Just another Meta Monday
Welcome back to Meta Monday! With the new season, the addition of new cards, and the meta settling down from the recent patch changes, we have a slightly new meta this week that feels more open. However, there are still some main strategies that you will run into, so let's go over what you can expect to see as you hit the ladder.
Pillar One: Arishem
To either your dismay or your excitement, Arishem is still one of the top-performing archetypes in the format, regardless of the changes given to his supporting class. He might be even better if he gets the God of Stories on turn 2. Loki plus extra energy is just a massive swing in your favor as an Arishem player. He is no longer at the play rate levels he used to be but experienced a slight uptick in popularity since the start of the season.
Arishem
Again, there are so many different builds that have one or two cards different that it is up to you how you want to build the deck. However, the main cards are Loki, Agent Coulson, Shang-Chi, Mockingbird, and Blob, which are in almost every build. Start there, and you'll have a good deck.
Pillar Two: Thena Midrange
Thena decks have become the premier midrange deck with some pretty decent versatility. These decks have been around for a while and have had some slight tech changes to account for different portions of the meta game, but they remain strong because of their power output and the answers they can employ, regardless of what the top deck in the meta is.
Thena Midrange
Thena Mover
Thena Loki
The main package here is Thena, Angela, and Kitty Pryde. Those three cards comprise the small scaler package enabling these three decks. Being able to employ a threat on the early turns that consistently puts pressure on one lane while you spend time developing a different lane is the appeal of these decks.
Pillar Three: Sandman/Patriot
Sandman has become the 5-cost card of choice for this meta game that says stop everything you are doing. Just like Professor X and Doctor Octopus before him, he is trying to keep everyone from doing what they want to do on the last turn of the game. This is fine and works well since most of the other decks in the format want to do more than one thing on the last turn with either some tech card or to finalize their power on two lanes.
Sandman Patriot
Sandman
There are two main builds to this deck, with one relying more heavily on Patriot and Ultron, which does a little bit better on points but is more obviously a Sandman deck. The other deck does a little better job disguising itself, so it is more of a surprise when the 5 drop comes down. This leads to slightly more cube equity but isn’t as consistent when you don't get the Sandman down.
Pillar Four: Clog
This last pillar is more of a theme. While clog is an archetype to consider, the idea here is that clogging your opponent's board has become a side strategy in many different decks. This has seen a rise in Ajax, especially with the slight nerf to Luke Cage, meaning he isn't seen often anymore. Viper and The Hood are seeing play in many decks as mini packages with good value. If you are not prepared for your board to be clogged a bit, you will be in for a rough time.
Clog Movers
Full Clog
Clog WWBN
While these three decks are heavier on the clog, many bounce lists use White Widow, Viper, and The Hood as mini clogs. Because one of Kate Bishop's arrows also has a clog aspect, many of her decks try to incorporate some extra clog aspects. Even the above Thena Midrange strategies can use White Widow as a nice, easy clog element.
Meta Cards
Loki
While sustaining a change during the last patch, Loki remains a highly-played card in the meta game. Instead of having his deck and archetype, he is now a good-value midrange card. Also, when played on turn 2, he can be an absolute menace in Arishem decks. He is hovering around the 15-20% usage rate, which is pretty high for a card that was considered “nerfed” for a bit after his change. Either way, if your opponent snaps before turn 2 and they play Arishem, I would suspect Loki and make decisions accordingly.
Kate Bishop
This may be because she is the new Season pass card, but Kate’s arrows add a lot of utility to any deck, so she is easy to slot into many different lists. She currently has a play rate in the upper 20% and has helped push some of the bounce-type archetypes into the meta game, although not as popular as putting her in the main midrange decks in which she is heavily used.
Shadow King
While sustaining a change that was realistically a buff, Shadow King has become one of the premier tech cards in this format. The format is ripe with targets, and at 2-cost, he is easy to play on the last turn along another 4-cost threat or, if you are so inclined, Shang-chi to take care of some other target.
Meta Health
Overall, there are a lot of strategies currently in this meta game. This article covers the main 4, but all the old standby lists like Zoo, Destroy, Negative, and Surfer are still viable options. Also, many Werewolf by Night bounce decks have started to enter the format recently with the addition of Kate Bishop. Because of the viability of many different strategies, we see a pretty diverse and healthy meta game that doesn’t have one overbearing approach. Yes, there are main archetypes that are highly popular, but you can still find great success in running something that is not the most popular. What are your thoughts on the meta game?