The metagame has settled down a little bit from the most recent OTA so it’s about time we take a look at where the dust has landed on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
The Good
Klaw has been outshined by the other Ongoing cards that add power to other lanes (mainly Ms. Marvel) for quite a while. Coming in at 5-cost and only providing a total of 10 power between 6 in one lane and 4 in another was not cutting it. Even in a heavy metagame full of Professor X, where players would most like extra power in a locked-down lane, Klaw was not seeing much play. Furthermore, Ongoing strategies were starting to rise, but he still had very low usage and win rate stats at upper levels. So now, with this buff of adding an extra 2 power, has he seen more play? Very much so. Currently, he has a usage ranking of 136, and his win rate when drawn and played jumped about 30 rankings each since the OTA. The best part about this is that Klaw is Series 1, meaning it was a good buff to a card that everyone playing Marvel Snap can access. Across the board: a good change.
This is the nerf I like the most because it feels like a proper rebalancing instead of killing the card or sacrificing it for the sins of other cards. Removing 1 power from Lady Deathstrike helps rein in the card’s potential power output without attacking the card’s main functionality. Now, did this nerf change that much about Deathstrike’s position in the game? Not really, and that is another bonus. Balance in a game shouldn’t make cards immediately unplayable. Instead, it should make them more reasonable to play. Lady Deathstrike is still in the same position she was in before the OTA. Did her win rate take a hit? Slightly, but it didn’t fall far: maybe a percentage point, which is nothing ridiculous. It's just a good balance change.
This might be the biggest change of the OTA. Ultron has taken a huge upswing in every metric: popularity, win rate, play rate, you name it. At face value, this was an incredibly sizable buff. Ultron went from a possible 6-cost 16 power card to a 6-cost 24 power card. That is massive! Realistically, you probably won't get those numbers exactly when playing Ultron— but he’ll still produce a ton of stats… so much so that it is now possible to win lanes otherwise lost by adding an extra 2-4 power in them, just by himself. Just take a moment and look at the difference in metrics for Ultron pre-OTA and post-OTA.
Ultron hadn’t seen a lot of play before, but now he is seeing a massive amount. He jumped from rank 171 for Won-in-Deck up to 23 and is now #2 for Won When Played. That is a massive swing for Ultron. Did they overshoot the mark here? It’s possible. However, I like the idea of decks being reintroduced back into the format, and previously, I hadn’t seen an actual Patriot deck in a long time. As a good finisher for Patriot, and in tandem with other tools to help increase its power output, Ultron has shifted the meta, forcing people to adapt to a new Age of Ultron.
Here is currently Ultron’s best-performing deck:
Age of Ultron
Ah, the epitome of 3x value himself. Honestly, this is the most surprising change out of the OTA, and the developers knew it would be, too. The data on Darkhawk indicates that he is doing okay— nothing too crazy that would warrant a nerf. However, our community sites don't have complete data, and we may be missing something. I have been playing with Darkhawk decks to great success these last few seasons, so I can see where the problem might be. I also have a sneaking suspicion that, at lower ranks and collection levels, Darkhawk was particularly troublesome. However, even considering these factors, this one caught people off guard. Here is a question and answer from the official Discord:
This question talks about the popularity or play rate of the card, which was incredibly low, which made the nerf even more confusing for people. This is magnified when cards like Professor X or Hela have way higher play rates and (ostensibly) far more perceived frustration than Darkhawk. However, there is a reason he got adjusted. Check out his Win-when-played and Win-when-Drawn stats both before and after the OTA-
He is in the top 25 across the board on everything except popularity. So a 1 power nerf? Seems pretty reasonable to me. If anything, the nerf seems to have made him even more popular. I still like Darkhawk, and I think he is still good to play now— his power will always be an odd number now.
The Bad
My girl Psylocke has been through a couple of changes in the past several months, and now she is back to her originally buffed state. While it is great that she is now back to 2 power, this is in the Bad category because it's a bit of a waste of an OTA slot. A couple of months ago when they nerfed her as part of the incredibly slow Thanos nerf, I said that she would probably be reverted once they figured out the Thanos problem, which is exactly what they did.
“We previously nerfed Psylocke to 2/1 when Thanos was overperforming, as Psylocke contributed 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.”
They could have used the slot in the OTA to change something else rather than using two changes as a stop-gap that cycles Psylocke back to where she was, with little meaningful improvement after either change.
The Ugly
This is probably a larger discussion with many people on both sides, but the buff to Leech definitely feels very Ugly for the game. Is it warranted? I’m not sure. His stats have not been great, so a buff makes sense from a statistical standpoint. But this is another instance of an effect that doesn’t let your opponent play the game of Marvel Snap— and making that effect easier to pull off has been predictably frustrating. Even the developers acknowledged that his effect is frustrating! However, they want to add an easier counter to decks like Hela, which, on paper, makes a lot of sense. Hela is a 6-cost card reliant on her On-Reveal going off at the end of the game, which Leech naturally targets; just 6 power on turn 6 is rarely going to be game-winning. But, while Leech is decent against Hela, he also hits far more cards than just the Goddess of Death. Players have taken this Leech buff and run with it, with Leech jumping almost 3 percent in popularity and over a hundred ranks in other metrics.
Does this mean the buff was good? Well, it was good for Leech! But it’s also increased frustration and all-around feels-bad moments. Just messing around with Leech and Blink (a natural synergy) it took me one game to play Leech on turn 4 followed by Blink into a Doctor Doom— and one game for my opponent to retreat immediately. I could feel the frustration through the screen. Now, that’s anecdotal. But is that enough for this to be an ugly change? To me, and a seemingly large group of similarly frustrated players: yes.
The Irrelevant
I haven't used this section in a while, but it makes sense for Sauron. His stats have stayed the same, and he’s even gone down slightly in popularity since the OTA. The buff to 3 power doesn’t do much for him or decks that use him, making this a sadly irrelevant buff. It probably does move him in the right direction towards balance, but it's quite possible he could use another point of power to make him a decent option in modern metagames. There are just too many more reasonable options for power in current lists, and they haven't released a card with a negative Ongoing in a while that people would want to pair with Sauron.
Cerebro Watch
This OTA gave us some things to add to a good old Cerebro 2 deck!
LeechBro
Now, there are many options to choose from for C2, but the addition of Leech and Psylocke gives you options to nullify important On-Reveals and manipulate your Energy curve. You can help ramp out some cards and have more flexibility to play more 2 power cards later in the game without needing to rely on Magik and risking a location change on turn 6. Leech also allows you to take care of possible Red Guardians and Enchantresses that your opponent is holding to snipe Cerebro. I have had a lot of fun with the list above, changing out cards for the likes of White Widow, Elektra, and Echo. Give it a shot, and let me know what you think!
Conclusion
Frustrations with Leech aside, the general consensus on this OTA seems pretty decent. However, I think the confusing Darkhawk nerf and the buff to Leech might leave a sour taste in the mouths of many players. This is compounded by growing unrest regarding cards like Hela and Professor X. This is only one post by a content creator, but I think it strikes a chord that many players resonate with.
One of these cards is getting nerfed on Thursday and I get mad every time I think about which one. pic.twitter.com/IRQa9CoecN
— Jeff Hoogland (@JeffHoogland) May 8, 2024
What are your thoughts on the recent OTA, though? Let me know in the comments.