The prisoner’s dilemma is a classic thought experiment where two linked parties must cooperate without communication for furthering their collective interests, while also being given the selfish option of betraying the other for their personal gain. While now viewed through the lens of two caught criminals the origins were much more horrific, expanding the inmates to the scale of countries paints a much more gruesome reality.
American mathematicians Melvin Dresher and Merrill Flood imagined this predicament back in 1950, with the now settled World War II giving way to the Cold War with both the US and Russia taking the selfish option, building and stockpiling bigger and bigger metaphorical sticks should the other side find them weak, opposed to mutually attempting to preserve peace. Within the game, loyalty to the other side is irrational, thus leading the participating parties to simply betray the other, even if mutual cooperation leads to a much better outcome overall.
Author Nigel Howard spring boarded off of this concept and described a theory of metagames in the 1960s, where he frames a problematic situation as a strategic game where the involved parties realize their objectives and the given options towards achieving them, combining the term game with the Greek prefix “meta” meaning “beyond” or “transcending”. He published the initial concepts in an academic journal in 1966, and expanded on it with his book “Paradoxes of Rationality: Theory of Metagames and Political Behavior”, released in 1971. Mr. Howard continued to release further impactful literature such as “Confrontation Analysis: How to Win Operations Other Than War” (Howard, 1999), as well as “The Natural Way With Irritable Bowel Syndrome” (Howard, 1995).
With the rise of the progenitor of card games Magic: The Gathering releasing in August 1993, game designer Richard Garfield described “metagame” as “how a game interacts beyond itself” in a lecture in 2000. He continues on about how while the rules of poker may stay constant, the experience of the game will change based on the context, whether for fun or in a casino.
Expanding the scope to a multiplayer competitive game that has become host to a variety of strategies, it is clear to see the further evolution of the term began referring to the options a player has outside of the game to influence the outcome within the game, such as how to play a specific way, while also gaining the meaning “most effective tactic available”, and while I could find no origin of this acronym, it seems to have been a shoehorned meaning shoved haphazardly into an existing term, though that is what the phrase is most known for now.
Given its evolution, making the distinction between the original meaning as well as bearing the burden of a new definition, the “meta” of any given game has come to represent the most optimal strategies when players have access too in order to claim victory. From which character to pick for a given role in a game, to a specific composition of entities in strategy games, to entire decks and archetypes as they represent in TCGs, the meta is always the strongest of varying options given to players.
The Meta as it applies to UVS
In a game with 123 unique playable characters, each with three symbols to build off of, as well as differing variations within those symbols, UVS presents an astronomical variety of potential decks, and describing a character as “meta” says very little about a card when the term is applied to the vast array of tournament-viable characters this game offers. The meta describes the most effective tactic, and as such who decides how far down the list of top best performers before it is considered not “meta”? It doesn't make it clear cut when trying to figure out what you are expected to prepare against, especially in a game as wide as UVS.
With 25 unique characters making top cuts since set 5 released, over 20% of the roster has proven themselves as top level meta contenders, with the list of characters in contention for top cuts even larger. If you expand onto different symbols, 32 unique character + symbol combinations have top cut, with a vast array of characters missing out on their win-and-ins which would further diversify the variety of top level decks. Of the 12 symbols, only one has failed to make a top cut, being All, furthering the picture of metagame diversity.
UVS uniquely has one of the widest metas of any trading card game, with other games such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Flesh and Blood, and various Magic: The Gathering formats having a range of 8-16 top competitive decks. An additional factor within these games is that matchups can trend towards being more polarizing, with certain Pokemon matchups reaching 70-30 status. Meanwhile UVS has much more even matchups generally, with skill expression being the primary deciding factor between matchups. Obviously poor matchups can exist, such as Eraserhead I versus Nomu, though lopsided matchups such as those are few and far between.
The biggest departure from other TCGs is that matchups are more so swung by tech cards than the actual matchup, with Cooperation Offer being the common silver bullet versus Mirio, while Surprise Interception has become a hot tech recently to combat momentum shenanigans with decks such as Mirio (again), and Rappa. Cheerleader is uniquely positioned as one of the best tech cards in the format right now, being able to flash high impact moves such as Repeated 100% Smash and Back Alley Haymaker. Momentum hate is also at an all time premium due to the powerful effects (not keyword) running around requiring fuel, such as Capture Evil-Doers, Eri, and any Echo attacks that find their way into lists.
