The Throne of Eldraine set was released not so long ago, but has already managed to excite the meta with new cards, powerful combos and whole archetypes. Of course, we can say which archetype is the best specifically at the moment, but it’s more logical to make a selection of top decks that you should focus on and expect to meet more often in the game. As a basis, I took the material of the famous builder under the nickname Yoman5 from the site tcgplayer, for which he is honored and praised!
At the moment, only a couple of tournaments have passed through the new set, but it is no secret that it is worth taking a 1-2 place in any tournament at the start of the season, as EVERYONE immediately copies it into the game and tries to rise in the ladder. Before the Fandom Legends tournament died down, copies of the Doom Foretold and Dance of the Manse deck (Esper Dance) began to appear in the Arena download. After a couple of days, the winner of this tournament, Brian Gottlieb, takes 1st place in the Caster's Cup, and the very next day (!) The Arena is full of decks on Golos and Field of the Dead (1st place) and Adventures (3-4th place). In general, if you are curious about who to face in the Arena over the next ~ two weeks, this material is for you!
In the top 8 of the first Fandom Legends tournament, the Red Deck Wins archetype, as well as last season's star Simic Flash and a couple of decks on the new mechanics (Food) in different color combinations, were expected to fall. Rakdos Aggro, Golgari Midrange (on the new powerful artifact Great Henge) and 4-color (!) Wolves also made their way. But! Again Bryan Gottlieb took everyone by surprise with an extraordinary assembly in Esper colors, based on the Doom Foretold spell. Esper was written off after the departure of the cornerstones of the archetype - the 5-maneu teferi and the Ruins of Ascant, but Gottlieb managed to prove that Esper is more alive than all the living! Doom Foretold conveniently bypassed all tokens (Food of the new plank walker, Eye and the vibrant land of Nyssa), and also overtook the midrange, unable to lay out more than 1 permanent per move. Gottbeel himself sacrificed “golden eggs” and guild balls, prolonging the spell life at their expense, and opponents lost permanents one by one, remaining with an empty table. As soon as they managed to stabilize, it was too late - the second combo of the deck, Svistoplyaska, was returning from the cemetery, returning all the valuable spells and artifacts, starting the cycle on the second round.
After the victory, Gottlieb thanked Andrew Cuneo for the idea of the deck of the Magic Pro League, but did not calm down. Just a couple of days later, at the Caster's Cup event, he broke a meta for the second time. This victory was more significant because Brian prepared to win against his own deck, which brought him victory on Fandom Legends! This time, Gottlieb undertook to pilot the archetype Golos Ramp, which many predicted oblivion after the rotation of the Scapeshift map. And again, the rest of the participants were not ready for such a turn :) In the final, he ran into his own esper on the spell and with a score of 2-1 took home the second trophy. According to Gottlieb himself, he is especially successful in the “first week's deck”, for which the players have not yet had time to prepare.
The second tournament sparked the assemblies on the Adventures in the colors of Golgari (black-green) and janda (black-red-green), which increased the efficiency of each of their adventure cards with the help of Lucky Clover and Inn Bastion Inn. Confidently held the position of Food, black aggro did not lag behind. What was the guarantee of (repeated) success of Gottlieb? Its assembly successfully ignored both the Eye and Doom Foretold. The deck has 4 copies of the mass sweep in the face of Adventures of Cast Off (on the inside of the Realm-Cloaked Giant), and does not suffer from sweeps itself. She has no problems against aggro, armed with a complete set of Leaf Beetles, Crasis and the Square of Harmony. Brian successfully defeated the old stereotype of “aggro steers in the first week” - it turned out that it was not enough to choose the most powerful build. You need to find what others are not ready for!
After analyzing the past tournaments, let's look at the strongest meta decks in this format: “builds that you have to learn to win” (Decks to Beat), “builds that people will definitely play, but really shouldn't” (Decks People Will Play but Shouldn 't) and "builds that no one respects right now, which you should use" (Decks People Won't Respect). A separate block is called “what would I play”, but I will give it briefly, because it is essentially a full-fledged “deck tech” - a theme for a separate material.
The fate of the winner’s deck is to be copied a thousand times, both at competitive events and among amateurs. Especially if this deck defeated the previous king of the mountain. The voice is able to beat most of the assemblies of the format until they find a "master key" to it. The advantage of this archetype, based on the "Field of the Dead", is that mana overclocking, laying out expensive cards and spam zombies are rarely a losing strategy. The remaining decks are forced to adapt to it, and not vice versa.
If the assemblies on the Voice depend on the context of the meta, then the Eye, the Reaver of the Crowns is precisely the context of the current meta. The Eye is a monstrously powerful card and can take games alone. Among other things, the Eye is the best food generator, which is crucial for decks with the Gilded Goose and the Evil Wolf. In particular, the Goose conceals a huge potential due to the ability to sweep all unnecessary mana into Food for the Eye and the Wolf, making these cards even stronger. Many underestimated Goose after the announcement of the spoiler season, but I can assure you that he will show himself. The format is guaranteed to be built around this deck, and its power should be respected.
