Time for another weekly deck by the Blood Warriors Guild: Token Empire. This deck was created by Kodlak9270 and took victory among many superb Empire formations. With Slay-Ramp Ebonheart, Abomination Empire and Burn Assassin dominating the meta, this deck will allow you to bring Glory to the Empire by employing a classic token strategy. A fair battle with valiant, honorable and well-trained Imperial soldiers, with no necromancy and only minimum involvement of magic.Without further ado, let’s look at the formation.

BWG Weekly Deck: Token Empire by Kodlak9270. Deck code: SPADajejumAGtunNpTbokYdfAUtsnBkkgpgTfxmelZeDdrdhnMkVdyhUsQbYsmovim

The Token Empire Gameplan

Inspiring Soldier

Empire Recruiter

Marked Man

Scouting Patrol

As with any classic token deck, Token Empire likes to flood the board with lots of creatures in order to swarm and overwhelm your opponent. Token generators like Marked Man, Scouting Patrol, Empire Recruiter and Inspiring Soldier as well as the aggressive curve allow you to go wide early. The token generators are supplemented by various ways of buffing them up, allowing you to create considerable pressure. The tokens can be paired with “good-stuff bodies” such as Mournhold Traitor, Pit Lion, Young Mammoth, Bleakcoast Troll to beat down your opponent.

With Token Empire you want to smash face as soon and often as you can. Once you get your opponent to 26 health, try to swing in increments of 5 or 9 when breaking runes. In an aggro-mirror, you should definitely contest your opponent as a matter of priority.

Combat Tricks

Cleric of Kyne and Skinned Hound are important to make some of your creatures survive Ice Storm or to trade favorable. Use Cloudrest Illusionist to be dealing with guards effectively. Gavel of the Ordinator is an excellent punisher for your opponent’s Hive Defender, the deck runs plenty of creatures with 4 attack.

Ahnassi and Penitus Oculatus Agent allow you to get rid of lethal threats and/ or guards, depending on your match-up. Getting Awakened Dreamer and a buffed-up five power creature to stick for one or two turns will oftentimes win you the game.

Cornerclub Gambler

Eastmarch Crusader

Shadow Shift

Spoils of War

Cornerclub Gambler, Spoils of War, Shadow Shift and East March Crusader are your tools to extend your resources in hand. Make sure you can keep up the steam as you are breaking runes. Sometimes it’s worth to be sitting for a turn while your opponent is looking for answers and you get to set-up a one-turn or two-turn clock. Definitely try to keep Cliff Racer, Dawnbreaker and Haunting Spirit as your finishers if you need extra reach.

Match-ups

Aggro

The hardest match-up for Token Empire is an explosive aggro deck. If your opponent has the ring you are in particular trouble, as this Token Empire deck comes with only a negligible amount of prophecies and has no drain. In this match-up, anything with guard is a good mulligan. You need to look out for the point where you can stabilize and turn the tides. This Token Empire deck is able to explode, thanks to the Tokens, Empire Oathman, Divine Fervor, and Pit Lion. If you have a turn where you can see you survive without playing defensively, you can turn the tides. On the other hand, if you draw really well you can outrace even Crusader, even without the ring.

Token Empire against Mid-range

Against midrange, you want to control the field lane for as long as possible, but it’s not mandatory. If they play something that is hard to answer (e.g. you opened with Inspiring Soldier and the play Barrow Stalker or Windkeep Spellsword), it is possible to Shadow Shift and play another 2 cost in the Shadow Lane. In this case, you have a good chance to out-race them.

If you try to race them, but if they have healing options in field and you can’t contest it, it’s game over. Therefore, if you need to make a comeback in field, Penitus Oculatus Agent can help to contest and to regain control.

While you are controlling field lane, try to go wide into the shadow lane if you think that you can continue to dictate trades in field. Be very careful to play around Unstoppable Rage and avoid having more than two creatures in Shadow Lane, if you think your opponent might run it.

Token Empire versus Control

Ice Storm

Debilitate

When facing control, you want to swarm the board with as many powerful threats as possible to pressure them. When you mulligan Fifth Legion Trainer, play him before Scouting Patrol or Marked Man or before swinging with Empire Recruiter or Inspiring Soldier, though. If your draws allow you to get several creatures out of range of an Ice Storm you should take that opportunity. If you sense an Ice Storm, it’s better to trade-in an already wounded (even slightly more powerful) creature before getting another one wounded. Also, be aware of Debilitate and consider the number of pings they might get in on you and the resulting cost of a Debilitate.

If you are on a roll, Divine Fervor is best played after you have established a wide board and already beat them to 16 health. With an additional turn and one or two creatures surviving an Ice Storm, you can often close out the game even without using Cliff Racer, Haunting Spirit or Dawnbreaker.

Outlook

The deck performs well on the ladder and can compete with Slay-Ramp Ebonheart as well as Burn Assassin. Against Ebonheart, mulligan for Penitus Oculatus Agent and go for beefier creatures with better health. If you need to play around Falkreath Defiler, remember that Imperials fight for the Glory of the Empire. Some have said, Seppuku is an option to avoid strengthening your opponent’s forces, but we need to see how Empire Oathman guides us on this topic.

Bujinnovations Market Burn Assassin

Against Burn Assassin, you need to play bigger threats as well and make an attempt to not give them to many cards. This is definitely difficult with such an aggressive formation, however, beating them down in a single turn or across two turns increases your chances of success.

So, that’s about it. Let us know if there are questions or remarks, please, and thanks for reading everybody! Stay tuned for our next weekly deck coming up soon! If you’d like to try this deck out, here is the handy dandy deck code:

SPADajejumAGtunNpTbokYdfAUtsnBkkgpgTfxmelZeDdrdhnMkVdyhUsQbYsmovim

If you like to play a budget version of the deck, check out our article on Budget Token Empire.

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