News

Major OTA Changes April 30

The most impactful OTA since the tech-pocalypse just dropped! There are changes to all of the meta tyrants, a few small buffs, and even a change to math itself! I'll walk you through the changes, their implications, and the rationale.

It's a beast of an OTA, but is it a good one?

The Changes

Shou-Lao the Undying: 5/6 ⇨ 5/8 AND +2 ⇨ +3
Star-Lord, Master of the Sun: 5/8 ⇨ 5/7 AND no longer gains Power
Fin Fang Foom: 7/10 ⇨ 7/12 AND gains the Power of ONE front-row enemy card
Multiple cards and Locations changing from “Happen Twice” or “Double” to “Repeat.” (Invisible Woman, Joaquin Torres, Ultron's Mind Stone, Onslaught, Wong, Kamar-Taj , Onslaught's Citadel)
Archangel, Horseman of Death: 2/3 ⇨ 2/4 AND +4 Power ⇨ +5 Power
Maria Hill: 1/2 ⇨ 1/3
Captain Marvel: 4/5 ⇨ 4/6
Martyr: 1/5 ⇨ 1/6
Agony: 1/3 ⇨ 1/2

Shou-Lao

[Old] 5/6 - On Reveal: Give the last character you played +3 Power for each turn you played 2 or more cards.
[New] 5/8 - On Reveal: Give the last character you played +2 Power for each turn you played 2 or more cards.

If Shou-Lao had just released in this state, I feel he still would have made a splash. The decks that rely on Shou-Lao will remain viable, but the days of 30+ Power Scarlet Spiders should be over. I think the actual play patterns of this card are incredibly fun and satisfying with the way they reward card placement and sequencing, but it was just too strong.

Star-Lord, Master of the Sun

[Old] 5/8 - On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy for each turn you've ended with unspent Energy. This gains that much Power.
[New] 5/7 - On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy for each turn you've ended with unspent Energy.

As for a card with a negative play patter, Star-Lord MotS no longer gains Power! How much Power overall does this subtract from the deck? It depends on what type you were playing. For an honest, straightforward High-Evolutionary deck, it probably only represents a loss of 4-6 points or so. However, in the greedy Star-Lord decks that focused on playing Psylocke into Star-Lord into Arnim Zola as fast as possible, with potential follow-ups of Absorbing Man and Grandmaster, this is a loss of more like 12-18 points. Crucially, this loss of Power will make it less able to rely on Juggernaut and Alioth to slam the door since it will have a much harder time maintaining turn priority. This is an enormous nerf to that deck, but I do still feel like Star-Lord is a powerful and viable card. He's far closer to the level of Energy gain that Wiccan provides rather than making 11-Energy combos on the final turn feel elementary to pull off. He's still a High Evo staple.

Fin Fang Foom

[Old] 7/10 - On Reveal: Gain the Power of front-row enemy cards here.
[New] 7/12 On Reveal: Gain the Power of a front-row enemy card here.

The above nerfs hit hard, but this is the hardest of the changes to the big meta tyrants. Fin Fang Foom can still solo a lane against a single large enemy. Man-Spider and others will still have trouble with him. But the number of decks that can play around him, or at least force him into unfavorable 50/50 scenarios is large. I'm not sure Foom's play rate will be able to survive such a harsh change. He is still a premier choice for Hela, one of the potential beneficiaries of this patch, so he's not going to disappear. But he's no longer the de facto big card or the ideal response to opposing big cards that he was.

Changes to Doubling

Multiple cards and Locations changing from “Happen Twice” or “Double” to “Repeat.” Here are the other cards and locations which will have their text adjusted to “Repeat:"

Even if gameplay and balance concerns didn't warrant this (which they absolutely did), I would still love this change. The way doubling worked was weird, unintuitive, and tedious to play with or against. First Steps Invisible Woman is still very strong, but hopefully this reigns in the greediest builds of the deck that just aim to set up a lane of Jocasta, Invisible Woman, and Prodigy in order to create an unstoppable recursive combo on the last turn and gives breathing room to more straightforward and honest End of Turn decks.

