The deck
While Subhash & Marmo don’t have the late-game inevitability of Treyst & Rossum, the 2/2/2 each turn can put on consistent early-game pressure. Once your Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) is online, you can close out the game with boosted characters before you run out of steam.
This deck prioritizes cards that are better from reserve to incentivize you to use Subhash & Marmo’s hero ability as often as possible. Card advantage from Ouroboros Inkcaster (F) and Ada Lovelace (R) help recoup the loss of resources from doing so.
Acknowledging that Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) is probably the strongest single card in the Beyond the Gates cardpool, I’ve tried to ensure that there’s a constant flow of cards into reserve. Monolith Rune-Scribe (F) always resupplies if you’ve used Subhash’s hero ability.
I’ve acquired a truly broken card-draw Coppélia that benefits from losing fleeting more than most cards, so I’ve included three Bravos Vanguards among my rares and uniques. They can also offset Subhash’s card disadvantage and allow characters to be played additional times from reserve for maximum Haven boosts.
Uniques
Since Subhash & Marmo run low on cards and Axiom’s card advantage tends to be in the form of resupplies rather than draw, I’ve included my strongest card draw uniques to ensure that I’m able to continue to use Subhash’s hero ability as long as possible.
Coppélia: 7/7
I’m convinced this Coppélia got past the filter for broken cards. On its own, it’s a 3-mana 4/4/4 that draws three cards if not interacted with.
For 3 mana, you get a 2/2/2 and a card at dusk. At night, it goes to reserve and gets replayed asleep for free. It remains asleep the turn after and draws a second card. When it wakes up, its 2/2/2 in stats counts again, and it draws a third card. If at any point on turns 2 or 3 it loses fleeting, the whole process will repeat.
Foundry Armorer: 6/7
This Armorer’s from-reserve ability and triggered ability combine to generate a massive board across multiple bodies. The Brassbugs are created at the same time, resulting in two token-generation triggers that see both of the Brassbugs. If you discard a card from reserve each time, the two generated Brassbugs will be 4/4/4s, and your Subhash Brassbug and any Coppélias will receive 2/2/2 in boosts, all on top of the 3/2/3 it contributes itself. All you need is two other cards in reserve when you play it - easily achievable with either Treyst or Subhash.
This unique’s vulnerability in Subhash is that it has to make it to reserve without being sabotaged. In practice, that means it’s only a safe play when you’re the first player. It’s a strong finisher for Treyst as well, though you won’t start the afternoon with an extra Brassbug on board. Either way, you need to set up two disposable cards in reserve for this to be at its best, which is a real cost in a Haven deck.
Bravos Vanguard: 5/7
This unique isn’t nearly as flashy as the other two, but on-rate stats plus guaranteed card draw is something any deck can take advantage of.
The games
Round 1 (W): Teija & Nauraa starter + upgrades
I started with an obscene opening hand of two Haven, Bravos Bastion (F)s. I spent T1 making a Brassbug by reserving a Haven then playing it out. My Teija opponent opted to trade instead of push with a Sneezer Shroom (C) here.
Fighting for early expedition progress and being mana-efficient seemed more important than setting up the second Haven just yet, so I reserved and played a Foundry Armorer (C) to go 1-0. T3 was still plenty early for the second Haven, and a double-boosted 2-drop from reserve alongside the Brassbug was more than enough to win one side.
One of the Havens resupplied my Coppélia (U), so I waited until T4 - the first turn I chose not to make a Brassbug - to play it from reserve for two boosts alongside a Bravos Vanguard (R). The Coppélia losing fleeting meant that it would immediately get replayed asleep and stick around to draw two more cards.
Two early Havens with no end to my card draw made it hard for my opponent to contest my plays from reserve, and the Foundry Armorer (U) with two cards in reserve dealt the final blow.
Round 2 (W): Sigismar & Wingspan starter + upgrades
No Haven this game, but their Ordis Carrier (C) start meant that that my reserved Ada Lovelace (R) and the Brassbug could 2-0 against their Ordis Recruit. My Bravos Vanguard (U) put me up on cards so that I could continue creating Brassbugs while winning one side on T2.
