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 often a high win rate as well. 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
Well, it was fun while it lasted. After a week hiatus, due to a delay in getting the stats form Pixelborn, we are back and once again we have Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control dominating the meta. If the top deck has over double the meta share of the second most popular deck in the meta, that's prime tier zero territory.
The rest of the top tier looks much the same as it did a couple of weeks ago. The one exception being Amber/Steel Songs Flute, which not only jumped up into tier 1 but climbed its way to the top. We are over two months away from The First Chapter meta and yet the top two decks now are essentially the same as they were back then.
After that, the tier list is a big jumble of decks without a super clear delineation amongst tiers. We've added the tiers for tradition sake, but it's probably best to just look at all these decks as pretty similar in terms of power level and play rate. Some of the notable inclusions in our tier 2 this week is the return of Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Aggro to the tier list, as well as the debut appearance of a Ruby/Steel Full Control deck.
Down in tier 3, we find another debut deck, this time Mufasa is paired with Steel in the Amber/Steel Greyfasa deck. Rounding out the tier list this week are the Emerald/Steel Midrange deck and Amber/Steel Steelsongs Classic.
Now, the tier list and deck lists!
Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name | Meta Share | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 0 |   Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control | 15.6% | 49.8% |
| Tier 1 |   Amber/Steel Steelsongs Flute | 6.8% | 48.5% |
| Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa | 6.6% | 50.4% | |
 Sapphire/Steel Resist Ramp | 6.4% | 49.9% | |
 Emerald/Steel Discard | 6.0% | 50.4% | |
| Tier 2 | Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control | 4.9% | 49.9% |
| Amethyst/Steel Bounce Control | 4.4% | 50.9% | |
| Amber/Emerald Greenfasa | 4.2% | 51.2% | |
| Sapphire/Steel Control Ramp | 3.6% | 49.5% | |
| Amber/Steel Tiana Aggro | 3.4% | 51.2% | |
| Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Aggro | 3.4% | 50.3% | |
| Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro | 3.3% | 49.6% | |
| Ruby/Steel Full Control | 3.2% | 49.3% | |
| Tier 3 | Amber/Steel Greyfasa | 2.7% | 50.2% |
| Emerald/Steel Mill | 2.7% | 50.3% | |
| Amber/Steel Steelsongs Classic | 2.2% | 49.3% |
Tier 0
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control
The dominant force that is Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control has reasserted itself. The tournament results are just hard to argue against as it continues to rack up top 8s at a rate that no other deck can match. It's the clear best deck in the game, and has been since shortly after Rise of the Floodborn released, so if you want to give yourself the best chance to win, you are probably going to play Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control.
Our highlighted deck for this week is one that came in first place at a 55-player $1k tournament at StarCityGames Con in Hartford this past weekend. The list from Carl R. is a greedy one, including all the juicy top-end cards like Elsa - Spirit of Winter, Ursula - Power Hungry and Maleficent - Monstrous Dragon. This sort of list is possible because of how strong Amethyst's early game bounce package is.
Tier 1
Amber/Steel Steelsongs Flute
Steelsongs Flute has managed to climb out of tier 2 and now sits atop the rest of the decks vying for title of second best deck in the format. While the deck has seen some ups and downs throughout the Rise of the Floodborn meta, overall it has remained a consistently strong option.
This list from Zach Bivens took home the win in a 45-player $1k tournament at Mighty Meeple in North Carolina. While we noted last time that Gaston - Baritone Bully has become a staple in Steelsong decks, another card that is close to joining him is Hercules - Divine Hero. With Resist +2, Floodborn Herc is a very strong card, especially in the mirror.
Amber/Ruby Red Mufasa
The original Mufasa deck, Amber/Ruby Mufasa, maintains its tier 1 ranking. It's an all-around solid deck that can hold its own in most matchups. Just dropping efficient characters on-curve and forcing your opponent to deal with them is usually a good strategy.
This list from Jordan Collins came in 2nd place in a "Win a Case" tournament at Rule Zero in London. It's definitely swinging for the fences with the amount of top-end in the deck but it does certainly make your Mufasa - Betrayed Leader likely to pull something very game-changing.
