Table of Contents
Since release, Arishem has been among the most played and discussed cards in the game. After some early balance, the archetype’s winrate and cube rate both settled into a competitive but acceptable range. However, its play rate has continued to crest above our preferred threshold for metagame diversity. That band is a little more lax in Arishem‘s case–the deck itself adds a lot of variety to the gameplay experience–but we’ve reached its limit.
The developers are saying that Arishem, although it is in a fine place competitively, is too popular for their taste, hence their decision to nerf it for a fourth time.
My immediate thought was why on Earth is this an acceptable reason to nerf? Doesn’t this mean the community enjoys playing Arishem, even when it isn’t the best competitive option? This sounds a little like Second Dinner is shooting themselves in the foot since they’re taking away a deck that people enjoy playing and that isn’t detrimental to the meta balance.
If this is an acceptable reason to nerf, plenty of cards should be adapted on the spot. Wiccan, Shadow King, Shang-Chi, Hydra Bob, Alioth, Red Guardian, Copycat… All these cards are super popular, but they aren’t nerfed because they don’t represent the backbone of a deck. Instead, they are the foundation of the current meta, and isn’t that a better reason nerf?
I also want to ask what they think is going to happen as a result of this nerf. Do they expect the players on Arishem to switch to an exotic archetype all of a sudden? Of course they won’t. They will start playing Good Cards, Thanos, and other archetypes based on developing power and cheating energy. Decks that are simple enough to pick up and quickly get results with, because that is what Arishem was for a lot of players.
Finally, I want to touch to another quote about Arishem‘s change:
…in reading through frustrations around Arishem, one element that came up often was playing against cards created randomly that were also in Arishem‘s starting deck.
Don’t you think there is a chance Arishem was so popular because people want to feel some diversity when playing the game? Sure, playing against Arishem frequently led to ignoring what your opponent could do because it was too complicated to predict, and you often lost to a generated card as a result.
But what about the frustration of going back to a game where if you don’t own a card, you are never playing it? What about going back to a game where, after playing ten games, you felt like eight of them were the exact same? What about going back to a game where you are regularly forced to switch things up and play different synergies? You can’t do that if you are missing certain cards.
Arishem wasn’t perfect for sure, but the frustrations caused by Arishem might be minimal compared to the frustrations the community shared around other aspects of the game—some of which Arishem was helping with.
Sorry for the very long intro, especially if you don’t share my opinion. Let’s talk about the decks now, and more specifically why Good Cards will be even more popular than it currently is. Spoiler: it’s because synergistic strategies are too easy to counter or Retreat against.
The Good Cards Archetype is Throwing a Party
den
den
den
den
den
den
I think that’s enough Good Cards decks for this article. Let me know if you need more, though; I have plenty more ideas. Onto some other archetypes. I want to see whether the buffs have the potential to improve them enough that they’re competitive again!
To everyone saying Alioth won’t function with Surtur anymore, remember that Galacta makes Alioth a 12 power card, and that Gorr + Magneto can easily become the two 6-Costs in any Surtur / Wiccan deck if Alioth doesn’t do the trick anymore.
Save Us, Cerebro!
At the moment, this is the only Cerebro 3 deck with a positive Cube Average in the game (in the Infinite rank, at least). It doesn’t have many games under its belt, but I can see why a sea of five to seven power Multiple Mans would win some games.
What I can’t see, however, is how a 2-Cost Cerebro changes the dynamic of this deck. The change allows you to play Cerebro on Turn 2 into Cosmo, which then lets you play Multiple Man plus Madame Web on Turn 4 and start multiplying from there. But, other than this specific scenario, I don’t believe the deck changes much or gets significantly better.
Fortunately for us, there are plenty of other Cerebro decks outside the competitive realm of the game. This buff will probably affect these decks much more, so let’s take a look at them.
den
In this build, the extra energy opens a few interesting play patterns. With Wiccan, you can play a 5-Cost (like Lady Deathstrike) plus Stature plus Cerebro on Turn 6. Without the extra energy, you can pair Cerebro with any of your 4-Cost cards, which is a big improvement compared to the 3-Cost version of the card.
den
The cheaper a card becomes, the better it gets when paired with Moon Girl. The Double Up archetype was a big thing last season, and maybe Cerebro can carry the torch now. As a 2-Cost, the card can be played twice alongside two 1-Costs on the last turn of play, which is possibly enough to win a location or the game if another lane already has a couple of five power cards in play.
If Black Swan was activated, then you can dream big. Imagine playing two Cerebros plus Medusa or Silk alongside all the 1-Cost cards in your hand.
The buff to Enchantress is actually a big one for this deck, too; it loses its reactive ability against Ongoing decks. However, a 2-Cost Cerebro opens for a cute combo with Supergiant. After you play Supergiant on Turn 4, you can play both Cerebro and Mystique on Turn 5 and keep them hidden until the game ends for a surprise boost of power.
Alioth just lost a power, so let a guy dream!
Decks to Test After the OTA
Apart from Cerebro, the other cards changed in this OTA don’t feel drastically different. We have seen how an extra power can be a difference maker, though, so here are a couple of decks to see if Frigga, Shuri, Lockjaw, or Enchantress have earned their way back into the meta.
den
Kitty Pryde, Angela, and Elsa Bloodstone can represent another way to build points in this deck. Swap out Invisible Woman, Mobius M. Mobius, and Absorbing Man for them if you want to give it a try.
den
Frigga‘s ability is a very strong one, as noted by the devs, hence why the card didn’t get a lot of power at first. If the 3-Cost was to get enough power to be good when played on curve on any target, it could sometimes win you the game on the back of the ability alone. Then I think Frigga would instantly become a very scary card.
den
There are plenty of ways to build a Lockjaw deck, and the archetype is still looking for a list to make it a competitively relevant option again. If you don’t fancy this build, you can try Pixie and Mobius M. Mobius for more energy cheating. Zabu and Jubilee make the deck more reliable at the cost of a bit of power. Nico Minoru and Misery emphasize on the Hammers and boosting your Thor and Beta Ray Bill.
You can also test various things with Lockjaw and some high cost cards, such as Vision, Red Hulk, Magneto, and so on.
Closing Word
I don’t have anything against this OTA, I just feel like it doesn’t solve the staleness many have expressed over the last few weeks.
Once again, this aims to balance the game by removing options rather than adding new ones. Sure, we’ve also been given a vastly improved Cerebro and some power spread across various cards, but the change most people will remember from this balance update will be Arishem. That means a lot of people will read this OTA and see their deck isn’t playable anymore, causing even more frustration as result. Plus, taking down Arishem likely nerfs Cassandra Nova and Darkhawk as well.
This will definitely change the meta, but I have a hard time believing it will make an impact on the frustrations brought by the limited competitive options available. At the end of the day, the players who feel the game changes too often don’t really mind these regular updates; they resent the fact that the deck they worked hard to get has been nerfed, and they have to start again to find another deck they like. This is why I’m such an advocate of providing more options rather than killing archetypes that are too strong or too popular. I think that should be a last resort if it’s the only way to restore some balance to the meta.
I hope this breakdown helped you get a better grasp of what to expect with this patch. As usual, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord to chat, or use my Twitter page for a direct message or coaching inquiry.
Good Game Everyone.
More Content