Update: After I completed this article, I saw this sweet looking Feln Deck by Konan, check it out and it applies some of the principles I talk about very well!

Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to write an updated primer and strategy article on Gauntlet. I will discuss the basic premise of Gauntlet deck-building design. I will talk about one of the new decks in particular, Kodosh’s Armory which is the first deck that I consider to be a reasonably good control deck, and how that impacts deck design. I will share a few lists, some links to gameplay footage (some with commentary, some without) and why the list has been successful or struggles to compete. By showcasing a deck that doesn’t quite hit the mark in addition to ones that do you will better be able to make your own decks more potent. I will conclude with a brief strategy section of “what’s the play?” to get you thinking critically about gauntlet. There will be a few easy ones and more challenging ones as well.

First, let’s look at what makes an aggro deck successful. I will start by looking at my Combrei Aggro Deck:

Of note is the absence of Teacher of Humility. If you notice our powerbase has only 19 Time sources. If you use a hypergeometric calculator you will find that the probability of hitting TT on 2 is not very good, and Teacher is not a great 3-drop. We run this few to max out on Justice sources for our JJ influence 3-drops. If we were to drop the emblems then we could certainly fit Teacher but Emblems are such terrific tools to stop flooding in Gauntlet and keep the pressure going. Include emblems in your aggro decks (unless you like losing to flood of course)!

For 2-drops we have Awakened Student, which grows as the game goes on and applies tons of pressure right out of the gate. Intrepid Longhorn is a very reasonable 3/3 for 2, stonewalling opposing 1 and most 2-drops, and often can get us a sigil when we need it. I run 0 Time Sigil to guarantee that critical second Justice influence. The last 2-drop, Crownwatch Paladin is an unfortunate 2/2 for 2 which makes it poor as a blocker. However, its keywords and synergy with Unseen Commando more than make up for that. I’d really like to see it buffed to a 3/3 which would be perfectly balanced (kidding, kidding). The AI can often get frustrated by Aegis and will sometimes burn premium removal just to pop it.

For 3-drops we have Kosul Battlemage. I include this card because we run so many pump spells that it synergizes well. The Aegis is very important as it helps out against removal heavy decks of which there are many. Unseen Commando and Valkyrie Enforcer need no explanation. These are Tier 0 units, the reason to play aggressive Justice decks. If you don’t include these (and have crafted or can afford to craft them) you are doing it wrong. I can’t think of many exceptions (no Commmando in Sandstorm Titan decks).

Since we run Aegis units, I include weapons. 2 Vanquisher’s Blade help deal with large units and hate on void recursion decks. 3 Masters Blade provide situational but sometimes devastating removal. Imagine slapping it on a Kosul Battlemage and killing Champion of Progress when it is in 18/18 mode. The invoke is easy to trigger for more value and card advantage.

Copperhall Elite is our 4-drop as it synergizes well with Commando and has Aegis. Titan is better but Commando isn’t good with Titan and we need Commando for the deck. Sheriff (Bob) Marley is another option as it can be additional silence, and generate small Aegis units for chump blocking usually. Overwhelm is great with pump spells though.

The Market has Copperhall Bailff for support against tokens. Qirin Ascendant can help against aggro as needed and is vital attachment removal primarily. Scorpion Wasp is the flex slot, but it can help against charge units or Aegis pests. Vanquish is included over Pristine Light because we have units that are 4 attack and often don’t want to lose the tempo of having to onslaught and replay our units. Feel free to run it if you prefer a grindier deck. It isn’t unreasonable. Wind Conjuring gives an invoke and breaks Stun/Permafrost with a massive pump as well to close out games and blow out double blocks. We get access to the market with Fearless Crescendo. I run that because with all the Aegis units, making a flier is hard to remove and can press damage. It is also 1-cost, fast speed access and doesn’t crowd out the 3-slot.

