Verdict: Banger. v0.106 killed the greediest archetypes and made honest decks king. If your build needs a prayer to function, it's not a build—it's copium.

How We Ranked Builds

A "build" isn't one card or one relic. It's the overall direction of your deck. The question we're answering: if you commit to this archetype, how often do you actually win?

Our criteria:

  • Consistency: Does this build win with average draws, or only god draws?
  • Pacing: Can it handle early fights, or does it need three acts to come online?
  • Boss matchups: Does Aeonglass laugh at this build?
  • Draft availability: How often can you actually assemble this in a real run?

I tracked 50+ runs and categorized each deck by archetype. The results were clear: the boring builds won more than the exciting ones. v0.106 is the patch that killed flashiness and rewarded honesty.

The Death of Greed

v0.106's biggest impact on deckbuilding is simple: you can't wait anymore.

Before this patch, you could draft greedy. You could take scaling cards, setup cards, and combo pieces knowing you'd have time to assemble them. The fights were forgiving enough that a weak Act 1 didn't doom your run.

That's over. Aeonglass doesn't care about your turn-8 dream. Infested Prism punishes turns where you do nothing but block. The game is asking "what are you doing RIGHT NOW?" and builds without a good answer are dying.

The result? Tempo decks are S-tier. Combo decks are C-tier. And the people still forcing all-in combos are the same people complaining about "bad RNG."

The Soup Build Is Real

I need to talk about this because I didn't believe it either.

Tezcatara's Nutritious Soup got buffed in v0.106 to give +3 damage to all Strikes, make them cost 0, and give them Eternal. That's not a relic. That's a deck archetype handed to you on a silver platter.

I thought it was a meme. Then I played five runs with it. Three of them won. The build is simple: keep your Strikes, get the Soup, watch your 0-cost attacks deal 8-10 damage forever.

Is it elegant? No. Is it fun? Surprisingly yes. Is it S-tier in v0.106? Absolutely.

Combo Is Dead, Long Live Combo

I'm not saying combo decks are impossible. I'm saying they're no longer a primary strategy. They're a high-roll backup plan.

A good v0.106 deck has a plan A that works immediately and a plan B that scales. Combo as plan A is gambling. Combo as plan B—something you stumble into because the cards showed up—is fine.

The difference is intentionality. If you're actively hunting combo pieces, you're probably losing. If you happen to find them while building a solid tempo deck, you're probably winning.

FAQ

Why is Block-Only rated higher than people expect?

Because v0.106 punishes greed. A deck that blocks every turn and wins with chip damage is boring, but it's consistent. Consistency is king in this patch.

Did v0.106 actually kill combo decks?

Not completely, but it made them much harder. Aeonglass and Infested Prism don't give you the setup turns you need. Combo is now a high-roll strategy, not a game plan.

What's the best build for climbing Ascension?

Tempo Silent or honest Ironclad. Anything with early damage, reliable block, and draw smoothing. Save the meme builds for when you're already at A20 and bored.