***For a list with
Kairos, Grand Champion --
here you go. 174 - 8 (17 successful runs, 8 incomplete) It was on the 8th moon cycle of Maru-Khal, during the eve of the Desert Harvest that The Black Magdalene disappeared from Myria.
She was a robust ship - steam-powered and capable of gliding through the most serene of Amaran sands, and into the harshest tundras of the Frozen Wastes. Navigating this ship was an eccentric explorer, Tocas, also known among his peers as The Waystone Harvester for his fascination with those gleaming rock formations of unknown origins.
His crew are mostly scholars and merchants, more attuned to exploration than battle. One might even wonder how The Black Magdalene is able to fair against the perils of Myria, from cursed kings to necromancer cults, to magical creatures and haunted sites and relics.
Those "monsters" are also The Black Magdalene's secret.
The ship is also home to refugees - ancient clockworks left by their masters, repaired by Tocas and his explorers. It is home to mythical creatures and forgotten princes in need of nurturing from an ignorant world. That is how the Black Magdalene survives. Kindness, repaid by kindness.
And so, when Tocas got word of an unspeakable horror beyond the Shattered Lands - a land unchartered - he steered his ship, all darkwood and metal into this new frontier. The ship hovered across the desert towards its destination, burning coals passionately at the promise of new discoveries.
And that was the last anyone has ever heard from The Black Magdalene.
A hundred years later, in world molded by advancements, the Shattered Lands remain untouched - a testament to how the science of scholars can still crumble to myth and magic. ABOUT THE DECK: * Replace the banners in the main deck with Crests if you have them. I have Crest in the market because I don't have a full playset.
Thanks YurickYu for bringing it up! UPDATE: Crafted Crests.
* I refrained from using flimsy ramp cards (
Initiate of the Sands /
Devotee of the Sands) since (1) they don't do anything mid-game, (2) they clutter the board, (3) you get sad when they die (and they die easily in Gauntlet).
* I instead opted for spells to even out the board as we build ours. This makes our games a bit longer, but gives us more ways to deal with all the weird Gauntlet shenanigans in all stages of every match. These spells also allow us to race the AI if necessary, or get favorable trades.
*
Temple Scribe instead of
Teacher of Humility because Teacher sucks mid-game and doesn't advance us in any way, while Scribe is like a
Treasure Trove with a unit + heal.
*
Xo of the Endless Hoard isn't usually in any of the existing Big Praxis decks (that I know of), but I find his draw very good here since we are not closing games quick enough. He also provides some reach once we get to the late game.
* My first market pull is either power fixing or
Xenan Obelisk. Next is almost always
Gnash, Desert Prince since Obelisk + Aranhas are awesome + lots of flyers in Gauntlet!
* I'm able to play
Great-Kiln Titan a lot more than expected, but it stays at 2x because
Xo of the Endless Hoard's draw is more important.
* I used to have
Saber-Tooth Prideleader in my tests, but I found that I always market it and there are no relics in Gauntlet that are worth removing. It's probably better in ladder.
* I also used to have
Cykalis, the Burning Sand in my initial draft, but since this deck is slower, I cut him without testing. I'm doing well without him though.
* For runs 15 - 20, I've been using + 2
Char, - 2
Talir's Intervention, but I've switched it back in Run 21.
* I've also started tracking 2-power hands (for more than 4 turns) starting Run 16. So far I've won 2 out of 3 instances. I haven't been tracking this before since it hasn't been a big deal (maybe because I've been lucky, or maybe I've been able to survive it).
* For runs 22 - 25, I've switched to - 2
Talir's Intervention, - 1
Teleport, - 1
Xenan Initiation, + 4
Seek Answers. Plus reconfigured the market. This is the current version that I recommend.
* I don't know why I missed
Seek Answers before, but it's an amazing card here since we want to cycle through our deck faster (on theme, as well!), plus it helps us avoid 2-power hands.
LOSSES: 1st loss: 2nd run boss = Sudden Death - Didn't get a chance here. AI got a very good start.
