Introduction
Welcome to Duelyst! This thread is supposed to be a list of staples for different factions and decks. Intended to help out new players but here for everyone, hopefully this will give you a feel for which cards are almost always included in certain decks, and why.
I will not be detailing why each card is on this list, so if you have a question as to why a card is on this list, feel free to ask! Myself or other veterans of Doolist would be happy to help you.
Veterans! Please let us know what staples you think deserve to be included on this list, or even removed. I’m not experienced with every general and deck archetype in the game, so I may be incorrect in some of my assumptions 
Let’s get started!
What is a staple card?
A staple card is a card that is used in nearly every deck of a certain type, simply because it is that good and that versatile.
For example, Makantor Warbeast (6 mana, 4/4 with Frenzy and Rush) is probably the biggest staple of all time in Magmar decks, as it allows you to get out of sticky situations, punish enemy positioning, remove threats indirectly or even push lethal. This versatility and strength of the card is why it is often an auto-include in any Magmar deck.
Factions:
Abyssian
Faction Staples: Sphere of Darkness, Daemonic Lure, Desolator.
Maehv Staples: Healing Mystic, Prophet of the White Palm, Gnasher, Azure Horn Shaman. Desolator is critical here.
Swarm Staples: Furiosa, Crytpographer, Bloodtide Priestess, Deathfire Crescendo. Often Zyx, Soulshatter Grimwar, Shadowdancer, Inkling Surge. Staples vary depending on the speed of the deck.
Creep Staples: Abyssal Crawler, Sphere of Darkness, Ooz, Punish, Abyssal Juggernaut, Obliterate, Cassyva Soulreaper.
Arcanyst Staples: Prismatic Illusionist, Death Knell.
Dying Wish Staples: Lurking Fear, Nekomata, Reaper of the Nine Moons.
The only Neutral cards on this list are Prismatic Illusionist, Cryptographer, Azure Horn Shaman, Healing Mystic, Prophet of the White Palm, Gnasher and Zyx.
Since the Spectral nerf and Maehv buff Abyssian’s staples have really been cut down, which is a good thing.
Magmar
Faction Staples: Makantor Warbeast, Lavaslasher, Homeostatic Rebuke, Natural Selection, Plasma Storm, Young Silithar, Earth Sphere, Ragebinder, Flash Reincarnation.
Ragnora Staples: Greater Fortitude, often Egg Morph and Cryptographer, occasionally Wild Inceptor.
Competitive Starhorn Staples: Decimus, Tectonic Spikes. This is often combined with mech or just a ton of Magmar staples.
BBS Vaath Staples: Drogon, Cryptographer, Vaath’s Brutality.
Growmar Staples: Moloki Huntress, Godhammer.
The neutrals on these lists are Decimus and Cryptographer.
Makantor is quite possibly the biggest staple in game right now. Arguments could be made for Erratic Raptyr and Thumping Wave.
Lyonar
Faction Staples: Azurite Lion, Silverguard Knight, Sunbloom, Holy Immolation, Trinity Oath, Ironcliffe Guardian.
Argeon Staples: Saberspine Tiger, Windblade Adept.
Swarm Brome Staples: Surgeforger, Empyreal Congregation, Aurora, Zyx.
Healyonar Staples: Ziran Sunforge, Scintilla, Sunforge Lancer, Sunriser, Azure Herald, Healing Mystic. Some would argue Sunrise Cleric is too strong not to use as well.
Titan Staples: Alabaster Titan (big surprise), Bloodtear Alchemist, Maw, Dancing Blades, Sworn Sister L’kian as draw engine. The wonderful thing about Titan decks is that they encourage creative deckbuilding, so staples are hard to pin down. Sojourner and Spelljammer are also good draw options, but Opening Gambit removal minions such as these are very common, and necessary for a deck like this.
Bond Staples: Ironcliffe Guardian, Dioltas, Divine Bond, Aegis Barrier.
The neutrals on this list are Saberspine Tiger, Sworn Sister L’kian, Spelljammer, Sojourner, Dancing Blades, Bloodtear Alchemist, Maw, Dioltas, Zyx, Azure Herald and Healing Mystic.
I pray to one day add Excelscious’ name to this list.
Holy Immolation is one of the biggest staples in game without a doubt. The Argeon list could be extended to include tempo, aggro etc. Tempest doesn’t make the cut due to alternatives in Skorn and Sunbreaker, as well as swarm antisynergy. Strong arguments can be made for Aperion’s Claim and Prominence.
Vetruvian
Faction Staples: Scion’s First Wish, Lost in the Desert (paired with Thunderhorn), Rasha’s Curse, Falcius, Blood of Air.
