A Look at V-Series Megacolony

Moving into the reboot, Megacolony was one of the clans I was most excited to see. Their identity in the game has always been shaky, even from their conception. Preventing a Rear Guard from standing, aka "Stunning," was essentially a discount version of Retire. Except for the same price. At best, the opponent would call a new unit over the stunned one, making it a more round-about version of Retire. At worst, it stopped a Rear Guard for one turn and then everything went back to normal, no lasting advantage gain. The introduction of the Lock mechanic further cemented Megacolony's role as redundant. Eventually they evolved into stunning the Vanguard, but I believe that was largely considered cancerous card design (as it should have been). So with the onset of V-series, I was anxious to see the direction Bushiroad wanted to take our local bug squad.

The first thing you'll notice is that... Megacolony don't really have a focus. If you look at Royals, you think "superior calling;" Kagero, retiring; OTT, scrying or drawing. These identities were condensed and streamlined in the V-series releases, but Megacolony has a stark lack of a coherent theme. Let's take a look at a sample decklist:

Grade 0's

[1] Machining Worker Ant

[4] Sharp Nail Scorpio (Critical)

[4] Shelter Beetle (Critical)

[4] Paralyze Madonna (Draw/Sentinel)

[4] Medical Beetle, Ranpli (Heal)

Grade 1's

[4] Machining Hornet

[4] Platoon Leader, Butterfly Officer

[4] Spiteful Hopper

Grade 2's

[4] Bloody Hercules

[4] Machining Mantis

[4] Water Gang

Grade 3's

[4] Machining Spark Hercules

[3] Machining Stag Beetle

[2] Death Warden Ant Lion

Now let's delve into some of these cards. In the Grade 1 lineup we have Machining Hornet, whose effect allows you to dig for a Grade 3. Both Lady Officer and Spiteful Hopper give power and counter charge. In the Grade 2 lineup, Machining Mantis is another Grade 3 digger, Bloody Hercules is another card that grants power and counter charges, and Water Gang provides draw power. The Grade 3 lineup is where the deck's "identity" starts to take shape. Machining Spark Hercules is a stronger Zeal, Stag Beetle is an advantage engine, and Ant Lion serves as a finisher.

You'll notice that there isn't a coherent, identifying theme among these cards. The deck is a combination of searching for Grade 3's, counter charging, and some seemingly random Grade 3 abilities. If anything, the clan is focused on whatever Grade 3's they have and just use the rest of the deck to fuel them. Having played the deck, the main goal appears to be finding the best way to fuel Spark Hercules over the course of as many turns as possible, keeping the opponent's field suppressed and forcing more guard out of them.

That isn't to say the deck plays incoherently. My feelings on the deck itself have flipped-flopped quite a bit over my course of playtesting it. Initially I hated the clan, feeling like the lack of identity in the main deck lineup and inability to main phase counter charge made the deck lackluster. It felt like "Spark Hercules and the two other columns that only forced shield and did nothing else" (by Fall Out Boy). However, after playing the deck a little longer, I began to appreciate the subtleties that it took to pilot it properly. Using Lady Butterfly to shove a Grade 3 into the soul as setup for Ant Lion, and setting up Counterblasts for the following turn, or just counterblast manipulation in general to ensure that you can keep the Hercules train going.

Protect isn't especially amazing for the clan, nor is it a bad selection as the clan's gift. Some clans, like Nova Grappler or Dimension Police, have gifts that resonate with their gimmicks, while clans like Royal Paladins with Force don't necessarily have that inherent synergy, but still work well by virtue of the gifts just being good effects. Megacolony falls into the latter category. Protect doesn't necessarily do anything for the clan or how it functions, but Protect is simply a good effect and the clan is better off by having it. The plethora of Grade 3 searching in the deck provides more ammo for your Protects, but more often than not you'll want to call those G3s anyway. Stag Beetle and Ant Lion both work as Rear Guards and provide a good amount of advantage/pressure regardless if they're ridden or called.

The rest of the deck isn't necessarily bad either. The effects that search for Grade 3's provide raw card advantage and help ensure a proper ride, and the other lower-grades generally have some way of giving a power increase. At the end of the day, power equates to damage and damage to victory, so while the effects may not be flashy, they do get the job done. None of the individual cards are bad per se, but I would have to say that Megacolony's biggest weakness is that their whole is  not greater than the sum of their parts.

Our bugs didn't get a triumphant return where they barged into the competitive scene to make the meta their dog, and some hardcore players will likely be disappointed by the shift in gimmicks for the clan, but they are certainly playable and will reward any dedicated player with a challenging, interesting deck if they're willing to put the time into mastering the clan.