Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to Lorcana.gg's weekly meta report! Each week we analyze the state of the meta using data from the previous week of online and tournament play. Our tier list is updated with the latest data, while this meta report will go over what it all means, as well as highlighting some particularly strong and interesting decks in each archetype.
The tier list is separated into three tiers. Tier 1 has the strongest decks that boast a high meta share (percentage of games played) and multiple top 8 performances in major tournaments. Tier 2 and Tier 3 decks are a notch below the top tier, with these decks usually having one or two weaknesses keeping them from dominating the meta.
Meta Overview
It's the last week before the Set Championships and the meta is largely stable. We did have a swap at the top, with Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control taking back its number one spot from Amber/Steel Steelsongs. The rest of tier 1 remains unchanged and all the decks here had multiple top 8s this week, with the exception of Steelsongs.
Tier 2 also remains largely unchanged. The tier 2 decks have a clear deficit when it comes to top 8s, with not all the tier 2 decks managing a top cut for the week and only one each. It's very clear where the tiers are in the meta currently, with the top 5 decks all being quite strong and tournament viable, with the rest of the field playing catch-up.
We do have a tier 3 this week, as both Jafar Wheel and Hyper Aggro are far enough down in meta share to land in a bottom tier. Both also did not have any tournament successes to speak of this week. Jafar Wheel in particular has had a far fall from the heights of the early Inklands meta, where it felt very strong. But, just like the Beast OTK deck, an inconsistent combo does not appear to be something you want to build your deck around in Disney Lorcana.
Anyway, onto the tier list..
Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name | Meta Share | Win Rate | Top 8s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 |   Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control | 13.7% | 50.2% | 5 |
  Amber/Steel Steelsongs | 11.2% | 49.7% | 1 | |
 Emerald/Steel Control | 9.3% | 49.9% | 3 | |
 Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control | 8.6% | 50.5% | 3 | |
| Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel | 7.9% | 50.0% | 3 | |
| Tier 2 | Amethyst/Emerald Tempo | 5.1% | 50.2% | 1 |
| Emerald/Steel Bucky Discard | 4.2% | 49.3% | 1 | |
| Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa | 4.0% | 51.0% | 0 | |
| Amethyst/Steel Tempo | 3.6% | 50.3% | 1 | |
| Tier 3 | Amethyst/Steel Jafar Wheel | 3.1% | 49.9% | 0 |
| Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro | 2.3% | 48.8% | 0 |
top 8s are from tournaments with 40+ players between Apr 08 - 15
Tier 1
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control
After a couple weeks out of the top spot, Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control is back. It feels like we may be heading into a period where the Steelsongs and this are going to be jumping in and out of the top spot, based on which deck is effectively teched against the other at the time.
Our deck highlight for the week is this Bounce Control list from Raclem that took second place in the 125-player Relic Tour Paris tournament. One interesting inclusion here is our old friend Rafiki - Mysterious Sage. A staple of The First Chapter meta, Rafiki has been completely replaced by Madam Mim - Fox in Amethyst lists. But Fox does have the drawback of needing something on board to play her, so Rafiki can be a good fallback option for when your board is empty and you need to rush something down.
Guide:
Amber/Steel Steelsongs
Amber/Steel Steelsongs drops out of the top spot but even more surprisingly got only one top 8 this week. The start of a trend or just a blip in this deck's performance? With the Set Championships taking place later this week, we will soon find out.
The top 8 this deck managed this week was at a 56-player 5k tournament at SCG Con Atlanta. This list from Danxor was a Lantern-focused version of the Steelsongs deck, with more high-end that you can utilize your Lantern to play ahead of curve.
Guide:
Emerald/Steel Control
Emerald/Steel Control continues to be a bit of a misnomer as most of the decks that fall into this category are playing a bit more of a midrange style. At least, that is the way it looks from the decks making it to the top 8s. The key difference is, again, whether the deck runs Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor or not. The decks in this category don't run Bucky and instead rely on other discard options such as Friar Tuck - Priest of Nottingham.
An example of this build is this deck from Ryan Miles, which won the 5k SCG Con tournament in Atlanta. Your main discard tool in this list is Sudden Chill, which if you can manage to sing it with Ursula - Deceiver of All can really wreck your opponent's hand.
Guide:
Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control
Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control bounces back from an oh-fer in top 8s last week to land three top 8 performances this week. I guess you can't keep a good deck down, eh?