For combat tricks, Stand Together is just a brutal fair and balanced card. It bricks Shen-Ra Speaks, Harsh Rule and Removal while messing with the AI’s blocks or attacks. Finest Hour is very efficent and excellent pump spell that should be in every Justice aggro deck, usually as a 4-of. Aamri’s Choice is a little worse but has some added flexibility and overwhelm. Design wise, the AI doesn’t play around combat tricks so these will blow out double blocks, function as removal if you run a unit into a larger one, and be a nice surprise for relic weapons.

Let’s now look at my recent Rakano Aggro Deck, which at the time of this writing I am 35-0 with, although the last run the AI punted game 6. I’ll take it I guess. Funny video here.

Absent of note is a Legendary, Ironfist Chancellor. I have tested this card extensively in 12 1-drop Rakano decks and we just can’t get it to be a 4/4 often enough to utilize it. It’s an awesome card though but doesn’t quite make the cut. We are also running no Market. This deck wants to curve out and sacrifices the utility of a market for brutal speed.

Grenadin Drone is a great 1-drop being 2 units for 1. You can exhaust half of it essentially for Thunder of Wings, a 4/2 flying charge for 3. It’s a 5/3 when you have Commando out. Oni Ronin is a warcry unit that usually trades off imediately. It hurts against tokens, but the deck handles those fine and trading their board down makes their deck weak. Pyroknight is late game value ocasionally but is a nice overwhelm 1-drop. It is very cut-able if you are tight on shiftstone. Just run another 1 drop of choice.

Champion of Glory is brutal stats. Against Permafrost decks that aren’t Shadow (Vara’s Favor) and haven’t drawn an echo card (snowballs), if you can, run it out with just quickdraw if that is an option that won’t compromise your turn 3 play because they will sometimes blow a Permafrost on it, not realizing you will give it endurance. This trick worked in past seasons but I am not 100% sure if it has been patched. The other 2-drops synergize with Commando and are standard Rakano includes with the Warcry. Commando and Enforcer have already been discussed, as has Thunder of Wings which is usually a 3-drop. By turn 3, your 1-drops aren’t usually doing much so exhausting is a small price to pay for a massive damage right out of the gate.

3 Vanquish are a ncessary evil, Finest Hour is awesome, and Torch and Sear can close out games or be removal. I am actually unsure if Sear is better than Torch. Being Fast really helps but so does efficiency. I wish I could fit 4. We run 25 power, with 8 Emblems. Emblems win games, plain and simple. I run more Justice than Fire because the deck can’t function without its 3 drops online. For new players, don’t be afraid of Diplomatic Seal. It is amazing in the opening hand for fixing and that is important for aggro decks. Undepleted Power is key so there are no Crests because of the 1-drops. I run 3 to help with influence in the Combrei Deck as we can just barely get away with it as our curve starts at 2.

Here is a video of me doing a 20 minute speed run. No commentary, just the occasional snarky emote for good measure.

Let’s talk about midrange decks:

This dredger killers deck was greatly discussed in my last video. It works by grinding out the AI with killer + deadly value. The AI is timid against deadly units. You will notice I run more than 4 ways to get to the market. This is something that is often helpful for the slower decks for added consistency. You will also notice I have so many ways to gain health. The aggressive decks will destroy you with a reasonably fast draw if you don’t include a gameplan to deal with those. Honestly this is just barely enough health gain as is. The aggro decks are that good. We are still losing if we stumble on power and don’t draw well enough to stabilize.

The next deck I will talk about is Argenport Midrange:

Argenport Midrange is a classic consistent Gauntlet choice. Our 2-drops have Commando Synergy and build larger units through Warcry. This deck runs Silverwing Familiar in Valkyrie’s Enforcers slot because it is devastating to curve into Master’s Blade, and gives more lifesteal. We have the Sheriff for silence though it can sometimes necessitate sacrificing a unit to activate the tribute. I’ll sac a merchant or Paladin all day if it means silencing a Makto for example. Without the Sheriff I think you have to take out Familiar and put in Enforcer. Enforcer may still be correct to be honest, but I like the deck as is personally.

