We just had our second Player Appreciation Open event for Manifold TCG in Season 1. This occurred at Discordia Games in Bremerton Washington on January 24th, 2026. We had 8 players in this event, including a few first timers, which is always lovely. The combatants in this event were.
June – Scrap-3 and DADO-14 in Mono Red Mechanical.
Ambrose Ingram – Chryssy, Nina, and Yuseth in Blue / Yellow Proselytizer.
Austin Halvorson – Ramorand, Alric, and Karrsey in Monoblue Sacrifice.
Matt Corbeil – Athena Dite and Starlet in Red / Green Eidolons.
Bobby King – EM-Urgent and Lysteria Allarus in Yellow / Blue Attachment combo.
Nick Mutchler – DADO-14 and Ramorand Ulysses in Red / Blue Sacrifice.
LL Hubbard – Rhone Gjallarn and Jaliah Ahn in Red / Yellow Counters.
Adam Hockemeyer – Starlet and Unya Alson in Blue / Green Mill.
The top four consisted of Bobby, Adam, Nick, and Ambrose, with Bobby King winning the grand prize. Notably, Nick is the only repeat top 4 player from the previous event, and he opted to play a different archetype than last week. So this top 4 shows a completely new 4 archetypes from last week. All decklists can be found here
Bobby King
Color Supremacy
In the whole field of 8 players,
5 players included red. (62.5%)
3 players included yellow. (27.5%)
2 players included green. (25%)
5 players included blues. (62.5%)
And in the top 4
1 Players included Red.
2 Players included Yellow
1 Players included Green
4 Players included Blue
Compared to the previous PAO in the preseason, which had
36% Red Players.
45% Yellow Players.
27% Green Players.
73% Blue Players.
Compared to the previous event, this event had a noticeable pullback in Blue representation, although it was still among the most prevalent. Once again, Green was the least represented color in the field. This time, however, Blue converted to the top 4 at above average marks, where Red struggled to get players into the top 4.
80% of blue players qualified.
67% of yellow players qualified
50% of green players qualified.
20% of red players qualified.
Green and Yellow conversion rate stayed about the same from the previous event, but Blue jumped up from 25% to 80% and Red fell from 50% to 20%
Support Saturation
Since there were 5 Red, 3 Yellow, 2 Green, and 5 Blue players, the maximum number of support cards in each color are
Red – 15
Yellow – 9
Green – 6
Blue – 15
No Red or Blue card had complete saturation though. The top 6 most played cards were
Radar Servo, Protection of Belief – 12
Clothbound Apprentice – 11
Docide Thug, Augur’s Auspice – 9
Excommunicatus – 8
The top played cards in each color are
Red
Radar Servo – 12
Surveillance Drone, Concussive Blast – 6
Yellow
Docide Thug – 9 (100% saturation)
Security Golem, Energy Retracer, Orchestral Conductor – 6
Green
Witchfire, Return to Soil, Diplomatic Meeting – 6 (100% saturation)
Engulf in Stone – 5
Blue
Protection of Belief – 12
Clothbound Apprentice – 11
Augu’s Auspice – 9
Excommunicatus – 8
Grey
Take Cover – 5
Support Conversion to Top 4
The most played cards in the top 4 by color are
Red
Radar Servo, Chief Operator – 3
Fragmentation Grenade, Melt Down, Follow the Trail – 2
Yellow
Docide Thug – 6
Hidden Blade – 5
Vuellmer intern, Enthusiastic Harmonist, Energy Retracer, Orchestral Conductor, Tour de Force, Too Cute to Dice – 3
Green
Witchfire, Search the Wastes, Diplomatic Meeting, Examine the Specimens, Return to Soil, Landslide – 3
Oxidize, Engulf in Stone – 2
Blue
Protection of Belief – 9
Clothbound Apprentice – 8
Sever the Ties, Change the Tide – 7
33 support cards had a 100% conversion rate to the top 4. This means every player that had any copies of these cards in their deck made it to the top 4. As the field grows, the number of cards in this echelon will decline, but for the most part we are not seeing multiple instances of many archetypes in these events. This is a testament to a diverse metagame.
By color, the cards with 100% conversion rate are
Red – Chief Operator, Fragmentation Grenade.
Yellow – Hidden Blade, Vuellmer Intern, Enthusiastic Harmonist, Tour de Force, Too Cute to Die, Tyryn Grand Hall, Heirloom Cittern, Mercurial Costume, Daring Saboteur, Black Market Profiteer
Green – Search the Wastes, Examine the Specimens, Landslide, Oxidize.
Blue – Sever the Ties, Change the Tide, Proselytizer, Strike Down, Blessing of the Cloth, Crackle, Spiritbinder Mage, Spiritbinder Aspirant, Scepter of Hindrance, Aura of Purification, Revenant, Invoke Cowardice, Templar Squire, Pulpit Orator, Devastating Wake, Weaveshatter, Transcendent Awe.
Conclusions
A very wide range of decks are viable competitively.
Mill is real and can hurt you.
Nick is a formidable opponent no matter the deck in his hands.
Get your Docide Thugs before everybody wants them.
Thanks for reading. I hope this gets to you before Paradox Trading Post’s event on the 31st.
Leave a Reply