Community Rankings

I expect Breakers to shift to S-tier someday as they mirror the strength of anything ability-dependent released in the future (while PD may one day face more hard counters).

S Tier: Polar Dwarves: This is strongest faction by far, the combo of ice ram and glacial shifts allow you to bounce around opponent’s summoners like a block puzzle. Pairing this with strong commons and events makes this faction very difficult to deal with. Their defensive positions are incredibly hard to break, and aggressive forward positions can be downright oppressive. Their champ selection is solid all the way around with Jarmund highlighting the group as one of the best in the game. They haven’t really had a bad match up with their worst ones coming in around 50% for both sides, but with the newest two factions that might change. A+ Tier Cloaks: The flexibility of this faction is unmatched, largely since Vlox can copy any ability and therefore quickly adapt to any situation. The Cloaks can play aggressive with having some of the best reach of any faction, but they also do very good defensively with the ability to swarm and get extra attacks with machinists, the Admiral, and Vlox. There commons and champs are all very good and have a clear role in the deck. And with Dagger always looming this deck is just waiting to stab you in the back. Savannah Elves: The best economic deck in the game in my opinion allows the Savannah Elves to blatantly just outlast most opponents. However, when pressured they can struggle to overcome that situation as protecting a 10 health Abua Shi can be tough. Also deck also suffers more than almost any other deck when drawing poorly (all events and gates, largely due to how important their events are and how expensive the commons are. However, explosive combos such as Chant of Power and Chant of Entangling can quickly, often in one turn defeat any summoner. Pairing this with very strong commons that often get better with each turn and two of the strongest champs in the game( Miti Kyru and Makeinda) and it makes for a very strong deck. A Tier Cave Goblins: The horde of this deck can be incredibly hard to deal with for any opponent. The Cave Goblins ability to get damage on the opponent’s summoner and often get the assassination make this outcome very hard to avoid. Pairing this with extra attacks and Sneek’s ability to hop into the fray and the horde will quickly devour any opponent. Unrelenting played at the corrected moment makes this horde even harder to slow down. Blarf and Smeg are very good champs in this deck and give you something throw magic at, but the Eater is almost unplayable in most match ups. The fact that this faction has basically no back matchups and can give all the tops decks fits when almost no other decks can secure its place in the top decks. The only thing that can slow down the horde is bad card draw. B+ Tier Breakers: With lots of tricks up their sleeves and more range than almost any other deck they can be a nuisance like no other. Pair this with tempest not allowing you to strike back and a looming mind control that could be your undoing at any moment making playing against them filled with mind games. While rolling ranged dice can be frustrating at times, this deck makes up for it with direct damage from deceivers and blast, more attacks with Gulldune, and tons of dice from wind archers. The adaptability and ability to get to the opponent’s summoner at any time with wind archers, blast, and Gwalark make them a top 5 deck. B Tier Skyspear Avians: Fear the Flock would be a great mantra for this deck. Any of the birds on their own are okay at best but with combined with the proximity flight and attack bonuses they are a force to be reckoned with. Positioning is crucial as even with more mobility than maybe any other deck there will still be plenty of turns in which you wish you could move one or two more units for the best positioning. The champs of this deck are all solid with Sairook being the highlight. Sairook when paired with a couple of commons on the board becomes one of the best champs in the game. Ava low health is the only thing holding this deck back from being one of the best. C+ Tier Fallen Kingdom: The undead are in my opinion the most fun faction to play. Their combos are electric and can quickly dispatch of a summoner. With purge, undead archers, and undead carriers they can quickly turn a blocker into their own unit. One of their downsides is their reach, their range is not great, and blood summon is one of their only ways to extend past their current position. The champs for this deck are also the worst champ selection of any deck with Dragos being the best option. Luckily with the massive damage output that undead warriors can have, champs often aren’t needed. The undead carriers are heroes of the deck giving more units for purge, blood summon, and positioning. They can have a better end game than most decks as the carrier spam can be endless. However, decks with high health commons make these carriers not near as effective, giving this deck a couple of bad match ups. Phoenix Elves: This deck is easy to overlook with the low health of the summoner and no crazy strong champs or commons. However, the synergy of this deck is very good, and they can quickly burn through your units while at the same time giving you no good options to attack. This deck much like the Vanguards depends on good positioning to succeed but if you can utilize the 4 AV of Maldaria then you can win a lot of match ups. With two solid champs in Fanessa and Holeas the positioning can become even more crucial. However, a couple of bad match ups, like the one against the Polar Dwarves which is one of the most lopsided in the game, keep this deck from being any higher. Tundra Orcs: This Faction is always tough to rank so low because nothing gives you more of a power trip like smacking around your opponent’s summoners around and getting up in their face with 14 health Grognack. However, this exactly what hurt the Tundra Orcs. Getting Grognack up close and personal against almost any faction can quickly get you in a bind. Most factions can do 8+ dice in one attack and while that 14 health feels safe, in one to two turns it will quickly be gone. But the health and damage of Tundra orcs make close quarters an absolute nightmare. The champs and commons for this deck are solid, but the lack of the range and ability to recover prevent this deck from being any higher in the rankings. D Tier Vanguards: Unfortunately, the Vanguards are the worst faction, and it isn’t near as close as I would like it. They don’t have positive win percentage against any faction largely because they don’t have any surprising aspects of their deck. The only surprise factor is Renewed Hope and while this can be super beneficial, it rarely puts the opponent’s summoner in a dire position. Add this too some expensive units and having one of the worst if not the worst champ in Jacob and it makes it harder and harder for this deck to perform well. However, in the right hands and with the right formations, such as those of the Vanguardian(Snalg), VG can not only still compete but often even be tough to deal with.

