Promoted

By all means if you manage to do it faster it might be more profitable, you get on average 2k gold per upgrade doing the Dwarven Riddle compared to 2590 when completing the Guns of Lyr. Calculate those numbers with the average time you get to find your gold/h ratio.

As far as charges go just grab a 2nd phoenix charge since you want to use 4 of them at once and leave some room for mistakes. We've done it with no charges whatsoever in about 18 minutes, the only change was we had to place churches more strategically (try placing one behind your orb since there are no ranged or flying units coming) or at least make it your priority. Most upgrades are purely quality of life, you should prioritize Shadow Phoenix, Embalmer's Shrine, Church of Negation (at least T2) and Kobold Engineer. We can post a replay of a de-charged deck version tomorrow.