Armored Valks (Control Version)

Note: This deck might change slightly in the future, but as of now, I'm confident of its performance. Also, there's a Rakano version of this deck in development (Armored Valks (Rakano Version))

Initial Inspiration: I've always liked the concept of Valkyries, but until the Dusk Road set, I didn't feel as if there was enough synergy to build something worthwhile. And after studying the cards, I feel that there's two general directions that the cards of the Dusk Road want to push you towards with Valkyries: (1) lots of Valkyries using cards like Curfew Enforcement, Amilli, Cloudmarshal, and Valkyrie Harvester; or (2) leveraging the the armor gaining abilities of Valkyries using cards like Soaring Guard and Silverwing Smith. The latter of the two seemed more attractive to me personally, so this deck is a description of the evolution of my efforts at building it.

Unit Breakdown

Battlefield Scavenger: Gives early game pressure with Warcry, and it's 3 body is usually enough trade well against aggressive, low-cost units. As a side bonus, a late game top deck Battlefield Scavenger can help pull back any of you Valkyrie from the discard pile, be it an Amilli, Cloudmarshal, Valkyrie Enforcer, or Silverwing Smith.

Soaring Guard: In a typical deck I wouldn't consider Soaring Guard to be all that good, but it chump blocks, and it's on-summon Armor game helps provide more value to your weapons and is yet another trigger to work with Silverwing Smith. That said, once summoned, feel free to more or less use it as a meat shield. It doesn't have much value beyond that. At best you can hope that trades with a 2/1 early game.

Tax Collector: This is a fantastic card, and I've only seen one other person playing it in the 100+ hours I've spent playing the Dusk Road set at the time of this writing. At worst, it's a 2 cost 2/3 that will likely trade well. At best, it's a card which will tempt your opponent to waste their removal, helps gain armor which is compounded by the effect of Silverwing Smith, and can help provide a decent late game win condition. A top decked Tax Collector once you've hit 9 power can transform your relic weapon into a significant beat stick which will likely only be removable through prolonged attrition or spell removal.

Silverwing Smith: The star of the deck. A Silverwing Smith played before an Inquisitor's Halberd provides a 3/5 relic weapon for 3 cost, and the card's effect provides a 50-100% bonus on most of the Armor gaining effects in your deck. Further, the 1/4 body can chump block well, though unless it's favorable, I'd resist the temptation. Once your opponent realizes how valuable these are, they will tempt you to take seemingly favorable blocks which lead into a damage spell, like Torch.

Valkyrie Enforcer: Pretty self explanatory, and somewhat of a staple in most decks which run Justice.

Crownwatch Traitor: I wasn't sold on this card until recently. At face value, it doesn't seem very useful, but the card is effectively a quasi 5/5 with Endurance and Quickdraw. The effect of the card procs on both players turns, so on your turn, Crownwatch Traitor is a 5/3 with Quickdraw, and on your opponents turn, he's a 3/5 which will be ready because of it's endurance. This flexibility provides some pressure which is much needed in the deck, as it runs a lot of low attack units. Sure, a 3 body means it can be destroyed via Torch, but I'm willing to take that chance.

Armorsmith: Like Soaring Guard, this card feels very sub par in normal decks. However, given the litany of Armor gaining effects in the deck, this is nearly always a 0 cost 2/2 which provides Armor. The units in the deck aren't that beefy, but a Soaring Guard or Silverwing Smith into a Inquisitor's Halberd, followed by a couple Armorsmith provides a lot of pressure.

Amilli, Cloudmarshal: Somewhat self-explanatory. Provides late game pressure, meat shields, and tempts the opponent to play removal. Even if silenced, Amilli, Cloudmarshal is a very respectable 4/8.

Weapon Breakdown

Given the number of Valkyrie in the deck, Inquisitor's Halberd is a given. However, there's some flexibility with the remainder of the weapons run in this deck. Auric Runehammer is certainly viable, but I opted to run Hammer of Authority because the extra armor, sans Silverwing Smith, allows you to dump Armorsmith, and it's anti-spell ability helps prevent an immediate Banish or Disjunction. Sure, it costs 1 more, and I could definitely understand someone who preferred Auric Runehammer over it, but for now, I usually opt for Hammer of Authority. The high cost weapons can be several cards and will likely change as needed in reaction to shifts in the meta. The Last Word, Nametaker, and Sword of the Sky King are all good options, and I could even seen an argument for running Hone in lieu of any of those.

Thoughts on Removal

Removal can fluctuate greatly depending on shifts on the meta. In the deck presented in this profile, I've opted to leave out the Wrath-style Harsh Rule and run single-target removal spells Slay and Entrapment, but I encourage others to run what works best for them. My decision to do so was based on the eventual realization that the majority of problematic units I face are, much like I imagine in traditional Armory deck, large bodied units; smaller bodied units aren't usually an issue. Further, this deck runs quite a few units, some of those units benefit from sticking around, and this deck has many relatively discardable meat shields.

Thoughts on Variant Builds

The deck can drastically change depend one's top-end choices. Don't like Amilli, Cloudmarshal? Slot in Tavrod, Auric Broker and Streetwise Informant. Inquisitor Makto can also work, though I find that the game is either won or lost by the time revenge train takes hold. I could even see an argument for Colony Matron. I encourage everyone to experiment, and be sure to share your results in the comments below!