The first breakdown is about the types of teams that were played (just as a concept). We have Aggro, Control, Juston Seyfert, Swarm, Team Base, and Tentpole. Aggro is different than Swarm. You can play an Aggro team and only have 2 or 3 figures, whereas Swarm is usually 5 or more figures on the board. Control takes many forms, from Undying (Deadman/Resurrection Man) and Unhittable (Defend teams, Mystique or Koriand’r teams), to Denial/Prevention and Lockdown (usually Orange/Green Power Battery coupled with a piece like Nick Fury or Greed/Omega Drive), to Board Control (Fantomex). Juston Seyfert is in a category on its own as he functions as both an Aggro and Tentpole (just depends on his Sentinel). Team Base-type of teams are going to be Team Base or Quinjet. These could technically be Tentpole teams, but these teams can pump out more characters on the board and function almost as a Swarm team, but it’s not necessary to do so. Lastly, Tentpole teams are your most common type of team. I will normally categorize it under Tentpole if a figure costs 150pts or more since it is half of your team’s point total. These can function as Aggro (Mary Marvel) or Control (KC Green Lantern). It just depends on how they build it.
As you can see, Control and Tentpole were the most played. With Green Power Battery, Orange Power Battery, Indigo Power Battery still in the format, it is easy to build a Control team. With Mystique, Red Hood ATA, and Nighthawk Prime added in the mix, it is hard not to go this route. Point-Denial is a real thing, and Mystique and Deadman teams as well as One-Man Army tentpole teams will be the weapon of choice for most. Most, if not all, of the Tentpole teams were Control teams, with Dormammu and TW being Point-Denial teams. Kyle Rayner was the most popular, as he is a proven Tentpole. Once the rotation hits, I suspect that we will see more Aggro and Swarm teams in the format.
I grouped together all of the Ultron Drones as all of them function the same: be able to ID Card in higher point figures. Most of this amount is from the Ultron Drone Swarm team, but a lot of players opted to go this utility route with the various ID Cards at their disposal. I’m surprised we didn’t see more Retaliation Colossals, but 7 is a good start, as more and more players will see just how powerful these Colossals are (for their point value, of course). Mystique, Kyle Rayner, and Nighthawk Prime were the most popular pieces, and I think we will see an uptick in Nighthawk Prime in the future. Also, in the support side of things, Atomica is still the best option for PC, and Juston Seyfert, and new arrival Baxter Stockman have taken their place in the format with the different Robots they can play with. One thing to note, however, is the low number of Nick Fury on teams. This is because of the SHIELD Level 7 ID Card. As you will see below, there is an overwhelming number of players playing that card because you can call in Nick Fury instead of playing him. Time will tell if this trend continues. The metagame is diverse, as is expected, with a HUGE amount of game elements players can choose from at the moment.
On the Resource/Entity side of things, we see that it’s more of the same as before. Orange and Green Power Batteries lead the way, with a surprising Yellow Battery up there as well (with the new ruling on Pulse Wave not affecting the Ring). Indigo, Red, and White are represented as well. It’s nice to see that the Power Plant is not forgotten, and two new additions, Pandora’s Box and Quinjet staking a claim in the metagame. These will surely no doubt be the staples in the new format.
On the entities side we have the big 3, Ophidian, Ion, and Parallax (to nobody’s surprise) leading the way. Black Hand is seeing more play because it helps give pieces Running Shot that need it. Eclipso is a new piece, and is a great entity, pre-rotation or post-rotation. We see a down-tick in Adara. Since the ruling that entities cannot be equipped to Tiny-size characters, the once-famous Adara/Defend teams (with Atomica or Despotellis) are now extinct, hence the low turnout.
The newer game element, the ID Cards, have not really been explored to its full potential until now. Players have had plenty of time to try them out, and we also have DC ID Cards added to the fold. As everyone expected, SHIELD Level 7 ID Card is the most played ID Card due to the fact that you can call in Nick Fury. However, it is the most diverse ID Card as you can call in other SHIELD characters like the always scary Peggy Carter. The rest of the cards are pretty diverse, with Batman leading the way. Being able to have access to TW Batman is too good to pass up. I expect The Atom ID Card to be played more in subsequent tournaments as well as Nova.
Lastly, we look at Themed Teams. This is slowly going the way of the dinosaur, with WK stating that they will no longer be doing Print N’ Play elements, such as ATAs. The main thing about Themed Teams, other than Map Roll Bonus, is that you have access to some powerful ATAs. Since we won’t see anymore any time soon, I think that we will see less and less Themed Teams (unless you really need that Map!).
