Just another Meta Monday
Welcome back to Meta Monday! Last week, we had an OTA that changed a few things about the meta game but didn’t make as drastic a change as many players would like.
Pillar One: Agent Venom
Although a few pieces were hit in the OTA, the main Agent Venom decks still hold strong at about 10% of the meta game. However, unlike last week, when Rockslide took a hit with the latest OTA, the Dark Hawk Agent Venom decks are a lot less viable than before, meaning the main options are the Sera tech Agent Venom decks and the main Agent Venom deck that includes Klaw and Iron Man.
Agent Venom 1
Sera 1
Sera 2
With Agent Venom being one of the most popular cards in the game and enabling some of the best decks in the format, the season pass is looking a lot better value-wise by the day. Unless something else changes, I don’t see this deck moving from the top spot soon.
Pillar Two: Bounce
With the release of Toxin as another bounce enabler, Bounce has exploded into the meta game with more versatility and flexibility than other decks. They can compete on power against almost any deck while being able to position that power wherever they want on the last turn with the three different bounce effects they have at their disposal. Also, with the OTA change to Storm essentially removing the War Machine lockdown decks from the format, Bounce lost an unfavored matchup.
Bounce 1
Bounce 2
Most bounce decks are all relatively the same, with some minor changes depending on how you want to play the game. Werewolf by Night and Bishop are typically swapped out for each other, with Bishop being the more straightforward and easier powerhouse to pull off. At the same time, Werewolf by Night allows for more flexibility in where the power ends up. Sage is also a consideration as a last-turn powerhouse. Either way, many flexible options can be changed around most decks, including Black Swan, Toxin, Beast, Falcon, and Agent Venom. The other spots are up to you as the player.
Pillar Three: Discard and Destroy
While these decks have been around for a while, they are starting to dominate more of the meta game, especially as they get some small pieces and some help in OTAs.
Discard 1
Discard 2
Destroy 1
Destroy 2
All 4 of these decks are pretty much the same on Cube and Winrate they have some slight differences depending on the cards in your collection and what you want to be playing. However, Discard and Destory have been around for long enough that the play patterns are pretty straightforward and don’t require a lot of thorough explanation.
Meta Cards
Agent Venom
Agent Venom is currently the most played card in various decks. Taking any cards below that 4 power number and boosting them significantly affects many different strategies. I probably would not want to miss this season pass card if I was invested in the game even slightly.
Shadow King
With Agent Venom and Bounce decks running around providing many Green-powered cards instead of just base power, Shadow King usage is about the same as Agent Venom. As the premier tech card against the majority of the format, I would consider running him in your deck, especially if you have the room, and even if you don’t, trying to find the room is a good idea.
Invisible Woman
While this might not be the most obvious meta card, currently, Invisible Woman has one of the highest cube rates in the current format. Enable tech cards like Shang-Chi, Shadow King, and even Killmonger with or without priority is a big deal, especially when many decks fold to a well-timed card. While Alioth is still a popular card, most main meta decks are not running him, making Invisible Woman a good option even when played early. But, even if played late, Invisible Woman allows a lot of late-game snaps, especially when combined with Sera. For example, suppose I, as a bounce player, successfully throw priority going into the last turn. In that case, I might think I am safe from a tech card like KIllmonger, so I can play everything out and not worry about it. Still, the opponent can easily hide that Killmonger behind Invisible Woman on the last turn, making priority a moot point. Therefore, this made what seemed like a safe stay a massive blunder.
Meta Health
While the format has a lot of decks with very small percentages, it is mainly ruled by a couple of decks and then the various tech cards that are running around. These strategies can be stifling to most decks that are not mirror matches or running their own selection of tech cards, leading to some very monotonous gameplay. Also, other than removing the Storm-War Machine combo deck, the format has pretty much stayed the same for about 3 weeks. This has led to frustration and little innovation, with most players opting to play whatever Agent Venom deck they find the most enjoyable. Will the release of Anti-Venom this week help that? I don’t think so, and with no balance changes before the new season, it seems like we will be stuck in pretty much the same format for at least another week. Some might like this, but there is a lot of frustration as well because the format is decently stagnant. What are your thoughts on the meta game? Are you tired or do you like it?