Casting
Maul for a lot of damage is a pretty satisfying experience that everybody deserves to have (almost) regardless of available shiftstones. So here's a budget deck I've been having a lot of fun with.
Unfortunately,
Maul and
Equivocate are from 2 different campaigns. However, You can replace
Equivocate with similar cards if you don't have it.
If you want to have success with this on ladder, you're gonna need at least full 4 copies of
Teacher of Humility. She and Maul are made for each other.
The
Main Strategy is making your opponent have a big hand using Nightfall mechanic and bounce effects while chipping away a little health (thanks to tempo provided by those bounce effects) and then finishing them off one turn 6 using a
BIG Maul.
The 2 legendary cards that are run in almost every non-budget version of this deck are
Teacher of Humility and
Cykalis, the Burning Sand. While
Teacher of Humility is a great card that helps the main strategy a lot (I can't stress this enough), I don't find
Cykalis, the Burning Sand necessary for Gauntlet. You don't need Cykalis's extra damage if you can Maul them on 6 consistently, and this version of the deck provides a lot of consistency thanks to running a ton of similar cards. He is also not helpful against aggressive decks.
Royal Decree and Albon Roa, of the Order are also seeing play in competitive decks. Roa seems like a very good card but I don't have it.
Royal Decree seems a bit too fancy for Gauntlet (your opponent's deck isn't a good deck so you don't need hand disruption) so I don't think it's worth running here.
Card choices:
Category 1:
Be Gone,
Teleport,
Equivocate: Cheap bounce effects that help both sides of your strategy. they let you go face by bouncing blockers, and fill your opponent's hand for the
Maul turn. These cards let you take advantage of drawing 2 cards per turn and turn it into tempo. These are the reason to run
Maul in Elysian colors.
Permafrost: Again, lets you cash in your card draw for tempo.
Category 2:
Gloaming Wisp,
Dusk Raider,
Nocturnal Creeper,
Baying Serasaur
,
Lethrai Darkstalker,
Lunar Magus: Running 24 Nightfall cards lets you keep Night going consistently.
Lunar Magus is great against other aggro decks.
Lethrai Darkstalker and
Baying Serasaur are 4/4 bodies for 3 power as long as you have Night. You can end 1/3 of the games just by the tempo advantage without needing
Maul.
Jennev Merchant: Lets you have 7 draws that give you
Maul. Thanks to this card and Nightfall, you should be very unlucky not to get
Maul by turn 6. Also Gives you some flexible answers. Merchants are good, Period.
Strategize: Extra consistency at the cost of a little tempo loss. Also has a little synergy with
Baying Serasaur.
Amaran Stinger: Just a good card to fill the remaining slots. She's good on its own and This deck lets her shine even more. Bounce effects clear the way for her and Nightfall helps you get the scorpions faster. Not necessary by any means though. You can also run Albon Roa, of the Order here. If you want to run 4 copies of Roa, i recommend cutting the stingers and 2 copies of
Strategize.
Face aegis is very hard to deal with.
Equivocate and
Backlash can proc it (I believe Albon Roa, of the Order also gets rid of face aegis) but you can't rely on getting them every game. try to win using by tempo advantage in those games.
That's it. Hope you find as much joy in Mauling your opponent as I do. All comments are appreciated.
4 Gloaming Wisp (Set3 #55)
3 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Dusk Raider (Set4 #153)
4 Equivocate (Set1003 #21)
4 Nocturnal Creeper (Set3 #64)
4 Strategize (Set3 #165)
4 Teacher of Humility (Set4 #67)
4 Amaran Stinger (Set4 #68)
4 Baying Serasaur (Set3 #66)
4 Jennev Merchant (Set4 #169)
4 Lethrai Darkstalker (Set4 #170)
4 Lunar Magus (Set3 #69)
3 Maul (Set1004 #16)
4 Amber Waystone (Set3 #51)
3 Emblem of Grodov (Set7 #31)
4 Cobalt Waystone (Set3 #151)
3 Emblem of Linrei (Set7 #91)
4 Crest of Wisdom (Set3 #261)
3 Elysian Banner (Set1 #421)
4 Elysian Insignia (Set7 #178)
--------------MARKET---------------
1 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
1 Backlash (Set1 #200)
1 Crystallize (Set1 #232)
1 Maul (Set1004 #16)
1 Elysian Banner (Set1 #421)
I like the power change, the bonuses and options can help in games which take too long. Really wanted Hailstorm or Crystallize in the sideboard.
Gauntlet totally cheats. You know you love how your initial draw always has one power. It makes the game fun!