With EVR spoilers fully out, I thought I'd post a short recap of the ELE meta and a general evaluation of the landscape going forward. The latter won't be a be-all-end-all of the metagame, but hopefully this should be helpful for those looking to start out and are curious what type of deck they'd like to play as well as add a few personal thoughts on how this meta will end up looking like. If you're already well-ingrained into the game, don't expect this to be too useful for you! This is mostly for those who are looking to get into the competitive scene in the ProQuest season a starting point in choosing what kind of deck they want to build.
Looking Back at the ELE Meta - Briar all the Way
The ELE season started off strong and then immediately took a turn into the bramble as tales of a resourceless, 0-cost-filled Briar deck struck fear in people's hearts. This all came to a head during U.S. Nationals, when Tariq Patel piloted her to victory in Nationals, amidst a top 8 filled with other Runeblades (and one plucky Lexi).
While some glimmer of hope emerged from that same event with Oldhim taking down Briar handedly during the finals of Orlando's The Calling (running parallel to U.S. Nationals in the same venue), that hope would be mostly short-lived, as Briar's natural counters - Ice Lexi, Oldhim, and Kano - struggled to consistently counter various iterations of Briar down the line, as the hero proved to not only be one of the most aggressive decks in the game, but also flexible and forgiving enough to pilot against her counters, who had to work a lot harder and play a lot more skillfully in comparison to win.
New Zealand's National Championship - one of the more anticipated tournaments due to its higher perceived skill level of its entrants - was also postponed due to COVID, letting LSS finally decide to pull the trigger on banning a few key cards in Briar's deck and errata'ing her ability in order to bring Briar down to a more comparable level to other heroes. Despite bans not being in effect for that tournament, Briar had a popular, but not unreasonable showing and had a much worse Top 8 showing than many expected (and/or feared). With Prism and Oldhim being the standout performers of that tournament, many are looking at Prism and Guardian (more Bravo, less so Oldhim) as the top contenders for the format.
A Small Glossary of Deck Types and Strategies
For those of you unfamiliar with FAB terminology, some terms may differ from previous card games or you might not be familiar with it at all. For consistency's sake, here's how I use the terminology:
- Aggro: A deck that is focused on outputting as much damage on a turn-by-turn basis to both prevent the opponent from mounting an effective response and to end the game as soon as possible.
- Combo: A deck that aims to line up a specific set of cards in hand/arsenal to output a massive amount of damage in a single turn. Often used in conjunction with "Setup", as certain combos may require a specific gamestate to execute.
- Control: A deck that aims to block with as many cards in hand as reasonable, often willing to take entire turns off if necessary. They function well at 1 or 2 card hands, and aim to block out as much damage as possible while whittling the opponent down.
- Disruptive: A playstyle that aims to prevent the opponent's ability to respond thanks to a number of debilitating effects. They can tax resources, actions, damage output, or a variety of other things.
- Go-Tall: A playstyle that aims to put out a single, high damage attack per turn, often in conjunction with additional effects layered onto the attack, like damage increases or evasive keywords like dominate.
- Go-Wide: A playstyle that aims to put out several threatening attacks to tax the opponent's ability to respond to each one. Often used in conjunction with aggro decks, though certain setup decks like Aura Prism can also be classified as "go wide".
- Midrange: A deck that functions well on a 2 or 3-card hand, aiming for damage output that encourages the opponent to block and respond with attacks less effective than the ones you are putting out.
- Setup: A deck that aims to accrue a certain amount of a given resource to create an unwinnable game state for the opponent. Once they have assembled a critical mass of components, it will be very difficult for the opponent to win.
The EVR Landscape
With the Briar errata and accompanying Plunder Run and Ball Lightning bans, LSS is hoping to steer the meta away from decks that are focused on outputting as much damage as possible turn after turn, and more focused on a more midrange-based gameplay. With Briar's supposed reigning-in, decks that were being suppressed by Briar - namely Prism - are expected to perform well, especially since the next most popular class after Runeblade, Guardian, has a poor matchup against her. With an expansion slightly focused on Guardian that also introduces a whole new archetype for Prism, they're expected to be the top players in the metagame going forward, with the rest of the heroes looking towards them to figure out their ultimate builds and how they'll perform.
