Reposted from my Axie-specific blog (Diary of a Lunacian). Also in video formats on Youtube.

We are now in the Mystic Era of Season 4 in Axie Infinity: Origins and the Mystic Runes and Charms are just becoming available on the marketplace. Let’s have a look at which Mystic Runes and Charms are the most popular, and what new Archetypes we see in the Mystic Era.

tldr:

• Topaz back to the Top in terms of popularity
• Poison becoming more popular and doing well with Paralyzing Glare
• Heart of Ocean has the highest win rate as teams and players not ready to play against the new archetype
• Glorious Mane and Jinx struggle in this new meta

Archetypes Distribution

Topaz is back at the top in the Early Mystic Era as its raw power level is so strong that it can easily take advatage of teams that are not optimised in this early Mystic Meta. Jinx and Glorious Mane teams are still around with Sustain, Sturdy Fighter, and Leafy teams also being represented in the Top 100.

The archetype that is making a comeback in the early Mystic Era is Poison, which is fighting for the number 2 spot in terms of popularity with this help of the Mystic Runes - Paralyzing Glare. A new archetype that makes it to the Top 100 is Heart of Ocean with its massive AoE damage from Bubble Bombs stacks. We also see teams running a combination of Topaz and Heart of Ocean making up the “Multiple” in the Top 100.

Another archetype that has not made it to the very top but is worth mentioning - Perch OTK. We have seen experimentation with Furious Fox near the end of the Epic Era. With Endless Anger available, it makes it much easier to a 6 Energy Perch off fast enough before getting aggro-ed down.

Archetypes distribution at the Top of the Leaderboard

Top Mystic Runes and Charms

Last Stand is the most popular Mystic Rune for Top 200, 500, and 1000, but interestingly Collect & Protect and Paralyzing Glare are more popular than Last Stand in the Top 100, which suggests that the Last Stand may not be as crucial as it seems at the very top.

We are starting to see Heart of Oceans teams getting to the very top. Regenerator, Gloomy Dice, Holy Prayer, and Gaia’s Embrace are all good support Runes that helps in various teams like Jinx and Poison. Shield Backup Sustain is back as well, and we do see one Endless Anger at the Top 100. The rest of the Mystic Runes have not made it to the Top 200 yet but some may come up as the Season goes on.

Mystic Runes usage in Top teams

As for Mystic Charms, Mantis Dagger is slightly in the lead as it effectively acts as a free Garish Worm / Parasite. Discarding crucial cards like Topaz can be very crucial in this meta. Glove of Infection adds to the power level of Poison teams by speeding up the staking of Poisons. Paralyzing JellyFish and Lazy Snails add more Curse cards into opponents discard pile which is very good in Jinx teams. Energy Drink M is a generic strong rune when you want to Banish a certain card. There is currently not a lot of Rocket Stamp at the top of the leaderboard but I would expect its usage to increase as the Season goes on.

Mystic Charms usage in Top Teams

Archetype Win Rates and Matchups

Archetypes Overall Win Rates

Heart of Ocean is having a great time with nearly 60% win rate at the moment as teams are not tech-ed to fight against this new archetype and players are still trying to figure out how to play against it.

Poison is also having a great time for similar reasons, especially lower down the leaderboard with teams not being optimised to fight against it. Similarly for Topaz, its win rate of around 54%, making it a very solid archetype in the current meta. Sustain, Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter are still hanging on to close to 50%, with Leafy dipping slightly below 50%.

Glorious Mane and Jinx are the big 2 archetypes that really suffers in the early Mystic Era. Last Stand really hurts Glorious Mane teams a lot as it can soak up so much damage with Taunt. Jinx is not doing the best right now as it suffers against Poison which is becoming increasingly popular in the Mystic Era.

Archetypes Win Rates

Matchups of Top Archetypes at the Top of the Leaderboard

Topaz

Topaz has a pretty good matchup across the board with the only weaknesses being Sustain and Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter. Even the “weaknesses” are not unwinnable with 43% win rate against Sustain is the worst matchup for Topaz at Top 100. It is likely that we will have another Topaz-dominated meta for the rest of this Season unless something amazing pops up.

Heaven’s Echoes, Sturdy Fighter, Last Stand, and Collect & Protect are the most popular runes in Topaz teams at Top 100. It is interesting to see that there are more Collect & Protect at the Top 100 compared to Top 1000, while the reverse is true for Last Stand. We may see the Top players increasingly opting for Collect & Protect, whereas Last Stand may not be as necessary as we think because it does not have any positive effect until it is knockout, and Last Stand can feel a bit slow for an aggro archetype like Topaz.

