Welcome back everybody. Today we will be dealing with a highly requested topic, prevalent in any and all TCGs. Namely, and as the title suggests, we will be creating a tier list showcasing the most well performing Archetypes in Gate Ruler from a competitive stand point, during set 3.
However, in order to ensure that we are accurate in our classifications we have to take into consideration a wide number of factors, including but not limited to Rulers, Tech Cards and Color Combinations.
Lastly, the meta tier list provided will predominantly be based on tournament results, deck showcases and advertised performances from locals. As such, it will inherently provide a strong snapshot of the wider metagame but always remember that in the abscence of side-boards and in the presence of stringent deckbuilding requirements, the clarity of division between tiers will be somewhat obfuscated.
Tier List Parameters
Before proceeding any further, and in a similar fashion to our ranking of the Superior Rares, it is first necessary to define each individual tier, so we have a steady frame of reference both now and for future sets.
Tier 0: Decks that are significantly overpowered to the point that they warp the exisiting meta around them. They tend to have few bad match-ups, if any, are able to bypass most counters and are quite likely to take the top spot in any given tournament setting.
Tier 1: Decks are quite strong with effects, units and mechanics that are a chore to deal with efficiently. Capable of generating value consistently, they inherently have few bad match-ups and are able to reasonably recover from effects specifically inluded in decks to counter them.
Tier 2: Decks are definitely strong meta contenders but tend to suffer from a variety of fatal flaws that, in turn, may downplay their effectiveness in the overall metagame without necessarily invalidating an otherwise strong presence. Such flaws include but are not limited to ‘slow setup‘, ‘partial consistency‘, ‘greater weakness to tech cards‘ and ‘lack of a balanced offence/defence’.
Tier 3: Decks can still compete in the meta but tend to suffer from a similar set of flaws to those found in the above tier list, albeit at a siginificantly greater level. This means that victories will have substantial reliance on the ‘luck factor’, which although present in any deck, is genuinely more relevant in achieving victory with these types of lists.
Tier 4: Decks that although are potentially thematically coherent, struggle to put together a consistently strong winning strategy. Even with the ‘luck factor’ in play, it can potentially still not be enough to effectively close out a victory in their favor.
Tier 1
In this instance, the strongest decks at the present time of writing this article most likely are:
- K-11 Dragon Genesis Summoning: Fusing the Yomajin Front and Volnar, this particular deck has proved to be quite a force to be reckoned with. Very consistent, capable of ‘loop healing’ and applying significant amounts of pressure, it is certainly a reasonable contender for the Tier 1 category.
- W. 23 Luci Aras Control: In a similar vein to the archetype above, the present deck utilises Genesis Summoning mechanics to boost its consistency while relying on extremely powerful cards like Embrace of Eons, Skystrike Arrow and Lucifer the Lightbringer to wreck havoc and dismantle an opponent’s strategy.
Make no mistake though. These archetypes can still be countered and can still lose games to ‘lower-tiered’ decks, as far down as tier 3, on a semi-regular basis. They are mostly given this top spot due to the consistency of their win condition, their ability to counteract other meta contenders, the strength of their units/events/fields, and their ability to bounce back from devastating CNTs.
Overall it could be argued that anything utilising the genesis summoning mechanic could in theory be tier 1. However, utilising the mechanic is not enough. You also need to assess the strength of the summoned units, as will be illustrated below.
Tier 2
At the present time, the majority of powerful decks seem to fall within this tier. The reasoning for this flows back to our definition in the ‘Tier List Parameters’ section of this article.
- 20. T Zoo Brigade: I was not expecting Zoo Brigade decks to place quite this highly on the tier list but performance tends to disagree. It would seem than no matter the ruler, the “Bigwig” Owl, Bloodrage Raptor win condition is a particulalrly devastating one, that requires opposing decks to have very specific answers in order to handle it in an effective fashion.
- O. 15 Darkness Abyssal Summoning: Is another amazing deck, which just falls short of being Tier 1 due to its weakness to Giant Killer effects and a bit more importantly its generally inability to quickly setup its graveyard.
- 20. T Trickster Burn: As the game’s main burn deck, it quckly burst onto the scene and became quite populer due to being cost-effective and quite strong competitively. However, since its inception and early dominance, decks have adapeted their playstyle to include hard counters like Lady of the Grail as well as copious amounts of healing.
- W. 23 Alice Control: What is shaping up to be one of Gate Ruler’s flagship archetypes, at least heading into set 4, Alice falls just short of the tier 1 spot. While it is no longer overly reliant on the defensive engine involving the ‘A7 fellowship’, the lack of consistency in ultimately having access to that engine in the lategame can be game losing.
- 20. T Supernatural Trickster: Putting the trick in trickster, this particular archetype utilises the ruler’s ability to its fullest potential seeking to dismantle an opponent’s board while potentially forcing them to discard important resources. Sadly, while it is quite strong in a similar fashion to Alice, it does suffer from consistency issues in so far as getting Huli of the Spider Lily in the dropzone without expending the two necessary resources.
