A Recap of the 2024 OCE Nationals Event!

Nationals Season is in full swing, with the OCE kicking things off two weekends ago showing us some very exciting, engaging, and competitive decks! We got our first look at what we might expect around the world for UniVersus in the competitive scene to lead us to the World Championship next month. Today, I will be discussing just a few of the decks we saw on stream and their overall impact on the format as a whole.

James O’Doherty and Zane Landrigan’s Chaos Mimic

Kicking things off, we have the tournament winning deck piloted by James and Zane, and they both even finished 2nd and 1st respectively. Based on the results of this tournament, Mimic is eating like a king in this format by having 3 Mimics top cut this event. Mimic offers a unique playstyle and deck building experience, since he is allowed to commit Assets to help him pass checks as though they were Foundations. Nowadays, that leads to Mimic decks running over 20 Assets in their decks to ensure that you have enough of them in your stage to get full value on the character abilities.

Over the past few sets and Challenger Decks, there have been plenty of Chaos-attuned Attacks and strong Assets for this character to continuously climb the power rankings, and offers a unique counterplay to other strong contenders in the format. Since Mimic has access to a strong once-per-turn ability to pick up any one Attack in his discard pile if he checks an Asset, lots of Mimic decks play a wide variety of Attacks to help select the key one needed for different scenarios. Zane and James took advantage of this ability with one of those attacks such as Un-phased, Gently Theft, and Trigger Transformation, while also using strong meta contenders like Determined Advance to guarantee Momentum generation either be used on defense with strong Assets such as Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, or strong EX or Powerful abilities on Smashing Stomps or Walk the Dogs. James and Zane even incorporated three copies of City Rampage to help them play strong Attack strings with higher-difficulty cards, which is pretty unique for Mimic lists!

It’s no surprise that a character like Mimic is showing success in this format, with a character that grows in power level the more cards he gains access to in his Card Pool. The Chaos symbol is also a strong one to play right now, and has some of the strongest 0-Difficulty foundations in the game (that will no longer be available post-rotation in March).

Torin Milliken’s Evil King Ghidorah, Emperor of the Cosmos

I don’t think I would be able to give this article justice if I didn’t talk about Torin’s King Ghidorah list that had a Top-4 finish this past weekend. Torin has impressed in the competitive scene all year, with this being his third top cut appearance and even winning the last Regional this past year. The best part about talking about the success Torin has had on this character is that every time we see this character show up, Torin always has new changes and adaptations to the deck based on what is believed to be in the format.

With Risky Encounter being banned, the Attack package has shifted to include a 3-Difficulty attack Close-Combat Tackle. Not only is this a 3-Difficulty attack that can be picked up with Fierce Wings, but it has a relevant Blitz ability against decks that may only build one or two strong defensive Assets like Vertical Maneuvering Equipment or Cape of No Return. This character and deck is still a meta contender in my opinion, because of how King Ghidorah makes your opponent play the game differently with weird damage thresholds, and also the incredible defense this character can pull off with cards like Unmatched Quickness, Dissolving the Conflict, and Relentless Challenger.

King Ghidorah is a strong character and quite popular in other countries, so I would not be surprised to see other King Ghidorahs make top cut appearances. He plays the Evil and Void symbols quite well, and even got some new Void-attuned tools from the Star Trek: Lower Decks Challenger Decks. I’m excited to see this deck continue to be built upon, and hopefully see Torin at the World Championships.

Connor R’s Chaos Godzilla, King of the Monsters

I almost didn’t include this character specifically because he didn't make a top cut appearance this past weekend, but Connor R did show us the King of the Monsters himself on stream during Round 4, with Godzilla making himself heard this weekend. Godzilla is without a doubt a character to anticipate in this meta, and it's honestly quite surprising that he didn’t make it to top cuts. Connor did show us a 2-1 victory over a Mina Ashido II on stream, and showcased why this character should be someone you are planning to see at these upcoming Nationals events.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters gives a free +3 damage on all of his Attacks as long as they are 5-Difficulty or higher attacks. He also can spend his Momentum to give +2 to his next check, which helps with the high Difficulties, along with an incredibly strong once-per-game ability to reset the stages for both players, forcing the rival to play at his own pace. Cards like City Rampage, Determined Advance, Vast Hybrid Chimera Kraken, and Smashing Stomp makes the character feel very easy to pilot while also sending Attacks for base 8-9 damage making your opponent feel like they have to always block.

The Chaos symbol was the strongest competitor for the OCE Nationals by a landslide, and characters like Godzilla show its power and strength while playing some of the strongest cards in the format. Godzilla then turns what some would say are "utility" Attacks into giant haymakers that can catch opponents off-guard if you overextend into him.

