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With another weekend of small store events and larger 150-300 person tournaments, we have a more accurate picture of the current Lorcana Set 7 metagame.
At first glance, nothing has really changed from the last week since most archetypes remained where they were. However, we can see that more and more people are flocking to the top archetypes and a previously missing one is making a return.
Check out the Archazia's Island metagame snapshot for Week 4 below.
Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Meta Share | Top 8s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 |   Ruby Sapphire Pawpsicle | 21% | 24 |
 Sapphire Steel Items | 19% | 20 | |
| Sapphire Steel Aggro | 17% | 13 | |
| Tier 2 |  Amethyst Steel Aggro | 11% | 10 |
 Emerald Steel Discard | 9% | 6 | |
 Amber Steel Steelsong | 7% | 4 | |
| Amethyst Emerald Bounce | 6% | 5 | |
| Amethyst Ruby Bounce Control | 3% | 4 | |
| Tier 3 | Amethyst Sapphire Bounce | 4% | - |
| Amber Steel Aggro | 2% | 2 | |
| Emerald Sapphire | 1% | - | |
| Amber Emerald Trampbog | 1% | 1 | |
| Amber Amethyst | 1% | 1 | |
| Emerald Ruby | 1% | 1 |
Meta Overview
When there's a seemingly superior strategy available, it makes sense that competitive players are drawn to it. The meta share of the best item-focused decks have only risen in the past week, while the rest have mostly gone down.
Just as prevalent are the Steel cards forming the backbone of numerous archetypes, making it the top choice really if you want to be aggressive and outpace your opponents.
Amethyst Emerald Bounce makes a return in the meta this week after being absent from the top tables previously. Top 8 finishes by rarely seen ink duos Amber Amethyst and Emerald Ruby make them worth a look if you're into rogue strats that deliver.
Tier 1
Ruby Sapphire Pawpsicle
The biggest additions to this fan-favorite archetype from Set 7 are 007-162-tamatoa-happy-as-a-clam and 007-179-sapphire-coil, a great tool to gain even better board control. They're enough to keep this meta favorite among the most heavily played (and successful) decks.
Ruby Sapphire won the largest event so far, which had 319 people competing for a $13K prize pool. The winning list only has 004-125-sisu-empowered-sibling at the top, a lot of Mauis and only 10 items. Tuning against other item matchups seems a must.
Sapphire Steel Items
Most of the item heavy Sapphire Steel decks play double the number of items of the more aggro versions and relies on cheating 003-165-lucky-dime with 007-162-tamatoa-happy-as-a-clam, with 001-159-tamatoa-so-shiny as an optimal target.
With so many items, 007-159-belle-apprentice-inventor and 007-154-scrooge-mcduck-resourceful-miser are near guaranteed to be free. Some versions choose to run 006-142-oswald-the-lucky-rabbit and 002-168-maurices-workshop instead of 006-163-sail-the-azurite-sea.
The winning deck of the 178-player event hosted by For The Lore looks like a fusion of the two emerging BS archetypes.
Sapphire Steel Aggro
Sapphire Steel is so prevalent in this new meta that we can separate their two main strategies and still have both land in Tier 1. While both of these take advantage of items, the aggro version only has around 8 total and most revolve around 002-142-cogsworth-grandfather-clock protecting his friends.
The combination of early pressure of Steel's 2-drops, Bodyguard from 004-200-fortisphere, disruption via 005-195-pete-games-referee, and card draw from Sapphire cards is a challenge for most decks.
This version that went undefeated (8-0-1) notably has 002-174-benja-guardian-of-the-dragon-gem for fellow item-loving opponents.
Tier 2
Amethyst Steel Aggro
Amethyst Steel Aggro is largely unchanged from Set 6 versions except for the notable appearance of 007-057-giant-cobra-ghostly-serpent. Bouncing 006-040-the-white-rose-jewel-of-the-garden, 002-051-merlin-goat, and 005-195-pete-games-referee are quite fun things to do.
The deck wants to go much faster, with some running no characters costing more than 4 ink. With lots of card draw and bounce value it doesn't easily run out of gas. This winning deck went 8-1 by just adding cobras and repeating Pete.
Emerald Steel Discard
007-114-pete-space-pirate slots nicely into this discard archetype as another way of stifling the opponent's game plan. It can shift from 003-081-morph-space-goo, which also enables cheaper 002-173-beast-tragic-hero and 001-193-tinker-bell-giant-fairy.
With 003-091-ursula-deceiver-of-all doubling songs and 002-089-prince-john-greediest-of-all giving you +1 card while they go -1, the Emerald Steel deck's engine is tough to play against once it gets going.
Amber Steel Steelsong
The Steelsong archetype is seeing a refreshing update with new additions from Set 7. 007-011-the-troubadour-musical-narrator is another strong singer that can sing 003-195-and-then-along-came-zeus early while also enabling a cheaper 007-195-miss-bianca-unwavering-agent.
With free songs it's easy to run out of cards fast, which makes the symmetrical effect of 001-195-a-whole-new-world way more favorable for you, especially when you have singers ready and waiting.
Some versions also run new Set 7 cards 007-184-bolt-headstrong-dog and 007-004-bolt-superdog for a stronger offense. Same with 007-014-aurora-waking-beauty, who can quest and sing on the same turn with some healing from Rapunzel.
Amethyst Emerald Bounce
A couple of new evasive birds fit well into Amethyst Emerald's play style. 007-066-diablo-spiteful-raven and 007-049-iago-giant-spectral-parrot join the other evasive all-stars in the deck, 006-053-genie-wish-fulfilled and 005-048-elsa-the-fifth-spirit.
004-069-cri-kee-lucky-cricket can either assist your challengers or help in a questing race. Simply focusing on discard effects for the disruption instead of as a payoff seems to be working well for the archetype.
Amethyst Ruby Bounce Control
The old standard is still seeing plenty of play despite not gaining barely anything from Archazia's Island. 007-122-queen-of-hearts-losing-her-temper looks to be the sole addition despite some interesting options.
The rest of the deck is the same, with plenty of 1-drops for 005-068-the-library-a-gift-for-belle and value characters up to 002-110-lady-tremaine-imperious-queen.
001-064-friends-on-the-other-side can keep the cards flowing and ensure you have more gas after unleashing 001-128-be-prepared.
Tier 3
Amethyst Sapphire Bounce
Amber Steel Aggro
Emerald Sapphire
Amber Emerald Trampbog
Amber Amethyst
Emerald Ruby
Final Thoughts
Unless there are spicy new innovations in the coming weeks, the meta looks to be set already for Archazia's Island. There are disappointingly few dual-ink cards being played by the most competitive archetypes, which maybe a design miss considering their stricter color restrictions.
What are you bringing to your next LGS event? Stay tuned for more Set 7 decks next time.