EVR's additions look to primarily increase the power level of Azalea and Kano, while bringing several underutilized archetypes - Dual Wielding Warrior, Boost Mechanologist, Midrange Runeblade and more - a bunch of goodies that they can use to play around with. Very few heroes that weren't already struggling got significant and blatant upgrades, but most heroes should be able to find something in the new set to utilize in any build. Whether that will be enough to shake up this expected meta remains to be seen.
Individual Hero Outlook
The meta is still a little too nebulous to create a true Tier List, so I've divided heroes into three categories - outlook good, outlook neutral, and outlook bad, depending on how they feel going into the new metagame. For readers less familiar with the metagame, note that "difficult matchups" doesn't necessarily mean "unwinnable" - it's just that you need to put in a lot more work to make a matchup better for you than normal, since their normal play patterns won't be as successful in dealing with those matchups. That being said, if you play a certain hero and think one of the difficult matchups I've listed is a cakewalk, feel free to call me out and share your tech (if you want) in the comments!
Outlook Good - Heroes well-positioned in the new meta
Prism
One of the more popular heroes in the MON meta, Prism was pushed out of relevance due to how poor the matchup against all iterations of Briar were for her. Briar could put out consistent enough pressure to give her little opportunity to set up her Auras, outdamaged her in a race, and if Prism had the opportunity to set up, could easily have her auras popped by a stray Rosetta Thorn hit at the end of Briar's long turns. Now that Briar was nerfed, she looks to be an early favorite for a top meta pick. If you want to do well in this coming metagame, you will have to learn how to play against her - especially in the mirror.
Playstyle: Aggro-Midrange (Heralds); Setup (Auras)
Strengths:- Unique skillset means that heroes have to tech specifically for the matchup using 6 power attacks they otherwise wouldn't run or ways to generate action points to clear Auras
- Easily able to punish mistakes if opponents are too slow to respond to her Aura setup or are unable to get through her shield wall
- (As Auras) Go-wide aggro heroes (Katsu, Briar, Chane, Dash)
- (As Heralds) Go-tall heroes (Levia, Rhinar, Oldhim, Bravo)
Prism got a whole new archetype introduced for her with 0-cost aura actions, Phantasm cards that get a bonus if popped, and a few spicy cards. Since most of these are non-light cards, they're mostly incompatible with her current Aura suite (especially Genesis), but don't be surprised if you see a resurgence in aggressive phantasm-based builds emerging from Herald Prism's ashes in the future. A few cards look good enough to be universally playable - Miraging Metamorph, Fractal Replication and Haze Bending.
Bravo (Star of the Show)
The new version of the hero on the block, Bravo is best summed up by one word: potential. While it'll take a while for a build to emerge that can reasonably trigger his ability enough for it to matter, it'll be quite a nightmare if it does. With access to the largest cardpool in the game and a near infinite number of builds possible, it will take a while before the new Bravo settles on a build. Even once he does, he may still prove inconsistent enough on the defense and offense that Oldhim's ability makes him a superior pick. Time will tell, but at the very least, he should be a passable Oldhim proxy, with similar - if not slightly worse - results. Don't expect him to perform well in the first few weeks of the Pro Quest season, but I do expect the new Bravo to pick up a few wins towards the latter end when people figure out how to build him.
Playstyle: Unknown, but should play a slightly more explosive Midrange-Control
Strengths:- Largest card pool in the game makes sideboard flexible for any metagame
- Extremely strong build potential with an ability that theoretically helps him perform well against Guardians' worst matchup - Prism.
N/A - No real data on how he performs. See Oldhim and Bravo for a basic idea, but access to Lightning may help him make these matchups better.
Bravo (Showstopper)
A consistently popular pick, Bravo was one of the few heroes who had some game against Briar and decent game against everyone else. While Bravo has a simple enough playstyle, he is notable in his flexibility; he has the tools to do well against every matchup (even his difficult ones), while not having any overwhelming advantage in any of them. He also is relatively straight forward to pick up and play, making him a popular choice for new players.
