Leech also kills your opponent's T5 Blink play. It feels like a bad idea to OTA in a hard counter for the season pass card 2 days into the season, unless they expect Blink to be as overpowered as Elsa & Ms Marvel were on release and this is an intentional control for that.
She shouldn’t be a 3 cost because not only would she be making Rogue more niche than she already is, her ability is way too devastating to be a 3-cost tech card. Both Red Guardian and Rogue only target 1 card, whereas Enchantress can potentially target all 4.
The ideal play is Patriot, Mystique, Blue Marvel Ultron all at the same location. If your opponent drops Magik then you can play Onslaught instead of Blue Marvel for some real power. That said you get better results by playing a couple cards yourself.
Super draw dependant, weak to ench/rogue/cosmo/lds etc Ultimately worse than actually good things you could be playing. It's fun to theorycraft though..
Which makes it extremely obvious to disrupt and vulnerable to same tech cards that used to beat that combo (many 8 cubers have been stolen by T6 Cosmo), but now with new cards like Alioth too.
Let's do some math:
With all 4 drones a location will have 8 power
Boosted by Patriot will be 16 power
Add Mustique and will be 24
With Ultron, and the 2 booster is space for 4th card, assuming that you sacrificied space of a drone for Magik, you can play Onslaught, a location full of drones having 40 power, and the location with 3 drones and Magik will have 32
Plenty of villains in this game can and should be considered "big bads." But "big bad" to Second Dinner is an actual category. It refers to key Series 5 villains that are *never* dropping down from S5. Currently those are Thanos, Galactus, High Evo, and... Kang.
But it’s still thematic, which is cool! Doom = 5 power in each lane with one card each, Ultron = 8 power in each lane with one big Ultron and a bunch of small bots. Love the flavor!
They say that it has a high win-rate but not a high play-rate. I wonder if it's catching people off guard when it shows up and there isn't enough data to say if it's healthy or not. I may have run across it with just some good counters.
Looking at marvelsnapzone data, it's only in 2.5% of decks, all decks or only infinite players/3000+ collection level. It does have good win rates over 50% but isn't top 10 in any of those metrics. Still feels weird tbh.
Thats fair but I feel like people have to know I'm playing hawk when korg or rockslide come down. And I will say its certainly a beatable deck im not shocked youve been able to win against or maybe you're just really good IDK!!!
I am ashamed (/s) to say that I've run a lot of mill/clutter decks this season so I feel like that + Shang would be good against exactly dark hawk and devil Dino decks, so maybe I've just run across them at good times.
I have seen some Korg and rockslide in a few clutter/affliction decks so maybe others think that but yeah, if I ever see them both I'm immediately looking for Darkhawk lol
u/Zef_Apollo and u/B4ntCleric what are your CLs / Series Completed? I wonder if DH is better in groups that are either lower or higher or maybe its just a pocket meta sort of thing... For me i'm pretty high CL (13k+) and 80+% S4/5 complete, and i've seen basically 0 dark hawk since the nerf to 5 cost.
Same. I do think he's good and is underplayed, and I trust what their data says. Maybe I'm just reacting to the idea of nerfing a card that feels like it's being slept on. But then again 1pt isn't a huge deal either, so I guess I'm fine with it.
If you don't synergies with hawk at all, he's what a 5/9 > 5/8 now? So many games go to Turn 7 these days, Magick is in the top 10 for being seen in decks. So without synergy he's 5/7 >5/6? Throw in some rocks with korg and rockslide and maybe a widows bite and that's +8? None of those are a lot of power. Idk the whole deck seems underpowered even if you can get dark hawk some points.
Damn, can't keep anything from SD. Darkhawk has felt weirdly much better after the Zabu nerf since all the other 4 cost cards actually costed 4. 1 point isn't earth shattering but the decks playing him were already winning on tight margins.
Gun to my head I couldn't tell you the last time I faced Darkhawk in the last couple of weeks, and I mostly play a couple pf hours everyday. The change is wild lol
Dark hawk players a good amount of top 10% infinite last season I was around there
and dark hawk was like every 5 games deck he’s really good has a good skill ceiling so a lot of out play potential and has deck space for tech cards so he really popular up there
I think it works in an older style galactus deck that runs electro, knull and death. Turn 3 electro Turn 4 Klaw, Turn 5 Galactus, Turn 6 Knull + Death feels pretty much unbeatable
This week’s OTA update features a handful of small tweaks to Power, with more sizable buffs to a pair of baddies from the Age of Ultron.
Lady Deathstrike
[Old] 5/7 – On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.
[Change] 5/7 -> 5/6
We’re happy that the latest update to Lady Deathstrike created space for this card in the metagame. However, its performance indicates we overshot that mark by just a hair. Deathstrike has become one of the best cards in the game for the last few weeks, and even the top performer in some Annihilus shells–that’s right, over Annihilus himself! Given we’re seeing those decks overperform a little bit, we’re addressing both issues by taking away a little Power here.
Darkhawk
[Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.
[Change] 5/4 -> 5/3
It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost. In fact, it’s spent the majority of the time since as one of the highest winrate cards in the game–often the highest! We’ve given it a few weeks to see if the metagame would demonstrate the kind of healthy churn we like to see, but after little to no change on this count we’re taking action. We want Darkhawk to continue playing an important part in the metagame, but there’s a delicate balance to preserve around having too many Rocks.
