TEPPEN: Season 12 & 13 Meta Snapshot

Welcome to the Season 12 Meta Snapshot. In this version, we will be sharing deck lists from accomplished players or providing rough idea deck lists. TEPPEN is a game where you can find decks from other players and there is always a variety of changes you can make to the deck to have varied results, having counters and cards for different situations and playstyles. At this moment, because the meta has a variety of archetypes, changing the deck to handle the ever changing meta is more important than ever.

There are some archetypes in TEPPEN that are not consistent, viable, or have a mainstream skeleton to show. For those reasons, those decks will not be included in the meta snapshot or will be touched on but not have a deck list provided.

In addition, I will no longer be writing how to play certain decks. The written Meta Snapshot content will be more focused on defining the tier list. I highly recommend using Twitch and YouTube content to learn more about a deck. Writing how to play about 20-30+ decks is too much work.

Here are my YouTube and Twitch channels where I create content:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fB3lgdVA-SHeslULKOPLQ

https://www.twitch.tv/iowatheboat

Disclaimer

QR codes and cards used in this Meta Snapshot have alternate art and skins. The game will automatically change alternate arts and skins to default cards and skins if you do not have them. There will be a message to let you know this during QR code scan, tap accept.

Meta Decks

Tier 1

Amaterasu GDI Legendaries

Felyne R/G Shieldspire

Akuma Raging Demon

Tier 2

Ryu Denjin Legendaries

Rathalos Blazing Wall Barioth

Amaterasu Paw Patrol

Amaterasu Celestial Envoy Furinkazan

Felyne Shieldspire Legendaries

Morrigan Aensland Big Reso

Zero Exodia

Albert Wesker Uroboros

Nergigante Divebomb R/B

Tier 3

Ryu Metsu Legendaries

Zero Slowple

Zero Purple Growth

Oichi Spirit Despair

Rogue Decks

Tier 1

Chun-Li Yawn

Felyne Machine Ceremony

Akuma Ashura Senku

Tier 2

Albert Wesker Uroboros

Ryu Zhinku

Ryu Metsu Boats

Jill Valentine Legendaries

Amaterasu GDI R/B

Chun-Li Bamboo Yawn

Nero Hey Nico!

Morrigan Aensland 0 Attack

Tier 3

Zero V Tenkuuha

The meta is clearly defined. After almost 2 years of TEPPEN, there was one thing that my friend Wjll said in public-chat for Discord. “The meta feels like it’s been the same for the past couple expansions.” I agree with this, one of the causes to this feeling I think comes from colors being too safe in doing what they are supposed to do. For example, Red only deals damage, Green only protects, Purple only cheats, and Black only destroys. I think more decks and excitement can come from allowing colors to have shared design across another, regardless of color identity. But that is only my opinion, in fact, I wrote a whole article about my thoughts on TEPPEN design that can be viewed here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bVr8n7VrcXMN3dccta1ezygZ0LjEzFbsaT3fZ9NQEV8/edit?usp=sharing

A part two will follow shortly.

It would be easiest to talk about the meta through colors, because I don’t believe there is only one clear defining deck in the meta, it’s actually very diverse to see many different decks out there but can feel boring because we are used to these playstyles for so long.

Red

I believe this to be the most powerful color in TEPPEN at the moment. Because the damage is strong enough to challenge Green. Purple is in my opinion, a dead color (but I am more than likely biased). Then there’s Black, which Rescuer’s Bullet completely counters Black’s ability to destroy any units.

Another factor that really helps Red, is now Red players have mainstreamed the use of Trump Card, Rescuer’s Bullet, and powerful legendary units to consistently push a win condition that has very little counterplay. This is exactly how Zero Exodia used to work, working up a win condition that has very few counters. The difference with Red is that you can do this early in the game, can happen at any time, and by having the right cards can steal you a game that you were losing in.

I believe that those cards helps Mono-Red steal games they were losing in.

Green

The hardest working color in TEPPEN. Green is in a decent spot where it can fight against any color, does not use cheap tricks and uses seals and resets to neutralize the enemy strategy, and focuses on placing strong threats on the field.

Purple

In my eyes, there’s only 5 ways to play Purple and only one of them is viable. Big Res, Slowple, Exodia, Growth, and 0 Attack. Exodia being the most viable but doesn’t have enough early game to consistently challenge the current meta.

