You don't need to play NG just to control these currently unbalanced decks. I have quite the success on winning against these so called unbalanced top tier decks without relying on these currently famous counter decks which is NG builds and some Eithne Schirru. Play the deck or faction you are happy with then try to customize or build around these meta decks.
The problem is, once a top tier deck is brewed, players tend to swarm on that deck and stick with it until a new top tier deck is made again. Everyone has the potential to discover some crazy combinations but they are just too lazy to explore.
I'm a long-time MTG player, and I used to have this mindset that there was something better or more "honorable" about homebrewing decks. When I was making my own brews, I would tinker with them and they would slowly begin to resemble the top tier decks. Then, I started working with a competitive team for a while and I realized that the real secret is just putting man-hours into testing. Sure, there are some "eureka" moments, but more often than not, what you're doing is streamlining an archetype or strategy.
Ideally, I want to have a 50% win rate (while striving toward a 100% win rate). That means my deck is sufficiently balanced and my rank has stabilized. This
should translate into enjoyable (and even) games. But I'm finding that the 50% is much closer to a coin flip, based on strong vs weak matchups. I thoroughly dislike playing against NG, and I'm not very fond of playing as NG, either. So, while my other decks
can win occasionally, they don't do so consistently enough against the decks I see most of the time.
My main decks are all SK; since I am still new and have a limited collection, it made sense to focus on one faction first. I have Svalgod engines, Crach control, and Harald midrange (I am trying to make a Bran Shupe deck, but idk about that one). Although, recently I have just been playing seasonal with Harald point-slam, because there are a lot less SY and NR decks that can work in 8s turns. But this is a bit boring for me, as I like my cards to have lots of interactions and synergy.
What really brought up this line of thinking was an exceptionally fun game I had vs an Eldain deck. It was the final turn, 34 - 40, with me saving Dagur for this round. My opponent had 2 Elven Scouts on the field and had just reset his Pitfall Trap with Iorveth. I won that game by activating Harald and then letting time run out so I discarded Dagur and didn't trigger the trap/scouts. I realized that I have very few games where I can make meaningful decisions like that. More often it's a question of winning the coin flip and/or bleeding round 2.
That relates, tangentially, to my problems with NG. It's not that they are OP, it's that they are very binary. Usurper, himself, is binary in that he shuts down high-synergy leaders and folds to plain old point slam. The rest of NG is just a question of drawing the right half of your deck to answer threats. If I drop Svalblod Priest and they don't have the muzzle/lock, they can't keep up. If they do have the lock, I just played a 5-for-5 brick. And I noticed the same thing when playing NG: some games I would answer everything immediately and my opponent had no chance, other times I'll just draw my filler cards that can't match real engines. And don't get me started on artifact/special card decks that blank conventional interaction.
I really think a many problems could be solved by doing a few things:
- Give some cards with lock a duration - this messes up the enemy tempo but still gives both players the choice of playing out the round or closing it early.
- Introduce armor and row restriction to artifacts - This allows the primary forms of interaction (damage and movement) to function, but still allows you to get value out of those artifacts while your opponent loses the virtual value that damage gives against units with power.
- Give units conditional control abilities on the board - Imagine if Alba Armored Cavalry instead came on the board with 4 power and 3 armor and read "lock an enemy unit while AAC is on the board and has armor." This slows the engines down and generates virtual value if the opponent attacks the armor directly.