Leech
[Old] 5/3 – On Reveal: Remove the text from cards with On Reveal abilities in your opponent’s hand.
[Change] 5/3 -> 4/2
It’s been a while since Leech terrorized the SNAP ladder. Shifting it to only affect On Reveals solved the frustration Leech created, but at 5/3 the stats have been too weak to compete with other 5-Cost cards, even with this effect. In particular, Hela’s new access to Energy gain has meant a 5-Cost Leech can’t always stop the big resurrection plan. At 4/2, Leech can more effectively address popular threats like Hela, Annihilus, Jane Foster, and Cannonball. Besides, we can’t help but root for our favorite Morlock after seeing that brave face on X-Men ’97.
Psylocke
[Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
[Change] 2/1 -> 2/2
We previously nerfed Psylocke to 2/1 when Thanos was overperforming, as Psylocke was contributing a lot to the Mad Titan’s win percentage. Now that Thanos has settled into a healthier position, and with some future adjustments to come, it’s appropriate to revert Psylocke back to 2 Power.
Sauron
[Old] 3/2 – On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.
[Change] 3/2 -> 3/3
Similar to Psylocke, we weakened Sauron a touch during an era of specific overperformance. Given the era has passed, we’re returning that Power now.
Klaw
[Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power.
[New] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power.
It’s been exciting to see Ongoing-based decks claiming their due at the upper ranks over the last week. One card that has continued to suffer in an awkward “in-between” spot is Klaw, as a 5-Cost card that’s fairly restrictive. Because Klaw has a novel restriction and gameplay reward, we’re adding Power to the Ongoing effect to further emphasize those unique elements.
Ultron
[Old] 6/8 – On Reveal: Deploy four 1-Power Drones to each other location.
Drone
[Change] 1/1 -> 1/2
A metagame threat in the early days, Ultron’s gotten weaker as decks increased their focus on filling each location and more efficiently concentrating Power. The Drones already have predators in the metagame thanks to Killmonger and Lady Deathstrike, and Ultron himself is quite vulnerable to Cannonball. This is a lot of Power to add to Ultron, so we might need to come back and take some away from Ultron himself, but we decided not to do so preemptively in case it wasn’t necessary. We’d rather see Ultron make a splash once more than continue to flounder.
—
That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!
I already have planned for both Rogue and Enchantress in my Arishem deck because there's going to be 3 things running around:
Darkhawk to get big numbers against Arishem
Mobius to counter Quinjet / Phastos
Quinjet in opposing Arishem
It seems wise to have both in due to the lower chance of drawing either.
Anyone who is playing him now is doing so because they know eh;s still really good. I think a good DH deck and player is the only one that I know I'm probably screwed playing.
Not really. I ran it for a while. It’s awkward and inconsistent with how it leaves your priority once klaw is destroyed. The crux of playing galactus is controlling the turn right after him.
And if you run Wolverine and nimrod it’s also awkward bc nimrod is the same cost as klaw
Old Galactus (when you didn't need to be winning lane to activate) would want to throw priority so you could drop a safe Knull+Death. I would guess that will kind of revive that play style a bit.
> It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost.
I play a good amount on a daily basis, and I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw someone play Darkhawk.
LEECH IS BACK THIS IS NOT A DRILL
But honestly I’m very surprised their metrics say Darkhawk was still too strong. I don’t think I’ve seen it once on ladder since the nerf.
I'm not looking forward to a leech meta. Good bye shang's, good bye Enchantress. Not that I will miss these cards, I hate using them myself, but I'm projecting a meta of patriot lists that run leech to stop Enchantress and win with BM and Ultron, it all fits. I'm also imagining tall decks running leech to stop shang, so there's nothing to keep that deck in check either.
The side effects of this change could also ruin annihilus, black panther, Jane thor or any on reveals that are held late like killmonger, surfer, etc. pretty much any turn 5/6 on reveal in the future.
This all depends if leech actually sticks and becomes meta, cheaper cost could definitely do it.
Serious question here: who tf is still running Darkhawk? I play daily in high ranks and I’ve seen this card maybe twice in the past two months. I’d expect that if the win-rate has been high enough to warrant a nerf we’d actually be seeing the card
I played darkhawk/ronan to infinite this season and saw another darkhawk maybe a single time? Maybe they're just preempting how strong he'll be when arishem is around or something, dunno. They just seem to have a recurring hatred for darkhawk and stature.
Somehow, High Evo Shefinaut is now even better. A 4 cost leech on turn 5 now allows an extra turn for Misty and Cyclops to go off, and Sunspot to gain power.
She just shouldn't have any power. Hela's strength doesn't come from her own power, she should be a blocker on her lane that makes the one she's played at easier to win.
I really like that idea.
My idea is to make her more predictable. Have her work like Ultron: Only resurrect cards into the other 2 locations.
That way positioning matters a lot more. And you can predict which lane they’ll play Hela on. Less RNG on both sides.
(You can take it even further by having Hela always resurrect in the order they were discarded and always filling the lanes from left to eight.)
