It's the first days of Axie Origin and as expected the meta is getting wacky.
There's been a few archetypes floating around -- triple plant summon, poison builds, topaz builds -- but none have been as dominant as the basic triple aqua composition.
Triple Aqua Aggro Meta
With most card games the earliest meta of a new set will usually be aggro-centric. Aggressive decks are easier to build and pilot compared to slower decks. People figure them out quickly and start grinding Ws in the early meta, then the slower strategies get dialed in and counterplay begins.
In the case of Axie Origin it seems like a lot of what is happening is just the usual aggro early meta phenomenon.
But, there are a few cards that seem to be off-balance. Triple aqua has it way too easy right now, with lots of turn 1 kills and insane damage output that is way too consistent.
Shoal Star
The biggest offender is Shoal Star. This card is just way too strong, allowing up to 120 damage for one energy. That's about twice as much as the usual one energy card. I don't think they thought it through when they balanced this card.
Many players right now are running double or even triple shoal star on their triple aqua builds. It's just an insane card allowing for such consistent kills on turn 1/2.
The second card makes it even worse.
Nimo
Nimo allows for consistent early game energy ramp, especially when combined with Telescope. That means not only do you have broken aggro damage available, you can get extra energy to use more of it.
I don't know how they could balance nimo other than just fundamentally changing the effect of the card. Gaining one energy for free in early game aggro is stupid strong.
When you lose an Axie on turn one, then get hit with all the Fallen Cards that ruin your draws after that, it can stop your team before you ever get to play a card. This should never happen unless it's some kind of extremely difficult/rare draw, not a consistent turn one combo.
Nimo gives free energy so that the turn one player can use four energy immediately, or the turn two player can use five energy. The tools are there to consistently draw and use high-damage attacks with this energy, especially as players unlock more charms.
This is way too strong.
Koi
Koi is not as bad a culprit as the other cards, but the damage does seem high. With a team of triple aqua you can do 165 damage with Koi, which is 82.5 damage per energy.
Given how powerful aqua aggro is in general, maybe Koi could use a slight damage reduction. Instead of 120 base damage, I think 110 or 115 might be more balanced.
Nerfs Incoming
Make no mistake, nerfs are coming. I do not recommend you buy any expensive aquas with these moves right now since we have no idea how severe the nerfs will be.
I am sure of this because JPhillip La already acknowledged the issue with Shoal Star in particular. (and Jihoz retweeted it)
I'm happy they noticed Bidens / Tricky not working, I have been trying to use both of those cards. Bidens in particular, until they fix it I am doomed against poison.
If you want to farm some wins in the short-term of the Axie Origin arena then Triple Aqua is probably the best way to do it. Stack up those shoal stars and nimos and you'll be on a path to victory... until the nerfs.
Sample Team
Here is a sample triple aqua team. Of course you won't have exactly these cards but you can use this as a baseline for the current OP broken aqua build.
Conclusion
My main conclusion here is that this build is definitely getting nerfed, probably multiple times, so just don't go buying these Axies unless you are ok with them being nerfed possibly within days.
Have you been using Triple Aqua? What do you think they should do to nerf it?