Table of Contents
The Archazia's Island Set Championships are underway! We have plenty of data for this meta report, which should be helpful for those participating in their upcoming event this weekend.
While Steelsong has now become the clear meta favorite, Amethyst Ruby has split into two versions, with the Evasive deck out-representing and outperforming Bounce Control. There's way more evasive characters seeing play lately, so it's something to keep in mind when adapting your choice.
Check out the latest snapshot of the Lorcana Constructed metagame along with featured decks from the past two weeks' events below.
Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Meta Share | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 |   Amber Steel Steelsong | 19% | 19 |
  Ruby Sapphire Pawpsicle | 14% | 11 | |
 Amethyst Sapphire Bounce | 12% | 16 | |
| Amethyst Steel Bounce | 11% | 10 | |
| Tier 2 | Amethyst Ruby Evasive | 9% | 8 |
 Amethyst Emerald Discard | 7% | 7 | |
| Emerald Steel Discard | 7% | 6 | |
| Amethyst Ruby Bounce | 5% | 6 | |
| Tier 3 | Amber Emerald Chernadog | 4% | 4 |
| Amber Emerald Songs | 2% | 1 | |
| Amethyst Steel Jafar | 2% | 3 | |
| Sapphire Steel Aggro | 2% | 2 | |
| Emerald Sapphire Songs | 2% | - |
Meta Overview
In the past couple weeks, Steelsong managed to surge in popularity to eclipse the other top decks in the format. Being able to cheat impactful songs that impact the board feels especially powerful when you have a way to fully refresh your hand.
Hover, the biggest shakeup is the emergence of Amethyst Ruby Evasive, a new take that eschews bounce cards in favor of evasive threats. The deck's popularity comes at the cost of the standard Bounce Control version seeing a drastic drop in meta share, so it seems Amethyst Ruby players simply jumped on the new version.
Amethyst Emerald nearly doubled its play rates compared to the last report, with some versions also sporting a more evasive-heavy build.
As such, make sure that your deck of choice this weekend has a solid gameplan against evasive characters or you might struggle racing or fighting back.
Make sure to check out the Tier 3 decks featured below, as they put up top finishes with less popular archetypes.
Tier 1
Amber Steel Steelsong
Steelsong players came out in force this Set Championships, becoming the most popular deck of the season so far. Other Amber Steel decks such as the Dwarf's Mines version have fallen out of favor, and more importantly, the optimal list seems to have been found, as winning decklists now have less than 10 cards different between them.
003-190-robin-hood-champion-of-sherwood and 002-177-cinderella-stouthearted top the deck's curve as strong challengers that benefit the most from Rapunzel's heal. They can come down earlier with shift and establish even better board control, too.
With so many singers, including 004-025-ursula-vanessa and 005-003-prince-naveen-ukulele-player which are now the most common inclusions after the core ones, the deck can unload free songs quickly and get set up for a full reload with 001-195-a-whole-new-world.
This deck went 7-0 in a 100+ player event:
Ruby Sapphire Pawpsicle
At this point, this archetype should be named Ruby Sapphire Maui for how much it leans on both versions of the hero deity. While 001-114-maui-hero-to-all challenges with reckless abandon, 006-124-maui-half-shark recurs actions, which lets you dig for answers as well as race for the win through 004-128-a-pirates-life.
007-162-tamatoa-happy-as-a-clam remains the best reason to keep the deck's namesake. 003-169-mcduck-manor-scrooges-mansion is a must-have passive lore gainer that quietly ticks you closer to victory while you deal with the opponent's stuff.
Some card choices need to be made at the top end, with 001-147-hades-infernal-schemer and 004-125-sisu-empowered-sibling fighting for slots.
Here's the decklist of the winner of a ~90 player event:
Amethyst Sapphire Bounce
Blurple merges the Amethyst bounce package with Sapphire item and ramp stuff for a midrange value engine that can go the distance. The once ubiquitous 007-159-belle-apprentice-inventor is now mostly only found here since Sapphire Steel has languished. Some recent versions are going lighter on the bounce for perhaps faster board presence.
