Targeting the OTA
Welcome to Target the OTA, where we rate the latest balance patch and build around the changes. The Mad Titan, Thanos, got changed yet again, while Rhino also got another change. Galacta and Red Guardian finally got taken down a peg in an effort to incentivize synergy play, while highly synergistic cards Misery and Absorbing Man got small buffs. Recently released Ancient One's Tao Mandala got an important cost reduction, and early series cards Ironheart and Wolfsbane got boosts. Professor X got a change that may be underrated. All that plus, the previously very naughty dog Lockjaw got a major change! I'll give you my thoughts, ratings, and some decks to try right away!
Just like Kate Bishop has the arrows in her quiver, Second Dinner has OTA balance changes as their balance arsenal. I'll give each change a rating from 0 to 4 arrows and a final overall rating as well. Did Second Dinner hit the target with this OTA or did they miss the mark?
Before we dive into the cards, I want to address something Second Dinner said in the patch notes. They noted “a large presence of strong generic decks that incorporate a variety of tech cards that wax and wane.” This is basically my favorite type of deck and it certainly had a prominent role in the meta. Outside of Thanos’ unique ability to leverage tech there were decks built with a wide variety of tech options (the new Mercury/Cannonball combo being part of the diversity) and a refreshing variety of energy enablers (Surge, Hope, Wiccan, Sera, etc.).
We had what was easily one of my favorite metas of all time. They went on to say that they “want players, for the most part, to be able to regularly execute their gameplan unless their opponent is paying a reasonable cost to try to counter a specific metagame.” I do agree that Galacta was too powerful and Red Guardian could definitely lose a point, but I hope the overall changes nudge these non-synergistically focused decks down rather than push them out of the meta entirely. I'm a little worried that we're in for a Bullseye Discard, Mr. Negative, Combo Destroy meta, but I'm cautiously optimistic that counterplay will still have a place.
Thanos will now start in your deck rather than your hand, which is a major nerf to the deck's consistency. To offset this, Time Stone has been given its draw back, while Reality Stone has been given a point of power. Space Stone has been changed to draw Thanos only and been given a point of power. Overall, this is clearly a nerf, however, it's gentle enough that Thanos will still be playable, especially Ongoing Thanos. I'm not entirely convinced this will prevent Thanos from filling its deck slots with tech cards and we'll have to see how much the stone buffs mitigate the consistency nerf.
Galacta has been one of the best cards in the game for a long time. I even think she was a little underrated, despite being in the top 5 in play rate. Personally, I was playing her in pretty much every deck, but I can certainly see the case for nerfing her. She had been a reliable source of about 11 power, while now her expected output will be around 10 power. She synergizes less with cards like Brood, but she's still probably good enough to be a top choice as a generic 4-drop.
Red Guardian has been slightly behind Galacta in play rate, at around #6. Red Guardian has long felt almost entirely risk-free as an addition during deck building. Because he's effectively a 3/5 you didn't actually have to worry about him making an impactful hit on an opposing card, it was a nice, all-upside bonus when he did. Now, Red Guardian will only come out in force in metas that demand him.
Misery, and Absorbing Man below, were buffed partially to help supplant Galacta as the generic choice in decks that synergize better with one of these 4-drops. I've already been playing a ton of Misery this season as part of one of my go-to decks. I guess this might make destroy decks take another look at Misery, but she'll mostly be good in the decks that were already using her.
Kill Mill
Misery already has her spots, but Abs Man hasn't been a major meta presence lately. Galacta had taken root as a Surfer staple and this buff seems aimed at supplanting her there. Absorbing Man works best in Sera builds of Surfer, though, so I don't really think that's going to happen. Still, it does make the Sera/Toxic Surfer lists incrementally better than they were last week. What else could we try Abs Man out in? Maybe to Cannonball a second time on turn 6, after having already blasted something on turn 5? Or maybe we can bring back Namora/Odin decks with Abs Man?
Toxic Surf
The Wolfsbane buff will make an impact at beginner CL levels where she's a solid card. For late game players, this is a nerf, if anything, since most of the play she was seeing was as a replacement for something like Sage or Cassandra Nova in Ravonna packages or Negative decks for players that were missing one of those cards.
Rhino was fun at 3/6, but he'll be better at 2/5. You'll have to lean into his synergies. The best partners are Cull Obsidian, Werewolf by Night, and Mockingbird.
This is a big buff! The 3-Cost Mandala was way too clunky for anything other than clip-hunting shenanigans, but at 2 there may be some new uses. Cerebro 5 is certainly one idea, as is Tribunal. But I'll be trying the Mandala out with Victoria Hand first.
Moon Hand
Ironheart gets a small buff in time for her new Disney+ show! She'll be a powerhouse at lower CL, but I'm looking forward to trying her in an old-fashioned Wong/Odin/Tigers deck with Namora, and also with Sersi and Merlin!
This change might appear minor, but I actually think it opens up quite a bit of space to experiment with Professor X in decks with skills, especially with Merlin. Although, it appears you could already play skills onto Professor X lanes before this change, so I guess that part went out a bit early!
When Lockjaw was at the height of his powers, he was one of my least favorite cards to play against. The old Lockjaw casino decks were annoying RNG monsters with major high-roll potential. Limiting Lockjaw to a single use in addition to making him an Activate leaves me without too much fear that Lockjaw will take over the meta. Still, being able to play in any lane and his ability to pull giant cards out of your deck makes him worthy of some fun experimentation. Should we play him with Electro like we do Blink? Or should we stick to the classic Lockjaw partners like Jubilee and Hammers?
Blink Storm
Winners of the OTA
Besides the Rhino enjoyers, the real winners of the patch may have been the classic synergistic combo decks. If you're looking to climb, rather than experimenting with Lockjaw or pulling out a Misery deck, you might want to play one of these combo decks.
Bullseye Discard GM
Classic Destroy
Negative
Final Rating - 3/4 Arrows
There aren't really any changes in here I object to, but I'm a bit uneasy about changing a meta I thought was healthy by hitting “good cards” decks. I'm not sure if enough has changed to really shake things up too much, but that would be a good thing in this case. There are quite a few changes, which I always like to see, and there are a couple like Lockjaw and Tao Mandala that are good motivation for experimentation, so overall I am going to give this OTA a solid grade, but with a little bit of caution.
