Balance Blog - Sept 17 (Epics Evolved)

Hello again, mortals!

We've been really happy with the amount of diversity in ranked play this weekend and with the overall power level of most gods.

We still have a keen eye on Light but we have seen some fantastic decks pop up that we hope players will continue to explore. Given the great health of the meta this weekend we are choosing to not make any changes based off of the current overall strength of the gods! 

Instead, we are choosing to make a number of changes to some of our rarer cards (particularly Epics). When players open Epic/Legendary cards we really want them to feel like they have opened something that matches that rarity. This does not mean we want to have our cards power level tied to rarity, but rather we want to have the overall complexity and 'feel' of a card tied to rarity. 

This is a hard concept to capture and we have been implementing a lot of these changes in previous weeks to rework our Legendary cards. 

Our changes this week are not all we have planned but rather these are the changes to Epics and Legendaries that we felt comfortable pushing through this weekend - there will be more in the future.   

Epic Changes

Death

• Hotep the Embalmer changed from Roar: Pick a spell in your hand that costs no more than your total unlocked mana gems, take its mana cost in damage, it costs 0 this turn. to Roar: Pick a card in your hand that costs no more than your total unlocked mana gems, take its mana cost in damage, it costs 0 this turn.
• Thanakris Spell-Locusts changed from 1 health to 3 health.
• Dust to Dust changed from Destroy all creatures with 3 or less health. to Destroy all creatures with mana cost 3 or less.
• Death, Unborn changed from Roar: Change your god power to Blight. Roar: Set both gods health to 20. to Soulless. Change your god power to Blight. Set both gods health to 20. Destroy a random enemy creature with cost 5 or more. Draw two cards.

Deception

• Lokian Disciple changed from Hidden. Whenever this creature attacks a god, give sleep to a random enemy creature. to Hidden. Flank. Whenever this creature attacks a god, give sleep to a random enemy creature.
• Three's a Crowd changed from 7 mana to 6 mana.
• Deception, Unshrouded from Roar: For the rest of the game, obliterate your hand at the end of each turn. Change your god power to Larceny. to Roar: Give all enemy creatures sleep. Change your god power to Larceny.
• Larceny (created from Deception, Unshrouded) from Delve a card from your opponent's deck, move it to your hand and shuffle in an Empty Card. to Add a copy of a random card from your opponents god to your hand. Add a Rogue Skulker to your opponents deck.
• Lord of Whispers changed from Hidden. When this creature damages your opponent, add a copy of a card from your opponent's deck to your hand. to Hidden. Flank. When this creature damages your opponent, add a copy of a card from your opponent's deck to your hand.

Light

• Griffith, The Chosen changed from Roar: Set the strength of all other creatures with 4 or more strength to 1. to Protected. Ward. Roar: Set the strength of all other creatures with 4 or more strength to 1.
• Light, Ascended changed from Give all friendly 2 strength creatures health +2. Your god power becomes Shine. to Soulless. Give all friendly creatures health +2. Your god power becomes Shine.
• Shine (created from Light, Ascended) from Select a friendly 2 strength creature. It gains +2/+2 and cannot attack gods this turn. to Summon two Will O' Wisps.
• Osiris, The Eternal changed from 6 mana, 6/7 to 3 mana, 3/4
• Alexis, Archon's Sword changed from 3 strength to 5 strength.
• Golden Harpe changed from At the end of your turn, summon a 1/1 Injured Soldier with frontline. At the start of your opponent's turn, heal all friendly creatures for 1 and lose 1 durability. to At the end of your turn, summon a 1/1 Injured Soldier with frontline. At the start of your opponent's turn, heal all friendly characters for 1 and lose 1 durability.

Magic

• Lost in the Depths changed from Obliterate your deck. Replace it with random cards. They cost 2 less to Target a creature. Obliterate cards in your deck with the same cost as that creature, and draw a card.
• Time Bomb changed from Roar: Your god gains protected. If you already have protected, this creature gains protected instead. to Roar: If your god is protected, Time-Bomb gains strength +1 and protected. Otherwise, your god gains protected.

Nature

• Faeflame Blade changed from Twinstrike. Blitz. Creatures damaged by Faeflame Blade gain confused. to Twinstrike. Blitz. Roar: Target creature becomes confused.
• Vinebound Jotun changed from 8/8 to 10/12.
• Grass Roots changed from Add 2 random Nature cards to your hand. Obliterate 6 random cards from your void. to Obliterate your void. If you obliterated 6 or more cards, add a random Nature card to your hand and reduce its cost by 2. Otherwise, add two random Nature cards instead.

War

• Demoralise changed from 2 mana, Deal 1 damage to all damaged creatures. Draw a card. to 1 mana, Deal 1 damage to all damaged creatures. At the end of the turn, draw a card.

Neutral

• Ashen Drake changed from Roar: Deal 2 damage to an enemy creature, and 2 more damage, split randomly among other enemy creatures. to Roar: Deal 4 damage to an enemy creature, and 4 more damage, split randomly among other enemy characters.
• Death Masque changed from 4 health to 5 health.
• Penthesilean Warrior changed from Roar: Give two friendly Amazons attack +2. to Roar: Give all other friendly Amazons +2/+2.
• Lara Grim, Spellthief changed from Hidden for 1 turn. Whenever a spell is cast, give a copy of it to the other player. from Hidden for 1 turn. Backline. Whenever a spell is cast, give a copy of it to the other player.

• Tyet, Heir To The Sky changed from Flank. Frontline. Twin strike. Ward. Gain ward whenever a spell is played. Roar: Gain +2/+3 for each card in your hand. to Flank. Frontline. Twin strike. Ward. Gain ward at the end of each turn. Roar: Gain +2/+1 for each card in your hand.
• Nepthys Guardian changed from Frontline. Roar: If your deck and hand contain no duplicates, delve a legendary creature. to Frontline. Afterlife: Give a random friendly Anubian protected and +1/+1.
• The Sky Reaver changed from 6 mana to 5 mana.
• Influential Incubus changed from Roar: For every three Nethers in your deck, this creature gains +1 health and deals 1 damage to your god. to Roar: For every three Nethers in your deck, this creature gains +1 health and deals 1 damage to both gods.

• Wrath Zealot changed from Deadly. Ward. Roar: Summon a Wrath Zealot. to Deadly. Frontline. Roar: Summon a Wrath Zealot.
• Demogorgon changed from Leech. At the end of your turn, deal 3 damage to a random creature with sleep. to Leech. At the end of your turn, deal 3 damage to a random creature with sleep. Roar: All other creatures go to sleep.
• Boost Walker changed from 2 health to 4 health.

Balance Housekeeping

• Arkmonian Anteater changed from 4 health to 3 health. Added 'Amazon' tribe.

We're going to be adding more Tribes to existing cards in the future and part of that will be adjusting their power level to fit into the tribe. Arkmonian Anteater is our first test in this regard.

I'll see you next time, mortals!

- Petrify

See more:

• The Genesis Set: Explained
• Balance Blog - Sept 10 (Twelve New Spells)
• Chris Clay Joins Gods Unchained as Game Director