Hey runners, I know it’s Friday but this does not mean we’re going back to this as a usual posting time! Normal articles are Monday as usual. Today we have MWL updates so I’m not gonna mess about, here’s Mike and Austin with all the deets…
Putting it at the top because it’s important:
Store Championship season is officially beginning but please note that the Standard MWL 3.1 is not effective until 22 February 2019! This means the first few events will still use the current MWL.
The Most Wanted List is a list of cards subject to deckbuilding restrictions in order to keep the format fun, balanced and interesting. Cards in the MWL’s Removed section cannot be included in your deck at all. Cards in the Restricted section may be used when building a deck, but you may only choose one card from the Restricted list to include. You may have up to a full playset of your chosen restricted card (normally 3x).
This article will list the updates to both the Standard and Eternal MWL. First, you’ll find a brief summary of changes, followed by an explanation of each change. By scrolling to the bottom of the page or clicking the following links, you can find the full Standard 3.1 and Eternal 1.1 lists.
MWL Changes
Standard 3.1
Removed: Jinteki: Potential Unleashed
Restricted: Crowdfunding, Dorm Computer
Effective date: 22 February 2019
Eternal 1.1
Removed:
- Corp: 24/7 News Cycle
- Runner: Aaron Marrón, Temüjin Contract
Unbanned: Museum of History
Effective date: 22 February 2019
Explanation of Standard changes
The first set of NISEI-produced cards, Ashes, is right around the corner. We have worked closely with Development and Design during Ashes playtesting, and given that there will not be another MWL until after the release of this set, we have identified some issues we would like to address before that time. Although we are not yet in a solved meta, we would like to keep the Store Championship season fun and interesting, and as such we have used as light a touch as possible to allow the community to continue to explore the card pool. Our rationale for each decision is below.
Jinteki: Potential Unleashed: While “negative play experience” is a rather vague concept, and some players consider enjoyable what others find oppressive, Potential Unleashed’s “grinder”-style net damage deck, which attempts to mill out the runner, is one few find merit in. It is without a doubt the most restrictive identity in the game with regards to explorable design space: it effectively halves the amount of net damage necessary to win a game, all while hitting the Runner harder than usual early on. This means any cards featuring net damage must tiptoe around Potential Unleashed so as not to allow it to become overwhelmingly oppressive. We would like to include interesting net damage cards in future sets and continue to explore Jinteki as a faction, and unfortunately that means removing this identity.
Dorm Computer: This may seem an odd choice at first glance. Dorm Computer, however, is a card whose design is fundamentally prone to exploitation. It is capable of generating an absurd amount of savings in some matchups and effectively invalidates certain Corp strategies. Dorm Computer is a crucial component of what we believe to be the strongest Runner decks in the post-Ashes meta, drastically improving their winrate across a wide range of matchups.
Crowdfunding: While we consider the existence of viable run-based decks a very positive thing for the game, you can tell that a card is above the curve when it is in every faction (including Apex!) and runners happily spend 9 influence on it. Moreover, its existence is a one-card silver bullet against all asset-based corp decks, reducing variety in the meta. Restricting it will ensure that it still sees play in many decks while reducing its ubiquity, and preventing it from being combined with other powerful economy engines such as Aesop’s Pawnshop.
Standard changes we considered but did not enact
Border Control: Though some consider Border Control to be unfair, it’s one of few reliable win conditions the Corp has in a meta which favours runners. Given that good counterplay to Border Control is being released in Ashes, we decided that action on it at this point would be premature.
Standard MWL 3.1
Effective 22 February 2019.
Changes from Standard MWL 3.0 appear in bold. Removals from the list are denoted via strikethrough.
Corporation
| Removed | Restricted |
|---|---|
| 24/7 News Cycle | Bio-Ethics Association |
| Bryan Stinson | Commercial Bankers Group |
| Cerebral Imaging: Infinite Frontiers | Excalibur |
| Clone Suffrage Movement | Global Food Initiative |
| Friends in High Places | Mother Goddess |
| Hired Help | Mti Mwekundu: Life Improved |
| Jinteki: Potential Unleashed | Mumba Temple |
| Museum of History | Mumbad City Hall |
| Sensie Actors Union | Obokata Protocol |
| Surveyor | |
| Violet Level Clearance | |
| Whampoa Reclamation |
Runner
| Removed | Restricted |
|---|---|
| Aaron Marrón | Aesop’s Pawnshop |
| Bloo Moose | Crowdfunding |
| Faust | Dorm Computer |
| Hyperdriver | Film Critic |
| Mars for Martians | Gang Sign |
| Salvaged Vanadis Armory | Inversificator |
| Şifr | Levy AR Lab Access |
| Tapwrm | Mad Dash |
| Temüjin Contract | Paperclip |
| Watch the World Burn | Rumor Mill |
| Zer0 |
Explanation of Eternal Changes
Aaron Marrón: This card turns Account Siphon from a double-edged sword to a bazooka, allowing Runners to shake off its tags and have no fear of repercussions from the Corp! Criminal has proven itself the best faction in Eternal by a sizeable margin, and we are hoping that removing Aaron will help equalize them with their peers and allow other factions some time in the sun.
24/7 News Cycle: With Aaron leaving, 24/7 has to go as well. Aaron was far and away the best counter to the uninteractive win conditions enabled by this card.
Temüjin Contract: While an undeniably powerful card, much thought went into the decision to remove Temüjin Contract. We ultimately decided in favour of it because Runners are simply far too rich. The existence of Crowdfunding and Desperado, among others, ensures that run-based economy will continue to be extremely powerful in the format.
Museum of History: Finally, the utter non-existence of asset-based decks prompted us to unban Museum of History in an effort to give them a boost. With no shortage of run-based economy and powerful counters to horizontal play readily available, such as Whizzard and Salsette Slums, asset spam is unlikely to become dominant, even with Museum’s powerful recursion.
Eternal changes we considered but did not enact
Several other cards were considered as candidates for this list but ultimately we decided to take no action on them. We are keen on Eternal remaining the “Wild West” and, as with Standard, favour as light a touch as possible.
Eternal MWL 1.1
Effective 22 February 2019.
Changes from Eternal MWL 3.0 appear in bold. Removals from the list are denoted via strikethrough.
| Removed – Corp | Removed – Runner |
|---|---|
| 24/7 News Cycle | Aaron Marrón |
| Friends in High Places | Faust |
| Hired Help | Rumor Mill |
| Salvaged Vanadis Armory | |
| Şifr | |
| Temüjin Contract | |
| Watch the World Burn | |
So What Lies Ahead?
Most Wanted List updates will now begin happening at a regular interval, as promised. Approximately every three months, you’ll get both a Standard and Eternal MWL update from us, even if that update is “no change” – unlikely, but at least you’d know we looked at it and deemed a change unnecessary at that time. We are certainly not opposed to interim or emergency MWL updates if there is a pressing concern that needs addressed immediately.
The next few updates will happen on or around the following dates:
- Q2 2019 MWL: Announced 22 April 2019, Effective 3 May 2019
- Q3 2019 MWL & Rotation: Announced 8 July 2019, Effective 19 July 2019
- Q4 2019 MWL: Announced 23 September 2019, Effective 4 October 2019
- Q1 2020 MWL, Rotation, & System Core 2020: Announced 30 December 2019, Effective 10 January 2020
So there you go! These will go up on nullsignal.games and NRDB fairly quickly, and we’ll work with the jnet people to make that smooth too.
I’ll see you back here on Monday and until then:
