Information

So, decided to put this list together to investigate a deck that should theoretically exist.



Here's the logic: we just got resolute monk and Cykalis. These are signposts for aggressive time-based strategies. Furthermore, we just received support for the Jennev 3F, with display of instinct being cheap, above-rate (1 power for 1 damage) burn that doubles as a negate if necessary.



Furthermore, Jennev has access to an assortment of extremely efficient interaction (torch, permafrost, equivocate, display of instinct).



And we all know how good Champion of Fury and Vadius are for aggro strategies.



So, description of curve:



2 drops: Champion of Fury and Dusk Raider: no explanation needed--Skycrag's been showing us just how good these cards are for as long as they've each existed. Resolute Monk: while I would have loved not risking getting picked off by snowballs from jotun hurlers in Howling Peak control decks, teacher of humility is 68% to have TT on 2. Essentially, it's teacher or Champ of Fury and Vadius. Furthermore, if resolute monk *doesn't* immediately get picked off, he's swinging in for 5 overwhelm, which is just stupidly high from a 2-drop.



3-drops: Jennev merchant has shown us just how good she is in aggro strategies by providing a unit resilient to removal, and Vadius is well, Vadius. In this deck, however, he's a bit weaker than in the standard skycrag shells due to lack of shogun's scepter, which may be a better card than Darya in this deck.



4-drops:



Cykalis: so here's the thing--people trying to force Cykalis in a time-heavy shell *might* have some success with him in Combrei, but the thing about him is that he's similar to bandit queen in that his power level is directly proportional to how much work you've put in *prior* to playing him with your other cards. When your 2-drop only hits for 3 (teacher), and your 3-drop doesn't stick because it gets torched or snowballed (people who play False Prince in this meta are just nuts), Cykalis just won't do that much work. However, if you have your opponent on the back foot already and jam a Cykalis in their face, they're going to feel it.



Darya: well, I already had 4 crafted of her on day 1, and the fact that she gives you a contingency plan for using up **six** power while being playable on turn 1 or turn 4 is terrific. The card's so versatile, though in the few games I've played, I haven't drawn her yet. However, if you look at the three mighty strikes and shugo standards in the deck, if you untap with Darya, that represents 14 deadly overwhelm damage from a 7/6 with shugo tactic, or 7/8 with an amplified mighty strikes. For those that don't remember when champion of chaos was a 5/5 deadly overwhelm at full influence that was still an excellent play on turn 4, the fact that you can just remove more than half of a player's starting life total with two cards seems fantastic. However, I will admit that Darya's initial body is defensively statted, so if others think that devoting her slots to something like Shogun's Scepter may be the way to go, then by all means, have at it. If you don't have Darya, I'd recommend replacing her with Shogun's Scepter.



Interaction Suite:



3 permafrost (4th in market): you're a primal aggro deck, this piece of super-efficient interaction is one of your reasons to do that.

4 torch: duh.

3 equivocate: the faster of a deck you are, the closer this card is to an unconditional kill spell for 2. When this deck can goldfish by turn 4 (dusk raider -> berserk champ -> berserk cykalis), and where Darya + combat trick is involved, readily kill by turn 5, equivocate is pretty close to a kill spell. Those that played TJP midrange (another deck should probably be seeing more play right now, even without any new support outside of Jennev merchant from *last* set and no support whatsoever *this* set) know just how obscene equivocate is.

3 display of instinct (4th in market): basically the sign post to be in Jennev (FTP). 4 damage for 3 power is only beaten by torch in efficiency, and the fact that you can turn around and use it as a negate is awesome, and in very rare situations (I imagine), use it to bring back a charge unit with berserk (instead of just negating the spell).



Combat tricks:



Mighty Strikes: it was a combination of this, pummel, and bottoms up. For the record, bottoms up is stronger than flameblast on a pure damage rate. You get 2 damage for 1 power, 4 damage for 3, 6 for 5, and so on, and given that this deck runs 12 overwhelm units (monk, champ of fury activated, Cykalis), you have a good shot at getting through unblocked. However, I think its *in* combat applications are much more narrow, and given that this deck doesn't have much in the way of evasion, I decided against it. Pummel also seems like a good choice, and I won't fault people for going with that. However, mighty strikes gets my nod because for 2 power, it's somewhat close to rampage (exception being you can't use it with Vadius to kill a titan, but you have DoI and torch for that, if you didn't already equivocate it), but with the potential of amplifying for 4 damage. I think if you don't like mighty strikes, rampage is the way to go.



Shugo Tactic: Combat trick that can be played as a power in an emergency. Completely vomit-inducing disgusting on Darya, good anywhere else.



Power base:



This is basically trial and error with shiftstoned.com/epc's influence chart. Here are the rules I used: make sure you can hit your entire influence base in sigils (FFTTP), put a bunch of pressure on diplo seals (learned this one from team ET), then since you're an aggressive deck, 6-7 crests (not sure the correct number, might even be lower), seats to sigils are approximately a 1:3 ratio--you need 13 sigils for 4 seats to be undepleted is the math I heard from jez2718, and then the rest are banners.



And of course, 4 cargo because it allows you to fix influence, and then get some gas later on. When your opponent is near dead by the time they flip, there is probably a surprisingly large amount of things that can work.



Market:



permafrost and equivocate: this is something TJP blitz players did last set with their blitz decks, so the same logic should apply here.

Gift of battle: I am honestly unsure about this card. Most of your units don't really have the health to survive direct combat and you don't have a lot of health on them, so I can see this being accelerated evolution, jump kick, skycrag scalebreaker, or maybe even a mighty strikes.

Mirror image: again, blitz-inspired technology. Jennev for mirror image, then cast mirror image on Jennev merchant to go back into your market is a very well-known line for aggressive Jennev merchant lists to ensure they don't flood out.

Display of Instinct: ultimately, this is a 3-cost card, and keeping 4 maindeck seems a bit heavy, so I put the fourth in the market to allow you to get reach (or negation) on demand.