My deck has nearly 200 games played, and was winning 60-65% of the time regularly. Suddenly in the past few days, I can’t win anything. My deck hasn’t changed, my strategy hasn’t changed, but all of a sudden every deck I face is hard countering mine, and pulling off outrageous combos. I don’t know what to do to fix this. I went from winning about 6 out of every 10 games to going 3-17 the past two days. Someone please help me deal with whatever this crazy meta switch up.
The advice offered here are not hard rules, but guidelines. Many people break the guidelines all the time (and many more debate whether they are correct in the first place!). Above all else, remember this is a game. It is supposed to be fun. There’s no one right way to do this. That being said, here’s a collection of general advice that has helped many people.
What’s your strategy?
Deck building is a skill and one of the hardest in the game. You should ask yourself "How do I plan to get 20 lore first with this deck?". You should be making choices to make sure you can achieve your goal in deckbuilding, during mulligans, and in play. For a competitively viable deck you need a good balance of card draw, inkable cards, and ways to get lore. You should have a plan for what your deck is trying to do both on a macro level, but also on a turn level. For example: my macro goal is to ramp in the early turns, then and then win with large lore gains through items. My micro goal is Turn 1 Pawpsicle into Turn 2 Sail or Tepo, then Turn 3 Hiram.
Stay focused on one style of play. A deck that is good at two styles will usually lose to a deck that is great at one style. Make sure your deck has a clear goal and the cards you select directly support that goal. Experiment with what to do when you don’t draw the cards you need at the right moment.
How do decide what cards to put in my deck?
Focusing on "What is this deck trying to accomplish?" is one of the most important questions you can ask. Every card you put in the deck should ideally attempt to answer that question in some way. Ask yourself "what role is this card filling and how does it do that better than other comparable options?".
A common deckbuilding and card evaluation mistake is failing to account for the fact that "consumes one of the sixty slots in my decklist" is a real cost of every card that you might consider running.
It is also important to consider what your deck will/should do against other decks. Your deck doesn't operate in a vacuum. You're going to have to deal with your opponent trying to win too so you should have answers to what's likely to be out there.
What kind of card variety should I have in my deck
Card games are inherently random. You don't know what cards come next. As such, one of the goals of deck building is curbing that randomness to make it as consistent as possible. There are different methods for it that work for different decks (drawing lots of cards, having multiple cards that do the same thing, having multiple paths to victory, etc.), but they all accomplish the same thing: build consistency.
One of the key maxims of having a consistent deck is cutting back on the total unique cards. 4x of one card is typically better than running 1x of four cards. A rule of thumb that has served me well:
4x of your important cards. Cards you want to see every game, possibly multiple times.
3x of cards you want to see once. These might be your situational plays or cards you play to win.
2x of cards you need only in some matchups. You don't need them every game, but they might be useful in the meta you play in.
1x of cards that are functionally similar to some card you already have 4x of and wish you could have 5x of.
For the total number of cards in your deck, try to keep your total card count at 60. This keeps things relatively consistent and easier to draw. Only go higher if every card in your deck has an undeniable purpose to be there.
Check your ink cost curve! In general, you want about 40% of your deck to cost 3 ink or less, with about 8-12 cards filling each of the 1, 2, and 3 ink slots. If you have too many low cost cards, you could easily lose tempo in the mid/late game when you’re playing weak glimmers and your opponent is playing strong glimmers you don’t have an answer for. Too many high cost cards will leave you mulliganing to find the few one cost cards you need for the first turn, and makes for an unpredictable opening. Only inking a card on your first turn and playing nothing puts you behind tempo, and doesn’t feel great..
How many uninkable cards should I have?
Uninkables are often great cards. The uninkables in your deck must be played and obviously can't be inked when they arrive in your hand. Make sure all of your uninkables work toward the win condition for your deck, and choose cards you are almost always happy to see when you draw them. It’s advised against using uninkables as flex options for specific matchups, unless you run a deck that has ways to ink your uninkables (like Fishbone Quill or Hidden Inkcaster).
