Official Gem Blenders organized play kicked off this month with a bang (or a Cannon Boom), and with it, plenty of fresh faces (mine included) are testing their decks in the field for the first time! Whether you precision-tooled a Life Burn deck down to the individual Electrogems or you just chose your shiniest Level 5 blend and worked your way down, every deck is a labor of love. But the question remains: how to beat them?
While the heroes, gems, blends, and actions may differ, the spirit of each deck—the unifying principals—often overlap. Regardless of how far you may be in your blending career, whether casual or competitive, it always helps to know thy enemy. With that in mind, here are the nine types of decks you’ll see at a Gem Blenders tournament!
The Pet Deck
Pet Decks are a staple of casual and competitive play in any TCG, and Gem Blenders is no different! A player’s “pet deck” is the deck they’ve nurtured, cared for, and bet on against all odds. It often contains their favorite cards or archetype, retooled and tinkered with every now and then in a Sisyphean attempt to make it relevant in the current meta. Pet decks often fall short of the “optimal” strategies other players are pursuing to take home coveted prize cards, but that’s part of their charm. A pet deck is your deck, and however the rounds may swing, you’ll never have to worry about the dreaded mirror match. You’ll see plenty of pet decks at a Gem Blenders tournament; from a Mantis Slasher mill deck that can never quite pull it off, to a burn deck propped up by a Flare Launcher trying their best, to a deck that floods the field early with pesky Viruses to burn your opponent for every gem they place. Pet Decks are fun, surprising, and like Ice Creamer, they come in all flavors!
The ’High Concept’ Deck
Unlike other decks you’ll see at a tournament, ‘High Concept’ decks usually have strategies that boil down to single card names. Cannon Boomer. Toxic Ram. Luster Striker. Decks where getting one or two important cards on the field or triggering one massive effect is the win condition in itself, full stop. I like to call these “dopamine cards”: cards with effects or stats too flashy to ignore, cards that make you go “Hell yeah” when you see them. Cannon Boomer, the unofficial mascot of my blending soul, has an effect that can deal a massive 15 damage to your opponent in one shot, albeit with the steep cost of having to equip and discard six of the same gem. Meanwhile Luster Striker is a Level 5 blend that can bump its attack up to a mighty 10, one of the highest stats in the game (and half of your starting HP!), but all nine gem types have to be present on your field to unshackle its power. These cards are unplayable in any deck not built around them, but that’s exactly what the High Concept Deck has in store if you don’t watch out.
The Meme Deck
Every good tournament needs one Meme Deck making the rounds— a sort of reverse memento mori to remind everyone that gem blending is not Serious Business and it’s okay to lose and laugh about it. But be careful: underestimating a meme deck might be the last mistake you ever make. Some of the most inventive, unexpected, and outright bizarre decks are meme decks. That said, the primary goal of a meme deck is to be funny, calling attention to odd or fun mechanics, art, and synergies. Maybe it’s a deck with only two types of gems (Rocket or Glacier Spam, perhaps), or a round 1 FTK deck using Joon-Ki (is such a thing possible?), or a Chain Smoker deck that finally unlocks the unstoppable power of Duc. Maybe it’s 50 Gem Searches in a trench coat masquerading as a deck. Whatever the case may be, if you come across a Meme Deck in the wild, remember to take it in the spirit with which it’s intended: laugh, and beat it into the ground.
The Deck That Always Takes Round 1
If you’ve played other TCGs such as Yu-Gi-Oh, you undoubtedly know what it’s like to get obliterated on turn one. Luckily, Gem Blenders’ rounds mechanic makes this impossible, but that won’t stop you from facing decks in organized play that try their hardest to recall the good old days of Magical Scientist FTK. Enter: The Deck That Always Takes Round 1. The name of the game here is aggro, and no matter how fast you think you can get your gems and blends out, there will always be one deck that’s faster. You will never, ever win round 1 against this deck. You will get Surged. Anchor Burned. Glaciered. Elaine will come out swinging with her +2 attack and good god she will not stop until you are meat that once claimed to be a gem blender. Accepting defeat for the first round is the only winning strategy against this deck. Pull your punches. Don’t try to outrace an unstoppable force. Instead, build your board. Get your Duc(k)s in a row. Then, as soon as round 2 sounds, strike back!