With all of this in mind, UVS allows players to take their choice of any number of characters and offers the potential at a deep tournament run. The “meta” within this game has shown to be less about guidelines and more of suggestions, leading many people to take their pet decks to events. However, with the upcoming nationals season upon us, and with worlds invites up for grabs, more and more people will be shifting away from their pet decks in favor of something more proven. With that, the discussion about what makes a good tournament character has come up more and more frequently as players hone in on their nationals deck choices.
What makes a good tournament character
Before we can delve into what sets certain characters apart from others in a tournament setting, let’s define what a good tournament character is first. A good tournament character is a specific character or deck that consistently performs well at large events, usually along three axes, which are Power, Skill investment, and Stability.
Power is the easiest metric, which is simply how strong a deck is. Powerful decks usually have the tools to combat anything that stands in their way while also being incredibly efficient while doing so. Powerful decks make maximum use of every single card, and is usually the biggest deciding factor in what players take to events. No competitive player is bringing a bad deck to an important event, and the simple effectiveness of certain decks allows them to make up for any skill gap on the user's end.
Skill investment equates to how difficult a deck is to pilot. Easier characters make for better tournament decks, as the mental toll of playing for a day is mitigated through requiring fewer complex decisions. This is partially why characters such as Mirio and Nomu have been so successful, as the deck can usually play itself, leading the player to have a smaller mental investment throughout the day, allowing you to continuously play at your best. No one is going to argue that Nomu exerts a greater mental burden then Eraserhead I, and that is why more complex characters are usually piloted by players that are either extremely skilled, such as Kevin Broberg and his Momo I deck, or Jose Norono with his Eraserhead I deck. Players can also specialize in a difficult character, and through repetition are able to play difficult decks for extended periods through practice, such as Carson Panos consistently playing and having results with Todoroki I.
The last metric for what makes a good tournament character is Stability, which is how consistent a deck is. Going back to Mirio and Nomu, they are able to reliably do what they are designed to, which is punch someone to death. Combo decks are the biggest examples of low stability decks, with All Might 1 and 4 exemplifying this, given their complete inability to kill if they cannot find Detroit Smash. This also factors into running decks with poor checks, as with a event having 7 rounds of swiss presenting 21 potential games where bad luck can happen, leading to many powerful characters such as Sero I seeing less play due to requiring 4 copies of Tape Swing, which even with a conservative estimate is likely to affect one to two games throughout a players day. Rappa is an exceptional example of a character able to mitigate bad luck however, given his ability to consistently pass poor checks, letting him play a variety of powerful cards such as Bullet Punches, Charged Shield Breaker, and Gale Force Punch with little to no drawback.
With these factors in mind, it is no wonder why characters such as Mirio and Nomu are common top cut contenders, while characters such as Eraserhead I and Amajiki show up in smaller numbers given their inherent difficulty. Overhaul is another example of being a more difficult character that has shown consistent success given his incredible power and stability. Jiro is an example of a character with a middling difficulty curve, has inherent consistency issues in variations that run Specialized Sound Waves, while having such a high power level to make up for it.
As with the discussion above about meta, characters can present unique challenges as to what strategies are better or worse within a given metagame. For the umpteenth time, Mirio and Nomu stifle decks that want to play big dunks, leading the current meta to be heavily string based, showing it is no wonder why characters such as Jiro, Overhaul, and Rappa are excelling with their ability to consistently string long. Eraserhead I, while I would argue has been the best deck for the last several sets, further constricts how much power you want to put into your character, while generically powerful decks such as All Might III, Deku II, and Mimic show that you can just play something strong in order to take you far.
While I won’t tell you which characters are good or that you should run to nationals, every player should be familiar with these concepts in order to make informed decisions as to what they want to play for the upcoming events, and the reasons why to play a certain character over another.
Best Techs for Nationals
With the previous discussions finished, let’s move onto discussing tech cards, and the best ones for the upcoming nationals season. Tech cards are cards that players include in their decks for specific matchups or interactions that are common within the given meta. Understanding what the meta is allows players to hypothetically prepare for it, though with this game it is difficult to target specific matchups given the wide field, and thus you need to tech for popular cards you are likely to see regardless of character matchup.
