TEPPEN: Season 9 & 10 Meta Snapshot

Welcome to another meta snapshot by yours truly, iowa. Here you will find knowledge and information of the TEPPEN Champion ladder meta. This will give a scope to help players understand and prepare for all battles ahead.

Highlights of the new archetypes introduced by the latest card expansion are included.In addition to meta decks, there is a new category featuring rogue decks.

Meta decks are a measurement of how frequent you will see this deck in the rank match ladder.

Rogue decks will not be seen on the ladder frequently, but are strong and worth looking at.

Tier is a measurement of how strong a deck is

Tier 1 - Top of the meta, decks that have a clear advantage to consistently win games.

• Ryu Zombie
• Rathalos Blazing Wall RG
• Chun-Li Yawn Trinity
• Nero Hey, Nico! Trinity
• Felyne Trinity
• Nergigante Zombie
• Akuma Raging Demon

Tier 2 - Decks that are still strong but not quite Tier 1, against the Tier 1 there is a sense of earning wins. Some Tier 2 decks may have gimmicks that place them in a Tier 2 status but is not consistent enough for Tier 1.

• Ryu Humans
• Ryu Metsu RB
• Jill Anti-body Activation
• X Gaea Armor Shara
• Chun Li Kicks RG
• Felyne RG Aggro
• Feylne Shieldspire Shara
• Dante Burn
• Dante 0 Attack
• Zero PB Tenkuuha
• Zero Exodia
• Wesker Uroboros
• Wesker Dark Destruction
• Nergigante Spike Launch
• Nergigante Flight Bomb RB

Tier 3 - Decks that will see play in the ladder but are either remnants of previous metas or just plain gimmicks.

• T3 Ryu Denjin
• T3 Ryu Metsu RG
• T3 X Charge Shot
• T3 Nero Growth

We are back on track, this is a meta snapshot for Season 8, 9 and 10 of TEPPEN. Since we last visited the meta snapshot, we are welcomed with new Hero Felyne, card expansion “Adventures of a Tiny Hero,” and a roadmap for TEPPEN which includes a mystery Hero update in October.

After the balance changes, action spam decks are pretty much Tier 3 now. The ceiling has dropped and it is allowing a new meta reflecting the old TEPPEN we used to know and love. So now players are playing hyper aggressive and midrange decks. There is not a successful action spam control deck. There are action spam aggressive decks, however shutting those decks down are easy as long as you add cards in your deck to deal with them.

Most decks in the snapshot will be in tier 2 and the ceiling for the game has definitely lowered. Even the tier 1 decks do not feel like tier 1. However, they stay in tier 1 due to their well rounded match ups.

Enjoy TEPPEN!

Tribal Mechanic

Tribal is essentially the class/race/category that all unit cards have. Cards from “Adventures of a Tiny Hero,” provide new abilities that benefit from tribal conditions. An example would be Huitzil, “While on the field: give all friendly machines +1 attack.”

There are 6 tribes to be aware of:

Human

Monster

Creature

Beast

Machine

Demon

New decks or reinvented concepts in the meta:

T1 Felyne Trinity
T1 Nero Hey! Nico Trinity
T2 Ryu Humans
T2 Ryu Metsu RB
T2 X Gaea Armor Shara
T2 Chun Li Kicks RG
T2 Felyne RG Aggro
T2 Feylne Shieldspire Shara
T2 Zero PB Tenkuuha
T2 Wesker Mill Uroboros
T2 Wesker Mill Dark Destruction
T2 Nergigante Flight Bomb RB
T3 Ryu Metsu RGA

N/A

Meta Decks are seen in Champion ladder with a high frequency. Decks are separated under Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.

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

Hero Art: Shinku Hadoken

Deal 7 damage to target enemy unit.

Deck Type: Swarm, Faceburn

Difficulty: (3.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Swarm early aggression, and win the game with direct damage mid-late game.

