This tier list is valid for Patch 1.34.something (The Fall of Argenport chapter start)

Final Dead Reckoning Tier List (#3) – June 10th, 2018

In the past few weeks, I’ve got a lot of questions about both the absence and the future of the tier list, and I’d like to take some time to address them here. Speaking frankly, the two things holding back the tier list the most were time and success. I (aReNGee) was not playing very much Eternal at all, and what little I was playing was broadly unsuccessful. My formerly reliably compatriots had completely quit the game and my backups had vanished back into the woodwork. I did not write a new tier list because I quite literally had no idea what was going on in ladder play. It was my hope that we would have Set 4 before the tier list atrophied too much and I could slingshot back into the know, but it was not to be.

What does that hold for the future of the tier list? Well, I’m currently the wrong person to write this, but that doesn’t mean I will be in the future. I ramped up my ladder games and put in the time to generate this tier list, and I certainly won’t miss the show once Set 4 finally does release. However, in the meantime other people have once again begun creating their own lists, and that’s excellent – if someone else can better capture the metagame, I urge them to do so. The tier list, once a solid fixture of RNGEternal alongside its article content, has taken the back seat as more and more of our time is consumed by the ETS, the future of which is also in doubt. To all our fans, I thank you for supporting us through these literal years – I’m surprised we made it as far as we have. This is not, however, a retirement note. The tier list will return 1 week after the release of Set 4, and at that time I should be able to provide some solid answers as to the future of Tier List on RNGEternal, as well as the ETS and RNGEternal itself.

I’m flying solo for this one, so there’s no one to !blame but aReNGee.

The Tier List

Here’s our usual spiel.

Explanation of Tiers

Tier 1 – These are the most successful and prominent ladder decks at the moment.

Tier 2 – These decks are powerful and great ladder choices, though noticeably less popular or powerful than tier 1 decks.

Tier 3 – These decks are usually quite powerful when they go off, but need a strong draw to work or have some other exploitable weakness. Fine choices for the ladder, especially if the metagame favors them or you minimize their weaknesses.

Tier 4 – People complained that this portion of the tier list was useless since we recently didn’t stretch down in to meme decks in Tier 4 and only used it when something was very popular and very bad. It is being retained for that specific purpose.

Decks in italics were not on the previous Tier List.



Official Tier List

Tier 1 TJP Midrange, Argenport Midrange, Praxis (Tokens), Skycrag Aggro Tier 2

Stonescar, Feln, Icaria Blue, Hooru Tier 3

Xenan, Combrei, Grenadins Tier 4

Rakano, Chalice, FTx Moment, Elysian Unlisted

TSx Mask Explanation of Tiers Tier 1 TJP Midrange turned out to not only have staying power, but wings. Large, resilient units combined with a solid removal pool and Stand Together have been enough to keep them on top, and the addition of Svetya to give the finger to any control deck trying to claw back into the game is just icing on the cake. It was considered about even with Argenport Midrange before, but Svetya tips the balance in TJP’s favor. Nonetheless, Argenport keeps doing what it does best, beefing through the midgame. TJP cuts spells and relics out of the picture and leaves you with only units to fight with – guess what deck is really good at chopping through units? (Hint: its Argenport Mid) Praxis Tokens. ’nuff said. Skycrag isn’t all that great against either of these decks (although it can steal wins) but it does some real nasty things to decks trying to beat them. It’s also pretty popular – losing to Hailstorm as aggro sucks, and Skycrag doesn’t. Tier 2 Stonescar actually gets a little bit of life back. Combust and Madness are both powerful cards against these ponderous midrange decks (assuming you’re not Svetya’d) and it can brawl with Skycrag given the right draw. The multiple go-wide decks are a lot more annoying since they cut away at your good targets, but Stonescar’s back in a better place. Feln is also your best Hailstorm deck, although it looks all kinds of bad against TJP. This doesn’t matter to most Feln players, by this point they’ve bashed themselves into Armory for years so they’re used to having an autolose matchup. Icaria Blue has similar problems – it has about six cards it can cast into a Svetya. On the other hand, its one of your better slow decks against the aggro decks and tokens. Actual Hooru has been picking up a bit of steam – all those good cards in TJP are still good without the T. Watch out when this deck gets its damn crest.

Tier 3 Xenan and Combrei pilots have been forced to get creative – there’s an aggressive Xenan deck that’s been doing all right and Combrei Midrange hits right in the same strike zone as TJP, although its not as strong. Grenadins slides down the list as the midrange decks take to the air again – it can’t hold the ground all that well when there’s nothing to hold it against. None of these decks are better than their counterparts, although Combrei would be closer if it didn’t just look like grounded TJP Mid. Xenan experts assure me the deck is great, but I’m fairly sure that’s a case of pilot proficiency outweighing deck power. Tier 4 Rakan-oh no! Commando and Duo were cute on release, but that time is so far behind us now. Rakano can’t beat hailstorm, can’t beat Pacifier, struggles against slay… The only success I’ve found is rolling back to Silverwing racing plans, and that just folds to Pacifier even harder. Chalice. The metagame is just stuff that flies over your dudes and aggro decks that go under you. You’re soooooo slow at closing out the game and weak to cards like sabotage and Yelling Mage if anyone’s playing that. The former boogeyman is now on the finges of play – an influx of newer, more overpowered 2 atk units will probably help. Speaking of fallen Titans, FTX Moment is probably the worst deck you can play into TJP Midrange. Leaning on Hailstorm is nice and all, but all the top decks except for maybe Praxis Tokens beat it, and you don’t really have anything else in your deck. Playing this before TJP got big was suboptimal – now its just foolish. I just don’t like Elysian very much. It’s actually better than tier 4 in both popularity and performance, but I just don’t see any draw to the deck. False Prince isn’t where you want to be, Dawnwalker is so weak he’s seeing barely any play even in Elysian, and Cirso is a real nice card to slay. You can play Carnosaur, I guess, but you can play that anywhere. It feels like you’re playing the fifth best Time deck and I’m just not sure why you’d want to do that.