Playstyle: Go-Tall Midrange-Control
Strengths:- Wide variety of defensive tools and "must-block" attacks that can totally gimp an opponent's next turn
- Flexible playstyle that is comfortable on the defense or on the offense
- Prism (Auras)
- "Critical Mass" Setup Heroes (Dash, Viserai) EVR Interests:
- Unique playstyle that puts onus on opponent to close out the game through Viserai's defenses; able to punish heroes that are slow to come online or need to find specific cards to win the game
- Able to pivot strategies easily thanks to the flexibility of many of Viserai's core cards
- Heroes that can disrupt combo turns (Bravo, Lexi, Prism)
- Heroes that are able to reach critical mass in the midgame (Chane)
While a new version of Bravo was released, most of the cards released for Guardian are sidegrades at best for Bravo. Probably the most interesting card for him is Nerves of Steel, which is a great card for him as an upgrade to another random blue 3+ cost card but unlikely to really help him in the matchups that he struggled against in the first place. Imposing Visage is another card of interest, as it allows him to tutor out an aura at +3 cost with go again; it should be useful in some matchups, but its baseline power of being a 3 cost blue that blocks for 3 should make its way into many decks. Steadfast is tech against Wizard, and heave cards like Thunder Quake and Pulverize are worth testing but for the most part, are just another big attack amongst Bravo's entire suite of big attacks.
Viserai
Viserai has long been underplayed, but in the recent months even prior to the ban he's gained more popularity as a pick that has a decent matchup against Briar and has good game against other heroes. He has a variety of builds available to him, but the current prevailing build is an "OTK" build, which aims to build up a critical mass of Runechants and then kill the opponent in one turn via a large Sonata Arcanix discounted by Bloodsheath Skeleta's ability. Many OTK builds are now running a sideboard that can transform the deck's playstyle to be more midrange-y against the matchups that require a more proactive strategy. Viserai looks strongly positioned in a newer meta that affords him more time to set up runechants, and doesn't punish him as much for taking a turn off or two to wait for the right cards drawn.
Playstyle: Setup Control (OTK), Midrange (Midrange Vis)
Strengths:Surprisingly, OTK Viserai didn't get too much in this new set, but Midrange Viserai got a lot of goodies. The various commons that get a bonus if you've created a token (Drowning Dire and Shrill of Skullform in particular) should be far more consistent than his current suite that get cost reductions for Runechants, and Runeblood Incantation will be an invaluable pickup for midrange and testable in OTK. Runic Reclamation is a wonderful sideboard card that is great for picking off stray Channel Mount Heroics, Quicken tokens, Soul Shackles, and other random auras, as well as being a good phantasm popper against Prism. It should replace Ninth Blade of the Blood Oath in many builds.
Briar
Reports of her demise have been greatly exaggerated. Briar is still a powerhouse and can output insanely damaging turns on the backs of a few instances of on-demand go-again and Channel Mount Heroic. While her "redline" (red-heavy, 0-cost) build is unlikely to continue to perform at the level it once did, her builds off the backs of Channel Mount Heroic are still strong and have insane power spikes with just one turn of the card available to them.
Playstyle: Aggro
Strengths:- Low skill floor means that it isn't difficult to do well with Briar, but still has a lot of nuance that differentiates the less skilled from the very skilled
- Proactive nature and raw damage output makes her difficult to stop effectively, especially on turns with Channel Mount Heroic
- Disruptive heroes that force her to block or be taxed (Ice Lexi, Oldhim, Azalea)
Briar didn't get too much in this set - a strict upgrade to Nullrune Gloves (Vexing Quillhand), and a reasonable upgrade to some of her worst cards in the deck (Swarming Gloomveil, Revel in Runeblood). None of these cards will really push her power level, as both of her new action cards are difficult to make effective in her deck and are only marginally rewarding for doing so. That being said, it's not like she needed much - there are a few new cards to watch out for like Dissolution Sphere, and Wax On; despite this, she should still be a strong contender in the new metagame.
