Events, News

UniVersus Sept 2021 State of the Game

Spring Cleaning in the Fall

We’ve been hard at work getting ready for all the big things to come, so while it may be a few months later than we’d have liked, we decided it was finally time to sit down and take a good look at where the UniVersus game was set to be with the newest launch of one of our card game products. There’s some changes we’re going to make, so let’s get started.

Card Bans

Andy - Cowbow Bebop DLC

Andy’s burst potential has proven to be more than we expected. He can present an overpowering offense with little drawbacks. Each additional tool we make that uses the mechanic of building to the stage for value will prove to push this character to a stronger position. For this reason, we have decided to ban Andy.

Cassandra - Libra of Souls

Cassandra has easy access to too many cards that have a strong impact on the game. If she instead had to build the assets rather than adding them to stage for free, this character might be a little more fair, but the culmination of everything that she does reaches a critical mass.

Rather than ban all the tools that Cassandra can utilize, we prefer to take action against the character and allow others to maintain their use of the support that exists on symbol.

Lord Raptor 2 - Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers

Lord Raptor 2 has always been strong, but in the recent metagame, it has become clear that the amount of interaction his rival has on his turns is not enough. We like the idea of characters that can take advantage of flash themes, but Lord Raptor pushes that to the limit. In addition to such a dominant offense, he also has a strong defense in Breaker: 2 being added to all of his attacks, which is usually the downside of an offensive 7 Hand Size character.

Kuawabara - Yu Yu Hakusho

Kuwabara has proven to be a negative play experience for many players. While we know there is interaction with this character that can be utilized by many other decks, it remains daunting to sit across from a character that does so much, while also forcing the rival to adjust to him.

Kuwabara was seen as necessary counter in the meta to Lord Raptor 2 as one of the few decks that could keep Raptor in check, but without Lord Raptor 2 in legal play, we have decided to also ban Kuwabara.

Yoshimitsu - Soul Calibur VI

Yoshimitsu has seen an increase in play over the duration of the pandemic, so has become substantially more visible. His rate of generating hand advantage is too fast and too easy, despite the drawback of only drawing 5 cards for the start of his turn. We usually include some sort of limiting event for low hand size characters to add cards with character abilities, but the limiter on Yoshimitsu is not limiting enough.

Protecting the Protector - Libra of Souls

This card was intended to provide protection for your stage in an environment with a high amount of stage disruption or destruction. That said, it has shown to be more powerful than we are comfortable with, to the point where it can render some characters’ abilities irrelevant.

Slay Ride Stowaway - 2020 Holiday Promo

We did not test this card enough. We don’t like to limit creative deckbuilding, but there was not enough exploration of the impact of this card in decks built on symbols that Stowaway does not possess. However, we will be reprinting this card after an adjustment to it and will offer those who already have copies with the to trade out their copies with the MRP (most recent printing) once those are ready.

Card Errata

Noob Saibot - Mortal Kombat Trilogy DLC

Noob Saibot Response [Card pool] Flip: After an attack is played, it gets +X or -X damage. X equals its printed damage.

Sense of Morals - Mortal Kombat X

Enhance [Once per turn] (4+): Ready 1 of your foundations that has been committed due to your opponent’s effect this turn. Playable while committed.

What's Next?

We have our eye on some more cards we think might be a problem, but we have decided to take some time to experience the first big event with this new format. Since the competetive scene won’t be ramping up until next year, we want to see how things adjust with the new set added to the Standard format.

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Timothy Friedlieb

An avid gamer for 20+ years, Timothy has played numerous card and miniatures games competetively. He now works for Jasco Games as Logistics Manager.