The deck
There are two ways that I considered building Auraq. One was a more control-oriented build that runs expensive spells and tries to time your unevenly statted characters to block optimally. In some matchups, this deck will only get one ability activation, so you have to make it count.
I opted instead for an aggressive build that aims to activate the hero ability as quickly and as many times as possible (usually twice). Sometimes you’ll hit a 1-drop, but it’s fine: at least you’ll get to try again in a turn or two.
This deck doesn’t care if your 0-stat characters sometimes give your opponent easy progressions; it banks on the fact that you’ll be going just a bit faster.
I’ve included as few interactive spells as I could get away with, since they don’t add performance counters and are often whiffs off of the hero ability.
Notably, I cut Lyra Thespian (C). The only times it’s a 3/3/3 are in the late-game or when played alongside an Ouroboros Trickster or Anansi (R), and I really wanted every character in the deck to contribute a performance counter.
Hydracaena (F) is the ideal flip for the deck, but it can also be played from hand thanks to the deck’s ramp and cost-reduction support abilities.
Uniques
Ideally, Auraq’s uniques will be 0-stat characters that fill the role of the interaction spells that you’d like to include in the deck but cannot.
Mighty Jinn: 4/7
When I opened this Mighty Jinn, I was excited about a unique that could ramp early and double as a removal spell later in the game. I still like it for its blowout potential, but I think it’ll be rare for the uneven stats, removal, and ramp to all be relevant at the same time.
Studious Disciple: 4/7
I likened this to a Lyra Meditation Training when I opened it, and it gets extra points here for contributing a performance counter. The flexibility to pay 1 for a boost made it easy to plan turns for maximum mana-efficiency. One downside of the card in Auraq & Kibble is that the nature of 0-cost characters makes it tricky to time an anchor where the uneven stats will matter for you on two consecutive days.
The Hatter: 4/7
This The Hatter felt great in the deck. The above-rate stats and potential card advantage were right in line with this deck’s aggressive gameplan. Alongside the Ouroboros Croupiers and Bravos Pathfinder (R)s, I did notice that I was heavy in mountain-water characters which makes me want to shift some of the rares around.
The games
Round 1 (W): Subhash & Marmo permanents
My opponent spent T1 making a Brassbug and playing their reserved Brassbug Hub (R). My Bravos Pathfinder (F) traded with the Brassbug, and one of my 1-drops won an empty expedition. They continued churning out Brassbugs, but the regions were favorable for my 0-stat characters, letting me progress and maintain my slight lead.
I held onto a Hydracaena (F), hoping to ramp with a Mighty Jinn (F) on T3, but my opponent’s Coppélia (C) waking up alongside a Brassbug shut down one expedition while the other expedition was water-only.
Since I had been playing two characters each turn, I started T4 with 6 performance counters and hit a Mighty Jinn (U) off the top of my deck for free. I wasn’t thrilled to lose out on the removal effect, but it was great that the mountain was relevant in both expeditions. It along with my other Mighty Jinn (F) allowing me to threaten while double-ramping.
On T5, I was on 9 mana and could comfortably slow-roll the Hydracaena (F). Playing around Boom! was made easier by the fact that Subhash & Marmo were forced to mostly play face-up due to their hero ability usage. They were able to take the turn to get down their Haven, Bravos Bastion (F), resupplying into another Haven, but they both came down too late to accrue much value.
On T6, I still had several cards in hand and so felt comfortable putting a card into mana even though it didn’t appear to let me play any more cards that turn. This worked out better than I thought, however, because my 11th performance counter flipped me The Sandman (C). I chose to put it in hand, which let me play most of my other cards out to the non-Hydracaena side, then sleep their double-boosted Athena (U) from reserve to advance on both sides and win the game.
The game would have gone much differently if my opponent had seen any of their Havens in a timely fashion, since this deck has very few ways to deal with the continuous boosts or the landmark itself.
Round 2 (W): Sigismar & Wingspan starter + upgrades
I was okay with my opponent dropping an Ordis Carrier (C) on T1, since it opened up a double progression for me.
On T3 as the first player, I led with a Robin Hood (F) into a forest-water region. I chose this over the Lyra Chronicler (C) that I put into mana, and the tax ended up being much more relevant than the two points in stats.
Auraq’s ability triggered on T4, and I flipped a Hydracaena (F), the absolute best target in the deck. My opponent didn’t have the removal for it, which let me dedicate all of my resources to the other side on this and the following turn to win.