Outlook Neutral - Heroes that are unlikely to be top tier, but still very playable
Katsu
While Katsu has fallen out of favor in the past half-year due to being a generally inferior aggro deck and a generally inferior control deck to the best aggro and control decks in the format, we should see some minor reinvigoration of Katsu in a more aggressive form in this coming meta. One big factor is that he plays extremely well into Prism; his Kodachi are great at whittling down her shield count and dealing with auras at the end of turn. If it turns out that Prism becomes the boogeyman of the format, Katsu will be there as a natural check against her dominance. While he has several popular builds that run the gamut from aggro to control playstyles, I expect the more aggressive playstyles to do a little better than the control ones this season.
Playstyle: A spectrum from Aggro to Control
Strengths:- Constantly forces blocks via Mask of Momentum and other threatening on-hit effects that put opponents on the defensive
- Able to pivot between offense and defense on certain "midrange" builds based on matchup
- Heroes with stronger inevitability/fatigue plans than Katsu (Dash, Oldhim)
- Heroes with stronger aggressive plans than Katsu (Briar, Chane)
While Benji is the one many of the Ninja cards were aimed around, Katsu got a few new toys; namely a new combo line in Hundred Winds/Winds of Eternity that may open up a new deck type for him, and an alternative to Flik Flak against other cheap go-wide decks in Wax On. Mask of the Pouncing Lynx is a threatening alternative for aggressive versions of Katsu to Mask of Momentum, trading light game-long pressure to block specific attacks with a headgear that threatens to extend combo turns on every swing. Among the generic cards, cards like Even Bigger Than That! are worth considering as a neutral card that pitches to Kodachis well as well as create a Quicken token on-demand to turn on a half-assembled combo if necessary.
Chane
Once the boogeyman of the MON meta, Chane has taken a few hits in his power level thanks to the Seeds of Agony and Plunder Run bans. Nevertheless, he can still output a surprising amount of damage on the back of his free go again, and, when a pure aggro strategy doesn't seem to do the trick, can play a little more conservatively to set up for insane late game turns by pitch stacking his deck correctly. Like Briar, he performs best when unimpeded; any deck that can keep up with him in early game pressure or disrupt his late-game turns is going to perform well against him. Fortunately, there aren't too many of those, and I expect Chane will remain a strong contender throughout the EVR season.
Playstyle: Setup Aggro
Strengths:- Ability to chain (heh) together long strings of attacks thanks to his ability to effectively "draw" many cards by banishing them from the top of his deck and give them go again
- Heroes with mid/late game ways to disrupt his turns (Kano, Bravo)
- Heroes with strong defensive capabilities and damage regulation (Oldhim)
Chane didn't get too much to help out his playstyle; many of the new Runeblade attacks are a little too cheap to consider maindecking (though cards like Runic Reclamation could be a good option in the sideboard). Cards like Shrill of Skullform(blue) and Swarming Gloomveil are worth testing, but the former is not much of an upgrade and the latter will have difficulty being better than a 4 attack card with go again without additional ways to generate Runechants.
Oldhim
The go-to counter to Briar's dominant performance throughout the ELE season, Oldhim is anticipated to perform a little worse - but still fine - into this upcoming metagame. Like Bravo, he has a wide variety of threatening attacks available to him and a very playable line of just "Winter's Wail for 4" every turn that will grind down most opponents at a reasonable pace.
Playstyle: Control
Strengths:- Best defensive power in the game; legendary equipment allows Oldhim to efficiently block 4/5 power attacks while conserving the number of cards left in deck
- Offensive suite is focused around controlling the pace of the game, taxing opponents on resources or cards.
- Heroes that set up to unmanagable board states (Prism, OTK Viserai, Dash)
- Heroes that can turn off many of his defensive capabilities (Rhinar)
Oldhim can use the guardian cards a little better than Bravo (showstopped), though the difficulty for him comes from making room in his lists as he needs a certain density of ice cards to consistently threaten Frostbites with Winter's Wail. Stalagmite is a reasonable alternative in conjunction with Nerves of Steel, to stymie many go-wide heroes. Pulverize and Macho Grande are both considerations as well, with the blue version of Macho Grande functioning similar to Glacial Footsteps' role prior. He's also the best option for Grandeur of Valahai, the inherent downsides of it not being a 3-cost that blocks for 3 counterbalanced by Oldhim's need to pitch for Crown of Seeds and Rampart of Ram's Head during the opponent's turn.
