks from the computer if you are patient.

In a similar vein, just because you Can contract Unseen Marksman or berserk Corrupted Umbren, doesn’t mean you should. Try to plan accordingly.

I think that this deck is a very solid option for new players and probably shouldn’t take too long to build. I personally prefer this version to the original, but I suspect that the Warcry and Hero of the People strategy might be more appealing to others. I think that it is also a deck that can be meaningfully upgraded as you acquire new cards. Hopefully this will be a good starting point and make gauntlet grinding more accessible to those without a wealth of extra resources. If you have questions or want help feel free to message me here or add me as a friend in game.