Homecoming Update - Argenport Masters Gauntlet Farming

I have been farming for gold to make enough shiftstone to start foiling my legendary collection, and as it turns out, thats quite expensive! Here is a brew I've been working on to make the experience of grinding gauntlet gold fast, for all of you who share in the sport of smacking AI at work and whatnot.

The gameplan:

Outlast and outvalue. This deck has a very big focus on lifesteal in order to be able to outrace, or force the bots into defensive standoffs - which it then wins as it has many different angles through which to finish a game once that board state is in effect. As such, the deck is built with anti-aggro cards, board development cards, and powerful bombs at the top.

The cards:

Vara's Favor and Desecrate are both very effective against aggressive decks. "But Eternion, isn't Desecrate bad versus aggro as it deals damage to you?" well the way i see it, aggressive decks need to deal 3 or higher amounts of damage per non power card they draw to be able to kill decks with midrange units that they cant get past, or to get them to burn range before a rule shows up - desecrate is good enough to trade equally to their minimum "acceptable" rate. Which isn't to say its ideal in that matchup - it definitely isnt - but with the only 2 cards it definitely downtrades to being Censari Brigand and Champion of Fury, and it being very tempo efficient versus most units its certainly on the better side of cards to run. If you don't like them id recommend running Defiance or Suffocate on that slot.

Hidden Road Smuggler and Stonepowder Alchemist are where the deck begins to build up a counterclock to opposing aggression. They are also removal magnets and work very well with Martyr's Chains and get a significant amount of immediate value between market access and 2 lifesteal shots + revenge. Mug is one of our anti-midrange and anti-control tools that let you get knowledge of what the AI's hand looks like and how/when to play cards like Vara and Makto. It's also conveniently in curve to hit unramped-into Xenan Obelisk, Avisaur Patriarch and works wonders against the Moment of Creation deck.

Wingbrewer is effectively a quarry-esque effect that can work up to 3 times. You may want to wait to play him on 5 to get immediate value from his ability. The bats can be very useful, and he digs really fast towards your destiny revenged units or whatever card you need to find. It is also card advantage. Good card.

Regent's Tomb is one of the most interesting cards in the deck. As you can see from looking at the list, theres a lot of board wipes here - 4 maindeck rules and 4 merchants to grab End of the Story. The AI, if it sees it can't finish you off that turn, will prioritize attacking any site in play - this allows you to effectively Fog with the site while also lingering influence to have fast power on 5 or 6 for the board wipe, while not suffering card disadvantage, and gives the AI more turns to commit more to the board. Of course, this is more of a "if i have boardwipes in hand and i want to take this route" kind of deal - a lot of the time you can open with Sabotage, specially if you know the AI doesnt have ambush or charge units. The large quantities of removal make the tomb fairly easy to protect in this shell, and getting Elias off or giving merchant, vara, reyna or shadowlands tyrant revenge is a big deal.

Harsh Rule has synergy with Makto, with Tomb, and if you spend your turn 3 and 4 playing hand disruption chances are youl get some good value ruling on 5.

Inquisitor Makto is your flying board presence and a humble value engine in matches that drag on. If he becomes permafrosted remember that sometimes it can be worthwhile to Slay or Desecrate him if you can't seem to find a board wipe (or if you are so committed to the board that you dont want to). Other than that this card's been around for so long and its design is so simple I'm sure youl figure out how to use him to his full potential.

Shadowlands Tyrant is your "i hate scorpion wasps, direfang spiders, aegises and 1 health fliers" card. Swinging for 7+ damage with lifesteal and having enough attack power to trade with many sizeable Time units, the Tyrant proves to be a huge help adding redundancy to Vara, Vengeance-Seeker 's ability to win a damage race while grounded. If you don't have him, feel free to play Amilli, Cloudmarshal on this slot. (or if you don't have Amilli either, something that silences like a Valkyrie Enforcer would probably be decent in this shell)

Reyna, the Unwavering is not too terribly important, she is very good against the Stuns oriented decks, and also quite good against the Minotaurs tribal deck and mono-shadow removal pile-esque deck whose removals tend to be shadow based, but you can play Telut, Queen's Hand in this slot and in most situations that will also do fine.

Dizo's Office grants your Makto the ability to lifesteal in the air, adds even more removal and fog-like disruption to the AI's thinking abilities, and is just all-around a very effective lategame value engine. The unblockable unit it produces can also be the difference between winning and losing. The AI will typically give you the cards even if it doesnt have to, so I recommend sacrificing something to obtain the cabal extortion scheme.

As for the market, I am a sucker for putting power in the market in these kinds of decks with so many 5+ cost cards, which is why there is a Token there. Vanquish is useful to not get out-tempoed, Burglarize is good against a couple of decks that rely a lot on their key relics, End of the Story can be a necessity at times, but the card you want to have to really make sure you have a better lategame is of course Martyr's Chains

I hope you enjoy my list and good luck in your gold farming endeavors.