If you paid attention to the ROC World Cup in October, or are planning on playing in a constructed WizKids Open this coming weekend, you probably know that Uni-Mind is essentially the Meta piece. I want to talk about whether this Super Rare deserves to be on the Watch List.

Let’s rewind the clock back to the beginning of this year, back to the Winter and Spring. Jakeem Thunder was running the show, and virtually every team in the top 8 was running this guy. Then What If… hit right before Worlds and Goblin King was released. There was a big power struggle between the two and a big debate on who was the better piece. I even wrote an article breaking down who was better overall using a list of features that they brought to the table.

Shift back to today, or I should say the week after the ROC World Cup since there haven’t been any events since, and Jakeem and Goblin King are all but dust while Uni-Mind is completely dominating the competition. So what happened?

After Worlds, Jakeem, Goblin King, Felix Faust, and the Pym Pocket Tank were all added to the watch list, with three of those pieces receiving changes. As most of you know, Goblin King pretty much fell into a 75 point piece, Faust vanished, and the Pym Tank dropped off almost completely… but Jakeem got away unscathed. WizKids felt that the new rules that were coming would address him (specifically the change to Outwit), and he went back to dominating through August. Then Uni-Mind hit.

The differences are quite shocking when you compare Jakeem Thunder to Uni-Mind. While Jakeem has a very impressive dial with great stats, a fantastic team ability that helps promote synergy, and fantastic adaptability, Uni offered more. While he’s a little more expensive, he has Power Cosmic which protects him from Jakeems two biggest weaknesses; Outwit and Willpower. Uni also has the fantastic reverse possession ability and while it isn’t quite as powerful as Jakeem’s ability to take practically any two powers, Uni gets to pick something every turn rather than on just your turn making him able to adapt more often. He also can use reducers in the face of the great equalizer that is Pulse Wave. He has probably the best Perplex we’ve ever seen in the game making him a prime ID card summoner. He can’t be scored easily thanks to his trait that splits him into other characters. He’s not a Prime.

While there are some weaknesses like dial length and higher point cost, Uni brings so much more to the table than Jakeem does, and that last point (the fact that he’s not a Prime) is a big selling point. With characters like Nighthawk Prime, Red Leader, Wiz Kid, and other really great candidates, Uni-Mind doesn’t diminish your options of who you use to support him, and that was made perfectly clear by the insane amount of Uni-Mind + Nighthawk Prime combos that were seen at the ROC World Cup.

So based on all this information and his already fantastic track record, does Uni-Mind need to be Watch Listed? If so, should he be changed? If not, why? Let’s tackle these one at a time.

Does Uni-Mind need to be Watch Listed?

Yes. 100%. There’s no reason why a figure that wins this hard and this quickly shouldn’t be added to the Watch List. While Nighthawk Prime does a pretty decent job of countering out his insane Perplex, he doesn’t stop the rest of the piece, or his ability to be the best ID summoner in existence. Uni-Mind has shown us that figures need to be looked at harder before they’re given the green light for print and that just one figure does have the potential to completely turn the game on its head. Now before you jump to conclusions, check out my next answer.

Should Uni-Mind be changed? (or nerfed)

In my honest opinion? No. “But AJ, you just said he should be added to the Watch List! What’s the point if he isn’t changed?” That’s a great question. The point of the Watch List is to show that Wiz Kids has a vested interest in the health of the game. It shows that they care about what players are going through on the higher levels of play and those that play the game for fun. However, this doesn’t mean that a figure needs to be changed. Jakeem is a prime example of this. When he was added, and then passed through, there was tons of outrage about how he was going to continue to dominate the game. While his downfall wasn’t necessarily what we wanted, future effects/pieces were completely responsible for this.

That’s how I feel about Uni-Mind. Should he specifically be changed? No. Let him be the piece he was meant to be, but look for solutions elsewhere. Perhaps a figure comes along in the next two sets that completely negates him so that there’s an effective strategy to counter play him. Maybe make a change to ID cards so that they themselves are running the game (because they practically are). Changing one figure isn’t necessarily the best answer, and if a trend is established (a la Goblin King and then potentially Uni-Mind), it drives players away from purchasing product because a very good piece that they pull could be dismantled and turned to nothing at any given time.

The Watch List is more of a tool to communicate that Wiz Kids is paying attention, but it should only be used rarely. Instead, fix the problem with R&D to being with and test these figures more thoroughly to see how they perform and adjust accordingly.

Okay, but what if Uni-Mind HAD to be changed?

Sure, let’s go with a hypothetical and go the route that WizKids has decided to make changes to Uni-Mind. In my opinion, it’s a simple solution; reduce his Perplex to only be able to target himself, just like the rest of the Eternals. It’s odd that he can so heavily effect ID characters to the point where it’s just poor planning if you don’t play him. This change keeps him as a powerhouse but reduces his overall utility. You still get a very mean piece for 150+ points, but he isn’t quite the disaster we see today.

I want everyone to understand that Uni-Mind is a pretty odd character in terms of the comics, and as I’ve only been reading since 2004, I’ve never encountered him, so I have no allegiance to the character. That means my opinions above are purely from a gameplay and overall health of the game itself standpoint. Tools like the Watch List have to be used with the utmost care, and sometimes things like these happen. Jakeem had his run for a few months, and now its Uni-Mind’s turn. Who knows what could release in Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls. There could be a total bombshell to Uni’s day (see what I did there? Because the Bombshells are in the set? I’ll be here all week).

I hope that this gave you a different approach to the Watch List topic. I’m sure a lot of you disagree with me, and that’s totally okay. It’s an opinion and everyone has one and is entitled to it. Regardless, I’m happy to share things like this.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Are you of the majority that (probably) want Uni-Mind Watch Listed and/or Nerfed, or do you agree with me on this? I’d love hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Thanks for joining me this week. I’ll try and keep a more steady flow of content again now that October is over and a bit of order is slowly returning. Until then, have a great weekend and remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!