I’ve had a lot of conversations over the last month about what the Ojiro 2 errata actually means. The popular opinion was “Clearly Tokoyami and Jiro are OP now! Ojiro was the only thing holding them back! They need to hit those decks IMMEDIATELY or we’re all dying Turn 2! Ban Indiscriminate Shock TODAY!”

Then there’s what I call the Nathan Dewalt opinion (disclaimer: not the words of Nate himself), “Who cares? Ojiro? Tanjiro? Idc who it is! Did u hear Momo just got The Future is Now?? Skill meta BABE-EEEE!!”

Or you could subscribe to #ScrubLogic. “Ojiro gone bro! My decks are finally live! We gonna throw Really Big Swords at people, and they not gonna be able to block!”

At the end of the day, all of these opinions have at least some level of validity… except Really Big Sword… but no one I heard from came close to predicting this weekend. With 6 spots in Top 16, there was a far push to Recovery Girl. With the most decks in attendance, can we say we’re in a Recovery Girl format? (at least until Set 5)

Upon closer inspection, The Youthful Heroine was piloted largely by known quantities as far as players go (Broberg, Jakobitz, Tangeman, etc.) Giving a top player the opportunity to make more decisions will usually fall in their favor, so this RC push is probably more evidence of the skill it takes to succeed in a defensive Universus format than a sign of RC’s strength.

So, Fourth Kind then! Right!? He topped at a 40% rate, won the event outright, has the bulk to contend with aggro decks, and huge swings to knock people off the board! Surely, we’re in Fourth Kind format… but wait, the same could have been said for Ochaco II after Orlando.

SO WHO THEN?! Momo? Shiozaki?! Who do I need to rage post about n… I meeean, who should we side for when heading to events? Drum role please…

It’s wiiiiide open! I personally believe the best deck doesn’t exist. The only deck list I believe to be at least 95% optimized, is Nate’s Momo deck. Other than that, we are in a small window of skill. The decks in the format rarely >90% the same like other games. The disparity in decks leaves the best theory crafters and skilled tacticians with dramatically better chances of victory. Run all-out aggro decks at your own risk, because they’re not just gonna wrap up the format like they used to. You’re going to need a plan for Turn 5.

I think that’s a big problem for even lesser aggressive strategies like All Might III, Shigiraki I, and Midoriya III. When you can’t out control your opponent because they can see/ready for cards from more places and touch your Card Pool and Stage with Characters like Hagakure II, it becomes tough to maneuver and play your strings. The format requires flexibility to play optimally today. If your deck focuses on playing a certain string of cards in a certain way, you’re getting countered. Then what?

As the game moves into Set 5 and we eclipse the 850 card mark, players are going to be able to surprise each other with different teched cards, and new strats. The days of the “I played 3 Texas Smash. I win.” are still alive, but quickly leaving the optimal landscape. Get out there and test your strats and until next time, I’ll see you on the tables.