Jaykeb Brooks-Johnson’s Chaos Jester Lavorre, Prankster Priestess

A more unique character making a top cut appearance is Jaykeb’s Jester Lavorre deck. Also sporting the oh-so-powerful Chaos symbol that came out swinging this event, this deck takes full advantage of Momentum generation and denial all in one package. Jester also gets some incremental card advantage by being able to turn her Momentum into an on-demand spell card from her discard pile. This can either be attacks such as the kill card, Big Freakin’ Explosion, or more utility Action cards like Wound/Restore.

Most people would agree that Jester is a more unique deck for this format, specifically because she can also give your opponent Momentum. That can be a risky gamble in a format such as this, where one Momentum can go a long way with cards like Vertical Maneuvering Equipment or even offense kill cards like Determined Advance or Walk the Dog.

Jaykeb, however, proved to the world and OCE that Jester can compete with the rest of the Chaos characters of the format. Jaykeb achieved a Top 8 finish this past weekend after Jester not showing another top cut since St. Louis in North America last year. So keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the Nationals for characters like Jester to make an appearance!

Buster’s Chaos Reiner Braun, Warrior // Reiner, Armored Titan Advancing

Another unique Chaos character that entered the fray this past weekend was Buster’s Reiner Braun, Warrior deck that he got to showcase in the first round on stream at the beginning of Swiss rounds. With a similar life-saving ability to King Ghidorah’s, Reiner is able to transform in a very special way by only transforming after you lose all your original life on the front side. Reiner then becomes the all-powerful Armored Titan and starts giving speed and damage that scales off how many different card types you have in your stage.

This is a character that incentivizes playing Assets and Backups to make sure you can give +4 speed and +4 damage to all your attacks on the back side while also still giving a great damage pump on the front side as you mill. Reiner is a very solid aggressive option if you are interested in the Chaos symbol in this format, as he can dish out a lot of stats at any point in the game. He is similar to Mimic in the sense that he brings a unique deck building experience trying to balance out different card types for both sides of the character. Reiner isn’t locked into any specific keywords or restrictions on his Attack packages, so you are more than welcome to play your favorite ones, or impactful Attacks for the format like Vast Hybrid Chimera Kraken, Determined Advance, and–because we have the Fire Symbol–you can also play cards like Attack Titan’s Haymaker.

Buster had a strong showing in the first round on stream by taking a decisive 2-0 on stream against a Chaos Annie Leonhart deck. Although Buster did not top cut, many people agree with Buster that Reiner can compete with the rest of the strong characters of the format, and could make a top cut appearance at the EU or NA Nationals.

Josh L’s Void Izuku Midoriya, On the Move//Izuku Midoriya, Quirks Unleashed

Last but not least, I wanted to talk about Josh L’s Izuku Midoriya, On the Move list under the Void symbol for this event breakdown. I’m going to put this list in the unique category, only because most people would be expecting the Good symbol for this character. Josh proved us wrong, though, during Round 3 of the event on stream. Josh incorporated a lot of Flash Attacks into the list to cash in some high-speed and high-damage moves to use with the transformed side of Midoriya. This list is all about the transformed side and it was so fun to watch and take a 2-1 win over a Life Hange Zoe list.

Izuku Midoriya is such a unique character and can be built in so many different ways, but this list is very cool to watch play Attacks like Tornado Fist, Gently Theft, and Rebound Side Kick. Josh would constantly build a large Stage and then Commit the bulk of them for the Form ability on the transformed side, and give these attacks anywhere from +9 speed and +9 damage, to even more. To top it all off, Josh used Midoriya’s incredibly strong defensive response to make a rival’s Attack have 0 speed and skip the Enhance Step while also drawing a card. Since this ability skips the Enhance Step, it stops your opponent from ever playing Blitz abilities too!

A lot of people are prepping or anticipating the Combo-oriented Good symbol list for Midoriya, but Josh really did wow me with this innovative list. I’m excited to see many more people bring this character to events and the upcoming Nationals, because I think we have only just scratched the surface for what a character like this can do.

Nationals Season Has Only Just Begun

Incredibly huge thanks to everyone who made the OCE Nationals possible! It was such an incredible event to watch at the end of the 2024-2025 competitive season. I’ve started to find my favorite OCE players that I get to cheer for on the streams and I can’t wait to see the competition they bring to the upcoming World Championship. Firstly, we have two more Nationals to go! I can’t wait to see what the competitors bring to the table and who will win the whole thing!