The most important card in Defiance
by Dr.Gray, S1
A number of the new Defiance cards have gotten talked about for their impact on the metagame. Ishtar has posted several good descriptions of Defiance-based decks. But so far, no one has talked about the one Defiance card which I feel has had the most impact on the metagame: "Trigger Happy" Jack.
What Jack means is that an entire style of play - passive defense - is simply no longer viable. Prior to Jack there was no single good way to destroy a built-up defense. Now any defense that doesn't include a way to find and kill enemy assets is no longer viable.
Hanford Death Squads could do it, given enough time, but heaven help you if your opponent is playing DX Sentries or Siege Bunker. Grom Scribes could, in theory, shock down a defense, but that would take a long time in cases of high-HP defenders like Tac Bunker or even the lowly Perimeter Fence. It's also expensive. SLAMs could bypass such defenses, but they are slow and expensive.
With Jack, though, problems are solved. Khan+Bunker? No problem - RAM his butt into oblivion. Big mech defense? No problem, one shot = one kill on almost all of 'em. Rarely you need 2. Bions giving you trouble? Smack them easily, and for fewer resources than it takes to regen/create them. Birth Cry/Sentience sapping your attack strength? Never fear, missiles still do the same damage.
Jack's cheap, too. Fast to deploy, unlimited ammo at only 2 mil per shot. Few other cards give you a rare for only 2 resources. Most generators (e.g. Aaron, Antonio) have to spend at least 3 just to get a measly Common card. Jack's also more versatile - he can get both assets and bases.
Yes, Jack has drawbacks. The 20% tap slows him down, and there's a chance he'll blow his own fool head off with a RAM - but that's the same risk every Launcher asset takes with that missile. He's a little low on armor, but Defiance also introduced that lovely Camo suit. Makes him really hard to spot and provides extra protection in case of those pesky napalms.
The bottom line is that it's simply not possible any longer to construct a deck which can just sit back and deflect attacks. As I understand the concept of "metagame" it's something that affects all deck constructions - just as you must take Napalm into account now you must also take Jack into account.
I'm not saying this is bad or good (tho I think Jack is a bit overpowered); I'm just mostly surprised that no one has remarked on this change so far, because so far as I can see no other Defiance card has eliminated an entire style of deck-building.
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