[dok]

Some thoughts:

• VC unit balance/pricing is absolutely tighter than unit balance was in the classic releases. We have a larger playtest group and longer playtest process, and more significantly, we are building on 13 years of experience playing the game. Part of the reason Raelin is so crazy is because she came out at the beginning. The most OP stuff that came out at the end of classic (Hydras, Mezzos) is much less OP than the most OP stuff from 2005/2006. Balancing stuff is really hard when you don't have a metagame to work against.
  
  For these same reasons (experience with the metagame and with development) VC has actually gotten better at balance over time. At this point we've been at it longer than the original designers were. We have a great set of playtesting leads right now and very little gets past them.
  
  If I had it to do again, would spearmen cost 90, Quahon cost 210, and Incendiborgs have a range of 5? Yes, yes, and yes. But these are relatively minor tweaks, and "A" units are not a disaster anyway.
  
  
• The original design team wasn't going to use future waves to balance out those OP units. The idea that something was coming around the bend to balance Raelin should be plainly silly.
  
  IMO the most blatant "bring strong stuff down" design (Repulsors) and the most blatant "raise weak stuff up" design (Death Knights) are two of the worst things the ODT ever produced. (Deathreavers were arguably a "raise weak stuff up" design that had massive unintended consequences.) Additonally, several of my least favorite VC designs are the ones that set out to do those sorts of things. Going out of your way to patch old designs with new ones is often a path to bad or hacky designs.
  
  
• Marutuk with Cathar/Mezzos/10th/Cutters does not strike me as something liable to alter a minmaxed metagame in a major way. Marutuk is better at dealing with a screen than many big hitters, but still gets pulled down. In a meta with Knights + multiple champions, Dwarves, rats+stingers+Kaemon, and of course massed 4th, there's lots of answers. I honestly would be comfortable playing rats & unique ranged against those Marutuk armies, too, and I don't think the greenscale matchup is horribly slanted either.
  
  It's an army in the mix but I don't think it's so strong that it significantly alters the meta. Most of the time I'd rather Rae/Marcus with my 10th than Marutuk.
  
  Marutuk with Cathar/Mezzos/10th/Cutters is absolutely a viable competitive build; don't get me wrong. I just don't think it's strong enough that it tilts the meta significantly.
  
  
• The above should not be taken to mean that a truly competitive double blind prebuilt VC-inclusive event would be classic units only. For sure, VC units would appear. But nothing in VC really takes a Q9 ratpodge out of the top slot. Everything is still playing around that matchup, and trying to "meta the meta" by building a counter-counter army is just a really cool way to go 3-2.