Weakness: Very strong defense.

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Goal: The goal is to swarm the board with our cheap cost efficient units. Then we stack up [Conspirator's Speech] and [Agent's Memories] for a good 19 damage.

This zombie deck dominates early game, controlling the field and applying pressure, our back up plan is to win the game through direct damage that the opponent cannot stop. When playing against this deck, players only have 11 life, because 19 of the remaining life is taken by 3x Conspirator Speech and Agent’s Memories.

Playing this deck requires the pilot to make precise calculations when trading damage on the board and be constantly engaged throughout the game to keep tempo, much more than other decks in TEPPEN.

Mulligan

[Gate] is high priority to play, because they are a Growth unit, all of their abilities come from having units played after them to trigger.

Hero Art: Blazing Wall

Gives +2 HP and <Shield> to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Aggro

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Protect high damage units.

Weakness: Limited defensive options if being overpowered by the opponent.

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Goal: Create and protect unstoppable threat(s).

TEPPEN veterans by now are familiar with the prowess of Blazing Wall Rathalos. Within the red and green colors available, Blazing Wall Rathalos likes to play hyper aggressive cards and protect their units with a very cheap Hero Art that makes it very difficult for opponents to handle threats.

The cards in this deck are instantly threats, the order of operations to playing a Blazing Wall Rathalos deck should be to win trades/protect your units/playing units, in that order.

One of the best cards in the game is [Valstrax], [Valstrax] being a resilient threat chips the opponent away very quickly. Opponents will scramble to an answer to Valstrax and by the time they can kill [Valstrax], Blazing Wall players will have set up new threats.

Mulligan

[Valstrax]

Hero Art: Yawn

Give a friendly unit "Gain 4MP +4 when leaving the field." (This effect does not stack.)

Deck Type: Midrange

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.5/5.0)

Strength: Strong board presence and counters to enemy decks.

Weakness: Must draw enough counters to stop flight.

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Goal: Swarm the board with MP ramp and formidable units. Once your board is established, it is imperative that Yawn triggers always happen at the first opportunity. The deck gains most of it's prowess from being able to keep a 3-wide board with ease and for cheap using the Hero Art: Yawn. Also play [Nero] in the middle lane for the <Spillover> damage.

Yawn and Hey, Nico! are the best Trinity decks in the meta. Yawn has gotten a resurgence now that the playstyle of Trinity is supported by Yawn and is similar to Ascension Yawn back in Season 4. Green has become a viable color with being able to establish a strong board presence, counter red, and counter many match ups using their many neutralizing cards such as sealing units and resetting base stats.

Mulligan

[Layer] In general

[Disarm] against flight

[Wall Jump] against red

Hero Art: Hey, Nico!

Randomly adds Gerbera, Ragtime, or Tomboy to your EX Pocket.

Deck Type: Midrange

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.5/5.0)

Strength: Strong board presence and counters to enemy decks.

Weakness: Must draw enough counters to stop flight.

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Goal: Swarm the board with MP ramp and formidable units.

Yawn and Hey, Nico! are the best Trinity decks in the meta. Hey, Nico! allows for power plays with the 3-wide board that Trinity often provides and is a strong late game with [Natural Cycle], turning all used cards from the Hero Arts to be shuffled into your deck. Green has become a viable color with being able to establish a strong board presence, counter red, and counter many match ups using their many neutralizing cards such as sealing units and resetting base stats.

Mulligan

[Layer] In general

[Disarm] against flight

[Wall Jump] against red

Hero Art: Shieldspire

Give a friendly unit +3 HP and "Reduces damage taken of 3 or less to 1."

Deck Type: Midrange

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Strong board presence and counters to enemy decks.

Weakness: Must draw enough counters to stop flight.

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Goal: Swarm the board with MP ramp and formidable units.

