Table of Contents
Overall, the nerfs in this round’s balance update greatly limit how much some of the straight-forward power decks can dominate. Hela lost nine total power across four cards, Doctor Doom 2099 now needs to draw flawlessly to stand a chance, and Surtur 10 Power basically just lost Cull Obsidian.
I think I like all of these changes, although the Doctor Doom 2099 change might finally take the card out of the meta. Already, the Ongoing deck and Arishem were exploring other options with good success. Plus, the payoff might finally not surpass the limitation of one card per turn and the need to play Doctor Doom 2099 on Turn 3 for it to really shine.
Overall, these push the meta towards more diversity in terms of how to conduct a game. With the “I play more points than you” strategies all gutted at once, only a few should remain at the top. This should mean they’re easier to target; we’ll just have to explore some new ways to emerge victorious on game’s end.
Speaking of new avenues to explore, there are also several buffs to look at!
Loki on Turn 1 is a scary prospect from an energy cheating standpoint, as the now 1-Cost basically gives you five extra energy. I could definitely picture the card making it back in an Arishem deck, or at least becoming a fine 1-Cost for decks in need of an extra one.
Thanos required this buff badly, and it still might not be good enough to come back. Yet, with Agamotto often representing a [6/13], it is only fair to buff Thanos to match that same power ([5/12] plus Time Stone is [6/13] total). I still have my reserves about the Mad Titan, but coupled with Doctor Doom 2099‘s nerf Thanos could have some merit as a home for certain Ongoing synergies.
Bruce Banner might be the most significant change of them all, and I’m very glad Second Dinner finally realized the card needed a 1-in-3 chance to HULK OUT! rather than a 1-in-4. This is a very straight forward buff, but it makes High Evolutionary a must-try in the coming days.
Finally, Wolverine is getting an extra power. I don’t see this change being very impactful, but all the decks using the X-Man—whether it’s Destroy or KaZoo Discard for low collection players—should welcome this little bonus.
This looks like a great OTA. It shakes up the current meta meaningfully while giving us other options to explore as replacements. This is exactly what I want to see from a dynamic game!
You Can Still Play Hela
It is undeniable that the power taken away from the Hela deck will make it feel worse. Yet the change to Black Cat isn’t necessarily a pure nerf. Indeed, a [2/6] can be a great support tool for Adam Warlock early on. The new version of Black Cat can help the deck draw more cards and become more reliable as a result.
While you might have fewer points on the table by the end of the match, you also might draw Hela more often than you did before. You could consider this OTA a tradeoff rather than a strict nerf.
There still needs to be a 4-Cost to replace Black Cat in the discard pool, though. Jubilee can stay in the deck to keep it intact following the OTA, but I would rather explore some high power cards because I believe Adam Warlock will help the deck become reliable enough with a [2/6] Black Cat that you don’t need Jubilee. I like Captain Marvel, as I feel like the deck will need to be more precise with its points spread now that you have less to work with.
Sam Wilson and Iron Patriot Will Still Rule the Meta
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I support the idea of breaking the synergy between Cull Obsidian and Cap's Shield; however, I don’t see how that will change much about the structure of the current meta. It is a blow to Cull Obsidian, and by extension the already declining Surtur 10 Power deck. On the other hand, Sam Wilson doesn’t care one bit about this change. Actually, it could be considered a buff since Cap's Shield now dodges Man-Thing‘s power affliction. I guess not being buffed by Marvel Boy and Ka-Zar makes it worse in the KaZoo archetype, but I would consider this a buff in other decks.
It only took me a few minutes on any of the deck trackers to find multiple decks that featured both former Season Pass cards, and all of the decks I found were already worthy of being discussed in our next Tier List. This is where the buffs will have to come in clutch, as we could just go back to a “Good Cards” type of meta.
Bruce Banner’s Revival
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At a 25% chance to HULK OUT!, Bruce Banner simply wasn’t worth the gamble. Now that it’s a 33% chance, the card is much more appealing since the probability of getting a 12 power Hulk soars to new heights.
It might only look like a small 8% increase, but over several turns that can make quite a difference.
- Over 4 turns, Bruce Banner now has a 79.84% chance to HULK OUT! vs. a 68.35% chance before
- Over 3 turns, the new chance is 70% vs. 57.8% before
- Over 2 turns, the new chance is 55.11% vs. 43.75% before
Combined with the recent buff to Sunspot, I have a lot more faith in the 2-Cost and the High Evolutionary archetype as a whole.
Will Thanos Finally Feel Better Than a Worse Arishem?
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Over the last few seasons, Thanos has had two different builds: a Good Cards style of deck reminiscent of Arishem (and always in its shadow) and an Ongoing build. The latter was a little more unique, but also worse than the traditional Ongoing deck and, again, not popular at all.
The buff to Thanos gives us a reason to revisit those decks. At the moment, the Arishem lookalike is the best performing list for Thanos, but I don’t expect Thanos to surpass Arishem considering didn’t get nerfed. However, the nerf to Doctor Doom 2099 is quite a blow to the Ongoing Doom archetype, which means there could be an opening in that section of the meta.
I don’t want to get my hopes up, but Thanos has always been one of my favorite cards. I’ll definitely be spending some time tinkering with that one.
Arishem and Strong Standalone Cards
This OTA is all fun and great feeling for the future… until I remembered Arishem gets an improved Loki—on top of being a default pick anytime you’re in doubt about what to play. Sure, the Doctor Doom 2099 version is probably out of the picture, but I never liked that build to begin with. There are so many other options to explore that it probably doesn’t matter much anyway.
We do have Gorgon now, and a deck that is tailor-made to beat Arishem exists as well. At least we’re able to fight Arishem if it becomes popular. Still, I can’t help but think the meta will likely revolve around this deck a lot.
Here’s the “Anti-Arishem” deck in case you haven’t seen it.
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Closing Words
I love this OTA, even if I expect certain decks will be super popular after it (which, to be fair, is always the case). Still, even if you don’t want to follow the ideas of the developers and the community rushes back to the same old comfort archetypes, I have to salute the developers for this particular OTA. I’m wishing for more like this in the future!
To reach out, find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or shoot me a direct message (@den_ccg) for specific stuff or coaching.
Good Game Everyone.
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