Hello and welcome to our first Skyweavist card Power rankings! Its been a wild ride post-patch 100 in the world of Skyweaver. The metagame has shifted away from a plague of 1-cost Mai decks to a variety of strategies vying for the top slot - but there can only be one king (or queen)! In this post we'll be ranking the top 10 current cards in Skyweaver. We'll take a look at what makes each of these cards tick, and hopefully gain some insight on what to expect on the ranked ladder or in Conquest and build our decks with a plan to answer these key cards. Without further adieu lets jump in with #10
10. Speedster
Speedster literally speeds into the board on turn 1, jumpstarting an aggressive game plan to burn your opponent to death before they have a chance to put up a defense. These aggro decks play a healthy helping of other 1-drop units, making it trivial to trigger Speedster's Out of Mana clause and get an early attack in on your opponent. The most busted plays with Speedster involve drawing it off of Call to Arms either outright or from Icaru, allowing it to burst onto the board as a 3/3 Guard. Similarly you can play it alongside Buster, Squire, both protecting the Squire's stealth and benefiting from its ability on attack. Speedster is clearly at its best when played in the first couple turns of the game, but even when drawn in the late game it offers a way to sneak in some extra damage on board. It's currently most popular in Fox Aggro and Zoey Zoo decks where it headlines as an opening play, but expect to see it in some fringe archetypes as well including Iris Burn and Mai 1-Drops.
9. Sonic Jammer
Sonic Jammer is as close to a "Take an Extra Turn" card as we'll probably ever see in Skyweaver. That bold statement is certainly match up dependent, but even so, Sonic Jammer disrupts practically every deck in a meaningful way. It's one of the best plays you can possibly do when you're ahead on board, allowing you to push an advantage through the next turn. Against aggro decks it puts up a decent guard while preventing the impact of burn spells and against slower, controling decks, it prevents your opponent from playing a board clear on a key turn. In match ups against ramp decks it shines as well, slowing their gameplan down by an extra turn by turning off Gift of Aya or Gigabloom. It incidentally shuts off Mana Crystals as well, so if you're on the draw and your opponent looks to be setting up a 5 mana play on turn 3, Sonic Jammer goes a long way in disrupting that plan. The best spot for the Jammer though is against spell based combo decks - time it right and you can completely shut down their Zam or Tome Golem combo when they're ready to pop off. Sonic Jammer stands high based on its own merits and warrants a slot in basically any Strength deck that can play it - though it's best in more aggressive decks to take advantage of board states when you're ahead.
8. Gift of Aya
The quick and dirty combo of Mana Crystal + Gift of Aya on turn 4 to draw and play Gigabloom on the next turn is a key line of play to make the ramp decks tick. The buffer of life from Gift is exactly what you need if you expect to take advantage of the extra mana, as taking a turn in the mid-game off without impacting the board can be risky, and drawing you're most expensive Earth spell means you'll always have something large to cast with that extra mana. Its a powerful combination so its no surprise that Big Titus and Cat Banjo utilize it to power their mana-hungry game plans. These decks commonly play Aya herself as well, doubling up on Gift and triggering her powerful inspire ability.
7. Grover
Grover powers its own deck that largely wouldn't exist without it - while not the de-facto best deck in the game, it's a powerful option and one that needs respect on the ladder. Grover's best friend is Cast in Chrome, acting as a second copy in the deck that simultaneously takes care of its drawback of coming into play attached with Roots. With Cast in Chrome and some other enablers, the deck can consistently summon Grover on turns 1 or 2 as a huge unit with Guard that immediately demands an answer. From there Grover powers up a variety of cards with its Summon effect of dumping eight 1-cost units of different elements into the graveyard - the highlights being World Tree and Sky Phoenix.
6. Tome Golem
Tome Golem on its own would merit a slot as a finisher in a control deck but it shines as the headline of several broken game-ending combos. Alongside Gato, Sapphire, and a way to make attachments cost one (Either through Ponderous or Thought Leader), Tome Golem can wipe away your opponent's entire hand in one swoop while also pumping your hero's attack damage as high as 9 or 10 for the turn. For more fun, utilize Tome Golem's attached Cross Reference and any other 1-cost spells you can find to dump as many 1-cost cards as possible into the graveyard (each copy counts as a new instance of each card) to set up for an absolutely massive Unophobia. And if that wasn't enough, you can even copy the Golem with Illusion and blast your opponent with Scorch and other 1-cost direct damage spells. Whichever combo you choose, Tome Golem ends the game quickly and in style. For cases where the combo doesn't come together though, it still plays great as a value engine with its attached Cross Reference and threatens your opponent with a huge 5/7 body.
