WOW we saw significant strides in the meta since the Summer Invitational! As you will see in the Top 4, we have some rogue deck lists hitting the competition, and doing very well. With each tournament, the competition has gotten steeper and steeper, with more and more competitors becoming candidates for the podium and vying to become the champion.
I hope this report provides useful information that will hone your gameplay and perhaps inspire you to create something new! We can’t wait to see what the future holds for the next season of organized play!
Table of Contents
4th Place - Frosty Fries
In 4th place we have one of the newest and most original decks seen in a while, something called “Frosty Fries.” There are two unique parts – first, we see the Jubilee-Hickory engine used not only to get Bishop, but also Ice Creamer and Silver Gull (sometimes with a little help from Reflector copying Jubilee’s invisi-gem ability). The second part is using Drain + Frost Herald to remove an opponent’s gem and prevent them from playing any gem on their next turn, giving Frosty Fries the chance to attack through the unblended hero twice in a row, ideally with Shard Buster. This move can be absolutely devastating to an opponent caught unprepared!
Starting Heroes
HICKORY
JUDITH
JUBILEE
SELMA
Bench
BRENNA
CHAO
JEFFREY
YUMI
Gems
4 CAPROGEM
5 CRYOGEM
4 LUCIOGEM
4 PYROGEM
Actions
3 CANCEL
3 COLLECT
1 DRAIN
3 DRAW
2 RECYCLE
3 RETURN
Blends
3 BISHOP
3 FROST HERALD
1 GLOW HERALD
1 ICE CREAMER
2 MIRROR CHASER
1 MOUNTAINEER
2 REFLECTOR
3 SHARD BUSTER
2 SILVER GULL
3rd Place - Pylon Rush
Another brand-new deck to hit the meta, in 3rd place we have Pylon Rush, a deck with just one blend: Pylon Capacitor. This deck is extremely aggressive, capable of a consistent 8 damage on turn 4 through Kula, Elaine, and Pylon Capacitor. While it may seem like a simple deck, the round system of Gem Blenders gives each opponent the chance to catch up, making aggro decks like this somewhat fragile in the long run. To support this strategy, Pylon Rush includes a Kula action package, with Flushes and Force Switches to get that last bit of damage in. One interesting piece of tech in the sideboard is the new hero Shepard, who can be used to return Pylon Capacitor to the deck if it gets deblended by a control deck. Then it can be searched out using Kula and Blend Search, making this deck more resilient than other mono-blend decks.
Starting Heroes
CLAIRE
DUC
ELAINE
KULA
Bench
JEFFREY
SHEPARD
LESTER
YUMI
Gems
8 CAPROGEM
8 ELECTROGEM
9 TERRAGEM
Actions
3 BLEND SEARCH
2 BREACH
2 CANCEL
3 COLLECT
2 FLUSH
1 FORCE RETURN
2 FORCE SWITCH
2 GEM SEARCH
1 STRUGGLE STUN
2 STRUGGLE SWITCH
2 SWITCH
Blends
3 PYLON CAPACITOR
2nd Place - Crasher Control
In 2nd place we have…. Crasher Control?! This deck won the last two championships, and was extremely close to winning its third, placing just shy of 1st place! Despite not changing the deck list at all, Jane still managed to eke out wins through destroying her opponent’s blends with Torrent Crasher before bringing it back with a Data Cipher loop. Blends like Guard and Signal Corruptor are instrumental for stopping aggro strategies, and the card engine is built around actions, with 3 Super Draws and 4 first-turn heroes to generate as much card advantage as possible.
Starting Heroes
1 CARTER
1 SELMA
1 KOHDOK
1 MATTHEW
Bench
1 BRENNA
1 YOSHI
1 DAMIEN
1 PEYTON
Gems
4 TERRAGEM
4 AQUAGEM
4 NOCTURNAGEM
5 CAPROGEM
4 ELECTROGEM
Actions
3 SUPER DRAW
1 SUPER BLEND SEARCH
1 SUPER CANCEL
3 COLLECT
3 FLUSH
2 DRAW
3 CANCEL
3 GEM SEARCH
Blends
3 GUARD
3 DATA CIPHER
3 TORRENT CRASHER
2 SIGNAL CORRUPTOR
1st Place - Chrome Dexter
The only way to stop Torrent Crasher is to have lots of extra blends, be extremely aggressive, or not have any blends out at all — and somehow, Chrome Dexter manages to do all three! Dexter’s ability “Miracle Blend” allows him to randomly blend from the top of your deck for free, leading to the popular strategy of packing as many blends as possible into your deck with few gems. The result is a field with no blends during an opponent’s turn, but temporary high-level blends as early as turn 1. Chrome Dexter expands on this concept by including Chrome Rocket, which is a blend that can return itself to your hand, allowing you to use Dexter AND get an extra 3 attack.
