Hta V501.4

[Voidian]

This deck is a variation on a deck I have run for some time. The deck is a control/aggro hybrid so your mulligan depends on your play style.
The decks main theme is based around burning your opponent with the 2 card combo of HTA + Gideon and then to use Tax Attorney to stop yourself from feeling the burn! This combo on its own makes your opponents pay heavily for attacking but there is other burn and depletion in the deck to help speed things up.
You can also play the deck in an aggro way by using all the removal/depletion and swinging for a lot each turn, then you just Noble/Shriever on your Striker(s) then recur and repeat.

The Tournament Faction
2 x Greed (starting)
7 x Rage
4 x Violence

4 x 4 [R][R] Deadly Striker
1 x 4 [R][R] Idol Smasher
2 x 4 [G][G] Property Condemner
2 x 4 [R][R][R] Elzibeth, Military Sorceress
4 x 3 [R] Sadistic Colonel
4 x 2 [G][G] Tax Attorney
4 x 1 [R][R][R] Gideon, The Ultimate Warrior
4 x 0 [G][G] Erotic Assassin

1 x 4 [R] Blow Up
2 x 4 [R][R] Shriever Attack
4 x 4 [R] Tactician Vacation
4 x 2 [G] Karmic Cake
4 x 2 [R][R] Noble Sacrifice
1 x 2 [G][G] Writ of Reclamation
3 x 1 [R][R] Essence of Rage
2 x 0 [G][G] Extravagant Contusion
3 x 0 [G] Postmortum Debenture

4 x 4 [R][R][R] Humiliating Torture Apparatus
4 x 2 [G][G] Free Trade Agreement

3 x 3 [R] Drill Garrison
2 x 1 [R] Watchtower

Changes in bold

Going 1st with the deck allows a number of opening moves depending on your play style, but against most decks to start with an Erotic Assassin then Sadistic Colonel (always Erotic 1st because of Quotidian Disappearance) is not a bad option as this usually makes them use up some removal/bounce instantly.

The Deck going 2nd has only one main turn 0 and that is Karmic Cake.

Cards I’m thinking of including somehow!

5 [R][R] Dragon Archer – can kill a Striker on entry and survive, something Rudo Mangod can’t do
4 [G][G] Ghostly Auditor – free draw is never a bad thing. The problem is he costs the same as a Striker, and Striker is all round more deadly

5 [R] Boilstorm – good removal with no real drawbacks
2 [R] Explosive Fury – a battle trick mostly to use with Strikers, but is it worth it?
2 [G][G] Mutiny Grant – amazing card but doesn’t work with Noble Sacrifice
1 [R][R] Penetrate – great for use with Gideon and Striker
4 [R] Tactician Vacation – good negation card, but expensive

1 [R] Phalludrix – cheap anti-discard, a Meta choice

2 [R][R] Assimilation Center – useful searcher, has been in earlier builds
1 [G] Department of Rejections – a bit of a Meta choice as it can make popular Arc/Gear cards much more expensive
1 [G][G] Clandestine Resort – makes all of my characters un-killable by Watchtower, but also makes my Strikers safe against my Shriever Attacks which isn’t a good thing

Any ideas/suggestions welcome.

[koikaze]

Good idea but you have a bunch of janky card. Why no Robustical Badass? Why do you want to kill your guys with shriver attack. That sounds dumb to me. It's not hard to kill your own guys in a more positive way.

[thegnomishone]

So, I'd lose the Essence of Rage, the Subsections, the Drill Garrisons, the Hammer Smashes and the Ruthless Platoon for 2 Dragon Archers, 2 Elzibeth, Military Sorceress, 4 Tactician Vacation, 2 Assimilation Center and 2 Idol Smasher.

[Voidian]

Koikaze. What janky cards are you referring too?

I don't run Badass because he is too slow, in our local meta he will either be bounced/destroyed or at best inhibited before he does any damage.
Destroying my own guys with Shriever or anything else wins so many games or gives me such an advantage that it really is dumb not to do it at times.

thegnomishone.
1st off I'll argue the case for keeping the cards you suggest I lose.

