Update #7 - October 13, 2025
This year I'm thankful for a whole load of things, and one of them is the healthy state of the current LRAW Metagame! With the Masquerade looming on the horizon, let's get one last good look at the Elder Legends: Providence Metagame!
With less overall changes, I haven't updated the write-ups for every list, but those that have been moved and updated will be marked with a yellow asterisk! -> * <-
>- S-Tier ->
>- A-Tier ->
>- B-Tier ->
>- C-Tier ->
>- D-Tier/Rogue ->
S-Tier
Decks in S Tier are the strongest meta competitors in the game and the defining heart of the competitive structure. They have powerful game plans bolstered by a certain degree of consistency and resiliency. Lists can also be pushed up into S Tier due to favourable metagame conditions.
An unsurprising top placement, Mal'ady gardens has continued to make it's mark on the metagame with consistent tournament appearances, and consistent tournament placements. With the Critical Hit Siege Series, the deck found a second Siege Series first place finish for GCD, and it's a list posed to be potent into the upcoming RTR tournament. The deck retains it's powerful combo of control tools in the staxy strength of the Twilight package, and the removal supplied by Mal'ady's Putrid archetypal pieces. This strong gameplan has proven to be a difficult one for many lists in the meta to play against, and has some notable strengths against other top lists, especially against some of the strongest aggro & combo decks.
Gaia also continues to be a pain for aggro decks trying to fight through the metagame, with new results continuing to show of the deck's potential. Although the deck received a slight hit against Jasmine, The Unstoppable Water Beauty to slow down it's card-draw potential, the deck will still continue to truck along, with the ability to churn cards aggressively.
With the ability to shut out attacks, decimate boards, and threaten constant pressure kills through Gaia's Unstoppable Presence and burn pieces like Magic Mask - Three Eye Dark, I expect this deck to continue to rise to the top when it appears in tournaments.
Michael's finally found an impressive enough placement for me to consider pushing it just above the other decks in the current top 10 of the games competitive brackets.
While it doesn't feature the unique control options of Mal'ady and Gaia, the deck does have arguably the best permission in the game between Kabshiel's Favours For The Seraphim and the new Seraphim Rectitude on the Unified side, and Michael's Proclamation and Radiant Orb Of Divine Light on the Fortified side.
Notably, the deck skirts the line between midrange and control, able to push in more early pressure in comparison to the other control decks in the meta. While it doesn't necessarily have early kill potential, Citrine Amulet, and Mastema, The Divine Prosecutor offer a ton of potential pressure to push opponents on the back foot early.
An early winner whose been fighting back up to the top, Prometheus has once again found success with a first and third place finish in the recent LRAW Snapshot War Of Attrition tournament.
With access to the Unbound Realms strong hate pieces in Topaz Amulet and Land Of Dreams, attrition value with Treasures Of Arion, and Prometheus's consistent game ending power, there's a lot to like about Prometheus in the current metagame.
One factor that's pushed this deck up into S-Tier for me is it's strength into other notable decks in the meta, especially popular lists like Castiel Lost Messiah Tempo and Mortis Grimm Midrange. Having access to strong tools against these two decks, and with many other top decks being unable to comfortably sideboard Concrete Catacombs, the deck is looking to be a strong threat in the current ELP metagame.
A-Tier
Decks in A Tier are powerful competitors in the meta with strong game-plans, although they don't reach the same power level of the S Tier decks. These decks have the ability to consistently place in competitive events.
Despite a hit to Sildud's Call Of The Orcbane, Sharn continues to perform well, especially the Wartorn Wasteland build which leverages an incredibly dense engine to produce very consistent aggro starts.
While Boars Aggro is still a promising threat with hard to stop kills, the "oops all engine" nature of Wartorn gives it the ability to generate a lot of power out of a smaller number of cards, with an incredibly small number of "dead" draws.
With these strenghts, the deck remains the strongest all-in aggro deck in the metagame.
Alehouse stands as a solid list that can shift between more Storm oriented and Tempo oriented builds. While Sh'Lara is the deck with the best ability to blow boards to smithereens, Ethelhime boasts a similar power, with the benefit of being able to shuffle cards away against Holy Counters, and certain indestructible ACTs.
