Turbocharging Aurora with the Armory Deck

It’s your favorite brewer, Abigail, back at it again with another article! Today, I get to talk about what is probably my favorite deck in any TCG - and it's getting more toys while it's already the best deck. 

I have feelings.

Clearly.

I can not begin to explain how excited I am to have 4 new equipment and 3 new cards to brew with. Each of them does at least something for the deck and allow new build options. One of them is, to be blunt, completely game warping - we'll get to that though! 

First, let’s talk about the new equipment.

Many Aurora players were looking for another head piece in the Armory Deck, given the maindeck options we currently have access to (Face Purgatory and Crown of Providence) both have weaknesses and don’t feel very flavorful. It’s unclear if this headpiece will be good enough to replace either of them, but it's at least worth considering, and allows a deck that's built more all-in on instants to cycle through one bricky hand.

A very interesting new chest piece, Shock Frock is competing with Dyadic Carapace and Aether Ironweave, giving us a more aggressive but less all-in alternative. It is incredibly powerful on Arc turns with sword.

Zap Clappers is probably the strongest piece of equipment in the Armory Deck. Combining this with a Channel Lightning Valley and another instant in hand allows for huge swing turns. However, it's also competing with arguably Aurora’s strongest slot in Grasp of the Arknight. Early testing has proved promising, but Grasp may end up remaining the more favored option.

Lastly we have what is arguably the weakest of the new armor. It's incredibly hard to compete with Snapdragon Scalers, or even Lightning Greaves - which are stronger now with the new chest. There is still a chance this leg is good enough, but we simply already had great options.

Moving on from the equipment, let's examine what is arguably the strongest package of cards in any Armory Deck to date. I'm talking about Skyward Serenade and Skyzyk.

When compared to every other option, this is the new strongest turn starter for Aurora. Choosing the options of searching out Skyzyk and making an Embodiment of Lightning turns Serenade into a Lightning 0-for-4 go again that pings twice off Arc Lightning!  It's also another maindeck-able and powerful non-attack action, which makes Face Purgatory even more playable.

Written in the Stars is an interesting sidegrade. It’s hard to say no to a Lightning 0-cost 3-block in Aurora, especially when this card is another non-attack for Face. It can also be a powerful ender or combo card on arcane / Arc Lightning turns. However, not natively having go again might mean this card struggles to find a slot in every Aurora list.

The secret 4th new maindeck card in the Armory Deck! While the yellow and blue came in the First Strike deck, the red comes in at a breakpoint of 4 and can pump over opponents who get greedy and try to just d-react to cover your Channel Lightning Valley or Burn Up on-hits. Unclear if the deck has room for another card without go again, but being a Lightning attack might make it worth it.

With the Armory Deck, it's pretty clear that Aurora's build won't remain the same. These tools have injected more power and filled in gaps, with additions to both the NAA- and Instant-focused builds, as well as more staples. This has lead to me favoring a more hybrid build, allowing support for both the instant and the NAA synergies.

This build eschews some consistency for the increased density of synergy pieces and for much bigger swing turns, with new arms, face, and Flicker Wisp in the maindeck all allowing for “free wins”. While Zap Clappers, Face Purgatory, and Flicker Wisp are inconsistent on their own, having access to all three allows a higher percentage of games to be decided by massive, blowout swing turns.

It’s hard to complain about getting a new suite of staples for your favorite hero. This embarrassment of blessings for Aurora may sound too good to be true, but as with anything else in this world, the good comes at a cost. Aurora did not need more support, and as we are already beginning to see this weekend, this Armory Deck might push Aurora over the edge into an incredibly oppressive top aggro deck.

For those of us who feel passionately about Aurora, this race to Living Legend fills us with anxiety, as we have just started to get comfortable with the hero and her cardpool. It’s not like Aurora will be bad in LL - as I’ve written a Pro Series article about already - but it is hard to deny that Classic Constructed is the more supported format. 

In addition, the increased density of power cards now means we have less flex slots in Aurora to test out cards or to support alternative engines. For a large population of her playerbase this is not an issue; but for those of us who enjoy brewing and staring at cardboard in our free time, it can be a more difficult pill to swallow. As a “correct” list gets more and more defined, and as the core of the deck gets larger and larger, we have less space to play with. We may now have 3 roughly-defined lanes to explore, but within each there are less flex slots.

Being an Aurora main from the moment of her reveal has been a privilege. As it appears she is currently a favorite child of LSS - with a First Strike deck, a powerful release set, and now an Armory Deck - she feels incredibly complete. However, the room to brew and the room to get to shuffle her up while she is still a somewhat niche pick in the meta is shrinking smaller and smaller, as she begins to appear more and more like a Star of the Show. Maybe that’s why they call her Shooting Star - so long as her ascent doesn't come and go in a flash, I'm excited to be along for the ride.