Table of Contents
I’m always a bit annoyed when I see one specific deck get chopped because I often immediately assume that will just reduce the number of competitive options in the meta (since the other strong archetypes will grab most of that deck’s popularity). For example, I’m expecting Scream, Doctor Doom 2099, and maybe some Arishem to rise after this OTA. Meanwhile, Toxic just lost a great match up, which will limit its ability to thrive.
I also always (and will continue to) advocate for buffs in order to minimize the feeling of having something taken away when nerfs happen. I can’t complain on that front this week with six buffs accompanying the nerfs, and at least three of those buffs are for cards that are able to immediately help an archetype. Indeed, High Evolutionary is part of an explosive Toxic build on top of its own archetype, and both Werewolf By Night and Joaquin Torres Falcon are part of Bounce.
I also like the changes to White Queen and Lizard, which should help players on a budget with their Ongoing and Iron Hand decks. White Queen in particular looks like a great addition to a Wiccan-based Iron Hand deck.
Annihilus doesn’t feel much different to me, though, and I believe the card needs to gain even more power or have its ability improved to be a competitive option.
Overall, I like this OTA a lot. I’ll continue to hope for a little more on the nerf side of things, but I’m happy for the most part.
Bounce is Totally Back!
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I rated Joaquin Torres falcon II pretty harshly in my analysis of the card, and I am very glad that Second Dinner also believed the card needed some help. This means I’m now going to have to spend some Collector’s Tokens to get the card, but nonetheless I’m very happy with this change.
As for Werewolf By Night, I believe the card was fine as a [3/2], but who am I to turn down extra power? In my opinion, the viability of the card compared to something like Sage or Bishop mostly lies in the popularity of Scream. I don’t expect the 2-Cost to be any less popular following this OTA, so Werewolf By Night could still feel rather weak because of that.
Iron Hand Loves the New White Queen
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I believe Agent Coulson might still be stronger than White Queen, but the now 3-Cost card does open some patterns within the Iron Hand deck that I am eager to explore.
First of all, the card gives you information about your opponent’s deck—which is always good. Second, except in cases where you have Quinjet in play or Wiccan as the follow up, Agent Coulson could clog your hand when the two generated cards weren’t great to play. By creating only one card (which is often a good one since your opponent put it in their deck), White Queen should allow you to keep a more manageable hand. This would also make it easier for you to use Moon Girl and
This deck is very flexible, so don’t take this specific build for granted. For example, I could easily replace Zabu and Moon Girl with Frigga and a disruptive card if I felt the need for one. If there was a lot of Scream around, you could also swap Hydra Bob for Ant Man.
Lizard Becomes a Great Placeholder in Ongoing Decks!
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This season, Sam Wilson Captain America has pushed various synergies. Miles Morales has become popular in a variety of decks, and the original Captain America also gained a lot of momentum. With Sanctum Showdown now available, the Season Pass card has become even more important since the game mode rewards explosive decks that are able to quickly develop points onto the board.
Around the community, the “Pay to Win” criticism has spread quickly, and I believe the Lizard buff could help put out those fires a bit. Indeed, while there is no synergy with Miles Morales at all, the now [2/6] should be a solid replacement for Sam Wilson in Ongoing themed decks. Plus, Luke Cage makes sense to play in this environment, and Lizard can even serve as bait for Rocket and Groot.
High Evolutionary Should Help Toxic Remain Competitive
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If Surtur 10 Power disappears following this OTA, the Toxic archetype would have lost a great match up that it could use to bulk up its Cube and Win Rate. The influx of power this archetype got with Diamondback and now an extra power to High Evolutionary could help Toxic stay in the competitive discussion, but we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out. I don’t expect the deck to change very much, though.
I’ll Never Turn Down More Power
I believe the change to Annihilus is the least impactful change in this OTA. Still, it made me curious about how Annihilus is doing at the moment, and I stumbled upon this list while checking for decks.
It looks like Annihilus is just used to send The Void and The Hood to the opponent, so there’s nothing crazy here. But the results were solid so I figured I might as well give it a try. Plus, if Surtur 10 Power was to disappear, there will be less of Armor in the meta (which is good for Annihilus‘s ability).
Archetypes I’m Watching
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Surtur 10 Power was playing a few cards that were extremely annoying for certain decks. Armor heavily limited Destroy based synergies, and you could often play both Cosmo and Juggernaut with priority in that deck to throw off certain synergies.
I don’t expect the meta to be freed of these cards, but there should be less of them. Mill and Destroy could have an opportunity to sneak back into the meta, and Hela might be safer to play as well.
Other synergies to keep in mind are Arnim Zola + Black Panther, for example. In general, On Reveal heavy decks such as Silver Surfer and the On Reveal Namora deck should benefit from this situation.
Closing Words
I wish the Scream and Ongoing archetypes were impacted in some way, but the cards in those decks feel pretty balance—it is the combination of them that makes them great. As such, I only have good things to say about these changes… but can’t help but think about how the same decks are going to resurface if Surtur 10 Power leaves the meta.
Maybe it is on us as a community to try hard to find different archetypes instead of always going back to our comfort zones.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord. You can also message me on Discord @den_ccg for any question or coaching inquiries.
Good Game Everyone!
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