Welcome back to Meta Monday! It’s been a while since my last direct meta report, but I’m excited to dive back in and share insights that can assist you with deck building and improving your game strategy for more wins. I know you’re eager to get to the essential information, so let’s jump right into the lists that shape the current meta.
Pillar 1: Merlin
The name "Merlin" may not be the best fit for this pillar; it could be better described as "Midrange Madness" or something similar. However, since most players include Merlin, and he is the season pass card, we’ll stick with it for now. Currently, about 25-30% of the meta game consists of decks featuring Merlin. Some might argue that season pass cards are overpowered, and that may be a valid point.
However, I believe that Merlin isn't necessarily overpowered but rather just useful. He adds significant utility to a deck, much like many other cards have in the past. With a cost of 2, he can easily fit into various strategies without causing harm, which increases his overall usage as players explore the best combinations for effective decks. Does this make him overpowered? Maybe.. Putting conspiracy theories aside, let's take a look at some deck lists.
Merlin
This is a straightforward deck that combines tech and interaction with cards like Merlin and Werewolf by Night to secure wins. Cards like Surge and Zabu create a fantastic engine for reducing costs while maximizing power. Werewolf by Night and Merlin offer flexibility in distributing your power, and you also have strong tech cards like Shang-Chi and Enchantress to deal with threats and counter opponents' strategies. While there are some minor differences in card choices, this deck typically boasts a win rate of around 54-55%, which is quite good. However, its cube rate is slightly lower, hovering between 0.15 and 0.25.
This is primarily due to the snapping nature of the deck; you need to snap early to maximize your cube gains, ideally on turn 1 or 2. By turn 3, it's usually too late for most players to be caught off guard. For those who encounter this deck frequently, keep in mind that Loki is not as intimidating as he once was. When evaluating your opponent's plays, pay attention to turn 2. If they drop a Surge or Merlin, and have a good turn 3 follow up they are in a great spot, so any snap after makes it an easy retreat for you.
Merlin Anni
If you take a moment to look closely, you’ll notice that this deck shares about seven cards with the deck mentioned above. However, instead of relying on Galacta and Gwen for power, we are using a combination of Sentry and Annihilus alongside Legion for some location control. The recent buff to Annihilus and Sentry, along with the addition of Merlin, has significantly boosted their presence in the meta. This isn’t the only deck utilizing this combination; there are similar decks as well:
Merlin Anni
Or this
Merlin Hawk
All of which include the combination of Annihilus, Sentry, and Merlin in various other shells. There are countless other builds including these same cards, but it’s hard to get to what actually is optimal versus what people are just messing around with. Currently, the three decks I have shown have around a 0.2 cube rate or higher, with an average win rate of 55%, which isn’t bad at all.
Regardless of how you are using Merlin, he is almost everywhere. Red Guardian is technically a good card to shut him off if you want. Otherwise, he doesn’t have that many counters. Gorgon is a possibility, but with a lot of good 2-cost cards in the game, he is fighting for a very tough spot in most decks.
Pillar 2: Arishem Thanos
I assume that the recent interest in the Golden Gauntlet-winning deck has led many players to experiment with Arishem Thanos. Additionally, Arishem has always had a strong following, and in a meta where there isn't a clear best deck, having extra energy and the potential for unknown strategies can be a powerful combination. However, the statistics for Arishem Thanos, apart from its usage, are quite disappointing. Most decks have a win rate slightly above 50%, and the cube rate for the 34-card Monte version, the most commonly played version, ranges from 0.06 to 0.08. This isn't impressive. While it doesn't necessarily mean the deck is bad, it does indicate that it struggles to gain cubes and achieve wins as easily as other decks.
Regardless, here are some deck lists to consider.
34 Card Monte
A lot has been said about this list in the past, so it’s just here for those who still need to try it. Oh, but for those who are still here I got a PAX code for you - Ion5uj5bgO (REDEEMED).