One of the weaker Trinity decks, but still viable. Shieldspire Felyne allows for the Trinity deck to reinforce it's board with protecting the units with more health and damage reduction. Green has become a viable color with being able to establish a strong board presence, counter red, and counter many match ups using their many neutralizing cards such as sealing units and resetting base stats.

Mulligan

[Layer] In general

[Disarm] against flight

[Wall Jump] against red

Hero Art: Spike Divebomb

Gives +4/+4 and self-destruct on attack to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Aggro/Board Contest

Difficulty: (3.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Swarm early aggression, and win the game with direct damage mid-late game.

Weakness: Very strong defense.

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Goal: The goal is to swarm the board with our cheap cost efficient units. Then we stack up [Conspirator's Speech] and [Agent's Memories] for a good 19 damage.

This is just the Kyle P zombie deck with Nergigante slapped on. It is unknown to me whether this is what the top players are doing, but if they are it would make sense. The zombie shell that Kyle P made is already solid and there's not anything to my knowledge that would be more well rounded or more suited for Divebomb Hero Art.

In contrast to Zhinku, Divebomb is a Hero Art that must be used to reinforce your unit to win a trade against an opponent's unit. Allowing a trade in your favor and sending a hulking threat that will either take out an enemy unit or deal direct damage. With this strategy, I actually think the Divebomb variant is more consistent than Zhinku.

This zombie deck dominates early game, controlling the field and applying pressure, our back up plan is to win the game through direct damage that the opponent cannot stop. When playing against this deck, players only have 11 life, because 19 of the remaining life is taken by 3x Conspirator Speech and Agent’s Memories.

Playing this deck requires the pilot to make precise calculations when trading damage on the board and be constantly engaged throughout the game to keep tempo, much more than other decks in TEPPEN.

Mulligan

[Gate] is high priority to play, because they are a Growth unit, all of their abilities come from having units played after them to trigger.

Hero Art: Raging Demon

Grants the <Ascended> status to a friendly unit without the <Ascended> status and destroys the unit in front of it.

Deck Type: Midrange

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.5/5.0)

Strength: On demand unit clear using Hero Art.

Weakness: The deck does not rely on gimmicks and uses tech to face different match-ups in the meta

.

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Goal: Keep aggressive pressure but conserve MP for counter/tech plays against certain match-ups.

The way I look at this deck, it's play style is similar to Traditional Ryu decks. We play the board fight, playing units to try and be aggressive, but we also hold many answers to different situations.

The key to winning with this deck is to maximize trading, using Raging Demon for high priority targets, which generally means holding Raging Demon back. Playing a midrange deck like this one requires the pilot to only use their resources to counteract situations units themselves cannot already handle.

But also knowing when to Raging Demon to push pressure is very important, in this case, match up knowledge allows you to understand when to Raging Demon or not.

Opening Play

[Gate] is the best card to start with and have the deck rolling. The deck starts off as a Zombie Rush deck, but definitely drifts to a midrange play style mid-late game requiring that the pilot be conservative with their resources for the right situations or knowing when to push pressure when the opponent is very behind.

Hero Art: Shinku Hadoken

Deal 7 damage to target enemy unit.

Deck Type: Split Damage Control/Board Contest

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Hard control options ie. burn the enemy board.

Weakness: Our only win condition is chip damage, we rely on keeping the opponent’s board in check. If we fail to clear the board, we lose.

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Goal: Burn the enemy board.

Ryu Shinku Hadoken is the original archetype of 2-for-1s. A lot of Ryu’s card choices are Units that have on-play split damage abilities. Because of this, Ryu gets to play decent stat Units to fight for him and destroy enemy Units almost instantly. This results in Ryu having Unit(s) and an MP lead. Because Ryu destroyed the enemy unit and kept ahead on Units on board, this gives Ryu players a MP lead, meaning that Ryu has everything to show for the MP they spent, and the opponent has nothing to show for the MP they spent. This strategy paired with Shinku Hadoken just makes Ryu a monster at controlling the board.