Dash
One of the other constructed powerhouses in CRU, Dash has fallen out of favor due to the increase in heroes that are able to overcome her generic suite of defenses and mostly ignore her effectless damage output. Still, Dash is still powerful, and few can outmatch her lategame pressure with multiple Induction Chambers and Plasma Purifiers - it's just that setting them up is more difficult than ever. She benefits slightly from Briar's nerf, being one of the few aggro decks that could easily get over her defenses well before lategame, but Briar is just one of Dash's troublesome matchups. That being said, EVR added a lot of new cards for Boost Dash, which may lend it to being a strong enough aggro deck to have a place in the metagame.
Playstyle: Midrange to Setup Control (Transformative based on matchup)
Strengths- Best inevitability in the game due to power of multiple pistol shots
- Ability to put pressure with boost attacks and High Octane turns even when not fully set up
- Heroes that can get rid of her items (Rhinar, Levia)
- Aggressive heroes that do not give her windows of opportunity to set up and can outpace her damage output (Briar, Chane)
Her pistol control build gained a few tech cards in Dissolution Sphere and Signal Jammer, which allow her to buy some time against setup heroes and help give some game against heroes that rely on 4 damage and 7 damage attacks. One of the most important cards in this set for Mech as a whole is T-Bone - while it's text is occasionally useful, the real strength lies in it being a 0-cost attack for Boost, which helps increase the threat level of High Octane turns, make Maximum Velocity more viable as an offensive card, and, on occasion, set up a Meganetic Shockwave that eliminates one or more pieces of equipment that are especially fragile. This, coupled with cards like Teklo Pounder and Payload, may be enough to give aggro Dash a fighting chance, but even control Dash will want T-Bone in her deck.
Lexi
Lexi has two general builds - a Lightning-centric build that aims at outputting as much damage as possible with on-hit effects that amplify damage dealt, and an Ice-centric build that aims at giving opponents the maximum amount of disruption to ruin their ability to fight back. The Ice build was the more popular build throughout the ELE season, as a way to counter Briar (though the build's inconsistency prevented it from finding widespread success); the Lightning build was seen as a generally inferior aggro deck compared to Briar and Chane, and thus never gained too much popularity. That being said, both of her builds got a few new tools to play with, and while Ice Lexi should be less popular with the rise of Prism and Bravo, Lightning Lexi has enough game against the two top contenders that she should fare well in spite of them.
Playstyle: Disruptive Aggro-Midrange (Ice), Aggro (Lightning)
Strengths:- Wide variety of on-hit effects and playstyles make blocking (and sideboarding against) her properly difficult
- Consistently threatening on-hit effects force opponents into awkward blocks
- Aggressive heroes that do not run tight on resources (Chane)
- Heroes that can block her arrows efficiently (Oldhim, Bravo)
As Lightning Lexi, there's not too much that is of interest to you - Rain Razors is a great alternative to Lightning Press that can add up to 6-8 points of damage with a bit of setup, and Battering Bolt is great all around as a Phantasm popper and threatening card to finish off a big turn. Ice Lexi should have a few extra options on top of the aforementioned ones, including Release the Tension and Fatigue Shot as possible testing cards that will be fine in supplement to her elemental package.
Rhinar
Often a rogue deck thanks to the inherent amount of risk built into his playstyle, Rhinar has never been a top contender in any meta, though there are always a few Top 8 claims to his name every season. Rhinar shines best in midrange matchups where heroes aren't expected to be hyper aggro or block every turn, so with the general slowdown of Briar (and Chane)'s hyper-aggro capabilities, now is the time for him to shine. He works as a natural counter to Prism's shenanigans, with his deck filled with 6 power attacks to pop phantasm and on-demand (though famously unreliable) ways to remove auras thanks to Scabskin Leathers. His builds differ slightly whether you're playing Romping Club or Mandible Claws; lists may look similar at first glance, but the goals and methods of each deck will vary.
Playstyle: Midrange (Club), Aggro-Midrange (Claws)
Strengths:- High damage output and cards that encourage the opponent to block help bring the game to a midrange game where he is in favor
- Easily able to set up turns where he intimidates the entire hand out of the opponent, allowing him to close games easily and surprisingly early.
