Metagame Minute: Skirmish Season 11, Week 2

Welcome to Metagame Minute, where we tuck into the latest tournament results and discuss tasty trends, saucy highlights, and spicy decklists - all wrapped up in a bite-sized read!

Week 2 is in the books and there's no arguing about it - right now Chane is the king of Living Legend and Aurora is the queen of Blitz! The Age of Assassin might be creeping up on us in Classic Constructed but as for our more high octane casual formats, we're still in the Runeblade Renaissance!

That being said, The Hunted has certainly still made a splash with its pool of new Generics, which are seeing play in all manner of heroes. I'd like to put emphasis on 'all manner of', because with 20 faces represented in Living Legend and 22 faces represented in Blitz, both formats are looking like an all you can eat buffet!

The unbanning of Crown of Seeds has also caused Verdance to flourish, tailing just behind Aurora at the top of the Blitz charts. I would LOVE to feature a Verdance deck next week so if you win a Skirmish in Week 3 on Green Chappell Roan Turbo, PLEASE email your decklist through to coverage@fabtcg.com!

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

The OG Dorinthea we all know and love has been a mainstay of Blitz since the beginning, a decently strong deck able to close out games at lower life totals with relative ease. But this season appears to favour her alternative skin, with six wins on the board. Dorinthea, Quicksilver Prodigy might not be people's jump-to pick for Skirmish, but that could be why it's had a solid performance thus far. She's got efficient damage output, high defense with the aid of an easily triggered Valiant Dynamo, an equipment suite we like to call "a fridge", and lethal reaction speed damage. There's a lot going for this hero in an aggro Runeblade format, providing she can sidestep Wizards and/or Crown of Seeds enjoyers.

So what's new in the world of old mate QP? You'll be familiar already with the Warrior gas in Heavy Hitters that polished a lot of spots in the class previously occupied by rather awkward cards - Blade Flurry, Shift the Tide of Battle, Goblet of Bloodrun Wine - all amazing inclusions, as well as the anti-arcane / anti-Bloodrot Pox tech Take it on the Chin. Rosetta also gave the class Unsheathed, which is perfect for Dawnblade, Resplendent in particular, being a 2-power base attack. But the coolest and most modern addition to the deck is Trot Along, which I'm going to mention more than once today. It's been performing exceptionally well in different heroes across multiple formats, and if we know anything about dwarf-themed common Generics, it's that they're usually pretty good.

Shackles of the Rune-ing Class

I love a good Chane deck. Every turn is a puzzle, with a ticking clock in the background, limitless potential at your fingertips, forbidden power and knowledge just a Soul Shackle away. Chane has overtaken the Living Legend family and cemented the top spot once more in Week 2, and I just love how every set there's typically something new for Chane players to cook with. Trot Along is an absolute gem, it's go again, a blue, blocks 3, AND works on weapons. Along with Machinations of Dominion, Succumb to Temptation, and Spellbound Creepers, Chane is well primed to go wide against decks that would try to fatigue him. I'm also a massive fan of utilising Soul Shackles as a resource for disruptive effects like Condemn to Slaughter and Snuff Out.

An overlooked card from The Hunted that is a particular standout in this build is Douse in Runeblood. While Viserai mains were quick to toss this in the bulk bin, Chane gang are having a rip-roaring time triggering its effect off the back of multiple Seeds of Agony for a free 1 for 7 with go again. Taking a page out of Vynnset's grimoire, Cull is proving to be a really effective card in Chane right now as well, as the split damage Runeblade offers typically makes it easy to play out. But it can also be used with Spellbound Creepers, or even on the opponent's turn to interrupt their combo. Since when did Chane get consistent and viable disruption?! Lastly, my absolute favourite inclusion in this list is Prismatic Leyline, which causes Chane to take extremely weird lines the opponent will find confusing at first, but can arrive at massive payoffs when you leverage banished attack action cards.

One more weekend to go before we unsheathe our daggers for World Tour: London, so if you haven't gotten amongst a Skirmish yet, find a store and sign up before it's too late - LAST CHANCE!