Welcome back to Meta Monday! As we enter the final week of the season, the meta usually begins to plateau and stabilize. While we have some exciting developments on the horizon, including a new game mode that traditionally results in less focus on the ladder meta, I anticipate that the current decks will remain fairly consistent throughout this last week, leading into the new season.
Pillar One: Control
This deck has been referred to as Zabu Control or simply Control by various sources, but it doesn't strictly fit the definition of a control deck. The concepts are not entirely new; it combines valuable cards with a few tech options for a solid strategy. Juggernaut and Iron Patriot stand out as the real stars of this deck. Juggernaut frequently secures victories in 8 cube games, while Iron Patriot is currently one of the best 2-cost cards available.
Zabu Control
Control 2
Control Wiccan
There are numerous options available, with at least a dozen different builds to choose from based on your gameplay preferences. My favorite is the Mockingbird Sasquatch build, which is also the best deck to use if you want to experiment with the latest version of Adam Warlock.
Pillar Two: Scream
It's disruptive, proactive, and overall quite effective. That's the gist of it. Scream has consistently performed well in the meta, even maintaining its strength despite recent nerfs. The deck even thrives in environments where Luke Cage is prevalent. Many assume that countering it is straightforward, but it's more complex than it appears, particularly due to its tempo dynamics. Once you fall behind, it becomes quite challenging to recover throughout the game.
Scream
Scream 2
Pillar Three: Bullseye/Ongoing
Ongoing strategies have been performing well this season, thanks to Sam Wilson introducing a new and enjoyable tool for the deck. However, they have never been truly dominant until now. The Big Ongoing strategy generates a massive amount of power across multiple lanes and does not depend on a single lane of ongoing cards. This diversity makes it much less vulnerable to Enchantress.
Ongoing
Ongoing 2
Since Bullseye's release, discard has become a major part of the metagame. It's a relatively simple deck to pilot, offering good snap conditions and significant power output, which explains its popularity.
Discard
Discard 2
Pillar Four: Ajax/Surtur
Finally, we have Ajax and Surtur decks for our final pillar. While Luke Cage is still a common choice, Ajax has managed to thrive and may become even more popular with Diamondback's arrival tomorrow.
Ajax 1
Ajax 2
Surtur, on the other hand, is becoming less popular compared to other decks. What was once the most popular and dominant deck is now rare. However, it still delivers a significant impact, and the hybrid deck that combines both Scream and Surtur might be the best deck in the game, even if it is the least popular
Surtur
Scream Surtur
Meta Cards
The number one Meta card is currently Sam Wilson. Currently, he is in almost 30% of the decks running around the format. Sam Wilson is almost a must-include. It's also telling that one of the best decks is Scream and one of the most played cards is Sam Wilson. Scream wants cards to move and Sam naturally will be moving a shield around which causes some nice interplay. Either way, Sam Wilson provides good value for almost any deck making him a great card to include and own.
The next card that is almost a must-have is Iron Patriot. Featured in almost the same percentages of decks as Sam Wilson he is pretty much everywhere. Regardless of the deck, an Iron Patriot on turn 2 especially if you end up winning the lane is a snap condition all by itself. If I was gunning for a Nerf this would be the card that was first on my list.
JFsnap deck of the week
This one is a tough choice because I normally like just picking the number one deck and running with it and while there is debate on what the best deck is this deck has some of the best stats and some of the best disruption combined with power in the game at the moment.
Scream Surtur
Meta Health
I believe that the balance team at Second Dinner has reached a point where the meta is consistently healthy enough that many strategies are viable. However, the heavy usage of the last two season pass cards can be discouraging for many Free-to-Play players, which may lead to some negativity in the community. While the overall meta is balanced, the overreliance on certain cards like Iron Patriot and Sam Wilson limits deck-building options, particularly in the 2-cost slot. This is an area that could benefit from some adjustments. What are your thoughts on the current state of the game and the meta as a whole?