Personal Data Research on the English Competitive Environment [08/25/2026]

As prompted by my trio team in preparation for the upcoming event happening this Saturday, I have compiled my research over the metagame for which we built our decks for. This article will most likely have come out following the end of the event; this is to better our own odds. A follow-up article will be provided that details our experiences potentially depending on our placings.

Decklists are taken from EncoreDecks’ repository.

Universally, the newest kid on the block and the most important matchup to keep an eye out for is that of the Satono deck from Uma Musume. A tri-colour mish-mash of cards, the Satono deck rides on the back of its namesake, Satono Diamond, a powerful level one combo, which, when left unchecked, can generate enormous hand and stock advantage overtime, especially when coupled with her clean cut variant for a second combo use the following turn.

As for dealing with the finisher, Curren almost certainly has to front, and, if you have a rest counter at bay, you can freely punish their attacker. Since Curren is a Moca combo, they don’t really have a choice but to front if they want to deal any substantial damage, presuming you have a level three on board. Otherwise, emptying your board is also a proposition, given that Curren can only check two cards and will overswing for three at bare minimum. The odds of cancelling also increase if Curren triggers Satono’s stocksoul climax as well.

Their colour counts are also quite awkward as most decks greed on having the necessary colours for yellow and green in addition to the sparse red for the sole stock flush Teio. By hitting certain pieces into clock, you can heavily punish the inconsistencies of the deck, especially in regard to their 2/0 event which they want multiples of to get the more important additional value.

Sample Decklist: Stock Soul/Bar

Even with the recent hits, I doubt Bang Dream! lists will really change much at all. Almost assuredly, all meta lists will likely continue to play Oblivionis even under the restriction. The late game is dubious as, with the latest release, there are multiple new options to consider beyond Ave Mujica’s set. Not much to say about this matchup. The overall consistency is down so exploit it as best that you can. Should Sakiko be their choice of the three, their decks will lose the ability to interfere with your deck with both Arisa and the stock flush event choice restricted.

Sample List: Bar/Door

Probably the biggest boogeyman in the format, this is officially Oshi no Ko’s first debut in English in Toronto’s competitive scene. For the uninformed, the deck essentially revolves around the two combos shown above with a supplementary brainstorm five that checks for five cards (it only works on the climaxes for Akane and Kana). Akane is an overbearing finisher that punishes your opponent for having level zeros and climaxes at the bottom of their deck. On top of dealing damage, if a level zero or climax is revealed, Akane can heal that number of instances from their clock. The only real way to “play” around this is to have less level zeros overall. Put them into your stock somehow or kick them to level zone. Kana is more annoying in the early game as she can potentially debut into unbreakable scenarios. What I mean by this is her combo check, if she grabs a level two or higher character, lets her rearrange the top three cards of her deck. With a bit of luck, she can keep pushing cancels back on her opponent’s turn, by which, you can’t really do too much. There’s also the issue of the early-play that can bounce to hand upon reverse and loop itself. You need anti-change that can remove it to other zones.

This is a difficult match-up. Try your best to rush them down before they have the time to build up their level three game. Additionally, Akane’s combo is random at the end of the day, so you can always just pray that their damage just never hits.

Sample List: Door/Arc

We are in Toronto, so you’re almost guaranteed to see some large amount of NIKKE showing up. Nothing has changed from last year. Have early-play answers and punish their inconsistencies. The deck’s finishing power is its weak point. Make sure to keep your clock healthy since they can’t really consistently deal finishing damage. Bouncing their backrow Sin is recommended since that card is almost always a dead card in hand that they can only spawn through Modernia or standby.

Sample List: Door/Standby

Since we are also in Toronto, you’ll likely expect tons of Hololive because people just genuinely love this series. If there’s one build that may be showing up more than others, it is the Luna standby pile build. There’s not much to say about this build other than make sure to hold onto any sort of level zero removal. Luna herself is the main star of the deck. She isn’t hexproof, so you can technically target her. However, more traditional early play removal won’t work since she’s a level zero on board. Luna will almost always front, so, if you can challenge her power, you can also beat her in that sense. Anti-change counters are still very good to get rid of Luna’s support in the backrow that is usually cheated in.

Sample Deck: Standby/Standby

That’s about all for the report as far as my research goes. Best of luck, team!