Welcome to the second official meta-analysis of the Gem Blenders Organized Play program. Although it has only been a few short months since December, so much has changed in the meta, including the addition of 18 new cards provided by the Stakes Royale and Gourmet Kitchen starter decks. We are very happy with the development of the meta so far, and can’t wait to see the development when the next set arrives. Let’s dig in to the data!
Table of Contents
4th Place - Blinker Blitz
Blinker Blitz variations took home the 4th and 2nd place spots, with some interesting nuances. Key to the strategy is utilizing Glisten Blinker along with one or two Gulls in order to deal a consistent 8 non-attack damage by discarding blends such as Wood Ghost and Sleet Copter. There are no Gem Searches in this build, instead Gloria is used to discard LV3 blends for gems — this is also the reason why there are Silver Gulls and Chrome Rockets instead of higher level blends that would have more attack, but wouldn’t be able to get discarded by Gloria.
Starting Heroes
GLORIA
NIKKO
MONICA
FIONA + ISABEL
Bench
YUMI
QUINN
JANETTE
Gems
3 PYROGEM
3 LUCIOGEM
4 AQUAGEM
4 AEROGEM
Actions
3 BLEND SEARCH
2 STRUGGLE SWITCH
1 AMPLIFY
1 BLEND CALL
Blends
3 GLISTEN BLINKER
3 SLEET COPTER
3 BLAZE ANGEL
3 CHROME ROCKET
3 BLOCK ROCKET
3 RIVER ANGEL
3 WOOD GHOST
3 SILVER GULL
2 GULL
3 ROCKET
3rd Place - Catalyst Recall
In 3rd place we have an expertly crafted “discard matters” Catalyst Controller deck. This deck features a large number of 1-off blends, with the double utility of being discarded to Gloria, Quinn, or Mage in order for their abilities to be available for Catalyst Controller later in the game.
Starting Heroes
GLORIA
SILAS
MAEVE
QUINN
Bench
JOON-KI
CAMILLE
WINONA
ABBEY
Gems
4 PYROGEM
5 NOCTURNAGEM
4 ELECTROGEM
4 AQUAGEM
4 AEROGEM
Actions
3 CANCEL
1 BLEND SEARCH
2 COPY
1 SUPER BLEND SEARCH
2 BLOCK ATTACK
Blends
3 CATALYST CONTROLLER
1 VERVE CONFLICTOR
1 TORRENT CRASHER
1 PEARL DECEPTOR
1 DATA CIPHER
1 TRICK TAKER
1 VOID CHARMER
1 CONDENSATION COLLECTOR
1 COMBUSTION BOILER
1 BOND BREAKER
1 BURN FOWL
2 BLUSTER MAGE
1 CHARGE FOWL
1 SILENT USHER
2 MAGE
1 GHOST
2nd Place - Blinker Blitz
In 2nd place we have another version of a Glisten Blinker deck. Some key differences include running two Blend Calls instead of an Amplify, which I’m sure helped with consistency, as well as 3 Gem Searches. While Gloria is able to get any gem that is needed, it never hurts to have Gem Searches if you can spare the Action Meter slots!
Starting Heroes
SELMA
FIONA + ISABEL
GLORIA
CARTER
Bench
LESTER
DUC
QUINN
Gems
2 LUCIOGEM
2 PYROGEM
5 AEROGEM
5 AQUAGEM
Actions
3 GEM SEARCH
3 BLEND SEARCH
1 SWITCH
1 SUPER DRAW
2 BLEND CALL
Blends
3 GLISTEN BLINKER
3 NEEDLE RUSHER
3 BLAZE ANGEL
3 RIVER ANGEL
3 WOOD GHOST
2 SILVER GULL
3 GULL
3 ROCKET
3 BISHOP
1st Place - Crasher Control
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. This was certainly the arc of Torrent Crasher, a deck originally built to stop the tyranny of the Anchor Lock deck before becoming the scourge of the meta itself. First, it tries to stop aggro decks through a Guard, before removing critical blends with Signal Corruptor. The ultimate goal is to have a Torrent Crasher and Data Cipher out to loop the blend destruction of Torrent. Since these gem colors don’t have many value options, we see an action-heavy build utilizing Flush in order to churn through the deck without worrying about the action meter.
Who will be the hero to take down this back-to-back champion???
