Addressing the power level of Japan

[mossy juniper]

As we all know Japan has been the favorite child of 1939 for some time. Jaggro has consistently been a viable deck longer than any other archetype (except maybe Russian control), and as of the past 3-4 updates, Japan has been receiving the most-pushed and strongest cards. Wether it’s navy, shuffle, destruction effect, remove from the battlefield or intel, they have gotten an absurd amount of activation/ strong cards for absurdly low kredits

Wether it’s the 0-1k orders that give you free intel/ shuffle pings, or IJN Makura which is the sole reason as to why navy burn exists, they have way too many orders that do what other nations cannot do for no cost

. For example, let’s look at the
British 40 royal marine, and the
Japanese 106th , 2 similar cards with wildly different power levels

The Japanese gets a self replacing infantry that has a deployment effect that gets 1 free dmg. With 0op, it can easily get to the frontline after you empty it, or it can slide in there uncontested before the enemy can even react. Once there it has a 100% chance to be put BACK INTO YOUR HAND with the same ability present.

The British gets an infantry with the same cost and 1operation cost, with a deployment that deals 2 dmg by fighting an enemy unit. Not only does it get hurt, it also can’t go face. And once it dies, a non-replicating copy is added Too your top deck

The absolute absurdity thay these cards are even remotely close to one another baffles me. This isn’t a case of ‘one nation has better stuff than the other’ because Japan really doesn’t lack anything Britain has (besides boardclears), which are important but are just a single thing compared to the mountains of things Japan just does better.

It’s gotten to the point nothing can confidently contest the early game when it comes to japans’ might except specific hard counters such as mobile defense, rout or crossfire

I understand I’m some newgen casual who doesn’t play a ton, but in all honesty the absolute slog that is competitive where every deck is some alternative Japan aggro deck (wether is Soviet jaggro, fraggro, juffle, Jintel) it makes the game feel incredibly tedious to reach FM again

And the thing is even outside of typical top39 cards played in jaggro, they still have some of the most powerful cards

Wether it commit the reserves, their elite 3k1op bomber, or desperate

[bitter slate]

If we reserved %EXPANSIO% than it killl Jaggro t obe honest

[vague dock]

Cards found: 2

[mossy juniper]

That’s not what I’m asking for

[bitter slate]

but that will stay around for a year and half due to the oter guy imo

[mossy juniper]

I’m asking for 1939 to stop printing blatantly op aggro/ burn cards release after release

We got shitbata

We got 3/2 shock blitz

[bitter slate]

I get you

[mossy juniper]

We even somehow got the type 94tk back in the pool

Like Britain can’t even get a 3k guard or a 2k fighter

[bitter slate]

Yea true

[hexed onyx]

I understand where 1939 is coming from with Japan being consistently good, particularly in the early game. That is exactly what Japan was historically good at, and some players like it because it is effectively more rewards because they can win more games in a shorter time period, and people naturally like more for less.

It is also hard to deal with early powerhouses effectively because the game is won only once, if it was split over 3 rounds or something with rewards for beating each one, then maybe it would be a whole lot easier to balance but that would be a drastic change to the game overall.

But also isn't just good in the early game, many decks actually reach their peak in the midgame and others have knockout punches in the late game with Japanese fighters, and Japan also has the single most effective way to defeat the enemy: Just remove their units before they become a problem, and they can do this reliably and in large numbers, while doing another strategy that is hard to deal with in the early game, which is swarming.

Honestly there would need to be an incentive for players to play a longer game rather than trying to win early game.

[mossy juniper]

The problem is is that Japan has been consistently taking more and more ground in where they are still considered a threat

Jaggro used to crumble after around turn7-ish

But now they are so strong the can consistently build their board up and prevent you from sticking a singular unit far into turn 6-7

And the whole’Just pray you topdeck your boardclear/ removal just isn’t viable

[haughty cedar]

Isn’t the favorite child of 1939 finland

[mossy juniper]

Sissi buff when?

[viscid heron]

Just to throw gasoline in the fire, Japan has consistently been the best-performing nation in my tests since 2021 when I started them

[hexed onyx]

When was it at it's worst?