Arishem
While still including a lot of the same cards, this lowers the number of cards in the deck by removing Agamotto. This has a slightly better win and cube rate, but is a lot less popular. Either way, when playing against Arishem, it’s hard to assume what card they have or won’t have.
Pillar 3
This is an awkward pillar because it could be almost anything. However, because midrange madness is the majority of the meta game, here are 2 lists that do a good job of combating that.
Mercball
I know everyone's current favorite interaction is between Mercury and Cannonball, so I wanted to include it here. Just kidding, I'm sure you don't like it! However, it does a great job of countering midrange decks, which is why it's still relevant. That said, this deck is well-known, resulting in a lower win rate than last week because many players have adapted and know what to expect. Still, using Wiccan and Mercball to gain an advantage over the majority of the field remains a solid strategy. Although the Cube rate has decreased since last week, it continues to be an effective choice overall.
Affliction
Ajax affliction decks are becoming as standard as Discard, Destroy, and Negative nowadays, with there always being room for them somewhere in the meta game. However, in the current meta game, they only make up about 2% of decks. Although this is low, they do a good job against the field because Luke Cage usage is down to about 10%. They also just have bigger 4-cost cards than most midrange decks, and can leverage their three-cost cards to have higher power output than most midrange decks. Diamondback particularly has one of the best cost-to-power ratios in the game, especially in an affliction-type deck.
Pillar 4 - Combo
The last Pillar of this Meta game I’m going to give to the Combo decks like Negative, Move Bounce (not exactly, but kind of), and Discard. While all three decks are known and have been around for a while, they still do a good job of producing high numbers in a unique way to be viable. Mister Negative can go the tallest, but also gets shut down by Mobius a lot more than people would like. Move Bounce is still going strong and flexible enough to dodge tech cards, while Discard just smacks often enough for it to be a viable option. Either way, these have been around for a while, so here are some lists just to give them a shot if you would like.
Mister Negative
Discard
Move Bounce
Cerebro Watch
Normally, this section was in my Good, Bad, Ugly article, but now that Cerebro has gotten a buff and is being seen a lot more, so including it here is worthwhile.
C2
The most popular version of the deck is C2. This version prominently features cards like Storm and Lasher, which can create significant challenges for any opponent. It also effectively incorporates Luke Cage, making it advantageous against any affliction strategies and location variance. However, Nico Minoru may be the standout card in the deck, aside from Cerebro, as she represents a considerable skill gap. Using her correctly can be the key difference between winning and losing. Lasher is another card that often gets overlooked since he is rarely used, despite having the potential to create a massive 16 power swing when fully powered.
In terms of basic math, when facing these decks, it’s quite straightforward. With both Cerebro and Mystique, a full lane can collectively reach 32 power, whereas with just Cerebro, the total is limited to 20. If you can easily calculate multiples of 5 and 8, you’ll be able to anticipate the potential power of these decks. Additionally, some decks may include Blue Marvel, which adds 4 power to each lane; however, accounting for this isn't particularly difficult.
C3
Slightly less popular but still running around is good old C3. With the amount of high-quality 2-cost and 3-cost cards that have 3 power increasing drastically over the last few months, there are many viable options to run with. I like this list because it has Quake which is an underutilized and underrated card. But, there are certainly many others that you could choose from.
Honorable Mention
Scata727
While not particularly meta. At the moment there will be a slight uptick in players using Skaar Thanos in honor of the player Scata727 who unfortunately passed away recently. I played Scata many times on the ladder and he was a great player, was typically in the upper ranks and reached rank 1 at least once. His favorite archetype was Skaar so in his honor many players have either changed their name to include 727, are running a Skaar avatar or playing this deck currently.
Meta Health
Overall, there isn't a single deck that is preventing the metagame from evolving and thriving. While a core selection of cards dominates most of the metagame, many variations use these cards in different ways. For me, that puts the game in a decent spot right now, with plenty of viable strategies to help you climb the ladder or even reach infinite rank. That's all for this week, I'll be back next week with hopefully a more fleshed out meta game or even some crazy mixups. Do you think there is anything that is completely overpowered and should be removed from the metagame?