It's been a long time coming, but a full Kang rework is finally here! While Kang’s initial design was a play on his ability to manipulate time, the new design leans into his array of multiversal variants. I'll go through how the new Kang works, what to play him with, and give you some deck ideas. Will the last of the original three “Big Bads” finally have his time to shine or will his rework prove to be a waste of time?
OLD: 5/0 - On Reveal: Look at what your opponent did, then restart the turn. (without this)
NEW: 3/4 - Game Start: Replace this with 4 Kangs with text from random cards that Cost 3 or more.
How exactly does this work?
You'll get four 3/4 Kangs put into your deck, each with random text from any 3+ cost card. For example, you might get a 3/4 Iron Man, a 3/4 Gladiator, a 3/4 Hela, and a 3/4 Beta Ray Bill shuffled into your deck. These will count as Created cards just like Thanos’ Infinity Stones or Arishem-generated cards. Tokens and skills are excluded from the possible hits. Thankfully, he lacks direct synergy with current powerhouse Victoria Hand since the cards aren't created in your hand. One of the coolest aspects of the rework is that he creates random variants and splits of himself, whether you own them or not! Not only is it cool, it will help you keep them straight in your hand! Awesome implementation and visuals!
Best Hits
I went through every 3+ card in the game and decided if they were awful, neutral, good, or great Kang hits. Out of the 234 cards I rated, just 80 or so were good or great. In particular, there are a lot of 3-Cost cards in the game and very few of them would be exciting Kang pulls. There were plenty of fine cards to hit at 4, but few really stellar hits there either. Drawing one of your Kangs and being excited about it around a third of the time doesn't bode well for this card.
Here are some of the cards whose text I think you'll be most excited to see on a Kang. These are the dream hits.
Synergies
Quinjet is the star here. 2/4s that have a random ability are a lot better than 3/4s! I'm not sure if the random nature and deck dilution of Kang actually helps Silver Surfer, but it's going to be one of the main places people start with Kand and there will definitely be some fun-as-hell power spikes. I think Moonstone is intriguing given the preponderance of good Kang hits that have Ongoing. I also think Kang might be a great Iron Patriot follow-up or Wiccan lead-in. Eitri can give you an extra card draw every turn.
Predators
I think Kang's biggest downside is how he makes your draws more inconsistent and we already have a lot of cards that can punish larger deck sizes on top of that. Gorgon will be a real bummer for Kang fans and I expect him to be out in force in Kang's first few days in his new form.
ScoSco’s Kang Decks
Kango
Kang Can
Cope4
Surfer on Sale
King Kang
Force the Hand
Elsewhere in the Patch
The rest of the Patch contained the usual fixes and small upgrades. However, there was one additional exciting aspect to the patch. You can now buy all borders with Tokens! Finally a meaningful Token sink and realistic way to match special borders! If you were a fan of paying Gold for borders, don't worry. The exchange rate between Gold/Tokens means these are the same price in Gold if you want to convert Gold to Tokens. The only difference is increased flexibility for which currency you can use to get them. Plus, there are some additional returning player mechanisms that we'll get into in detail in future articles! Be sure to check out all the datamines here!
Seeing the Future
Kang carries a lot of Snap equity and will lead to some chaotic games and sweet clips. I'm most looking forward to playing him with Quinjet and other card generators and ways to get more discounts. There's a good chance of a decent Kang/Quinjet deck emerging, but I don't see the new Kang becoming a meta tyrant. His variance, draw unreliability and mediocre possible hits all hold him back.
There are more cards that dilute Kang's pool on the horizon than ones that enhance it, so I'm not sure the situation will improve naturally if Kang has a slow start. There are plenty of dials if Kang needs a buff or a nerf. They could put him to 3/5 or narrow his pool to 4+ if he falls flat. That being said, it's about time Kang got a rework and I'm happy to see his old animation in the rear-view. It was too long and often buggy. Head to the comments and let me know what you think of Kang's new form!