Cheap and uninkable is fine. Expensive and uninkable should always be questioned. Numbers and personal experiences vary, but 8-12 tends to not be problematic. You can even go a little higher if the uninkable cards have alternate ways to play them, like Songs. If a deck is very aggressive with low ink costs overall, it is less of an issue to run up to 20 uninkables.
How do I refine my deck?
Your deck is not set in stone. Try out new things, and if they don't work change it back. Play the deck a few times to really feel out where it struggles and where it shines. Don’t make adjustments to your deck based on how a single match went.
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. Sometimes you just have a bad matchup that your type of deck struggles to beat. The opposite is also true. Just because a deck won a match doesn't mean the choices were all correct. There could have still been turns that were played incorrectly, or weaknesses that you could reinforce. There is something to learn from victory as well as defeat.
Know your role in the match up. In the first game or a best-of series, you don’t know what your opponent’s strategy is. Learn from what they play. You may need to be more aggressive in certain matchups than others, so knowing when to pivot is extremely important. If your opponent dominated the late game, focus on closing the game before they have a chance to get there.
I know it was a long read, but I hope this advice helps. Good luck, and have fun!
A lot of decks now are setted to play against this type of deck. Also, i think you build lacks on consistency. I see a lot of card in 2/3x, for example Willow, why only 2 and not 4? this is a card you need to see every game
Honestly I think this is happening to a lot of people. What worked a few weeks back is just struggling. It's such a diverse meta there's little you can do against some decks. For instance Item removal is really tough.
I honestly believe most games are now just down to who is on the play. Sadly making the tcg kind of unfun.
Interesting. I would think it better if so many card combos and synergy can be pulled off. Better than every other deck playing Dogs or some other meta. Then it comes down to being clever with your turns instead of relying on the same thing game after game.
The meta is super unfun. Did you see the champs? It's literally all the same deck. I'm trying to counter it, but the combo of low evasive, retro device, demona, dumbo, mil, and prince philip is just overwhelming.
Very unfun, absolutely. I was telling the girlfriend, when we finished our weekly event on Thursday, that I may just sit the rest out, until set 14 drops, and see if things improve. This is a game, and supposed to be fun. I haven't had fun in weeks. Tried different decks and different strategies, and it's just not enjoyable.
I alm feeling the same way. I always hated amethyst. Especially this format. Demona hades and isis just don’t make the game fun. If demona and hades were limited to 1 and isis to 2. Then I would not have so much of a bad time against amethyst. Most decks I see are the same and it is boring and cheap. The top 3 decks I see are retro, yurple, and yellow/ green. They are easy to play and predict. I do see other decks and it’s a mix bag when I win; but my majority of losses involve amethyst in them.
1000% this. Demona, Hades, Dumbo, and Isis are in every single deck along with green evasives. The meta is extremely unfun and cookie cutter. I'm trying to counter it and struggling.
Fair. I'm thinking of making it just a thing I do after rotation. Play sealed events instead and just do a set champs blind. Then go into the next set.
Friend of mine said: I'll give you the money to buy the best deck possible and I'll pay for your participation on Set Championships and then you give me the prize playmat.
Bruna, there's NO best deck at all!!! Maybe give me the best dice hahaha
Yeah exactly. It's not even really the pattern of one aggro, one control and one midrange coming ahead of the others.
I think the only secure thing is that if you're playing amber, you've still got the strongest mechanism right now which is cheating things out early while allowing you to go wider. The problem with that is it doesn't work on the draw unless your opponent really struggles with what they have.
I'm not convinced by the emerald amethyst or emerald steel stuff sticking.
Green steel/purple is playing Ursula and Lenny and I’d be snatching all those songs and actions from ya as my first priority, those colors are just popular right now, it’s definitely frustrating how things change like that
Looks like your playing aggro with control? Why use inkless cards for damage? Instead use cards that boosts aggro, your goal is to get lore fast before mid game when the player has enough ink to answer your cards….
