Asking Questions

I started a couple of months ago and hit masters with this deck the second month. This article will be loosely organized by game stage.

Essentially, the deck gets boots on the ground ASAP. I like to have a plan for turns 1-3 at least, even if turn 1 is a Lingering Influence (helps you build a plan for later turns while ensuring that there'll be no sigil drought). I never double-mulligan and put a card back, as this deck has pretty much no card draw other than soft options like warp and sigil drawing (which raises the odds that you draw something that isn't a sigil).

Lots of decks aren't as fast as this deck, so cards like Paladin Oathbook can capitalize on that by creating questions that they have to answer (the namesake for the deck refers to constantly generating threats. Just when they think "surely they won't have ANOTHER one" you Mantle of Justice a 1-cost card into a real ball-buster). Crawnwatch is great to play vs. red when they look like they're hungry to flare something. Baby Icaria is not an ideal 2-drop, but she can pick off 1-health things against aggro decks, help to fill mana gaps by boosting on turn 3 (also not ideal, but it's often a good backup plan), and if you can keep her around then she really pulls her weight at 6 influence. Finest hour often becomes "kill an enemy and revive an allied minion", essentially, and combos excellently with Hojan as a bonus.

Vanquish doesn't really fit the deck's theme, but I found that some beefy 4-ish cost minions could wall me off. It's never bad to have a copy hanging around in hand and rare for it not to find at least even value.

Spire chaplain is often a thorn in my enemies' sides. While you only need so many sigils, it's nice to purge them from your deck and ensure you can get to the 5-9 range (whatever the situation calls for). Plus, it's just a 3/3 for 3. The merchant is self explanatory, but I will concede that the market is the part of the deck that I'm still experimenting the most with (to be discussed). Valkyrie Enforcer also doesn't feel particularly strong, but silence is OK, 3/3 flying is OK, and getting boosted by Icaria is OK.

Loyal Falcon I'm not so sure about, but it staves off aggressive decks. Endurance minions also generally pair well with MoJ/Paladin Oathbook, as they provide defense together with offensive pressure. Pledge can help fill gaps. Mantle must be carefully used to get value out of smaller minions. It's great on crownwatch, demanding either two removals or a poison minion. It's fine on oni later, too, just to recover value. Often, drawn lategame, it's just 10+ damage with charge.

Sediti was a big boon when he dropped. I've usually still got control by turn 5, so even just forcing the opponent to trade whittles down his board presence. Big card draw benefits from warp and the draws.

Fourth-tree elder is similar to loyal falcon. Telut pops up just often enough to pump out some value and burn some sigils. Combos well with Hojan.

As for the market, I don't think Martyr's Chains is negotiable. It's often just a win condition, even if it only lasts one turn. It can be held an extra turn to combo with a sigil. Rolant is just anti-aggro. Harsh rule is a MAD button. Challenge by Law is often nice to take care of 1 or more problems at once. Adjudictor's Gavel wins games on its own, as most shadow revenge decks seem like they've been built assuming that no one will throw a wrench in their plans. People like to pull vara from the void over and over, too, so that's another thing that I feel lets it pull it's weight. I'm really most doubtful about rolant and challenge by law.

Please comment any constructive criticisms you have, and feel free to try the deck. Remember, things don't normally go well if you have 0 or 1 minions on the board by turn 3.