S Tier Polar Dwarves - Not much to say here that hasn't been said already. Most decks don't have the tools to deal with structures effectively, allowing Svara and her swarm of structures to completely dominate the battlefield when caught off-guard. Ice ram combo is a positional disruptor and assassination tool all in one package. Jarmund is probably the best value champion in the game. Polar Dwarves will hold this spot for a while in my opinion. Cloaks - Versatility seems to be a common theme among all the top decks, and Cloaks bring lots of it. Vlox's summoner ability is unmatched in its ability to provide flexible value no matter the board state. Need to punish a summoner hiding behind a blocker? Copy a sniper and dish out some damage. Pushed too far with Vlox and need to retreat? Copy Sin-Sin, Dagger, or Bandit and escape enemy lines. Need extreme value over time? Go final form Vlox and dominate the battlefield. That flexibility makes counter-play difficult at times, which can really disrupt an opponents plan if they're constantly battling what they think you might do next turn. Add in some great champions and an amazing epic event, you have the perfect storm of versatility and threat. A+ Tier Skyspear Avians - This might be a 'hot-take' but I think the Avians are quite strong in the current meta. Flight is THE definition of low floor, high ceiling for an ability. At it's worst, Ava can give units the ability to essentially teleport anywhere 3 spaces away for offensive or defensive turns. At it's best, Ava is flying over enemy gates to drop her own, block summoning spots, and nearly 'trap' enemy summoners from retreating or gaining reinforcements. Alone, the Skyspear commons aren't all too special - but once gathered, they are a mobile flock of tanky ranged assassins with incredible reach. What prevents this deck from reaching S tier is Ava's low health and high magic requirements. There are no 0 cost units, and the core formation of the deck (Steward/Sage) require 3 magic - which can be hard to keep up when the pressure is on. All things considered, flight and formation can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how well you're able to plan ahead your turns. A Tier Savanna Elves - I've seen Savanna Elves hover somewhere around S to A range and I personally put them at A. Before CL/SA arrived, I could be convinced that SE's were S tier, but I think the top is too crowded now and SE's are a tad more restrictive than I'd like. Don't get me wrong, I think SE's are still an economic powerhouse, but the deck lacks any real disruptive tools to prevent an opponent from setting up a devastating turn. Abua is an interesting summoner - his abillity is simple and straight forward, providing a value of .5 to 1 magic depending on how much weight you put on 'boosts'. He holds an impressive 5 damage ranged attack, but can rarely use it safely given his 10 HP pool. The commons in the deck are all strong in their own right, but can be predictable at times - with the exception of a few events. Speaking of which, I often feel that that the range requirements on some of the 'stronger' events such as Chant of Power and Chant of Entanglement forces Abua to be close to his units in order to pull off devastating combos. This could prove difficult if the opponent plays defensively or at range the entire game. I think these are more nit-picks if anything, SE's are a powerhouse in their own right and might be the easiest deck to pick up and start winning with. Fallen Kingdom - My favorite deck in both theme and execution. I think I might be one of the only few that rank FK this highly and it's for a few reasons. I'll start with the strongest - end-game potential. There are very few decks that can keep up momentum once the deck is tapped out, and I believe FK to be the strongest. Undead Carriers are the core of the late-game, with the ability to reproduce using enemy units, heal/replace themselves, and pump up death-related abilities all while doing so. If the Fallen Kingdom finds the game slowly slipping away from them, they can turtle hard and force the opponent to come to them - or risk going head to head with never ending zombies in end-game. Even before end-game, FK can hold their own by using Carriers and Archers to steal positions or even gaining a huge economic advantage by using Ret Tal's ability. To round out the package, the Fallen Kingdom have an incredible amount of 'tech' plays with Archers, Purge, and/or blood summon that all provide incredible reach and explosive assassination attempts. The downside to FK though is that they lack any meaningful way to break the 3 attack/move per turn and have an extremely weak ranged game. These weaknesses can easily be exploited by others and make for a challenging game as FK. B+ Tier Cave Goblins - CG Top Tier!! All memes aside, Cave Goblins were my #1 choice when I first started the game. I think one of the less apparent skills needed to master the game is the art of hand management. Usually, this requires a lot of foresight in calculating what is the most probable draw you will get based on what has been played so far - and managing the amount of magic you'll need to play it. CG simplifies this issue by letting you play everything in your deck, and encouraging you to do so. A lot of newer players will find it easy to pick up Cave Goblins because offense is more intuitive than defense