As we get close to the end of the Epic Era in Season 7 of Axie Infinity: Origins, we see some unexpected archetypes appear at the top of the leaderboard including Poison and Topaz. This goes to show the importance of Parts Evolution and skill in both team building and piloting the teams in determining success in Axie Origins.

Perch and Fury Aggro are still the most dominant archetypes at the top but players are learning how to play against them and of course teching Black Sage and Oranda against such teams. It is anyone's guess what archetype will claim the top spot in this Epic Era!

tldr:

Top players piloting Poison and Topaz to the top
Parts Evolution and skills matter in success in Axie Origins
Perch and Fury Aggro still dominant at the top

Player Base Statistics

      Rank  # Players    Rankings
Challenger       3916      1-3916
    Dragon       7626  3917-11542
     Tiger      10802 11543-22344
      Bear       5286 22345-27630
      Wolf       3920 27631-31550
      Boar       4576 31551-36126
      Hare       5816 36127-41942
     Chick      10651 41943-52593
       Egg      10027 52594-62620

Number of Players in each Victory Star Brackets

Victory Star vs Player Ranking for all Players

Victory Star vs Player Ranking for Players at Challenger

There are another 4000+ new players who played Axie Origins since last week, and as usual mostly of the increase is in the Egg tier. The number of players who reached Challenger is now getting close to 4000. Interestingly, the number of players in Tiger decreased by 1000+ compared to last week, meaning that more players move up from Tiger to Dragon than from Bear to Tiger.

Archetype Usage

Overall archetype usage

           # Matches Played in Days 10-12
2300+                                 334
2200-2300                            5562
2100-2200                           16702
2000-2100                           36411
1900-2000                           72124
1800-1900                          141165

Archetype Usage for Players at Challenger in Days 10-12 of S7 Epic Era

The archetype usage at 2300+ Victory Stars tells a very interesting story. There are about 14 players in that bracket and we see some unexpected archetypes such as Poison (by spam | YGGε) and Topaz (by METAT8 | Shoe) piloted by certain top players at the highest level. It goes to show that skill (and Parts Evolution) can play a big role in the success of a team.

Perch and Fury Aggro are still the most used archetypes at the top, suggesting that the Rage and Fury mechanics may be a bit overtuned, especially with the extra draw when getting into Fury.

Confused, Pure DMG Sturdy Fighter, and arguably Anemone are archetypes that are more popular at the top than lower down in Challenger, suggesting that these archetypes are performing well and can climb up to the top.

Sandal, Jinx, and Sponge are still up there but it is less popular at the top than lower down, suggesting that these may be less successful than others in this meta. Do note that the meta can be very different depending on which VStar bracket you are in, e.g. you will for sure see more Feather (AoE) at lower Challenger than on top.

Archetype Win Rates and Matchups

Overall Archetype Win Rates

At this point, it is difficult to conclude much just based on the win rate for the top VStar brackets as the numbers are mostly dominated by specific teams piloted by specific top players. Having said that, it does show the potential are certain archetypes making it to the top with Jinx, Poison, and Pure Damage Sturdy Fighter.

Of course Perch and Fury Aggro are still up there but we see Topaz and Confused also potentially getting up there with Anemone and Sandals as well. I must say, the meta this week really shows how Parts Evolution and Skill can play a big part in getting to the top rankings in Axie Origins.

Archetype Matchups

The matchups of Perch is not all positive anymore as players are teching against it as well as learning how to play against it. Of course the other factor is that more players are joining the Perch gang and may not be playing the most optimal build / or in the most optimal way. Teams with Shields such as Sustain, Pure DMG Sturdy Fighter, and Topaz seems to do okay against Perch. A surprising stat is that Perch only has a 32% win rate against Hot Butt, though note that there are not many matches with Hot Butt (archetypes are ranked by popularity from top to bottom / left to right).

Jinx is actually in a pretty good spot as long as you don't face Poison, Fury Aggro, and Clover. Again I should reiterate that this is the data for the whole Challenger and the results can be quite different depending on the specific team composition, Runes, and Charms as well as skill level and VStar bracket. Having said that, you can use it as a rough guide together with the archetype usage to see what might be best for the meta in your VStar bracket. Check out the Additional Data at the end of the blog post of VStar-specific matchup stats.

Team Highlight

Rank 2 Poison team by spam | YGGε

Spam continues to play Sleep + Poison + Reverse Heal from his Rank 1 success in the Rare Era. This team is a great example of how powerful Parts Evolution can be with 3 x evolved Green Thorns with Reverse Heal, 2 x evolved Rosa for Poison and Sleep, 1 x evolved Strawberry Shortcake for massive Reverse Heal damage to target specific Axie. There are also 3 x Silence Whisper for Sleep and Reverse Heal, 2 x Gecko eyes with Gecko Mask for Cleanse and Taunt, 2 x Watermelon with Black Sage for damage and Dispel. Let's not forget the evolved Friezard for the Doubt and with Reverse Heal.

In terms of Runes, Venoki's Poison to speed up the Poison application with Last Wish for extra AoE damage and Moonlight Thief which slows down opponents as well as being able to get to the Cottontail turn consistently while retaining certain key cards. an interesting thing to note is that this team does not require Gila. 1 Potato Leaf for Shield and Sleep, 1 Cottontail for extra Energy, and 1 Snake Jar for specific targeting + add more Poison seems to be enough with all the other Reverse Heal cards in the team for damage. It is easier for opponent to play around Gila compared to all the Reverse Heal cards such as Strawberry Shortcake and Silence Whisper.

Rank 9 Topaz team by METAT8 | Shoe

Shoe's Sturdy Fighter Topaz team managed to get to Rank 9 at the time of writing, which goes to show that Topaz is not dead. It is more about finding ways to make it work. There are only 8 other Topaz players in the top 1000, most of them with a similar setup with Sturdy Fighter, which is a nature fit to such as "Shield-heavy" archetype like Topaz.

Similar to most Topaz teams, 3 x Innocent Lamb + Nimo tail + Topaz is the norm. Evolved Bumpy and Timber help with getting more Shields on the Sturdy Fighter Bug for more damage. The Sturdy Fighter Bug has evolved Spiky Wing and Piranha for more scaling with damage with Spiky Wing stealing DMG dealt as Shield while Piranha stealing unblocked DMG as HP. The reworked Leech also adds to the Steal and Cunning mechanics, scaling the power of Cards with Steal.

Square Teeth with Black Sage together with Oranda help against teams that rely on buffs, especially Rage. It is interesting to see the wide use of the new natural Epic Charm, Purifying Incense, which in this case gives the flexibility of Cleanse or Purify which could be good against Aggro with Vulnerable and Death Mark or against Jinx and Confused using Purify.

Gecko Mask on Topaz for the Front and Back helps with managing opponent's targeting as you would want your opponent to target the Axie with Topaz played and protect your other Axies. Finally it is worth mentioning the evolved Kingfisher which now has a new mechanic of Vengeance which increases the damage of the next attack, obviously scaling with Spiky Wing and Piranha.

Conclusion

It is encouraging to see that top players are managing to pilot certain not so popular archetypes to the top, showing the depth of the game, the impact of Parts Evolutions, and of course the skill needed to build and pilot certain teams to the top. Will we see an unexpected finish to the end of this Epic Era? Will we see Poison win another Era or maybe Topaz can come on top of all the Rage-dependent teams?

Good luck and have fun with the last days of the Epic Era before we get to the more expensive Mystic Era!

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Additional Data