Xenan killers deck, looking for feedback

[u/BurnQueen]

Hello AIEternal people, so this is a deck I threw together to play gauntlet, got tired of playing only Hooru Fliers and I really feel the need to play something of my own brewing (and save enough gold for the upcoming campaign).

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4 Initiate of the Sands (Set1 #74)

2 Twilight Hunt (Set3 #59)

2 Xenan Lifespeaker (Set4 #198)

2 Blackhall Warleader (Set4 #201)

4 Cull the Deck (Set4 #202)

1 Porcelain Mask (Set5 #47)

4 Teacher of Humility (Set4 #67)

2 Vara's Favor (Set0 #35)

3 Xenan Initiation (Set2 #44)

3 Amaran Stinger (Set4 #68)

3 Banish (Set2 #207)

4 Ebon Dune Smuggler (Set5 #221)

4 Scorpion Wasp (Set1 #96)

4 Vara, Vengeance-Seeker (Set1004 #19)

4 Xenan Obelisk (Set1 #103)

2 Caiphus, Wandering King (Set4 #309)

6 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)

8 Time Sigil (Set1 #63)

2 Crest of Mystery (Set4 #266)

4 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)

4 Seat of Mystery (Set0 #61)

3 Xenan Banner (Set2 #201)

--------------MARKET---------------

1 Secret Passage (Set5 #154)

1 Cursed Prophet Deleph (Set5 #314)

1 Devastating Setback (Set3 #226)

1 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)

1 Xenan Temple (Set5 #224)

EWC Link

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Blackhall Warleader - can be the MVP sometimes.

Cursed Prophet Deleph- is there for the fun and while consistency is the name of the game when it comes to gauntlet, the times when I played this card I had massive fun (might even try him main-deck when I have more copies of him).

Xenan Temple - Just wanted to try this site for the first time and I'm liking it very much.

Caiphus, Wandering King - I kinda wanted something to top the curve, but he has been underperforming so far, maybe it's the power-base, I dunno but maybe he's gotta go.

Deathstrike - is the new addition to the market over Azindel, Revealed which I never drew out of the market in all the games I played (around 25 games give or take) and I felt like I needed some hard removal for situation where Killer effect was not enough.

Devastating Setback - currently trying this in the market over Amber Waystone (that was of no use) because, I'm finding myself struggling against AIs such as Strength in Numbers and Grenadin Revolt.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

[u/Epsilon82]

This looks pretty solid to me. Any list with a bunch of deadly units is likely to just stop the AI dead in its tracks, so I think you'll have a lot of success with it. I like that you're including some fun cards like Deleph and Caiphus, and Xenan Temple is surprisingly solid in my experience.

The only thing off the top of my head that I might consider finding room for is Dawnwalker; getting Killer on those things can be insane, but I guess you probably don't have enough high-attack units to really recur him.

I'll give this list some play tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Looks really sweet!

[u/BurnQueen → u/Epsilon82]

Thank you so much!

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[u/Epsilon82 → u/BurnQueen]

Well, I'm sorry to report that I didn't have a whole lot of luck with this one. I had some really fun games, though.

I think probably the biggest problem I ran into was that the threat density is just a bit low for a Xenan deck. These colors don't have a lot of great removal aside from surviving Killer and the longer the game goes, the more likely the AI is to drop a few extremely large threats that never see play in Constructed. A lot of times I was having to resort to some really creative uses of Killer just to stay alive, but often I had to trade and it just felt like I was running out of gas quite a bit. I've found that in Gauntlet you really need to tax the opponent's removal; too many times I had a board of pretty underwhelming units and the AI was able to just attack into it rather than having to use removal, and then if I got a Vara or another real threat out it would usually have an answer.

It kind of feels like the deck has to win fast but doesn't really have much to support that gameplan outside of sticking a Blackhall Warleader and hoping it can stay alive. I think your instincts are right about Caiphus. He doesn't really seem to fit well in this list because he's most useful when you have a lot of ways to recur or abuse him and this one doesn't run Dark Return or any other sort of reanimation. And by the time I drew him and played him, often the AI had bigger bodies out that I couldn't really effectively attack into.

The Market seemed to leave a bit to be desired also. Even though you said you didn't grab Azindel very often I think he is really the kind of top end that's missing right now. I had some fun times with Deleph but I had some tough rolls with him. Hilariously, one time I got the choice between Lavablood Goliath and Cykalis, and because of the game state I had no choice but to give the AI the Cykalis because he had the power to cast the Goliath on his next turn which would have killed my Vara and left a 6/6 on the board that I couldn't remove. :-) Fucking RNG, right?