- Heroes that can mostly ignore his damage output in favor of theirs (Briar)
- Heroes that use defense reactions from arsenal to get around the effects of intimidation (Bravo, Oldhim)
Rhinar got a few new goodies in this set, including aggressive cards in Wild Ride and Bare Fangs, with the former much more playable than the latter. While they may read similar to other Brute cards, they offer a handsize-friendly way to push damage through and intimidate without relying on discarding an existing card in hand. Most decks will want to pick up Swing Big, as it's a great way to either push damage through on a Barraging Beatdown/intimidate-heavy turn or entice your opponent to lose tempo by fully blocking it out and giving you more freedom to beat down on your own terms.
Outlook Poor - Heroes that are unlikely to be top tier and will have a tough time in the meta
Kano
While Kano has seen limited success in the ELE metagame, most of it was due to extremely tight sideboard slots leading to arcane barrier equipment being cut from opposing decklists. The more Kano a metagame has, the less powerful he is, making him a walking catch-22 of a hero that performs best when nobody expects him. His ability to burst opponents down on their turn is to be feared, and aside from his worst matchup - Prism - he has the reasonable ability to win any game if the opponent decides to leave their shields down at a critical moment. Since we expect a slower metagame and heroes running at least 1 piece of arcane barrier equipment for the Runeblade matchup, Kano will perform a little worse than he has been - so long as his opponents continue to respect his presence.
Playstyle: Combo
Strengths- High damage output that can occur during an opponent's turn means that the opponent must always play around him or risk getting burst for massive damage
- Disproportionately powerful with how prevalent he is in the metagame; as opponents stop running arcane barrier for the matchup, his strength increases
- Heroes that have a lot of excess pitch and natural arcane barrier or damage prevention (Prism, Bravo)
Kano got a lot of spicy new tools, with some sweet sideboard tech in Scour that helps against Prism, Chane, and Viserai. Other cards of interest include Emeritus Scolding, Aether Wildfire, and Sigil of Parapets, which should make Kano a little more interesting in terms of burst capabilities and defenses. The most exciting card for Kano, however, isn't a Wizard card at all - it's Potion of Deja Vu, an amazing card that, in the worst of cases, allows him to play a blue at instant speed as a pseudo-Storm Striders; and in the best cases, allows him to combo off with a few amazing turns in conjunction with cards like Tome of Aetherwind.
Dorinthea
Once a constructed powerhouse back in CRU, Dorinthea has fallen a bit behind in recent releases, and not just due to Chane and Briar. Dorinthea shines best in midrange matchups where her reaction-focused gameplay can make blocking correctly difficult and punish undercommitting. She also has a lot of difficulty dealing with Prism due to her difficulty gaining action points to deal with auras and maintain pressure; so while the former is set to grow more popular with the recent bans, the latter will as well. She also has a fringe Axes build that is not very good, but could potentially get better with the new EVR cards.
Playstyle: Aggro-Midrange (Dawnblade), Midrange-Control (Axes)
Strengths- Strong ability to punish blocking mistakes and consistently has an advantage in combat due to the majority of her power coming from her reactions; maintains tempo well
- Prism
- Heroes with lots of defense reacts (Viserai, Oldhim)
Dawnblade didn't get much at all this set - the new helm, Helm of Sharp Eye, is on the difficult side to activate for her and has inconsistent payoff without Stroke of Foresight. Shatter is a decent option against classes with a lot of armor like Runeblade and Guardian, being able to snipe a Tectonic Plating, Bloodsheath Skeleta, Grasp of the Arknight, or Rampart of Ram's Head from a Singing Steelblade. Axes, meanwhile, got a lot of support this set; cards like Oath of Steel and Blade Runner should be great at allowing it to maintain consistent pressure. I don't expect the build to overtake Dawnblade, but at least it's within striking distance of power level now.
Azalea
An eternal meme no longer; I have high hopes that Azalea's overall winrate will increase due to her new arrows, though I don't believe that she'll fare well in the new metagame; Prism and Bravo are two of her worst matchups by design, and while she'll have a lot more power against the rest of the field, she's unlikely to make it among the top tables despite this. If the metagame shifts away from these two heroes, expect her to be a strong contender.