Most impressive performance of the week for Pawpsicle has to be this deck from Christoffer Andersen, winning the huge The Pack tournament. It's a pretty top-heavy list that relies on getting to high ink totals quickly via the ramp offered by One Jump Ahead and Fishbone Quill.
Guide:
Sapphire/Steel Ramp Wheel
The Sapphire/Steel Ramp deck is a very similar build to Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle deck and has had very similar results. Both are hovering around a 9% meta share and both had three top 8s for the week.
A Sapphire/Steel deck even came in 2nd place in The Pack tourney, behind the above Ruby/Sapphire deck. This list from Emanuele Mingione uses a very similar gameplan, ramping early and then ending the game with some heavy hitters backed by Lucky Dime.
Tier 2
Amethyst/Emerald Tempo
Amethyst/Emerald Tempo has broken away from the rest of the pack this week and tops the second tier of decks. It's the best deck in the game for players who like to play proactivly, as it is constantly putting pressure on your opponent through efficient tempo plays.
It had one top 8 performance this week and it was by this list from MerkLC in The Pack 10k Charity tournament. It's a pretty standard list for this archetype with a powerful combination of strong tempo plays aligned with good card draw options.
Guide:
Emerald/Steel Bucky Discard
The Bucky Discard version of Emerald/Steel saw a rise in meta share this week and now sits near the top of tier 2. It is still less popular than the standard discard list, but it is still a decent option, that can certainly top tournaments.
The deck's one top 8 for the week was actually a win, as a Bucky Discard deck topped the 125-player Relic Tour Paris tournament. This list from Theo interestingly includes a couple copies of Beast - Relentless. The Beast OTK deck built around this card has completely fallen out of the meta, but in other deck archetypes, it's still a strong card that can sometimes win you games all by itself.
Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa
Mufasa continues to be a solid tier 2 deck. It's another deck that is fairly proactive, just playing stuff on curve and forcing your opponent to answer your threats. Mufasa - Betrayed Leader is still the only character that has to be answered by multiple other cards to be fully removed.
This Amber/Ruby Mufasa list from Corey Patrick managed a top 16 place in the 367-player The Pack 10k Charity tournament. Sleepy - Nodding Off is a clever tech inclusion to the list. He crucially survives Let the Storm Rage On and can quest for 2 on a solid body.
Amethyst/Steel Tempo
The other popular Amethyst tempo deck, Amethyst/Steel Tempo, fell in meta share this week and is now at the bottom of tier 2. The aim of removing things efficiently through Steel's songs works better paired with Amber, but Amethyst brings the bounce package, giving this deck extra strong early game plays.
This list from Michael Majors came top 4 at the SCG Con 5k in Atlanta. Pinocchio - Talkative Puppet continues to be an important card in the meta, enabling Rush cards like Madam Mim - Fox to be a source of "fast" removal.
Tier 3
Amethyst/Steel Jafar Wheel
Tier 3 returns this week with both of these decks falling a bit below the rest in meta share. The Jafar Wheel deck in particular has been tumbling down the tier list since the launch of Into the Inklands. Having to rely on the combo to win is not a consistent strategy and so players have been looking elsewhere for more consistent decks as we approach the Set Championships.
The deck needs some innovation to stay relevant. Here is a list that Specimen has been trying to make work on ladder. The addition of The Lamp lets you setup some draw before playing your Jafar and you can trigger it the same turn you play A Whole New World to gain 9 lore in one shot. With some refinement, maybe this could be the Jafar deck that goes to the moon?
Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro
The Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro deck continues to cling to the bottom of the tier list. It's pretty rare to see it brought to tournaments and even rarer still to see it manage a top 8 finish. It could just find itself out of the meta altogether soon enough.
I wanted to highlight this slightly different version of the typical Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro deck from Joseph Anderson. This one uses Chernabog - Evildoer as a top-end card that can come down very cheaply if (or more likely when) your board gets cleared of your small characters.
Conclusion
That's a wrap on the meta report for this week. Things have mostly stabilized across the meta and I expect we won't see too much movement over the next couple weeks as players want to bring their tried-and-true decks to Set Championships.
More experimentation would be welcome though as we are around the halfway point of the Inklands meta. With still another month and a half to go, it would be a shame if the meta had already become solved.
Until next time, good luck and have fun!
