OTA Review with Decks! | Oct. 15
This week's OTA includes one of the fasted buffs we've ever seen, more small taps to the current meta tyrant, and several buffs for a struggling archetype! I'll go through each change, what it means for the metagame, and give you a few deck ideas to take advantage of the changes!
Special shoutout to notmydance for the OTA images!
The Changes
Zombie Venom: Horde +2 ⇨ Horde +3
Thanos Fractured Frontier: 5/8 ⇨ 5/7
Anti-Polar Magneto: 6/9 ⇨ 6/8
Caliban: -7 ⇨ -6
Karen Page: 4/6 ⇨ 4/5
Colleen Wing: 2/4 ⇨ 2/5
Apocalypse: 6/9 ⇨ 6/10
Swarm: 2/3 ⇨ 1/3
Card by Card Analysis and Decks
Zombie Venom
- [Old] 3/3 - On Reveal: Destroy your first other card here. After one of your other cards is destroyed, Horde +2.
- [Change] Horde +2 ⇨ Horde +3
Wow, this is a quick buff! I feel like I was able to find some success with this card and there are seemingly powerful ways to abuse it, so I'm puzzled why they were so quick on the trigger here. Even moreso, as Zombie Nova has just become available through the Grand Arena LTGM and the cards are likely to be played together. I do not think this card is too weak, but it does have a major issue: the Firehair/Death Fractured Frontier loops you can do often crash the game. I'd rather have seen them focus on that, rather than adding a point to the Horde ability. There is a strong chance this card will be at the center of a powerful meta deck by the end of the month.
Fire, Death, Zombies
Thanos Fractured Frontier
- [Old] 5/8 - Game Start: Your cards have "Quickdraw: Thanos loads an Infinity Shot." On Reveal: Fire all loaded Shots.
- [Change] 5/8 ⇨ 5/7
I was surprised this point didn't come off of Thanos' body in the last OTA. The deck has started to creep back up to it's pre-nerf play rates, so now is a good time to finally take that point. Once again, though, this change won't fundamentally change how this card plays and you can still expect to see this card around for the foreseeable future. However, between this change and the removal of the pre-loaded shot last time, this card can settle into a strong, but hardly unbeatable role as a mid-range enabler.
Anti-Polar Magneto
- [Old] 6/9 - On Reveal: Add a 3 or 4-Cost card from your hand to each other location.
- [Change] 6/9 ⇨ 6/8
This card was just very obviously too strong from the beginning, even if you weren't using it to place hugely impactful cards onto the board. It's like Doctor Doom on steroids. The removal of the point of Power is certainly welcome, but this card remains essentially as powerful as before. Personally, I'm not outraged or annoyed by this card (yet), and he's been a fun inclusion that has allowed less-played 3 and 4-Cost cards to see some play.
Caliban
- [Old] 3/4 - Objective: Have 3 cards that are 4-Cost or more in play > Afflict the highest-Cost enemy card with -7 Power.
- [Change] -7 ⇨ -6
This is a card that is niche enough, and directly tied to the Power-level of Anti-Polar Magneto, that I wasn't happy to see it on the list of nerfs. However, the nerf is so small that it should act as a way to diversify APM's targets rather than kill this card's play rate.
Karen Page
- [Old] 4/6 - On Reveal: Give one of your 1, 2, and 3-Cost characters +2 Power each.
- [Change] 4/6 ⇨ 4/5
This is a card that was certainly underrated until APM shined a spotlight on it. She's even begun to see play outside of those decks thanks to her synergy with Venus tempo decks. Again, this is a cool card and character that had just begun to see play, so I wasn't especially happy to see it hit so soon, but this is also a pretty minor change.
Karen Is Still Pointsy
Karen and Thanos should still be fine in this type of Venus shell, while the Anti-Polar Magneto decks will still be solid as well.
Colleen Wing
- [Old] 2/4 - On Reveal: Discard the card that costs the least from your hand.
- [Change] 2/4 ⇨ 2/5
The Snap.Fan history page for this card is hilarous:
Can they just settle on a stat line for this card? Now, for the very first time, she's a 2/5! The point should help a bit since 2/5 is a pretty solid tempo play. Historically, the best Discard decks have been ones that use Colleen effectively and the balance team certainly seems to believe in her importance.
Swarm
- [Old] 2/3 - When Discarded: Add two copies of this that cost 0 to your hand.
- [Change] 2/3 ⇨ 1/3
Now, this is the real Colleen Wing buff! It might seem a little funny to lower the Cost on a card that often gets Discounted to 0, but there are so many ways in which this will help the consistency of Discard decks, first and foremost with Colleen. This also helps Bullseye decks that low-roll and draw Swarm late and can help make facing a Mobius M. Mobius less of a disaster.
Bee Collector
Swarm going to 1 makes Collector, Morbius, and Grandmaster all much easier to play.
Apocalypse
- [Old] 6/9 - When Discarded: Put this back with +4 Power.
- [Change] 6/9 > 6/10
This is another card with an up and down Snap.Fan history:
Just like Colleen, this card has ping-ponged back and forth on Power, but is now at it's highest Power ever. This is the lynchpin card of some Discard decks and the point should help. I think if they really wanted to help this archetype they'd give him +5 Power when he returns instead, but that may be a bit risky with the other changes and Zombie Black Cat coming up. If Discard still has no role in the metagame after these changes and ZBC's release, expect more buffs.
Dead Weapons
Final Thoughts
While I might not totally agree with the nerfs to cool cards like Caliban and Karen Page, all of the nerfs have one thing in common: they are very small. None of these cards has crosses a line from playable to unplayable and I expect all of them to have a role in the current meta. That's a hallmark of a great set of balance changes. The changes to Discard are unlikely to fully revive this struggling (predictable) archetype, but between these buffs and the upcoming release of Zombie Black Cat, there is finally reason again to hit that Discard filter on your deck-builder.