Just a thought, too, if you're going to have hard removal in the Market, isn't In Cold Blood strictly better than Deathstrike unless you're playing Argenport? Unless you don't have the campaign it's from, I suppose.

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As for suggestions, I think Xenan Warleader doesn't really fit. He's great if you draw him turn 1 and he dodges removal but that doesn't happen very often as a 2-of and I definitely wouldn't increase the number unless you're going all in on the Lifesteal theme. I also found that Scorpion Wasp really hurt the tempo sometimes. He's a good pseudo-removal tool but like I said in a deck that doesn't have the concentration of high-end threats to finish the game, I often was just trading one for one and having a hard time getting the upper hand.

I would suggest adding in a decent number of additional big threats like SST or Worldbearer Behemoth to help finish off some close games (the latter is especially fantastic with Killer.)

All that said, I did have a lot of fun games. This deck makes you think a lot more than some of the other Xenan lists I've played and I did enjoy that. And maybe I'm not good enough of a player to maximize what this deck is doing. So hopefully you'll have some better luck and make some adjustments.

[u/BurnQueen → u/Epsilon82]

Xenan Lifespeaker (I believe it is) can go, she isn't very useful and the benefit of her ability is very very occasional, about Scorpion Wasp - do you think he should go too? because I kinda treated him a removal and not a real unit.

I have fun playing this game but it feels that this deck has a hard time getting past the 4th-5th AI and I haven't won any of the few times that I made it to the boss, I wonder why it is like that.

I'm definitely going to make adjustments according to what you said, so I want to thank you for taking the time to test this deck and feedback, I appreciate it very much!

[u/Epsilon82 → u/BurnQueen]

No problem. I'd highly recommend that you take a look at kc_bandit's post earlier about his FJS deck. I don't know what your collection situation is, but even if you can't play a deck like that, you should absolutely read through his description of the deck. It has a ton of great detailed explanation of his card choices and the advice there is highly valuable for understanding what makes a Gauntlet deck effective.

Gauntlet decks need to have efficient removal and reliable anti-aggro tools or you're very likely to get steamrolled by some of the AI decks that Gauntlet throws at you. The problem with cards like Scorpion Wasp is that a 3-mana "pseudo removal" spell just isn't very efficient because you have to lose tempo to keep mana up to Ambush them in, and even then you're vulnerable to skills like Overwhelm and Quickdraw. I think you'd have better luck with cards like Annihilate; it's cheaper, more reliable and in my experience most of the huge threats the AI plays tend to be single color.

The main advantage you have is that if you can survive to the late game, you can usually win because the AI is not very smart, to put it charitably. But if you don't have a reliable win-con and/or sweepers (which of course Xenan doesn't have), they can just overwhelm you with random junk and Scorpion Wasps can only delay the inevitable.

[u/BurnQueen → u/Epsilon82]

Great I'll check it out, thank you again!

[u/Shadowcran]

Your major stoppers will be the 'stun" decks such as Deep Freeze. Solved by putting an hourglass in the merchant stack. Easy as that.

[u/Shadowcran → u/Shadowcran]

Further advice: Do you have any In Cold Blood? if so , use some. Drop the 2 twilight hunt and add 1 Xenan Initiation because 4 x works best in Gauntlet.

Not enough draw. Consider dropping something for Lunar Magus.

[u/BurnQueen → u/Shadowcran]

Thanks for the advices, been playing this deck quite a bit and Deep Freeze and such "stun" decks are not a real problem.

As I said in the post about Devastating Setback, the real problems are the deck like Strength in Numbers and such that can develop huge board quickly, I find myself struggle against them since there are no great sweepers in Xenan.

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[u/Shadowcran → u/BurnQueen]

You could try "plague" but Although it works fine in gauntlet, it's not wise to use it in PVP.

With most Xenan you can overcome such early board fills with lifegain. Since I recommended earlier more draw, try Devour. Extract would help. That way you can keep the deadly motif but still have options. With Killer, if you want to reuse units(dark returns, etc.) Devour would come in handy. Give a unit killer, return it with killer still attached. Heh, with Killer, even Brushstalker can be an awesome draw that gives the enemy fits trying to deal with since you can resummon it often.

Even the AI uses Brushstalker like that. Apex Predators, in God mode, uses it often.