- O. 15 Dark Knight Genesis: As an intermediatary between Dragon Genesis and the variant dealt with below, Dark Knights are effortelessly versatile in so far as they offer great means of control with ‘Death Touch‘, palpable aggression with ‘Breakthrough‘ and stellar board protection from the likes of Aras Guardian of the Divine winds. Sadly, lacking in stalward defence can place this particular interation of Genesis on the backfoot early on.
- O. 15 BBQ Minotaur Genesis: Perhaps The most aggressive variant of Genesis Summoning, the deck is capable of delivering high amounts of damage, effortlessly dealing with defending units, as well as healing a respectable amount of life. However, none of its units have noteworthy stats above the minimum health threshold. In turn, one well placed Lucifer can wipe out an entire turns’ investment worth of resources.
Tier 3
While not exclusively limited to Drive-Rulers, they do make up quite a significant part of this tier. With limited drives, strict level limits, and a playstyle that can inveritably be countered with some careful thinking, the over-reliance on top-decking can be quite hit or miss, especially if you do not drive into powerful cards like Sakuya-hime Kami of Blossoms or Darumageddon for example.
- 2. B Value Berserker: Stuffed to the gills with value from the Wonderverse and Yomajin Front factions, even if limited to a single drive per turn, it is still quite capable of pumping out devastatingly large amounts of of aggressive value.
- O. 15 Overlord Military Ikazuchi: Capable of raw aggression and quite versatile in so far as it is possible to play the base archetype with any combination of ATLAS, Wonderverse & Volnar, the strict level limit can make the build feel somewhat upoptimised. In addition, the lack of real defensive options and a dedicated way to search out Draconoid Dreadnaught “Fuse-ikazuchi” can give the impression that the deck is rather hit or miss, at times.
- 8. H Highlander: No matter what color combination you ultimately opt for, this deck can definitely struggle to keep up. While it is true that the inherent random nature of the deck can put your opponent on edge, which may in turn lead to suboptimal plays, if they have a dedicated gameplan then it is entirely possible to ignore the random element altogether.
- 4. D Dreadnaught Yokai March: While capable of highrolling drives and summoning multiple new units, the deck lacks genuine defensive capabilities. Thusly it shares a similar fate to that of Berserker, albeit to a lesser extent since it has access to more organic drives and there is greater synergy twixt the various included cards.
- O. 15 Beast Aggression: With the archetype’s ability to prevent special summoning, one would think it would placed somewhat higher in the tier list. Sadly, however, the core of the deck takes a bit too long to come online.
This particular tier might be highly contentious among the community. I myself have found particularly great success with Highlander, not dropping a single game while playing it. Similarly, I have also been completely blown out of the water by Berserker. And yet while they might have performed exceptionally well in pocket/local metas, their win ratio on the world stage has been somewhat lackluster, demonstrating an inherent lack of consistency when pitted against a variety of archetypes.
Tier 4
Barely any decks can be said to fall into this category. In essence, the archetype has to either not have enough support or the deck itself has to be quite poorly constructed. Sadly, with all my experimentation to this date, it seems like the only archetype that would squarely fall into this category would be Dai-Jinki, the Three Regalions Combined. The card requires far too much investment for a mediocre pay-off to such an extent, that it would simply be better to play a generic ‘robotic attributed drive deck’ completely free of the unit and any of its combo pieces. Even luck in this instance would typically not be enough to offer salvation.
Final Thoughts
While it was a joy to finally engage in a write-up like this, after a fair bit of data analysis, it is still quite difficult to make such a submission with any extreme amount of certainty. The amount of information we have at our disposal is still fairly limited, all things considered, and as such, there is still room for further clarity to be provided on the matter. Taking this into account, as time passes I will be adding to this particular article.
Furthermore, when you factor in the prevalance of CNT effects like Giant Killer and the strength of tech cards like Lady of the Grail and Embrace of Eons, with the potential to effectively dismantle win conditions, you quickly come to the conclusion that tier lists, even if somewhat accurate, are actually not as indicative of meta effectiveness in a game like Gate Ruler.
With major variances in builds, pocket/local metas, and substantially different construction rules for each Ruler, not to mention different builds under the same ruler, there is certainly enough room for multiple archetypes to claim the throne of ‘Top Deck’. Yet, if nothing else this submission should at least give you some insight into what a top deck needs to possess in order to transition from one tier to the next. For some, it is possible to do this just by re-arranging their included tools, while others face an uphill struggle simply by virtue of the fact that they do not have access to those options yet.
Despite my departure from my usual full-on deck analysis, I do sincerely hope you enjoyed this write-up. If you are curious to see more, do not forget to give me a follow on Twitter and if you would like to be a part of the creative process that goes into doing these write-ups, you can also check out my Patreon.
Special shout-out and kind thanks to C. Sweeney & Kenny as my first ‘GateRuler’ related Patrons.
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