Review: The Devils Awaken Expansion For TEPPEN

Hello! iowa here with a review over The Devils Awaken expansion just released for TEPPEN on October 31, 2019. This begins our Season 5 and 6 meta - expansions have been released every other month. In this write up, we will discuss our first impressions of the new expansion, two decks that I used to climb to Champion and Rank 1, and my prediction for Seasons 5 and 6.

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For my first impression over the set, I have been tinkering around with different theory crafts and new cards from the set for the last 3 days, streaming 5-7 hours each day. Accompanied with The Devils Awaken, there was also a balance change implemented to change Hero Arts and cards coming into Season 5. Balance changes can be viewed here.

The first theory craft deck was the new Hero, Nero from Devil May Cry V, with the new Growth mechanic. Growth is a new mechanic available to all Elements in the game, new Unit cards have a level up ability where they gain new abilities, bonuses, or trigger an effect. Each card will have different level up abilities and can have more than one level on the same card. To trigger the level up for Growth, Units with Growth are triggered by the player spending MP to play other Units while the Growth Unit is on the field.

From Season 1-4, Green Element was always considered the weakest mono color. Upon reading all of Nero’s Hero Arts, they are all great abilities with a lot of potential. His third Hero Art, “Hey, Nico!” stood out the most. Nero’s abilities can be viewed here. One trait that all green Heroes were lacking before Nero showed up is Hero Arts, which can be used to manage enemy units. All of Nero’s Hero Arts lead to the effect of being able to manage the enemy’s board.

We tried “Hey, Nico!,” While it is good, I lost to Nero players using “True Power” and I found that Hero Art to have much more value when triggering with Growth Units. Below is a budget Nero build I used to get to Champion.

All the Growth Units in this deck are used as big bodies, deal damage to enemy board, or both. The rest of the deck is to compliment our build and control our enemy. The general line of play with this deck, is to wait until 10 MP, and then drop a Growth Unit first, then a 5 MP Cost Unit. Doing this will allow for quick Growth trigger. Once that happens, we play Bubble Crab or Rebecca Chambers to get us to 12 AP for our Hero Art. Then use our Hero Art to Growth pump our first Growth Unit that we played.

This deck follows the same concept. However, the addition of Eva allows us to further hasten our Growth triggers. This deck I’ve used to climb to Rank #1 on the first day, on day 3 I was able to get this to top 50.

Predictions

I’m very happy with the direction TEPPEN is moving towards. The Devils Awaken feels like an amazing expansion. The balance changes allowed for more decks to play at the same speed, and the new cards are easy to learn for new players and veterans alike. The meta did shift - it shifted towards opening plays being more powerful, and Growth Units have more impact and interaction in a game. I believe Growth Units are very fun, they have a lot of value when being played and it adds another way to interact with Units. I believe a meta where Units have been given more impact, it is enjoyable and easy to learn for anyone.

My prediction for the season ending, I think that Rathalos will be tier 1 again and decks that have really strong opening hand plays will be favorite decks. As of right now Ryu and Nero are really good and many players are still experimenting.

Thank you for reading this write up!

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