Rise of the Floodborn has been out for 4 weeks with lots of events held so far, so it’s time for our very first metagame report!
This update tabulates 72 top cut decks from 9 in-person tournaments held in multiple regions during the periods of November 17 to December 10, 4 weeks after the initial LGS release of Rise of the Floodborn.
Metagame Breakdown
Others include:
- Amethyst / Steel – 2
- Emerald / Ruby – 2
- Amber / Emerald – 1
- Amber / Ruby – 1
- Emerald / Sapphire – 1
- Emerald / Steel – 1
- Sapphire / Steel – 1
Ruby Amethyst Control
The Ruby Amethyst Control deck received a power up through Rise of the Floodborn with the inclusion of the Madam Mim and Merlin package. Merlin – Rabbit provides draw power for the deck that can be used repeatedly through the help of Madam Mim – Snake and Madam Mim – Fox.
Dragon Fire is no longer used, replaced instead by Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen (33 decks, 112 copies) and Yzma – Scary Beyond all Reason (28 decks, 90 copies) since they provide a character on the board after banishing a character, with Lady Tremaine being much more popular since she does not have to let your opponent draw any cards unlike Yzma.
As Lady Tremaine is best used when the opponent has lesser characters in play, Teeth and Ambitions are used to handle the lower cost characters, with Madam Mim helping characters with low willpower be returned to hand. In the last 2 weeks, The Most Diabolical Scheme has also started seeing popularity, since the deck has multiple villains that can be used for the card’s cost.
Many Ruby Amethyst Control decks are choosing to play either Lady Tremaine – Overbearing Matriarch (10 decks) or Queen of Hearts – Impulsive Ruler (14 decks) as an additional low cost villain. Queen of Hearts has Rush which is dealing 2 additional damage to an exerted character, while Lady Tremaine reduces the opponent’s lore count and also has the ability to shift into her floodborn variant if necessary.
To ensure that they can inch out the win in the long game, The Sorcerer’s Spellbook is used to make use of any additional ink to gain lore consistently even after clearing the board with Be Prepared.
Steelsong
The Amber Steel combination remains as another top contender post Rise of the Floodborn, gaining new tricks with the help of The Queen and Cinderella.
The Queen – Commanding Presence with her Shift 2 ability onto The Queen – Regal Monarch provides for a very strong turn 2 play that allows the player to sing A Whole New World right away if the situation calls for it.
Cinderella – Ballroom Sensation is another great 1 ink addition to the deck’s arsenal, allowing Let the Storm Rage On on turn 2, which is especially useful for taking back the initiative when going second by taking out the opponent’s 2 cost characters should they only have 2 willpower or lesser. Furthermore, Cinderella – Stouthearted is another great option for the deck’s late game plays with her strong Resist +2 and The Singing Sword ability.
Strength of a Raging Fire (19 decks) has mostly taken over the place of Smash (6 decks), for the benefit of being a song card which can be possibly added to hand via Ariel – Spectacular Singer and being sung for free. To add on to the advantage of using many song cards, Sleepy’s Flute is also used to gain lore quicker.
Pawpsicle Control
Sapphire Ink received a new card draw engine with the help of Pawpsicle in Rise of the Floodborn. Pawpsicle allows 1 card draw when played, and provides even more card draw with the help of Hiram Flaversham – Toymaker that can banish any item to draw 2 cards whenever he quests.
To complete the package, Nick Wilde – Wily Fox then hops in to return Pawpsicle from the discard pile back to hand, ready to restart the combo again. Judy Hopps – Optimistic Officer is also ready to take over Hiram Flaversham’s place to draw a card when necessary, or banish an opponent’s item card, such as the above mentioned The Sorcerer’s Spellbook and Sleepy’s Flute.
Outside of the card draw engine, the build has multiple variants available. One of the more notable builds makes use of the multiple item cards that the deck plays by using Noi – Orphaned Thief which has Resist and Ward while the user has an item card in play and Tamatoa – So Shiny! as the end game character to retrieve item cards and gain massive amounts of lore.
Overall, this build has seen some success though Ruby Amethyst Control remains the more popular choice since Amethyst provides many draw options through the latest Merlin – Rabbit, Maleficent – Sorceress, and the ever popular Friends on the Other Side (40 decks, 160 copies), which helps to provide the deck with more stability, while Sapphire decks are currently heavily reliant on having Hiram Flaversham and item cards to start drawing consistently.
Aggro (Amber Amethyst & Amethyst Emerald)
Amethyst Emerald was played during The First Chapter’s meta as an aggro deck that could contend against Ruby Amethyst Control by gaining lore quickly and using cards like Kuzco – Temperamental Emperor to be the final blow.
The strategy continues on with the help of Pinocchio – Star Attraction and Arthur – Wizard’s Apprentice, along with Madam Mim’s help to make use of Merlin – Goat repeatedly to gain lore quickly, which has allowed 2 different aggro ink combinations to surface. Befuddle is played as a way to protect your low cost high lore characters like Pinocchio from being challenged, by returning them to hand and playing them again.
This strategy however faces issues against the top 2 decks, especially as they now have Teeth and Ambitions and Let the Storm Rage On which are able to handle the lower cost high lore characters, resulting in limited success for the deck this past month.
Conclusion
1 month after Rise of the Floodborn’s release, Amethyst Ruby and Amber Steel still remain the top ink combinations of choice, receiving powerups from the multiple new cards they have helped the 2 decks to expand on their plays.
Out of all 6 inks, Emerald Ink has yet to make much of a showing despite their new Discard strategy cards such as Prince John – Greediest of All and Daisy Duck – Secret Agent, or Beast – Relentless as a combo deck that aims to quest multiple times with Beast. Hopefully Emerald ink gets a better performance in the upcoming month.
Currently I plan to do this metagame breakdown once a month, going through the top decks over the past month. All the decklists featured here are available under the individual tournament posts and via the top decks page.
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