Lorcana

Compétitif

Competitive Lorcana - Previewing the NA Continental Championship!

, Comment regular icon0 comments

In today's article, let's review the competitive metagame and know what to expect from the North-American Lorcana Continental Championship!

Writer image

Traduit par Antonio Carlos

Writer image

revu par Tabata Marques

Edit Article

Hello, everyone!

It's new year and we're on a roll!

Soon enough we'll be on the Azurite Sealink outside website Set Championship Season, and on this weekend, from January 10th to 12th, the NA Continental Championship will take place, where all eyes will be watching the best in North America compete and chase the sought-after Lorcana World Championship spot, due in March.

At the very beginning of December, we had already previewed the European Championshiplink outside website, and identified many interesting trends in the competitive metagame.

Ad

However, throughout December, we saw this same metagame develop, and now on the eve of the North American Continental it is important to refresh our memory and re-analyze the decks that are most likely to show up throughout the weekend. Let's go!

The Most Popular Decks

One cannot begin an analysis of the likely metagame in the Continental NA without talking about the deck that eventually won the European Continental just one month ago, Ruby/Amethyst Bounce:

Loading icon

This is undoubtedly the most targeted deck at the moment, since it has not only already proven itself at the most competitive environment possible in Lorcana, but has also shown other positive results - including many 1st places - in several smaller tournaments throughout December.

In fact, as we mentioned in our European Continental pre-analysis articlelink outside website, there was a previous tournament with 138 participants in which a still unrefined list emerged victorious, which undoubtedly may have inspired the European champion to put together his own list.

Plain and simple, it's a deck you need to be prepared and have a good plan against it. But it's far from the only deck that's on everyone's radar!

Another deck that remains popular and successful is Ruby Sapphire Itemslink outside website, probably one of the best Control decks in the game, as it combines strong cards that deal with the most diverse threats from opponents with efficient card draw, in order to always accumulate more resources. After the game is firmly on the control player's grup, victory is achieved in one or two turns through a combination of Tamatoa - So Shiny! with Lucky Dime:

Loading icon

Drawing cards is always considered one of the most important mechanics in any card game, as it allows you to expand the resources available to the player and thus facilitate the path to victory.

But the reverse path - that is, destroying the opponent's resources - is also possible in Lorcana, with the best example being the Emerald Steel Discardlink outside website deck. Although it didn't quite put up results in Europe, the deck is somewhat popular in the United States, even winning the last two North American Challenges - Vegas and Seattle:

Loading icon

The Newcomers

Some decks have appeared recently and put up good results even in the face of an established metagame, so it's reasonable that they end up appearing on the Continental - and, who knows, they could surprise everyone and end up with a victory!

One of them is the new Amethyst-Emerald Bounce, a deck that tries to combine the strong card draw in Amethyst with the efficient discard tools in Emerald:

Loading icon

It was the second most popular deck in the European Championship, with a second-place finish in the tournament - that is, one match short from actually winning it all! It is a deck that shows a lot of strength and adaptability, so it is not a surprise that in an environment of higher level players, it should stand out.

Ad

Another deck that recently appeared and turned out to be a pleasant surprise, combining elements of aggressive decks and board control decks, is Amber Steel Dwarfs:

Loading icon

The decklist above was undoubtedly built based on the latest metagame trends - including the European Championship itself! It was used by Brennan DeCandio to win a $10,000 prize event held in the USA in mid-December.

Notice how the combination of cheap characters - especially Singers, like Cinderella - Ballroom Sensation - and the powerful Location Seven Dwarf's Mine - Secure Fortress allows the deck to transition very well from early to mid game, and from then on, establish a constant Lore gain to win the game.

This list could very well be the big breakout deck we'll see at the NA Continental!

Conclusion

Now what remains is for us to carefully follow what will be the second and conclusive Continental Lorcana Championship, so that we can then define the participants for the Lorcana World Cup in March!

Analyzing metagame lists is always important, but of course several factors influence who will emerge victorious - including the surprise factor! After all, the deck that ended up winning in Europe, for example, wasn't even among the five most popular decks of the event - in other words, being well positioned may be more relevant, in the end, than just having the best list or the tier 1 deck from the established metagame.

Also, don't rule out that some surprises may show up and end with a good result, such as our Mufasa-based combo decklink outside website, which we get in more detail in the linked article. These are decks that cancertainly find some weak spots in the metagame and finish with a winning record!

We will definitely be paying attention to everything happening in Anaheim this weekend!

And what about you? What do you hope to see this weekend? Which deck do you think has the best chance of winning it all? Share with us!

Hugs and see you next time!