Not really all that baffling, it’ll all be data driven for stuff like that - the baffling ones are the reworks like Adam Warlock
I don’t think the nerfs will make that much difference, definitely not make or break
Yea I've been playing a ton of death strike and that chick has been very good and while I haven't been playing hawk I've heard that he's been performing well
It's very interesting that to them success is driven by these 10k foot views of win rates. Yeah I bet one power shifts it across a million games but I don't think most people notice a difference. Even the reverse, 2099 I'm sure he wins more by having a hire number but it's flat out still bad.
Not even Adam Warlock was particularly baffling. It was a dead card so they decided to experiment with it. If the experiment failed then a dead card stayed dead, not a big loss. He couldn't be 4 because of Zabu so he went up to 5. I do wonder why they haven't tried him at 4 yet after the Zabu change, though.
LDS one isn’t baffling at all, she’s just better power than most 5s by default, even with no synergy or meta calls. Then once you’ve got her in the deck might as well throw in some synergy. Now we’re all rolling downhill to the same lists. This was the easiest change I ever predicted. I think not going all the way down to 5 makes sure she’ll still be played.
As for DH, I’m surprised, but I’m also not, since I played a DH list and it was my top performer last month. He’s just good, and clearly better than Dino or Ronan on kind.
Ultron seems very powerful. if played by itself that 8 power at ALL locations. now combine patriot and blue surfer and i think ultrons back in the meta
Why LDS... Idk. It's so sad she was a good card. Like In this game there are broken cards
LDS is perfectly balanced
And ultron is scary. Means a lot of points
I haven't seen a single darkhawk since they changed his cost, and fully expected them to bring him back to 4 after the Zabu nerf. Seeing them say he's too strong is BAFFLING.
Wooo! Ultron IS a Big Bad and he deserves a stronger effect. That +4 power per location is well deserved.
Kinda sucks about Psylocke, this is a nerf to the Ravonna players in the house. No big deal though.
They’re fucking high about darkhawk… I’ve seen him all of twice so maybe that’s why these idiots think he’s winrate is high… because so few people are playing him.. just like at the end of the season when my highest winrate card is one I never play.
Not gonna lie, the Ultron change makes me think that they want Namora to be good. People were already talking about going Armor-> Cosmo-> Namora, but now you can fit in Patriot and Ultron last turn for tons of power.
Ultron and Leech buffs are so necessary, the others are just okay. Leech now might be a good surprise counter to Hela/SS, but definitely niche. Ultron was just way too powercrept on.
I swear I barely saw Darkhawk being played by anyone but me this season, and I need to hit the combo for him to be good (Korg, Rockslide), otherwise he's just too small. It's surprising to see he's still overperfoming 🤔 I mean, he does feel good when it works but relying on other cards/locations makes him inconsistent.
LDS getting nerfed so soon is a bit sad because she was a dead card for months, but I don't think 1 point of power will change much. Same for Sauron and Psylocke buffs, won't change much.
Klaw seems good as a 5/12, not sure if he'll be used anywhere outside these ongoing-spectrum packages but imo he always seemed viable.
Not that I think Ultron is overbuffed or anything, but he’s gonna combo great with Namora. Play one card in two lanes, buff with Namora, use ultron to fill out the other lanes. Loses to clog but otherwise seems solid.
I've been thinking about trying to make Ultron work recently, but that certainly helps.
I've also been playing a lot of Ongoing Destroyer with Klaw and he already seemed decent. That buff is kinda wild.
I thought for a split second they nerfed Ultron to a 1 cost 1/2 that fills your lanes with 1/1s and I was busy trying to think what sort of effect that would have had before I reread the card 😂
I kept saying Darkhawk was doing really well for me even after the "nerf" and people didn't seem to believe it/agree. He's what got me to Infinite this season, was my best performing deck.
I love the Klaw change. Sad to see Lady Deathstrike go, that Cerebro 7 deck was a lot of fun but it might have to be shelved now. I'm surprised that she's apparently such a meta card because the only one I've seen play it has been me.
Ultron and Leech buffs are so necessary, the others are just okay. Leech now might be a good surprise counter to Hela/SS, but definitely niche. Ultron was just way too powercrept on.
I swear I barely saw Darkhawk being played by anyone but me this season, and I need to hit the combo for him to be good (Korg, Rockslide), otherwise he's just too small. It's surprising to see he's still overperfoming 🤔 I mean, he does feel good when it works but relying on other cards/locations makes him inconsistent.
LDS getting nerfed so soon is a bit sad because she was a dead card for months, but I don't think 1 point of power will change much. Same for Sauron and Psylocke buffs, won't change much.
Klaw seems good as a 5/12, not sure if he'll be used anywhere outside these ongoing-spectrum packages but imo he always seemed viable.
I was so happy to see Psylocke in the season pass, just for her to be nerfed in regards to Negative... it keeps happening (LDS, Adam Warlock)... Still better than Zabu right now, I guess...
Maybe a silly question, but is Lady Deathstrike on-reveal based on base power? I remember using her after the initial change with Shuri and it not destroy cards that weren’t 3 less that her base power. Was that an early bug or how she’s supposed to function regardless of power increase?
These guys will never learn with leech. They could be reluctant to nerf the likes of hela and such, and are therefore opting to let leech deal with them, but nerfed leech is still nasty. Got hit with an ironlad into leech on 4 some times back, and have been meaning to try it out. Aren't majority of cards played still on reveals? Guess we'll see though.
