We're pleased to welcome back Drew Cordell as a guest writer for the second season of ProQuest! Drew previously wrote a series of articles for us for ProQuest Season 1, and has returned to bring you up to speed on the metagame during the ProQuest season. This week's article covers Week 2 of events.
Welcome back to my ProQuest Season Two Meta analysis series! I'm thrilled to continue my coverage of the meta now that the second week of events has concluded. If you missed my coverage of last week, you can read that here.
ProQuest and Calling New Jersey have certainly impacted the meta of week two. Kano shook the Classic Constructed scene last weekend, proving that the Wizard hero is a powerful choice into metas that are 'soft' in how much Arcane Barrier they bring to the table. Sideboards across many different heroes featured equipment sets cut to the bone, with most including only a single piece of Nullrune gear. These circumstances allowed Kano to excel during week one, and it's clear that many players were very excited to bring Kano to their local ProQuest events. This weekend, more players sleeved up Kano as their hero of choice in Classic Constructed—incentivizing players once again keep an eye on Kano’s presence in their local metas to determine how many pieces of Nullrune equipment should make their way into their wardrobe for ProQuest events.
Chane also dominated the first week of ProQuest, demonstrating the power and inevitability of his strategy as the game draws on. Chane was even more prevalent in the second week of ProQuest, and as I predicted, has led to a sharp decrease in Prism’s representation amongst the meta week-over-week. Lexi, Kano, Chane, Briar, and Bravo, Star of the Show all had notable increases in meta representation across the board, vying for the percentage points Prism gave up across the board as well as the decline in representation from some of the lesser contenders.
In terms of overall performance, Bravo, Star of the Show led the way for Top 8 placements and overall wins this week, proving that aggressive builds of the hero do have the means to reliably race aggressive heroes like Briar and Chane. Chane claimed the second highest ranking this week, followed by Prism and Briar. Across the board, we also had at least one Top 8 placement for each Classic Constructed hero in the game, and an overall win for all but four individual heroes (Azalea, Kano, Levia, and Boltyn). This is a drastic rise from last week in which eight individual heroes did not have an individual win. It’s exciting to see ‘underdog’ heroes rise up and produce incredible results!
Bravo, Star of the Show and Chane are in close contention as the decks to beat heading into week three of ProQuest. Players and deckbuilders alike who can think outside the box and design something adaptive that has a reasonably strong matchup into both heroes could be greatly rewarded for their efforts. If you’re looking for a hero to use as the foundation for your next brew that meets this lofty criteria, I’d recommend Oldhim or Lexi.
Oldhim is the premium defensive hero in Flesh and Blood and can reliably pursue a fatigue strategy against Chane players. Oldhim strategies backed with the life-gain potential of Tome of Fyendal can generate the sustain and extra life buffer needed to outlast Chane. During the Tales of Aria meta season, it wasn't uncommon to see many Guardian strategies leveraging Sigil of Solace (Red) for the same reasons. Of course, sideboard slots for Oldhim are extremely limited, and players opting to run this hero will want to have enough gas in the sideboard to avoid any auto-loss against Prism. Prism remains an incredibly uphill battle for Oldhim as he must often decide whether to pressure the opponent’s life total or target popping opposing auras. Lack of consistent or readily available access to go again or go wide attack mechanisms make this an extremely difficult matchup, even for highly-skilled players.
But there is good news for Oldhim players. With Prism’s meta share declining, this is creating the exact circumstances which favor Oldhim’s rising representation within the meta. Players well-practiced with Oldhim who know how to navigate the Chane matchup could be rewarded for their efforts—though their decks will need to be tailored and have a plan to deal with Bravo, Star of the Show as well. Of course, Prism is still a large portion of the Classic Constructed meta in week two. I’ll be interested in watching the meta changes heading into next week as Oldhim’s meta share only marginally increased from week one to two. If Prism’s meta representation falls further, I would expect Oldhim’s representation to rise more significantly than it has this week which in turn may shave off some representation from Briar and Chane. Of course, as aggressive decks begin to recede as Oldhim becomes more represented, this creates the circumstances which incentivize more Prism representation in the meta to counter Oldhim. It’s a constant ebb and flow, and each hero in this triangle of sorts serves to keep the others in check within the meta.
