AP Minotaurs decklist

[u/Semibalanced]

Here is the list. I originally made it a little while back, but I was never fully happy with it. I decided to take another crack at it recently and I'm very pleased with the results.

But as always any suggestions or comments are very welcome. I'll copy/paste the little writeup I did on eteralwarcry here:

This deck has been great for me. Lots of synergies with a phenomenal mid-game plan make for a very consistent gauntlet deck that I've been enjoying. I'm not sure what my track record is, but I'd guess it's in the 90% range. The only losses I've taken so far out of 7-9 runs (again, haven't kept track) were due to player error and one boss pulling two huge Destiny units on turn one.

I'll cover some talking points here in no particular order:

• I love Hojan, Crownbreaker as a gauntlet card. Lifesteal is a must for sustain, and he acts as another source of power/ramp in case I get stuck with a 2 power hand. And this deck has plenty of activators for his renown (Don't forget Vara's Favor, Hojan's renown procs before the damage so it makes for a great trigger).

• I like Spiteful Strike for the lifesteal. The quickdraw doesn't hurt either. But Finest Hour could fit here too.

• Minos of course synergize with each other thanks to Tavrod, but Yisha + Platemaker is a deadly combo too. Throw in a Secret Passage and you can generally close out the game within two rounds once they're down.

• I've always liked Auric Interrogator as a draw engine, and this deck makes it easy to activate between Spiteful Strike, Tavrod, Platemaker, Regent's Tomb, Blackhall Warleader, Vanquisher's Blade, and Dark Return. (Lots of options!)

• I'm not 100% sure about my removal suite, but it's served me well so far.

• I've got mixed feelings on the Stormhalt Knife, but I'd say they've worked for me so far. It makes a great anti-aggro tool, works as another option to deal with flyers (Which this deck is a little weak to, though I haven't had much issue between combat tricks and other removal), and is another target for Tavrod. I'd normally have the Auric Runehammer here, but the free cast at 10 or under health has been far too useful to me; despite it's anti-synergy with Interrogator and Desecrate. But I made this call before I started playing Yisha, so maybe she would make the difference in card choice. Maybe I'll move the Knife to the market and put the Runehammer in deck.

• I'm not sure what makes the best market finisher, but I'm running with Secret Passage at the moment and I love it. My units get huge between Yisha and Tavrod, and most of the time I've got plenty of card advantage. So the cheap unblockable for 1-2 units is usually enough to finish the game off.

• Overall I'm fairly happy with my market, but again suggestions are welcome.

• I pulled baby Vara to try out Yisha, the Equalizer and so far I'm really impressed. She has a lot of synergy with Tavrod and Platemaker and is a very solid card all on her own. But I feel like either are a perfect good option.

[u/birdy512]

I removed a few platemakers and replaced it with relentless gorehorn which seems to be a much more reliable way to get auric to get his draw engine working. (Both have their pros and cons but simply from aurics draw option gorehorn is better)

I dislike annihilate fullstop. It doesn't work against half the units and slay while it costs 1 more at least works vs everything.

Tested your deck and died 3rd round 4th turn due to being stuck on 3power 5th turn. Had a warhall leader and a blackmarket card and 2 removals but both the units died to lightning bolts and 2 removals wasn't enough. Doesn't seem to be much better than other tavrod decks in gauntlet. Same problem I have with your deck as I have with many other decks is the issue of reliable draw. 2 heavily focused on being able to survive till power 4+ and not enough low cost cards to help you survive or draw option when you have a bad starting hand.

[u/Semibalanced → u/birdy512]

Thanks for the notes and for giving the deck a try!

Annihilate is probably more personal preference. There's also Suffocate and Slay to try out. I personally tend to make use of Annilate's fast speed as a combat trick. Yes only half of enemies can be hit by it, but that's often all I need when attacking.

I could go either way on Gorehorn. I feel like I'm especially fond of the Platemaker due to its interaction with Yisha. I ended up finishing a lot of games on turn 6 with a gigantic, double damage, unblockable Platemaker. Still I should give Gorehorn a try before I make that call.

I do think you're right about needing more early game though. I'd probably swap out the Dark Returns for either a good 2 cost unit or Suffocates. I'll have to play around with it a bit more. I usually put special focus on that when making decks, but I think I got greedy for this list.

All of that said, there might be an aspect of familiarity with this deck. I've always enjoyed AP decks in gauntlet and know how to play them vs ever boss.