With these in mind, the most powerful attacks in the current meta would be Repeated 100% Smash, Rejuvenating Smash, Calorie Counter, Back Alley Haymaker, and Texas Smash, while other notable cards being Capture Evil-Doers, Barrier Shield, Nice Try!, throws generally (which includes Electric Jolt), and Passing The Torch. Characters such as Mirio, Eraserhead I, Jiro, and Rappa all require specific answers as well given their power and available techs against them.
With all of this in mind, we can see that cards that work well against stringing long are at a premium, as well as cards that deny multiple enhances. Momentum hate is an additional factor to consider going into this format, given the multitude of powerful momentum effects present with Capture Evil-Doers, Mirio, and Specialized Sound Waves for Jiro. I mentioned Cheerleader as being a prime tech card currently, being able to deny powerful enhance steps such as Repeated 100% Smash, Back Alley Haymaker, Texas Smash, Maximum Overhaul, the list goes on. The biggest warning about it is that because momentum hate will be prevalent, turning it on will require some moderate input, so be aware of the limitations of your deck.
Cards such as Combat Decisions, Learning The Standards, …So Manly, and Run Away! are also likely to find homes in decks going forward, being able to make stringing much more difficult, or punishing the rival for stringing long. Something to note is that some of these don’t function well against certain characters, with Overhaul and Rappa able to ignore card pool stuffing for the most part, while Jiro is able to take advantage of it by giving her lineup more stats. Learning The Standards is uniquely positioned as the best of these cards as it is able to stop all aggression.
Turn stopping effects such as Barrier Shield, Showdown, Twisty Surroundings, Convenient Timing, and Breaker effects generally are also positioned well in this format due to preventing the rival from stringing out from the get go. I expect Pass Through Walls, Evil Vs Good, and Kirishima’s Assistance to find homes due to its ability to ignore breaker effects while Looking For A Challenger, The Future Is Now!, and Seizing The Advantage allows decks to play through breaker effects easier. I also believe Seizing The Advantage is due for a resurgence for both this ability, as well as anti flip cards being less common, and while Chivalrous Competitor is still omnipresent, Seizing looks to be positioned well in this upcoming format.
Damage reduction generally has lost a lot of oomph as well, given most of the popular characters have ways of increasing the output of their attacks, leading damage reduction to be less effective overall. Cards such as Ruthless Mockery, Creepy Realization, Sense Of Justice and Fat Absorption, while still good, lose a bit of value due to this. However, with damage pumps being so common, resets such as You’re So Obvious, Short Circuit, SPoOoOoOoKY, Desperate Struggle, Broken Psyche, and Facing Danger are also great tech options into a field of damage pumping monsters. Notably Overhaul is immune to all but Desperate Struggle due to pumping damage outside of the enhance step.
Momentum hate is also going to be required, with Surprise Interception being uniquely well positioned against variants of Mirio running Phantom Threat, as well as preventing Rappa from doing bullet punch shenanigans. House Of Cards presents one of the best momentum hate pieces in the format, while Making A Stand, What’s Their Plan?, and Forcing Surrender present other options to stop the rival from taking momentum. I especially want to highlight What's Their Plan?, as it can negate Repeated 100% Smash's Powerful and EX ratings consistently, as the Repeated line is very telegraphed. Attack options such as Bad Guy Round Up, “Borrowed’ Goods, Expert Flurry, and Karate Chop are ways to beat momentum based strategies while providing potential offensive pressure. This does mean that momentum-hate hate also goes up in value, with Suneater Of The Big 3, Cool And Tough, and Hype Man being the primary options. Prehensile Tail is also uniquely positioned as a card that functions both as a momentum payoff and hate piece gives a strong reason to be drawn towards symbols with it.
Powerful actions such as Capture Evil-Doers, Barrier Shield, The Future Is Now!, Seizing The Advantage, and Run Away! are also common, so cards such as Stopping For Breakfast, Showdown, and Concentrate, the latter two being paradoxically actions look to be excellent techs going into this meta.
Stun hate is also something you will want to be packing, with the common It Can’t Be Fixed, Heroic Assistances, and Keeping Eri Safe being fixtures of the format. Board committal is in a tough spot as well due to facing many of these powerful and ubiquitous cards, and is something to keep in mind while building towards this format.
