Believe it or not, there were a lot of meta impacting cards throughout the past year that were from Roar of the Godwyrm. Of course, many of you will celebrate the demise of Ultimate Bahamut, but did you know that there are several other heavily meta-impacting cards?
Neutral
Surprisingly, the biggest Neutral rotation from Roar of the Godwrym is not Ultimate Bahamut, but Metatron. While originally used solely for the ability to ramp, in recent metagames, she has become a powerful tempo tool due to the 1/4 ward statline which is extremely difficult to run over. The loss of this card will reshape the way early games will be played in the future.
Additionally, Sword players will bemoan the loss of both Wayfaring Goblin and Badb Catha, two neutrals which have frequently seen play over the past year. Rune players will lose Dreams of Adventure, which has been a fairly serviceable 2pp cycle card with healing.
Sword
In addition to the previously mentioned loss of Wayfaring Goblin and Badb Catha, they will also lose access to the powerful control tool of Lyrala, which has provided healing and protection against OTKs. The recent Aurelia buff was also intended to last for only a single expansion, given that it will also be leaving the pool quite soon. Loot Sword players will also lose access to Illustrious Thief, which provided cycle on evo, while being difficult to answer for most classes in the early game.
Frankly, Loot Sword doesn't get hit very hard with this rotation, so Sword will likely have at least Loot Sword as a playable deck moving into the next expansion.
Dragon
For the most part, one could consider Bahamut a Dragon card, and the loss of both Bahamut and Badb hits this style of play significantly. In addition, Masamune has spawned some interesting tempo/burn decks in recent times, and he will also be leaving the pool shortly.
The two cards I would highlight specifically are Ethica and Flame Lizard's Breath, both powerful AOE control tools in their own right which will soon be leaving the game. For the past year, Dragon players have been able to default to Ultimate Bahamut if all else went wrong, but that will no longer be an option!
Buff Dragon doesn't appear to lose very much with the expansion, so this is the most likely pathway moving forward.
Bloodcraft
Wrath has been extremely well supported over history, but as for how long it will take for them to compensate the loss of Vampy, Veight and Vampire Queen's Castle remains to be seen. In addition, Blood loses Waltz, a critical component of the Vengeance package, which will definitely impact the current builds of Vengeance by quite a bit.
While not shown on the graphic, Dancing Mini Soul Devil and Doomlord of the Abyss will also be leaving us. This represents a significant weakening of the class overall.
The future of this class is unclear, with its fate heavily dependent on what Cygames prints to further support it in the next expansion.
Portalcraft
Practically every single Portal deck is impacted by this rotation. Rosa and Cassim have found their way into almost every single Portal deck, while Artifact gets hit significantly by the loss of Robopup/Deus Ex machina. Even Machina is affected by the loss of Gullias, which prevented the opponent from attempting to board lock. Overall, massive damage to the class, as it attempts to recuperate via new card prints in the next expansion.
Forest
A large component of the Fairy package rotates out this expansion, including the highly efficient Water Fairy, the powerful storm option in Shining Valkyrie, and the finisher in Tamlin.
In addition, Rayne has found its way as a critical invocation card for all builds of Forest, and is also on its way out (This impacts the consistency of hitting 10/20 forest followers leaving play).
Carbuncle is an interesting loss as well. While there are not many builds of Forest that currently utilise multiple copies of this card, it's one of those cards that was extremely fun to play with a high ceiling. Perhaps it's better that it's gone, as it will free up design space for future expansions.
This rotation will impact all currently successful Forestcraft builds, indicating a significant weakening of the class. What cards will Cygames print for Forest next expansion?
Runecraft
It's all Mysteria?
Always has been.
Despite the fact that the graphic shows only Mysteria cards, the class also loses access to a significant portion of the Dirt Rune package, including Juno and the 2-cost Levi.
In addition, popular spellboost cards like Enchanting Spell, It's Raining Blades and, for the memers, Seven Forces Sorcerer will be leaving the pool as well.
Mysteria has been hard carrying the class for a while, after the loss of the crucial Chakram Wizard. It wouldn't take that much for Cygames to revive Spellboost, but the real question is should they?
Shadow
Surprisingly, Shadow isn't impacted very much by the rotation. While Corral Souls is practically a staple, it is one of the only regularly seen cards from Roar of the Godwyrm. Ultimately, Shadow players will live without Corral Souls, 2-cost Cerberus and, Deathly Tyrants Feast, and have everything to look forward to given that there's an entire expansion's worth of cards awaiting them.
Haven
It's finally here - the death of Skullfane. Goodbye, you will not be missed, you will not collect $200 from passing go.
The only cards to really concern yourself with is Skullfane, 3-cost Jeanne, Prism Priestess, Imperial Saint, and Heirophant's Implements.
Overall, this mainly hits Crystallize, but Elluvia Haven should remain strong even after the loss of Jeanne, so I think Haven players can feel okay about the upcoming rotation, especially given the pain that other crafts will suffer from.
Final thoughts
When I first starting writing this article, I didn't think that Roar of the Godwyrm was a particularly impactful set. But as I look at the cards rotating out, this expansion has actually shaped the recent meta to an incredibly large degree, with many cards being relevant for close to an entire year.
Some classes are being hit particularly hard by this rotation, and class mains of Portal, Forest, Rune, and Blood should be crossing their fingers for something good next expansion. Which to be honest, they're pretty likely to get, but if they don't, they're gonna have a rough time.
