Meta Monday – Diversity

On

On last week’s Meta Monday, we analyzed what appeared to be an Alessi driven metagame, and the ramifications of the balance patch. Fast forward to this week, and 0 copies of Alessi broke into this week’s ETS top 8. Today, I’ll be breaking down this weeks top 8, trends and what to expect in the upcoming metagame.

 

One of the game’s very best, Childroland, took down these week’s ETS with a interesting take on Elysian Midrange. This list features many interesting choices including: 3 copies of Unseal, 2 Channel The Tempest and 4 copies of Hailstorm. These choice’s targeted a specific metagame, and clearly payed off. Although Elysian is something many have not seen for along time, I would expect to see more of it in the coming weeks as it has solid matchups into most of the field. Congratulations Childroland!

 

Krizalio picked up a second place finish this week, with Charge Rod. This list is more standard then list we’ve seen in previous weeks, but Charge Rod continues to put up results. Interestingly, Krizalio opted to play zero copies of Heart Of The Vault, and instead played four copies of Rizahn allowing him to have more ways to interact with more aggressively built decks. Overall, Charge Rod continues to be a strong choice in the current metagame, and I expect this deck to only become more popular in the coming weeks.

 

Sunyveil brought our only deck with 2 copies in the top 8, Praxis Tokens, to a top 4 finish. This version, brought the more popular Auralian Merchant as its merchant of choice, allowing for more consistent Xenan Obelisks and flyer hate. Praxis tokens continues to impress week after week and is slowing becoming the most dominate deck in the metagame. If you aren’t already playing Praxis Tokens, you might want to pick it up. This deck attacks from so many different angles, and until Hailstorm becomes more popular I do not expect this deck to stop performing.

 

Thedamn brought their version of Rakano Valkries to a top 4 finish this week. Interestingly, they brought 2 copies of Scale seeker; A card we have not seen almost any of sense the release of The Fall of Argenport. Although many have underestimated Rakano Valkyries we continue to see it make a push into our top 8 week after week, and this trend will likely continue.

 

Dderk brought a new innovation to his top 8 Skycrag Aggro list, in Longbarrel. This innovation allows Skycrag Aggro to push through even more damage, and snowball even harder in aggressive matchups. I’ve tested Longbarrel myself, and can confirm that this card has earned a spot in Skycrag Aggro in the right metagame. Dderk also brought Ixtun Merchant to give himself more late game options, and a payoff for going wide in Rally. This list was well thought out, and is a very strong way to build Skycrag going forward.

 

lllserbll brought a relatively new deck to this top 8, TPS Control. This deck has many familiar cards you’d see in Feln Control, with a splash for Vara’s choice, Banish, Ayan and Auralian Merchant. These cards help sure up some of Feln Control’s tough matchups, and allow it to take a more aggressive approach if needed. Overall I definitely like this deck more then Feln Control, and could see it playing a role in our metagame for weeks to come.

Trumpets brought Icaria Blue yet another top 8 this week. This list featured some unusual cards such as lightning strike and unstable form, I suspect these were for the expected Alessi heavy metagame. Icaria Blue continues to surprise me, as I claim it is a weaker version of removal pile, but these results seem to differ. I think Icaria blue is slowly becoming a deck in many people’s eyes, and will likely continue to put up impressive results if the metagame doesn’t heavily shift.

 

Rounding out our top 8, IamMonstrum, the newest member of Team Rankstar, took our second copy of Praxis Tokens into the top 8. This time, sporting 2 Censari Brigands  and Ixtun Merchants to field a more aggressive build and market for Praxis Tokens. This build allowed IamMonstrum to snowball games even harder, and showing another side of the tokens deck, prove that even Praxis Tokens still can be more refined.

 

This metagame continues to shift, but we are starting to see many familiar decks making top 8’s:  Praxis Tokens, Icaria blue and Rakano Valkyries consistently stand out. I’m excited to see what will emerge next week! That’s a wrap for this week’s Meta Monday! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. You can often catch me streaming at http://www.twitch.tv/notoriousghp. Until next time, Keep brewing!