Essence of Rage - Maybe not the best card in the world but with HTA+Gideon in play it gives me alot of options, the best of course being to deplete their only blocker for 2+ damage then swing with Gideon for another 3.
Subsection - With a meta full of bounce and Mysterious Invasions it can allow me to swing safely or keep my cards in play. At least for a turn.
Drill Garrisons - Burn/Deplete/Kill, how can it not go in the deck?
Hammer Smash - Cheap item removal, if anything this could be replaced by either blow up or idol smasher, but those become expensive against things like Mysterious Invasion.
Ruthless Platoon - Basically he allows for battle tricks with Striker.

Now to your suggestions.

Dragon Archer - I have been considering him but he is quite expensive for what he does (in our meta anyway)
Elzibeth - I have run her before but she can be quite expensive to really abuse especially if it involves Striker/Archer.
Tac Vac - I've been trying to justify this card in the deck but what to remove for it?
Assimilation Center - Great card but again, what to drop?
Idol Smasher - Never really liked him even though he does destroy and give me a body for 4 whereas Blow Up destroys and burns for 4. I just think both are expensive compared to possibly destroying 2 for 2. But then Hammer Smash can't in itself win you the game where the other 2 can.

[koikaze]

Property Condemner - Trebuchet Officer is better.
Ruthless Platoon - Not enough synergy
Shriver Attack - Kills most of your characters
Hammer Smash - Idol Smasher is a 2 for 1.
Writ of Reclamation - What is this for?
Essence of Rage - There are better cards, this can be a filler if needed
Free Trade Agreement - Why is this here?
Postmortum Debenture - Elzibeth is better

According to you, the cards that would make this deck good are bad for your meta. If I was you, I would make a new deck (pending that is the case). You shouldn't avoid playing with expensive (4-5 cost is not expensive) characters like they were the plague. Dragon Archer sounds amazing in a bounce/removal meta. Oh I play a guy and kill yours, if you bounce I get to do it again or if you kill it, oh well, it was a 2 for 1. The main idea of this deck is more of a combo/control idea. It's OK to have things that cost a little.

[Voidian]

To answer why I'm running the cards you think are janky/shouldn't be run.

Free Trade Agreement - This deck needs resource acceleration/draw power like you wouldn't believe. Without a FTA the deck becomes more of a generic Aggro/burn.
Property Condemner - I agree that card for card Trebuchet Officer is better but PC allows me the option to just drop him face down with FTA and use him where/when needed.
Ruthless Platoon - He is only in for Striker tricks, I was running keyman before too which gave me other options with him. This 1 I agree can go. Probably for an Elzibeth.
Shriever Attack - One of the best removal cards in the game. I see no need to stop running this.
Hammer Smash - I am leaning towards replacing with 1 Idol Smasher & 1 Blow Up. Idol for the Field presence and Blow Up just because I could blow up my FTA/HTA for game!
Writ of Reclamation - This is in just to recur cards that I can't get back any other way.
Postmortum Debenture - For sheer speed this beats Elzibeth hands down, but running both is better

I have no problem running 'expensive' cards assuming they are worth paying for. Dragon Archer being a case in point. He's good no denying that, but is he good enough in a meta that's ruled by Montymajig & Arc/Gear bounce/molestation.
vs Montymajig at best i'll take a monty out that they can recur either instantly or next turn. He will then be destroyed by them sacrificing a Maker+Majig at the total cost to them of...pretty much nothing!
vs Arc/Gear they will respond by bouncing Archers' target, just leaving him on the field to bounce during a molestation.

Against other decks I agree he should go in, but as those are my main opposition he doesn't quite make it.

[koikaze]

Any ideas/suggestions welcome.

They are welcome but they won't be listened to. I am done trying to provide help for you, since I apparently don't know your meta. I give you reasons why to add/remove cards but you just toss them aside like they are nothing. I could argue with you on why X or Y card is good/bad, but that wouldn't get us anywhere. Goodluck with your deck.

