so boring...

[Pandafox]

90% of the players I fight now, always uses the same Stalingrad cards, it is sooooooo boring....

[LepiSale]

Everyone is playing the same Soviet deck now...

[Void]

+

[sushi_komplett]

On some days it seems like there are currently only two soviet decks being played: Tanks and Self-Damage. Tanks are strong, but I think they are fine, since they are the theme of the current expansion. Self-damage on the other hand would also be fine if it wasn't for Stand Together. That card makes the deck ludicrous and is imo the main reason why everybody copies and uses it,

[Lucky_Star_Fan]

yeah, meta gon be stuck fo awhile

[Rabipelado]

the stand together combo is getting out of hand

[puschit]

I'd like to point out that not much changed, card wise, since Blood an Iron was released. Just 4 nerfs and a few buffs, most of them inconsequential. 1-2 months ago everybody was busy complaining about retributions and aggro decks being everywhere, remember?
What I am trying to say isn't even the obvious: That there will always be complaints about the top decks, regardless of what that is. Something else is important here:

If the meta shifts without much input via nerfs, doesn't that mean that the meta is more or less a player's thing and nut much of what the devs release and nerf/buff? See, the russian decks you see now were playable as they are in december as well. And retribution decks were left untouched by the nerfs - neither the outrage generating cards nor any of the actual cards that power that deck have been changed! Same is true for about any other deck with the possible exception for Brit Air which got a key card nerfed, albeit not in a big way.
Yes, there were 3 USSR cards among the ones that got buffs but the buffs are small and neither of those cards were key cards.

So, what I am saying is: russian tank or self-damage was playable as it is now back then when everybody was complaining about retributions and aggro and whatnot. The solution was there but it took 2 months for the meta to shift because everybody is busy whining and nobody es experimenting with decks, just blindly copying whatever the current meta tells them to play - which is a vicious circle of inffectiveness as well as an inbred feedback loop.

It also means, by extension, that most likely the current russian decks played aren't the actual top dogs either and there are other decks sleeping which aren't discovered yet. Or, how I prefer to see it: Actually, at every point in time, dozens of decks are actually playable it's just that players tend to flock to a select few out of laziness, peer pressure and lack of better understanding.
Yet the blame is always and will always be on the devs, regardless of what they do. The few buffs they gave ussr were designed to help out russian decks like tanks because that deck archetype is all about unit battles, doesn't involve the outrage mechanic and definately isn't an aggro-you-die-withing-5-turns-thing but also not a combo/"gimmick" deck - in other words, exactly what the community asked for. Now that some players showed this is playable and everybody flocks to it, now that is boring, too?

Stand Together will probably get a nerf or change but I really despise the newfound hate for ussr tank decks which are, in theory, everything this com asked for.

[sushi_komplett]

Agreed, and you have a point when you say that Blood and Iron is very much what people have been asking for.

What's also somewhat positive about many people playing the same deck is, that it becomes easier to place counters in your own deck(s) as you know what you have to anticipate. Big Tanks and First Responders for example.

On a sidenote - I just got obliterated by a One-Roof combo deck that used a single B5N-Kate (japanese Bomber, 'Deal 1 damage to all enemies when you discard a card') in combination with Defeat in Detail and Admiral Yamamoto to bring my HQ from 16 to zero by discarding like crazy and then making a final attack with a huge 21/20 Kate. That was pretty spectacular,

[puschit]

Yes, as much as I share most people's dislike with the self-kredit-denial mechanic, at least, these decks are constantly evolving and players actually do tinker with it a lot. There are versions with japanese suicide weenies, versions that try to create huge 5th Regiments, discard based versions like you said (with different sub-sets, some are adding US for Supply Chain, some are adding USSR for Lesser of Two Evils), I have even seen versions with france as ally!

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Pandafox:

90% of the players I fight now, always uses the same Stalingrad cards, it is sooooooo boring....

The game is pretty boring at the point at which you realise, that you will be forced to spend money to win with your deck.
At some points its just not about skill and making the right decisions anymore, but who has paid more money for cards.

[sushi_komplett]

Originally posted by Arminius:

Originally posted by Pandafox:

90% of the players I fight now, always uses the same Stalingrad cards, it is sooooooo boring....

The game is pretty boring at the point at which you realise, that you will be forced to spend money to win with your deck.
At some points its just not about skill and making the right decisions anymore, but who has paid more money for cards.

That last statement is simply wrong. There are a number of decks that can be successfully played without the need to have or to craft particularly rare cards. Soviet self-damage / Stand Together is the best example. The average version of that deck has maybe 1-2 elites and 2-3 specials, the rest is all limited and regular cards. The wildcards needed for these cards (in case one doesn't find them in packs) can be coollected without spending any money, simply by gaining xp through playing or by participating in something like the Boot Camp Tournament.

[Fletch67]

Stand together could destroy the unit at the end of the turn and still be a strong card for a 1 cost order

[ccc]

whats this dropping 6 cost cards constantly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?

Nah for real I had this guy on the back foot, down to 8 HQ, he already used up two british add 7hp to HQ. I took out all the tanks he was throwing at me until i ran out of cards.

It was absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, how can i play the same amount of cards, take out more units than him and still end up empty handed.

His shock tank used shock twice somehow, I read the description it says after first attack. He killed a unit of mine and the next round the shock comes back.

The shock unit is stupid we already have ambush? And doesnt that defeat the point of blitz, and it's a bit o.p when you have a tank with blitz and shock...

I don't have any british or german units with shock... wtf is this game man.

[OA7]

I play Soviet only for the effect sounds like that card : aaaaaah aaaaaaah aah lol
Also the Katyusha

[nc-friedrth10]

Originally posted by Pandafox:

90% of the players I fight now, always uses the same Stalingrad cards, it is sooooooo boring....

Unfortunatly........he is right.

I play for my daily victory ( with my russian deck ) and quit.
I do not need such sh.t.
And definetly i will not buy a battle pass or give then any money.

Fix that sh.t and we could see.

[野狗纽基]

Agreed . The devs aren’t great at balance design—they just waste your time by rigging the card draw rates. Every season, they roll out new cards, shove your favorite decks into the reserve pool without care, and throw in more overpowered new cards.