Gargoyles: Strategy Guide

Ruby/Steel Gargoyle tribal — challenges convert to lore. Win by attacking. Every Gargoyle challenge triggers Goliath - Guardian of Castle Wyvern's BE CAREFUL, ALL OF YOU for +1 lore. You don't quest to win — you challenge — and the deck packs eleven 3-cost-or-cheaper Gargoyles to keep the engine swinging.

The hand-size dance. Most Gargoyles have STONE BY DAY: "If you have 3 or more cards in your hand, this character can't ready." It's a soft lock on YOUR side. Keep hand ≤ 2 most turns via Hudson's draw-then-discard ETB, sphere banishes, and aggressive playing-out.

Three pace checkpoints:

• Turn 2 — Castle Wyvern or Hudson. Castle Wyvern grants Challenger +1 / Resist +1 to characters there; Hudson cycles. Either sets up the engine.
• Turn 4 — Goliath - Guardian of Castle Wyvern. Every Gargoyle challenge is now +1 lore. Pair with a same-turn Brooklyn or Lexington swing.
• Turn 6 — Goliath - Clan Leader. DUSK TO DAWN forces both players to discard-or-draw-to-2 each turn — your natural state, your opponent's nightmare.

Angela - Night Warrior is the unlock. ETERNAL NIGHT: "Your Gargoyle characters lose the Stone by Day ability." Once she lands, hand size stops mattering — Gargoyles ready freely.

Matchup role: combat-focused midrange. Not a pure racer; not a control deck — a challenge engine that gains tempo by attacking.

Curve + Castle Wyvern keep. A 2-cost body + 3-cost Gargoyle + Castle Wyvern or a sphere is the textbook opener. The deck has 16 cards at 2 ink and 24 cards at 3 ink — most keeps land on curve.

Always keep:

• Castle Wyvern - Above the Clouds with a 2-cost Gargoyle. Active PROTECT THIS CASTLE from T2 is a huge multiplier on the engine.
• Hudson - Determined Reader in any opener. The deck's primary hand-size tool, 2/4 body on its own.
• Vitalisphere or Fortisphere with a 3-cost Gargoyle. Sphere T1, banish same turn as the 3-cost for Rush+2 STR or Bodyguard.
• Angela - Night Warrior with a 2-cost opener. T3 Angela unlocks STONE BY DAY for the rest of the game.
• Goliath - Guardian of Castle Wyvern if you can reach 4 by T4. The main engine card.

Conditional keep: David Xanatos - Steel Clan Leader if no 2-cost — MINOR INCONVENIENCE discards a card AND deals 2 damage.

Ship hands:

• 6-cost cards without a 2-3 cost curve. Dead for 4+ turns.
• 4+ Gargoyles, no sphere/Hudson/Castle Wyvern. You'll lock at hand size 4+.
• All-3-cost hands with no 2-drop or sphere — inking your only 3-drop falls you off curve.

Ideal T1-T4 line: Sphere T1 (no body, keeps hand low) → Brooklyn T2 → Castle Wyvern or Hudson T2 → Elisa-Transformed or Lexington T3, swing Brooklyn into something exerted → T4 Goliath-Guardian, challenge a 3-cost for +1 lore. Engine live.

The lore engine — your win condition runs through these:

• Goliath - Guardian of Castle Wyvern: 4-cost 5/5 1-lore Ruby inkable. BE CAREFUL, ALL OF YOU: "Whenever one of your Gargoyle characters challenges another character, gain 1 lore." Every Gargoyle attack = +1 lore. STONE BY DAY applies — keep cycling.
• Castle Wyvern - Above the Clouds: 2-cost Steel location, 5 WP, 1 base lore, move cost 1. PROTECT THIS CASTLE: characters get Challenger +1 and Resist +1 while here. Drop T2; station Gargoyles for buffed, resilient attackers.
• Angela - Night Warrior: 3-cost 2/3 1-lore Steel inkable. SHADOW POWER on play: "You may give chosen character Challenger +2 and Resist +2 until the start of your next turn." ETERNAL NIGHT: "Your Gargoyle characters lose the Stone by Day ability." The unlock card. Once Angela's down, hand size stops mattering.