Black

At the beginning of this meta, Oichi was defining the BOA season. However, players quickly changed their deck building to completely stop playing 3 MP units because of Oichi’s ability to recycle Alfred Ashford. I think that’s pretty unfortunate that 3 MP units in TEPPEN become invalidated because of Alfred Ashford and Oichi’s Despair Hero Art. You can still play 3 MP units, but just not that many.

Black is currently defined as a control play style but sometimes has to go aggressive, getting as much pressure as possible. It used to be that you could play safely for late game, but there are some matchups where you cannot afford to go too long (Trump Card). For players to counter Black, you will see in this Meta Snapshot that many decks option for high cost, aggressive, and stronger units to pressure Black players and avoid MP-cost specific destroys.

We don’t talk about Uroboros.

In conclusion, I think Red is the best color in the game at the moment, but there are a variety of decks and colors to choose from. The difference is not that much but I do think that Trump Card strategies is what puts Red’s viability above the rest.

This section is to highlight new archetypes that were added from the latest card expansion.

Ryu Metsu Legendaries

Rathalos Blazing Wall Barioth

Amaterasu Celestial Envoy Furinkazan

Chun-Li Bamboo Yawn

Felyne Shieldspire Legendaries

Zero Slowple

Oichi Despair

2/15/21 - Added and Changed Decks, Adjusted Tiers

• Added tournament winning decks from Kuran and Rice Porridge.
  • Oichi Despair - Kuran
  • Albert Wesker Uroboros - Kuran
  • Chun-Li Yawn - Kuran
  • Felyne Machine Ceremony - Rice Porridge
• Ryu Denjin moved to Tier 2
• Updated Cammy instead of Huitzil in Nero Hey Nico! - Shmo7707
• Replaced Amaterasu Celestial Envoy Machines with wjll’s Takeda variant (the real Envoy deck).
• Added Rathalos Blazing Wall Barioth

Meta Decks are classified from what you will see other players using by popularity.

Tier 1 - Decks that have a high consistency of taking clear advantage in the game

Tier 2 - Decks that play fair and have you earn your wins

Tier 3 - Less viable decks and meme

GDI Legendaries plays similar to Denjin but uses units to defend and loses the ability to burn the face of the opponent. It would make more sense that GDI Legendaries is the best deck in the format, because of it’s ability to remove units from going to the graveyard. Of course, having the ability to play Red legendaries safely also makes the deck consistent

RG Shieldspire was created to counter the amount of Red players that were showing up in the meta. After RG Shieldspire had settled its presence, it proved to be powerful and consistent across the board. RG Shieldspire forces situations by being aggressive with a little bit of control where it will either win or lose, most of the time winning.

Raging Demon is the weakest of the Tier 1 deck. Against a good Oichi Despair player, Raging Demon will struggle to win that match up and will lose points. Being that Oichi Despair is the newest Hero, this match up will come up frequently. Raging Demon with its ability to destroy any unit and cheat MP with Mastery of Hado, places it in Tier 1. Playing Raging Demon means you control the pace of the game

Denjin Legendaries uses burn actions to manage the board. It’s very important that Denjin can remove early-mid game threats. The longer the game goes, it is in favor of Denjin. Access to Red legendaries and the ability to burn the opponent’s face to force the first move from the opponent is what I think makes Denjin a comfortable pick. I retract saying this deck is a Tier 1, while I think it is good, it probably should not have sat up there in the Tier 1s because of consistency issues. While I think the deck is strong, it would make sense that there are some decks in the meta that out scale Denjin.

A deck built to specifically counter Black. Also has a decent match up against Red and Green because of Barioth's ability to have high stats. This is a good deck that makes the opponent panic early and if the opponent cannot make effective trades, they will lose.

Paw Patrol is very powerful and the most early game focused deck. This deck must win the early game to win, however now that more players have adopted the Red legendaries package, this deck can also win randomly and late game.

Celestial Envoy with Takeda was first created pretty randomly but does well against Black decks. This deck can high roll an unstoppable Takeda early and has a strong late game using units with strong abilities and stats for their MP cost.

Shieldspire Legendaries was created to optimize Green and counter Black decks. This deck’s strength comes from the ability to have multiple legendaries that use shieldspire to become unstoppable

Big Reso is a dead archetype to me. The deck can win most match ups but is highly reliant on what the deck draws and what the opponent draws. The deck continues to see play but lacks the required consistency to be seen as reliable

The best purple deck available but that is not saying much. Zero Exodia is strong but lacks the early defense to consistently beat the current meta.