They took a turn off in the mid-game to set up The Monolith, Ordis Bastion (C). I sighed, having just put a Boom! (C) into mana, but took the opportunity for another 2-0 while an Ouroboros Inkcaster (F) recovered my Bravos Vanguard (U).
Their passive 4/4/4 in stats would be trouble for me the longer the game went on, so I put my Coppélia (U) in mana and kept the most aggressive hand I could. My Haven Bouncer (F) sabotaged an Ordis Cadets (C) to deny double-boost value from The Monolith, and fighting for one side let me barely go 1-1.
On the final turn, an Ogun (C) boosting a Brassbug and a Coppélia that had just woken up gave me an insurmountable lead to close out the game right before my Ordis opponent turned the corner with value from their permanents.
Round 3 (W): Subhash & Marmo permanents
Noon in the Subhash mirror is interesting due to the priority of the hero ability trigger and the potential for Tinker Bell (C) sabotage as the first player.
Although my opponent managed to reserve consecutive Coppélias on the first turns of the game, my opening hand was blessed with a Haven and my Coppélia (U). The Haven ensured that my plays were always a little bit bigger than my opponent’s, and Coppélia (U) left me with plenty of fuel while my opponent’s hand grew thin due to usage of the hero ability.
A Bravos Vanguard (F) on the turn that Coppélia (U) would have been discarded let it get auto-played once more for another two card draws.
There was an interesting turn where I started with a Tinker Bell (C) in reserve, while my opponent’s reserve had a Haven, Bravos Bastion (F). As the first player, my opponent put a Tinker Bell (C) into reserve. I responded by putting the Haven I had drawn into reserve, leaving my opponent with a tough sabotage choice: either they sabotage my Haven and let my Tinker Bell sabotage theirs, or sabotage my Tinker Bell and let us both keep our Havens.
Ultimately, my opponent hit my Haven to deny me the double Haven, and predictably, I hit theirs in return.
Three progressions away from victory, I had my Foundry Armorer (U) in hand but was uncertain whether I should play it this turn. I was hesitant to pull the trigger out of fear of stalling out one progression short, but next turn I would be the second player, meaning anything I put in reserve would be vulnerable to sabotage. In the end, I held it, guaranteed one side, and prayed for no sabotage.
When my opponent reserved a card that wasn’t a Tinker Bell, I went for it and put the Foundry Armorer (U) in reserve. They didn’t have sabotage, so I played out the Armorer, discarding the other two cards in my reserve to create two Brassbugs alongside an awoken Coppélia (C) and the Brassbug from Subhash’s hero ability. For only 4 mana and two cards from reserve, this single unique generated an obscene 15/14/15 in stats and boosts across five bodies. Nothing my opponent produced could come close.
Takeaways
A T1 Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) puts you so far into the lead. You won’t go down on cards despite using Subhash’s ability, and the Brassbug makes it hard for you to get 2-0’d despite the tempo-negative turn.
Including too many cards that prefer to be played from hand (e.g. Ouroboros Inkcaster (F), Monolith Rune-Scribe (F)) is a risky proposition for Subhash. If you don’t see your card draw, you can end up in a position where you can’t afford to use Subhash’s hero ability since all of your cards in hand are worse from reserve.
Overperformers
- Ada Lovelace (R): This keeps the cards flowing and gets your cards in reserve, where they want to be.
- Bravos Vanguard (R): This played very well with Haven (F), ensuring I’d start the next turn with a full reserve even if I was running low on cards.
- Tinker Bell (C): It’s very convenient that Subhash can put Tinker Bell into reserve to sabotage something immediately.
- Ogun (C): It wasn’t hard to get 4/3/3 worth of stats out of Ogun between Subhash’s hero ability, Coppélia, and Foundry Armorer.
Underperformers
- Monolith Rune-Scribe (F): You can’t play this early without being inefficient. Having to put a card into reserve to generate a Brassbug means that the Rune-Scribe and its resupply will leave you with three cards in reserve.
- Boom! (C): This felt like more like a last resort than I expected, since sacrificing a 2/2/2 Brassbug never looked appealing, and none of my characters was disposable once a Haven was online.