Obelysk/Dervish Staples: Etheral Obelysk, Fireblaze Obelysk, Star’s Fury, Dunecaster, Whisper of the Sands, Allomancer. Gust seems to be growing in popularity as well.
Sajj Staples: Iris Barrier, Wildfire Ankh.
Cyphiron Staples: Grapnel Paradigm, Psychic Conduit.
Golem Vetruvian Staples: Celebrant, Dreamshaper, Golem Metallurgist, Sirocco, EMP. Boulder Breacher is very common as well, especially with Sajj.
Neutrals include Celebrant, EMP, Dreamshaper, Thunderhorn and Boulder Breacher.
…Siphon Energy. (Did you cry?) Hopefully Portal Guardian will be up here someday, in all his glory. A strong argument can be made for Kinematic Projection.
Vanar
Faction Staples: Chromatic Cold, Mana Deathgrip, Aspect of Shim’zar, Thunderhorn, Frigid Corona, Hearth Sister (most often with Faie). Luminous Charge is a very powerful and popular card as well.
BBS Faie Staples: Bloodbound Mentor, Cryptographer. Alcuin Loremaster sees play here as well.
Vespyr Staples: Animus Plate, Crystal Cloaker, Snowchaser. These lists vary a lot. Personally I consider Crystal Arbiter to be Vespyr staple as well, and Wintertide when running Kara. It’s also common to see the Bonechill Barrier/Glacial Elemental combo, or even Icebreak Ambus (again, usually with Kara).
Cryptographer, Thunderhorn and Bloodbound Mentor are neutrals.
Strong arguments can be made for Aspect of the Fox and Frostburn. Vanar players, let me know if you think they should be added.
Songhai
Faction Staples: Katara, Mist Dragon Seal, Juxtaposition, Phoenix Fire, Lantern Fox, Killing Edge, Gotatsu, Onyx Bear Seal.
Mantra Staples: Phoenix Fire, Eight Gates, Firestorm Mantra, Shidai Stormblossom, Rokadeptera, Abjudicator. The cheap spells listed in faction staples are critical. Ghost Lightning, Four Winds Magi and Chakri Avatar are staple for lists more focused on spells than Mantra.
Kaleos Staples: Scroll Bandit, Flamewreath, Grandmaster Zendo. Positioning spells listed above are critical.
Neutrals listed are Rokadeptera and Abjudicator.
I got pretty liberal here with what is considered a staple, as a lot of these cards are interchangeable and Songhai decks vary a lot from each other, for example using Phoenix Fire or Lantern Fox, but not both. Eternity Painter and Spelljammer deserve honorable mentions.
Miscellaneous Staples:
Neutral Minions
Turn One Staples: Bloodtear Alchemist, Healing Mystic, Primus Fist. While not a staple for every deck, definitely cards that every deck looks to when they’re trying to fill that 2 drop spot.
Four Mana Staples: Thunderhorn and Sunsteel Defender are strong neutral minions that can fill up the critical four mana spot in a deck that has need of that.
Card Draw Staples: Sojourner, Spelljammer. Blaze Hound is also quite good, although often only used in faster or cheaper decks, as it is otherwise outclassed. Sworn Sister L’kian is decent, but only in certain factions.
Zoo Deck Staples: Zyx, Shiro Puppydragon. These are cards often used in decks that try to swarm the opponent with minions.
Arcanyst Deck Staples: Owlbeast Sage, Blue Conjurer. Occasionally Prismatic Illusionist. These are cards that benefit from spells, and can be used as a win condition. Trinity Wing is now great too, and the expansion has allowed for cards such as Manaforger to see play.
Spell Reliant Staples: Abjudicator, Alcuin Loremaster. While not always used together or in Arcanyst decks, these are common in spell heavy decks, especially to reuse or ramp out a spell.
Dispell Staples: Ephemeral Shroud, Lightbender, EMP. While there are others, these are almost undoubtedly the strongest.
Healing Staples: Healing Mystic, Azure Herald, Rescue RX. The go-to for decks that need healing.
Memes
Serpenti is the only true meme staple, but be on the lookout for Prismatic Prism Barrier, especially when cast on a Prismatic Illusion created by a Prismatic Prismatic Illusionist.
Please leave your comments and questions below! This post will always be a work in progress, and hopefully be updated as the meta shifts (and I get more experience with the other factions). I consider this post a community effort, so your feedback will absolutely cause changes to these lists.
If you’re wondering what a card does, Bagoum is a great resource. To find even more discussion on faction staples, look here or to the old staple post, here.
This list does not and likely will not consider the idea of cards rotating out of play.