Uroboros used to be a consistent combo deck, now it’s just a combo deck with crazy RNG swings. Constantly referred to as the dark horse of the meta, Uroboros can steal games depending on their draws. There is no mainstream Uroboros build, so one is not provided as a "meta deck."

With the original Zhinku build losing it’s ability to inflict 19 damage from 4 actions gone. Divebomb is the best Hero Art to close out games with the R/B build. However, Zhinku is still a good choice, but must completely control the board to be able to win.

A heavy destroy Oichi deck. I believe this to be the correct way to build Oichi, because Oichi can recycle units, it would make the most sense to have more destroys to control the enemy board and then use the Hero Art as a way to generate units.

The new challenger from BOA, Oichi Despair is very powerful, being able to place three buffed units onto the field from one Hero Art activation. The meta has shaped to counter Oichi Despair making Oichi less than viable. However, the deck list provided is adjusted to face the counter decks.

Metsu Legendaries is a very degenerate deck that has become pet decks for players that just want to wreak havoc. The deck is reliant on RNG for their wins and does not have a gameplan besides playing their legendaries. At least with other decks, the other decks can win with non-legendary strategies.

One of the new archetypes to come from BOA. Slowple has many different tech choices and builds and all of them share one thing in common. They are not consistent in the meta. For this reason, they will not have a deck list provided.

Not a very popular deck, but you will see from time to time when players are bored. This deck relies on the set up with Purple growth units and must win the early game.

Surprisingly more popular than the Zombie engine Oichi Despair list. Spirit Despair is the fun deck for a lot of players. There is not a mainstream decklist for Spirit Despair, so one is not provided.

Rogue decks are classified from being the minority of what you will play against in the ladder. These decks are generally ones that are made by players and did not pick up popularity for various reasons.

Tier 1 - Decks that have a high consistency of taking clear advantage in the game

Tier 2 - Decks that play fair and have you earn your wins

Tier 3 - Less viable decks and meme

Another interesting deck list from Kuran. This deck list uses less legendary units and has many counters as many good Green decks should. In addition, the unit choices in this deck have a good match up against Red and Black by stats alone.

A very fun and strong deck that took everyone by surprise. This deck does well in generating MP, force decent trades, and also very notable that Crescent Grizzly and Huitzil's static buff Machines even after Ascension Ceremony.

One of the sleeper decks in the meta. This deck list completely counters Red and will high roll and rob games at a high consistency. Playing this deck reminds me of old Rathalos Wrath Awoken. Being able to constantly threaten winning the game and only losing if you brick in the early game.

Zhinku is the original R/B zombie deck. Zhinku has the ability to use Hadoken and remove most threats in the game, however, Zhinku must be able to control the board to win. Unlike Divebomb, Zhinku will struggle to push damage if they are not ahead in resources and will ultimately lose in that scenario.

A crazy deck that consistently wins the game at 56 seconds if the The Rising Sun lives. Most players are prepared to remove The Rising Sun, but it’s very questionable if those players have the cards to remove The Rising Sun at that time. If the opponent does not draw an answer, they lose.

The weakest of the Red Legendary decks, the only reason to play this would be the ability to use Anti-Body on our legendaries.

Second to Divebomb R/B, players can use GDI to have a better match up against the mono Black matchup.

A deck made by Kyle P, playing this deck creates a catch 22. You must answer the MP boost units or you must answer the big threats that come out and you cannot do both. Generally you want to focus on removing the bigger units that come out later, but that’s difficult in it’s own. This deck loses to flight and degenerate strategies but will almost always win against decks that are focused on trading.

Bamboo's Gift is actually not that amazing in this deck or what is focused on, but it's how the deck started, hence the namesake.

A deck list made by Shmo. It’s a spin to Green Legendaries.

Very unpopular deck and highly effective. This deck list is consistent in running it’s engine and usually only loses to opponent draws. In my opinion, there are not that many bad matchups for this deck.

An interesting take on Uroboros, the most unique card in this deck is Jack Krauser. Jack Krauser allows this deck to have a better match up against "Big Boss" unit decks.

This season is the most consistent V Tenkuuha will ever be, considering the current meta and the imminent rotation that will happen removing Rebirth from the list. V Tenkuuha is a design flaw that allows players to randomly deal 30 damage to the opponent with little counter play available in the TEPPEN’s design.