I participated in a Soundwave v Blaster tournament at Red Castle Games last Saturday.
The
concept was simple: everyone gets the Soundwave v Blaster product, and
then players randomly determine which deck they use, one
person playing Soundwave's deck the other Blaster's and then in the next
round, you'd switch decks. You play the decks right out of the box, so
it's a level playing field.
If your opponent played the same deck as you did last round, you randomly determine who gets which deck, again. Simple enough right?
I got Blaster's deck the first round, lost and then randomly got Blaster the second round and lost.
Bad beats, right? Nope!
Everyone
who played Blaster lost that day. Not a single game was won by a
player navigating the Blaster deck amounting to a total of 7 game losses. So I don't
feel that bad about losing, since everyone at the event rapidly came to the same
conclusion: the Soundwave deck is clearly overpowered.
Now
according to the internet, Blaster decks, once modified to heavy
orange, have been making the top tables as one of the better aggro decks
in the format. Meanwhile, Soundwave has been languishing competitively, probably in need
of a boost from Siege II cards.
That isn't the point, however. Because WotC blew a huge opportunity here.
Soundwave
is one of the biggest characters in the franchise so it makes sense to
give Soundwave its own deck and matching it up against an iconic nemesis is
perfect-every kid worth their salt knew that Blaster was supposed to
fight Soundwave.
Why does that fight suck so bad? Let's look at the deck lists. The way I see it, there are a three reasons:
First: Card quality. Soundwave gets the very first double black pip card, Intercept Communications, guaranteeing at least two damage every time an attacking character reveals it. Scoundrel's Blaster is a fantastic card and the Blaster deck has no way to fairly deal with it. Every game I played or saw, Scoundrel's Blaster was equipped to an opposing character. In my first game, I cast Vaporize three times to destroy Blasters, only to see them come back within a shuffle, because the green pips allowed my opponent to reduce randomness and re-acquire those cards easily.
There is not a similar effect for the opposing deck-Backup Beam doesn't even come close, given the mechanical themes. The card that should've been in there: Enforcement Batons, or even better, Press the Advantage.
Second: Card draw. Buzzsaw, Ravage, Frenzy, Attack!, Pep Talk and Intercept Communications do not have a comparable cards in Blaster's deck. Yes, Pep Talk is in Blaster's deck-and that's exactly the problem. Blue cards in Blaster's deck do not help, because Soundwave's deck and characters concentrate on pierce damage. In the meantime, Soundwave's pilot gets to draw more cards and recur Scoundrel's Blaster-or any other card they need. Something that might've given Blaster a chance: Point-Defense System.
Third and most importantly: poor focus. Handheld Blaster is awful, because it doesn't have an impact against what the Soundwave deck does and there isn't enough orange in the Blaster deck to make the bold worthwhile, where Blast Shield is great in Soundwave's deck because it effectively nullifies an attack, since the Blaster deck is so scattershot. Look at Obstructive Rhythm providing Tough, a mechanic that doesn't help against pierce at all!
You can see how the first and second points arise because of this, and it makes cards that could've been interesting or created dynamic play decisions, such as Interpret the Airwaves, bad, or Daring Counterattack feel desperate and pointless instead of daring and hopeful.
On the other side, there isn't an orange pip to be found in the Soundwave deck! It knows exactly what it wants to do: create defense and chip away at opponents via pierce damage.
This is a set that should have been a gateway to new players, with opportunities for epic plays, close victories and narrow defeats. Instead that gateway is so skewed that nobody can actually walk through it. You either completely dominate or feel as if nothing you did mattered.
That is poor execution on Wizards' part.
First: Card quality. Soundwave gets the very first double black pip card, Intercept Communications, guaranteeing at least two damage every time an attacking character reveals it. Scoundrel's Blaster is a fantastic card and the Blaster deck has no way to fairly deal with it. Every game I played or saw, Scoundrel's Blaster was equipped to an opposing character. In my first game, I cast Vaporize three times to destroy Blasters, only to see them come back within a shuffle, because the green pips allowed my opponent to reduce randomness and re-acquire those cards easily.
There is not a similar effect for the opposing deck-Backup Beam doesn't even come close, given the mechanical themes. The card that should've been in there: Enforcement Batons, or even better, Press the Advantage.
Second: Card draw. Buzzsaw, Ravage, Frenzy, Attack!, Pep Talk and Intercept Communications do not have a comparable cards in Blaster's deck. Yes, Pep Talk is in Blaster's deck-and that's exactly the problem. Blue cards in Blaster's deck do not help, because Soundwave's deck and characters concentrate on pierce damage. In the meantime, Soundwave's pilot gets to draw more cards and recur Scoundrel's Blaster-or any other card they need. Something that might've given Blaster a chance: Point-Defense System.
Third and most importantly: poor focus. Handheld Blaster is awful, because it doesn't have an impact against what the Soundwave deck does and there isn't enough orange in the Blaster deck to make the bold worthwhile, where Blast Shield is great in Soundwave's deck because it effectively nullifies an attack, since the Blaster deck is so scattershot. Look at Obstructive Rhythm providing Tough, a mechanic that doesn't help against pierce at all!
You can see how the first and second points arise because of this, and it makes cards that could've been interesting or created dynamic play decisions, such as Interpret the Airwaves, bad, or Daring Counterattack feel desperate and pointless instead of daring and hopeful.
On the other side, there isn't an orange pip to be found in the Soundwave deck! It knows exactly what it wants to do: create defense and chip away at opponents via pierce damage.
This is a set that should have been a gateway to new players, with opportunities for epic plays, close victories and narrow defeats. Instead that gateway is so skewed that nobody can actually walk through it. You either completely dominate or feel as if nothing you did mattered.
That is poor execution on Wizards' part.
I hope that gets fixed with the next vs product, because it's a pretty neat idea that bellyflopped on execution.