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
2 SUPER DRAW
1 SUPER BLEND SEARCH
1 SUPER CANCEL
1 COPY
3 COLLECT
3 FLUSH
2 DRAW
3 CANCEL
3 GEM SEARCH
Blends
2 GUARD
3 DATA CIPHER
3 TORRENT CRASHER
3 SIGNAL CORRUPTOR
Meta Breakdown
At this tournament we saw no Mill decks take the stage, contributing to relative Percentage Point (pp) gains by most other tactics, with the exception of Combo. Likely in anticipation of facing Torrent Crasher, Combo decks decreased while Aggro and Control increased. That being said, the overwhelming majority of decks were still Aggro and Midrange, which is indicative of a healthy meta.
Very interesting development in the school popularity chart! Ram had a huge increase in share, and Herald has continued to cement its place as the most unpopular school. Notably absent from this chart is Dexter, which I personally hope to see a come back soon!
While most gems remained relatively constant, we do see a notable increase in Aquagems, likely due to the increased use of Gull strategies in this tournament. Luciogem and Pyrogem are still the least used, which everyone on the development team thinks is crazy, because Bishop is just so good.
Top Cards
Below are top 10 lists of cards and the percentage of decks in the 2025 Summer Invitational that used at least one copy of that card.
Top Actions
| Gem Search | 85% |
| Collect | 60% |
| Super Blend Search | 60% |
| Blend Search | 55% |
| Cancel | 55% |
| Super Draw | 45% |
| Draw | 40% |
| Super Cancel | 40% |
| Switch | 40% |
| Recycle | 30% |
Interesting drop in Gem Search usage! People are starting to explore alternative ways of collecting gems. We also see Recycle making its way into the top ten, replacing Breach.
Top Blends
| Data Cipher | 25% |
| Glacier | 25% |
| Signal Corruptor | 25% |
| Usher | 25% |
| Cone | 20% |
| Torrent Crasher | 20% |
| Wood Ghost | 20% |
| Angel | 15% |
| Blaze Angel | 15% |
| Bishop | 15% |
Last tournament, the top 5 blends were LV2, however it seems like this tournament resulted in a more diverse LV2 landscape. This allowed the plurality of Data Ciphers and Signal Corruptors to rise to the top.
Top Starting Heroes
| Carter | 45% |
| Selma | 40% |
| Gloria | 35% |
| Fiona + Isabel | 30% |
| Hickory | 25% |
| Matthew | 25% |
| Judith | 15% |
| Kohdok | 15% |
| Elaine | 10% |
| Erica | 10% |
Lots of familiar faces here. Some interesting up-and-comers include Fiona + Isabel, Kohdok, and Elaine, all which seem to be becoming more popular. Notably absent are any heroes with the ability to switch.
Top Bench Heroes
| Brenna | 45% |
| Lauren | 15% |
| Lester | 15% |
| Marci | 15% |
| Peyton | 15% |
| Silas | 15% |
| Damien | 10% |
| Erin | 10% |
| Hickory | 10% |
| Quinn | 10% |
Brenna is still number 1, so be careful if your deck relies on starred actions! Interesting increase of “switching” heroes like Lester on the bench — could it be that players are underprepared for a round 1 Force Switch??? Also notable is an increase in Peyton usage, a great option to ruin your opponent’s glass cannon effect deck.
Top Debut Cards
| Wood Ghost | 20.00% |
| Infuse | 20.00% |
| Needle Rusher | 15.00% |
| Mirror Chaser | 15.00% |
| Gull | 15.00% |
| Trick Taker | 10.00% |
| Maeve | 10.00% |
| Lattice Crusher | 10.00% |
| Energizer | 10.00% |
| Block Rocket | 10.00% |
This is a list of the cards seen in the June invitational that were not seen in December. While many of these cards are from the new Gourmet Kitchen and Stakes Royale starter decks, we do see some newly used Base Set cards, including Wood Ghost, Needle Rusher, Mirror Chaser, and Gull.
Conclusion
My key takeaways:
1. Torrent Crasher must be destroyed.
2. Herald needs some love.
3. Bring back Dexter!
4. Round 1 Force Switch or Struggle Switch could be super effective
Although Torrent Crasher took home the trophy once again, I am really pleased to see the development of the rest of the meta. So many interesting decks came out to compete, and any one of them could have been the champion! There is talk that Torrent Crasher is too good — I believe it is too soon to tell. Torrent Crasher has lost many games, in fact another Torrent deck in this tournament didn’t even make top 8. Instead, I am going to give the credit not to the twice winning deck, but the twice winning pilot, Jane. Kudos to her!