After a small break to accommodate Second Dinner’s in-person meetings, OTA balance changes are back! Two of the most prevalent decks got small nerfs and a new card that landed flat got a buff alongside some lower series high-cost cards and enablers. I'll analyze the changes and give you some ideas for what to expect from the brand new meta game.
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?
A variety of decks with Human Torch have been very strong and Sparky has enabled some massive, single-turn gains. I'm happy for the hit to the Torch decks, but would prefer the hit had been elsewhere, like Torch himself. Still, Sparky can take it. He'd probably be played in most Torch decks even if he didn't grant extra power, just as a way to get an additional move.
Storm is one of my favorite cards in the game, but she's never in the best spot when the primary way she's used is with War Machine and Legion. While this is a small hit to that deck, it's a much bigger hit to Cerebro 2, where Storm has been a menace. Now that she's at 1-Power, we could try out something with Storm and Ravonna to play her alongside something else.
Galacti did land flat, but the handful of believers out there have found some pretty successful and consistent builds. The single extra point isn't huge, but it really could push this card into a much higher meta share.
+7 is huge! Orka is now a 6/18 when he's “on,” which makes it much more appealing to try to build around fulfilling his condition. The best uses for him are going to be ramp decks, Odin-Namora decks, or Galactus decoy decks that can either play the purple villain or Orka depending on the situation.
BEWD: ORKA ENJOYERS RISE!
Odin represents a core part of the game, but power creep and competition overlap has left him behind. I'm not sure the single point will be enough to return him to the meta, but it's a deserved point. If you are hankering for some Odin play, try Namora, who is still underrated, or go with some Ravonna, Sage, Cassandra, Zola madness.
6 Power on a 3-Cost card is massive from a tempo perspective. Any deck that plays multiple 5+ Cost cards should be taking a new look at Wave. I'm not sure ramp decks are in a great position, even with all of these buffs, but it's hard to deny the attraction of building around a 3/6.
They should have just gone ahead and made Emma a 3/6 as well, while they were at it. 3/5 is a premium stat line and I'm glad she got an extra point, but relying on your opponent to be playing something useful that helps you win is a tough space for her design-wise. Her information gathering is similar to Copycat, since she can clue you into what your opponent might be able to do, but she's still strictly worse than Copycat in most decks. The best way to take advantage of Emma is with either Quinjet or Eson. The first potential avenue is a Victoria Hand/Quinjet build. I do expect Emma to be a LTGM staple going forward as those metas tend to be more narrow and inbred leading to more predictable and powerful hits.
Final Rating - 3/4
None of the changes here are especially major, but there's a nice mix of interesting buffs and nerfs to annoyances. I'm looking forward to trying out a bunch of meme-y Orka and White Queen builds, but there's not a ton here that completely transforms the meta. Expect the upcoming format to closely resemble the current one.