Ryu relies on clearing the board and pushing chip damage. Chip damage is small amounts of damage hitting the opponent over time. Ryu will not have many ways to push a large amount of damage quickly besides Infernal Magma Dragoon and Fate Defying Ryu. Ryu not having many ways to push a large amount of damage, makes Ryu Shinku Hadoken players’ games rely heavily on clearing the board. Normally if Ryu cannot clear the enemy board state for any reason, it becomes a losing game for the Ryu player.

With the addition of human tribal support from ATH, it has increased the viability of on damage play burn. It is more or less the same deck but with a little higher burn output with Sheva.

Mulligan

[B.B. Hood] or [Ryu]

Hero Art: Antibody Activation

If you have explored 3 or more times, target friendly unit gets +1/+3 and <Shield>.

Deck Type: Explore Tempo

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: Protect units.

Weakness: Limited by Explore cards options.

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Goal: Destroy enemy units and protect our own units.

Jill Explore has a little bit of everything when it comes to their deck kit. Removal, strong units, buffs, and shields. Jill excels in decent board trades by powering up her Units on the board, giving them a shield, more damage, and more health. Jill’s kit is not inherently explosive but gets a lot of value from board control.

Jill’s kit has multiple combinations of plays that the player can sequence with their MP. Playing Jill requires the Jill to have matchup knowledge and timing the use of the Jill player’s cards accordingly to the matchup. Jill’s bread and butter is her Hero Art, a Jill player must use their Hero Art on a worthwhile target to be able to establish pressure against the opponent. Generally, good value plays are using [Detonate] from [Hell Bat], [Claire Redfield] to deal 6 damage, and [Nash] because [Nash] has large stats.

Mulligan

Look for 2 explore openers. Keep in mind that 1 explore is better than none.

Hero Art: Shieldspire

Give a friendly unit +3 HP and "Reduces damage taken of 3 or less to 1."

Deck Type: Swarm/Board Contest

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.5/5.0)

Strength: Buffing units to unstoppable numbers.

Weakness: Removal easily shuts this deck down.

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Goal: [Valstrax]

Everyone loves the cat. Felyne does well with other deck shells and Shieldspire is a great Hero Art against red. It is similar to Rathalos Blazing Wall, but still a little different. The strategy is still the same, play very aggressively and defend your units.

Mulligan

[Valstrax]

Hero Art: Tenkuuha

Gives a friendly unit +2 Attack (effective for 1 attack) and ＜Combo＞ (effective for 1 attack.)

Deck Type: Aggro

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Large unstoppable damage, negates, [Monstrous Virus] as an emergency button

Weakness: Removal

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Goal: Rush the opponent down with [Trish] and [C. Viper].

This deck has a ridiculous amount of fast damage output. [Bloodbath Frenzy] as an instant attack trigger will clear boards with Tenkuuha or be lethal damage. This deck requires you to play aggressive but you must also save enough MP for your negates to counter any counters. It is important to note that [Monstrous Virus] is a key card in this deck, [Monstrous Virus] active means that all of your life sacrificing cards are free to use without risk.

Mulligan

[Summon Minions], [Trish], [C. Viper]

Hero Art: Uroboros

Place the highest cost Unit from your graveyard on the field. Give that unit “Death: banish this unit.”

Deck Type: Combo/Reanimator

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: Reanimate strong units that are difficult to get rid of.

Weakness: Aggressive decks, [Brainwash] and [Blockade Strike].

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Goal: Bring back large units early game and push powerful pressure that most decks can't deal with.

Mill is one of the new mechanics that has received a ton of support from Adventures of a Tiny Hero. Mill is very much viable, but is not tier 1 level. Still very much tier 2 and can overtake many matches. Uroboros can benefit from mill, but a traditional build is much better. Traditional builds are consistent enough to play out their deck, the mill variant is just doing the same thing but with RNG involved with the chance of milling important cards that could have been useful. One card this deck has access to that is very notable, is [Executioner Majini]. [Executioner Majini] is very on par with [Hidden Threat Zero] in terms of power level, and can turn the tide of a game very easily.