The deck has had some difficulty in translating it's potential power into top 8 results, but it remains explosive and as a list that can spiral out of control faster than you expect in the hands of an experienced pilot.
The Soup continues to show up, with another top 2 placement in the most recent siege series. This iteration is a bit less "soupy" than before, leaving out some of the miscellaneous Rogue pieces, and focusing more heavily on the Fandorian engine/support pieces.
The Magi and Wall packages then offer strong defensive power and attrition tools to work alongside this strong base.
The deck doesn't lack the potential to kill too, but it seems that the archetype may potentially struggle against harder to break through boards.
A list which has been fighting it's way up tiers since GCD, the addition of Terrafirma, The Crater Quake Dragon locks this archetype as a firm A-Tier contender in my mind. The explosive nature of the deck lets it blow past the bounds of some of the top control decks, and burn them out.
Merrisod has consistently shown the ability to explode in the early game, and catch up from behind as a versatile and constant threat.
Currently, the only thing the archetype is struggling from, is a lack of tournament placements.
Well, poor Kessler had a limited time in the sun, getting fully Suspended from competitive play. While the deck still wields an impressive amount of consistency, the loss of Kessler shuts down the early combo/stax potential of the deck to fish for a quick win.
That being said, the deck is still showing power with a 5th place finish at the most recent Siege Series, now leaning into Alburdunn's Big Top Circus as a potential early game disruption piece to rip a hand apart.
Ever a constant mover in the high tiers, I'm more confident than ever with Sh'Lara's current postition, helped by my own personal testing. At the moment, the deck is a strong and explosive list with access to key control tools like Majik Void Collapse, which gives it niche strength in comparison to Merrisod.
That being said, Merrisod's explosive lategame inevitability and reach potential pushes the Sprite/Dragon archetype just slightly above the firebird.
That being said, Sh'Lara having access to Majik Void Collapse, Concrete Catacombs in the sideboard, and Serenasada as a huge consistency tool makes it a deck I've personally got on the backburner to pull out when the right opportunity presents itself.
B-Tier
Decks in B Tier are incredibly viable options for competition with various strengths and weaknesses that ultimately place them below Tier A. Decks in this tier can successfully leverage their strengths to find competitive success. Some lists in B-Tier have the potential for breakout success, but lack a density of competitive results.
Since it's initial burst of performance, Blastforge has fallen into a solid metagame position, as an aggressive list able to keep other archetypes on their toes. The all-in aggro nature of the deck does limit it's strength into the higher ranks, but with access to powerful transformative sideboard plans the list has relevant tools to catch pilots off guard.
The archetype does still have plenty of potential to jump in the metagame, and builds of the archetype have tried out various tech options, making it a list with plenty of flexibility in build and tuning.
An archetype which still feels wrong to move from the top, the Fallen archetype has been dragged to a much more fair position than it's earlier ages of meta domination. While it continues to pack strong interactive tools and card advantage, the metagame at large is simply much better at matching Onoskelis' value to keep up, or beating it's interaction to knock it out early.
Value-laden archetypes like the Mythical Beasts especially have the potential to ruin Onoskelis' day, but the list still has access to a pile of incredibly unique and powerful interactive tools keeping it in the metagame.
An ever popular archetype with an uptick from Elder Legends: Providence, Mortis has more tools than ever to break away from stax pieces which are particularly oppressive to the archetype, such as those seen in the Titan Legion.
While the archetype constantly lives in threat of bad matchups from Titans and Angels, it continues to have very strong potential, with the ability to dominate unprepared tournaments, as was seen at the initial ELP release Siege Series tournament.
My constant pet deck, Castiel has seen rising popularity with additions from Elder Legends: Providence, and currently sits in a solid metagame position. The new tools from ELP provide the deck with more flexibility in exchange for pure explosive power, making it easier to setup strong early positions.
The deck does struggle against Prometheus in the metagame, and the popularity of the eternal spirit will be a relevant factor in the success of the Lost Messiah archetype, but the deck holds a solid performance in the metagame.
