Looking at the top tables and seeing them filled with people I have already featured, I decided to take a break from match coverage this round and instead take a look at the composition of the metagame. The results are in, and it’s X-Faces by a hair. Here’s the complete metagame breakdown for $10K Austin:

20 X-Faces

19 Squadron Supreme

11 Hellfire Club

8 Mental

6 Energy

4 Avengers

3 Avengers/Brotherhood Reservist

3 Morlocks

2 Brotherhood

1 Above and Below

1 X-Men Beatdown

This metagame represents a dramatic shift from that of PC Atlanta. Avengers and Brotherhood, which were major forces in the Atlanta metagame, have all but disappeared. On the contrary, the previously rogue X-Faces has been catapulted to the most-played deck of the tournament. Ironically, some of the very few X-Faces players from Atlanta have switched to Hellfire and Mental control decks for this tournament. While these control decks have a much stronger showing than they did at Atlanta, their numbers are still dwarfed by those of Squadron. The deck that won the top two spots in Atlanta is still the second most popular deck. There are a number of variations on Squadron, as well; both traditional and Enemy of My Enemy–fueled decks are very popular. The final deck that’s making an impact today is Energy. This previously unseen deck is here in surprising numbers, and I’ll try to feature it in the next few rounds so that you can see how it works.