Hand-size managers — the STONE BY DAY counter-balance:

• Hudson - Determined Reader: 2-cost 2/4 1-lore Steel Gargoyle. FINDING ANSWERS on play: "You may draw a card, then choose and discard a card." Net-zero cycler. 2/4 body is above curve.
• David Xanatos - Steel Clan Leader: 3-cost 3/2 1-lore Steel Villain. NOT a Gargoyle. MINOR INCONVENIENCE on play: "You may choose and discard a card to deal 2 damage to chosen character." Hand-shrink + removal in one. Almost always take the optional cost.
• Goliath - Clan Leader: 6-cost 6/5 2-lore Steel Gargoyle. DUSK TO DAWN: at end of each player's turn, if they have more than 2 cards in hand they discard down to 2; if they have fewer than 2, they draw to 2. STONE BY DAY also applies. Forces YOUR hand to 2 every turn (the STONE BY DAY sweet spot) AND caps opposing hand at 2.

Cheap Gargoyle pressure — your 2-3 cost questers and challengers:

• Brooklyn - Second in Command: 2-cost 3/2 1-lore Ruby Gargoyle, Evasive. The deck's only native Evasive challenger. STONE BY DAY applies.
• Bronx - Ferocious Beast: 3-cost 6/4 0-lore Ruby Gargoyle, Reckless (can't quest, must challenge if able). STONE BY DAY applies. 6 STR for 3 ink is huge — pair with Castle Wyvern (→ 7 STR) and Guardian. The 0 lore doesn't matter; he's pure removal.
• Lexington - Small in Stature: 3-cost 4/4 1-lore Steel Gargoyle, Alert (can challenge as if Evasive). STONE BY DAY applies. The deck's answer to flier decks.
• Elisa Maza - Transformed Gargoyle: 3-cost 4/4 1-lore Ruby Gargoyle. FOREVER STRONG: "Your characters' ¤ can't be reduced below their printed value." STONE BY DAY applies. Anti-debuff tech — blanks Trials and Tribulations, Lost in the Woods.
• Elisa Maza - Intrepid Investigator: 3-cost 4/3 1-lore Ruby NON-inkable Detective. SPECIAL DETAIL: "While you have 2 or more other characters in play with 5 ¤ or more, this character gets +2 ◊." NOT a Gargoyle, NO STONE BY DAY — becomes a 3-lore quester once Broadway/Goliath are on board. Don't ink her.

Midrange threats and finishers:

• Broadway - Sturdy and Strong: 5-cost 4/6 2-lore Steel Gargoyle, Bodyguard. STONE BY DAY applies. Defensive anchor — opposing challengers must hit him first.
• David Xanatos - Charismatic Leader: 6-cost 5/5 2-lore Ruby Villain. NOT a Gargoyle, NO STONE BY DAY. LEARN FROM EVERYTHING: "During your turn, whenever one of your characters is banished, draw a card." WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? on quest: "Chosen character gains Rush this turn." Rush trigger turns a fresh Gargoyle into an immediate Guardian-lore swing.

Tempo items:

• Vitalisphere: 1-cost Ruby item. EXTRACT OF RUBY: "1 ⬡, Banish this item — Chosen character gains Rush and gets +2 ¤ this turn." T1 drop, T3-T4 banish for immediate challenge + Guardian lore.
• Fortisphere: 1-cost Steel item. RESOURCEFUL on play: "You may draw a card." EXTRACT OF STEEL: "1 ⬡, Banish this item — Chosen character of yours gains Bodyguard until the start of your next turn." Cantrip on play, emergency Bodyguard for Goliath-Guardian on banish.

vs. Steelsong / Burn (Favored): Their plan is pinging your 2-WP bodies (Brooklyn, Xanatos-Steel) off the board. Elisa-Transformed FOREVER STRONG doesn't block damage, only -STR debuffs. Watch for: Smash, Pop a Trinket, Mim-style pings. Station 2-cost Gargoyles at Castle Wyvern for Resist +1. Once Broadway lands T5, 6-WP Bodyguard is the wall they can't break.