Mulligan
[False Throne] or [Cursed Choice]

Hero Art: Dark Destruction

Destroy target enemy unit with 5 MP or less.

Deck Type: Control

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: Destroy many units.

Weakness: 7MP and higher units are very difficult to destroy with this deck.

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Goal: Control the enemy board.

Mill can be seen as a gimmick, but it is a powerful gimmick. I believe that Dark Destruction gains the most from the new mill support. The goal of this deck is to control the enemy board, but also mill your deck. Our first priority is to mulligan for [Black Crown's Madness] to gain a small MP advantage and mill out our deck quickly. At around 10 cards left in deck, we want to stop milling ourselves with any type of action at the risk of losing essential cards we could have used to make the game go longer. At 10 cards left in deck, [Executioner Majini] becomes a power player for us and allows us to destroy an enemy unit immediately. By milling our deck, it becomes very easy to find our <Revenge> unit cards and gives us the chance to push a strong board after we have destroyed many of our opponent's resources.

Mulligan
[Black Crown's Madness]

Hero Art: Spike Divebomb

Gives +4/+4 and self-destruct on attack to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Aggro/Board Contest

Difficulty: (3.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Direct flight damage.

Weakness: Hard removal

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Goal: Set up direct flight damage and use Spike Divebomb to defensively power up your units, your units will destroy the enemy units due to their increased stats and then become a large amount of damage heading towards your opponent.

Narikawa showcases this deck on their YouTube channel. This deck is notable for it's early hyper aggression, dealing large damage output at all points in the game. Death for the opponent is only inevitable.

Mulligan

[Black Crown's Madness]

Rogue decks are unconventional decks made by members of the community or remnants from previous metas. Decks are separated under Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.

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

Hero Art: Metsu Shoryuken

Gives <Combo> to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Aggro

Difficulty: (3.0/5.0)

Viability: (4.0/5.0)

Strength: Direct flight damage.

Weakness: Hard removal

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Goal: Go all in to damaging your opponent from 30-0 life.

Red Black is a more aggressive take to aggro decks. Usually Red Black decks are just more aggressive with less defense. Metsu Shoryuken has seen a lot of play recently, if you're looking at decks in the meta to get a better understand of what's to come. Do not underestimate the damage that comes from Metsu Shoryuken.

Mulligan
[Valstrax]

Hero Art: Gaea Armor

Give all friendly units <Veil>.

Deck Type: Combo

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: [Shara Ishvalda]

Weakness: [Shara Ishvalda]

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Goal: Create and protect unstoppable [Shara Ishvalda]

X Gaea Armor has seen good use with [Shara Ishvalda], this deck is very gimmicky but powerful. Many games can be stolen using this deck to beat others. The weakness of this deck is that you live by Shara, and you die by Shara. If Shara gets shut down, it's game over, but the whole deck is revolved around not letting that happen. Gaea Armor is essential to giving <Veil> to Shara, making Shara untargetable by abilities. Keep in mind that there are cards that do not target and will still have abilities that destroy.

Mulligan
[Unwavering Faith] or [Shara Ishvalda]

Hero Art: Hyakuretsukyaku

Gives +1 Attack and <Heavy Pierce> to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Swarm/Board Contest

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.5/5.0)

Strength: Buffing units to unstoppable numbers.

Weakness: Removal easily shuts this deck down.

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Goal: Heavy pierce your opponent's life to 0.

This deck was a bit popular for a short time and died out pretty quickly. However it is a good deck with few notable players testing it out and praising it. There are better options for aggro decks when it comes to consistency, but this deck's access to <Combo> and <Heavy Pierce> is to be noted.