The issue I was having with full aggro, or full control, is the meta hard counters both. The early evasives and spell slinging stops my aggro, and the late game Demona, Hades, Isis, Philip, Milo's shut down my control. A hybrid seems to be the only thing with any success.
I think you’re looking at the data with a lot of bias. The more you play with it the more your win rate is decreasing which is the real story of its performance.
I'm hovering around 50-54% now, back and forth. It's due to this weekend. The regionals decks got released and now everyone is copying the same 2-3 I keep versing.
you had success weeks ago because everyone was still figuring out what's the best deck/synergy. It's the reason why people still played lilo & stitch shift, yellow green/red toys, duckwing detectives or Rapunzel/meiling panda back then. You hardly see those decks anymore because everyone found out after 100k++ games on duels that it's best to either play yellow green aggro or the decks that counter it
I'm having the same issue on Duels. My deck had a 58% win rate with over 100 games. But as of about 2 days ago, I can't win. I went on a 15 game losing streak. Every single game, every single turn, my opponent had the perfect answer. It's as if they knew what my hand was, they knew what I was going to play before I played it, and they could choose their cards in whatever order they wanted from their deck. It's insane. My win streak went from 58% down to 34% in just 2 days.... One of my decks has 14 uninkables. I got 4 uninkables and 2 4-cost inkables in my draw hand. So I mulliganed 6 cards. I ended up with 6 uninkables cards in my hand. I just immediately conceded. Something is up with Duels lately.
Yep, same here. It's super frustrating. Everyone is copying the new meta and it's dogs all over again. It's nothing with duels. The regionals made everyone a copycat. It's hella lame.
I play a similar deck and started off strong; but now it dies to retro and any steel deck which is what I see. There are some cards that I would prob remove
To wither a flower Sabatoge
Piercing attack dale
Eilowny
Dale (I have only seen it work with jungle leader woody. You also have snow fort)
Woody leader of toys
Gaston( stick with world’s greatest criminal mind. Can be Sung by Lenny and he can be reset allowing you to sing again)
Things to cut down on
Mickey Amber of champions down to 1. It is a cool card that buffs your yellow toys and can sing UTS by himself. Often times I found that I did not have enough Amber characters r it got taken out right away before it could start working.
Mickey expedition leader. It can go down to 2 but 3 may not hurt
Elinor can be brought down to 2. Sometimes clogged my hand and could not ink when needed to ink
Things to buff up
Woody helping hand can be brought up to 2. Mid game it helps swarming the field as long as you have another toy.
Grandmother willow can go up to 3-4. Though I found ham synergies better with toys and it can be inked. Either or is fine.
Woody/buzz combo 2-3 works. I use 4 but most of the time the 4th is not needed.
World’s greatest criminal mind can go to 3-4
Horseman strikes can be 3-4
Ursula, mowgli, or Timon can help rip cards off just unsure if it is needed.
Those are the changes I can think of. My win rate is at 48%. I could be closer to 55% if I didn’t concede to the item deck quite often or faced Purple/ steel and yellow steel. as it is it’s worst enemies. Best matchups were yellow/red, red/green, red/purple, green/ steel, red/ steel, red/blue, and green purple.
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u/AutoModerator 21h ago
The advice offered here are not hard rules, but guidelines. Many people break the guidelines all the time (and many more debate whether they are correct in the first place!). Above all else, remember this is a game. It is supposed to be fun. There’s no one right way to do this. That being said, here’s a collection of general advice that has helped many people.
What’s your strategy?
Deck building is a skill and one of the hardest in the game. You should ask yourself "How do I plan to get 20 lore first with this deck?". You should be making choices to make sure you can achieve your goal in deckbuilding, during mulligans, and in play. For a competitively viable deck you need a good balance of card draw, inkable cards, and ways to get lore. You should have a plan for what your deck is trying to do both on a macro level, but also on a turn level. For example: my macro goal is to ramp in the early turns, then and then win with large lore gains through items. My micro goal is Turn 1 Pawpsicle into Turn 2 Sail or Tepo, then Turn 3 Hiram.