ThatResolves video of the week:

*Deck created by Zyreth

3 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
2 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
4 Back-Alley Delinquent (Set4 #200)
3 Learned Herbalist (Set4 #63)
2 Purify (Set2 #176)
4 Quarry (Set1001 #15)
3 Amber Acolyte (Set1 #93)
4 Auralian Merchant (Set4 #70)
4 Sandstorm Titan (Set1 #99)
3 Stirring Sand (Set3 #86)
4 Grasping at Shadows (Set1 #292)
4 Heart of the Vault (Set2 #183)
4 Great-Kiln Titan (Set3 #49)
2 Lavablood Goliath (Set1 #62)
3 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)
2 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
3 Time Sigil (Set1 #63)
3 Crest of Chaos (Set3 #268)
4 Crest of Impulse (Set3 #251)
3 Crest of Mystery (Set4 #266)
4 Seat of Impulse (Set0 #54)
3 Seat of Mystery (Set0 #61)
————–MARKET—————
1 Banish (Set2 #207)
1 Scorpion Wasp (Set1 #96)
1 Stirring Sand (Set3 #86)
1 Pillar of Amar (Set1 #122)
1 Crest of Mystery (Set4 #266)

-NotoriousGHP and ThatResolves

Check out Team Rankstar streamers: HeyWhyYou, Magikarp, NotoriousGHP, PlatypusKing, SifuDanny and y0ttabyte. ThatResolves, who makes all of the videos for Meta Monday, can be found here and Patreon here!

If you are looking for some tournament “Best of Three” practice, Kaelari has set up a really great resource that is open 24/7 here as well as a Tuesday night tournament here.

Every Friday, The Great Parliament hosts “Casual Friday” tournament now, too!

The new season of the ETS is live! Be sure to sign up or tune in ever Saturday for the highest level of Eternal competition!

Don’t forget to let us know what you think via our contact and recruitment page or in our Discord!

 

Meta Monday – Post Balance Patch

Last week, we received the first balance patch since the release of The Fall of Argenport, and it definitely shook things up in the fourth ETS of season 3. Although there were similar themes among decks, 8 different approaches to archetypes made up our top 8 this week. This top 8 was made up of 2 Icaria control decks, Praxis tokens, Charge rod, the apparently not dead TJP Berserk, Xenan midrange and 2 different Alessi Control decks.

Mouche took down their second ETS of the season, this time with Combrei Alessi control (?), a deck that nobody had on their radar. The deck uses Alessi, various controlling spells and a crazy power base to support Alessi and friends in grinding out opponents. This deck truly showcased what Alessi can do, and I expect to see innovations on this archetype in the future. Although this deck is quite hard to pilot, it’s probably a deck worth picking up if you like to grind. Congrats Mouche!

Another person on a rampage, Team Rankstar’s own Aetherllama came second with their own verison of Alessi control, this time with the support of fire cards and moment of creation. Aetherllama managed to 6-0 during the swiss rounds, leaving them with an impressive 8-1 finish with another relatively unknown archetype. This is probably the weirdest deck that made the top 8, but a commonality with Mouche’s deck is Alessi + Crown Watch Press-Gang is a terrifying pairing, and I believe the best deck using this combination will sit at the highest of tiers.

Another familiar name to the ETS, Aromanova finished third place with Praxis Tokens. Although this deck isn’t overly popular right now, it continues to show promise with fantastic tournament results two weeks in a row. Interestingly, they have included two Cinder Yeti in his 75, allowing him to gain more card advantage and push damage, and although this innovation has been seen before, I think it should be a main stay. One card not featured in this list is Amaran Stinger, a card that has become more popular as of late that I have enjoyed in tokens. I expect this deck to get more and more popular in the coming weeks.

Droilcheck has now top 4’d the last two ETS’s, both with Icaria Blue. Regardless of what anyone says about the deck, Droilcheck seems to always perform with it and continues to pilot it. I personally believe this deck is slightly weaker then the more popular Icaria control deck, Removal pile/FJS Midrange, as it can struggle with time-based midrange, an archetype that didn’t perform overly well this weekend.

