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I don’t mind Loki as a card, but I still don’t understand the reluctance from Second Dinner to remove the cost reduction attached to the ability. Would that make Loki much worse, enough that we wouldn’t play the card anymore? Maybe. But they could simply restore his synergy with the Collector, or make the ability “replace your hand with X cards from your opponent’s starting deck” to make it a way to refill your hand after you dump your own resources.
From the very beginning, the problem with Loki has been the ability attached to the card, and it is just about the only unchanged piece at this point now that the Trickster God is about to become a [2/2].
Losing the draw is pretty big, though, because it makes Loki much worse when played later in the match. Now Loki is more of a “play me early or don’t at all” kind of card, which is a form of balancing I guess. It possibly limits the card to only a few archetypes that would benefit a lot from an early Loki. Unfortunately, one of those archetypes is Arishem Loki, which means this change probably won’t impact the meta a lot when it comes to the dominant decks.
In other news, a few more cards are getting changed, and some have the potential to be game changing. Attuma, in particular, might go from one of the worst 4-Cost cards in the game to a Junk staple, a White Widow counter, or just a general get-rid-of-annoying-clog kind of card. Destroyer is the other card I’m eyeing, as a [6/14] that does not destroy its own location anymore opens a lot more deckbuilding avenues than the current YOLO approach we have (which only really works with Nimrod).
On the topic of cards losing a lot in this patch, I have to say most of the nerfs are pretty reasonable. Copycat might look like a big deal, but unless the opponent draws that card from the bottom of their deck this is basically the same card (except now it copies the ability because, you know, COPYcat). Overall, this change probably weakens the Stature Darkhawk deck since shuffling the opponent’s deck doesn’t give them a Vanilla card anymore.
Beast and Taskmaster increasing in cost is a bit of a bummer, but I believe both cards have the ability to bounce back and remain options in certain archetypes—current, or soon to come.
Turn 1 Loki
Hi, I’m Arishem Loki, the best deck in the game for the past 2 months. I initially leveraged Loki to get absurdly good turns for cheap. After his first rework, I just changed my deck to yours, removing the main drawback of my deck being filled with random cards. With a [3/5] Loki, I could do this on Turn 2, and I often Snapped due to how good it was. Now I’m going to do it on Turn 1. Hope you enjoy!
To be honest, this is really the only part I dislike about Loki‘s change. The [2/2] stat line without the draw clearly limits decks that wanted to play Loki on Turns 4 or 5 just to find some cheap cards to close out the match. It is just unfortunate that Arishem Loki is the most dominant deck in the game, which might eclipse the good part of this change. It is at least safe to say that Loki is worse in a lot of archetypes.
When the meta (or a future balance patch) stops the Arishem supremacy, there is a chance that Loki will be just another card. In that context, the Good Cards archetypes would benefit the most, as Loki was particularly good when he stole strong standalone cards that could be good without synergy.
Attuma: Destroy’s 12th Card
For a long time, Destroy has been playing with 11 cards plus either Shang-Chi, Lady Deathstrike, or Arnim Zola. With this change, I’m pretty sure Attuma will join that group, as the 4-Cost has tons of synergies with the deck (in addition to being a ten power card):
- You can play Deadpool on Attuma‘s lane every turn to destroy it.
- Play Attuma where X-23 or Wolverine is on Turn 4 to destroy either, and possibly repeat the next turn if they end up in the same spot.
- Death and Knull are passively improved while you develop solid points instead of just playing cards for their abilities.
den
After thinking about the deck, I believe Deathlok should be the cut for Attuma so you can keep Shang-Chi or Arnim Zola. This way, the deck has more potential with the same amount of destroy-based cards.
Destroyer Destroys Better
In this first deck—one of the few that was already using Destroyer—I don’t know if I like the change or not. On the positive side of things, you can now slam Destroyer on Turn 5 on whichever location has Blink. That’s a 21 point swing, which might be enough to try contesting a second location.
On the bad side of things, this limits the locations where you can play Destroyer when you have certain cards you want to destroy. Not only does it make certain locations more annoying, cards such as Alioth could also be harder to dodge.
Side note: I’m super excited about the opportunity to give Attuma a try in this archetype now that you can destroy Electro, X-23, Wolverine, or Nimrod with the new ability.
Determining whether the new Destroyer is better or worse depends on the situation, as two less power can have its impact as well. Still, it remains the best “destroy a ton of stuff at once” card in the game.
Speaking of situations, Galactus is the perfect archetype for the new Destroyer. There’s no need for a long explanation here. You just slam Destroyer on the sole lane left in the match without destroying your other cards there. A net +14 power in case Knull is missing? We take those.
Did Beast Get Buffed?
No, but I refuse to believe he got nerfed because Beast is my favorite card in Marvel Snap. Arguably, the cheaper you can pay Beast, the more flexible the ability becomes. Still, not only is plus three power not a bad deal for an extra energy, there is one card in the game that might actually make this change work: Wiccan.
Here’s my logic for this deck: Beast makes Wiccan easier to trigger since it doesn’t require a 1-Cost alongside it to make a full use of your energy on Turn 3 anymore. You might want to remove Green Goblin from the deck for another 1- or 2-Cost card for balance, but this is nitpicking. Try Maria Hill, Jeff, Valentina, or Falcon if you need ideas.
As for the reason to play Wiccan in the deck, the card opens two avenues that save you from a game that would typically be a Retreat:
- With two extra energy, you have the opportunity to play Werewolf By Night on Turn 5 and still have plenty of energy left over move it.
- Cannonball—one of your lane winners—can be played with three energy to spare on Turn 6, which is enough to contest a second lane with a Demon, Titania, and other cheap, high power cards.
Beast should be slightly worse, but the extra power and the possibility to gain extra energy through Wiccan makes this change pretty easy to work around.
Closing Words
The only card I did not discuss is Taskmaster, but that’s because it is a straight forward nerf to the card. Indeed, the only possible upside of increasing the cost would be in a Mister Negative deck, but this does not apply to a card that is designed to copy another card’s power. As such, Taskmaster should still be a fine inclusion in your Negative deck to copy a big Black Panther, Sage, or Wolfsbane behind Wong. Otherwise, the card probably doesn’t work anymore in the other cheeky combos it was included in like the Shuri Kitty and Bounce Move archetypes.
I hope this breakdown helped you get a better grasp of what to expect once the OTA goes live. As usual, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord to chat, or use my Twitter page for a direct message.
Good Game Everyone.
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