I’m not gonna say that Weyland is as strong as the other corps atm but I still think Supermodernism is a solid tier 1.5 deck who shouldn’t be ignored. A good player can still do work with it. The style of play of this archetype is just counter-intuitive for a lot of players (a huge remote fort and lightly protected centrals where you rush agenda behind instead of making your centrals secure/taxing enough before making a scoring remote) and it’s in my opinion the main reason why Weyland is shunned atm.
This. So much This. I’m just going to be a d*ck about it, lol.
@Calimsha took Weyland damn near all the way, as did I, in 2 of the largest if not THE two largest regionals of this season so far. Colorado had a decent Weyland showing too, by the look of it. Aaaaand Seattle. So I’d hardly say it’s flopping at regionals. While I can’t speak for my counterpart above, for me the Corp side wasn’t the issue that day either. In the past several weeks, people in my meta have gotten tired of Jinteki and we’ve seen a resurgence of Weyland, everything from classics like SuperM and Big Ice, to off the wall jank like Horizontal Econ/Shell Game BWBI (that was…something). Most of it fares well enough, too.
But that’s the point.
The problem isn’t Weyland. The problem is You (the royal you).
Now before I rail any harder against your failures as players, really as human beings in general (prepare for belittling commentary about your paternity and state of unwash!), I should qualify slightly.
There have been a couple of nails that were hit squarely on the head. @Kingsley , @arkhon , @Alexfrog , @codewolf , and @syntaxlost are the Hammer Brothers.
While I won’t go so far as to say that decks like AstroTrain and Red Coats are easy to run, their lines of play, however, are comparatively simple and very clear. It is not that difficult to understand what they are supposed to do and the “right” way to do it, at least on paper. Not so much automatic, but certainly on rails, so to speak. Weyland is strong, but demands just as much strength from the player. You don’t play a Weyland deck so much as you truly pilot it. If NBN Astrotrain is a Ferrari, Weyland is a goddamn Jaeger. Not many can handle suiting up, but for those who can…
And, as mentioned, the slaghund numbers and other data crunches lend some creedence to this.
There is also the problem with stagnation. Multiple people have decired the fact that Weyland hasn’t gotten much by way of new toys, and I agree. The handful of stuff we have gotten has mostly been filling in holes and were things we should have had sooner. Most of the rest, especially the ice, was awful. GRNDL and the Refinery made a splash, but we just haven’t had the consistent hits this past cycle (JHow, AccDiag, BLue Level, Shock, Celeb Gift, Sweeps) like the other Corps.
Weyland is challenging to play, and it’s a challenge most players just aren’t up to. But is it necessarily their fault?
Only kind of.
On the one hand, if you flop a green corp and the air isn’t immediately filled with the scent of recently soiled shorts, you have room to step up your game. So much of Weyland is making the runner afraid of what might happen, and so many people miss that crucial piece. And you know what else? Damnit son, challenge yourself. I hate running NBN with a burning firey passion, but I still practiced playing it a bunch because that’s what you do to get better. You challenge yourself to do things you aren’t comfortable or well practiced doing. You climb that sh*t because it’s there. You say “You know what, everyone expects Snares. Let’s try Overwriter.” PVPKate wrecking your day? She can spend all that cash to get into a newly hired, charged up Aggressive Secretary. I always say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The converse is true too, and it’s getting to be tool time for Weyland.
But this is why I say only kind of blame players. I’m a JohnnySpike, to use the parlance of our times. Weyland and it’s invitation to innovate new ways to inflict wanton malicious destruction is enough to get me excited. When you take the stagnation into account, however, I can see why most other players DON’T get excited. Weyland in it’s current state DEMANDS innovation and experimentation, and even then we’re limited in what we can try at a time since many of the recent tempting new toys are splashed in from out of faction and 15 points evaporates quick.
The good news is that this cannot last, and, fortunately, we know it won’t. Even though all signs (and my money, for that matter) seem to be betting an Anarch/NBN deluxe xpac, the spoilers we’ve seen out of Upstalk and the like are nothing short of incredible. New ice, new events, new ambushes, and a whole new ID that I’m betting right now for the record is going to be The Hotness.
tl;dr : Weyland isn’t bad, you are. But it’s only kind of your fault for not undertaking what is right now a personally intensive labor of love and retooling a well trod field with new, limited options. Shame on you, lol.
Enjoy the Jinteki lull while it lasts. Mark my words. The new cycle is coming, and with it, a reckoning.