Mulligan

[Rashid] or [Heavenly Kicks Chun-Li]
 

Hero Art: Shieldspire

Give a friendly unit +3 HP and "Reduces damage taken of 3 or less to 1."

Deck Type: Combo

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: [Shara Ishvalda]

Weakness: [Shara Ishvalda]

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Goal: Create and protect unstoppable [Shara Ishvalda]

Many games can be stolen using this deck to beat others. The weakness of this deck is that you live by Shara, and you die by Shara. If Shara gets shut down, it's game over, but the whole deck is revolved around not letting that happen.

Mulligan
[Unwavering Faith] or [Shara Ishvalda]

Hero Art: Devil Trigger

[Dante] takes no damage for 10 seconds.

Deck Type: Control, Burn

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.5/5.0)

Strength: Doesn't have to play units for action based opponents to target. Thus action based opponents may brick against Dante Burn.

Weakness: Lose to aggro and early high damage output from the opponent.

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Goal: Burn the enemy’s health total to 0

Old Entry from Meta Snapshot 5 & 6

This deck has been floating around for quite some time. We all thought it was a meme, why would you play this deck instead of Ryu Denjin? Honestly, I don't know too much about this deck, but I will take time to analyze and write out my thoughts.

It's important to note that, this deck has more than 30 damage at face value when you count all the damage for burn actions in the deck. The deck seemingly prioritizes in getting engine going with [Foresight] and [Exposed Evil Eye]. Then uses control cards against any problems that Devil Trigger cannot stop. In my few sample games I played, I found the deck needing to cycle quickly to catch up, throwing burn actions is important to charge up Devil Trigger. This deck does get Art Points fairly quickly, allowing the pilot to trigger multiple Devil Triggers, preventing damage by the opponent. Some cards in the deck could be considered as "one-offs" (played in the game once in a pinch), [Valstrax] is in there to cheese any damage needed and [Maverick's Memories] and [Monstrous Virus] can buy time for this deck to win in tight spots.

What gives this deck credibility is the pilot kuroookami1224 taking it to 2200 pts and tweeting the results. This is highly credible since kuro was nice enough to post their match history. See original tweet below.

Current Entry

Dante has suffered without [Exposed Evil Eye] as a efficient way to cycle through the deck. I've found out that the deck really relies on cycling quick to get to [Monstrous Virus] to win most of their games. Without [Exposed Evil Eye] the deck needs a replacement to cycle through, otherwise it struggles in most of it's matchups.

This deck is mained by kuroookami and has climbed to 2k rating this season. It can still win games, but definitely not as good as it was before. Looking back, the older version of this deck was tier 1, however due to the nerf of [Exposed Evil Eye] this deck has quickly dropped to a tier 2 meme. You won't see this deck much, but there are few players that keep it in their back pocket.

Mulligan

[Foresight]

Hero Art: Quicksilver

Grants ＜Slow＞ to one enemy unit, and that unit cannot counter.

Deck Type: Control

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: One sided match ups and force bricking the opponent.

Weakness: <Ascended> and <Resonate>

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Goal: Get 3 ascensions and reduce the enemy attacks to 0.

This deck was created by me very randomly. It's consistent in how it plays out, but will have bad match ups that make the win rate inconsistent. The goal of the deck is to get 3 ascensions quickly, then reduce the enemy attacks to 0. By using the flight units in our deck, we can fly over and chip damage. Your opponent having 0 attack units will be locked out of the game. For the unit in front of our flier, we use halts and Quicksilver to make sure that their units do not die and keeping them locked out. Generally, we win with one unit.

Mulligan

Look for 2 or 3 <Ascended> units.

Hero Art: Rakuhouha

• Deals 4 damage split among enemy units.
• Deals 7 damage split among enemy units instead. ＜Memory＞: 4
• Deals 12 damage split among enemy units instead. ＜Memory＞: 10

Deck Type: Control

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: Guaranteed winning combo with [X Hunters], [Maverick's Memories] and [Ceasefire]

Weakness: Loses to aggressive decks and boardwipes.

