Metagame Minute: Pro Quest: Singapore, Week 4

Week 4 is in the books and now we've got three heroes in the dangerous 900-point zone. With one final week left and three Battle Hardened events taking place this upcoming weekend, it's entirely possible we will be saying even more goodbyes this season.

Florian has taken root as the definitive deck to beat. This has paved the way for decks like Cindra, who can pressure him, Kano, who can combo-kill him, and even Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire, who can take her time building an ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

We've talked about a wide range of heroes so far, so let's touch on some of the more niche ones that are carving out their own little footholds...

Fang, Dracai of Blades

He's lean... he's mean... he's a value machine! Fang's got hold of a small but noticeable chunk of the metagame due to extreme efficiency. The recurrence of Valiant Dynamo combined with the choice of spending spare resources on Grains of Bloodspill to later be converted to a Braveforge Bracers activation gives Fang a lot of flexibility. The deck is proving to function very well using yellows as its resource base, then switching over to playing them instead of pitching them when his hero ability is online.

Fang is big on 0-for-4's, which includes the dagger pumps also being used in some builds of Arakni, Marionette. There's just so much upside to pumping daggers, especially when they are free! The successful Fang builds are also on a number of 0-for-4 attack actions that can be weaved between dagger attacks when they have go again, or used as cahin-enders when they don't. Fang's only shortcoming this meta is that playing against Wizard is an absolute nightmare, which is keeping him towards the end of the pack... for now...

Verdance, Thorn of the Rose

Verdance is pretty adept at countering Florian's Runechant-stacking strategy, by setting up her own destructive blowout. This typically involves gaining a truckload of life using cards like Healing Potion, then playing Rampant Growth // Life, fetching it back to play again with Plume of Evergrowth, amping to absurd levels, blasting them with Surgent Aethertide, then carrying that mass of arcane damage over to a final burn spell.

But it's not the only trick she has in the books. Verdance also has the option of Waning Moon, which can be very efficient with Overflow the Aetherwell, provided she has way of amping it, such as Channel the Millennium Tree. Scour is also a premium card right now, not only allowing her to wipe Florian's Runechants, but also mess with a lot of other opponents by clearing Ponder, Fealty, Spectral Shields, and more.

Kano, Dracai of Aether

Did someone say "slow meta"?

He's back, and ready to punish those who didn't bring protection. Kano is on the rise once more, feasting on a slow metagame ruled by decks like Florian and Nuu. As for his quicker matchups, the objective is to find Wildfire as soon as possible or face losing, which is a huge ask, with huge consequences for failure, but also a huge reward for doing so. Kano's roughest days at work are mostly when Prism comes into the office, and we can see cards like Wounded Bull making an attempt to stave off phantasmal aggression in the workplace, but when Prism is around it's usually better for him to just call in sick.

Finding Wildfire is the name of the Kano game, with Clarity Potion making its way back into decks to find it even quicker. Without his books Kano also needs other ways to squeeze resources out of his deck, which Overflow the Aetherwell is handling pretty well, with most Kano players opting to run all 9 copies. You also can't go wrong with a cheeky Imperial Edict to name Oasis Respite, Sigil of Solace, or whatever arcane protection you think they've been holding in arsenal for several turns.

Congratulations to our fourth round of Pro Quest winners! You've earned the right to fight for the ultimate title at Pro Tour: Singapore later this year. This will be our last Metagame Minute article for the foreseeable future as we transition to World Tour Weekly for the latest competitive trends and highlights. If you enjoyed reading this series, make sure to tune in to World Tour Weekly, and the soon to be launched Deck of the Week!