[Voidian]

Due to your responses and the one by thegnomishone I have made alterations to the deck. Not massive alterations I agree but ones I hope are for the better.

Ruthless Platoon has gone, the Hammer Smashes have gone. Idol Smasher and Elzibeth are in... You haven't really suggested anything else to add except Robustical and Trebuchet, both of which I've commented on in response and given you what I think are valid reasons for not running them.

Archer hasn't made it yet and Shriever will never leave the deck (it's just too valuable).

[thegnomishone]

Essence of Rage is very very very situational. You're almost always better off with a different card in that slot. A specific situation where it is 1 card for 5 damage is just not enough. 1 damage is bad for an investment of 4 (3 for the card, 1 for the printed cost of the card), depleting a character is alright but not great, two strength is bad. Keep an eye out for that card when you're playing and see how often it's simply no good.

Subsection only works on abilities, so I'm not sure what people are using that it helps against bounce; Lots of Ejectors? The main benefit of Tac Vac over this card is that you can, at the beginning of a turn, play Tac Vac and then swing til your heart's content, knowing that your opponent cannot play any tactics. This was a trick used in the best variation of the shproingmajig deck that I ever saw.

Drill Garrison looks good, but let's break it down. It does nothing if you have 1 thresh, at 3 its effect is minimal at best, at 5 its effect gets better, but 5 is somewhat difficult to hit; at 7 it really is amazing, but by that point your opponent has realized it's a threat and destroyed it via attacking. The real reason it should be cut, though, is that it's the only reason you need to run as many resources as you're currently running. If you cut the Drill Garrisons, you can cut 6 Rage from the deck, thus opening up more slots for heat. The next highest thresh is RRR and that's 1 Karmic Cake (plus recur).

Let me just say right now that Elzibeth + Striker, while it costs 6 per turn, is one of the most potent 2-card combinations in the game right now. You deal your opponent 4 damage per turn unless they always have a single 1/1 with which to block. That's a clock that they really just can't survive.

Idol Smasher is arguably the best item removal in the game for 1 reason. It's a character. Assimilation Center in the deck allows you to toolbox up characters like the Idol Smasher or Elzibeth. I'd also argue that you should always play at least 2 of Elzibeth, just because she can put a copy of herself in your hand.

Oh, and Koi, Shriever Attack is always good. This deck doesn't swarm so much as curve, so SA is great for dealing with the nuisance little characters from Rogue or Gearsmith.

[Voidian]

Now that's a response and I appreciate it.

OK here goes...

I'm not denying anything you are saying (actually I agree with most of it) but, it seems you are overlooking a key part of the deck, Humiliating Torture Apparatus. This is the main reason I'm using alot of what can be very very situational cards in other decks, OK they are still fairly situational in this 1 but they can win me games too.

Essence of Rage for example generally isn't really worth running. But as I try to get multiple HTA's in play asap it can then become a good part of the combo, likewise with Drill Garrison. There are other options I know but they tend to rely on being depleted themselves, and with no Tax Attorney on the field I'm going to be dying doubly fast if I run too many of them. This depletion cost and the resulting self burn is the main reason I wasn't running Elzibeth in the 1st place, plus it's made me swap and change the Erotics a number of times. It also counts with Assimilation Center and many other options.

Now to respond to your suggestions.

Essence of Rage - I've sort of answered why I'm running this but I will make sure to see how often it becomes useless in my hand or a face down resource.
Subsection 5, Paragraph 12 - Gone, you've convinced me. Tac Vac straight swap.
Drill Garrison - With FTA in play, fuelling this is rarely an issue, but I see your point with the resources. This though when fuelled can allow me to do a fair amount of damage at the start of any turn.
Elzibeth - I have no qualms about upping her to 2, I could straight out swap her for a Rage.
Assimilation Center - I've run it before and I do like it, it's just a matter of whether I run it over the Garrisons and that I'll need to play test more.