2nd loss: 9th run boss = Company of Exiles - AI got
Amilli, Cloudmarshal out of a
Crystallize, WTH. Didn't get enough time to deal with her so I lost. Although I think I should've used
Teleport on her instead of my stunned
Heart of the Vault. But, that's life LOL.
3rd loss: 15th boss fight = Company of Exiles - AI got
Ijin, Imperial Armorer and started buffing its very wide weenies. Then it cast
Crystallize. I'm starting to consider Infinity Hourglass in the market because I'm always getting paired with this boss, it's starting to get obnoxious.
4th loss: 5th game of 16th run = Perfectly Even (2 power for 4-5 turns) - Someone asked from the comments section how I never encountered 2-power scenarios in 5 turns. Well now I did.
- I silenced 2
Trail Makers to minimize drops (which I think was the correct thing to do).
- One mistake that I don't know if it could've made a difference is: I bounced a
Sandcrawler instead of
Marisen's Disciple.
-
Marisen's Disciple costs 1 more which could've allowed me to stall more + I don't know if bouncing
Marisen's Disciple would've prevented the copy (wasted opportunity to test it!). I guess I feared that bouncing it would generate more threats.
5th loss: 6th game of 17th run = Rising Up - My first unit was a
Sandstorm Titan at T6. My hand was full of
Heart of the Vaults and
Xo of the Endless Hoard.
- Surprise fact: Rising Up has
Bandit Queen! I was trying to stabilize but that sealed the deal.
6th loss: 18th run boss = Sudden Death - AI got a T1
Infernus in. I was doing great with
Char,
Torch and
Purify until
Bandit Queen arrived +
Annihilate and charged me at me to oblivion.
7th loss: 19th run boss = Mindless Aggression - AI played on curve, then topped it off with
Shogun of the Wastes. Couldn't hold it off and only drew 1 spell.
8th loss: 23rd boss = Mindless Aggression - AI played on curve, and just like a previous loss to this boss - I only drew 1 spell, while the rest were 3 drop-units which couldn't survive
Shogun of the Wastes' double damage buff.
- Currently 2-2 W/L versus this boss.
TWO-POWER HANDS: * 16th run: Perfectly Even (see explanation in the LOSSES section).
* 18th run: Chilling Touch (WON)
- I think it helped that AI kept dropping low-cost units that I was able to deal with using
Char,
Torch or
Teleport. I also had
Temple Scribe which I
Teleported the following turn so I can get a draw.
-
Xenan Initiation (I drew 2) wasn't really useful, but I kept it as an option.
- Eventually drew power, then merchant so I was able to push through.
* 21st run: Forgot to track which opponent (WON)
- I had to
Teleport Temple Scribe 3x.
BOSSES: 1. Company of Exiles (spells into units) - 10 turns
2. Sudden Death (double damage) - Lost in 7 turns
3. Labyrinth Treasury (units cost 1 less) - 12 turns
4. Highly Skilled (+1/+1 for each battle skill) - 10 turns
5. Labyrinth Treasury (units cost 1 less) - 12 turns
6. Company of Exiles (spells into units) - 16 turns
7. Labyrinth Treasury (units cost 1 less) - 15 turns
8. Company of Exiles (spells into units) - 7 turns
9. Company of Exiles (spells into units) - Lost in 9 turns
10. Labyrinth Treasury (units cost 1 less) - 16 turns
11. Defender of the Spire (5 influence per faction) - 15 turns
12. Mindless Aggression (charge) - 7 turns
13. Limitless Possibilities (random battle skill) - 8 turns
14. Mindless Aggression (charge) - 16 turns
15. Company of Exiles (spells into units) - Lost in 11 turns
16. N/A
17. N/A
18. Sudden Death (double damage) - Lost in 4 turns
19. Mindless Aggression (charge) - Lost 4 turns
20. Power of Progress (2 power per turn) - 7 turns
21. Power of Progress (2 power per turn) - 5 turns
22. Defender of the Spire (5 influence per faction) - 7 turns
23. Mindless Aggression (charge) - Quit in 5 turns
24. Highly Skilled (+1/+1 for each battle skill) - 6 turns
25. Power of Progress (2 power per turn) - 6 turns
Torch
x4
2
Purify
x3
2
Seek Answers
x4
2
Teleport
x3
2
Temple Scribe
x4
2
Xenan Initiation
x2
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
East Annex Smuggler
x4
3
Tocas, Waystone Harvester
x4
4
Sandstorm Titan
x4
5
Worldbearer Behemoth
x4
6
Heart of the Vault
x4
6
Xo of the Endless Hoard
x4
8
Great-Kiln Titan
x2
Fire Sigil
x5
Time Sigil
x4
Amber Waystone
x4
Crest of Impulse
x4
Praxis Insignia
x4
Seat of Impulse
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
I'm currently testing only 2 copies of him in the deck. I can't imagine a full set without additional ramp + I can't let go of Xo of the Endless Hoard and Great-Kiln Titan.
