Marvel Rivals Players Are Striking Again, Due to One Major Change

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For starters, Season 7 made every character have a harder time gaining their Ultimate ability, reinforcing the mastery of regular hero skills rather than relying on their best technique. This has exposed some players for their lack of knowledge, but other smaller changes have been felt too. Massive buffs and nerfs to characters have changed how teams assemble, with one role in particular seeming to endure the most hardships.

Marvel Rivals’ Season 7 Has Seen Additional Character Bans In Competitive Modes

The change that is sparking a big buzz within the Marvel Rivals community the most right now is how Competitive matches now allow for three character bans from each team. This means that six characters from the hero shooter’s 48 character roster are unavailable during each match, once voted upon by both teams. With Black Cat to release with Season 7.5 soon, and future Seasons on the way, this was a highly requested change to keep up with the game’s growing hero selection.

Some players even called for four bans on each side of a match prior to Season 7’s extensive list of balance notes. Even as it stands, Marvel Rivals‘ ban system extends to any player who reaches Gold Rank or higher in Competitive modes, a change that was also brought about in Seasons beyond the game’s launch. Although initially praised by many, there are some flaws in this new, extended character ban system that players have quickly taken advantage of.

Players Have Been Eliminating Strategist Heroes From Play Exclusively In Different Matches

More often than not, a Competitive match in Season 7 will see six different heroes from the Strategist role get banned, as many fans see them as the strongest heroes in the game. Considering how strong characters like Gambit, Luna Snow, Invisible Woman, and Loki have been in the past, this isn’t surprising, but this has greatly frustrated players who enjoy supporting their team in that role. It doesn’t help that there are fewer Strategists than any other role in the game.

There are only 11 Strategists in Marvel Rivals, compared to 12 Vanguards and a ridiculous 25 different Duelists. So, when six different Strategists get banned, players in that role only have one in five options to choose from if they want to keep playing that role. Most of the time, popular characters who are seen as “broken” from casual and competitive players will never be allowed, with heroes like Cloak & Dagger, Gambit, and the newest character White Fox being prime examples.

There are multiple reasons why this might be happening, but most stem from how strong Strategists are compared to other characters at times. The best Strategists have a lot of self-sustainability, and are the sole reasons why their team survives intense competitions for match-winning objectives. Furthermore, some Strategist Ultimates are incredibly powerful, causing some players to ban Strategist characters simply because they don’t want to deal with those moves.

This isn’t to say that other characters aren’t powerful too during Season 7. Hela and Elsa Bloodstone are still two very lethal Duelists, capable of using their abilities to wipe out Strategists who may not have strong defenses. For the time being, many Strategist players are being forced to select characters they wouldn’t normally play, leading to plenty of complaints. Although this does allow underutilized heroes like Adam Warlock, Ultron, or Rocket Raccoon to get played, the harsh perception on Strategists through bans has led to unsurprising tension.

Frustrated Strategist Players Might Stop Playing The Role Entirely

The most aggravated Strategist players have been all over social media sites like Reddit or X, calling for a “Strategist Strike” in protest of the new ban system. This would be the second Strategist Strike in Marvel Rivals‘ life cycle, with the first occurring around Season 2, mainly in protest of a popular streamer who sparked discourse about the role’s players. Although this may be considered an extreme reaction, the impact of a Strategist Strike could affect a wide number of players.

This type of strike refers to players who normally play as Strategists to give up selecting the role, leaving teams without support going into matches. This can derail a team’s efforts to win, especially in Competitive matches where battle is fiercer as enemy teams fight for higher stakes. Non-Strategist players have called out those participating in this new Strike as childish or spoiled, claiming that the buffs to aggressive characters and strategies have “exposed” them for playing poorly before Season 7’s changes.

However, even if Strategist players are struggling to adapt to system changes, the fact that multiple matches cut the role’s numbers by more than half is still a concerning problem. Similar to how quick character nerfs have been implemented lately, perhaps the team behind Marvel Rivals can make competitive bans role-exclusive, freeing Strategists from the need to strike and cause discord within the hero shooter’s community.

What do you think of this new “Strategist Strike” taking place in Marvel Rivals? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!