Runes usage for Topaz teams

Jinx

Besides its old weakness of Leafy, Jinx also suffers from the up and coming Poison and Heart of Ocean teams. Regenerator, Gloomy Dice, and Collect & Protect are the new toys for Jinx but they do not seem to be good enough to bring Jinx up to 50% win rate for now.

Runes usage for Jinx teams

Glorious Mane

Glorious Mane is suffering in this new Mystic meta with Last Stand blocking its way to pick up multiple KOs in a turn. It also does not have too many new toys to play with in terms of Mystic Runes. Perhaps the Beast Mystic Charm - Mad Moon Mask - may help once its availability increases in the marketplace. Collect & Protect could be one that may help Glorious Mane teams to draw into their key cards.

The increasingly popular Poison teams also give Glorious Mane teams a tough time with Sleep for Tiny Turtle and Potato Leaf. Confident does not help too much as it can cleance the Poison instead.

Runes usage for Glorious Mane teams

Poison

We see a come back of Poison with Paralyzing Glare boosting its power level. Together with Gloves of Infection, Poison is strong enough to fight at the Top 100. It has very good matchup against Jinx and Glorious Mane, but these two archetypes may fall in popularity given the rise of Poison. Poison struggles against Topaz, which has a lot of 0 Energy cards to wake up from Sleep, and it has a very bad matchup against Heart of Ocean OTK since it is often not fast enough to prevent the OTK.

In terms of Runes usage, Paralyzing Glare is a must with Last Wish, Prehistoric Armor, Moonlight Thief, and Leaf Cloak being the support Runes.

Runes usage for Poison teams

Sustain

The matchups of Sustain is still very polarising as always. It is not doing as well now because it suffers from increasingly popular Poison and the new Heart of Ocean teams.

Adaptive Program is still very strong in Sustain teams. In the Mystic Era, Sustain teams gain access to Shield Backup and Holy Prayer, making the Shields even stronger and harder to deal with.

Runes usage for Sustain teams

Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter

Not much update for Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter. Pretty much the same story. Not too well against Poison but does well against the new archetypes - Heart of Ocean and Perch. Also, not many new toys to play with in terms of Mystic Runes. I would assume Collect & Protect would fit quite well with Sturdy Fighters teams but it has not been explored yet.

Runes usage for Sturdy Fighter teams

Leafy

Leafy teams are suffering pretty hard against Topaz. Its good matchups are still the same, consistently beating Jinx and Glorious Mane. Leafy is doing okay against Poison but it has very little way of beating Heart of Ocean teams as it is not fast enough to get to the Heart of Ocean Aqua to prevent the OTK.

Leech seems to be the Rune that allows Leafy team to get to the Top 100 as it gives Leafy teams a chance against Shield-based teams such as Sustain, Topaz, and Sturdy Fighter. Collect & Protect could help to draw into key cards like Leafy and Shrimp.

Runes usage for Leafy teams

Heart of Ocean

Not a lot of players are playing Heart of Ocean at the Top of the Leaderboard, so there is not much data yet. From the limited data, we see that Heart of Ocean has pretty good matchups across the board, especially with very good matchup against Sustain, which has no way of stopping the Bubble Bomb stacking, and against Leafy, which is often too slow to stop the OTK. The only matchups that Heart of Ocean suffer against are Topaz an Sturdy Fighter, both have a lot of Shields and aggro, allowing them to survive the Bubble Bomb damage and pressure the Heart of Ocean Aqua.

Energy Shard seems to be a very good fit to Heart of Ocean teams as it adds to the ramp and the healing often matters against aggro teams.

One thing to note is that there is some experimentation on Heart of Ocean + Topaz hybrid build which is not captured in the current data but it seems like an interesting combination as Heart of Ocean Bubble Bombs can cover Topaz’s weakness against Sustain.

Runes usage for Heart of Ocean teams

Conclusion

It is happy to see a new and diverse meta in the early Mystic Era as players are experimenting with different teams and builds. I would expect the meta to shift as the Mystic Era progresses. I expect to see more Heart of Ocean and perhaps more experimentation with Perge. Now that the Mystic Runes and Charms are available in the marketplace (and at a much more affordable price compared to previous seasons), let’s wait and see if it will have a significant impact on the meta.

Good luck and have fun in the Mystic Era of Season 4! If you find the report informative and would like to see more, consider hitting the subscribe button, check out my Youtube channel, and use my lunacian code: maurice for a little support!

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