Sapphire/Steel Resist Ramp
The Sapphire/Steel Resist deck has undergone an evolution. While it focused on an item strategy initially, with Tamatoa - So Shiny! as a win condition, it's now pivoted to more of a ramp strategy and includes Belle - Strange but Special as its finisher of choice.
This strategy paid off handsomely for Schuyler Duntz, who piloted this list to first place in the latest iteration of the Pixelborn tournament, hosted by Thea Booysen. This tournament, christened "The Pack: Merlin Strikes Back", had 162-players and Schuyler went 7-2 with this deck in his run to the top.
Emerald/Steel Discard
Emerald/Steel Discard retains its spot at the bottom of tier 1 for another week. While its tournament results have slipped a bit, on ladder the deck remains a consistent performer. With the right draws, you can effectively counter Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control decks.
We did have one Emerald/Steel Discard deck with a commendable tournament performance recently, as this list from Diego S. managed a top 16 in the 162-player "The Pack" tournament. As usual, the key cards here are Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor and Lucifer - Cunning Cat. Lucifer, especially, is important as its targeted discard can be very punishing.
Tier 2
Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicle Control
Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicles remains entrenched in tier 2, despite the deck being an abject failure on the tournament scene. I guess if you just want to play on ladder, you could do worse, but definitely do not bring this deck to a tournament.
For our deck highlight this week I wanted to take a look at a fun Ariel OTK list that utilizes these two inks. Brewed up by YouTuber phonetiic, this deck wants to draw a ton of cards and then setup a huge combo turn with Ariel - Whoseit Collector. Nothing to Hide is a key card in this deck, as it allows us to peek at our opponent's hand to ensure our Ariel can survive a turn before then popping off.
Amethyst/Steel Bounce Control
Amethyst/Steel Bounce Control has settled in as a solid tier 2 deck. Unlike Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicles, it actually can top at tournaments, while also performing well on ladder.
This deck by Bobby McDonald managed a top 8 in the 162-player Pixelborn tournament. Blue Fairy - Rewarding Good Deeds has become a core card to the deck, giving it access to even more card draw, which all control decks love.
Amber/Emerald Greenfasa
The second-most played legendary from Rise of the Floodborn, after Beast - Tragic Hero, is Mufasa - Betrayed Leader. He has carried not one, not two, but now three decks into the tier list. The Amber/Emerald Greenfasa deck, after its surprise top 2 in the last Pixelborn tournament, is one of those and has seen continued play on ladder and in tournaments.
Our deck highlight for this week is this one from Gianluca Montaque, which landed a top 8 in the 51-player tournament at Rule Zero in London. It includes 4 copies of Just in Time which lets us cheat out a Mufasa, or one of our many other threatening 5-drops, as early as turn 3.
Sapphire/Steel Control Ramp
Sapphire/Steel Ramp has two flavors now: one is the Resist version with Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock and the other cuts Cogsworth in favor of even more ramp and more top-end cards. This version has a better matchup against Amethyst/Ruby Control but struggles a bit more against all the midrange decks in the meta.
Here is an example of this deck strategy. This deck pulled a top 4 in a 20-player tournament in France a week ago. Piloted by Baptiste, the deck looks to ramp out aggressively with cards like One Jump Ahead, Mickey Mouse - Detective and Winnie the Pooh - Having a Think and then dropping threats like Tamatoa - So Shiny! and Cinderella - Stouthearted.
Amber/Steel Tiana Aggro
Amber/Steel Tiana Aggro has increased in meta share from two weeks ago and now sits in the middle of tier 2. It's a deck that is still being refined. There are some lists that prefer a more aggressive style, getting onto the board early with cheap characters and then using Tiana - Celebrating Princess to protect them from board wipes. While others play it a bit slower and have more mid-game Bodyguard characters which protect their Tiana - Celebrating Princess from challenges.
This highlighted list from Braden is in the former camp. It took home a top 4 spot in a 55-player $1k tournament at StarCityGames Con in Hartford.