A list I've been watching with it's received Structure Deck, Marianas is still a Warlord who feels ripe for exploration. Currently, the consistently best performing builds rely on the best pieces from the Majik engine and the Twilight control tools, leveraging strong stax pieces like Majik Void Aurora effectively for free.
As it stands however, it does seem like the Majik Mask versions of the bounty builds are outperforming the other styles of Marianas, while also potentially drawing more Bounty Hate with Mysterious Mechanism and Destiny Dust.
C-Tier
Decks in C Tier are a notch down from the lists in B-Tier, but dedicated pilots can find success in favourable local metas
A deck that hasn't necessarily fallen from favor, but rather one which has been replaced, Fandorian Midrange has some serious competition with the recent success of the "Good Soup" midrange piles. With the other archetypes ability to dip better into a variety of control and tech pieces, Fandorian Midrange remains a solid deck, but now one whose pieces seem better used elsewhere.
While testing may prove that Fandorian Midrange is alot closer to the Soup variants of Alero, recent success has knocked Fandos down a peg, until they can prove that they can keep up with the more versatile Soup archetype.
Sapphire Strom has continued to be a strong storm list, but I believe that it's fallen behind in competition behind Blastforge Aggro. Blastforge had an impressive showing in the 2024 RTR, with very similar speed for it's combo style kill, but better access to control tools.
Sapphire Storm still has an arguably more refined gameplan, and potentially the ability to break through backlines more aggressively, but the metagame has been able to the deck's gameplan.
The deck still has a strong and consistent gameplan, and could very quickly find success in a tournament where players are unprepared to face against it.
A rock-solid archetype with historic precedence, an array of strong build options, and a complete and utter lack of play in any recent competitive events. At the moment, Quartzheart's placement is largely holding on by legacy status, but the deck remains one primed to place well in competitive events. Notably, Blastforge aggro has been making strong appearances recently, and recent builds of Blastforge have moved closer in appearance to more traditional Frost Tempo Lists, leveraging Mount Fingar and Windenmere Island. I do still believe that these archetypes are notably distinct, and Frost Tempo offers some unique strengths to reward any pilot looking to ressurect the archetype on the tournament level.
Rogues has popped up a bit in tournament play, but suffers from being a similar, but less powerful version of Fandorian Midrange. The interactive tools are comparable/relatively matched, and whilst Rogue Dynamite Dice offers a uniquely fast kill, the new Fandorian Darkwood Dryad, Fulillia provides Fandos with plenty of damage of their own. The list certainly isn't bad, but it'll need new tools or tech to stand out against the better positioned hero lists.
Another victim of a lack of love, Adramelech was previously a tyrant in the metagame, being both a powerful competitor, and a favourite of the competition. In more recent tournaments however, Adramelech has fallen off. To some degree I do think this is a result of the shift of player interest, but I do think that Adramelech is in a slightly more tedious position. The addition of new campaign promos like Ariyus, The Soulbound Warlock pose as a strong tech piece, whilst the rise of Secret Savannah in various decks will likely coincide with the need to fight through Concrete Catacombs more often. I still believe that Adramelech is notably solid, with a strong linear gameplan and the ability to deny certain combo decks crucial cards.
D-Tier / Rogue
Decks in D Tier are either lacking in some pieces necessary to push the deck to the same level as the higher tiered decks, or are outshone in the meta by decks with very similar strengths, and less weaknesses. Decks in this tier can 100% find competitve success, but will take more TLC to get there.
This Tier is also home to "rogue" lists, with more unknown potential in the metagame.
Mount Bane midrange isn't necessarily a deck that looks bad, but rather relies on an engine utilised better by another very similar archetype. Some Mount Bane tools have even seen experimentation in Fallen Control builds, helping to prop up some of the power lost as a result of multiple SRL hits. Whilst Mount Bane may be a solid option, it's questionable what advantages are gained from fully delving into the archetype, rather than including a small package alongside the stronger options provided by Fallen.
Duxvox was an interesting list coming out of the GCD meta, with various support tools. At the moment however, the deck remains clunky. There are an impressive number of strong synergies and combos available, but each requires jumping through a number of hoops, and it still seems that the juice just isn't worth the squeeze.