My opponent and I both realized they could have blocked me on one side if they placed their Ozma (C) differently on the previous turn, but we agreed that the unanswered Hydracaena (F) would have stolen the game regardless. Their only line to win given the lucky flip was to not have put a Sticky Note Seals (C) into mana earlier on. Especially given my aggressive curve, though, it’s hard for them to expect that they’d need to answer a 7-drop.
Round 3 (L): Sigismar & Wingspan 5-cost permanents
This deck fares quite a bit worse against Ordis Recruits, which I realized on T1 when my Paper Herald (F) did nothing into their hero ability. I played it out anyway to tick up performance counters, but I went 1-2 on the day.
It was a struggle even to block them when they took T3 off to drop an Ordis Carrier (R). An unlucky Paper Herald (F) from a T3 Auraq ability meant I had to spend a cost-reduction support ability and play a Martengale (C) alongside the Paper Herald (C) to hold back their Recruit.
The real disaster was on T4, which they also took off to play The Monolith, Ordis Bastion (C). The 1/1/1 statlines combined with an unfortunate combination of biomes and cards in hand meant the best play I could manage was a double-progression for each of us while ticking up to my 10th performance counter for the following turn. It’s very possible that I could have mana-ed differently on previous turns to prevent against this worst-case scenario.
With their permanent combo online and two regions away against their one, I needed a miracle flip to save me. An Esmeralda (C) into a forest and forest-water region on blocks wasn’t it. I managed a Tanuki (C) sabotage to knock out some of their token generation from a reserve Ordis Cadets (C), but they had plenty of characters in hand to secure the single progression they needed.
Round 4 (L): Basira & Kaizaimon seasoned boosts
Basira’s boosts let my opponent make singular large characters, so I played to the opposite expedition for the first three days. Robin Hood (F) on T2 into a region where mountain mattered felt a lot worse in this game. All the while, they were building up one large Red (C), giving it a Helping Hand (C) after it was played from reserve.
When they played it for the third time, I hit it with a Cloth Cocoon (C) before they could play their Helping Hand (C) from reserve. Still, I lost one expedition to a Bravos Bladedancer (C) which appeared to be their next candidate for boosts. Playing a card that wasn’t a 0-cost character put me behind schedule on performance counters.
My Auraq flip on T4 didn’t end up being especially impactful. I had to commit first this turn while they carefully held back their Basira boost, then blew me out at the end with a Physical Training (C) in the region I played to.
On T5, I played out several characters, but they all had their 0-stats across different regions, which summed to average stats on the whole. Meanwhile, my opponent’s seasoned characters had scaled, and they had no trouble replaying their monster Bravos Bladedancer (C) and stacking boosts on another Red (C) to take both sides and win the game. Getting rushed down was particularly rough for this hero, since I got my 10th performance counter on the final turn, and the game was over before I could use it.
Takeaways
This deck has a very small window to win since it has poor late-game scaling, barring incredibly lucky Auraq activations. Winning early expeditions is critical, so the deck really struggles against token-generating heroes.
What Auraq needs are more tempo-positive interaction effects stapled onto characters. Even with just two non-character cards, it felt bad to delay her ability for a turn to play a Cloth Cocoon (C). Yet if the deck is all characters and no disruption, it’s difficult to overcome an opponent whose engine has come online.
Auraq’s ability isn’t solely a burst of tempo. It also provides a bit of card advantage, since the card you flip doesn’t have fleeting. I never ran out of cards, despite including lots of 1-drops and using support abilities when they mattered.
There’s room for Auraq to improve as the card pool grows. There are so few 0-stat characters that I had to spend rare slots on unremarkable characters just because they fit the curve and would trigger Auraq’s ability.
Overperformers
- The Sandman (C): I was hesitant to include more in the deck since the ability doesn’t trigger when played by Auraq’s ability, but this won me a game despite flipping it and having to put it into hand. The lesson is that interaction on a 0-cost character is essential. This might be worth upgrading to the rare.
- Mighty Jinn (R): Ramping to Hydracaena (F) felt great, and I had enough cards that I wouldn’t feel bad on putting it into mana the first time it’s played.
- Martengale (C)/Paper Herald (F): Already flexible cards, the fact that they cheaply add a performance counter felt great every time they were in hand.
- Cloth Cocoon (C): This felt impactful enough when I drew it that I’d consider going up to three copies, despite the anti-synergy with Auraq.
Underperformers
- Anansi (R): I thought this would be nice as an 0-stat character with even stats, but the timing felt too restrictive to be worth the rare slot.
- Robin Hood (F): This was great one game but pretty bad in another. When it was great, another well-statted character could have done just fine. When it was bad, I would have taken just about any other 4-drop.