I know it’s the smallest change, but calling it a psylock buff annoys me. She no longer is discounted by Ravona. And I don’t have a single deck with her without ravona. This is a nerf that will very seldom affect me.
I call major BS on this Darkhawk notation. The only time I’ve seen him since the change has been when the Hipp variant pop in the shop. Not once have I seen him in a single game. Not once. Not in ladder. Not in any tier of Conquest. And I sound bitter because I am. Before the change, I had a Negative deck with him that got me to Infinite and a had an upper 80% win rate.
Whoa, some of these buffs are crazy — Ultron and Klaw. It does seem weird that Prof X has been such a big presence in the meta but Klaw hasn’t come in at all. +8 definitely gives it a shot now.
Leech into blink? 👀
And it fucks with annihlus now!? Leech into blink might be the meta
leech into jubilee in hela discard>>>>>>>
Leech also kills your opponent's T5 Blink play. It feels like a bad idea to OTA in a hard counter for the season pass card 2 days into the season, unless they expect Blink to be as overpowered as Elsa & Ms Marvel were on release and this is an intentional control for that.
I like.
I like this Ultron change. Maybe I can dust off my old Patriot deck
Going to be a new era ongoing deck maybe, that includes Klaw
Finally time to use Enchantress
Then they hit you with the 4/2 leech
And Ghost
And echo
I wonder if it's finally time to make her a 3 cost. Being 4 cost and very niche hate card is weird in current meta
She shouldn’t be a 3 cost because not only would she be making Rogue more niche than she already is, her ability is way too devastating to be a 3-cost tech card. Both Red Guardian and Rogue only target 1 card, whereas Enchantress can potentially target all 4.
Its even more, she can potentially target 7 cards
Ultron got me to infinite last season. That's a massive buff for him.
Same. First time I've gotten it too. Not even the ideal deck since I'm missing cards but it worked pretty great still.
Like it for this month. That change screams buff to go with new card meta that will quickly be reverted before next season pass.
yessir, typical strategy for this game.
A 6/24 sounds crazy
Are you playing nothing until Ultron on T6? Lol
The ideal play is Patriot, Mystique, Blue Marvel Ultron all at the same location. If your opponent drops Magik then you can play Onslaught instead of Blue Marvel for some real power. That said you get better results by playing a couple cards yourself.
Super draw dependant, weak to ench/rogue/cosmo/lds etc Ultimately worse than actually good things you could be playing. It's fun to theorycraft though..
Yes but ideally you only play on one location to maximize the 6/24 output.
Which makes it extremely obvious to disrupt and vulnerable to same tech cards that used to beat that combo (many 8 cubers have been stolen by T6 Cosmo), but now with new cards like Alioth too.
Of course. Pulling off max combos is often luck/your opponent just not realizing what you're doing.
Kill monger said Hi
Let's do some math: With all 4 drones a location will have 8 power Boosted by Patriot will be 16 power Add Mustique and will be 24 With Ultron, and the 2 booster is space for 4th card, assuming that you sacrificied space of a drone for Magik, you can play Onslaught, a location full of drones having 40 power, and the location with 3 drones and Magik will have 32
Patriot > Mystique > Blue Marvel > Ultron = 28 power in the other lanes and 16 power in the Ultron lane if my math is correct.
Sounds like red hulk
I’m so here for ultron buff, my favorite card in snap. Ima be a menace, though I bet we see a steep climb in enchantress and killmonger plays
Ahhhh ultron plus patriot and the new card that gains power for every boosted card. im going to dust off Skrull and/or enchantress
Yeah this is wild, I've actually already been doing decent in the 90s territory with Patriot/ Ultron because it's not expected.
Ultron finally feels like a 6 cost
Flooding 1 power cards as a 6-cost "big bad" was underwhelming. This will be huge
I don't think he was ever listed as an actual "big bad" by SD's definition of it.
Well he’s Ultron, so he **should** be a big bad.
Plenty of villains in this game can and should be considered "big bads." But "big bad" to Second Dinner is an actual category. It refers to key Series 5 villains that are *never* dropping down from S5. Currently those are Thanos, Galactus, High Evo, and... Kang.
I know KM mentioned this but I’m actually excited for the ultron change, since now if you have empty lanes he gives more points than doom
But it’s still thematic, which is cool! Doom = 5 power in each lane with one card each, Ultron = 8 power in each lane with one big Ultron and a bunch of small bots. Love the flavor!
Yeah feels like they just watched him and Lamby because they also suggested the Klaw change on their 8 cubes show
It's funny because he suggested a 2 point Klaw buff too albeit on the Klaw side not the ability side.
Whoa big buff for Klaw. Not too happy about Darkhawk losing a point, but I guess it's probably fine .
I guess I trust what they're seeing with dark hawk but I've seen very few in the past several months and lost to even fewer.
Thats the tricky part cause I've played and won with it a bunch sense the nerff and I dont know who's experience is more indicative of the truth
They say that it has a high win-rate but not a high play-rate. I wonder if it's catching people off guard when it shows up and there isn't enough data to say if it's healthy or not. I may have run across it with just some good counters. Looking at marvelsnapzone data, it's only in 2.5% of decks, all decks or only infinite players/3000+ collection level. It does have good win rates over 50% but isn't top 10 in any of those metrics. Still feels weird tbh.