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Goal: Get to 15 memory, control the board state, play [X Hunters] and have [Maverick's Memories] on hand to complete "Exodia."

The name Zero Exodia comes from Yu-Gi-Oh (card game), an infamous card combination in Yu-Gi-Oh immediately wins the game and cannot be stopped or countered. It's a lot similar to how this deck functions, we work up to a card combination and instantly win the game.

Zero Exodia is one of the decks that was hit heavily by the balance changes. The deck is in the lower half of tier 2.

Last meta decks that try to play the same or similar builds of Zero Exodia will struggle heavily for the early game. Now that Rakuhouha costs significantly more, Zero Exodia's early game suffers. The deck list provided here has been engineered by myself to have a strong early game allowing this deck to get to 15 memory very quickly or just dominate the game without the need of [X-Hunters].

The playstyle of this rendition changes a little, but when it comes to being able to get to [X-Hunters], the deck feels very efficient at getting there. The use of [Kolin] and [New-Generation Reploids] is key to winning trades and gaining memory. By using [Weakness] gained from [Kolin], it allows this deck to dominate the board against many match ups including Zombies. [Weakness] can also be used to protect [Pyrobat] and quickly chip away at the opponent.

One of our weaknesses is to action card boardwipes. With Maverick's Memories the deck used to be able to stop those cards and reinforce [X-Hunters] however, with the nerf of [Maverick's Memories] you can no longer do that. There is a work around, and that is [Surge of Demonic Power], on paper, using [Surge of Demonic Power] before [X-Hunters] and having [Maverick's Memories] in hand will generally guarantee you the ability to negate boardwipes and take the win.

Mulligan

[Demonic Intimidation] generally. [Foresight] if playing against Uroboros or control decks instead of [Demonic Intimidation].

Hero Art: Spike Launch

Split damage equal to sacrificed life points to all enemy units up to 12 points of damage.

Deck Type: Board Contest

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: On demand board clear using Hero Art. Durable Units and a lot of removal.

Weakness: We cut our own life, so our life is generally low

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Goal: Burn your own health with sacrifice life cards, play a swarm of units, and control the board.

This deck surfaced on Twitter from Hayakeo. At first glance, it just looks like an updated version of Mono Black Spike Launch. With this deck, control is the goal.

[Dark Usurper Urizen] is hands down the best card in this deck. By playing Urizen, Urizen cuts half your life instantly meeting the life cut condition for Spike Launch, and you have a 4/7 with <Veil> on the board that can destroy 2 units on growth.

This deck plays a normal game of board contest. However cards in this deck that gain increase in stats for being low on health or <Revenge> is why the deck is so good. The deck tends to evenly trade, but when both players are both seemingly low on resource, this deck can play many strong units for cheap and have Spike Launch on command to clear the board.

Opening Play

Swarm the board with life cutting units. Conserve MP and stat increasing units in your hand for a big drop and use Spike Launch to clear the enemy board

Hero Art: Metsu Shoryuken

Gives <Combo> to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Aggro

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (2.0/5.0)

Strength: Direct flight damage.

Weakness: Hard removal

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Goal: Create and protect unstoppable threat(s).

Metsu Shoryuken has been seeing a lot more play than before. It's still not near the ceiling for competitive play, but definitely should be looked out for when playing in the ladder.

One of the best cards in the game is [Valstrax], [Valstrax] being a resilient threat chips the opponent away very quickly. Opponents will scramble to an answer to Valstrax and by the time they can kill [Valstrax], Blazing Wall players will have set up new threats.

Mulligan
[Valstrax]

Hero Art: Denjin Renki

Adds +2 damage to friendly units and cards in your hand and EX Pocket (additional damage can stack).

Deck Type: Face Burn/Board Control

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (2.0/5.0)

Strength: Consistently burn the enemy board and face. Face burn for the win can get away majority of match ups.

