Since the spoiler's out, I wanted to talk about what we might see in Atlanta. I don't want to see any cards mentioned here, but about teams and strategies that might work in ATL.

In Indianapolis, we saw about 80% or so of the same decks. My team tried a stall, that didn't quite make it. There were a few Anti-monitor decks and a few supes/new gods decks. But mostly the same. What will we see in Atlanta?

I think the dominant decks right now are squadron and faces of evil. The Avengers reservists really doesn't seem to be able to compete with these and Kang definitely can't. I've tried other team ups and none seem to be able to hang in there well. Will the new set give us anything that can compete. X-men swarm seems like a possibility, but I don't quite see enough there. X-men/Squadron swarm? Maybe. What do you guys see?

stopping the rush is the main thing,

I've done some proxy testing with x-men, and they can hold their own with curve, unfortuanately, most of their anit-rush is from MOR and MSM. if some can find a way to slow things down, it should be a winner.

Faces of Evil, Squad, Avengers Res, Avengers Team will all show up in healthy numbers.

I think we'll see enough Kang, but I don't know how far it will get. I think we'll see even less Thunderbolts, but it WILL exist, as they're pretty huge.

I think Morlocks "hurt myself with evasion and concealed" tactic will end up making them not viable. The same goes for Hellfire, although I feel like it MIGHT have enough control to stay alive.

X-Men curve seems alright, but it doesn't have a game against the rush decks, especially since their previous low-guy-killer can't hit chars during their init.

BHood might have some interesting themes, but I don't know how well they'll translate to quality.

Personally, I'm planning on playing Kangtrol in the new environment. Mind you, I'm not going to PCAtl, so that's just local tournies, but I'm still running it, damn it!

Avengers team is my next test deck. I've tested everything else against squadron and faces. I think we'll see reservists, but I don't think they can hold off the rush, even with Hawkeye.

You're right about most of the new stuff, but some testing with combining the 2 sets will be needed. And Kangtrol sucks. Give it up. :)

one thing that might be the saving grace is the the mental mutant trait's plethero of negation cards.

If we can negate rush's pumps, it will hamper their ability to attack up the curve, and will at least slow the game and prolong it long enough to reach turns after 5.

Here's what I see:

Avengers/Brotherhood - They both have a reservist theme ... I could see someone trying a team up to see if that gives them more power

Morlocks - They have a rush strategy of their own ... with the 'cannot be reinforced' guys ... they could find their way into a team-up with the Masters of Evil what with the resource spending

X-Men - Massive recovery tricks would be what helps them, they'll be able to avoid getting their board wiped off iniative by the rush decks in order to have quite a set of bodies on their own initiative.

I don't understand. 98% of every faces of evil deck that I have seen has had Dr. Light in it somewhere for his ability to bring cards back. ATL is modern marvel so if he is some sort of main theme then I don't see that deck doing as well. Now if there is some other build that is modern marvel then I haven't seen it yet.

I don't see Squadron being the pest that they have been because they are about to lose a mojority of the rush with Mega Blast, Flying Kick and Surprise Attack going away.

Kang is most definitely a solid team in this format as you can maintain a board presence with your hidden Kangs while swinging back just as free after having received your opponents damage and this fact along with NO Dr. Light can really hinder your opponents field.

Avengers Reservist is still a strong deck to come across and who knows what this next set really has. I mean if the spoiler has been released in its' entirety then can someone please pm me where to go see it because I am very curious. Don't get me wrong are two weeks away from the sneak peek so I can wait if I have to but if I could see some of the teams that would be great also.

In any case these are just my opinions of the current meta going into Modern Marvel, but I really do hope that this next set has plenty of Anti-Rush Tech in it because the game gets a little boring when you know that 85% of the field is rush and there is nothing that you can really do about it other than run a rush deck yourself and in that case watch it comedown to who hit the cards and who missed.

Faces from what I saw will basically be the same. The only changes I made to the current builds was 7 cards really. I didn't like how it ran though, just didn't have the kick that I thought it would.

Avenger/Brotherhood Reservist: This thing is just completely awesome. It's more consistant then you'd realize and the attack power is just insane. Of course Prismatic Shield becomes a nightmare to play against, but that's why God made Null Time Zone.

That's pretty much as far as I got. I can see Squad being viable, but I don't see it putting up against the pressure of Avenger/BH reservist all that well. X-Men just doesn't have enough going for it in the MMA meta IMO. Morlockswould be my next choice if I decided to go with a mono-team build, mainly due to the Evasion tricks that it proposes.

Overall I expect it to be a very healthy meta in comparison to DC Modern (which I guess isn't that hard to come by) and could definitely be more competitive than the first MMA, so that would make it the best Modern Age format yet.

The Brother hood/Avengers thing is just kinda Sick really, I think that Solo B-hood Reservist might accually be stronger than Avengers, cause with Reservist you cant Team up, not to mention you can just splash the guys you want want very few of the reservist effects are team stamped.

I still Dont like Kangs Chances however cause without Cover Fire or a suitable replacement they cant put up the defense needed to hold off some decks They really needed a Visable 2 drop but they didnt get it.

Brotherhood Reservist with Wonder Man... that's kool.

Its scary is what it is, some of those B-hood cards border of broke and are commons... fear them in draft, fear them.

it wont be FOE or SqS that makes people play Prismatic shield it will be B-hood. Dont even get me started on thier Team up with SqS for other Earth.... some things just arnt cool.

i'm just trying not to scare people :).... like you do LOL

squadron will not lose there power, they could just add in more airskimmer, inertia, null time zone, aida, no man escapes the manhunter, trial by fire, i hate magic, and crime and punishment, there no where near dead, but thats just as long as they have pancea potion, take that away, then maybe...my two cents

I may need to look at the spoiler (umm, for the first time only), but energy seems like it has plenty of tap-down style effects which could be usable in a team-up of "energy/Kang" for a good Kangtrol deck that could deal with early game threats.

i don't know since when the Marvel Logo has become blue ...:) No Man, Trial and Hate Magic are from DC, but even if they were Marvel the only one tha would be good would be No Man, cause it can be played at anytime unlike the others.