My changes during my test so far are:
- 3 Teleport
+ 1 Xenan Initiation
- 4 Sandstorm Titan
+ 4 Crimson Firemaw
+ 2 Kairos, Grand Champion
I'll update the final list once I've tuned it better but with Crimson Firemaw, I might push Kairos, Grand Champion to 4 copies.
PS. Cool interaction between Kairos, Grand Champion and Gnash, Desert Prince. Every aranha deals 1 ping damage to the enemy. If you have Xenan Obelisk out, you get a free Torch every turn that can still do Killer for 3 damage :)
Turns out Xenan Initiation turns Dawnwalker into a killing machine
I might also suggest Moonstone Vanguard as temporary replacement for Worldbearer Behemoth. It nets you a card, good with killer, good VS aggro, helps with stun and OF COURSE, helps with 2-power hands with his pledge. The only downside is the power level (big deal vs some AI decks), which you can mitigate with Xenan Obelisk, which you always grab anyway. You can then call the deck "Here Be Sentinels" LOL.
RNG is a cruel mistress, it happens.
I'm currently working on a Skycrag Gauntlet deck (using Garden of Omens and Rost, the Walking Glacier), but I'm still getting consistent losses VS one Gauntlet archetype so I'm not posting it yet until I find a way around it. I'll share it once I perfect it :)
Thanks again!
We have 4x Torch, 3x Purify, 4x Teleport, 3x Xenan Initiation, 4x Temple Scribe and potential 4x Treasure Trove - that's a generous selection of 2-cost cards (22!), 8 of which are draw and 11 can directly interact with the AI's board (if my math serves me right). I've also been known to use Xenan Initiation on Temple Scribe on those rare occasions that warrant it (once if I remember correctly - I don't exactly track those). Oh and we have 2x Talir's Intervention too to remove war cry or give 4 HP, although I haven't used that card for the heal YET.
This deck has 2-cost draw ALMOST on par with Jennev Peak which usually has Strategize and Treasure Trove, and almost the same kind of low-cost tools to help you survive the early game, which surprisingly, has been good for me given my record with this deck. That's why you have to build Gauntlet decks with a little extra serving of safeties because you only get 1 redraw.
Lastly, I'm kind of getting the vibe that you're not trusting the results I'm putting in - which believe it or not, actually takes time to compile. I have detailed notepads of my decks where I track every loss, add notes to them, track hard battles, track what I change and when, and of course, bosses + how many turns it took. I don't have all the time to add pictures since that takes more effort (+ I think you'd have to host them somewhere too?).
Please note that the main purpose of my Gauntlet deck posts are not to brag, but to help as countless others here are trying to do. And I can only do so much with my time. One other thing is that I lose to Gauntlet just like everyone, and I have lots of decks that I track. The only ones that make it here are those that do exceptionally well because how on earth will a losing deck help new players right? Those that lose to 2-power screw and other nutty stuff REPEATEDLY usually go back to the drawing board no matter how many wins it has.
