Resurrection is da key
Now that the patch is not a newborn anymore (I'm among those satisfied by it), I wanted to share some thoughts.
Right now weather has been nerfed and nekkers cannot be breeded anymore, so MS lost their two most powerful decks.
Foltest, Harald, Henselt and Brouver Ambush are the new strong suit.
Why?
Ambush is strong only because you can pump Sappers, so let's put them aside for now.
My theory is simple: NR and SK have superior strength because of their ability to resurrect key units vastly outnumber whatever counters the enemy has.
Let's start with Foltest.
Right now ppl are just spamming Trebuchets, ressing them if Alzured, using Kaedw.Siege -or Promote- if Torrential Rained (Str 4 is beyond Lacerate), using Reinforcement and Foltest's ability if locked.
Anything goes as long as the Treb is on the board, no matter if Str is 1 or 8, it will still remove 1 point per turn, which is more than enough if used en masse.
It means that the raw Str they bring to the board becomes a decisive factor in no time.
Let's compare Treb with Arachas Behemot+Vran.
Treb is 1 point each turn.
Arachas+1 Vran is 3 points every 2 turns, meaning 1.5.
To achieve 1:1 with MS, you need 1 Vran+2Arachas (6 points avery 2 turns), but it's not as simple as it is for NR.
Behemots are only 3 in the deck, and once dead there is no card in MS who can bring them back to the board, unlike NR who has 3 ress bronze units, Nenneke and Shani, not to mention they can simply cloned an existing Treb with Reinforcement and Foltest.
Furthermore, unless you have 3 working units on the board MS won't work, while with NR every Treb is operative independently to other cards, so MS is incredibly easier to disrupt in comparison.
It's like pre-patch Weather, where Weather-generating cards' number was quite bigger than the 3 First Light, so weather cound not be truly countered.
Henselt uses the ress to bring back Siege Towers or 3-copies units like Poor. Inf and shot the Gold row, almost as effective as Foltest since Towers require Gold while Trebs are independent.
SK has 3 ress bronze units and 1 Silver nanny, plus Restore.
They do not have the promote/cloning skill of NR, but that is offset by the fact their units become more powerful as round passes.
There is little point in locking/killing a Axeman in round 1 if he'll be back more healthy in round 2 or 3.
Ofc, if you leave an Axeman undisturbed in round 1, he will get to 25+ Str, so you'll probably won't even reach round 3.
Again, the problem is that the Str brought to the board is too much for MS, NF or ST to keep up, and counter cards are too few even if the stars align and you get a strong hand.
NF has ress units as well, but the Vicovaro resses from the enemy's graveyard, so there are little to no synergies for them to use a A.Behemoth or an Axeman.
MS has just 1 Gold Caretaker in all the arsenal, again with no useful synergies.
I mean, everyone know how nice is to ress the enemy's KoB, but sometimes you want a card that will work with your set strategy.
Conclusion: Resurrection is the strongest strategy and it's not counterable, so factions without it are inherently weaker.
Now that the patch is not a newborn anymore (I'm among those satisfied by it), I wanted to share some thoughts.
Right now weather has been nerfed and nekkers cannot be breeded anymore, so MS lost their two most powerful decks.
Foltest, Harald, Henselt and Brouver Ambush are the new strong suit.
Why?
Ambush is strong only because you can pump Sappers, so let's put them aside for now.
My theory is simple: NR and SK have superior strength because of their ability to resurrect key units vastly outnumber whatever counters the enemy has.
Let's start with Foltest.
Right now ppl are just spamming Trebuchets, ressing them if Alzured, using Kaedw.Siege -or Promote- if Torrential Rained (Str 4 is beyond Lacerate), using Reinforcement and Foltest's ability if locked.
Anything goes as long as the Treb is on the board, no matter if Str is 1 or 8, it will still remove 1 point per turn, which is more than enough if used en masse.
It means that the raw Str they bring to the board becomes a decisive factor in no time.
Let's compare Treb with Arachas Behemot+Vran.
Treb is 1 point each turn.
Arachas+1 Vran is 3 points every 2 turns, meaning 1.5.
To achieve 1:1 with MS, you need 1 Vran+2Arachas (6 points avery 2 turns), but it's not as simple as it is for NR.
Behemots are only 3 in the deck, and once dead there is no card in MS who can bring them back to the board, unlike NR who has 3 ress bronze units, Nenneke and Shani, not to mention they can simply cloned an existing Treb with Reinforcement and Foltest.
Furthermore, unless you have 3 working units on the board MS won't work, while with NR every Treb is operative independently to other cards, so MS is incredibly easier to disrupt in comparison.
It's like pre-patch Weather, where Weather-generating cards' number was quite bigger than the 3 First Light, so weather cound not be truly countered.
Henselt uses the ress to bring back Siege Towers or 3-copies units like Poor. Inf and shot the Gold row, almost as effective as Foltest since Towers require Gold while Trebs are independent.
SK has 3 ress bronze units and 1 Silver nanny, plus Restore.
They do not have the promote/cloning skill of NR, but that is offset by the fact their units become more powerful as round passes.
There is little point in locking/killing a Axeman in round 1 if he'll be back more healthy in round 2 or 3.
Ofc, if you leave an Axeman undisturbed in round 1, he will get to 25+ Str, so you'll probably won't even reach round 3.
Again, the problem is that the Str brought to the board is too much for MS, NF or ST to keep up, and counter cards are too few even if the stars align and you get a strong hand.
NF has ress units as well, but the Vicovaro resses from the enemy's graveyard, so there are little to no synergies for them to use a A.Behemoth or an Axeman.
MS has just 1 Gold Caretaker in all the arsenal, again with no useful synergies.
I mean, everyone know how nice is to ress the enemy's KoB, but sometimes you want a card that will work with your set strategy.
Conclusion: Resurrection is the strongest strategy and it's not counterable, so factions without it are inherently weaker.