How the tier list is made

Results, decklists and game-by-game records come from tournaments run on Limitless. Almost all of them are online events played on OPTCGSim, not paper events in stores. Online events run every day with full decklists, so they show changes fast; paper regionals are bigger and more serious, but fewer, and their lists come out later. Treat the list as what's winning online right now.

Only Standard events count, and only since the last ban list change. Events that already allow an upcoming set count once that set is two weeks from release, because that's what people are playing.

Three numbers per Leader, each pulled toward the average when there are only a few results, so one lucky weekend doesn't make a Tier 1:

• Game win rate (40% of the score): games won out of games played in those events.
• Top-cut rate (25%): how often an entry finishes in the top eighth of its event.
• Play rate (35%): how many entries it has compared with the average Leader, because a deck that's both common and winning is the one you'll face.
• Paper top 8s: each top-8 finish at a regional or Treasure Cup in the same weeks adds to the score, when Limitless has paper results for them.

Each night's score is blended with the night before (60/40), so a deck moves when its results really change. A Leader needs at least 8 entries to be listed, 10 for Tier 2 and 15 for Tier 1. Tier 1 holds up to 3 decks, Tiers 2 and 3 up to 6 each. Tonight: 2 in Tier 1, 5 in Tier 2, 4 in Tier 3.

Falling lists decks that were Tier 1 or 2 at some point in the last three weeks and have dropped out of the top two tiers.

• Beats / struggles against: real games between the two Leaders in those events (at least 8 games), otherwise the site's simulator.
• Decklist: the best-placing recent list, weighted toward big events and recent dates. Tech cards are ones at least 30% of the other top lists play.
• Keep and go first or second: from the simulator, which plays each list about 1,200 games against the most-played decks every night.