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
A challenger has arisen. Sapphire/Steel Control has seen a big jump in meta share this week and has closed the gap on Amethyst/Ruby Control at the top of the tier list. This despite Amethyst/Ruby Control seeing a decent sized jump in meta share as well. Might we be seeing an end to the tier 0 meta? I am going to give it one more week before we decide for sure, but this is certainly a promising development.
Amber/Ruby Mufasa Midrange also makes a sizable jump in meta share and now finds itself sitting proudly in tier 1. Emerald/Steel Discard, which holds steady in meta share this week, rounds out the top tier.
The rest of the tier list stays mostly unchanged with the exception of Amber/Steel Songs Flute dropping in meta share and subsequently falling down into tier 2. With Amber/Steel Songs classic also dropping again, it is certainly looking like this deck archetype is on the outs.
Speaking of decks falling out of favor, the Ruby/Sapphire Pawpsicles deck also continues to fall in meta share. Once a top meta contender, it's now just another in the long list of decks trying to find a way to beat Amethyst/Ruby Control consistently.
Lastly, down in tier 3, we find the meme decks and those clinging to relevancy by the skin of their teeth. But don't count all of these archetypes out just yet. Remember, it was not that long ago that Amber/Ruby Mufasa Roulette was just a tier 3 meme deck and look at it now. With some refinement, one of these lists could solidify into a legitimate and competitive deck.
Anyway, onto the tier list!
Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name | Meta Share | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 0 |   Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control | 18.4% | 49.6% |
| Tier 1 |   Sapphire/Steel Item Control | 12.8% | 50.4% |
 Emerald/Steel Discard | 9.6% | 49.9% | |
 Amber/Ruby Mufasa Midrange | 9.1% | 49.7% | |
| Tier 2 | Amber/Steel Songs Flute Midrange | 6.7% | 49.6% |
| Amethyst/Steel Tempo Control | 5.7% | 49.9% | |
| Ruby/Sapphire Item Control | 5.3% | 50.3% | |
| Amber/Amethyst Aggro | 4.3% | 50.0% | |
| Tier 3 | Emerald/Steel Midrange | 2.9% | 50.2% |
| Amber/Sapphire Midrange | 2.7% | 50.6% | |
| Amber/Steel Songs Midrange | 2.5% | 50.1% | |
| Amethyst/Emerald Aggro Bounce | 2.0% | 50.1% |
Tier 0
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control
Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control rose in meta share once again and is getting close to making up one-fifth of the meta all by itself. It also continues to bring home the bacon in major tournaments. The Lorcana Day 2 tournament saw 4 of the top 8 spots go to Amethyst/Ruby Bounce Control.
The winner of that tournament was this deck by Papy Kawa, which went undefeated on the day. I've noticed more and more Amethyst/Ruby decks are running Kuzco - Wanted Llama as an early game threat that cycles itself. This was a card I rated pretty highly in my pre-set review but which hadn't really found a place in a deck until now.
Tier 1
Sapphire/Steel Item Control
The big riser this week is Sapphire/Steel Control, which saw a massive 5% jump in meta share. What can we attribute that too? Well, it's not the matchup into Amethyst/Ruby Control, as that isn't a great one. But it has a good matchup into just about every other deck in the meta, especially Amber/Steel. Players choosing to play Sapphire/Steel Control seem happy to sacrifice one bad matchup to have good matchups everywhere else.
Our deck highlight for this week is this list from Wellan Nuccia which took home a top 8 in the Lorcana Day 2 event in France over the weekend.
Emerald/Steel Discard
Emerald/Steel Discard continues to find modest success on ladder and in tournaments. This despite its matchup into Amethyst/Ruby Control not being as good as one would think. It is very draw dependent, in games where you get an early Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor or two, you can steamroll to an easy victory. But otherwise, you are facing an uphill battle.
Once again, we are going to highlight a top 8 deck from the Lorcana Day 2 tournament. This list from Alicia is the first one I have seen to include Namaari - Morning Mist. It is also interesting to see Li Shang - Archery Instructor in the list, his ability can be helpful for taking down opposing Evasives such as Minnie Mouse - Stylish Surfer.
Amber/Ruby Mufasa Midrange
Our other biggest riser this week is Amber/Ruby Mufasa Midrange, which jumps up a tier and is now firmly in the upper echelon of meta decks. As Scott noted in the latest market watch, Mufasa - Betrayed Leader is a good card to have on the board into an opponent's Be Prepared, giving you a chance to still have something in play after the board wipe. And that board stickiness makes this deck a strong meta contender.
For our deck of the week in Amber/Ruby, I wanted to highlight this deck from Lorcana YouTuber Steadfast. He claims to have a near 90% win rate with it on ladder, including going 8-0 against Amethyst/Ruby. Maybe we finally have a reliable Amethyst/Ruby counter?