Lexi remains a popular hero thanks to the versatility of her kit. She can be specialized in either lightning-based aggro strategies, disruptive ice-based strategies, or something in between. Voltaire continues to be the premium weapon of choice for most Lexi builds as it does more reliably empower her to fire off more than one arrow attack per turn. When a Lexi player is able to build and sustain tempo, they are a difficult force to reckon with. Because of the restriction that arrow attacks must be fired from Arsenal, they often come in ‘above curve’ in terms of stats and their damage output. Lexi players are able to create some truly staggering turns, especially when empowered by cards like Three of a Kind. Lexi’s disruption, versatility, and the creativity of lines of play she enables should prove to continue making her a popular option within the meta.
More players chose to sleeve up Briar builds this weekend. Even with the loss of Ball Lightning and her hero power nerf, Briar can create some impressive damage output thanks to a wide-variety of zero cost attack action cards with go-again and the powerhouse that is Channel Mount Heroic. Briar’s strong representation in both the Calling and Pro Tour in New Jersey as well as ProQuest events during the first weekend helped set the stage for this past weekend.
With how well Briar did in week one, it’s unsurprising to see a rise in her meta representation week-over-week—especially since she is the easiest of Runeblade heroes to pilot. Players with less experience on Runeblade can more reliably pilot her kit with success compared to Viserai or Chane. Access to Earth and Lightning cards also helps differentiate her brand of aggression and power.
| Heroes | Players | Top 8's | Wins | %Meta | %Top8's | %Wins | T8Conv | WinConv | T8toWin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azalea, Ace in the Hole | 34 | 1 | 0 | 1.44% | 0.11% | 0.00% | 2.94% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Bravo, Showstopper | 43 | 7 | 1 | 1.82% | 0.78% | 0.76% | 16.28% | 2.33% | 14.29% |
| Bravo, Star of the Show | 371 | 214 | 44 | 15.71% | 23.78% | 33.33% | 57.68% | 11.86% | 20.56% |
| Briar, Warden of Thorns | 205 | 77 | 12 | 8.68% | 8.56% | 9.09% | 37.56% | 5.85% | 15.58% |
| Chane, Bound by Shadow | 359 | 179 | 39 | 15.21% | 19.89% | 29.55% | 49.86% | 10.86% | 21.79% |
| Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire | 97 | 23 | 1 | 4.11% | 2.56% | 0.76% | 23.71% | 1.03% | 4.35% |
| Dorinthea Ironsong | 67 | 15 | 1 | 2.84% | 1.67% | 0.76% | 22.39% | 1.49% | 6.67% |
| Kano, Dracai of Aether | 81 | 14 | 0 | 3.43% | 1.56% | 0.00% | 17.28% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Katsu, the Wanderer | 117 | 38 | 3 | 4.96% | 4.22% | 2.27% | 32.48% | 2.56% | 7.89% |
| Levia, Shadowborn Abomination | 61 | 14 | 0 | 2.58% | 1.56% | 0.00% | 22.95% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Lexi, Livewire | 239 | 65 | 4 | 10.12% | 7.22% | 3.03% | 27.20% | 1.67% | 6.15% |
| Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity | 99 | 23 | 1 | 4.19% | 2.56% | 0.76% | 23.23% | 1.01% | 4.35% |
| Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light | 380 | 164 | 21 | 16.09% | 18.22% | 15.91% | 43.16% | 5.53% | 12.80% |
| Rhinar, Reckless Rampage | 84 | 25 | 3 | 3.56% | 2.78% | 2.27% | 29.76% | 3.57% | 12.00% |
| Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn | 48 | 12 | 0 | 2.03% | 1.33% | 0.00% | 25.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Viserai, Rune Blood | 76 | 29 | 2 | 3.22% | 3.22% | 1.52% | 38.16% | 2.63% | 6.90% |
Heading into week three of ProQuest, you should have a plan to beat Bravo, Star of the Show, Chane, Briar, and Prism. As I wrote in my first article this season, I highly recommend trying to specialize your list for the local meta representation you expect. The beauty of ProQuest events is that they happen all over the world in local communities and create interesting and unique metas that may differ vastly from the aggregate data you’re viewing in this article. Gaining a sense of what to expect in your local ProQuest environment can be a great way to prepare and tailor your individual strategy heading into the weekend. It could also help inform where you should be spending your practice time in preparations for your event.
More than ever, this week has proven that many different heroes can win a ProQuest event or place in the Top 8. Don’t feel forced to pilot a deck you don’t enjoy playing or are not experienced with just because it has a higher percentage point in the overall ProQuest meta data. Play what’s fun for you, play what’s comfortable, and play what you’re experienced with. Most importantly, good luck and have fun! Stay tuned for more ProQuest meta coverage next week and connect with me here!
Drew Cordell is a competitive Flesh and Blood player and author of content relating to gameplay and strategy. The opinions expressed in the above article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Legend Story Studios.