Eufrat Hello, and welcome to my second deck guide, featuring Armis Metal Mira – Armira!
If summoning tough units and crushing your opponents with brute force is your thing, you will enjoy Armira. It features the Armis, a faction that is fighting against the Zomboid horde and was introduced in the latest Hexbound Invasion expansion.
The idea of this series is to introduce cool and strong decks to newer (and older) players. These decks are supposed to be relatively easy to learn and are meant to be played on the ladder. I guarantee it’s possible to reach Grandweaver rank with each one of them. (*Enter Conquest at your own risk.)
Let’s begin!
Just like last time, I won’t be giving you a deck code, rather try and build the deck as we go along. This way you’ll remember all of the cards and start thinking about the interactions. I will also give you some choices on the less important cards, so not everyone will finish with the same list.
Key cards
This deck is all about the metal element. Most of our cards will be metal, but there are some other cards that are necessary for an elemental deck. Let’s check them out:
Glorious Mane
This card can turn your deck into a serious force. The sooner you play it, the better. It will buff every metal card in your hand and deck. But keep in mind, it will not buff the cards you conjure later on. (Armis Guards and Micron Drones will not be affected, unless already in your hand) This card is exceptionally good with metal, because your units usually have armor, and buffed armor units scale much better.
Jungle Guide
If played correctly, it can buff units in your hand multiple times in a single turn. The spell on JG – {{Impale}} – is a metal card itself, which means if you play Jungle Guide and Impale, all of your metal units in hand will get +1/+1. And then ideally you want to play a few more metal cards to buff them even more. Jungle Guide will usually die quickly because if it stays for longer than a turn he will win you the game.
Nurtured Bond
It has an immediate impact on the board once you play it and it also banks an equal amount of power on a card in your hand. An obvious choice for an elemental deck.
Metal Cards
There are a ton of metal cards in strength and intellect prisms. How do you choose which ones to play? Let’s go over all of them and see which ones are necessary, which are a personal choice, and which ones you should avoid.
Necessary
{{Lapin Microneer}} – Probably the best one drop in the game. It effectively gives you 3 metal cards in one, which you can then use in a variety of ways. One of the best enablers for {{Jungle Guide}}. Also, having a {{Micron Drone}} can help you play {{Glorious Mane}} more easily. And Drones boost your hand size so you might play a bigger {{Nurtured Bond}}. It actually has good synergy with all 3 of our key elemental cards.
{{Armis Medic}} – Even if it gets removed you still get a free {{Armis Guard}}. It gives your Guards lifesteal, which definitely helps in some matchups. It punishes opponents that can’t remove it quickly.
{{Hexed Sentinel}} –It has Armis synergy, its spell {{Hexfection}} can be used to break stealth and most importantly it’s a Glorious Mane enabler. For many decks, it will be super difficult to kill both this and the guard inside. So most of the time you will play GM onto the Armis Guard next turn.
{{Execute}} – Makes your Armis Guards twice as good.
{{Chromeosaur}} – Makes your {{Bulwark of Armis}} and {{King Altren XI}} super cheap. (and other big units, if you decide to run them)
{{Bulwark of Armis}} – Just very strong. If you get more than one slay, it should be game over.
{{King Altren XI}} – Usually wins you the game on the spot. Ideally, you play Execute to buff your Armis Guards, then you play Chromeosaur to discount Altren and on turn 8 you get a full board of 3-3 Armis Guards (with lifesteal and wither if you played Medic and Sentinel too).
{{Cast in Chrome}} – Very useful, as it finds your other key units. Main targets: {{Lapin Microneer}}, {{Heavy Cavalry}}, {{Chromeosaur}}, {{Bulwark of Armis}}…
Very Strong
{{Boulder}} – A useful card because it can be played both as a 2c and a 3c unit. It has 2 metal triggers for 3 mana, so it works well with {{Jungle Guide}}. And the {{Buckler Up}} spell can be used in many ways – it can turn a big unit like Heavy Cavalry into a guard, it can remove roots, hex or even anima.
{{Electron}} – Very good and makes sense in a metal deck, because it’s easy to get multiple zaps.
{{Cobalt}} – If you run {{Cast in Chrome}} it can find you a {{Lapin Microneer}} on turn 3, or whatever you might need later on. After CiC is played, it gets you things like {{Deactivate}} or {{Tune-Up}}, depending on what you have.
{{Griff Scout}} – Makes sense with the Armis package. {{Bolster}} can help you spend excess mana.
{{Steam Knight}} – Scales well with GM and Nurtured Bond. Removal and board presence in one.
{{Heavy Cavalry}} – Just strong.
{{Reinforce}} – Great to snowball games. Can be used to defend as well. Becomes much better after you play cards like {{Execute}}.
Solid
{{Jackrabbit}} – Also has 2 metal cards in one, {{Chain Toss}} can be used to remove a guard. It attracts removal because the sunrise is quite powerful.
{{Deactivate}} – Good removal, silence is very useful in some matchups like vs Death Sitti.
{{Buster, Squire}} – It’s a win-more card. Works well if you control the board. Has {{Dawn Blade}} attached.
{{Sonic Jammer}} – Can be great or meh, depending on the matchup. Against decks that run a lot of spells, it’s good, but if your opponent just responds with a unit, you pretty much paid 3 mana for a 3/3 which is bad.
{{Mechabun}} – Solid card. Can be played on turn 3; it draws you a card so it’s fine if it dies. If it doesn’t you get to use {{Gear Grind}}.
{{Crystal Cache}} – Just a simple draw 2.
{{It’s a Trap}} – One of your AoE choices.
{{Dracomantium}} – Can be played if you’re going for the expensive package. * Keep in mind you can play {{Cast in Chrome}} on it for 0 mana if you need another metal card in your grave.