5. Death's King
Death's King fuels busted turns in Heart based Zoo decks with its attached Ritual spell and the explosive potential of its Glory trigger. With a turn 1 Valet on the play, you can cheat Death's King out on turn 2, sacrifice the Valet to ritual and have have 4 more mana to play Eclipse or other units with death triggers. Many decks have trouble dealing with 5 health units in the early turns of the game, so if you can get Death's King out fast there's a good chance you'll be able to trigger its Glory. Connecting with your opponent while Chester or Eclipse (or god forbid both of them) are out on the field generates some absurd card advantage that can easily put the game out of reach for your opponent. The real crazy combo to assemble though, involves playing Scorpio into a flooded board and triggering Glory to draw 5+ cards and every other Death effect you have lying around. Death's King offers a tight package of synergy with death triggers on the immediate turn its played and demands an answer from your opponent or else it'll run away with the game.
4. Mass Confuse
Our highest rated spell on the list (and only one of two), Mass Confuse takes the honor as best board clear in all of Skyweaver. For whatever reason, Mass Confuse hits only your opponents side of the board in comparison to its counterparts of Extinction Event, Burninate, and Glitchbreak which hit both - it also scales to the size of your opponent's units where something like Burninate is locked in at 4 damage. On top of being an excellent board clear, Mass Confuse also slaps dazed onto anything it wasn't able to deal with, temporarily preventing any counterattack from your opponent. This combination of effects gives control and midrange decks an amazing tool to deal with almost any board for the reasonable cost of 6 mana. Mass Confuse would probably hit this list around the same place if that was all, but what really puts it over the top are its synergies with Enigma Golem and Think Twice. In the right deck, Enigma Golem can pull Mass Confuse and cast it for free while leaving behind a 6/8 Guard which is likely one of the best comeback sequences in the game in cases that your opponent is far ahead on board. Think Twice can potentially let you double up on this powerful spell, giving you the option to cast it twice over the course of a game which some decks simply don't have the tools to beat.
3. Fren-Z
Fren-Z tops off the curve of any deck that plays enough 1 drops to enable it - which isn't a huge ask in a world full of Micron Drones. Even in a non-dedicated deck you can easily enable it through playing just Lupin Microneer and Drone Swarm, which each add 3 one cost cards to your graveyard respectively. When you do enable its Play trigger, Fren-Z can take care of practically any threat on turn 7 while presenting a huge threat itself split between two bodies. Its attached Zap can be used to turn off Stealth so that either of the sharks can attack key units with dash or even snipe a hero that's low on health. Add armor to the mix and the sharks will likely hang around to do some damage in the next turn as well. Since Fren-Z both creates a board and answers your opponent's effectively, it can be played in practically any strategy control and aggro alike. It benefits from Grover's 1-cost dumping ability, the density of 1-costs in decks built around Hax, and even shines in Banjo Control with Tome Golem. In Sitti Zoo decks, which plays a helping of hand-buff cards like Crystal Restorer, pumping Fren-Z while in hand doubles in effectiveness as the extra stats transfer over to the copy - you can even cast Evermore the turn following Fren-Z to draw two freshly buffed Sharks to slam on the next two turns. Few things are more groan inducing than an on curve Fren-Z copying itself to wreak havoc on your board.
2. Buster, Squire
Buster, Squire is, without doubt, one the strongest 2 cost units in all of Skyweaver, filling an aggressive role in a variety of ways. Its ability to buff the left and right unit on your board when they attack means it often has an immediate impact, enabling your early game units to trade up in value or apply more pressure than they would otherwise alone. With carefully sequenced plays you can get even more than 2 triggers per turn - this involves playing out cards like Speedster, or utilizing effects like Bolster that give Guard to rearrange units on your side of the board. The ability also combines well with Micron Drones and Yellowjacks, allowing them to attack for an extra point of damage and clearing the way for the next drone / unit in line - look to play the Squire in conjunction with Drone Surge or Drone Swarm. If all that wasn’t enough, the Squire comes in attached with Dawn Blade, a relevant buff that can push damage, help trade for a unit without losing board presence, clear Roots, and even make Buster, Squire a threat all by itself in top deck situations. Few cards in Skyweaver have this much modality with this much power, making Buster, Squire an auto-include in any aggressive strategy that utilizes the Strength prism.
1. Festival Cannon
The coveted #1 spot for our first Skyweaver power rankings goes to the headliner of Sitti Death decks (though you can slot it into basically any deck playing the Heart Prism). Few things are more satisfying (and broken) than triggering Festival Cannon's death trigger multiple times in one turn with the help of cards like Phoenix Plume and Rise From Scrap. Thanks to the Cannon's attached Scorch spell, you can get the party started by blasting it yourself and then using those options (and more) to return it from the yard for another go around. In some late game scenarios it's not even farfetched to see sequences triggering Festival Cannon three or more times in the same turn - blasting your opponent's face once their units are out of the way. In a deck built to support it, the Heart prism has several options to increase your likelihood of seeing it each game, including Casket and Crypto, which make relying on its death trigger a powerful and consistent game plan.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this discussion the current top cards in Skyweaver for October 2022 - if you'd make any changes feel free to leave a comment below. Remember this is all subjective ;)
Cheers and goodluck in Conquest and Ranked!
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