The deck
When I last played Auraq, I thought of the deck as an aggro deck that could sometimes finish the game with Hydracaena (F).
This iteration doubles down on winning with Hydracaena by making it easier to play from hand thanks to ramp and cost-reduction support abilities. The aggro gameplan ensures you get as many uses of your hero ability as possible. You want to be able to close out the game before your opponent is able to find removal for your Hydracaenas.
The deck can reliably play a Hydracaena on D4 as long as you ensure that one of Ouroboros Croupier (R)s, Martengale (C)s, Lyra Skald (R)s, or Twinkle Twinkle (C)s is in reserve; you can often play one on D3 if you can set up two of the above, or if you spent D2 ramping with Mighty Jinn (F).
Auraq can sometimes execute the Hydracaena plan better than Fen: Tapping out for a Hydracaena often means going 0-2. Auraq plans to get her fifth performance counter by D3 at the latest; if you line this up with a single cost-reduction support ability in reserve, you can use your flip for extra stats on the Hydracaena turn. If you believe hard enough, you might even flip another Hydracaena!
Ideally, you want a 1+2 start on D1 to put pressure on and tick up counters as fast as possible. Loads of 2-drops and the rare slots spent on Paper Herald (R) make this more likely.
In the early-game, you’ll often prefer to play out your 1-drops for a performance counter rather than use their support abilities.
Non-character slots are limited since you want every play to generate a performance counter. Twinkle Twinkle (C) is acceptable as a finisher and a good resupply due to its on-plan support ability. The deck is such a glass cannon that I’m not sure Cloth Cocoon (C) is even worth it, but I’d prefer not auto-losing to Lyra Festival.
Uniques
All of the uniques I’m running are 0-stat characters. They’re all reasonably well-statted and provide card advantage in the form of draw and resupplies in order to draw into more cheap characters, find Hydracaena, and get support abilities into reserve. Ideally, I’d like them to have a cost of 1 or 2 to help turbo out performance counters.
Lyra Chronicler: 5/7
The arrow resupply ability is very competitively costed, making this a simple but strong choice for any hero who can make use of the resupply.
The Hatter: 4/7
This has incredible stats from hand and gets even better when you hit the resupply. Costing 4 from hand is still a solid deal in a non-forest region, but if the timing isn’t right, it’s nice that The Hatter’s characteristic support ability is a strong one.
Lyra Navigator: 4/7
The virtually nonexistent stats in all regions but water make this very difficult to play in a defensive deck. In an aggressive leaning deck, however, it can virtually guarantee a progression while drawing you a card if you time it right.
The games
Round 1 (W): Sigismar & Wingspan
My opponent took D1 off to get down an Ordis Carrier (C), which meant my 0-stat characters could 2-1. A key Tanuki (C) blocking a water-less region while sabotaging their Ordis Cadets (C) ensured I didn’t fall behind in the mid-game.
I made sure to keep a cost-reduction support ability in reserve going into D4 so that I could play the Hydracaena I had been holding onto from the opening hand. A sizable flip on off of Auraq’s ability helped me still go 1-1.
I wasn’t comfortable enough to try to drop a second Hydracaena (F), so I instead piled all of my forest-mountain characters to the non-Hydracaena side. This went 2-0.
My second Auraq flip on D6 was a Twinkle Twinkle (C), which I put into hand. My opponent played a Celebration Day (C) to prevent my Hydracaena expedition from advancing, but I was still able to win the other side.
My D6 Auraq flip chained into my third on D7, a Mighty Jinn (F). My opponent didn’t draw into an answer for the Hydracaena, but I was able to win the other expedition for my final progression regardless.
Round 2 (L): Teija & Nauraa
My D1 Esmeralda (C) resupplied into a Hydracaena (F), meaning I would be able to play it on 6 mana so long as I could get a support ability into reserve.
All of the characters my opponent played through the early-game self-anchored, so my 0-stat characters gave up one or two more progressions than I was comfortable with. Ouroboros Croupier (R) successfully blocked a mountain-only region. I was happy to trade expeditions given that my opponent started the day with an anchored and boosted Sneezer Shroom (R).
Getting my fifth counter on D3 meant I could activate my hero ability on the Hydracaena (F) turn. I flipped The Sandman (C) for no trigger, but it committed enough stats so that my opponent could at best trade while I set up my eternal threat.
We were at 3/2 on expeditions going into D5. I found myself regretting putting an Ouroboros Croupier (R) into mana on the previous day when it would now perfectly block the non-Hydracaena expedition. With a hand of 1-drops and non-blocking 0-stat characters, my only option was to go for the second Hydracaena and hope it was enough to hold off my opponent for one turn.
Unfortunately, they were able to play a boosted Verdantback (C) next to their anchored Sneezer Shroom (R) to beat my 8/8/8 Hydracaena, and they had another character alongside their anchored Coniferal Coneman (R) to beat the 4/4/4 Hydracaena I had just played.
Round 3 (W): Akesha & Taru
My opponent placing their Baba Yaga (C) against my Lyra Skald (R) let my Paper Herald (C) 2-1 on D1. The revealed region included water, which meant my Lyra Chronicler (U) let my opponent’s Baba Yaga (C) through. My Paper Herald (R) was able to block their Studious Disciple (C), though.
I drew off of an Ouroboros Croupier (R) on D3 while its massive stats let me trade. I queued up the Croupier support ability to drop a Hydracaena (F) from hand on D4 while flipping a 3-drop that helped me trade.
My opponent had a Dorothy Gale (R) to send my Hydracaena to reserve, which I only managed to trade against.
On the following turn, their Spy Craft (C) sabotaged an Ouroboros Croupier (R), the only substantial character I had access to (aside from the Hydracaena, unplayable under threat of Dorothy Gale).
Twinkle Twinkle came in clutch here, though. I played out a Paper Herald (R) and a Martengale (C) from hand, then put each of their two characters to sleep so that my 1-drops were left uncontested. They had an Off You Go! (C), but I could easily replay whatever they targeted to 2-0 for the win.