Sabriel brought their take on Xenan midrange this week, our only copies of Sandstorm Titan are featured here. Xenan’s a deck a lot of people thought was going to improve with the release of The Fall of Argenport, but it has underperformed thus far. Sabriel brought a interesting list, straying away from Auralian Merchant and Predatory Carnosaur for Kerendon Merchant and Thundering Kerasaur, not something I was expecting to be saying. These innovations brought Sabriel to a fifth place finish this week, and may be the way to go moving forward.

Therocke took sixth place with TJP Blitz this week. I’m not sure this was ever supposed to happen as the deck was targeted with two nerfs this week. TheRocke has added some Strategize and Hooru Pacifier to make up for the loss of Levitate and nerf of Accerlated Evolution, which worked out great for him. I think this deck may still be alive post nerfs, and these are some interesting ways to combat them. As long as Gift of Battle remains unchanged, we will likely be seeing it in various strategies.

Fuzzyfrog took 7th place this week with Removal Pile. This has been an all star since the release of The Fall of Argenport, and that likely will not change. This list is very standard, but does not include a card many have speculated on, Wyatt, Junk Collector, which may have a home in removal pile. I do not see a world in which this deck becomes bad as the meta game advances, and I suspect we will see many more top 8’s from this deck.

Finishing off this week, Grimfan took 8th with their baby, Charge Rod. Interestingly, his list includes no copies of Bulletshaper or Priviledge of the Rank, which facilitate the fastest draws. Charge Rod is a deck I’ve spoken about extensively, and I expect with its worst matchup in TJP Berserk being nerfed, that this deck will continue to put up numbers and become even more popular.

To cap off this week’s Meta Monday, I wanted to discuss the balance patch we received and my thoughts on it for constructed. First of all, I think everyone would agree TJP Berserk was a problem and nobody should be surprised it got nerfed. However, I am disappointed in the nerf of Levitate, as it was a fantastic tool in primal-based control to dig, and pop aegis, and I think there probably could have been a better target. Also, Accelerated Evolution is likely only playable in TJP Berserk anymore, as the nerf made the card way too inefficient. Two cards I believe should/will be changed, however, are Teacher of Humility and Alessi. I expected Teacher to receive a nerf, and I believe DWD made a mistake not nerfing it. Many can argue that it isn’t oppressive, and the reason for it is because the decks that it destroys (such as Unitless control, Scream) have completely disappeared from the meta game. I think Teacher creates too many un-fun games and will be changed in the future. Alessi is a card that people will start complaining about, as it’s featured in many decks and makes many archetypes possible. I think Alessi may be slightly too good of a card, as she is currently the best 1 or 2 drop in the game.

That’s a wrap for this week’s meta Monday! Thank’s for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. You can often catch me streaming at http://www.twitch.tv/notoriousghp. Until next time, Keep brewing!

-NotoriousGHP

4 Combust (Set1 #392)
4 Dark Return (Set1 #250)
4 Grenadin Drone (Set1 #5)
2 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
4 Devour (Set1 #261)
4 Haunting Scream (Set1 #374)
4 Quarry (Set1001 #15)
4 Gorgon Fanatic (Set1 #375)
4 Madness (Set1 #267)
4 Nocturnal Observer (Set3 #173)
4 Rindra, the Duskblade (Set3 #277)
4 Torgov, Icecap Trader (Set2 #126)
4 Amethyst Waystone (Set3 #201)
3 Cobalt Waystone (Set3 #151)
4 Crest of Chaos (Set3 #268)
4 Crest of Cunning (Set3 #267)
4 Crest of Fury (Set3 #266)
2 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)
4 Granite Waystone (Set3 #1)

Use the code “TRS12” to get 12% off your order at InkedGaming.com and support Team Rankstar directly!

