Safe Sex Hooru

(This deck is sponsored by Trojan. Pleasure you want. Protection you trust.)

Remember - always use protection.

The central idea behind this list is to play units that are as resistant to removal as possible. To further this aim, every unit in the deck has either Aegis or some form of protection against removal spells. If you've ever had the pleasure of beating a control deck down with a series of Jennev Merchants, you know how effective this strategy can be.

This deck is teched against control. While it has a decent to good matchup against Skycrag Aggro, it has a poor one against Rakano Aggro or anything that flies over it and races. In addition, it gets stopped short by many midrange decks unless it draws the nuts on its Vanquish/Avigraft/Permafrost combinations. I don't consider this deck to have many autolose matchups, however, it has many matchups that are kind of poor, and I don't really recommend using this deck in a blind meta. I originally built this deck in order to tech against Howling Peak decks in tournament settings.

Card Choices
3x Permafrost - Cheap, effective removal for getting past a blocker as easily as possible.

4x Snowcrust Yeti - This is an aggressive deck, and you generally want to rush down control as fast as possible without worrying about getting removed, so this card provides good tempo.

4x Crownwatch Paladin - A solid aggro 2 drop which also has Aegis. Try to attack with this card as often as possible - you want to get your Warcry train rolling so that you can continue to snowball aggression into their face. It's often worth playing a 2-drop + Permafrost on turn 3 in order to allow your Paladin to safely attack.

4x Stormtamer Operative - This is a controversial pick, and I originally had Kothon in this slot. However, given that the deck isn't really looking to hit 6 Power all that frequently and does not value Endurance, the effect of Stormtamer Operative does help a lot. Notably, it protects many of your units from Torch and Hailstorm if their Aegises get popped. In addition, it also protects Paladin from Snowball, Jennev Merchant from Signal Flare and your 4/4s from Mortar or (more likely) Display of Instinct. These seem like edge cases, but they come up often enough that you'll be surprised how good this card is at protecting itself and others.

4x Vanquish - Your units are small, so you want something to deal with fatties.

3x Avigraft - Same concept as Vanquish. Try using this to hit a Vara or a Merchant, because those can be kind of troublesome. But it's well worth it simply as a Slay. Sometimes you will get lucky and they have 3 copies of the Avigrafted card in hand and no relic removal. Then you win the game. That's pretty nice too.

4x Kosul Battlemage - It's a solid beater with Aegis. Remember to use any Vanquishes or Mirror Images before you attack with it in order to pump the Battlemage! T3 Battlemage -> T4 Mirror Image on Battlemage and attack for 4, then T5 Vanquish something and attack with both 4/4 Battlemages is a line that you can use. If you manage to pull that off it's almost like you're playing Auric Record-Keepers with Aegis!

3x Mirror Image - This card is incredibly flexible. You can quickiy build a wall of Jennev Merchants by chaining Jennev Merchant into Mirror Image, fetching Mirror Image from the Market, then Mirror Imaging it again, which is accompanied by 2 free Market grabs to get whatever cards you need. You can also Mirror Kosul Battlemage, as described above, to pump them up, Mirror a Marley for a surprise Tribute silence, Mirror Svetyas to lock the opponent out of playing spells or weapons for multiple turns in a row, or chain a Feast-Caller that has gone wild to double its card draw.

4x Auric Runehammer - A 4/4 with Aegis is your worst enemy as this deck. It has Aegis to protect from your Vanquish/Permafrost/Avigraft, your 3/xs can't attack into it, and your 4/4s trade even with it. Auric Runehammer lets you take care of those threats in a very efficient way. It's also a Relic Weapon, which some control decks have trouble dealing with.

4x Sheriff Marley - She's a 4/4 with Aegis, and can constantly grind out Steadfast Deputies to act as Merchant food or simply to fill the board with more unremovable junk to make a control player's life a living hell. Her Tribute is sometimes relevant, and most opponents forget it exists. Just a great beater overall.

4x Svetya, Orene of Kosul - Against many decks, this card basically makes them skip their turn. She can be repeatedly chained with Mirror Images to keep the lockdown going, and her body is decent as a beater.

2x Jotun Feast-Caller - It's no surprise that this card's abbreviation, JFC, can also be read as "Jesus fucking Christ", since that's what a lot of control players will say when you summon him and they do not have a clean answer. He's a win condition by himself, and many opponents will simply scoop once he draws 2 or 3 cards.

Market
1x Permafrost - Your removal-on-demand. One of the most powerful tempo plays you can make is to play a turn 3 Jennev Merchant, fetch Mirror Image, then play Mirror Image on the Merchant, fetch Permafrost and frost an opposing unit on turn 4. If you're afraid of your opponent having blockers or problematic units, this is the card to get.

1x Unseal - This card is for protection against opponent spells and curses. Is your Svetya Permafrosted and you need her free to attack for lethal? Do you think your opponent may be able to play double Hailstorm against your board of 3/3s with Aegis? Do you have a Vara on lockdown with Permafrost, but are afraid of your opponent Mirror Imaging her? Hold up Unseal, and all your worries will be resolved. If your opponent has popped your Aegises with Vara, you should usually get Unseal from the Market because your opponent will no doubt be very eager to take advantage of it with the sweeper that was previously rotting in their hand.

1x Mirror Image - As explained in the Card Choices above, this is just a very flexible card overall and you will usually want to use it on your Merchant.

1x Clutch of Talons - This is protection against power flood! If the deck goes to the very late game and you're sitting on like 8 power, trying to topdeck something to end the game, then Merchant into Clutch of Talons often does the trick. Because your units are resistant to removal, you usually have something stick on board to hold the Clutch. It can also be a last-ditch attempt to finish off a low-health opponent by allowing your fattest Aegis unit to fly over their blockers, or simply to give Feast-Caller a clear shot at drawing cards without getting blocked and killed.

1x Jotun Feast-Caller - Self explanatory - you want must-kill unit to fetch a threat that your opponent must deal with at all costs, so that if they simply sit around and do nothing or stonewall your early game units, they will not be able to do so for long.

EDIT: The counter to this deck is Urn of Choking Embers or Yushkov the Usurper. Watch out for those cards.