If it makes you feel any better, I actually have 1 more LOSS to Company of Exiles, but it doesn't involve getting stuck at 2 power. I'm actually now 102-3, but I'm planning to update it once I have more games in since I like to update in bulks.
You need to put a little more faith in people man ;)
Cheers!
EDIT: Added Talir's Intervention on list of low-cost cards.
I think the reason I haven't been tracking it is that I haven't been losing to it before (or I'm lucky and I haven't really encountered it until my 16th run).
So far out of the 8 latest runs, I've encountered it 3x and won it 2x. I've updated the main article for the details. Thanks and I hope it helps!
1) Teleport is a good tool to have at any stage in the game. While it isn't the most powerful option, it gives us the flexibility to manage what happens on the board and even allow us to sway it in our favor while we build our own (at least in the colors that we've chosen). At the very worst, we could even use it to bounce our stunned Heart of the Vault or killer unit (via Xenan Initiation) if it calls for it although I hate doing that. We can also use it to salvage a unit from removal. I think it just fits how I play :)
2) I don't have full crests, that's why I have banners in the main deck. I usually have a note in my deck that I don't have them, but I forgot it here. But thanks for bringing that up, especially for other players. I'll note that in the main article :)
3) Sandstorm Scarf is a safety for me (and I've used it to great extent in this deck). There seem to be a lot more flyers in Gauntlet these days. "War Scavengers" even have Memory Dredgers haha. The deck "Perfectly Even" has them. Not to mention the go-wide ones in Justice and/or Primal colors. Or the go-wide Praxis decks. I know we have Xenan Initiation or Purify in the nutty case that we don't draw Titans (which has happened btw!), but I like redundancy if it allows me to win eventually - although I save that logic for Gauntlet only!
4) Purify in the main deck: lots of high-value silence targets in Gauntlet - Defender of the Spire boss, Strangers, Oni double damage, I've even encountered Rolant, the Iron Fist (but I used Teleport on him instead). That said, we are lacking removal in the market which is a big loss so thanks for calling it out. If I remove Purify in the main, I'll probably add Flame Blasts as you mentioned!
5) Amber Acolyte - I'll consider this one if ever get to craft Novaquake Titan, which I'm still heavily debating since I only have enough for 3 more Howling Peak, which I think is a better spend. HAHA.
6) Pit of Lenekta is the weakest card in this deck but since I've been doing great so far, I haven't put much thought into replacing it. You're actually the second person to recommend Novaquake Titan so that's probably a good replacement.
Please let me know how 3 Great-Kiln Titans go for you! I haven't really considered it due to the curve, but if you're able to put a lot of tests in it, I'd like to know if it works better. Thanks again for your helpful comments!
EDIT: I linked the cards for new players.
I like all your suggestions! I'm testing them (except for Novaquake Titan since I'm still on the fence about crafting it), and I'll keep you posted!
What kind of hand do you mulligan for?
I've actually had no problems with aggro decks, even the go-wide ones. The aggro matchups are usually my quickest games (based on a quick look at my recent matchups in the Profile menu) with about 7-8 turns, with the exception of Praxis go-wide which was 13 turns.
For aggro I usually aim to stabilize with the 16 low-cost spells that we have, then aim for a Xenan Obelisk then Gnash, Desert Prince for the Aranhas so I can go wider.
Speaking of war cry, I've recently encountered a perfect War Scavengers play (if I remember the deck correctly) where it dropped T1 and T2 wary cry units + T3 war cry weapon and I was only able to drop a unit on T3. I was still able to stabilize and get rid of the 9/10 Memory Dredger that it buffed, and managed to win the game in 8 turns.
If you need any tips about how I win with this deck, feel free to PM me so I can help you with the scenarios you face :)
Thanks for the kind words and excellent suggestion!
I had to search Novaquake Titan since I don't have it, and you're right. Since we're going late game more often, it makes sense. It can replace Pit of Lenekta since it's the weakest card in there for me.
I have some stone to spare, and I'm considering crafting one...haha, decisions!