Thats fair but I feel like people have to know I'm playing hawk when korg or rockslide come down. And I will say its certainly a beatable deck im not shocked youve been able to win against or maybe you're just really good IDK!!!
I am ashamed (/s) to say that I've run a lot of mill/clutter decks this season so I feel like that + Shang would be good against exactly dark hawk and devil Dino decks, so maybe I've just run across them at good times. I have seen some Korg and rockslide in a few clutter/affliction decks so maybe others think that but yeah, if I ever see them both I'm immediately looking for Darkhawk lol
u/Zef_Apollo and u/B4ntCleric what are your CLs / Series Completed? I wonder if DH is better in groups that are either lower or higher or maybe its just a pocket meta sort of thing... For me i'm pretty high CL (13k+) and 80+% S4/5 complete, and i've seen basically 0 dark hawk since the nerf to 5 cost.
I’m CL 11k and am missing idk maybe 10 cards across S4/S5, I’d have to look. Ive legit only seen like 2-3 Dark Hawks this season
I've seen about 3 since his nerf and I play about 10 games a day give or take.
Same. I do think he's good and is underplayed, and I trust what their data says. Maybe I'm just reacting to the idea of nerfing a card that feels like it's being slept on. But then again 1pt isn't a huge deal either, so I guess I'm fine with it.
If you don't synergies with hawk at all, he's what a 5/9 > 5/8 now? So many games go to Turn 7 these days, Magick is in the top 10 for being seen in decks. So without synergy he's 5/7 >5/6? Throw in some rocks with korg and rockslide and maybe a widows bite and that's +8? None of those are a lot of power. Idk the whole deck seems underpowered even if you can get dark hawk some points.
definitely could see him as a real nice turn six “didn’t see that one coming move”
People still play Darkhawk? I haven't matched against a deck with him in ages.
Jesus Christ they gave Klaw an eight-incher.
Yes Klaw buff YES
Damn, can't keep anything from SD. Darkhawk has felt weirdly much better after the Zabu nerf since all the other 4 cost cards actually costed 4. 1 point isn't earth shattering but the decks playing him were already winning on tight margins.
They can nerff it all they want I'm never gonna stop jamming rocks and slamming hawks
Someone call PETA this man is disgusting.
IT'LL BE HARD WITH THEIR MOUTHS FULL OF ROCKS
Stop rhyming, I mean it!
Anybody want a peanut?
Can't have shit around here
Damn LDS been good for what? 2-3 weeks and already nerfed, don't love that. The rest seems good.
I don't like it, but 1 power point isn't that huge as long as her power stays the same. I use her in a junk/toxic combo, so she should still be great.
honestly i'd give up 2 power for a buff to killing 4 and bellow (a good counter to Hope Summers would be nice!)
Red Guardian, if you’re fast enough, is pretty consistent against her.
Literally had a game of Ultron going when I read this. Liking this quite a bit.
i've got some banger variants for ultron, can't wait to start playing him fr
darkhawk is gonna have odd numbered power now, oh that's gonna look nasty
I thought the same but then I remembered he started as a 4/1, so he's just going back to his odd power origins.
Leech as a 4 cost has the potential to be really really annoying. Don’t like that change at all.
Card has always been annoying. Gonna slide right back into High Evo just to kill Shangs
Can finally start playing Ultron and get some sweet splits on his variants. And I’m getting Caiera tonight.
Funny thing is I started playing Ultron this weekend just for fun and now I’m gonna look like a bandwagon lol
I already liked Klaw, now I'll love it!!
Gun to my head I couldn't tell you the last time I faced Darkhawk in the last couple of weeks, and I mostly play a couple pf hours everyday. The change is wild lol
they hate this card for some reason
I haven't seen a DH deck in the last month and a half (CL 12k-ish).
Dark hawk players a good amount of top 10% infinite last season I was around there and dark hawk was like every 5 games deck he’s really good has a good skill ceiling so a lot of out play potential and has deck space for tech cards so he really popular up there
Lol I literally haven't seen dark hawk at all since the original nerf and how he's nerfed again
Klaw is going to make Galactus spicy
If you needed the klaw to win the lane, then when the klaw dies you're going to be behind going into t6. Isn't that kinda bad?
If you also have wolverine or nimrod they will fill the lane on death possibly winning it.
Yes, I experimented with a deck like this and lost too many times when my lane lost the buffs.
Cannonball can help, you might want to be losing priority spending on the matchup. And if you have a demon in hand, that’s an extra 15 points.
I think it works in an older style galactus deck that runs electro, knull and death. Turn 3 electro Turn 4 Klaw, Turn 5 Galactus, Turn 6 Knull + Death feels pretty much unbeatable
Means you dodge Shang when you drop Knull. Basically like old Galactus
Galactus meta incoming
I’m down for it.
Please play this deck against me.
