Metagame Minute: Pro Quest: London, Week 2

Welcome back to Week 2 of Pro Quest: London. First question, how is Dash still alive?!

Enigma is back on top this week, adapting quickly to the Runeblade challenge, but Aurora is hot on her heels, not content to fall behind for very long. Azalea has taken a bit of a breather, while others have immediately swarmed to fill her position. This week our bronze medal goes to none other than Purple Man, ye olde Viserai himself. Not bad for a hero released in 2020, all he needed was a little extra juice to get back up to speed.

Some forgotten faces also land on the board, from Bravo to Fai to even Riptide. And while the Runeblades of Rosetta are claiming bigger slices than their Wizarding counterparts, Oscilio and Verdance are still hanging on and working their way through the season. But don't get too attached to those auras, because Armory Deck: Dash drops this weekend, looking to throw a spanner in the works and perform a full system reboot!

For now, let's dive into Metagame Minute: Runeblade Special Edition...

Arknight Antics

The purplest of them all... Viserai has a long history of ups and downs in competitive Flesh and Blood, like that friend who announces they're quitting social media, only to pop up again a week later with a new profile picture. As expected, Viserai received a lot of Majestic and Legendary gas from a booster set that features Runeblade, but some of the most impactful cards have actually been commons and rares. Smoothing out rough corners, bolstering Runechant generation, or providing straight value in a post-Rosetta Thorn world, you'd be surprised how much work a few extra 0-cost 3-powers put in.

It's not just a thorough oiling of the engine that's coaxing Viserai to purr, Rosetta also injected him with some very threatening disruption. Cards like Snuff Out, Succumb to Temptation, and Face Purgatory allow Viserai to throw hands with a variety of different decks and come out on top. Viserai also has a nifty little trick to use against Rangers and Assassins in the form of Deadwood Dirge. This card provides stock standard Runechant generation on its own, but the fact it can also turn a Frailty, Inertia, or Bloodrot Pox into 3 Runechants is absolutely filthy.

Mean Green Runechant Machine

Florian is doing the rounds at the moment, steadily making a name for himself. He's well equipped defensively, with cards like Rootbound Carapace, Barkskin of the Millennium Tree, and Germinate providing the unrelenting protective force of Earth. Florian is mostly happy to play slow, keeping life totals high while he trudges through his decompose side quest. Once that's complete, his 1 card 5 damage play with Grasp of the Arknight and Reaping Blade will grind out most foes.

Where Aurora aims to blast the opponent to pieces in the blink of an eye, Florian aims to bog them down to his swampy level. Rosetta has replenished the Earth card pool with heavy disruption, proving to be extremely valuable in this day and age of Flesh and Blood. Felling of the Crown hits their hand, Plow Under (AKA "Command and Compost") hits their arsenal, and Summer's Fall removes key auras from many of the top performing decks, such as Enigma's Manifestation of Miragai or Aurora's Embodiment of Lightning.

Ironing Out the Kinks

Vynnset was one of those unfortunate characters who felt like they were attending their own funeral from Day 1. But it's safe to say the Iron Maiden is back from the dead, claiming a decent amount of wins this week. Rosetta has pried open the coffin with some absolute godsends for Rune Gate, such as the aformentioned Deadwood Dirge, as well as Malefic Incantation and Sigil of Deadwood. These cards allow Vynnset to more consistently generate enough Runechants to send forth multiple big attacks in the same turn without needing to take a turn off, or rely so heavily on Revel in Runeblood.

Another massive pickup for Vynnset from Rosetta is Machinations of Dominion. Previously, Vynnset would mostly need to rely on Mauvrion Skies or Spellbound Creepers to go above and beyond, so having another set of go again enablers is huge. The overpower also synergises with Vynnset's "Widespread" lineup, forcing through their disruptive effects. While Vynnset may not be putting up as many results as her Runeblade counterparts, she has a unique advantage in an Enigma-heavy metagame, and that's her hero ability. Shadow actions now serve a dual purpose - they allow you to cut through ward like it's made of butter!

Congratulations to our second round of Pro Quest Champions! You've earned your seat at the Pro Tour gaming tables in London next year. The rest of you, make sure to stay on your toes - we've still got two more weeks to go, and something tells me things are going to get a little crank-y from October 18. Catch you next time!