A day late, but today I'll be looking at the meta from yesterday's round of 16 for the Top 64 qualifier event from the Season of Love. I was traveling yesterday and could not watch this live, which makes me a little disappointed, because looking at these decks it must have been a wild tournament! There's lots of interesting choices and some very unusual decks. All decks can be found .
Northern Realms (16 total decks):
- Stockpile Siege (6)
- w/Angoulême (1)
- w/Heatwave (4)
- w/Ves + Hubert (1)
- Inspired Zeal Siege (6)
- w/Foltest's Pride (5)
- w/Heatwave (2)
- w/Kerack Frigate (5)
- w/Gerhart (2)
- w/Dandelion (1)
- w/Prince Anséis (1)
- w/Muzzle (1)
- Devo w/Marine (4)
- Inspired Zeal Alumni (4)
- w/Leticia (3)
- w/Margarita (2)
- w/Siege Masters (4)
- w/Muzzle (1)
- w/Necromancy (3)
- w/Royal Decree (2)
- w/Spellweaver (1)
- w/Megascope (2)
Northern Realms was a universal pick once more, though for the first time in a while Alumni was not the dominant choice. 12 out of 16 players brought some kind of Siege deck, with those players split evenly between Stockpile and Inspired Zeal. Alumni players were still present (and still playing Siege Masters), and I found it interesting that several of them brought Megascopes to try and brick opponents' Angoulêmes – of which there were many in this tournament, including one in Kaneki_Yamori's Siege Stockpile list.
Scoia'tael (16 total decks):
- Deadeye Ambush Elf Swarm (15)
- w/Alissa, Oneiromancy, Vanadain (15)
- w/Knickers (2)
- w/Maxii (7)
- w/Fisher King (2)
- w/Isengrim (14)
- w/Yaevinn (12)
- w/Great Oak (2)
- w/Muzzle (2)
- w/Saskia:Commander (1)
- w/Feign Death (12)
- Guerilla Tactics Control (1)
Scoia'tael was another universal pick, as the Elf Swarm deck proves to be a powerful deck. Most people had fairly similar decks, though there was some experimentation, especially regarding various consistency choices. The only non Elf Swarm player was Kaneki_Yamori, who brought a Guerilla Tactics Madoc/Milva deck as part of what seems to be an NR hard target lineup.
EDIT: I totally didn't notice this on my first pass through – the Team Legacy players cut Feign Death in their elf swarm decks as an anti-Angoulême tactic – Andi99 and Xiwer playing a version with Oak and no engines or anything really tall, and Lerio playing a Saskia:Commander version. Very cool.
Syndicate (12 total decks):
- Off the Books Bounty (5)
- w/Graden (3)
- w/Savolla (4)
- w/Professor (3)
- w/Renegade Mage (4)
- w/The Scoundrel (2)
- w/Philippa (3)
- w/Whoreson Junior (2)
- w/Heatwave (2)
- Off the Books Midrange (4)
- w/Borsodi Brothers (3)
- w/Flying Redanian (1)
- Jackpot (3)
- w/Philippa (3)
- w/Freak Show (1)
- w/Ludovicus Brunenbaum (2)
Syndicate was a fairly popular choice as well this past weekend, of course with all decks playing King of Beggars. Off the Books continues to be the leader ability of choice for most SY players, though the choice whether to play Bounty or a more standard midrange is still splitting the players. There's a ton of variance in the Bounty decks as well. Three players also opted for Jackpot midrange over Off the Books.
Skellige (10 total decks):
- Battle Trance (5)
- w/Gedy (4)
- w/Knut (4)
- w/Bekker's Dark Mirror (2)
- w/Truffle (4)
- w/Ermion (1)
- w/Knickers (1)
- w/Maxii (2)
- w/Heatwave (4)
- w/Fisher King (2)
- w/Ihuarraquax (2)
- Ursine Ritual Self Wound (3)
- w/Ihuarraquax, Ermion, Knickers, Fisher King, Restore (3)
- Devotion Onslaught (2)
- w/Blood Eagle/Vabjorn (1)
- w/Discard Package (1)
Skellige showed up in a little over half of the lineups from this past weekend. The Battle Trance decks were difficult to categorize – all had some form of Self Wound and Alchemy synergy, but just how much varied wildly. You had near pure self wound decks like that of , dropping Gedy and Truffle to play more self wound. Then you have playing basically just a Gedy Alchemy deck but with a Knut and Sigvald. A couple players also chose to play Ihuarraquax to pull out their Melusine, which can be a very effective strategy against decks that rely on high provision units. The Team Legacy players all brought identical, more traditional Ursine Ritual self wound decks (though still running Ihuarraquax rather than Cerys). Finally, we also had a few Onslaught players with different takes on consistency.
Nilfgaard (9 total decks):
- Double Cross Assimilate (5)
- w/Bribery (3)
- w/Angoulême (4)
- w/Artorius Vigo (1)
- w/Fercart (1)
- w/Truffle (2)
- w/Heatwave (2)
- w/Muzzle (3)
- w/Lydia (1)
- w/Blightmaker (4)
- Imprisonment Assimilate (2)
- w/Angoulême (0)
- w/Joachim (1)
- w/Blightmaker (2)
- w/Muzzle (1)
- w/Artorious Vigo (1)
- Enslave 5 Assimilate (1)
- Imposter Practitioner Spam (1)
What's this? Nilfgaard with the second lowest playrate in a tournament? Granted, over half of the players still brought it and it's a far cry above Monsters, but still, this low of an NG playrate is certainly noteworthy. Most Double Cross players felt they needed an Angoulême to keep up with ST (and perhaps help with the Gedy and NR matchups as well). For the most part Blightmakers have not been cut, and the 7-10 provision slots continue to vary from player to player. There were two Imprisonment Assimilate decks and even an Enslave 5 Assimilate deck from the NR targeting Kaneki_Yamori. The wildest choice, however, was easily ILBESTIO choosing to bring Practitioner spam to the tournament. Not really sure what to say to that, other than to point out it went 1-0 🙂
Monsters (1 total decks):
- Fruits of Ysgith Relicts (1)
Finally! A Monsters deck in a Round of 16 qualifier event. Lerio2 brought a Relict deck, playing all of the usual staples – Ihuarraquax/She Who Knows, Mammuna, and Gerni, with Operator for Selfeaters, Truffle with Lesser Witches, and Toad Prince and Dorregary for a bit of control. There's even a one-of Offering, which is great to see. Lerio managed to make it to the Top 4 with this deck going 2-0 but unfortunately did not manage to qualify, and I'm not sure how this deck did after he made Top 4.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gwent/comments/tjn2c7/season_of_love_top_64_round_of_16_qualifier_meta/