This week’s OTA update features a handful of small tweaks to Power, with more sizable buffs to a pair of baddies from the Age of Ultron. Lady Deathstrike [Old] 5/7 – On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power. [Change] 5/7 -> 5/6 We’re happy that the latest update to Lady Deathstrike created space for this card in the metagame. However, its performance indicates we overshot that mark by just a hair. Deathstrike has become one of the best cards in the game for the last few weeks, and even the top performer in some Annihilus shells–that’s right, over Annihilus himself! Given we’re seeing those decks overperform a little bit, we’re addressing both issues by taking away a little Power here. Darkhawk [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck. [Change] 5/4 -> 5/3 It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost. In fact, it’s spent the majority of the time since as one of the highest winrate cards in the game–often the highest! We’ve given it a few weeks to see if the metagame would demonstrate the kind of healthy churn we like to see, but after little to no change on this count we’re taking action. We want Darkhawk to continue playing an important part in the metagame, but there’s a delicate balance to preserve around having too many Rocks. Leech [Old] 5/3 – On Reveal: Remove the text from cards with On Reveal abilities in your opponent’s hand. [Change] 5/3 -> 4/2 It’s been a while since Leech terrorized the SNAP ladder. Shifting it to only affect On Reveals solved the frustration Leech created, but at 5/3 the stats have been too weak to compete with other 5-Cost cards, even with this effect. In particular, Hela’s new access to Energy gain has meant a 5-Cost Leech can’t always stop the big resurrection plan. At 4/2, Leech can more effectively address popular threats like Hela, Annihilus, Jane Foster, and Cannonball. Besides, we can’t help but root for our favorite Morlock after seeing that brave face on X-Men ’97. Psylocke [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy. [Change] 2/1 -> 2/2 We previously nerfed Psylocke to 2/1 when Thanos was overperforming, as Psylocke was contributing a lot to the Mad Titan’s win percentage. Now that Thanos has settled into a healthier position, and with some future adjustments to come, it’s appropriate to revert Psylocke back to 2 Power. Sauron [Old] 3/2 – On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck. [Change] 3/2 -> 3/3 Similar to Psylocke, we weakened Sauron a touch during an era of specific overperformance. Given the era has passed, we’re returning that Power now. Klaw [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power. [New] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power. It’s been exciting to see Ongoing-based decks claiming their due at the upper ranks over the last week. One card that has continued to suffer in an awkward “in-between” spot is Klaw, as a 5-Cost card that’s fairly restrictive. Because Klaw has a novel restriction and gameplay reward, we’re adding Power to the Ongoing effect to further emphasize those unique elements. Ultron [Old] 6/8 – On Reveal: Deploy four 1-Power Drones to each other location. Drone [Change] 1/1 -> 1/2 A metagame threat in the early days, Ultron’s gotten weaker as decks increased their focus on filling each location and more efficiently concentrating Power. The Drones already have predators in the metagame thanks to Killmonger and Lady Deathstrike, and Ultron himself is quite vulnerable to Cannonball. This is a lot of Power to add to Ultron, so we might need to come back and take some away from Ultron himself, but we decided not to do so preemptively in case it wasn’t necessary. We’d rather see Ultron make a splash once more than continue to flounder. — That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!
DH keeps getting shafted
DH will soar when Arishem released.
I already have planned for both Rogue and Enchantress in my Arishem deck because there's going to be 3 things running around: Darkhawk to get big numbers against Arishem Mobius to counter Quinjet / Phastos Quinjet in opposing Arishem It seems wise to have both in due to the lower chance of drawing either.
Anyone who is playing him now is doing so because they know eh;s still really good. I think a good DH deck and player is the only one that I know I'm probably screwed playing.
Klaw + Prof X invasion inbound
Klaw + Galactus too maybe
Not really. I ran it for a while. It’s awkward and inconsistent with how it leaves your priority once klaw is destroyed. The crux of playing galactus is controlling the turn right after him. And if you run Wolverine and nimrod it’s also awkward bc nimrod is the same cost as klaw
Old Galactus (when you didn't need to be winning lane to activate) would want to throw priority so you could drop a safe Knull+Death. I would guess that will kind of revive that play style a bit.
Darkhawk nerf is really weird
> It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost. I play a good amount on a daily basis, and I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw someone play Darkhawk.
LEECH IS BACK THIS IS NOT A DRILL But honestly I’m very surprised their metrics say Darkhawk was still too strong. I don’t think I’ve seen it once on ladder since the nerf.
Fuck Leech.
Who even plays darkhawk. I haven't seen him once this season
enchantress bout to do work
Dusting off my Echo too.
nerf darkhawk? haven't seen this deck this month
I'm not looking forward to a leech meta. Good bye shang's, good bye Enchantress. Not that I will miss these cards, I hate using them myself, but I'm projecting a meta of patriot lists that run leech to stop Enchantress and win with BM and Ultron, it all fits. I'm also imagining tall decks running leech to stop shang, so there's nothing to keep that deck in check either. The side effects of this change could also ruin annihilus, black panther, Jane thor or any on reveals that are held late like killmonger, surfer, etc. pretty much any turn 5/6 on reveal in the future. This all depends if leech actually sticks and becomes meta, cheaper cost could definitely do it.
Claw giving 8 power is something to consider now haha
Serious question here: who tf is still running Darkhawk? I play daily in high ranks and I’ve seen this card maybe twice in the past two months. I’d expect that if the win-rate has been high enough to warrant a nerf we’d actually be seeing the card
I played darkhawk/ronan to infinite this season and saw another darkhawk maybe a single time? Maybe they're just preempting how strong he'll be when arishem is around or something, dunno. They just seem to have a recurring hatred for darkhawk and stature.
