Gather Round! It's time to learn about Convergent Destinies

Destined for Greatness

Just like its digital counterpart, Convergent Destinies is an incredibly high power level set that will shape the competitive metagame for a very long time. The set introduces the Leader crew from Aleister as Followers and adds further support for Machina and Natura themes from sets 7 and 12, updated to include Super Evolution support. In light of this, I’ll be talking about both the lore archetypes (Natura or Machina) for each class as well as their powerful free agent cards.

Forestcraft

Forest’s lore archetype is Natura, now with 100% more Ladica. In addition, Forest gets some incredible support for generic Combo as well as Puppet decks.

• : Arisa is an incredibly flexible option for Forest Decks at large but in particular Combo-oriented decks are going to love playing her. Her stat line is an incredible 1pp 2/2 and both and are very powerful options that make it easier to hit a full Combo 5 turn. Arisa's ability to summon out is interesting but not always necessary, as the bow itself can be a bit of a brick to actually draw.

• : for Puppets is a very powerful effect. is still one of the best Puppet token generators in the strategy, but it falls off quite fast later on in the game. Spells are also incredibly valuable in this strategy that tends to fill up its board spots a little too fast.

Natura Forest

Natura Forest still plays around the / combo, spamming to pad combo count. In Convergent Destinies, however, Forest gains a few cards that improve the consistency of this strategy and give the deck alternative sources of damage.

• : Ladica’s Retrain sets herself up for success, checking top 5 for whichever Natura cards best catalyze your game plan and generating a tree on both Evolve and Super-Evolve. The Super-Evolve also gives the deck added reach when the opponent might be sitting on open play points.

• : In addition to being a way to cycle through your deck, Friendly Embrace lightens the setup and board space requirements for a Ladica turn, as with two trees in play it’s a free card. This means you can go Ladica - Tree - Tree - Embrace (engaging two trees) - Send, making it easier to play Ladica turns.

Swordcraft

Sword has a few cards [ and ] dedicated to an interesting theme but it is kind of lacking in offensive pressure. In addition, Token Sword gets three cards that help push the strategy to be a little more aggressive and resilient.

• : Erika is interesting in that she doesn't actually need Officer traits on the board to get her buff effect, but can choose which Officer token she wants to summon, making her a great enabler for other Token theme cards that works as generic aggressive payoff.

• : Corpsmaster is a very flexible Officer token generator who also acts as payoff, and having these kinds of flexible cards makes strategies that require putting together A+B much more consistent.

• : Bladerights Lieutenant is simply a solid token generator, creating all three Officer tokens in a single card.

Natura Sword

• : Their ability to search Natura spells for a toolbox playstyle is quite strong, but it’s a bit unfortunate that Storm is gated behind Super-Evolution. That said, practically gaining 4 play points on a turn where you Super-Evolve this follower allows you to make some pretty big board swings. Note that despite having both their names, Mistolina & Bayleon will not activate the bonus effects on either or , as those look for specific card names.

• : Speaking of toolbox playstyle, this card can search up either or (albeit not in this sample list) on top of a bevy of other options, making for an incredibly versatile card.

Runecraft

Rune gets some interesting free agent cards, with some Mage and Academic support as well as some Banish cards for future sets. Machina Rune, meanwhile, gets an incredible amount of support, pushing it to serious metagame consideration.

• : I feel like being a 3-cost Mage with Spellchain payoffs has to make Isabelle a pretty reasonable card, but it is a little unfortunate that Isabelle’s and are Tokens that don’t speed up your Spellchain game plan.

• : Have you ever drawn all your copies of while staring at 2 copies of in hand? Mysterian Wisdom mitigates this situation and also acts as a consistency piece in the form of a 1PP spell.

Machina Rune

What was probably the least powerful Machina archetype from Verdant Steel gets a massive glow up in Convergent Destinies. Machina Rune is now a grindy midrange-control deck that can repeatedly push damage while keeping its health high even later on in the game.

• : Belphomet’s newest incarnation allows you to chain into into Belphomet, Ultimate Creator, at which point Ultimate Creator buries his other selves to deal damage to the opposing board and buff his own smaller machines. If you evolve Worldreaver before playing Ultimate Creator, you can make a board of two copies of and an and then buff all your tentacles. The 6-cost effect can also be used with , who can search up Ultimate Creator.