Starting Heroes
DEXTER
KOHDOK
GLORIA
LESTER
Bench
ELAINE
DUC
RONI
YUMI
Gems
3 CRYOGEM
3 PYROGEM
3 AEROGEM
Actions
3 COLLECT
1 FORCE SWITCH
1 WEAPONIZE
Blends
3 CHROME ROCKET
2 FROST HERALD
3 BLAZE ANGEL
3 FUME BLITZER
1 PEARL DECEPTOR
3 RAGE DOMESTICATOR
3 SHARD BUSTER
2 SPARK CHASER
2 STEAM USHER
3 STORM WEAVER
3 SUMMIT GLAZER
3 TORRENT CRASHER
3 TREMOR BOUNDER
2 VENOM FOWL
Meta Breakdown
While the number of Combo decks didn’t change much, we did see a slight shift from aggro strategies over to midrange. All in all, the tactic breakdown has remained fairly consistent throughout the pas three championships.
While Ram and Angel remain the most popular schools, we see a big comeback for Herald who was poised to become the least popular school. While Fowl play was decreased by 6 percent, there was still a good amount of representation. And welcome back Dexter, who was notably absent from the Summer Invitational!
Due to some decks just PACKING themselves with Caprogems, we see Caprogem takeover from Aquagem as the most populated Gem, although Aqua is still very strong. Biggest decrease here goes to Aerogem, which went from 12% all the way down to 7%. We also see Nocturnagem continue to have a sizeable lead over Luciogem, correlating with Ram being the most popular school.
Top Cards
Below are top 10 lists of cards and the percentage of decks in Blender Bowl 2025 that used at least one copy of that card.
Top Actions
| Gem Search | 69.57% |
| Blend Search | 60.87% |
| Collect | 60.87% |
| Cancel | 56.52% |
| Super Cancel | 39.13% |
| Struggle Switch | 34.78% |
| Super Blend Search | 30.43% |
| Recycle | 26.09% |
| Draw | 21.74% |
| Surge | 17.39% |
There has been a significant drop in Super Blend Search as other starred actions are being used more often. There is also clearly less Switch, but more Struggle Switch which is interesting. All in all, there is a much wider variety of actions being used than in the Summer Invitational.
Top Blends
| Usher | 26.09% |
| Silver Gull | 21.74% |
| Pearl Deceptor | 17.39% |
| Mountaineer | 17.39% |
| Chrome Rocket | 17.39% |
| River Angel | 17.39% |
| Glacier | 17.39% |
| Blaze Angel | 17.39% |
| Sleet Copter | 17.39% |
| Guard | 17.39% |
Likewise there is generally a wider variety of blends, although Usher continues to be a very popular choice. Previously we saw a ton of Signal Corruptors and Data Ciphers, but those blends don’t crack the top 10 this time. Also notable is Mountaineer, which is great tech to stop decks like Flurry Anchor Control.
Top Starting Heroes
| Gloria | 43.48% |
| Selma | 39.13% |
| Carter | 30.43% |
| Fiona + Isabel | 26.09% |
| Hickory | 26.09% |
| Quinn | 13.04% |
| Matthew | 13.04% |
| Marci | 13.04% |
| Elaine | 13.04% |
| Monica | 13.04% |
Lots of the same heroes as in other metas, some new ones are Quinn, Marci, and Monica as people choose these LV4 options over Judith. I would say the meta is still pretty safe for Matthew and Tal to do some damage.
Top Bench Heroes
| Brenna | 30.00% |
| Yumi | 25.00% |
| Silas | 20.00% |
| Jeffrey | 20.00% |
| Chao | 15.00% |
| Winona | 15.00% |
| Shepard | 15.00% |
| Lester | 15.00% |
| Yoshi | 10.00% |
| Janette | 10.00% |
While Brenna is still on top, Yumi is a breakout choice for this tournament, not being in the top 10 last Summer let alone the #2 option. Jeffrey is also a new addition to the top 10, although it seems he wasn’t enough to stop Dexter from taking home the championship this time!
Superlatives
Biggest Comeback – Shepard
Shepard has steadily been making progress to become a top blender, from their placement of 23rd at the first invitational, to 7th at the Summer invitational, to almost reaching top 4, even tying with Nik (#1) in the last round of the tournament. With this consistency, it would not surprise me to see them on the podium very soon!
Biggest Crash-Out – Bryce
Bryce made his tournament debut at the Summer 2025 Invitational, where he took home the 3rd place trophy. At the Blender Bowl, he came out strong with a round 1 win, but after losing round 2, he proceeded to lose every game until reaching the bottom of the leaderboard. Sometimes even the best blenders get in their own head, and sometimes they have REALLY unlucky days, and sometimes both! You’ll get ’em next time Bryce!
Best Dressed – Barrett
Barrett came dressed in Zain cosplay, piloting his trusty Gourmet Guider deck. We all agreed that the cosplay was awesome, only to be stunned when suddenly Barrett blended into Pressure Cooker before our very eyes! The costume really elevated the event, and we are so appreciative that Barrett shared his creation with us. I can’t wait to see more cosplay from Barrett and others in the future!
Conclusion
Overall, I’m really pleased with the state of the meta. It’s still centered mostly around midrange and aggro strategies, with just a handful of control and combo decks to spice things up. It’s great to see a brand‑new deck take first place, and even better to see some fresh faces on the podium.
That said, Crasher Control definitely isn’t disappearing anytime soon! Players will need to be ready for both ends of the spectrum—from hyper‑aggro lists like Dexter to full‑on control builds like Torrent Crasher.
Normally, this would be the point where I make some predications, but this was the final tournament of the current meta before Idols & Omens drops and shakes everything up. Will a new busted deck emerge to menace our meta? Only time will tell!