The Antiquities War
Two chapters of digging, then a finish. The first two chapters are filtered card advantage narrowed to a single card type, drawing you into an artifact while tucking the chaff back where it cannot clog future draws. By the time the third chapter resolves, you should already be holding a board of artifacts, and the payoff is one of the most aggressive lethal-conversion clauses a Saga carries: every artifact you control, Signets and Treasure and equipment alike, swings as a 5/5. The interesting part is what counts. A turn that looks like durdle (mana rocks, a key, a few utility pieces) becomes an alpha strike, because the chapter draws no distinction between artifacts built to attack and artifacts built to do anything else. The more inert your artifact count looks across the table, the harder the finisher hits, and that misdirection is exactly what the design leans on. The cost the design pays is patience and visibility. The lore counters tick on a fixed clock, the third chapter is a single end-of-turn window with no instant-speed flexibility, and an opponent who reads the board has two full turns to clear it or set up a sweeper before the swing arrives. It rewards going wide on cheap artifacts and punishes anyone who wants a removal-proof bomb; the kill is real, but it announces itself two turns early.