and everything in this deck supports that kind of thinking. Enrage the Horde has (quite literally) unlimited potential if positioned right, while Unrelenting is both economic and oppressive. Unfortunately, to reach its full potential, CG relies on an early gate draw and lots of commons in the early game. They suffer from event flood more than others and a bad draw can mean a loss of momentum that can feel impossible to come back from. Individually, each unit is weak and easy to kill - meaning that without proper positioning or Unrelenting, your opponent will kill your units faster than you kill theirs or even replace your own. Being so fragile, Cave Goblins tend to give their opponent tons of magic meaning that they have a small window in the early game to gain tempo before getting overwhelmed. These downsides lead to inconsistencies in power, which prevents me from ranking them higher than what they currently are. Breakers - I feel that it's hard to place Breakers in a tier just because of the nature of their play-style being so matchup dependent. Mind control, Mind witch, and Tacullu's ability are all heavily dependent on how well an individually captured unit performs. Take for example, their matchup vs Fallen Kingdom - capturing/copying most of their units feels like a waste since there is very little synergy to go off on. Carriers won't infect, Warriors have very few ways to pump, and Archers can be difficult to use based on position. On the other hand, their matchup vs Cloaks are great! Gunner, Sniper, and even Machinist are all great individual abilities to copy/capture that requires little groundwork to get up and running. I also feel that Breakers are lacking in the event category, with perplexing tempest being the most versatile. Commons are decent here, but I'm not a fan of a ranged-only deck as it can really sour your game when things don't go according to plan. B Tier Tundra Orcs - Despite their brutish looks, there is a lot of elegance to their simplicity. TO's greatest strength is their stat-lines, boasting some of the highest health/damage commons we've seen in the game thus far. To balance this, their commons are afflicted with RNG negatives that require Grognack to be nearby to help mitigate. With such sheer power, Tundra Orcs lets you play the 3 attack/3 move game without worrying about pulling off super technical combos to gain an advantage. For experienced players, this means that mastery over the universal game mechanics (gate blocking, staying out of reach, etc.) will often be rewarded and provides a consistent path to victory not reliant on card draw or dice rolls. Where Tundra Orc starts to fall apart is the risk-proposition that Grognack and his events offers. The range restriction on his ability and his events means that pushing forward with Grognack is a double-edge sword - one that an experienced opponent can and will capitalize on. This is where players will likely find trouble as the typical 'push offensively and take cover behind a gate' can turn into a prison for Grognack with little to no mobility options to leave. Fortunately his high health and 4 melee damage can help compensate for that, but it usually ends up being a tricky situation that Grog can barely escape alive if at all. Back to simplicity, there isn't a lot of trickiness (asides from an unexpected brutal force/primal fury) to their core gameplay, meaning in experienced play - their turns can be predictable. C+ Tier Phoenix Elves - This one probably hurts me the most to put here, but I feel like I had to for a few reasons. I'll start by saying Phoenix Elves were my top 3 (alongside CG/FK) as I really enjoyed the bob and weave style of play Maldaria brought to the table. Direct damage abilities are both fun and satisfying - giving players a degree of control over their turn and future turns. However, with the release of Cloaks and Skyspear Avians, I feel that her core-mechanics are not as effective as they once were. Cloaks and Avians have a variety of tools to snipe through, move around, or quite literally fly over her blockers - meaning that Maldaria has to be extremely careful pushing into these factions. Even prior to their release, PE often struggles from the position stealing Fallen Kingdom and get absolutely smashed by Polar Dwarves as their abilities don't affect structures. Without Maldaria present to provide value, PE's units have an okay stat-line, but rarely stick around longer than a turn. Where the Phoenix Elves redeem themselves is their champion line-up, with 2 amazing 5 cost champions that can serve as mini-summoner units in their own right. Fanessa is devastating to low-damage melee or ranged units, and Holleas is incredible versatile and easy to recoup value. We don't talk about fire drake. Overall, Phoenix Elves are still a top pick for me in terms of fun, but suffers from the current meta being filled with factions that all have easy ways to get past her primary defensive ability. At 9 health, one misstep could result in game over, or at the very least - put Maldaria out of commission for the rest of the game. D Tier Vanguard - I think this is one thing the entire community always agrees on, and that is that Vanguards are the weakest faction. I think there are some cool mechanics in the deck, but nothing seems to synergize with each other without the help of Sera. Therein lies the issue - Sera's 2 damage ranged attack