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Aggro
The return of Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Aggro to the tier list has been a long time coming. The deck has managed to pull some impressive tournament finishes lately and those results likely propelled it back onto the tier list. It has always been a solid deck, it's just been overshadowed by its Amethyst/Ruby counterpart being so dominant.
The preferred Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Aggro list has also undergone some changes since we last saw it on the tier list. Gone are the hyper aggro cards of Maleficent - Biding Her Time and Pinocchio - Star Attraction. In their place, we have some more midrange and even late game tools. But the deck still can rack up the lore quickly, thanks to Arthur - Wizard's Apprentice.
This deck from D. Burns landed in the top 4 in the 129-player 5k tournament at StarCityGames Con in Hartford over the weekend. Lefou - Instigator and You Can Fly! are included to help us keep Arthur from being challenged, so we can use his powerful Student ability multiple times.
Amber/Amethyst Hyper Aggro
Speaking of aggro decks, the hyper aggro flavor of Amber/Amethyst has managed to remain on the tier list, despite the prevalence of Steel decks in the meta. But it is definitely trending in the wrong direction, as it fell again in meta share this week.
We did see a version of this deck sneak into the top 16 in the 5k StarCityGames Con tournament, however. This list, put together by Kayla, even includes a couple copies of The Sorcerer's Spellbook for some additional reach.
Ruby/Steel Full Control
A Ruby/Steel deck lands on the tier list for the first time this week. It's a control deck that includes all the removal you could ever want. When you have access to Ruby's hard removal paired with Steel's damage based removal, there aren't too many threats that scare you. The trick is being able to draw enough cards to deal with all the threats.
This version of the deck from KevP7 went 4-2 in a 38-player 1k tournament and took home a top 16 spot. This list has multiple card draw options to ensure we always have the answer to our opponent's threats: Beast - Tragic Hero, A Whole New World, Queen of Hearts - Sensing Weakness, and, even, Weight Set.
Tier 3
Amber/Steel Greyfasa
The last of the trio of Mufasa decks to appear on the tier list, Greyfasa is Mufasa paired with Steel, natch. This list could also be considered a variant of the Tiana Aggro list, as it typically runs Tiana - Celebrating Princess and a number of other midrange threats for Mufasa to pull. But we are classifying it as its own deck for now.
This list from Scott Alshanski managed to win a 2k open tournament at World Class Cards a couple weeks ago. It includes Mufasa as a mid-game threat alongside a suite of Bodyguard characters which all work together to protect your early game. It even includes a couple copies of Beast - Selfless Protector as a top-end board protection tool.
Emerald/Steel Mill
Emerald/Steel without the discard package actually improved its meta share a little this week, although it remains near the bottom of tier 3. There has been a pivot towards a mill strategy with this archetype and it has seen some success.
For example, we saw an Emerald/Steel mill deck from JM get a top 16 in the 55-player 1k StarCityGames Con tournament over the weekend. The key card in this mill strategy is Do It Again! which allows us to recur our A Whole New World to play it over and over and ultimately deck our opponent out.
Amber/Steel Steelsongs Classic
The last deck on our tier list this week is the classic Amber/Steel Steelsongs deck. The deck just isn't as popular with players as the Flute version and it continues to fall down the rankings. It's not a bad deck, but has been mostly outclassed by a very similar and much better one.
Even still, we can see the classic version of Steelsongs bringing results occasionally. For example, this list from Sizhe took home 2nd place in a 22-player tournament at Brotherhood Games in London this week. Lantern may not be as ubiquitous as it once was, but it can still accelerate our threats and make life difficult for our opponent.
Rise of the Floodborn has been out for almost three months now. Despite this, we are still seeing innovation and experimentation across the meta: Mufasa decks, Tiana decks, mill decks, OTK decks and more. But one constant hold true, Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control just stays on top, no matter what else happens.
We are only a few short weeks away from the launch of Into the Inklands. How might that shake up the meta? Will locations fundamentally change the way the game is played? And could we finally see another deck reach number one on the tier list? I can't wait to find out.