• : Tetra’s new retrain is a card filter engine that doubles as a huge tempo push on Super-Evolve. The threat of Serene Sapphire’s Super-Evolution makes an evolved Tetra, Sapphire Rebel a priority target for removal, and having your cards be more threatening is huge for slower decks like this.

• : This card activates my value-addicted neurons. Provided you’ve done your Token setup (for example, , evolve Hoverboard Mercenary on 2), Mega Enforcer now gives you insane value (provided you have a target). Very cool card to play in a grindy deck.

• : Speaking of value, searching any Belphomet while generating Armored Tentacle is a great rate at 3pp, and spending the full 5 on this is even better value while setting up your future plays.

Dragoncraft

Natura Dragon gets a light sprinkling of support, although it’s hard to say whether it’s overall stronger than 7-cost, which has a similar playstyle. Draconic Duelist and Marine also get some nice cards, especially the latter in the form of Disrestan as a win condition.

• : Rowen and his are powerful additions to Draconic Duelist, the former giving the deck additional damage while pushing removal, the latter adding an Amulet to start your plays. Accurate to his story beat, Rowen does come with a bit of a drawback until you have Overflow active, but Duelist is a pretty strong archetype, and being able to stack is kind of terrifying.

• : The Marine trait finally has a powerful finisher, and it’s definitely here to make waves. A Storm On Evolve with a board wipe built in is a very powerful top end for any strategy, and Disrestan is here to turn the tide of the game in your favor, for the turn you play it at least.

Natura Dragon

Natura Dragon was the strongest of the 3 Natura archetypes, which probably puts it in a precarious spot in terms of balancing. It also has to compete with 7-cost Dragon, which has a remarkably similar game plan. That said, Valdain and Djeana add a good amount of consistency to the deck, so they make worthy additions.

• : Wait, why is he called one and a half classes while belonging to another class altogether? The new Valdain retains his ability to find , your win condition, while searching up a second spell to suit your situation (usually ). He also comes with removal and healing, both great ways to stay on track winning with Shadow’s Corrosion damage.

• : 's ramp effect was an important play in Natura decks but it’s become increasingly risky to try to ramp without also addressing the board as decks get more and more streamlined. Djeana ramps On Evolve, giving you immediate ways to deal with the board, albeit at a hefty cost to hand size. Her Super-Evolve helps replenish your hand while giving good selection for follow up plays.

Abysscraft

Abyss players are truly eating good in Convergent Destinies. Machina as the lore archetype gets a massive boost. In addition to that, Departed, Saguine, and even Vampire get cards that provide a fairly substantial power boost.

• : Sanguine has been lurking a tier below other Abyss decks but Urias gives it a final push over the edge and makes it a serious contender. It’s pretty incredible how strong Urias is - does an insane amount of health swing on practically any turn and Urias comes with 3 modal self-pings On Evolve if you need immediate tempo or value. Also did you see that trait line? That's right, he's actually a reasonable addition to Vampire decks.

• : Not to be left behind by Sanguine's power boost, Necrocharge-based Abyss decks get an incredible enabler in the form of Luna, who speeds up the deck’s ability to mill and provides a body for the effects that want to bury your own followers. is notably a Token so it can get pretty incredible value with .

• : Amy may lose the Quick speed of , but being a follower means she leaves a body behind for other bury effects and is much easier to recur from the cemetery. Her Evolution effect is barely used, as Evo deck space is a premium.

Machina Abyss

Machina Abyss released in Verdant Steel as a deck that punished you severely for failing to clear them, but removal has gotten better and more consistent. This update to Machina Abyss demands decks be either very efficient at clearing its wide boards or pack a 3/2 Apollo {id="BP16-121EN text="line"} to even have a chance at the game.

• : One way of keeping Machina Abyss up to date is giving them a second Storm follower, this time in the form of a Mono retrain. After her failing frame is healed by Naterra’s Aether, Mono gains the ability to ping an enemy follower on strike. She still takes a full board to Storm, but being a second Storm when pushing with her original version leads to at least 12 damage that turn.

• : Mono brings the damage, Aenea brings consistency. Creative Amethyst's On Evolve searches out Roly Poly Mk-II, who is also a powerful 1/3 ward statline and adds some card selection. She’s also the new Super-Evolve, able to revive a Machina follower that costs 3 or less, such as, well, Mono, Immortal Garnet.

