By Slothland, August 14, 2018
The Arena Tier List that we present on our website is based on the normal Arena mode where all the cards from all factions are available. Since the interactions between different cards with different factions, are a huge part of the evaluation process, the tier scores would not reflect the reality during the events such as Faction Specific Arena Mode (cards from only one faction are available) or One-Color Arena Mode (only Gold, only Silver or only Bronze). Therefore in an article series we are going to discuss how to approach to the different modes and the significant changes on the tier scores of the normal arena mode.
Short Guide - Bronze Only Arena Mode
Notable Changes
In this mode, there will be removal cards in the forms of Alzur's Thunder, Cyclops and Slave Driver. Therefore, the decision regarding whether or not pick the engine cards such as Vrihedd Dragoon and Reinforced Trebuchet would be a meta call in this Arena mode. In order to be able to deny a lot of value from the engine cards reliably, cards that can tutor Alzur’s Thunder such as Elven Mercenary and Tormented Mage would be nice additions that can provide a little bit extra points while removing important threats. In this sense, Redanian Knight-Elect would be easier to shut down with high value (for the mode) cards such as Dwarven Skirmisher, yet it would still provide effectively 11 points which look just fine in this mode.
Notable Strategies
Playing round 1 should be completely avoided in this mode since all of the decks would have a similar amount of tempo, hence it would be a lot harder to find a window for a pass with card advantage. In this sense, cards that require a develoepd graveyard such as Priestess of Freya and Ghoul should be evaluated carefully to avoid the necessity of playing round 1 with the risk of losing card advantage.
The decision of whether or not picking weather clear cards such as Archgriffin should be interesting. The available weather cards such as Biting Frost are very low on value in the normal Arena mode, however, in a long round 3 scenario without any weather clear may provide value around 20 points. In a field where the highest value cards are around 12-13, the potential of weather, and consequently the weather clear, is worth of a consideration.
Building a deck around a certain type of synergy looks unlikely except the tutor and target pairs such as Alzur’s Thunder/Elven Mercenary or Dwarven Agitator/Any Bronze Dwarf. Therefore, during the drafting phase it would be a better choice to go for higher value rather than possible synergy.
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