The Monstrosity Deck
The Monstrosity is a deck that’s airlifted in on a gurney and CPR’d into some semblance of being right before the coin toss. Its foundation may have been a starter deck, but like the Ship of Theseus, it has long since lost all claim to that basis through constant tinkering, pilfering, and commandeering of resources for other decks. It is unsleeved. It uses seven gem types despite only needing six. It may or may not be an even 50 cards. Monstrosities are the name of the game during Gem Blenders draft events where decks are crafted from random booster packs, but we all have one lurking in an old deck box somewhere. If you don’t see a Monstrosity at your tournament, you may want to hold your deck up to a mirror.
The Deck That Always Bricks
Bricking—that is, not drawing the cards you need to effectively play the game—is par for the course in any TCG, but this deck does it often enough to warrant skepticism. Maybe the gems-to-blends ratio is off. Maybe it’s rotten luck, or another Wood Ghost prank. But one thing’s for certain: The Deck That Always Bricks is great to play against at a tournament. It’s the gift horse you don’t look in the mouth. Even when the win feels unearned after your opponent spent the entirety of round 1 praying to QWERTY for a Luciogem that would never come, it’s still better than being The Deck That Always Bricks. Just don’t gloat too hard, or the curse could pass on to you.
Dexter
I did preface up front that this is a Gem Blenders tournament. Obviously, he’ll be there. He lives there.
Dexter is a powerful and highly unique Level 2 hero that has been breaking hearts and wills ever since his first prototyping. His controversial effect, Miracle Blend, lets a player reveal the top card of their deck and play it directly on Dexter if it’s a blend—ignoring gem and level requirements—until the end of the turn. Dexter can do this every turn, and with a deck packed full of Level 5 blends hungry for their one turn in the spotlight, it’s not hard to see where the bloodshed begins. You could be up against a Fume Blitzer the turn after you played your first gem. Dexter is arguably Gem Blenders’ chill, smug problem child. An angel to some (Ben), a demon to others (everyone playing Ben). You will face a Dexter deck at your tournament, and though he’s not without his counters (Stun, Peyton, Jeffrey), preparation can only get you so far. I can’t condone sneaking into your opponent’s house the night before the match and throwing their Dexter into the sea, but that would undoubtedly hit the problem at its source.
The Deck That’s Unstoppable in Round 3
Whatever you do, you absolutely, 100% cannot let this deck make it to round 3. Why? Round 3 is end game territory, and while some decks like to coast on an early board state, others like to build. And keep building. The Deck That’s Unstoppable in Round 3 has an end board the likes of which Gemlandia has rarely seen. That’s because gem requirements and combo pieces that are steep or unreliable in rounds 1 and 2 become trivial in round 3, when players have had enough turns to equip close to every hero with five or more gems and their hand is now half their deck. Round 3 is when Luster Striker pays off; when Plume Plucker and Horizon Gazer are in full swing; when Batteries plus Root Herald and Flash Blaster are gaining your opponent more HP than you can whittle down in four turns. This is the deck that sneaks up on you when you least expect it, and you’ve lost before it even taps you on the shoulder.
The Deck That Doesn’t Know It’s Cheating
Rounding off our list is a deck that looks just like any other. It could be a Pet Deck, a Meme Deck, or even a Deck That Always Bricks, with one crucial exception: this Deck Doesn’t Know It’s Cheating. There’s one at every tournament, and it’s what refs and disapproving looks are for. The trouble with The Deck That Doesn’t Know It’s Cheating is that you have to catch it and also not be it. Did your opponent just finish you off by Roost Bombing a non-Aerogem blend? Did they Polish Duster the same blend twice? Did they break into your house last night and throw your Dexter into the sea in a roguish bid to become King of Blends? These decks are a hazard both to themselves and others. A keen eye and a skim of the Comprehensive Rules will stop this menace in its tracks, but maybe wait until you’re sure you’ve lost before asking your opponent to count their deck out. Regardless of anything else, you’ve got a good 20% chance they’re playing with 49 or 51 cards.
Thus concludes our overview of the 9 Decks You’ll Face at a Gem Blenders Tournament! You can expect to see plenty of strong blenders antsy to try out new decks and strategies at every organized play event. It can be overwhelming, but just remember every deck fits perfectly and inarguably into one of the nine types above, and that’s only as many types as there are unique gems! So shape up your Monstrosity into a Pet Deck and hide your Dexters, because winning can be as simple as showing up.
I’ll see you there!