The OTA is going live at around 5pm EST on Thursday, but Second Dinner released the patch notes Monday night to give the Golden Gauntlet World Championship participants more time to prepare. One of the more infamous archetypes got a surprise nerf, tech took yet another hit, and some fan-favorite cards got 1-point power buffs. I'll walk you through the changes and how they'll affect the metagame as well as give some ideas on what to experiment with right away. Let's dig in!
Just as Kate Bishop has the arrows in her quiver, Second Dinner has OTA changes as their balance arsenal. I'll give each change a rating from 0 to 4 arrows and a final overall rating as well. Did Second Dinner hit the target with this OTA or did they miss the mark?
- [Old] 3/3 - On Reveal: Add a Rock to each other location, for both players.
- [New] 3/7 - On Reveal: Add a Rock to each other location.
I’m pulled in two directions with this nerf. First, there should be a place in this game for occupying your opponent’s board space. Snap is a game where you battle for points using resources. The primary resource is Energy, but board space is an important, more subtle resource. There should be ways to contest locations other than just with pure numbers and limiting your opponent’s spaces is a way to do that using an integral aspect of the game.
However, the developer’s note about Debrii being a constant ban from all LGTMs resonated with me. I believe there is something unhealthy about this card and its easy ability to shrink board space in such a dramatic fashion. All of that being said, I've played quite a bit of clog in Snap, and most of the time it doesn't even involve Debrii. The archetype can sustain itself on what it has, including its best play, Titania and Green Goblin or Acid Arrow on the same play.
Deafening Chord could also help revitalize White Widow’s play rate. There could be some fun uses for the new Debrii with Mockingbird, Death, Patriot, Zoo, Sersi, and the upcoming Spider-Man Noir. Essentially, this nerf is a net positive for the game, despite the fact that the clog archetype should be able to exist.
- [Old] 4/9 - On Reveal: Repeat the On Reveal abilities of your other cards here, then destroy them.
- [Change] 4/9 > 4/8
The Misery buff in June did feel strange to many, as she was already a part of successful packages, especially those involving the Hood and Victoria Hand. The developer notes do address something that comes up often: the way certain cards perform at the highest levels isn't always reflective of their performance overall. In my personal experience Misery absolutely doesn't need that ninth point.
- [Old] 5/7 - On Reveal: Remove the text from front-row enemy cards here.
- [Change] 5/7 > 5/6
I should have realized the tech nerfs would come for Cosmic Ghost Rider when he'd become a near-default inclusion in so many of my decks over the last couple of weeks. The attack on tech continues, and while we're not in a totally uninteractive meta where big combos scare each other off on turn 6, I do worry we're heading there.
- [Old] 5/8 - You can move this each turn.
- [Change] 5/8 > 5/9
If you're looking to play some Vision this week, his best places lately have been in decks that pull him out of the deck early with Lockjaw or Blink and ramp decks that use his movement to create check-mate scenarios with Sandman. He could also find a place in the War Machine/Legion decks that are running around. Unfortunately, Hydra Stomper/Kraven-style move decks have enough superior tools, like Hellion, for him to break in. I really like Second Dinner’s stated goal of improving and diversifying the 5-Cost slot. I hope they continue to give these kinds of buffs.
- [Old] 2/6 - On Reveal: Discard the lowest-Power card from your hand. Remove that card's Power from this.
- [Change] 2/6 > 2/7
Discard is doing very well, but First Ghost Rider hasn't been a part of it. I love the idea of using this Ghost Rider to discard Iron Man or Gorr and revive them with the other Ghost Rider, but Khonshu does the same thing, but better. Discard is not in a situation where small packages can be fit into other decks, but it would be great for the game if they could somehow engender this.
- [Old] 1/2 - At the end of the game, this jumps from your deck to your lowest-Power location. (that isn't full)
- [Change] 1/2 > 1/3
M’Baku!!! One of the premier meme cards in the game finally gets a buff. Unfortunately, this buff means M’Baku’s best place is going to be in Cerebro 3, which could use the extra tool as it's fallen behind C2. M’Baku is a decent piece for Dazzler Zoo decks as well.
- [Old] 4/7- Activate: Move your other cards here to the right.
- [New] 4/4 - Activate: Your other cards here get +1 Power. Move them to the right.
This change is going to take some time to evaluate. On its face, it feels very much like a side grade or downgrade in several circumstances. If you move 3 cards with 4/4 Fan Fei it's the same raw power as 4/7 Fan Fei. Unless you're multiplying or otherwise leveraging that extra power, it's worse value than prior Fan Fei whenever you're not moving the full complement of cards.
There's only one card that can get extra benefit from that extra power, and that's Human Torch, who is already thriving without Fan Fei’s help. The design goal is to make a move deck that tries to utilize a larger number of move payoffs, instead of focusing on making one or two giant cards, but I don't think this will achieve that, and she's too expensive to find her way into decks with Daken, Sebastian Shaw and similar multipliers.
- [Old] 3/2 - Ongoing: +1 Power for each time one of your cards moved this game.
- [Change] 3/2 > 3/3
Hydra Stomper was already great! It's always interesting when cards that you were already high on get buffs. More people will try them out, counters will come out in greater force, and new innovations will be found. The decks with Batroc and Silk are the ones that work best with Stomper and they got a boost from the addition of Spider-Punk. However, because traditional Move decks are so strong, Mercury is seeing widespread play which will undercut this buff to a degree.
Final Rating - 2/4 Arrows
There's nothing I specifically disagree with or think will be problematic further down the line, but once again there's no exciting build-around. Hopefully at least some people revisit First Ghost Rider, but when he and M’Baku are the most exciting buffs you don't have a particularly exciting set of changes. However, with the Golden Gauntlet right around the corner, I'm sure quite a few participants will be happy with a more muted OTA. I'm curious how many, if any, of these cards will make a splash at the World Championships.
Are you excited to move a bigger Vision around? Watch M’Baku fly into the board like a Luchador? Stomp opponents with Hydra Stomper? Let me know which change you're most excited about and why for a chance to win a Season Pass code! Include your discord name to be eligible, and be sure to check back here to see if you won and join the Snap.Fan discord server!