MMR Going Down?! Need to Adapt!
Axie Infinity these past months has focused on Arena more than ever. Since SLP earning in Adventure was halved, a lot of casual players has sold their Axies to find other investments. This has shaken off some weaker players. Furthermore, the new update wherein those with MMR below 800 will not earn SLP made this scenario even clearer. More players decided to sell their Axies once again. Sooner or later players who are serious about the game will remain while weaker ones will have to give up.
In order to remain competitive in Axie Infinity, a lot of players have decided to improve their Axie Teams. Dusk Axies in particular has become very popular in demand due to their high speed and health. Dusk-Terminator Axie in particular are ever so increasing in the Arena. This has another effect in the current meta, Beast Axies are becoming more prevalent. Despite the power of Dusk Axies, Beast Axies counters them. Aside from that, they also counter Reptile and Plant Axies. This situation has been my recent problem since I have been using a double Reptile Composition.
With these recent Meta changes, my MMR has also changed – for the worse. Last season I was able to maintain a decent MMR of 1800 and earned an average of 200 SLP per day. However, I was recently stuck on 1500-1700 MMR. Last season there were a lot of double Aqua teams which I had the pleasure to encounter. Now there are more Beast & Reptile/Dusk combinations which greatly suppressed my team. This means only one thing, it is time to improve my team. So I decided to purchase a new Axie that can help combat against Beast Axies and remain durable at the same time.
While playing with my previous team, it felt like I was lacking in damage. More specifically, my midline Axie was lacking in Damage. My Axie Nobita was a very durable Axie due to its Bulkwark and Snake Jar body parts. Furthermore, it was capable of destroying energy using Goda. Sadly, it seems that my opponents are now wary against my Bulkwark skill. At the same time, it is not capable of dealing tons of damage which makes passing a round very easy for my opponents. They don’t treat Nobita as a threat at all! Though I love this Axie, it seems that I require an additional firepower!
Limitations
When I was deciding for a new Axie, I had to set some goals which I had to achieve. This will ensure that I am able to meet my current needs. These are the goals and limitations that I had to follow when I was choosing this Axie.
- Budget under or close to 200$. As always, I decided not to purchase Axies that are so expensive. The floor price of Axies are going lower, thus it would be unwise for me to spend more than necessary since I still plan to create new teams for my cousin to use. Plus, there are a lot of underrated Axies sitting in the floor price. Furthermore, meta is constantly shifting so following the current build may or may not be competitive in the following season.
- Durable Axie. Once again I decided to look for durable Axie! If you have read my previous posts, I always add this requirement when looking for an Axie. So reptiles and Dusk Axies are always in my radar! Skills with damage and moderate defense are always good as well as long as my opponents don’t have Soothing Song ofcourse
- Has at least 1 High Damage Beast/Bug skill. In the current meta, Dusk Axies are more prevalent so it is necessary for me not to rely on my backline Axie Mr. Suave to deal with them all the time. This means that I will not be purchasing a pure Axie at all since Beast and Bug Axies are not durable!
- 0 energy card. I hate snail shell. I hate stuns. Terminator Axies have them both which makes it a necessity for Axies to have Zero(0) energy card. This will be used to remove the status effect. It would be a plus if it has other utility like having shields, debuff or damage.
- It must have a High Damage Aqua skill. Since Dusk Axies are the current meta, it is also obvious that players will look for counters. This means that I need to counter their counter! Axie Infinity is a game where we always one-up one another lol.
With this set of limitations and goals, I will be able to narrow down the kind of Axie that I will need. I just hope that this new Axie will be competitive and future proof. Future proofing Axie is also important since Axie Infinity V2 will introduce new gameplay mechanisms and skills for ear and eye parts.
Another Reptile
Now I introduce my new Axie, Axie #5399741! Since this Axie is still relatively new, I have not yet thought of a name that would fit. This Axie is another Reptile Axie! I wanted a Dusk Axie to be honest but their prices are also quite high. I found this Axie sitting in the floor as well! It has great skills with high damage and shield too. It has perplexed me why this Axie was priced cheaply under 200$ to be honest. So I thought it may be due to the recent speculations that poison debuff will be nerfed. Plus, it seems that this Axie has been used for breeding previously so it could also be due to that as well.
Skills Explanation
Furball. Furball is a skill that I have loved and hated as a scholar. It is a Beast part with a total of 120 damage and 30 shields. Despite the high damage, it greatly reduces the damage of crits since damage is dispered to 3 balls but it has also increased the crit chance solely due to having 3 attacks. Using this skill is quite scary against Plant Axies with Yam since each attack will inflict poison on itself! What a disaster! On the plus side, this Axie can also inflict poison with my “Grass Snake” tail part. Poision and multiple attacks are a match made in heaven I say so myself. This makes it a check on my list!
Grass Snake. This is a Zero(0) energy card which is a ranged attack that inflicts poison. This card has been very popular in Season 18. It is even used by the top 1 player in that season. This could also mean that this skill could be nerfed A.K.A. “balanced” since poison is very powerful! I decided on this Axie despite this speculated news since a zero energy card is still useful against stuns. I just hope the skill will not be rendered completely useless. For now, I give it an approval for my current needs.
Cerastes. Cerastes is a Reptile part with 90 damage and 60 shields. This skill has been a very powerful against faster Axies. Since Dusk Axies are faster than reptiles as well, it is a great boon for me this season. It has a high amount of shield as well! Unfortunately, this skill is not effective against Beast Axies. Most Beast Axies are slower than this Axie so there will be no additional damage. Furthermore, reptile cards will deal even less damage against the beast class. Despite all those limitations, this skill can easily put a Bird and Aqua Axie in the Red! It can deal a whopping 150 against Bird and Aqua Axies at least! Now that is useful! Another check for my goal!
Lam. The only mouth part which surpasses Catfish in looks department! It is an Aqua Card with 110 damage and 40 shields! Its effect increases it damage even more when its HP goes down to 50%. This makes it easier for me to dispatch Beast Axies! Using this skill plus cerates against Aqua Axies can easily nuke them down! Another check for my list!
Ending Notes
Having my own Axies makes it easy for me to replace or change an Axie. This means that I have more freedom as well when the meta changes. I could not help but think about the scholars who can only use a single team. If their manager is competitive, the team may or may not be changed. But by not changing teams, they are able to hone their skills and focus on it. For now, I will be further testing my new Axie in Arena for a while. In my next post, I will be showcasing some Gameplay footage and share the improvements(if there are any) in my MMR. Stay safe friends! Buzzing off!