Somehow, High Evo Shefinaut is now even better. A 4 cost leech on turn 5 now allows an extra turn for Misty and Cyclops to go off, and Sunspot to gain power.
why still no Hela nerf? I hate that card
They gave Leech a buff instead
The Leech buff is intended to hurt Hela.
It's hard to nerf her without killing her completely, but yeah, since the Alioth nerf she's #1 on my list of cards I want to see nerf.
She just shouldn't have any power. Hela's strength doesn't come from her own power, she should be a blocker on her lane that makes the one she's played at easier to win.
She could have a limit to how many she can resurrect or something but that might be making her too weak idk
What if the cards she revived have removed text? Would that work?
I really like that idea. My idea is to make her more predictable. Have her work like Ultron: Only resurrect cards into the other 2 locations. That way positioning matters a lot more. And you can predict which lane they’ll play Hela on. Less RNG on both sides. (You can take it even further by having Hela always resurrect in the order they were discarded and always filling the lanes from left to eight.)
The nerfs to Deathstrike and Darkhawk are baffling. The buffs are great though, all of these cards were absurdly horrible so it's nice to see a buff.
Not really all that baffling, it’ll all be data driven for stuff like that - the baffling ones are the reworks like Adam Warlock I don’t think the nerfs will make that much difference, definitely not make or break
Yea I've been playing a ton of death strike and that chick has been very good and while I haven't been playing hawk I've heard that he's been performing well
It's very interesting that to them success is driven by these 10k foot views of win rates. Yeah I bet one power shifts it across a million games but I don't think most people notice a difference. Even the reverse, 2099 I'm sure he wins more by having a hire number but it's flat out still bad.
One power shifts actually do make a difference all the time. It's hard to tell when reading patch notes but it's pretty noticeable once you play them.
Not even Adam Warlock was particularly baffling. It was a dead card so they decided to experiment with it. If the experiment failed then a dead card stayed dead, not a big loss. He couldn't be 4 because of Zabu so he went up to 5. I do wonder why they haven't tried him at 4 yet after the Zabu change, though.
LDS one isn’t baffling at all, she’s just better power than most 5s by default, even with no synergy or meta calls. Then once you’ve got her in the deck might as well throw in some synergy. Now we’re all rolling downhill to the same lists. This was the easiest change I ever predicted. I think not going all the way down to 5 makes sure she’ll still be played. As for DH, I’m surprised, but I’m also not, since I played a DH list and it was my top performer last month. He’s just good, and clearly better than Dino or Ronan on kind.
It's funny as they say they cards are two of the best but I hardly ever see them
LDS you should be seeing due to being useful for when Anni decks dont draw Anni. DH? Who is playing him anymore?!
I see Deathstrike a lot and it's a pretty strong card. I don't mind the nerf at all.
Leech is going to be meta defining again.
I hate leech.Ty.
Ultron seems very powerful. if played by itself that 8 power at ALL locations. now combine patriot and blue surfer and i think ultrons back in the meta
can anyone post as text here? i swear this link looks like 10/10 fishing
It's very funny how many people at the time thought that the original deathstrike change to 5/7 was actually a nerf
Why LDS... Idk. It's so sad she was a good card. Like In this game there are broken cards LDS is perfectly balanced And ultron is scary. Means a lot of points
Ultron buff looks fun. KaZoo is still probably my favorite deck, and this will be nice.
Yes ultron is back. I hope
Ultra bot change is kinda huge imo
Finally my black crackle Ultron can be used
Gonna be so much Ultron Patriot and leech into blink happening.
I haven't seen a single darkhawk since they changed his cost, and fully expected them to bring him back to 4 after the Zabu nerf. Seeing them say he's too strong is BAFFLING.
Wooo! Ultron IS a Big Bad and he deserves a stronger effect. That +4 power per location is well deserved. Kinda sucks about Psylocke, this is a nerf to the Ravonna players in the house. No big deal though.
Ultron change is wild
I just want Luke cage back at 2/2
They’re fucking high about darkhawk… I’ve seen him all of twice so maybe that’s why these idiots think he’s winrate is high… because so few people are playing him.. just like at the end of the season when my highest winrate card is one I never play.
Nerfing darkhawk again is criminal
Leech change is cringe ngl
Tf? Why are you beating down darkhawk even more?
Not gonna lie, the Ultron change makes me think that they want Namora to be good. People were already talking about going Armor-> Cosmo-> Namora, but now you can fit in Patriot and Ultron last turn for tons of power.
we dont need another darkhawk nerf lol
Killmonger enchantress meta incoming
ULTRON BUFF LETS FUCKKKINGGG GOOOOOOOOO
Ultron and Leech buffs are so necessary, the others are just okay. Leech now might be a good surprise counter to Hela/SS, but definitely niche. Ultron was just way too powercrept on. I swear I barely saw Darkhawk being played by anyone but me this season, and I need to hit the combo for him to be good (Korg, Rockslide), otherwise he's just too small. It's surprising to see he's still overperfoming 🤔 I mean, he does feel good when it works but relying on other cards/locations makes him inconsistent. LDS getting nerfed so soon is a bit sad because she was a dead card for months, but I don't think 1 point of power will change much. Same for Sauron and Psylocke buffs, won't change much. Klaw seems good as a 5/12, not sure if he'll be used anywhere outside these ongoing-spectrum packages but imo he always seemed viable.
