Pro Quest is a series of events that takes place at the store level, which sees players competing to win an invitation to the upcoming Pro Tour it's tied to. In this case, Pro Tour Singapore on July 17-20.
Over the next four weeks, we will see results collated by Legend Story Studios showing the results from Pro Quests from all over the world. The number of wins each hero has gained, and what bearing that has going into this turbulent metagame.
Pro Quest Week 1 Results
The metagame breakdown across the world is pretty much exactly what I, and most competitive players were expecting.
Even on this first week out of a four week PQ season, there are some fascinating insights for what's on the top spot, some of the consequences of these results, and what we can possibly extrapolate from this data going into the rest of the season.
Drifting Mist
As we reported in another article, this gave win035-cf-zen-tamer-of-purpose-pro-tour-champion-cards-part-the-mistveil-promo exactly enough points to hit Living Legend, and it gave mst025-enigma-ledger-of-ancestry-part-the-mistveil-booster even more points than she needed. Both heroes will leave the format Friday 25th of April.
The implications for the metagame are huge. I won't repeat what was spoken about in the other article, but Enigma gatekeeping numbers decks means that Guardian and Warrior significantly improve, as does the new best defensive value deck, ros001-florian-rotwood-harbinger-rosetta-booster.
Super Stardom
The best deck in the format will continue to be the best deck in the format. ast001-aurora-shooting-star-armory-deck-aurora-shooting-star-precon still presents consistent, repeatable damage, as well as split damage, all in a way that most decks really cannot match.
Aurora's consistency and raw power are factors that we will need to respect going into this new meta. However, as of the time that this article was published, Aurora is sitting on 773 out of 1000 Living Legend points. Each Pro Quest earns a hero 3/4 points approximately. If she's able to win 75 more events over the next 3 weeks, she could also leave the Classic Constructed format during this Pro Quest Season. I, and a lot of other players, agree that this is possible.
If she doesn't, it's a foregone conclusion that Aurora will be gone during Nationals season, which leaves the entire player base wondering what the best aggressive deck will be going into Nationals. Just in time for High Seas' release.
Rising Powers
We should now look at the other decks that have filled out the pie chart. It's the next four decks behind Aurora and Enigma that I will have my keen eye on going into this new metagame.
Florian has all the tools that a stalling, controlly Viserai used to have, yet every now and then he can send an attack that carves up your hand or Arsenal; ros031-felling-of-the-crown-1-rosetta-booster and ros032-plow-under-2-rosetta-booster. I firmly believe that these two cards together will maintain every Earth heroes' relevance in each format for as long as there's an Earth Talent hero.
Then there's the Assassins.
With mst001-nuu-alluring-desire-part-the-mistveil-booster being the last legal Mystic hero, she will singlehandedly keep Guardians out of the metagame for as long as she exists. Being able to play them on her opponent's behalf is just too strong when Guardians need multiple strong Blues for their deck to function.
hnt261-mv-arakni-5lp3d-7hru-7h3-cr4x-the-hunted-booster has risen in popularity since his strong showing in Milwaukee. Being a versatile deck that's otherwise hard to know how to answer is what's giving him the edge. Chris Iaali's tech for playing out011-cf-redback-shroud-outsiders-booster and ark003-mask-of-perdition-the-hunted-blitz-deck-arakni-precon has become a true stand out, getting extra disruptive banishes and making cards like ara018-spike-with-bloodrot-1-arakni-blitz-deck-precon free. There may be more work to be done. When Nuu leaves the format in a few month's time, there is a strong consideration for Slippy to be the format's strongest Assassin.
Despite dtd001-prism-awakener-of-sol-dusk-till-dawn-booster and win030-cf-victor-goldmane-high-and-mighty-pro-tour-champion-cards-heavy-hitters-promo having the same win rate during this first week, I'd give the overall longevity in the meta to Prism now, but Victor once Aurora goes. These two blondes from Solana both have game into Aurora. Prism needs to run away with things, and Victor needs to be built and played a certain way, but both can handle Aurora's aggression. However once Aurora goes, Victor maintains a level of meta share that Prism can't easily handle.
Wrap Up
It's always an exciting time when the metagame drastically shakes up, and when we have the tangible data to show exactly what the best looks like, with a sample of players from all over the world.
Keep up to date with all the latest news from inside the Pro Quest Season and everything else from Flesh and Blood TCG right here on DotGG.
