Metagame Snapshot 

A fast and furious competitor, whose long reigned at the tippy top of the tierlist, Sharn has dominated in almost every tournament prior to 2024. This year however, Sharn hasn't had quite the same attention, nor the same success.

To a degree the deck has been tuned down, and brought in line with the rest of the meta through SRL changes, but even so it's been a deck I personally expected to have slightly more impact on the meta.

Of course, with smaller samples it's easy for decks to get drowned out and I wouldn't scoff at the possibility of Sharn sweeping a future tournament, but it's a funny shift from previous meta dominance and a marker of increasing tournament deck diversity.

While it hasn't quite seen the success of a certain other archetype helmed by Angelica, Rogues was one of the interesting new deck options seen with the release of GCD.

While the deck was playable before, it didn't do many significant things differently or even better than simply Fandorian Midrange. The release of Rogue Danger Dice however, gave the deck an explosive and surprisingly consistent win-condition to set it apart from Fandorians.

Although it hasn't truly been tried and tested in tournament settings, the deck is one that I personally really enjoyed playing for a while, and it's an impressive show to how a deck can spawn out of a single new addition.

But in terms of Angelica decks built out of a single card...

A more expected competitor, the winner of the Critical Hit Siege Series, and the other deck fighting for a first place spot in the very first tournament, Mal'ady has gone from Zero to Hero with her new additions from GCD.

From a middling Mortis clone out of EOR to a tournament top-placer, Christmas came very early for Mal'ady with Guardian's Creed. Making use of both her own powerful Putrid pieces and the strong Twilight package boosted by Twilight Princess, Hyacinth, Mal'ady has proved her spot in the meta of GCD with Matt Waller putting in the work to take her to a first place finish in the last Siege Series before the 2024 RTR.

In contrast to the last three lists, Fandorians haven't quite made it to a first place finish. That being said, Alero does get to claim first place in the Warlord popularity contest, as the most popular deck in the 2024 GCD metagame! (Trust me, I've got the data to prove it!)

While the King of Kingdoms hasn't yet sat on the first place throne, Fandorian midrange continues to attract plenty of attention, and for good reason. With buffed up boards, cracked card draw, and brutal back-lines, there's a lot to like about Fandos, and there will certainly be plenty of cheering when Alero finally claims a well-deserved victory.

Will Alero claim a top spot in 2025? And how many Big Shields will he need to do it?

In contrast, while Michael was fighting to hold a top spot, Blastforge aggro had to fight its way from the bottom to the top, and Lukas Richardson did that very convincingly over the course of 2024. 

The deck has gone from a few lists in the release tournament, to two second place finishes, and a third place finish in the 2024 RTR. I'm especially happy that one of my GCD spoiler cards, Grue, has helped push the deck to a top spot, launching the deck higher than I ever expected.

I was afraid that Blastforge would be too volatile to hold a top spot, but with the deck proving it's potential, I'll certainly be cheering on the Blastforge in 2024!

Sharn and Onoskelis were both two top competitors heading into 2024, and were surprisingly absent from tournaments throughout the year. 

Lurking in the shadows, with the biggest LRAW tournament yet, it's no surprise to see the strongest historic competitor and warlord making a comeback, with AJ Christiaens piloting Onoskelis Fallen Control to a first place finish.

And yet, that marks a single major tournament for Onoskelis in 2024, with a whole new roster of competitors and warlords stepping up to the challenge. Will we see Onoskelis continue to hold her ground, or will this RTR be the final hurrah for the Fallen Priestess?