Tier 2
Amber/Steel Songs Flute Midrange
The Steelsongs deck has seen better days. It was arguably the top deck in The First Chapter meta and still looked to be in very good shape in the early weeks of the Rise of the Floodborn meta. But it has been slowly bleeding meta share for the past month or so. The addition of Sleepy's Flute has kept the archetype relevant for longer than it may have been otherwise. But even with the Flute, the deck seems to be falling off a bit.
The most notable tournament finish for Amber/Steel Songs Flute this week is a top 16 spot in The Pack Fundraiser tournament. This list from Pavel Kolev includes Hercules - Divine Hero and his Shift target, as the Resist on the Floodborn Hercules will help in matchups against other Steel decks.
Amethyst/Steel Tempo Control
The Amethyst/Steel Control deck has settled in as a solid, but not spectacular meta option. It has been hovering at around 5-6% meta share since its debut on the tier list. It also manages top 8s fairly regularly, indicating that it is a decent tournament option as well.
In fact, a Steel/Amethyst Control deck took home the win in a recent $2k tournament in Virginia. This deck, from Zach Bivens, is a very control-focused list even running a full 4 copies of Elsa - Spirit of Winter.
Ruby/Sapphire Item Control
Ruby/Sapphire Control keeps on slipping down the tier list as it just struggles to compete in the current meta. Not only is it floundering on ladder, but it continues to perform poorly in tournaments. It just lacks any real great matchups and has an especially bad matchup against the top two decks in the format right now, Sapphire/Steel Control and Amethyst/Ruby Control.
To make some headway into bringing this archetype back to life, here is a list from Lorcana YouTuber QuantumMercury. This deck was built to counter all the Steel/X decks out there right now and there are a lot of them.
Amber/Amethyst Aggro
The prevalence of Steel in the meta has sort of kept aggro at bay and forced Amber/Amethyst Aggro down into the bottom of tier 2. The deck can still be a good option though, especially on Pixelborn. Because of the way the online ladder works, with its "best of 1" format and how time spent grinding games translates to higher ranks more than game skill, aggro decks can often times be your best bet to climb. As long as you can hover just above a 50% win rate, you just need to grind out a lot of games to climb to the top of the ladder.
Number 1 Pixelborn player LorcanaDecklists utilized this strategy effectively to climb to the top of the ladder over the past season. This was the Amber/Amethyst Aggro deck they used for much of the climb.
Tier 3
Emerald/Steel Midrange
Emerald/Steel Midrange without discard continues to languish near the bottom of the tier list. This archetype is just not as good as the discard variant, especially against Amethyst/Ruby Control decks. For that reason, it's probably not going to be climbing out of tier 3 any time soon.
But it can still be a fun color combo to mess around with. Here is a list from YouTuber Seeker B, who built a deck around The Queen - Disguised Peddler. This sort of combo deck is not going to be very competitive just yet, but as the card pool grows and we get more tools to enable it, it could eventually become a thing.
Amber/Sapphire Midrange
Amber/Sapphire is a color combo that sounds good on paper, with both inks having a few things in common such as ramp and healing. But still nothing competitive has materialized from this pairing. Maybe there is nothing there? Or maybe the right list just hasn't been found yet.
Here is a deck I have been trying to make work on ladder recently. The idea was trying to build an aggro deck that can beat Steel by piling on lots of Resist. So we have lots of cheap 2-lore characters like LeFou - Bumbler and Duke Weaselton - Small-Time Crook. And then we plan to stack them with Resist from Four Dozen Eggs and Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock going into the big AoE turns.
Amber/Steel Songs Midrange
The traditional Steelsongs deck is in danger of falling off the tier list entirely. It might be time to just accept that Sleepy's Flute is now a core card to Amber/Steel Songs lists and put these two variations back together into one archetype.
We will highlight again a non-traditional build of Amber/Steel here. Maybe one of these will break out into something new and different and viable? This list comes from pro player Bjornfot and is built to target Sapphire/Steel specifically.
Amethyst/Emerald Aggro Bounce
Amethyst/Emerald just barely makes the 2% meta share that is the minimum required to appear on the tier list. This archetype has had some surprise tournament finishes, but hyper aggro decks are not generally well-positioned in the tournament meta. It's more of a ladder deck and even there it is not that popular. I still maintain that the best way for this archetype to remain relevant is to attempt to build around Emerald's strength right now, which is the discard package. Yet there has not been much attempts in that direction.
This list from top Pixelborn player RMB seems to be the route many are taking, with a heavy emphasis on early aggression and then strong mid-game tempo. It can certainly win you games when you draw the nuts. Bonus points given for utilizing the Pain - Underworld Imp and Panic - Underworld Imp combo in a competitive deck.
And there's your meta report. The surprise surge of Sapphire/Steel is the story this week. Might we see it climb even higher? If we just accept that we will queue into a tough matchup 1 out of every 5 games but have great matchups the rest of the time, that might be worth it. Time will tell.
Until next time, good luck and have fun!