[edgy mulch]

I feel like germany is their favorite

[foggy forge]

Japan is just the de facto aggressive nation which makes it the nation best suited to check greedy decks
It's not favoritism just the fact that being the aggro nation means they get different varities of aggressive tools and constantly are the counter force to someone trying to do hyper ramp or ultra heavy German control decks

But there has also been plenty of times in the past Jaggro has been toppled by more aggressive or higher tempo decks
Brit air during it's like 2-3 year dominance around like 2021 could shut it down
US Frontline with stuff like red devils and various times has made it hard for Jaggro to really have a grip
And German Heinz has had several times in the spotlight where it could win the board and rendered Jaggro irrelvant

The main thing though is that you are always gonna have some aggro deck sitting near the top of the meta. It's just an important part of a meta that doesn't become degenerate.

From the terms of Magic
Jaggro = Red Deck Wins
And that isn't inherently a bad thing due to what impact it has on the meta

[viscid heron]

2021 the Japanese Intel Burn deck was the best-performing.

2022 the Japanese Mobilize Air deck went on a win-streak of 17 games! It was the best-performing deck deck that year.

I've since changed my rules a bit so I no longer do year-round tests but I tell you all: only the Lotta Svard + Blitzkrieg deck threatened Japan's dominance. Japan is always in the top 3 of each test round, often with two decks.

[novel thicket]

As a brit ger control player, I feel your pain, most of my games, most of my losses, Japan. Every expansion.

The thing is though, Japan should have stronger cheap cards. Thats the whole point of Japan, early game tempo advantage. If your 1k or 2k card held the same value as a Japanese counterpart, JPN would be the worst deck in the game.

With the exception of a very select few (usually elite) cards, they literally don't have a late game. The seemingly unfair power difference in cards that are the same cost is by design.

With all that being said, I do agree Japan has gotten too much especially recently. 1939 pushes deck archetypes so aggressively that it feels like you are being punished for not adhering to what they think the meta should be this season. (Think Jintel shuffle)

The fact japan shuffle is still seemingly the majority of the meta a week into a new expansion shows how strong of a state Japan and some of its archetypes are.

[distant fractal]

That, or, just how sedentary and slow moving the playerbase is

People just tend to play the same archetype between expansions, only until a new archetype sees enough play to break the mold and become dominant. And even then, sometimes players just find a deck and don't move from it

Jaggro has kind of been one of those decks that people play and refuse to stop playing, but it's definitely not the only one anymore. Now there's Ger/Fin discard, Jintel, and US ramp. Some decks will just always see play, regardless of how good or conistent they are. Seeing a deck over and over doesn't inherently mean it is meta.

[scenic haven]

I would argue that Japan is one of their least favoured nations. There have been a few expansions themed around new archetypes that they've mostly given to other nations. The problem is the generic stuff they gave Japan often ended up outperforming the decks they were trying to push or the new stuff got lumped into some hybrid jagro

[fickle token]

(whatever you do just don't nerf my boy Yamato)

(pls)

[novel thicket]

Seeing a deck over and over at the top of ladder is an indicator of its performance. I can only give my own experience, as someone that is in FM, this is one of the decks I see the most, its because it works, all these expansions later.

[molten epoch]

since I started the game I never saw Jaggro/Japan struggle in any serious matter

if you play blindly and dumb enough you m i g h t lose board presence and the match (maybe). But if on top of that strategy you add brains, the opponen has almost no chance.

only luck can save him

[rocky fiber]

My irk with japan is just the sheer viability of their decks and how many options they get compared to other nations. You got jaggro, juffle, jintel, navy burn not to mention the various destruction effect decks that see play

compare this to something like soviets who have seen their viability been nuked in the past couple updates from options like token or OTK down to the remaining viable decks being sov control and sometimes covert

the sheer choice afforded to japan automatically makes them popular and then reinforces that 1939 should continue pumping out very good japan cards to please that player base

[mossy juniper]

I think this is the take I agree with the most

The idea they only have good cheap ‘tempo’ cards is just wrong

Cards like commit the reserves is just 2k kill target unit once you reach 10-12k slots

Kurume has more strength nowadays than a 6k guard

Not to mention their SKD package is just draw 2 cards for free

Like comparing something like German lategame to Japan late game, the difference between most of their cards is extremely small

[edgy mulch]

take in mind this is a modern day thing, for most of kards history jaggro has been the only viable japan deck, while resistance sometimes was playable