{{B.F.R. 9001}} – Can be played if you’re going for the expensive package. *
Personal Choice
{{Getum Gang}} – You can play it at any point to spend your mana, but you don’t get too much value from it.
{{Tune-Up}} – Can be good if you go for the 7+ package.
{{Gladiator}} – Slightly worse than {{Boulder}}, because it doesn’t have the flexibility.
{{Soul Shield}} – Solid card, slightly too defensive. Useful if you’re battling a lot of Zomboid decks.
{{Gear Grind}} – Average.
{{Blade of Armis}} – One of the weaker Armis units, the statline is too low for a 5c. Try it and see if it’s useful.
{{Geod}} – Can be devastating against some decks. It’s really difficult to remove him. Main weakness is the lack of guard so it might get ignored.
You want to experiment?
{{Suit Up}} – Decent card, but essentially a tempo loss. You want to play something onto the board every single turn, and you rarely have the luxury to skip a turn just to draw.
{{Metal Rune}} – While it can be handy and is quite versatile, it’s hard to justify taking a slot, as there are better cards.
{{Steel Blade}} – New card. Looks strong, but it is a 3 cost spell, which means it prevents {{Sonic Signal}} from finding {{Glorious Mane}}.
{{Goblet of Armis}} – Even though this card has Armis in its name, it doesn’t actually have direct synergy with Armis cards. It can be useful, but it’s usually not played.
{{Tooth Hurty}} – Mostly a meme card. It can create some funny moments, try it.
{{Gemini}} – Usually not played, but it could surprise your opponent. Amazing if you draw it with {{Nurtured Bond}}.
{{Big Friend}} – Haven’t seen this one. Maybe it can work out if you play enough Armis Guards before it. Test it out.
{{Andromeda}} – Has a great synergy with Electron, but not much else.
{{Soul Forge}} – New card. Try it?
Kinda Weak
{{Engine Blade}} – This card is usually not played, because it dies to banner.
{{Ghost Duster}} – Not very useful.
{{Eye Spy}} – There are better removal options.
{{Coal Dozer}} – Never seen this played, you probably don’t have enough drones and armis guards to make it good.
{{Micro-Swarm}} – Not useful in this deck, because we prefer units to spells. These drones won’t be affected by Glorious Mane.
{{Dracoimpact}} – Doesn’t work with play effects, so you can’t cheat out {{King Altren XI}}. {{Bulwark of Armis }} has dash anyway, so no reason to play this. Unless you also play {{Dracomantium}} and {{B.F.R. 9001}} Then it could be playable.
Stay Away
{{Clone Army}} – Not for this deck.
{{Micro-Manager}} – Not for this deck.
{{Mercurial Mimic}} – Not for this deck.
{{Overdrive!}} – Not for this deck, even though it will buff all of your Armis Guards.
{{Weighted Die}} – Not a very good card.
{{Iron Mask}} – Nope.
Let’s look at the 7+ package some players like to include in their lists:
{{Ether Lemure}} – An obvious choice. You don’t really need {{Etherwail}}, the 3/3 with dash is just very strong in the early game. Etherwail might help activate a card like {{Tune-Up}} later.
{{Hexed Treefolk}} – It brings a lot of stats when enabled. (2/3+2/3+5+5)
{{Stand as One}} – This card can definitely be played in the regular list as well. Especially after you already played Glorious Mane. For seven mana that would give you (example) – a 4/3 Lapin, 4/5 Boulder, and a 4/5 Sentinel, all with guard. 12/13 worth of stats + the death effects.
{{Kha’s Wrath}} – Just a strong reliable AoE that crushes many boards and can devastate opponents that rely on death effects.
{{Sonic Signal}} – This card is a must-play in any list. It is used to find Glorious Mane. When you attack with your hero it will become a 3-cost card and if Mane is your only 3c card, Sonic Signal will draw it. Later on, it is used to fetch Kha’s Wrath.
+card we already covered in the metal section – Tune-Up, Dracomantium, B.F.R.
Other non-metal cards you should consider
{{Oni Smith}} – The buff just works well with armored units. The damage option gives it versatility.
{{Hugeify}} – Can be strong with Drones and Guards. Sometimes you keep a 1c Guard to play on turn 7 with Hugeify to get a 7 mana 8-8 armored dash unit, like a budget version of B. F. R. It can also be used to buff a unit already on the board for a big face attack.
{{Strike down}}, {{Water Rune}}, {{Mad Vibes}}, {{Sunder}}… – Just the usual removal spells and utility you can add to any deck, so pick what you like.
{{Nimbus}} – Strong against death decks because of the silence ability.
{{Oreheart Brawler}} – Has good synergy with metal units, but also earth units which you might have a few, especially if you go for the 7+ package. Lemure, Treefolk, maybe even {{Roothog}} or {{Olifant}}.
{{Extinction Event}} – Just an AoE, if you feel like you need more. But this is a board-centered deck, so usually you will have control and no need for board clears.
…
Of course, you can try any other card, not just the ones I listed in the guide. It’s all about playtesting, experimenting, and having fun.
How to play the deck
Your main goal will always be to control the board, play units and keep the pressure. Playing {{Glorious Mane}} should be your main focus. If you manage to play it early, you will have a much better game. You should also look to play a big {{Jungle Guide}} turn, which can ensure you overpower your opponent in the mid-game. If not that, try and play {{Execute}}, {{Chromeosaur}}, {{Bulwark of Armis}}, and then {{King Altren XI}} as your ultimate win condition.
This is mostly a midrange deck, which means you might have to defend against aggro and go aggressive against control.
That’s it for this guide, see you next time! If you have any tips or comments, contact me on Discord, Twitter, or Twitch
Eufrat#4676 / @EufratTV / eufrattv