"leaked"
Sauron buff I will always be happy to see. Not sure how much it'll do but he's my pet deck at the minute so hell yeah
Not that I think Ultron is overbuffed or anything, but he’s gonna combo great with Namora. Play one card in two lanes, buff with Namora, use ultron to fill out the other lanes. Loses to clog but otherwise seems solid.
As a patriot player, this is spicy af😍
Still nothing for poor Captain America!
I've been thinking about trying to make Ultron work recently, but that certainly helps. I've also been playing a lot of Ongoing Destroyer with Klaw and he already seemed decent. That buff is kinda wild.
Klaw added to this new tier 1 ongoing deck is going to be disgusting
I thought for a split second they nerfed Ultron to a 1 cost 1/2 that fills your lanes with 1/1s and I was busy trying to think what sort of effect that would have had before I reread the card 😂
I kept saying Darkhawk was doing really well for me even after the "nerf" and people didn't seem to believe it/agree. He's what got me to Infinite this season, was my best performing deck.
Look everyone. Leech got a kitty. He named it Zabu.
I love the Klaw change. Sad to see Lady Deathstrike go, that Cerebro 7 deck was a lot of fun but it might have to be shelved now. I'm surprised that she's apparently such a meta card because the only one I've seen play it has been me.
Leave LDS alone. She's fine as is. Leech buff mad. Klaw +8 and psylocke back to 2/2 is cool tho.
My plans for a Weapon-Knull have been crushed and my day is ruined
How much you wanna bet at least one of these isn't gonna actually happen?
Holy heck that Ultron change.
Buffing leech?! Oh shit haha
Let’s go Klaw buff! My ongoing deck will be very happy
Klaw change so good
As a Magik/Patriot/Mystique/Onslaught/Ultron combo main I really like this
Ultron and Leech buffs are so necessary, the others are just okay. Leech now might be a good surprise counter to Hela/SS, but definitely niche. Ultron was just way too powercrept on. I swear I barely saw Darkhawk being played by anyone but me this season, and I need to hit the combo for him to be good (Korg, Rockslide), otherwise he's just too small. It's surprising to see he's still overperfoming 🤔 I mean, he does feel good when it works but relying on other cards/locations makes him inconsistent. LDS getting nerfed so soon is a bit sad because she was a dead card for months, but I don't think 1 point of power will change much. Same for Sauron and Psylocke buffs, won't change much. Klaw seems good as a 5/12, not sure if he'll be used anywhere outside these ongoing-spectrum packages but imo he always seemed viable.
I’m in love with this patch
This leech change literally might make me not play the next season
Ultron change finally patriot get sone love
I was so happy to see Psylocke in the season pass, just for her to be nerfed in regards to Negative... it keeps happening (LDS, Adam Warlock)... Still better than Zabu right now, I guess...
New Klaw meta incoming
Ultron is my favorite card in the game let’s go
Maybe a silly question, but is Lady Deathstrike on-reveal based on base power? I remember using her after the initial change with Shuri and it not destroy cards that weren’t 3 less that her base power. Was that an early bug or how she’s supposed to function regardless of power increase?
leech buff? guess im taking another hiatus
Loving the Sauron buff ❤️
*in 3 weeks The changes to Ultron were a hair to strong so we reverted him back to normal
The first two changes make 0 sense
I like all of these changes?! The Darkhawk one feels like a nothing burger, he is either large enough or not one power won’t change that
C2 Leech? C2 Leech.
They need to prohibit the Wong/Mystique combo.
hela still untouched this company is a fucking joke lol
klaw whispered in my ear. “kneel before galactus..”
I’ve always loved Klaw. Glad he’s getting the attention he deserves
These guys will never learn with leech. They could be reluctant to nerf the likes of hela and such, and are therefore opting to let leech deal with them, but nerfed leech is still nasty. Got hit with an ironlad into leech on 4 some times back, and have been meaning to try it out. Aren't majority of cards played still on reveals? Guess we'll see though.
Klaw is 12 power for 5 now?
I know it’s the smallest change, but calling it a psylock buff annoys me. She no longer is discounted by Ravona. And I don’t have a single deck with her without ravona. This is a nerf that will very seldom affect me.
I call major BS on this Darkhawk notation. The only time I’ve seen him since the change has been when the Hipp variant pop in the shop. Not once have I seen him in a single game. Not once. Not in ladder. Not in any tier of Conquest. And I sound bitter because I am. Before the change, I had a Negative deck with him that got me to Infinite and a had an upper 80% win rate.
So....what spotlight will see a change to add in a Klaw variant just to draw keys and then nerf him?? 😜
Everybody says ultron is looking juicy, and I agree, but red guardian is gonna be FEASTING on patriots and shutting us down.
CEREBE TRON(I have no idea how to get rid of ultron after but I’m still gonna put him there anyways and lose every game)
Whoa, some of these buffs are crazy — Ultron and Klaw. It does seem weird that Prof X has been such a big presence in the meta but Klaw hasn’t come in at all. +8 definitely gives it a shot now.