← Ascent London 2026 - Path of Steel

Horse and TaxesTier 2

at Ascent London 2026 - Path of Steel

decks
5 (2.8% of field)
matches (non-mirror)
46 24-18-4
overall winrate
56.5%
ELO-adjusted winrate
51.6% avg ELO +0.5 per match
expected value
52.8% share-weighted (raw)
EV (ELO-adj)
51.2% share-weighted (skill-controlled)
Pilot Skill ↑ top
mean ELO 1422 · median 1468 · range 1244–1582 (5 pilots with an ELO rating)
1038 Q1 1194 Q3 1419 1750
60% of pilots are in the field's top quartile, 0% in the bottom. This deck is favored by stronger players — weight the headline winrates accordingly (the ELO-adjusted column already controls for this at the match level).
Head-to-Head Matchups

Winrates vs every other archetype, sorted by the opponent's field share. Mirrors excluded. Shrunk WR uses a Beta(2, 2) prior so a 1-0 cell doesn't read as 100%; it feeds the EV calc above. Adj WR is the skill-controlled view: derived from per-match ELO deltas (0.5 + avg ELO Δ / K=32, same shrinkage), so it tells you what would have happened on equal-rating play. A faded Raw WR means under 10 matches — lean on the Shrunk WR column there.

Opponent Their share Matches W-L-D Raw WR Shrunk WR Adj WR ELO Δ/match
Wind Shadowstrike 13.4% 4 2-2-0 50.0% 50.0% 51.0% +0.7
Wind Seiryuu 11.2% 4 2-2-0 50.0% 50.0% 48.4% -1.0
Water Aetherwing 6.1% 3 1-1-1 50.0% 50.0% 44.8% -3.8
Fire Crux Mage 4.5% 2 2-0-0 100.0% 66.7% 59.6% +9.2
Fire Aggro 3.9% 2 2-0-0 100.0% 66.7% 60.1% +9.7
Fire Luxem Assassin 3.9% 3 1-2-0 33.3% 42.9% 45.8% -3.2
Wind Astra Cleric 3.9% 2 2-0-0 100.0% 66.7% 65.5% +14.9
Fire Crux Lorraine 3.4% 1 0-0-1 50.0% 50.0% 47.8% -3.5
Fire Exia 2.8% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 36.2% -22.1
Fire Oblation 2.8% 1 1-0-0 100.0% 60.0% 60.6% +16.9
Fire Suited 2.8% 1 1-0-0 100.0% 60.0% 58.8% +14.1
Wind Wakeup Combo 2.8% 0
Fire Aetherwing 2.2% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 35.5% -23.2
Fire Firebloom Burn 2.2% 4 3-1-0 75.0% 62.5% 52.1% +1.4
Fire Umbra Guardian 2.2% 4 3-1-0 75.0% 62.5% 70.8% +13.3
Wind Allies 2.2% 2 1-0-1 75.0% 58.3% 58.7% +8.4
Arcane 1.7% 0
Water Allies 1.7% 1 1-0-0 100.0% 60.0% 56.6% +10.5
Water Fractal 1.7% 2 1-0-1 75.0% 58.3% 67.2% +16.5
Water Genbu 1.7% 2 0-2-0 0.0% 33.3% 31.9% -17.4
Wind Exia 1.7% 0
Wind Umbra Ranger 1.7% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 35.9% -22.6
Fire Slimes 1.1% 0
Slimes 1.1% 0
Water Astra Ranger 1.1% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 35.8% -22.8
Water Crux Assassin 1.1% 0
Wind Arcane 1.1% 0
Wind Razorgale 1.1% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 44.0% -9.6
Dawn of Ashes 0.6% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 41.1% -14.3
Fire Arcane 0.6% 0
Fire Overlord 0.6% 0
Fire Seiryuu 0.6% 0
Fire Suzaku 0.6% 0
Fire Umbra Diana 0.6% 0
Fire Umbra Ranger 0.6% 0
Norm Tera Silvie 0.6% 0
Water Astra Diana 0.6% 0
Water Crux Mage 0.6% 0
Water Luxem Assassin 0.6% 0
Water Neos 0.6% 0
Water Ravishing Mill 0.6% 1 1-0-0 100.0% 60.0% 51.9% +3.0
Water Tera Kongming 0.6% 0
Water Tera Mage 0.6% 1 0-1-0 0.0% 40.0% 37.0% -20.8
Wind Byakko 0.6% 0
Wind Lorraine 0.6% 0
Wind Luxem Zander 0.6% 0
Wind Umbra Diana 0.6% 0
Decklists · 5 from this event

The 5 public Horse and Taxes decklists from this event, ordered by final placement — click a pilot for the full list.

Mirror Analysis

In 1 mirror match, here are the card-count differences that most often separated the winning deck from the losing one. Staples (cards both decks run at the same count) are filtered out — only flex slots show up below. Cards whose count only differed in fewer than 3 mirrors are also held back as too sparse to call a pattern (still visible in the raw table further down). Small sample warning: 1 mirror is borderline; treat these as suggestive, not conclusive.

No card-quantity differences observed in the mirrors — every mirror used an identical decklist.

JSON: /api/events/43636/archetypes/Horse and Taxes