So the next balance notes just dropped. Unlike armor 2.0, these card changes sound pretty thoroughly thought out. They also sound like a done deal:
These changes are hitting PTR today for 24 hours for final testing, followed by a release to the Beta realm at some point on the 23rd February, 2022 PST (pending everything goes well).
I won't bore you going over every card (you can read just like I can), but I wanted to highlight some.
The exception to the above is this section. These are 'reworks' rather than just tweaks that buff/nerf a card slightly and represent major changes worth highlighting.
Change stats from 5/5 to 6/6
Change text from “Regen +2. After a friendly creature enters the board, give it regen +2. After an enemy creature enters the board, give it confusion.”
to
”Regen +2. Roar: Refresh 4 mana and delve four mana worth of nature spells.”
Big upgrade considering the old text was terrible.
This is also the first time we are seeing this type of delve card text. When presented with delved cards, you could pick a 4-mana card, but you could also pick 2 2-mana cards. Because she refreshes 4 mana, this guarantees you can play them immediately after delving. This could lead to huge swing turns where you drop 11 mana worth of value on your opponent.
Change stats from 5/5 to 6/6.
Change text from “Spell boost +2. After you summon a creature, give it spell boost +2. Roar: Give each friendly creature spell boost +2.”
to
”Spell boost +2. Roar: Reduce the cost of a spell in your hand by X, where X is your current spell boost.”
Another huge improvement.
This, along with the change to Stormfield, is a big boost to spell power magic decks. Now it will be very possible to drop SoP and have a free Epiphany to drop on the same turn. At minimum, you reduce the cost by 2 mana, which means this is effectively a 5 mana card. (Note quite - you still have to wait to unlock 7 mana to play it, but you get the idea.)
Change mana cost from 6 to 7.
Change stats from 5/3 to 6/6.
Change text from “Hidden. After one of your creatures attacks, give it hidden for one turn. Roar: Give flank to your other creatures.”
To
”Hidden. When you summon a creature, give it hidden for one turn. Roar: Summon two 1/1 Rogue Skulkers with deadly and give them hidden.”
Deadly is a great method of control. Lady Marcella gives us a weaker version of this at 3 mana, but the Professor now extends this out into the late game.
Importantly, at 7 mana, Professor now survives Inferno. However, spawning 2 skulkers makes you more susceptible to Rapture Dance in the mirror match-up. Otherwise: hidden Demos anyone? Let the teeth-gnashing (including mine) commence!
Change mana cost from 5 to 2.
Change text from: “Deal 2 damage to each creature without order.
Give spell boost +1 to each of your creatures.”
to
”Give spell boost +1 to each of your creatures.”
The last card from this section I want to highlight. This is the change I referenced earlier, and makes it a lot easier to get spell power decks up and running. A few creatures on board + Stormfield + Form of Power on the same turn will be nasty.
Change text from: “Blitz. After a friendly creature enters the board, give it blitz and +2 strength.”
to
“Blitz. After you summon a creature, give it godblitz and +2 strength.”
Giving creatures at this mana range godblitz is a big deal. Huge. Think of Hector or Hyrtacus coming down and then going face. I'm a little conflicted by the "Blitz" on this card. Using it to attack a creature makes it less likely to survive to make use of the godblitz. On the other hand, this presents some choices that make the game interesting. Sometimes blitz will be worth it. Sometimes you might choose not to attack (e.g. if he is behind a frontline).
Change text from “Give order +5 to each creature with strength 4 or more.”
To
”Give order +4 to each creature with strength 3 or more.”
It's now playable. Maybe even good in the order light decks I've been playing. Importantly, the 4-mana slot for this deck was pretty slim on options. This isn't exactly Light's board wipe, but it's a close as Light is likely going to get. The combo with Divine Judgement is also nice. Big Beast Nature beware.
Reduce mana cost from 8 to 7.
Reduce stats from 8/8 to 7/7.
“Guild” tag added.
Hang it up Cyclops Defender. You got crept. This isn't a little buff. This is a huge buff. Importantly, hard removal is a lot less effective given that the defensive frontline is separate from the creature. Ray of Disintegration laughs at Cyclops Defender by contrast. Of course, Apoc Now is not phased, but that cards busted.
Change text from: “Backline.
Ability: This creature takes 1 armor from an enemy creature, then deals this creature’s armor as damage to it.”
To
”Backline. Roar & Ability: Steal an enemy creature’s armor and add it to this creature, then deal this creature’s armor as damage to that enemy.”
I mainly want to highlight this one because it makes one thing clear: the dev team is aware of how slow ability cards are. Unless the ability is incredibly powerful, I hope to see them change more cards to "Roar & Ability".
Overall, this card is a hard counter for armor, but deception has way better options.
Overall, I'm happy to see that they once again brought out the scalpel instead of the sledgehammer. Yes, I'm sad my Moose is now 5/6. It's still slightly better than Helios Battlesworn given the wild tag plus blessed (minus confused). The slight nerf to Orcish Elite was a good call. Others are likely to be more controversial:
Change health from 4 to 3.
Change text from: “Backline. Ward. After a friendly creature loses order, add a random Guild creature to your hand. Ability: Pick one — Give a friendly creature +2, +3 or +4 order.”
to
”Backline. Ward. After a friendly creature’s order reaches 0, add a random Guild creature to your hand. Ability: Give a friendly creature +2 order.”
Look, what do you want? The card was clearly too strong. This is the lightest nerf you could have hoped for and doesn't fundamentally change the value of the card. You can't drop it on turn 1 against nature for fear an Underbrush Boar might eat it. We can live with that.
Change text from: “Your creatures gain +1/+2 and lose sleep.”
to
”Your creatures gain +1/+1 and lose sleep.”
Yes, light is weak. Think long-term. This is once again the slightest nerf that they could have done. In the CSR, light is getting a ton of support. Including a backline + ward battle mage spitting out 2/2s every turn. IMBryn (dev) was clear in the discord that this nerf is to make those other cards possible. Now, they can move ahead making it easier for light to get wide.
Monolith / Falling Star / All-Seeing Spire nerfs are all reasonable. You'll still get tons of value out of them, and I don't see anyone dropping them due to these changes. The all-seeing spire change will also help you not mill yourself against opponents with no answers.
We gave the dev team a pass for the (obviously) rushed card changes that were part of the armor 2.0 PTR test, and this is why. They've demonstrated that they understand their game and what makes cards good/bad. In addition, we continue to give them a pass for not including things like Polyhymnia in this balance update. They are still mulling armor. Making changes at this point doesn't make sense (except for poor skeletal hoplite which was just horrible).
Really happy overall!
