Grand Arena Meta Analysis
As Grand Arena kicks off its second week, the metagame has matured, strategies have been fleshed out, and tiers have formed. Let's look at what decks and cards are having the most success in Grand Arena!
Strategies
Space is a constrained resource - As I mentioned both of the last two times I wrote about Grand Arena, the new energy curve (starting at 2 and going up to 7) was going to change the game in unexpected ways since the 1-6 energy curve is such a core aspect of the game that determines what strategies and combinations work best.
The primary effect of the new curve is that it has exacerbated the importance of space. Each location has only 4 spaces and those get pretty filled up when both players have extra energy. When people talk about resource management in Snap, they generally mean energy and cards, but location space is a vital resource as well and it is one that is crunched in this format. As a result, clog is extremely powerful. Clog strategies weren't prevalent in the first few days of the mode, but players naturally find ways to exploit resource inefficiencies and robbing your opponent of space is strong in Grand Arena. Another effect of tighter space is that abilities that rely on full locations are much easier to pull off. Human Torch: FS can be made to double very easily and The Thing: FS feels like a lot less of a commitment than on ladder. Even Mojo has felt a lot stronger than anticipated, while Punisher has felt passable as well.
Big cards need big power - Because it's so easy to fill the board, having a space taken up by a Doombot or something with a low cost/power ratio has felt less powerful in this mode. You can easily fill most of your board with Doombots, but 20-power lanes are far from safe in this high-flying format. The quest to cheat out big power has led to the arrival of Agatha, who can be played out reliably on turn 2. War Machine is gaining steam, partially for the lockdown Storm provides and partially because it can play Infinaut and Ebony Maw out easily. Magneto has felt powerful as a card with a good cost/power ratio that can also affect your opponent’s board organization. The mode has gravitated further towards H.E.R.B.I.E. lately because he grows unreasonably large.
On ladder, players tend to hope they hit H.E.R.B.I.E.’s extra energy ability, but in Grand Arena you really want that doubling ability so that his Skill can double him again. Playing cards like Wong or Joaquin Torres to double the Flame On and Clobberin' Time skills has also become more common as players try to find ways to pack power into every location as efficiently as possible, while still leaving room for defensive tech (Armor, Cosmo, and Alioth). The lack of space has made Juggernaut significantly less effective than in other formats since he won't always be able to safeguard a lead in a lane or knock an opposing Shang Chi somewhere it can do no harm.
The Best Grand Arena Decks
These are the winningest decks in Grand Arena with large enough sample sizes to feel confident in their strength. I've also included twists on these decks that can help you stay one step ahead of the meta rather than chasing it from behind.
Clog
GA Clog
Sco GA Clog
H.E.R.B.I.E. Control
GA Herbie Control
Sco Herbie Control
Agatha
GA Agatha
Sco GA Agatha
Surfer Torch
GA Torch
Sco GA Torch
Ongoing
GA Ongoing
Sco GA Ongoing
Ranking the Pre-cons
While I do think sticking to the pre-cons puts you at a disadvantage, we have enough data to see clearly which of them is best. The H.E.R.B.I.E. Zoo deck is even good enough to stand toe-to-toe with quite a few of the custom decks.
- Programmed to Thrill - ~58.8% winrate
- Clobberin' Time - ~56.2 winrate
- Stretch Goals - ~55.7 winrate
- Vanishing Act - ~55.3 winrate
- Flame On! - ~55.1 winrate
- Maximum Carnage - ~53% winrate
- Subterranea Strikes - ~40.5 winrate
- Doom Supreme - ~38.9 winrate
Foundations for the Future
It's possible that the upcoming OTA will affect the Grand Arena Meta, but we don't know if they would specifically do something to target this mode like additional band of changes to the Champions or Skills. I'm hoping that there's something that can shake the meta a little bit, but even if there's not I think there are vectors to attack the current meta, including a higher reliance on defensive cards like Armor and Cosmo. There are also cards that are being underplayed like Polaris, Lady Deathstrike, Grandmaster, and even Cosmo. It's also possible that this week's new release, Invisible Woman: First Steps could shake things up, perhaps in a High Evolutionary package of some sort.
We don't have any official data on which Champions are doing the best, but I am also very interested to see if any are buffed or nerfed when Grand Arena returns. H.E.R.B.I.E. is clearly the best and is the easiest to build varied strategies around. The Doom deck is also good, but it's being carried by player innovations, especially Agatha Harkness, and the differential between the Doom Pre-Con and Doom custom decks is the widest in the game. Mole Man needs some love, not just as a champion but just to be a viable card on ladder as well. Mr. Fantastic Ongoing is a solid deck and, while Carnage is the easiest to counter, both of these decks are easier to pilot than others, which helps their stats.
For next time I'd like to see some new bans to keep things fresh including Agatha, Alioth, and Debrii. H.E.R.B.I.E. needs to be brought down in line with the other Champions, especially his Skill, and I'd love to see some new Champions that enable new archetypes.