Hello, fellow Archon!
Are you new to the Crucible or have you been forging keys for quite a while?
Either way, this guide is here to briefly discuss the metagame present in Call of the Archons (CotA) and Age of Ascension (AoA).
First of all, what is a metagame? It is rumored that the term originated from the acronym for “Most Effective Tactics Available” - META for short. With that, this article aims to show you the most effective tactics available in each set!
Here are the trends that you can expect from each set - concepts or strategies that are strongly represented in CotA and AoA.
In Call of the Archons, there is a very strong focus on Action-based aember generation. Many powerful and chainbound decks from the set have a healthy amount of aember from their actions alone. Which leads to other powerful decks being focused on aember control. Controlling your opponent’s aember, nickel-and-dime stealing specifically, is the way a lot of CotA decks win. There is also a slight focus on house control - that is playing off house or forcing your opponent to play to your choices - in order to set the pace and outforge them for the victory.
As for Age of Ascension, Fantasy Flight Games seems to have shifted the focus of this set’s winning strategies to board presence and the archives. In AoA, there seems to be more of a focus on shenanigans and intricate combos. Creatures do much more in this set, and the combos much harder to do but are also more rewarding. The stealing in large chunks is also more prevalent, which is different from the previous set. And with a more varied set of cards, comes more ways to modify key costs and fast forge them out, as well.
Have you seen any other meta strategies in CotA and AOA we may have missed out on?
In our next piece, we’ll discuss the specific strategies each house can use as leads or supports in your deck. ‘Til then, keep on forging!