Another staple of the format is consistent draw power in the top decks, with Rejuvenating Smash, Back Alley Haymaker, and Passing the Torch being staples of their respective symbols, while decks such as Nomu have begun running cards such as Big Appetite in a quest for more cards. Cards like Desperate Times, City-Wide Crisis, and Can’t Escape Me being especially potent in this format.
Other notable tech cards that didn’t fit into any category would be Bright Future as anti card pool clog, while also giving a way to play around breaker by playing an attack, into a foundation for the breaker, into another attack and using Bright Future to clear the foundation to draw a card to continue stringing. Battle For The Future is also a great option adjacent to Cheerleader, however the heavier cost makes it a tall ask to consistently use. Locking The Building and Centicoil also present ways to combat the various card pool clearing in the format. Up In Flames specifically targets keyworded foundations such as Nice Try!, Lemillion Of The Big 3, as well as being the anti-tech card option being able to clear cards such as Night Watch, Spooky, …So Manly, City-Wide Crisis, and House Of Cards. Top Pro Heroes also prevents keywords from getting out of hand, being able to remove Punch for Repeated 100% Smash, hitting combo attacks, as well as being a unique answer to Jiro in order to stop her Flash attacks and forcing her to choose between speed and damage for her charge weapon attacks. Finally, Bloodcurdle is poised to make a return to shut off the plethora of powerful character effects that take place on your turn, with Chronostasis Trigger and Somnambulism being other less consistently available options.
Answering Specific Characters
With all of the above options discussed, below are some of the most prevalent characters and specific cards to help ease the matchups with them. Mirio is a strange case of being one of the most powerful decks in the meta, while also being emblematic of everything strong in this format, and this will be drawing the most hate out of any character going into these events. His gameplay loop of drawing and playing a frightening quantity of hard hitting attacks incidentally is hit by some of the most common hate in the format, combined with the expected ubiquity of momentum hate means he will have a tough time within the format. Additionally, he demands specific responses in order to answer, with Evade And Copy, Cooperation Offer, Faith’s Shield, and Wall Cling being great options for answering him defensively. I have even seen players teching Arrogant Smirk to deal with his damage nullification to varying success as an offensive tech against him.
Jiro is another big threat to the upcoming metagame, and is uniquely hard to tech against due to being well positioned against the hate of the current format. Card pool clog does little to her, she can facilitate her gameplay without the powerful actions, while also often running lineups of flash attacks, nullifying traditional interaction against her. You also have to respond in different ways against her variants, with momentum hate being good against the Specialized Sound Waves combo variations while doing nothing against the Staff Strike versions. Check hacks are one of the few ways of interacting with her, making Breaker one of the best ways to try and halt her aggression. Anivoice often functions as an omniblock against her, while Desperate Struggle is the best reset against her, helping prevent you from perishing from an obscenely big Cannon Blast or Home Run Comet, and Run Away! functions in a similar manner. Top Pro Heroes is also a uniquely good answer to her, removing Powerful from Home Run Comet and forcing her to choose which stat they want on her charge and weapon attacks while also letting you interact with her flash attacks. Evil Vs Good is another way to help halt her Specialize Sound Waves gameplan, though does little against Staff Strike variants. Lastly, Villains Defeated helps keep her card pool clear to reduce the stats of her string turns.
Overhaul is another well positioned character, who’s also very difficult to answer. Offensively flash attacks help stifle his builds and enhance for a “free” block, with Red Gauntlet being an awesome tech card, being both a flash and a way to clear his board of face downs. Bursting Muscle Bash also can stop his mid-turn builds while having additional utility against Recovery Girl, and a similar concept can be applied to Hero Killer. Characters such as Toru II and Kurogiri I have also seen a spike in popularity to stop his progressive-ignoring attack.
When trying to figure out what character you want to answer, it is a combination of what decks you expect to run into during your tournament run, as well as what strategies you specifically want to target. A daunting task, though one you should think about while preparing for the upcoming events where everyone will be trying their hardest.
The Final Review
Given the complexity of UVS, as well as the numerous answers present within the game for a variety of situations, figuring out not only what character to play is a difficult ask, excluding any tech choices you may include to prepare yourself for the onslaught of games facing you at the upcoming big events. Hopefully this article helped prepare you for the upcoming events, thank you very much for joining me, and until next time!
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