At the 5-slot, Makto was originally Tavrod but we don’t run Minotaurs and there are not enough hits. Makto is easier to get through in the air, and grinds out well against removal decks that aren’t polymorph/Permafrost/Feeding Time. Speaking of air, flying is a great include as it wrecks AI midrange decks once you deal with Titan and contests flying opposition. Hooru fliers is a great deck but I don’t have an updated version as of now. The community over at AIEternal almost certainly has a deck for you there. Flying is why Justice aggro tends to be better decks than something like Stonescar whose fliers are limited.

We run tons of removal. If we didn’t have a decent bit of lifesteal we would run more Suffocate, probably 3-4. This deck runs 31 power. That is designed to get to 6 on time for Pale Rider’s Timepiece which if I recall correctly LightsoutAce described as the best weapon ever printed. 30 would be close to fine, but suboptimal in my opinion.

Our market has removal for Aegis (Runehamer) and cheap removal to kill all relevant factions (sorry Primal). PaleRider’s Timepiece is great and we really only need the 1 copy. We have so many Aegis units to stick it on and swing the game. Amethyst Waystone draws us undepleted power and more cards to help hit power drops, and outvalue the AI. Unlike in Ranked, our cards are more valuable than the AI’s because we run better decks. Therefore, the downside of getting the card second is mitigated. There’s only 1 deck that makes use of Nightfall but you don’t have to pull it if it will do more harm than good.

I wish we could have Finest Hour, but the removal is too important for the deck and there isn’t space for it. Maybe you could find cuts to fit 2 copies, but I doubt it.

This next deck doesn’t quite work but when it does, you will get the “End the Game with all 4 Riders” achievement at some point:

We have no problem with aggro because of tons of lifesteal threats, although when they get removed it can spell trouble. The problem is sometimes we draw all removal and only have 18 units which aren’t always hitting the board. The deck suffers from having low unit count as a more controlling midrange build. We don’t really run that much removal so it is really removal and weapon flood that can occur. The weapons are amazing though, but only on Horde Plunderer. We can only run 4 Horde Plunderer and when it eats removal or we don’t draw it, the deck falls flat. I have been meaning to test 4 Shakedown main but haven’t yet. That would strip the hand of removal and draw us more cards to assemble the combo. By the way, Unseen Longbow is an excellent weapon. Pledge helps with powerscrew and discard 2 is great against decks that draw excessively. I’m sure it’s playable in another deck, even without Plunderer. I do really like Condemn (and Blazing Salvo in Fire decks) as it’s essentially free removal against aggro.

This last deck is a community favorite, and is updated by Alomba87 and based on Roxie’s popular deck. I am missing way too many cards to play it right now and am conserving shiftstone. Elysian Midrange is also great and you can look for community lists on Eternal Warcry but in the interest of not making the article excessively long, this will be the last deck. I will summarize that deck with False Prince, Cirso and Sodi’s SpellShaper are amazing cards.

Alomba87 opted for a stranger package which gives value through synergy including cost reduction. Kairos costs 9 and Xo costs 8 but those just end the game. Grodov’s Stranger is a half way decent card in the 6-slot (to not confuse you if you’re newer, the card is actually amazing and you should craft it) . Grodov’s Burden is incredible value, just like Grodov himself. Gnash crushes fliers. To summarize this deck, value. Just pure straight mid-late game power. Borrowing a quote from Rocky, it’s like “kissing the express train” “it “rattles the ancestors” of the AI, that is. The only weakness is the expensive curve sometimes means we get power screwed and just lose, but the deck is very consistent and that doesn’t happen often, especially since Auralian Merchant and Tocas ramp. But stuck on 2 is not where you want to be.

As far as control decks, don’t do it. You will lose getting stuck on 2 just like every other deck, but your games take forever. Play a big midrange deck instead. Even if you have the 7 win gold quest, just play a real gauntlet deck and get it within a few runs.