Archangel, Horseman of Death

[Old] 2/3 - Objective: Your cards are destroyed 4 times. Resurrect one here with +4 Power.
[New] 2/4 Objective: Your cards are destroyed 4 times. Resurrect one here with +5 Power.

Wow, this is a substantial buff. Having spent a lot of time cooking with this card, it definitely needed help. Now, with the increased Power, it doesn't matter quite as much what you bring back, which makes the card a lot more flexible and playable – especially in classic Destroy lists. I still feel like the card was just on the verge of some really fun and interesting uses if the threshold had been lowered to 3 Destructions, but Second Dinner often opts to raise the floor on underperforming cards as a part of their buffs, without always making the ceiling easier to reach.

Maria Hill

[Old] 1/2 - Add a random 2-Cost card to your hand.
[Change] 1/2 ⇨ 1/3

Victoria Hand and Horseman Gambit are primary beneficiaries of this OTA. I still don't think Maria Hill makes it into those lists, but it does make her a solid replacement for players who may be missing one of the Series 4 or 5 card-generators that usually see play with them. Plus, Maria is just a cool character and fun card, so I'm happy to see her inched upwards.

Captain Marvel

[Old] 4/5 - At the end of the game, move to a location that wins you the game. (If possible)
[Change] 4/5 ⇨ 4/6

If you're new to the game you might be surprised to learn that for about a month back in 2023 Second Dinner accidentally made Captain Marvel one of best cards in the game. Her stat line at the time was 4/5, but there has been so much power creep since then that she hasn't seen much play since being returned to that stat line. Part of the issue is just how much stronger Scarlet Spider, a card she used to outclass, is with Shou-Lao. With so much Power boosting in the game, perhaps there's still a place for buffed Captain Marvels to fly around the board?

Martyr

[Old] 1/5 - At the end of the game, move to a location that LOSES you the game. (If possible)
[Change] 1/5 ⇨ 1/6

Clip Hunters rejoice! But seriously, this is an insane stat line. I know not everyone has been playing as much Martyr as Lauren and I, but there are so many decks that can use Martyr where she practically never moves. I'm surprised her stats warranted this buff and I think she may now take on the mantle of the overbearing 1-drop that Black Cat and Hydra Bob have held in the past. Nightcrawler had just taken hold of my heart as the de facto priority grabbing 1-Cost and I'd been subbing him in for Martyr in a lot of my decks since his buff, but Martyr is likely going back into most of them. The best uses for Martyr are with Techno-Organic Virus and Galactus (for priority and Fastball Special), but she's also spectacular as an enabler for Adam Warlock.

The developers explicitly called out synergy with the upcoming Daredevil Shadowlands card in their patch notes. Martyr seems like a no-brainer for that deck, but I'm less sure Captain Marvel makes it in. And they really need to buff Karen Page to 6-Power to give that card a home when she releases.

Agony

[Old] 1/3 - After you play a card here, merge this into it.
[Change] 1/3 ⇨ 1/2

Agony wasn't seeing play at 1/2, but her uptick in play wasn't all down to her Power buff. Cards like Man-Spider and Maverick love her and they will continue to do so. Deadpool Destroy may cut her in favor of Hulkbuster or Headpool now, though.

You can also watch Lauren and I give our first impression reactions to the OTA!

Final Thoughts

This OTA is a major shakeup that will completely transform the meta. I'm happy to see dramatic change like this, though I am concerned with what other overpowered recent cards may come to fill the void (Gambit, Horseman of Death, Zombie Galacti, etc.). Second Dinner is in an interesting spot here. They need to sell cards, but several of their recent designs have felt overbearing. Next month looks to have a lower Power-level overall, which may feel healthy for the game, but is at odds with excitement and engagement. The best aspect of this OTA is how it attempts to curtail the greediest decks in the game and bring more straightforward play back. Hopefully the reduced reliance on doubling and near-exponential repetition carves out space for mid-range "good cards" decks again. It is critical that that type of gameplay remain viable for the long-term health of the metagame.

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