vs. Lore-Aggro (Even): Amber/Emerald Dogs, Amber/Steel Princess, dedicated quest-rush decks. They hit 20 lore by T6-T7 if you don't pressure their questers. Watch for: evasive lore-questers (Tinker Bell, Aurora variants). Brooklyn is your native Evasive answer; Lexington's Alert is the second. Vitalisphere-Rush on a 3-cost Gargoyle into their lore engine is the swing turn. Mulligan for Lexington + Brooklyn + sphere.

vs. Amethyst/Steel Midrange (Even to Slightly Unfavored): Removal-heavy — Mickey Brave Little Tailor, Pawpsicle, Jafar Wicked Sorcerer. They'll banish Goliath-Guardian on sight. Watch for: Pawpsicle, Last-Ditch Effort, Be Prepared. Don't commit Guardian until you have Fortisphere Bodyguard or Castle Wyvern Resist +1 to protect him. Bait removal with cheap Gargoyles first, THEN deploy Guardian. Bronx's 6 STR is harder to handle in combat than via spells — they have to spend cards.

vs. Control / Bounce (Unfavored): Emerald/Sapphire control with Magical Maneuvers, Pull the Lever!, Magic Broom Brushup. They bounce your Gargoyles and force you to redraw — pushing hand back above 3, locking STONE BY DAY. Watch for: Magical Maneuvers bouncing your engine, Pull the Lever! forcing discards (which you actually want) or draw 2 (which they pick). Angela becomes critical — once she's down, STONE BY DAY is gone, you can't be hand-locked. Mulligan for Angela. Goliath-Clan Leader's DUSK TO DAWN caps their hand at 2 from T6.

vs. Other Tribal (Hyenas, Knights, Pirates) (Even): Mirror-style — both sides running a tribal engine. Watch for: their engine card (Shenzi - Head Hyena, Cinderella - Knight, Captain Hook variants). Trade into it with Lexington Alert or Brooklyn Evasive before it stacks value. Our Guardian + Castle Wyvern lore-per-challenge fires from T4, faster than most tribal payoffs.

vs. Big Mana / Locations (Favored): Sapphire/Steel setup decks take 3-4 turns to come online; we attack from T2. Watch for: 7+ WP locations. Bronx 6 STR + Castle Wyvern +1 = 7 STR, banishes most locations. Lexington's Alert lets him swing into them as if Evasive. Goliath-Guardian's trigger fires on character-vs-location challenges too — attacking locations also gains lore. Don't let their setup turns go unpressured.

Against single-target removal (Pawpsicle, Be Prepared, Last-Ditch Effort): Cut 2x Elisa Maza - Intrepid Investigator for an extra protection layer — additional Fortisphere copies (cycling + Bodyguard) or a second Castle Wyvern stacking lane. Reckless 6-STR Bronx is harder for them to handle than the 4/3 non-Gargoyle Detective.

Against pure aggro (Steelsong 7-by-T7): Cut 2x David Xanatos - Charismatic Leader for 2x extra defensive 2-3 cost bodies. The 6-cost Villain is a win-more card against opponents who close before T6.

Against control / bounce-heavy (Emerald/Sapphire): Cut 2x Goliath - Clan Leader for 2x more Hudson copies if list permits, or duplicate Angela - Night Warrior. Clan Leader gets bounced/banished before he stabilizes; Angela is the actual lock-breaker against hand-pressure decks.

Against tribal mirrors (Hyenas, Knights): Cut 2x Vitalisphere for 2x Fortisphere — Bodyguard protecting Goliath-Guardian wins the long lore race; Rush wins the short one. Choose Bodyguard when you expect a longer game.

Universal upgrade ceiling: The deck runs thin at the 1-slot (only 8 items, no 1-cost characters). Any 1-cost Ruby or Steel cantrip body from the Infinity pool would smooth opening hands.

Do NOT cut: Hudson, Castle Wyvern, Goliath-Guardian, Angela. Those four define the deck — Hudson manages hand size, Castle Wyvern buffs challenges, Guardian converts challenges to lore, Angela unlocks STONE BY DAY.