Weakness: Nonoptimal starting hands against aggressive decks and opponents who draw into excessive shields.

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Goal: Burn the enemy’s health total to 0 or completely control the board with burn

Since we last wrote the meta snapshot, my play style with this deck has changed drastically, with a lot of inspiration coming from TimeRocker. The biggest change was prioritizing board control over killing the opponent with just burn. To play this deck correctly, you want to maximize your hand’s board damage output by sequencing action cards to clear the board.

In my most recent list, I have added [Bit] into the decklist. [Bit] enforces the playstyle where you are trying to control the board. When controlling the board, there are many games where you throw your face burn without any Denjin buffs, this will make you fall short of face damage and it is why [Bit] is in the deck. To help you win match ups where you invested everything into board control, [Bit] allows you to close out games as a direct damage power house.

I was pretty adamant that this deck could beat green, I've actually topped 100 with Denjin 2 seasons ago. After playesting Denjin this season, Denjin definitely struggles against green because green now plays [Shara] and Denjin's nerf was a blow to the deck.

For this reason, because of green's popularity in the current meta, it's safe to say that Denjin could be placed at tier 3. Denjin has already lost popularity and I do believe more players will play less of Denjin. Denjin is still a good and strong deck, but when it comes to facing Champion rank meta, the deck will struggle against green.

Mulligan

Against control you want face burn cards opening and against non-control decks you want single target unit burn actions.

Hero Art: Charge Shot

Gives “When HP is boosted: Gain +1 Attack" to all friendly units.

Deck Type: Swarm/Board Contest

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.5/5.0)

Strength: Buffing units to unstoppable numbers.

Weakness: Removal easily shuts this deck down.

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Goal: Create and protect unstoppable threat(s).

X has been nerfed without much to give back or balance to the blue bomber. This is an opportunity to play other cards with Charge Shot instead of making the deck one dimensional. However, for the meta snapshot, a decklist will be provided to showcase a glass cannon Charge Shot variant. Either you go off or you don't.

Nerfed cards include [X] to only heal other allies and Charge Shot to be AP increased from 16 >  21.

With Charge Shot X, the goal is to set up units until you get to your Hero Art. Then Charge Shot will give a buff to your units that can get out of hand, by playing actions, your board will heal and gain an absurd amount of damage. [X] is a key card where [X] will heal your allies to gain even more increased stats.

Mulligan

[X], [Gammoth], or [Diablos]

Hero Art: Hyakuretsukyaku

Gives +1 Attack and <Heavy Pierce> to a friendly unit.

Deck Type: Board Contest

Difficulty: (2.0/5.0)

Viability: (2.0/5.0)

Strength: 4/8 Panda

Weakness: 4/8 Panda

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Goal: Play [Bamboo Pandamonium] and resurrect it with [Hatred Reborn].

This archetype is a meme and gimmick, but it is fun. 4/8 stats is very high for 3MP but [Bamboo Pandamonium] makes your MP rate 20% slower. With [Hatred Reborn] you are able to bring back [Bamboo Pandamonium] from the graveyard and seal it so that the MP -20% drawback is not there anymore. However even though this is a cute interaction, it sits in tier 3. Fun deck.

Mulligan

[Bamboo Pandamonium]

Hero Art: True Power

Increases the level of a friendly unit with <Growth> by 1.

Deck Type: Board Contest

Difficulty: (4.0/5.0)

Viability: (3.0/5.0)

Strength: Access to strong boards and counter plays

Weakness: Destroy cards, recovery not so good when behind

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Goal: Grow your units to unlock powerful abilities.

True Power is a very fair Hero Art, including decks that can be built with True Power. Shmo7707 is a Nero main and plays many variants of Nero. This deck list took Shmo7707 to a early Top 100 placement with Nero this season and is worth looking at since it was able to take down other meta decks.

Mulligan

[G] or [Basarios]