We are getting to near the end of the Epic Era of Season 4 in Axie Infinity: Origins, and we see quite a big shift in the Meta at the Top of the Leaderboard from only a few days ago! (Also watch my Youtube video if you prefer it in video format.)

tldr:

• Glorious Mane is the most popular archetype at Top of Leaderboard
• Leafy and Sustain are the meta breaker with high win rates against Glorious Mane

Archetypes Distribution

Glorious Mane has raised to become the most popular archetype on the Top of the Leaderboard where we should expect to run into Glorious Mane teams around 1 every 3 games. Topaz is still around at around 25%. Jinx is the third popular archetype but with less usage at Top 100 compared to Top 1000 suggesting that things may be harder for Jinx at Top 100. The rest of the archetypes makes up aboout 20-25% of teams, keeping the game interesting in running into different matchups.

Note that "Multiple" means teams that matches to multiple archetypes. It is interesting to see 4 teams at the Top 100 including:

• Topaz with a Pure Damage + Topaz Sturdy Fighter Bug
• Jinx with a Glorious Mane Beast imposter with Jinx cards

Archetypes usage at the Top of the Leaderboard

Top Runes and Charms

Last Wish is still the most popular Rune given that it is a strong neutral Rune. The interesting change in that Glorious Mane and Nut Hunter have risen a popularity due to the rise of Glorious Mane teams. As speculated in my Youtube Video on Starter Runes and Charms, Nut Hunter is the one to look out for, and it turns out that it is certainly worth the grind to complete the Daily and Weekly Missions to get Nut Hunter.

Heaven's Echoes and Sturdy Fighter remain strong for Topaz and Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter teams. In the Top 100, Triple Owl and Leafy teams are climbing up with Miracle Leaf and Leaf Cloak.

Top 20 Runes used by the Top players on the Leaderboard

Not much has changed for the Charms with Charm of Vitality II and Scotch Tape still on top. We see more Beast charms used because of Glorious Mane builds. Interestingly, Sun Stamp is getting quite a bit of usage, so people may start to put their key Axie, e.g. Glorious Mane Beast, in the Mid to play around Sun Stamp.

Top 20 Charms used by the Top players on the Leaderboard

Archetypes Matchups and Win Rates

Archetypes Overall Win Rates

Glorious Mane has replaces Topaz to become the dominant archetype with good overall win rate and a lot of mirror matches that pulls the win rate towards 50%. Topaz's win rate has dropped below 50% across all levels in Top 1000. Jinx sees a similar story. Counter to my expection from the last report, Sturdy Fighter did not rise in popularity and win rate.

The two bigs one to look out for are Leafy and Sustain. Sustain is finding a bit of a comeback with Glorious Mane teams not really teching for any any secret cards and charms. Leafy is the winner with over 60% win rate at Top 100. As a Leafy player myself, I am happy to see that Leafy is finding quite a bit of success in the late Epic Era.

Overall Win Rates of Top Archetypes

Matchups of Top Archetypes at the Top of the Leaderboard

Glorious Mane

Glorious Mane has positive matchups against the other popular archetypes such as Topaz, Jinx, and Triple Owl. This is why Glorious Mane has been relatively successful recently given that current meta. Having said that, it does have weaknesses and this is why we see the rise of teams that have good matchups against Glorious Mane, namely Sustain and Leafy.

Topaz

Topaz has finally been taken down with both Glorious Mane and Jinx keeping it in check. It is still strong in power level and it's bad matchups are still not quite winable with around 45% against Glorious Mane. The good news for Topaz teams is that it has a good matchup against Triple Owl and Leafy. With Leafy being a rising archetype to take advantage of Glorious Mane matchups, Topaz is there to take advantage of Leafy.

Jinx

Jinx is not having a good time with just below an even matchup against Glorious Mane. It is still okay against Topaz but the rise of Leafy means that Jinx may suffer more as it has a tough time about Leafy. Having said that, Jinx may be able to take advantage of Sustain if Sustain rises in usage.

Triple Owl

It is looking tough for Triple Owl teams as it suffers from the top 2 most popular archetypes - Glorious Mane and Topaz. Its good matchup against Jinx helps but it depends if there is enough Jinx around. With the rise of Leafy and possibly sustain, Triple Owl will probably suffer as it has very poor matchups against both. With Jinx fearing Leafy, Triple Owl's best pray may also be gone.

Sturdy Fighter

Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter is still a thing but certainly not as popular as I thought. It does well against Glorious Mane and Topaz, which means it should be a good archetype for the meta, especially with its bad matchup, Jinx, not looking to good. Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter pretty much beats Sustain every time, so it may be good news for Sturdy Fighter players if there are more people playing Sustain at the Top.

Poison

Poison is still around but it is not doing too well in this meta as it suffers a lot against Glorious Mane and Topaz. It also suffers from Sturdy Fighter and Leafy, so it is going to be difficult for Poison players at the Top.

Sustain

Sustain has very polarising matchups. It is farming on Glorious Mane, Triple Owl, and to some extent, Topaz and Leafy. Having above 70% win rate (close to 80% at Top 100) against the most popular archetype - Glorious Mane - makes Sustain a very strong archetype for the current meta. It just have to hope it will not run into Jinx, Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter, and Poison which are pretty much auto losses.

Leafy

Leafy is doing amazing with over 60% overall win rate at Top 100. It primarily farms on Glorious Mane, Jinx, Triple Owl, and Poison. The main weakness of Leafy is Topaz which is still very popular at the Top. Leafy also suffers from Sustain which is currently not too popular. Given so many good matchups, especially with close to 70% win rate against Glorious Mane, Leafy could be up and rising late winner in the end of the Epic Era for S4.

AoE

Not really seen much usage as it suffers from pretty much all matchups except Glorious Mane. Unfortunately, the other matchups are so tough for AoE that it is difficult for AoE to make it in the Epic Era.

Hot Butt

Again, very few Hot Butt teams out there so it is difficult to tell for specific matchups from the data. At the highest level, it seems to have a good matchup against Topaz but it suffers from Glorious Mane which makes Hot Butt quite tough to play in the current meta.

Conclusion

We are seeing quite a bit of rock-paper-scissors type of matchups between archetypes, and the meta has shifted accordingly. As players are getting their hands on Nut Hunter (as well as the Axies for Glorious Mane teams), we see the rise of Glorious Mane teams which have a very high power level which a pretty good matchup against Topaz. Glorious Mane suffers against Leafy and Sustain, and that's why these two archetypes may rise as we get to the final push of the end of the Epic Era. Sustain is looking good beating both Topaz and Glorious Mane but have serious weaknesses against Jinx, Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter, and Poison. If you are looking for an archetype that is more balanced and does well in the current meta, Leafy would be the choice for you even though its matchup is not the best.

Best of luck with the final push in the Epic 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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Additional Data Dump for those interested - especially the ordered matchup charts to see if going second is always better for your teams