This week's OTA features a quick buff to try to preserve October's seasonal flavor, a nerf to one of the main meta tyrants, and some small buffs to other recent cards. I'll walk you through all of the changes and give you some ideas for how to build with the newly buffed cards!
Just as Kate Bishop has the arrows in her quiver, Second Dinner has OTA balance 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] 3/2 - After you play a card here, Horde +2.
- [Change] 3/2 > 3/4
I was excited for Zombie Scarlet Witch because she fits into a play style I really enjoy with Kitty Pryde and Hope Summers, which the devs explicitly call out in the notes. I definitely gave Zombie Scarlet Witch a fair shake by trying her in a wide array of decks across several days. She just felt too slow and too weak. The devs call out the possibility that this 2-Point buff might be too big, but, based on my experience with her, I find that unlikely. It will be a lot easier to compete in her lane and she'll be a bit less susceptible to tech now.
- [Old] 5/3 - On Reveal: Horde +1, then this gains Power equal to your Zombie Horde.
- [New] 5/4 - On Reveal: Horde +2, then this gains Power equal to your Zombie Horde.
Zombie Giant-Man landed with an even bigger thud than ZSW and I'm glad to see him get a decent buff. He got one additional point of base Power, but look closely and don't miss the additional Horde point. The additional Horde means he's even better if you can find a way to repeat his ability. I'm not sure if there's a way to use him effectively with Odin, Grandmaster, or Absorbing Man, but I'm going to give it a go! Zola time?!
- [Old] 3/5 - Activate: This turn, your End of Turn abilities happen twice.
- [Change] 3/5 > 3/3
End-of-Turn decks have been a dominant meta force since their release and they've only gotten stronger with new tools. However, this feels like a case of the OTA being locked in early, trailing behind the meta. The proliferation of Supergiant decks (and more importantly a large chunk of the player base’s willingness to play them) has brought End-of-Turn decks in line.
However, a card like Invisible Woman First Steps, that does as much as that card does, should not have a 3/5 stat line, so I still like this change as future-proofing despite it feeling out of step with this week's metagame.
- [Old] 2/2 - On Reveal: Reset all cards here to their original Power.
- [Change] 2/2 > 3/4
Shadow King may have been a bit too strong at 2-Cost, but I don't think he's very playable at 3. In the patch notes, the devs indicated their hope that Shadow King would be played more often for his points than as a part of a powerful 2-Card turn 6 play, but I doubt it. More likely, some players will still try to shoehorn Shadow King into turn 6 strategies before giving up on him.
- [Old] 3/4 - Ongoing: Your Costs can’t be increased. Your opponent’s Costs can’t be reduced.
- [Change] 3/4 > 3/3
While I do think Mobius is too easy to include in any deck (heaven knows I've been running him in almost everything), I don't like the way Mr. Negative holds the entire game hostage at times. I'm wary of this change just because Mr. Negative has become too consistent and is a major part of the issues with Conquest Mode right now.
- [Old] 3/2 - On Reveal: Steal the text from an enemy Ongoing card here.
- [Change] 3/2 > 3/3
I love this change! Rogue is both a great character and a cool card design, and it's important for her to feel playable. Enchantress moving to 5 opens the possibility that players will choose to carry Rogue, but she wasn't going to get much generic meta-penetration at 2-Power. Honestly, it would be totally acceptable to give her 4 Power.
- [Old] 4/6 - On Reveal: Revive one of your discarded or destroyed 3-Cost cards here.
- [Change] 4/6 > 4/7
Firelord is not a terrible card and there are a few cool things he can do that nothing else can. He can target Venom from your destroy pile, for example, and there are plenty of wacky combos you can do with that. However, Firelord is the type of card that will require copious amounts of experimentation and he just hasn't gotten enough play to fully discover his capabilities. The extra point of power should incentivize creative deck builders to tinker with him.
- [Old] 3/3 - Activate: For each unspent Energy, give a card in your hand -1 Cost.
- [Change] 3/3 > 3/4
The dev team notes Warlock was seen as pretty risky in development. While Warlock can enable some mighty final turns, there is one functional quirk that is holding him back. If you play him with She-Hulk she can absorb some of Warlock’s discounts, rendering them moot. I would have rather seen this effect modified than an extra point. Perhaps the strongest Warlock decks out there don't include She-Hulk.
Overall Grade - 3/4 Arrows
The OTA buffed some cards that really needed it, and hit a card that had no business being at that stat line. The only real complaint I would have is that there are none of the exciting big swings with older cards that are often my favorite part of OTAs and there are still some outliers I'd like to see take a small hit like Cerebro, Mr. Negative, and Move. Overall, though, this OTA will be beneficial to deck diversity. I'm especially excited to play more Kitty Pryde/Hope Summers decks, since that's a style I've always enjoyed, so the change to Zombie Scarlet Witch is definitely my favorite change of the bunch. I also look forward to experimenting more with Firelord and Warlock since I only spent minimal time playing with them before.