Thorough Guide to Armory [Masters]

Hello! I am a long time lurker on eternal warcry and of this game in general. I played this Armory deck to masters (throne) this month. Interestingly enough during my climb I did not see any Armory. I did see a couple of creation decks but none that played Armory. As such I thought I would share my list as well as my reasoning. I tinkered with the deck a lot and I am happy with these cards and these numbers.

Early Game: play power, draw power, and ramp. Stall against Aggro. Only FFTJJ is needed until later sometimes only FTJJ. Occasionally JJJ will be needed on turn 4, 5, or 6 to use Ageworn Vestige against aggro.
Mid Game: Draw Starsteel Daisho or Edge of Prophecy. Either end the game directly or buff with Conspicuous Traveler and create a massive weapon.
End Game: Hit face and win. Sometimes Harsh Rule and hit the face.

Power: This deck is very power hungry so having access to more power is usually a good thing.
Calibrate: Early game power fixing or a weapon later. Very flexible and great in this deck.
Creation Chant: Early game power fixing or better then random card later. Great flexible card.
Pillar of Progress: Ramp and makes all your weapons better. Great for this type of deck.

Usual Cards in Armory: These cards are pretty typical in an Armory but to be thorough I'll explain.
Torch: Great anti-aggro. Can also be used with weapons to help finish off big targets if needed.
Rakano Artisan: Necessary for an Armory Deck. Also does a great job of slowing down aggro.
Disjunction: Usually used early to get rid of opponent's attachments (Disciplinary Weights or Spellbound Vestige). Late game brings back huge weapons. This could possible go down to a 2x or 3x.
East Annex Smuggler: Can Charge to kill other weapons or sites. Can use 2 3 body to help vs aggro. Most importantly can use the market. I had a lot of success with this merchant but other merchants could be tried.
Dragon Forge: Honestly the most important card in the deck. Draw the perfect card for the situation AND lower the cost? This is a broken card. It is important however to grab the right weapon.
Harsh Rule: Standard Control/Armory card. It is worth noting you could swap the placement of Shen-Ra Speaks and Harsh Rule but occasionally the influence requirement would matter. Unless you are matching up against a lot of Argenport with Inquisitor Makto or other such decks, I do not recommend.
Icaria, the Liberator: Typical late game bomb. Helps end games. The warcry is good but honestly the 5 5 flying aegis is just as important. However this is not the usual finisher, this deck does not rely on it as such we do not run 4x.

The more interesting cards:
Conspicuous Traveler: This card is great. Are you against aggro? It heals 3-6 health with a decent body. Are you against control? It makes any weapon into a lethal threat really fast. If they remove the weapon you can just get a new one. If they kill the traveler you still have the weapon. Surprisingly good card.
Magebreaker: Added this card to help counter combo decks. Mainly for Vara, Fate-Touched, Diogo Málaga, Elonze or the Talir, Who Sees Beyond and Kairos, Grand Champion combo.
Auric Runehammer: Usually used since it its a low cost weapon. Can be used with Dragon Forge or Pillar of Progressto play on turn 4 even with depleted power. Can be used with Torch to kill a big threat, like Grodov's Stranger. Works especially well with Pillar of Progress. Usually a 2 for 1.
Hammer of Authority: Niche card. Good for when the other deck uses a lot of combat tricks. Can be replaced for a budget version.
Hammer of Glory: The silence is not to underestimated. Usually a pretty decent choice. Occasionally the ability to hit sites is nice too.
Ageworn Vestige: Great card. Used vs aggro. Heals 9 Health and 3 attack is usually enough to kill the units. Frequently its even more attack. Usually the spellcraft is not used.
Starsteel Daisho: One of two finisher weapons. This one is the usual finisher for control decks. Its not unusually to get this up to 6-7 attack when played due to Pillar of Progress and Rakano Artisan. Usually when played the first hit kills something and then the second hits face. Then Harsh Rule whatever gets played and win the game. That is not even counting how this card interacts with Conspicuous Traveler.
Edge of Prophecy: The other finisher. This card is crazy in this deck. If you just draw this off Dragon Forge then its a 6 6 for 6. Healing for 6 is sometimes good enough against aggro. But frequently this is played after either Pillar of Progress and Rakano Artisan and the card can be a 8 8, 10 8 or frequently even more. This card also goes exceptionally well with Conspicuous Traveler. Since the weapon will get +armor when played when you already have armor Edge of Prophecy will "gain" this armor and double it. This usually ends games unless they have relic removal. And if they do then use Disjunction and double it again!

Worth noting with the power and occurrence of Saber-Tooth Prideleader if the enemy has 4 power TT open usually the correct move is to attack with your weapon first. Even if there are no other enemy units in play. This will kill your weapon and cancel the attack. Then play another weapon and win!

Market Talk:
Display of Creation: Mainly used for either power draw, or AOE silence + -2 power against aggro. Through my climb I took it 2-3 times.
Strange Blacksmith: Used to get back a weapon from the void. Through my climb I took it once.
Naoki, Valiant Warrior: Used mainly as a charger. Pretty decent at dealing with sites or lethal. I took this often when I started playing Armory but I took it less later. Could be replaced.
Shen-Ra Speaks: Emergency Harsh Rule with upside. Sometimes the silence matters.
Xulta Arcanum: The usual choice against control. Usually Xulta Convoy -> Vital Arcana -> Harmony of Flame.

Usually I draw Shen-Ra Speaks or Xulta Arcanum. It's fine draw the correct card and then just wait a while to play it.


P.S. Stay safe from the coronavirus! Stay indoors!