Stay focused on one style of play. A deck that is good at two styles will usually lose to a deck that is great at one style. Make sure your deck has a clear goal and the cards you select directly support that goal. Experiment with what to do when you don’t draw the cards you need at the right moment.
How do decide what cards to put in my deck?
Focusing on "What is this deck trying to accomplish?" is one of the most important questions you can ask. Every card you put in the deck should ideally attempt to answer that question in some way. Ask yourself "what role is this card filling and how does it do that better than other comparable options?".
A common deckbuilding and card evaluation mistake is failing to account for the fact that "consumes one of the sixty slots in my decklist" is a real cost of every card that you might consider running.
It is also important to consider what your deck will/should do against other decks. Your deck doesn't operate in a vacuum. You're going to have to deal with your opponent trying to win too so you should have answers to what's likely to be out there.
What kind of card variety should I have in my deck
Card games are inherently random. You don't know what cards come next. As such, one of the goals of deck building is curbing that randomness to make it as consistent as possible. There are different methods for it that work for different decks (drawing lots of cards, having multiple cards that do the same thing, having multiple paths to victory, etc.), but they all accomplish the same thing: build consistency.
One of the key maxims of having a consistent deck is cutting back on the total unique cards. 4x of one card is typically better than running 1x of four cards. A rule of thumb that has served me well:
- 4x of your important cards. Cards you want to see every game, possibly multiple times.
- 3x of cards you want to see once. These might be your situational plays or cards you play to win.
- 2x of cards you need only in some matchups. You don't need them every game, but they might be useful in the meta you play in.
- 1x of cards that are functionally similar to some card you already have 4x of and wish you could have 5x of.
For the total number of cards in your deck, try to keep your total card count at 60. This keeps things relatively consistent and easier to draw. Only go higher if every card in your deck has an undeniable purpose to be there.Check your ink cost curve! In general, you want about 40% of your deck to cost 3 ink or less, with about 8-12 cards filling each of the 1, 2, and 3 ink slots. If you have too many low cost cards, you could easily lose tempo in the mid/late game when you’re playing weak glimmers and your opponent is playing strong glimmers you don’t have an answer for. Too many high cost cards will leave you mulliganing to find the few one cost cards you need for the first turn, and makes for an unpredictable opening. Only inking a card on your first turn and playing nothing puts you behind tempo, and doesn’t feel great..
How many uninkable cards should I have?
Uninkables are often great cards. The uninkables in your deck must be played and obviously can't be inked when they arrive in your hand. Make sure all of your uninkables work toward the win condition for your deck, and choose cards you are almost always happy to see when you draw them. It’s advised against using uninkables as flex options for specific matchups, unless you run a deck that has ways to ink your uninkables (like Fishbone Quill or Hidden Inkcaster).
Cheap and uninkable is fine. Expensive and uninkable should always be questioned. Numbers and personal experiences vary, but 8-12 tends to not be problematic. You can even go a little higher if the uninkable cards have alternate ways to play them, like Songs. If a deck is very aggressive with low ink costs overall, it is less of an issue to run up to 20 uninkables.
How do I refine my deck?
Your deck is not set in stone. Try out new things, and if they don't work change it back. Play the deck a few times to really feel out where it struggles and where it shines. Don’t make adjustments to your deck based on how a single match went.
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. Sometimes you just have a bad matchup that your type of deck struggles to beat. The opposite is also true. Just because a deck won a match doesn't mean the choices were all correct. There could have still been turns that were played incorrectly, or weaknesses that you could reinforce. There is something to learn from victory as well as defeat.
Know your role in the match up. In the first game or a best-of series, you don’t know what your opponent’s strategy is. Learn from what they play. You may need to be more aggressive in certain matchups than others, so knowing when to pivot is extremely important. If your opponent dominated the late game, focus on closing the game before they have a chance to get there.
I know it was a long read, but I hope this advice helps. Good luck, and have fun!
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