To summarize, build your aggressive decks to be fast, and generally attack in the air. If you are more on the ground, thats ok too but include lots of combat tricks. You need a Market unless you are blisteringly fast and can close out the game with direct damage. Combat tricks are better than removal, but you still need some removal. Tricks are great because they can also push damage and generate card advantage by making your opponent dead, thus unable to use their cards. I’m sure there is a shadow based aggro deck too, which wants Rapid Shot and Spiteful Strike. I have tried Elves though and haven’t had success. I really think theres a list that can get it right, however. I challenge the community to build one that works in gauntlet. I get wrecked by the Time midrange decks despite taking that into account when I build the deck. Midrange decks need to create value with powerful units, backed up by strong removal. Market access is mandatory in these decks.

I suspect Camat0’s Stonescar Shrine Deck with little to no changes will work in gauntlet. I haven’t tested it but I looked at the list and I don’t really see any need to change a thing for it. It’s rare that a ranked list is perfect for gauntlet, but I think that one may well be. The AI does foolish things when you play Madness. The lifesteal from Shrine is great, and your tokens can easily contest opposing go-wide decks.

Now for the strategy section, what’s the play?

This boss runs a lot of power, because the rules are such that you can play multiple power per turn. While ordinarily I would say play your power, then Eager owlet and silence the flier to start attacking in the air, I consider that to be an overly aggressive and highly risky line here. That is a Mystic Ascendant which is a kill or silence on the spot unit! Unless you want to fight an 8/8 next turn with the AI having more cards in hand, I say silence it and then cast Owlet. If you get behind later, then sac a unit to get Onslaught for your looter. I won’t share this list because the winrate on this version just wasn’t high enough. The more conservative line here will give you a better chance of drawing your outs to push through in the air and win. The AI can easily draw a parliament on 8 if you give it the chance.

Here you are up against a stun deck, and it does run 4 Permafrost at high mmr. I ran out Champion of Glory to bait out a permafrost, rather than get our warcry online like I would against a lot of slower decks.

This last one is a harder line to see:

We are in huge trouble here and are dead next turn. The line is, A Space. The AI has a 4/5 which will block the 4/4 to kill it and survive. The 4/4 is going to block the 3/3, as shown.

Now we cast Crescendo granting flying to Awakened Student and pull Wind Conjuring. Casting Wind Conjuring on Student kills Black-Sky Harbinger (BSH), and has given Kosul Battlemage +2/+2 from 2 spells, so it kills the 4/4 and survives. We then play our 3/3 with our remaining power. The following turn the AI rips another BSH straight off the top, because why not. I believe it played the BSH gaining 3 health, after killing my 3/3 as seen in the void, gaining 3 health total and going to 20 (gained 4 last turn on the block). Then they fired off that spell in the void that I don’t recognize off the top of my head.

Sometimes, you are not meant to win the game, such is the variance of card games. This was a 2 outer I believe as it was BSH number 3. This was super frustrating because it took me a couple minutes to find that line which would have given me a fighting chance. The AI closed out the game from here.

I also want to take a minute to let you know about my YouTube channel, which can be found here. It is also in my top bar, but you will have to copy and paste it unfortunately as it is a text only option. I will be posting at least one video a week, probably more like two and these will be a mix of Gauntlet, Forge and probably some Ranked and Draft (though I admit I haven’t played these last two modes a lot as of late due to unstable internet at my old place). The Ranked decks will almost entirely be brews with a deck tech as I feel those are more interesting and unique to watch than the meta decks that you are already familiar with. If you enjoy the videos please like and Subscribe!

I have also recently set up a Patreon if you really enjoy my content. The support would help pay for a new gaming desktop as my laptop seems to be incapable of running streaming software which is something I have been looking forward to doing (also freeing up some money from these exorbitant oil bills in my freezing neck of the woods). There’s absolutely no pressure to pledge however, and I’m still going to be making as much content as I can. Being a patron will have some added benefits but I won’t discuss that here, you can check it out if you are interested.

That is all for today. Thanks for reading, and as usual I welcome your feedback!