According to Relic Guards are OP and that is why they are getting nerfed.
Their getting less deflection more pop and more CP.
"We are lowering the PTRS’ deflection damage to reduce their impact against heavy armoured vehicles when attacking from the front."
(something I did pointed out when the deflection damage was increased)
"Guards are having their timing adjusted through a CP increase due to their over effectiveness against a wide range of targets at the time they hit the field; their population is also being increased to match other elite squads."
actually reading into the changes show the biggest nerf is to their pricing, and the damage on deflection.
grinding down heavily armored tank through deflection damage is nonesense, it's just logical to nerf it.
however, no nerf was done to their performance aside from that the PTRS change. Their anti-infantry capability remain completely untouched.
this mean that relic felt confident about their current performance, not if their pop efficiency. The guard will still give units like the ober trouble after the patch, but the soviet will have to play a higher premium.
is guard OP by the loose definition? yes, but more accurately a matter of pop efficiency. Guards being able to beat ober has been deem not an issue itself.