• : This card really steals my hope when it’s played. Machina abyss is a deck with a lot of specific role players so having the ability to search out a missing piece of your combo is always going to be nice. I think the second mode also looks insanely strong, allowing you to get out a wide board that suits the game state when low on resources.

• : Taking the slot as removal, Nicola’s retrain works very well with his original version's On Evolve effect and practically does the same work in terms of removal, but also has the ability to keep recurring at the cost of two Machina cards from hand (which is kind of bad value). Note that when you use his Last Words effect, he keeps his discount between turns.

Havencraft

Machina Haven gets a reasonable set of upgrades, and it’s especially notable that none of the new Machina cards for Haven are Legendary, making for a very nice budget upgrade to an existing deck. Amulet Haven decks also get a few nice upgrades, which we’ll explore first.

• : Amulet Haven has long needed more payoff cards in addition to and Eris definitely delivers on this front. Getting to 4 Amulets is a pretty natural progression for the deck, so Eris can come down and banish two followers, which is very strong and disruptive, often floating more play points. She also summons , a fairly resilient follower who comes with a good amount of healing. This efficient interaction with the opponent's board helps the grindy Amulet playstyle convert to a win.

• : This is an incredible card for Amulet decks. On-demand removal only gets more important, and the ability to empty your own board spaces in Amulet decks is also vitally important. Amulet payoffs require good enablers to make for a coherent strategy, and Unicorn Altar is a very strong enabler.

Machina Haven

If we consider Machina Abyss to be the aggro archetype and Rune to be the control one, then Haven kind of lands in a combo-midrange spot. While not a wholly unique concept to this deck, Machina Haven’s mechanical identity is for their followers to get bonuses when summoned by an ability, and it gets both more abilities that summon and followers that want to be summoned in this fashion. In this set, Haven gains some tools to keep up pressure and build up copies of in EX while keeping its Repair Mode spenders from previous sets in the form of and .

• : Vice is the newest 'summoner' that Haven gains in this set and also gives you the card economy that this strategy requires. I really like how he’s anti-bricky, not requiring you to summon two followers from among the 5 that he looks at, meaning you can plan what followers you’re going to summon with him. Granting rush should also not be overlooked, as this helps Machina Haven establish board advantage by swinging 2/3 bodies over enemies.

• : This follower is interesting, as she’s basically a 1pp 3/3 ward that draws a card. She requires a dedicated Machina deck for consistency both in terms of drawing a card and entering play, but she is a pretty solid rate for dropping down a strong ward to push board advantage.

• : Technomancer is an important card for generating resources and also upgrade to - he costs 1 less and counts any Machina card in EX for the draw effect, not just copies of Repair Mode.

• Android Artisan: Artisan is the new Machina follower that gets a bonus for being summoned by an ability, her bonus is specifically to ping a follower based on how wide your board is.

Neutral

Neutral is consistent with the traited theme for support. In this case, there’s a few cards for both Natura and Machina decks, but also a nice addition to Angel decks.

• : This card is a great card in all Machina decks but especially an absolute menace in Machina abyss, where its On Evolve effect makes a total of 3 bodies for 2PP + 1 EP puts a lot of pressure on the opponent to clear a few bodies immediately. Making 3 bodies on demand also opens up the ability to activate Assembly Droid’s effect to clear a tall follower.

• - An Angel searcher that heals when played later on gives a lot of consistency and stall power to Angel-based control decks, which usually end up being Sword decks because of . Find for banish from possibly both its fanfare and its On Evolve effect, for card draw and her Super-Evolution, or even to remove pesky Amulets.

• : Recycling cards in the Evolve deck is a pretty strong effect, especially in Natura Forest, where and her Evolution can be kind of dubious. I think this card has a good amount of potential, but its biggest problem is how much it costs. Still, Natura decks have tools for recycling cards from the cemetery, so adding a way to recycle Evolutions is pretty huge.

• : Maisha's retrain makes her a lot better at doing incremental amounts of damage instead of being all in on a huge swing. Even if you don't achieve her Storm condition, drawing a card On Evolve can be pretty useful in aggressive decks that can find the space to field her.

Conclusion

I think Convergent Destinies is certainly one of the strongest sets we've gotten recently. Machina Abyss and Rune get instantly pushed to really powerful spots in the metagame, while Leader-as-Follower cards like Arisa, Luna, and Urias give significant boosts to decks built around the Combo, Necrocharge, and Sanguine mechanics respectively. I'm excited to jump in and play a variety of the strategies available, and I hope you are too!