is simply too weak to trade efficiently. This means that to properly utilize her ability, she would require another attack to finish off a unit or a knight to protect against a counter-attack. Vanguards are primarily defensive (or at-least that's where they shine), but they lack any reliable source of ranged damage. This constantly puts them at odds when their opponent decides to back off for a turn or two, as they lack the range and mobility to keep an advantage without exposing their units too much. Vanguards are also predictable - with their only 'surprise' being Renewed Hope. Sadly, this is often used to allow Sera to attack safely and typically don't result in game-ending board states. Vanguard's saving grace is their end-game, being one of two factions currently that have the ability to go on forever. However, even this mechanic requires Sera to attack and also have a Citadel unit on the board, which I've always felt was an unnecessary restriction. I could go on and on about the drawbacks of the deck, but I feel that it's already been echoed by others before me. Final thoughts I will say that the developers did a great job balancing the game. The nature of tier-listing means that someone is going to be at the top AND bottom, but the reality here is that the difference between a S tier and D tier deck is honestly maybe a solid 10-15% win rate, which isn't a land-slide by any means. Experience and strategy can help offset this gap and you'll find playing against some of the strongest Vanguard players still extremely challenging even using S tier decks. Throw in the RNG wrinkle of dice rolls and suddenly the inherent power of each faction has less of an impact. The game is very well balanced and the current tier list is constantly shifting based on what new mechanics are introduced every release. Despite such a vast difference in 'power', I enjoy playing every deck and would gladly take up a match with any faction. That's a testament to their design of each deck and the overall game - I'm excited for the future of Summoner Wars.

Let's explain some of my hottest takes here: Tundra Orcs at A • They have massively unexplored potential. They're the hardest faction to master, and overexposing Grog is easy. But their economic tools are incredible. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up higher one day—they need more love. Avians at A • One word: flexibility. The more flexible a faction, the more viable. Another word: matchups. They're still new, but I suspect the Avians have good matchups against both savannah elves and polar dwarves, and they very likely have a neutral or near neutral matchup v cloaks (they were counterparts in testing). That means they match up well against the meta, and I don't see any truly weak matchups other than (perhaps) breakers (but that depends on how the sentinel is utilized). All around neutral matchups and incredible consistency tools (e.g. worthy) make this faction a combination of what pe and vg wanted to be. With a combination of consistency and flexibility, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go higher. What would hold them back is a deceptively steep learning curve; like tundra orcs, fundamentals need to be mastered to not shipwreck yourself when using them. Breakers at B • Heartbreakers, the lot of them. It's hard to plan a turn when the chances of whiffing are higher than ever. This and a weak pd matchup make them inconsistent and a comparatively mediocre choice for tourneys. Nonetheless, they have some crazy options, and at their best, they can seem unstoppable. But I care more about consistency than peaks. Cave Goblins at B+ • Granted, they have a great pd matchup. But going second against se is a prescription for death, creating consistency issues against what is arguably the most popular overall faction. Their hands can suffer from event overload too, and sometimes they draw the wrong commons (too many clingers at the start, beast riders galore, etc.). They have incredible peaks and must never be counted out, but they're just a bit shakier than I would like for an A tier faction. Consistency is key. Vanguards at C+ • Top vg players have show that while they may be the worst faction, it's not by too much. (But yeah, they're the worst.) Now for my other takes: Phoenix Elves at B • I'm ranking based on consistency and how eager I would be to take this faction into tourney. Plus, looking at the factions ranked higher than PE, I agree with the divisions. PE has always just been middle of the road for me, and their seemingly insurmountable matchup against pd disqualifies them as consistently viable in my mind. They're supposed to be the consistency faction, but they pretty much auto-lose to pd—even when the pd playes is just messing around. Nobody likes to hear that a faction's pd matchup influences its tier placement, but that's just how it is. Fallen Kingdom at B tier • Again, it's about consistency. Their peaks are great, but their lows are nearly unplayable. It's a shame, because they're one of my favorites (like pe). Cloaks and Savannah Elves at A+ • An obvious placement. SE is consistency itself while enjoying various advantageous matchups, and Cloak's ceiling is sky-high. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cloaks eventually join S tier—but that might just be the hype train. Polar Dwarves at S • Yep. Nothing to see here. These are MAH BOIS