Sigismar took the lead in total victories back from Treyst in the first month of the Skybound Odyssey competitive season, but he had close competition. Four heroes, including two Bravos, were within a win or so from the top spot in October.

This monthly snapshot is an effort to give players a high-level view of the trends going on in competitive play across the season, developed from stats and decklists from 39cards.com. These are unofficial details based on results reported to 39cards.com, and may not accurately reflect official standings reported to Equinox. These statistics, which include mainly online and some in-person events, only represent competitive play and shouldn’t be taken to inform trends for other modes of play. While some stats are shared directly, others are intentionally vague. These notes are meant to provide context around competitive recaps as well as spark ideas for new approaches and deckbuilding.

This snapshot begins our coverage of the SKY season, beginning Sept. 27. In September’s snapshot, Treyst finished the Whispers from the Maze season strong, taking the lead in hero distribution, first-place victories and the season title.

Hero distribution

October/season-to-date hero distribution

1. Sigismar ↗1
2. Kojo ↗1
3. Treyst ↘2
4. Basira =
5. Teija ↗1
6. Fen ↘1
7. Sierra ↗6
8. Sol ↗10

At the top, it’s important to note that the six new heroes have changed the math generally for distribution. Prior to the release of SKY, if each hero was somehow played equally, they would take about 5.5% of the distribution. Now with 24 heroes, that number is about 4.2%. As the gaps between heroes are noted, keep in mind that an average cut this month looks different to all months prior. This will be true again with the launch of Seeds of Unity, which will introduce three more heroes. A negative change in percentage going forward doesn’t necessarily mean the hero is less active, but could also be that there’s just a smaller segment available to them.

Sigismar begins the first full month of the SKY season by taking the lead role in distribution back from Treyst, who held it in September. Kojo, who has never been far from Sigismar in this segment, trails him by almost 2% in October (that’s almost three Arjuns or nine Warus by this month’s numbers). The Ordis leader is the only hero gamewide holding double digits in percentage-played in competitive events, though Kojo does come close. Treyst slid back down to third place, nearly sharing that space with Basira, Teija and Fen. Less than 0.5% separates them all. Another short drop brings the first big jump of the season, as Sierra goes from 13th to seventh, pushing both Atsadi and Gulrang out of the way. Atsadi doesn’t have to worry too much, as his fellow Bravos, Sol, immediately takes her place in the Top 8 for the month after her debut.

The beginning of the season sees some differences both in who’s in the top end of the breakdown as well as the overall cut for each hero. At the start of the WFM season, Kojo led the way, followed by Sigismar, Teija, Afanas and Fen. Among those top five, three begin the SKY season in a similar space. Afanas, in particular, has tumbled well out of reach of the Top 5, finishing October in 20th out of 24 heroes. Fen isn’t in the limelight at the moment, but she hasn’t strayed far.

The effect of the SKY season patch, which banned Bugfix, had an undeniable effect on Treyst’s popularity for the month. His hold at the top was already tenuous, with both Sigismar and Kojo right at his back.

Players are betting on Bravos overall, as the faction makes up about 27% of all competitive decks played. Sigismar might have the lead, but if a player is looking to build a counter deck to the meta, they’d be generally well served to focus on making a Bravos hero stumble. They’re also the only faction to have more than 20% of the cut. Axiom comes next at 18% despite Treyst’s sluggish performance. Lyra, Muna and Ordis all share about 14%. Yzmir, as a faction, takes 11%.

Among SKY’s new heroes, all six saw some competitive play in October. Sol took the lead, but players worked with Moyo next most often, at nearly the same rate as Isaree. Kauri and Nadir similarly paired off a little further down the line, with Zhen the only one of the cohort who took less than 2% of distribution.

With new heroes in play, it’s going to be easier to slide down into the sub-1% group, but only three heroes were there in October: Gulrang (0.92%), Arjun (0.74%) and Waru (0.23%).

Top cards

These card rankings are determined by total number of instances of a card across all tracked decks for a faction, as opposed to the percentage of decks that include a particular card. A “number of months” indicator means the number of consecutive months that a card has remained in the top three cards (since the Blog began tracking snapshots in March), though not specifically at that rank. A star indicates the card’s first appearance in the top three spots of tracked decklists altogether. No duration mentioned and no star indicates that the card has been in the top three spots for fewer than two months, but has been included in one of those positions before.

Axiom

Common

1. Frozen Delivery = / 8 months
2. The Grems ↗3
3. Restocking Station ★

Rare

1. Hooked = / 5 months
2. Axiom Salvager = / 4 months
3. Dr. Frankenstein ↗1

While Frozen Delivery continues to be, well, frozen to the top spot since its debut, The Grems stole second away from Sap Sniffer (likely since its usefulness was tied to the Bugfix combo). Axiom is one of the first factions to welcome a SKY card into its top three, and what a common it is. The Grems are more than happy to combo with Restocking Station, making what would be a one-time demolition into an ongoing destruction threat over multiple turns for the cost of 1 mana. Two other SKY commons are in the Top 10 list, including Paju and Aerolith Reef.

Rare Hooked keeps its place (even with FarFetch 2.0 now available), and it’s just difficult to do better than Axiom Salvager for card advantage and stats. Rare Dr. Frankenstein plays nicely with permanents with triggers, but especially so with the new Restocking Station. The highest-placing SKY rare is Abandoned Depot, in 12th.

Bravos

Common

1. Haven Seiringar = / 8 months
2. Fire Rabbit = / 8 months
3. Talarian Skater = / 4 months

Rare

1. Tiny Jinn = / 8 months
2. The Hunger = / 3 months
3. Physical Training ↗2

Even with a new hero in the Top 8, Bravos’s top commons remain unchanged so far. The highest-placing SKY Bravos common is Tengu at fifth. Coincidentally, it replaces Bravos Pathfinder, who tumbled from fifth in September to 18th place among Bravos commons. Rage is the only other SKY common in the Top 10.

