by Last year, we already sensed a shift in the Meta toward heavy attrition play, especially with Asgard’s explosive rise. We also saw the emergence of Apocalypse with an impressive win rate for such a new affiliation. With the significant nerfs to Thanos and Thor 2, along with the crisis rotation, expectations were high for a more balanced Meta between scoring and attrition. But things didn’t quite go as planned…
Disclaimer
Keep in mind that, despite the large number of teams and international players, the WTC remains a unique event with a limited number of games. Since it’s a team tournament, affiliation choices differ from what we typically see in solo events. Take this article with the appropriate perspective.
A one-sided Meta
What shocked everyone this year was the extreme polarization of the Meta. Out of 32 teams:
- 24 Avengers players
- 24 Inhumans players
- 23 Apocalypse players
- 23 Criminal Syndicate players
This kind of concentration hasn’t been seen for quite some time. It clearly highlights a dominant trend, where a handful of affiliations are shaping almost the entire competitive landscape.
The rise of Apocalypse
Apocalypse logically continued its momentum from last year. Capable of applying pressure both in scoring and attrition, it has comfortably cemented its place in the Meta.
The affiliation benefited greatly from the recent buffs to Magik and Gambit, and to a lesser extent Colossus. Built around already solid characters, it now shines even brighter thanks to a high-impact leader and the Horsemen powers that enhance the roster — in particular Pestilence.
On top of that, the multiple rerolls permitted by the affiliation make it extremely resilient. Many players are already calling for a nerf to the Horsemen mechanic — and that’s not even mentioning the tactics cards that can completely turn a game around.
The stability of the Avengers
Once again, the Avengers appeared in large numbers. Sam remains an excellent model and a solid leader, but this year he didn’t particularly stand out. Those who dared to bring the famous Sam Spam list into the current Meta found limited success.
Steve 1 still has the ability to make almost any model stronger through his leadership — a great argument in a team format where each character can only appear once. And of course, some affiliated characters like Dr Voodoo, Hulk, and Shang-Chi continue to dominate the Meta.
The demonic recruit of Criminal Syndicate
This year, we were lucky to see two major entities from the Marvel universe make their debut — two powerful leaders belonging to the “catch-all” category of affiliations, meaning any character in the game can join them. These affiliations also consume a tactics card slot and don’t necessarily shine through their leadership. Their names: Mephisto and Dracula.
While these two affiliations haven’t exactly won players over, their characters certainly have. Mephisto, in particular, stands out for being affiliated with the Criminal Syndicate. We can debate the logic of seeing a “divinity” join a criminal organization, but so be it — Mephisto has brought new tech to Criminal Syndicate.
After the nerf of Thor, the famous 15-threat lineup — MODOK 2, Loki 2, Thor 2 — disappeared, making way for a new 17-threat core featuring Shadowland Daredevil, Mephisto, Loki 2, Mummy, or even Winter Soldier with “Soldat Activated”.
Mephisto’s ability to generate a high volume of attacks makes him an excellent way to capitalize on Shadowland’s leadership. In addition, his ability to redirect attacks opens up a number of interesting mechanics. Given that the card “All According to Plan” has already been under scrutiny for some time, it might be about time for Atomic Mass Games to take a closer look at the issue.
The Inhuman surprise
The Inhumans have always benefited from a strong leadership. On top of that, the buff to Black Bolt a few years ago propelled him to the top of the list of the game’s best threat 5 characters.
However, the affiliation remained difficult to play — mainly due to a lack of mobility and a limited character pool. This year, the Inhumans finally received some reinforcements. And what reinforcements they are!
Two new 3-threat characters joined the ranks, each bringing an incredible toolkit — notably Gorgon, who’s quickly competing for the title of best threat 3 in the game alongside Mummy and Zemo. Maximus also introduces a strong 4-threat support piece with a leadership that complements Black Bolt’s perfectly.
The new Inhumans box also added a set of powerful tactics cards, including “The Great Refuge”, which grants the affiliation much-needed mobility, and “Terrigenesis”, a card already causing quite a stir among players.
The Top 10
As expected, we find the most valuable Horsemen for Apocalypse: Beast, Toad, and Magik. Hulk once again proves his status as the best 6-threat in the game, especially in an Avengers-heavy environment. Voodoo remains at the top of the Meta despite his so-called “nerf” a while ago. Shang-Chi, as reliable as ever, finally reaches the first place tied with Zemo — a position fully justified by his current omnipresence in the game. Yet, the long-awaited nerf still hasn’t arrived. Notably, Gorgon makes a strong entrance straight into eighth place, likely helped by the overrepresentation of his affiliation.
The Great Absentees
Once again, some affiliations were completely missing this year. Unsurprisingly, the Sentinels were ignored once more — though thankfully, a full “rework” of the affiliation is planned alongside new releases. The Black Order was also abandoned this year, likely due to Thanos’s nerf. We had hoped to see some Brotherhood, but unfortunately, the latest releases weren’t enough to make the affiliation competitive again. The Hellfire Club, after suffering a massive nerf this year, wasn’t played at all during the event. Finally, Thralls of Dracula didn’t find any takers — unsurprising, since the affiliation tends to cannibalize all the best characters in the game, which doesn’t fit well in a team-based format.
Conclusion
What’s striking this year is how stagnant the Meta feels. One third of all teams played the same four main affiliations, and 70% ran at least three of them. Of course, this needs to be put into perspective — these affiliations are not only very strong but also don’t compete with each other when it comes to character selection. Still, it’s hard not to see it as a reflection of the current Meta, where everything seems frozen with little room for change. Many players appear to be growing tired of facing the same things over and over, especially since most of the mechanics that make these affiliations strong are quite NPE (negative play experiences). Some players saw the upcoming Web Warriors releases as a way to break out of this vicious cycle, but repeated delays from Atomic Mass Games prevented that. This frustration is compounded by the underwhelming last balance update — whose buffs mostly benefited Apocalypse, ironically.
Still, I remain optimistic — the Ministravaganza is coming soon. We’re all hoping for a fresh balance wave. On top of that, new releases are expected. Most of all, we hope AMG will focus less on re-packaging old models and instead bring more truly new content to the community, which is sorely needed to revitalize the Meta.
Want to know more about the tournament?
Find the full rankings, rosters, and statistics here
What’s Next…
The players once again returned delighted. Whether it was the warm welcome, the volunteers, or the catering, the Copenhagen team really knows what it’s doing. Unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately — next year’s WTC won’t take place in Denmark but in the Netherlands. While that means losing the Danish organizing team’s experience, it also makes the tournament much more accessible for French and Belgian players!
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