Check out Team Rankstar streamers: HeyWhyYou, Magikarp, NotoriousGHP, PlatypusKing, SifuDanny and y0ttabyte. ThatResolves, who makes all of the videos for Meta Monday, can be found here and Patreon here!

If you are looking for some tournament “Best of Three” practice, Kaelari has set up a really great resource that is open 24/7 here as well as a Tuesday night tournament here.

Every Friday, The Great Parliament hosts “Casual Friday” tournament now, too!

The new season of the ETS is live! Be sure to sign up or tune in ever Saturday for the highest level of Eternal competition!

Don’t forget to let us know what you think via our contact and recruitment page or in our Discord!

NotoriousGHP’s Feln Aggro!

Oh boy. Do we have a throw back for you! Back in the times of 1 cost Rapid Shot, a Feln Aggro deck once existed. Today, we revisit the times of Feln Aggro, along side some new tool’s from The Fall of Argenport.

Territorial Elf is an all-star in aggressive based strategies. The card does it all, threaten mass burst, pair well with removal, and is a card your opponent simply has to answer unless they want to take up to 14 damage with a Rapid Shot.

Merchants offer aggressive decks more access to removal, situational and top end cards without clogging up the main deck with them. Jennev Merchant does all of these things, giving us conditional removal like permafrost, while also allowing us to break stalls with crystalize and, it even offers a strong body. Jennev Merchant was a card I was hesitant about in this deck, but it very quickly earned its spot as one of the best cards in the deck.

Sewer Sludge is an incredibly difficult card to evaluate. The card is so deceiving at a 1 mana 0/1 body, that people have over looked its potential to be a 1 mana 3/4 or better. I think in aggressive/tempo based decks, Sewer Sludge is a real contender for the one drop slot, and has been impressive in my games so far. One thing to note, although Sludge is a poor top deck, it costing 1 is fantastic for Whispering Wind, allowing you to pitch it to have a chance at drawing Rapid Shot or Annihilate.

Feln Aggro has impressed me, and I truly believe it is fighting for the best aggro deck in the format slot. Although it’s a deck a lot of people have been sleeping on, I think we will see a lot more of it in the coming months.

Decklist:
2 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Sewer Sludge (Set4 #196)
4 Snowcrust Yeti (Set2 #105)
4 Twilight Raptor (Set1 #379)
3 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Argenport Instigator (Set1 #268)
4 Rapid Shot (Set1 #259)
4 Ripknife Assassin (Set1003 #13)
4 Territorial Elf (Set4 #210)
3 Whispering Wind (Set1 #202)
2 Daring Pioneer (Set3 #170)
4 Jennev Merchant (Set4 #169)
4 Midnight Gale (Set1 #378)
4 Impending Doom (Set1 #286)
6 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
7 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Feln Banner (Set1 #417)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
4 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)
————–MARKET—————
1 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
1 Substitute (Set4 #150)
1 Rindra’s Choice (Set4 #261)
1 Recurring Nightmare (Set1 #382)
1 Crystallize (Set1 #232)

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this video/writeup, if you’re interested in more of well, me, you’ll find me at twitch.tv/NotoriousGHP where I stream regularly, usually from 11:30am – 3:30pm EST. Until next time, keep brewing.

Use the code “TRS12” to get 12% off your order at InkedGaming.com and support Team Rankstar directly!

NotoriousGHP’s VodaCombo!

Ladies and Gentlemen. The year is 2018, and Vodacombo is a viable deck, what a world we live in.

Vodacombo has been a deck I’ve worked on extensively since I started playing Eternal. During set 2 and 3, the deck fell off the face of the earth. Thankfully, Argenport fell. Vodacombo was revitalized.

I knew upon reading Auralian Merchant that Voda was going to be better then it was in the previous sets. What I didn’t know, was how big of a difference it made in both the power level and consistency of the deck. I believe that Auralian Merchant has single-handedly revived this archetype, and I do think this deck will find it’s part in the meta game.

