Metagame Minute: Road to Nationals 2025, Week 2

We're in the thick of Week 2 and all heroes live to fight another day! Viserai's retirement party is fast approaching, and if he crosses the line in Week 3 it will be interesting to see if any others get enough of the market share to join him shortly after.

Nuu, Aurora, and Cindra continue to perform very well, with Arakni putting up consistently solid results. They're flanked by the two Illusionists, who are somewhat reined in by the likes of Viserai, Aurora, and Cindra, but are patiently waiting to feast upon Assassins when the time comes.

We have a wide range of faces landing on the board this week, many heroes thought to be left in the dust such as Dash I/O, Fai, Victor Goldmane, and Kassai! We also have all four heroes from Rosetta on the board, perhaps picking up wins from those who figured Cindra's presence would be enough to deter any arcane shenanigans.

Today let's take a look at some rogue outliers who stole the show last weekend...

About Time

Dash had somewhat dropped off the radar following the removal of High Octane, but she returns with gadget fever this season, thanks to a few new toys from The Hunted. Five wins on the board this week, due to her ability to race the other aggro decks in the format through Boom Grenades and Maximum Velocity. But Null Time Zone is the real kicker - its ability to be played at instant speed is a huge interruption, especially when you call something like "Inner Chi".

Dash is well equipped for a wide variety of matchups, which means she's in a pretty good spot for a turbulent metagame with a lot of moving parts. Misfire Dampener is huge insurance against Wizards, giving her a great safety net so she can focus on the main goal - blasting them to smithereens as quickly as possible. Hanabi Blaster is a great inclusion against the likes of Cindra, where you don't expect to be blocking much or the game to go long enough for the stacked counters on Symbiosis Shot to matter. Lastly, Dissolution Sphere - primarily a great tool against Runeblade, is going to continue giving Dash serious value against Flick Knives-based decks in the foreseeable future.

ZAP!

Oscilio takes down a Road to Nationals this weekend, zapping his way through several Count Your Blessings decks with the power of Null // Shock, and the ability to pitch stack a monstrous win condition at Lightning speed. While he may be a little volatile for the masses to truly appreciate right now, it's great to see some players cooking with the deck to combat the current metagame. One great innovation here is the use of Calming Breeze over Shelter from the Storm due to its synergy with Oscilio's hero ability.

While Oscilio is a little squishier on the blocking side, he does have the capacity to race aggro decks down to dangerously low life totals where he will potentially get a shot at a lethal arcane burst. For longer games he can set up crazy turns such as the Gone in a Flash + Lightning Greaves combo, or setting up a super fat Glyph Overlay. There are also a number of ways to abuse Sigil of Brilliance, such as Blast to Oblivion and Flash of Brilliance. Combined with Channel Lightning Valley, that extra card draw can make all the difference. It's a difficult deck to play, but can be incredibly rewarding.

Garden Party

Verdance is slowly blossoming into a pretty sweet deck this format, whether you're on Arthur Trehet's Waning Moon build or Majin Bae's Surgent Aethertide build. Life gain and damage prevention is proving to be an effective tool against Runechants, daggers, and Flick Knives, such as Seeds of Tomorrow, which can blank an entire turn, or even Mental Block just for value. Meanwhile you can either focus on steady disruption through cards like Felling of the Crown and Mind Warp, or build up to a big Rampant Growth // Life combo if the matchup allows it.

Ring of Roses is an exceptional new card from The Hunted to land in Verdance's gardening toolkit. Although it can be tricky to stick sometimes, it often provides those last few points needed to pull ahead in the late game. Verdance is equipped with some natural counters to the hottest decks, such as Scour, which can nuke an entire board of Runechants and Malefic Incantations in one fell swoop. It will be interesting to see if this card still has strong enough application when Viserai leaves, or if the space will be devoted to shoring up other matchups. With the Age of Assassin potentially on the horizon, Earth heroes are well-placed, as having Felling of the Crown in your graveyard is a powerful counterplay to Codex of Frailty.

Congratulations to our second round of Road to Nationals winners! You've earned your seat at this years National Championships, where gold and glory is yours for the plundering! Keep your eyes peeled for the results from Week 3 - suuuuurely this will be the final nail in Viserai's coffin, right?