At the top end is 001-147-hades-infernal-schemer, an amazing answer to the most problematic character on the board. 007-049-iago-giant-spectral-parrot makes a splash here as a large 4-cost along with 005-140-scrooge-mcduck-afficionado-of-antiquities.
The winning deck below went 7-1-1 with some spicy 1-ofs for that surprise factor.
Amethyst Steel Bounce
Strong, cheap threats, card advantage enablers, and free removal means Amethyst Steel is always a solid choice. Unlike the other top tier decks in this report, Amethyst Steel has one of the largest variances in decklist numbers, with some winners only including 3 1-of songs and nearly all characters.
For most standard versions though, the deck gets ahead by bouncing value characters such as 002-051-merlin-goat, and 002-052-merlin-rabbit while its Steel cards provide board control.
This deck went 7-1-0 with a pretty streamlined deck skipping 007-057-giant-cobra-ghostly-serpent while packing more songs.
Tier 2
Amethyst Ruby Evasive
The biggest surprise that came out strong in the last two weeks is this new-ish version of Amethyst Ruby going all-in on evasive characters. 004-054-peter-pan-shadow-finder leads the way, letting you catch opponents off guard with quick rushers that are often safe from retaliation.
With all of these sneaky guys, hiding them in 003-067-the-queens-castle-mirror-chamber seems like a great idea. 004-113-lumiere-fiery-friend gives your challenges extra oomph and 007-049-iago-giant-spectral-parrot joins in for an extra beefy yet fragile body.
The rest of the deck is similar to the standard Bounce Control, including the board sweeper package and straight up card draw.
Amethyst Emerald Discard
The Diablo deck gained a bit more pilots in the past few weeks, directly countering (or competing with) the new evasive Amethyst Ruby deck. Rushing challengers can get rid of early game drops while you work on the opponent's hand size. You can also be more selective with targeted discard, removing those that really matter.
Once again, 004-054-peter-pan-shadow-finder and 007-049-iago-giant-spectral-parrot take slots usually filled by the usual discard staples like 002-089-prince-john-greediest-of-all.
This fairly appropriately named deck can be rage-inducing if its gameplan goes off:
Emerald Steel Discard
With 003-091-ursula-deceiver-of-all doubling songs and 002-089-prince-john-greediest-of-all giving you +1 while they go -1, Emerald Steel has so much card advantage in theory, especially with an unanswered 004-070-diablo-devoted-herald.
003-081-morph-space-goo does a lot of work in this discard archetype, enabling faster 002-173-beast-tragic-hero or 007-114-pete-space-pirate. 004-101-hidden-cove-tranquil-haven gives the fragile characters in the deck just a tad more survivability, which is nice with all the rushers out there.
Amethyst Ruby Bounce
Despite being a bit overshadowed by the new evasive version, the reliable Bounce Control is still putting up impressive finishes.
Ruby's top end cards such as 003-112-madame-medusa-the-boss along with strong challengers like 001-114-maui-hero-to-all provides so much control on which opposing characters get to live. Combined with Amethyst bouncers, the deck is thriving in a Hiram-free environment.
The deck packs 1-drops for 005-068-the-library-a-gift-for-belle and evasive characters for opposing counterparts. 001-064-friends-on-the-other-side can keep the cards flowing and ensure you have more gas after resetting with 001-128-be-prepared.
Tier 3
Amber Emerald Chernadog
Amber Emerald Songs
Amethyst Steel Jafar
Sapphire Steel Aggro
Emerald Sapphire Songs
Final Thoughts
The metagame seems to be settling in place now that the shakeup has weathered. There's certainly more diversity in what's viable, which is a big plus. Clever deckbuilding and testing will have a larger impact on overall results.
What decks are you considering for your upcoming Set Championship event?