Rare Tiny Jinn was played in even more decks in October, as was The Hunger, both with significant leads over the next listed cards. Physical Training moved up into third to start the season, bumping Haven down to seventh. The highest-placing SKY Bravos rare was Suha, in sixth. Joining her in the Top 10 were Colorful Cuckoo and Leviathan Spotter.

Lyra

Common

1. Twinkle Twinkle ↗1 / 5 months
2. Hathor ↘1 / 8 months
3. Martengale = / 2 months

Rare

1. Magical Training ↗1 / 8 months
2. Ouroboros Inkcaster ↘1 / 8 months
3. Aloe Vera = / 8 months

Lyra’s top cards are remarkably stable for such a chaotic faction (though that technically means that many of the same cards support all Lyra heroes effectively). Common Twinkle Twinkle moves up, continuing its months-long dance with Hathor. Martengale holds onto its space in third. The top SKY faction common is Lyra Signet in seventh, and it’s also the only one in the Top 10.

Among rares, Magical Training and Ouroboros Inkcaster swapped places, but they’re otherwise unchanged. The top SKY rare for Lyra is Parliament of Ashes in ninth, joined in the Top 10 by Counting Sheep in tenth.

Muna

Common

1. Floral Tent = / 8 months
2. Muna Druid = / 5 months
3. Requiem ↗2

Rare

1. Aloe Vera = / 8 months
2. Lyra Festival ↗1 / 2 months
3. Spindle Harvesters ↘1 / 3 months

Common Floral Tent is still the top faction card, followed by Muna Druid, with even their places held through most of the WFM season. Requiem moved up from fifth to third in October, pushing Muna Caregiver into fourth. The top SKY common for Muna is Colorful Cuckoo. The faction ties Axiom adding commons to its Top 10 with the new set, with Drowsy Dodo in seventh and Counting Sheep in eighth.

The top three Muna rares are unchanged except for their positions. While they added several SKY commons, the faction is slower to pick up new rares. The top SKY rare is Woolly Woolly Field in 14th.

Ordis

Common

1. License Withdrawal = / 5 months
2. Aegis Templar = / 4 months
3. Teamwork Training = / 8 months

Rare

1. Ordis Trooper ↗2 / 8 months
2. Ordis Attorney ↘1 / 6 months
3. The Sandman ↗1

Ordis’s Top 3 commons are fully unchanged from where they ended the WFM season, racking up another month each. In September, License Withdrawal took a sharp lead compared to the other two, but all three cards are again being played at near-parity in October. Ordis joined Axiom and Muna in adding three SKY commons to its Top 10 list, including Ascended Trooper in fourth, Gargoyle in seventh and Skybound Odyssey in 10th.

Among rares, Ordis Trooper takes the lead to start off the season, followed by Ordis Attorney. They’ve swapped places a few times in recent months but haven’t left the Top 3. The Sandman moves up from fourth. The faction brags the most rares added to the Top 10 from the new set (possibly because only one of the four heroes has more than 2% distribution, so cards don’t have to support multiple heroes to rise to the top). The top Ordis SKY rare is Soar in sixth, followed by Ascended Trooper in eighth, Ordis Messenger in ninth and The Ugly Duckling in 10th.

Yzmir

Common

1. Off You Go =
2. Magical Training ↗2
3. Studious Disciple ↘1

Rare

1. Baba Yaga =
2. Beauty Sleep =
3. Suha, Quorgan Operative ★

Common Off You Go maintains its place, while Magical Training moves up from fourth over Studious Disciple and Tooth Fairy. Caladrius nearly made it into the Top 3, but missed by a few decklists. Only one other SKY common made it into the Top 10, Yzmir Signet.

Among the rares, the top two positions are unchanged from the end of the WFM season. Yzmir is the only faction that added a new rare to its Top 3 from SKY, welcoming Suha in for quick boosts with the promise of sabotage later that same turn. It is, however, the only new rare in the Top 10. The Hunger has crept up in the faction’s rares from sixth to fourth in October.

Hero standings

October/season-to-date first-place victories by hero

While many strong cards were added to the collection in SKY, many competitive players stuck to what they were comfortable with for October. Sigismar led in hero distribution, and leads again here in first-place victories for the month. That isn’t the entire story, though. Whereas Sigismar and Afanas were singularly dominant compared to other heroes at the start of the WFM season, the Ordis leader barely has room to breathe with both Treyst and Kojo just one win each away from overtaking him. This month, Basira isn’t to be left out, grabbing seven firsts for herself and maintaining striking distance to the crown. She took more wins in October alone than she did throughout the entire WFM season.

The first significant drop goes to Sierra, but again, the ranking doesn’t give the full context. Similar to Basira, Sierra has already outpaced her full WFM record. Atsadi and Teija put things back on track for the month, but at least two heroes who typically aren’t in the Top 5 are clearly on a track to do so this season.

1. Sigismar ↗1
2. Treyst ↘1 /Kojo ↗1
3. Basira ↗3
4. Sierra ↗6
5. Atsadi ↗2 /Teija =
6. Isaree ★
7. Fen ↘3 /Rin ↗4 /Waru ↗5 /Gulrang ↗4/Akesha ↗2 /Sol ★ /Kauri ★

Here at the start of the SKY season, heroes are clustered tightly together. In some cases, that’s due to players defaulting to a hero they’re comfortable with, and in others it’s because competitive players are just starting to understand how a hero can operate. Yes, some familiar names are at the top of the list, but several others are pushing upwards to challenge them. The three stars in October’s rankings show that not everyone is sticking to what they’ve played before, and looking for new ways to take down the leaders.

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