Assemblies that people will definitely play (but should not)
The higher you go, the more painful it is to fall ... Mono-ed has long had the most explosive start and the most hopeless endgame, but after the rotation of the Fever Experiments "is no longer the same." 1-drops sharply lost in force, and the way out of the standard of Thunderbolt and Arcane Lightning reduced the available amount of tempo-removal and burn. The shock does not cope with the new "standards" of the standard, in particular with 3 endurance (hello, Eye and Giant Bone-Crusher).
Speaking of Giant. Although it is one of the best novelties of the mono-red, the combination of this card with Fever is far from ideal. Now there is also an increase in the popularity of assemblies on the Cavalcade of Catastrophes, but according to my forecasts it will come to naught when more people begin to put in the decks a cheap mass removal such as the Sweeping Flame and the Roar of the Carnarium.
The next fan favorite. Unfortunately, for assemblies of this type, decks lack power: 3pheries did not go beyond the standard, good mana came out, and although Zhili-Bily could help you find the "Night Pack Hunter", sim flash still did not reach the rest of the format. An eye with a Goose complicates the life of these decks - with the rotation of one of the best defense mechanisms (Diving Into the Deep), you will no longer be able to protect the Hunter from becoming useless Losyas, while your opponent will produce a bunch of food to get ahead of you. I know that the deck is loved by many, but now it does not reach the competitive level.
Wait a minute, didn’t we mention a couple of paragraphs earlier that this assembly was present in BOTH finals? .. They said, but with all its originality, this archetype is criminally linear. Although Esper Plyaska forces the opponent to perform more actions on their turn, she can defeat the decks growing "in breadth" only through Kai’s Wrath. Builds on Adventures are growing in popularity, and in addition to them, Dancing is difficult with "accelerated" threats like Rankel and the Treasured Beast. I strongly doubt that Esper will be able to adapt and develop his success.
By the way, about saving action. Assemblies of this type are particularly successful in this aspect. You often start casting cards from the first turn of the match, and by 3-4 you can easily lay out a pair of cards per turn. But the trick is that although the cost savings are high, the exhaust from them is not serious enough. The decks of this archetype usually contain many weak cards, and I suspect that their success will seriously decrease by the time when more people begin to use cards such as "Disfigure", "Deafening Horn" and the Roar of the Carnarium mentioned above. I love decks like "aristocrats", but now their time has not come yet.
Assemblies that no one respects right now (and you should use it)
As I mentioned above, Rankel, the Evil Joker and the Treasured Beast are a real danger to the archerype "Esper Dance". But if you develop this idea, this pair of cards is a threat to almost any deck. These threats with acceleration are capable of ending the game alone if they remain unanswered for at least a couple of moves, and they are ready to attack the caste already. And if aggressive mono-decks suffer from a lack of exhaust and large bodies, or from a lack of removal, the Golgari can serve as a good compromise. For an example, you can look at assembly above authorship of VTCLA. You have access to successful exchange attacks, universal removal and, if necessary, the ability to rebuild. And although I do not consider the Golgari aggro “a deck that will be difficult to beat”, nevertheless it itself is able to beat many. Judge for yourselves: it is difficult to simultaneously find effective answers to the Treasured Beast, Spawn of Chaos and the Midnight Reaper.
The Fire of Inventions is a map that defines the archetype of these decks, and I use the assembly attached above for an example. The archetype has already managed to light up in all combinations of colors (including 5-color with Niv-Mizzet), and it is difficult to argue that the Lights can give out smart hands and combinations. However, at the moment they lack stability, and therefore they have not won the corresponding respect. However! If someone succeeds in finding the right build and finding the best application for Fire, he will most likely have the most “broken” format deck in his hands. Especially worth noting is the potential of the assemblies in the Cavaliers, which literally smash the Esper Plyasku and Voices with the Field of the Dead: they are punished for their minimal presence on the table by the 5th move, when the decks on the Fires pose the greatest threat.
What would I play
Of all the decks that I tested last weekend, this one seemed the most promising. You can go in breadth, you can resort to a faster strategy, or follow a course on survivability. The venerable Loxodon paired with the Monster in Love is incredibly strong for the speed with which they can enter the game, and the Fairy Mentor will be able to cheaply lift them into the air. I can easily call this assembly the best of all decks on the Once Upon a Time, because the stability with which you get a quick start with the Tavernshchik and Loksodom is overwhelming.
Sideboard options are also good against people who will try to beat you with traditional sweeps of the table, because a combination of the taverner, scavengers, and an instant cast hinder your sweep gameplay. The meta has not settled down yet, so I collected the side against those decks that are in the top at the moment.
P.S. Last weekend, there were several more major competitive events (the first battle of the MPL Sapphire Division participants, SCG Team Open and SCG Classic), which confirmed Yoman’s predictions - on the horse were Golgari and celestia on Adventures, assemblies on the Lights of Inventions and - of course - Vote. There were so many voices that in the top 8 SCG Team Open there were 7 (!!!) decks of this archetype. More game news from here!