The deck plays like a traditional Big Combrei deck,; put big value units in play, stall the board, then break the stall. Although this verison even goes a little bit bigger. If you feel like you want to join the midrange soupfest we call the time based decks, but you want to go a little bigger, I present you: Vodacombo!

Decklist:
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
3 Desert Marshal (Set1 #332)
3 Find the Way (Set1 #513)
4 Temple Scribe (Set1 #502)
3 Vanquish (Set1 #143)
3 Voice of the Speaker (Set1 #78)
4 Auralian Merchant (Set4 #70)
4 Knight-Chancellor Siraf (Set1 #335)
4 Valkyrie Enforcer (Set1 #151)
4 Sandstorm Titan (Set1 #99)
3 The Great Parliament (Set1 #338)
3 Marshal Ironthorn (Set1 #174)
3 Worldbearer Behemoth (Set3 #87)
3 Mystic Ascendant (Set1 #116)
2 Vodakhan, Temple Speaker (Set1 #347)
6 Time Sigil (Set1 #63)
4 Amber Waystone (Set3 #51)
4 Justice Sigil (Set1 #126)
3 Combrei Banner (Set1 #424)
4 Crest of Progress (Set4 #247)
4 Seat of Progress (Set0 #58)
————–MARKET—————
1 Desert Marshal (Set1 #332)
1 Stand Together (Set1 #334)
1 Worldbearer Behemoth (Set3 #87)
1 Vodakhan, Temple Speaker (Set1 #347)
1 Combrei Banner (Set1 #424)

Hopefully you enjoyed this video/writeup, if you’re interested in more of well, me, you’ll find me at twitch.tv/NotoriousGHP where I stream regularly, usually from 11:30am – 3:30pm EST. Until next time, keep brewing.

Use the code “TRS12” to get 12% off your order at InkedGaming.com and support Team Rankstar directly!

NotoriousGHP’s Screaming Crunch Brigade!

Since the release of set 3, The Dusk Road, I have been working on various Haunting Scream decks. Today on stream, we revisited scream to try some new cards, Crunch, the Hoarder and Kerendon Merchant!

4 Combust (Set1 #392)
3 Dark Return (Set1 #250)
4 Grenadin Drone (Set1 #5)
2 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
4 Cull the Deck (Set4 #202)
2 Devour (Set1 #261)
4 Haunting Scream (Set1 #374)
4 Crunch, the Hoarder (Set4 #258)
4 Gorgon Fanatic (Set1 #375)
4 Kerendon Merchant (Set4 #217)
3 Madness (Set1 #267)
4 Nocturnal Observer (Set3 #173)
4 Rindra, the Duskblade (Set3 #277)
4 Amethyst Waystone (Set3 #201)
4 Cobalt Waystone (Set3 #151)
4 Crest of Chaos (Set3 #268)
4 Crest of Cunning (Set3 #267)
4 Crest of Fury (Set3 #266)
2 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)
3 Granite Waystone (Set3 #1)
————–MARKET—————
1 Dark Return (Set1 #250)
1 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
1 Rindra’s Choice (Set4 #261)
1 Devastating Setback (Set3 #226)
1 Madness (Set1 #267)

This list is still a little rough, specifically, the market needs some work, but for early into the set, I am very pleased with the power level of this deck. I realize that Scream has been known as a very inconsistent deck in the past, but I do believe with these new additions, the consistency and power level of this deck has increased drastically and is something I’d recommend for climbing.

Crunch has been the most impressive card, as it’s a card that’s great on the beat down, and hard to block from getting the infiltrate off. I cannot see myself registering a scream list like this without him, he’s Gorgon Fanatic #5-8! Merchant’s offer a unique dynamic to the deck, allowing you to consistently find card’s like madness, while also giving you access to situational card’s like annihilate without being punished.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this video/writeup, if your interested in more of well, me, you’ll find me at twitch.tv/NotoriousGHP where I stream regularly, usually from 11:30am – 3:30pm EST. Until Next time, Keep brewing.

Use the code “TRS12” to get 12% off your order at InkedGaming.com and support Team Rankstar directly!