Playstyle: Disruptive Midrange
Strengths- Extremely difficult to block profitably with ways to give dominate and prevent defense reactions from hand or arsenal
- Strong on-hit effects available to her make regaining tempo relatively easy
- Prism
- Heroes that have ways to get around her forms of evasion (Oldhim)
- Heroes that can easily force her on the defensive (Bravo, Ice Lexi)
Almost every Ranger card in EVR is of use to Azalea. The most standout cards are probably Dreadbore (whose mere existence will make your opponent question the amount of defense reactions they include), Fatigue Shot (an arrow with a great on-hit ability that will force out blocks), and Read the Glide Path (a great efficient pump that helps her facilitate her dominate effect). That being said, I expect almost every card except Timidity Point to make it in various Azalea builds; and even Timidity Point as a sideboard card in the Ranger mirror and/or Guardian.
Boltyn
Never a particularly popular character, Boltyn hasn't seen too much success in the ELE meta coming off of his acceptable performance in the MON meta. Boltyn has two main builds - Raydn and Sabers, an aggro deck and a combo deck. While he has a reasonable Prism matchup and can definitely catch players offguard with his combo turn in the sabers build, his card-hungry playstyle has proven to be just a little on the weaker side. In theory, there's no single factor keeping Boltyn down; he has tools to work around every matchup, and his damage output is very reasonable if you factor in how difficult it is to block. I expect his performance to be a little better in this metagame, where you have less Ice and aggro decks to prevent him from setting up properly.
Playstyle: Setup Aggro (Raydn), Combo (Sabers)
Strengths- Charge ability allows him to easily set up high-damage turns and force awkward blocks from the opponent
- Heroes with plenty of non-attack action cards (Kano)
- Heroes that have the ability to disrupt combo turns easily (Oldhim, Ice Lexi, Azalea, Bravo)
Boltyn is probably the best candidate to use Helm of Sharp Eye, able to easily buff Raydn to twice it's base power and with the easiest way to utilize its ability, banishing an attack from the top of the deck to play. Since Boltyn doesn't want to run too many non-Light cards due to his powerhouse cards requiring Light cards, there aren't too many other options for him, though a build similar to Dori's Axes build may emerge from all of the dual wielding cards released this set.
Levia
The black sheep of the metagame, Levia is a bit of a meme due to her unreliable ability to prevent damage to blood debt and plenty of awkward hands making damage output a bit clunky for the inexperienced player. Nevertheless, it is possible to win with her - just incredibly difficult to do so consistently. She's found some success on Claw builds and Generic/non-Shadow Brute-heavy builds before, as well as a fascimile of Rhinar that runs the best Shadow and Shadow Brute cards, and I expect that trend to continue with EVR where she didn't receive much to buff her up.
Playstyle: Midrange-Control (Club), Aggro-Midrange (Claws)
Strengths- High damage output and damage potential when play-from-banish engines are online
- Heroes that have the ability to put more pressure than Levia can consistently put out (Briar, Chane)
- Herself (thanks to decent amount of areas where bad RNG can spell doom)
Levia didn't get too much this set, with the most playable options being Swing Big in the Club build, and Wild Ride in the Claws build. The most likely success she'll have in the coming months will probably be playing her as a normal Brute with access to some choice shadow cards in Guardian of the Shadowrealm, Dread Screamer, and Shadow Puppetry.
Of the generic cards, most heroes gained access to a powerful anti-Dash card in the form of Smashing Good Time, and while This Round's on Me may seem card inefficient at first glance, I suspect it should find its way into many defensive decks looking to sideboard against heroes like Prism, Briar, and Katsu. The individual applications of the various items in this set are too many to list - and many are too narrow to matter enough to dedicate a slot to - but expect a few to be tested in various builds as a way to ensure against a specific bad matchup or to help smooth out some turns.
While I've tried to list a few interests of Everfest for each hero, I'm already seeing a few exciting new archetypes emerging! While the eventual meta may settle into something completely different than the one listed here, hopefully this has been useful for you in getting a general starting point as to what to build and how to build it for the upcoming Pro Tour season. See you in New Jersey!
