Balance Update August - Core Set Refresh and Mortal Judgement

Hi Mortals,

It's time for a balance shake-up! We've been working hard to get the meta into a very stable position over the last few months and are very proud of that work. But we've identified that board interaction isn't as strong as it could be - and this patch is all about changing that.

There are two changes in this patch that we expect to be controversial. Dralamar has been reverted to his original design from CSR, meaning the Dralamar combo deck now has a much higher variance. Prayer of the Desperate has also been completely reworked as it was the culprit of some of the most uninteractive game states. 

As part of this shake-up, we'll put each patch onto the Public Test Realm before it goes live. For this patch, the PTR will be open for a limited window - from Friday 12 August until Tuesday 16 August at midday AEST. As the PTR came to a close we wanted to thank you all of those that participated in providing feedback in regards to the PTR.

Remember, this is the first of several balance patches we will be doing over the next few weeks, and things are always subject to change - even between PTR and the live realm! So pay close attention to the full change list below.

We'll be watching closely for feedback from everyone, and you can expect to hear more soon from our balance team on Twitch at 4PM PDT on August 17th, 2022!

Without further ado, here are the first round of balance changes:

Buffs

• Chiroptic Hemovore - Stats changed
• Change stats from 4/1 to 3/2

• Pact Fiend - Stats and text Changed
• Change stats from 6/1 to 5/2
• Change text from "Roar: Deal 2 damage to your god."
• to "Roar: Deal 3 damage to your god."

• Soldier of T'artess - Stats Changed
• Change stats from 2/3 to 2/4

• Asenath, Hand of the Pharaohs - Stats Changed
• Change stats from 4/4 to 4/5

• Remnis, Unscrupulous Gatemage - Text changed
• Change text from "Frontline. Roar: Summon a random 9 mana creature for both players."
• to "Frontline. At the end of each player's turn, they summon a random 9 mana creature."

Changes

• Homeguard Protector & Echo - Text Changed
• Change text from "Echo. Protected."
• to "Echo. Frontline."

• Armory Heist - Mana Cost and Text Changed
• Change mana cost from 6 to 2
• Change text from "Give +2 strength to each of your creatures. Give -2 strength to each enemy creature."
• to "Pull the strongest relic from your opponent’s deck to your hand. If there are no relics in their deck, equip a 1/1 Barbed Hook instead."

• Penumbra Howler - Mana Cost, Stats and Text Changed
• Change mana cost from 1 to 2
• Change stats from 2/1 to 2/2
• Change text from "Roar: If you control two or more other Wild creatures, give them +1 strength."
• to "Roar: If you control two or more other Wild creatures, delve a Wild creature and put it into your hand.”

• Singsong Satyr - Text changed
• Change text from
• "Roar: Give +1 strength to each friendly creature."
• to "At the start of your opponent's turn, their god goes to sleep."

• Dralamar, Breaker of Crystals - Text changed, mana cost changed
• Mana cost reduced from 7 to 6
• Change text from
• "After you play a spell, refresh mana equal to its base mana cost."
• to "After you play a spell, refresh mana equal to its mana cost."

• Mountain Watcher - Text changed
• Change text from "Empower 3: Give +3/+2 to this creature."
• to "Empower 1: Gain "After your opponent draws a card, gain +1/+1".

• Bark Skin Warrior - Text changed, stats changed
• Change stats from 1/4 to 2/4
• Change text from "Regen 1. After this creature survives damage, heal it for 1 health."
• to "Regen 1. After this creature survives damage, deal the same amount of damage to your opponent's god."

• Prayer of the Desperate - Text changed, mana cost changed
• Change mana cost from 5 to 1
• Change text from "Give +2/+2 to each friendly creature"
• to "Heal you god for 4, and give it protected."

• Warrant Issuer - Text changed, mana cost changed
• Change mana cost from 5 to 4
• Change text from "At the end of your turn, summon a 1/1 Thaeric Militant. Empower 3: Summon a copy of this creature."
• to "Empower 1: Increase the mana cost of a creature in your opponent's hand by 2, up to a maximum of 9."

• Lady of Whispers - Text changed
• Change text from
• "Roar: Give +1/+1 to this creature for each other friendly creature from another domain. (Neutral creatures have no domain.”)
• to "After you summon a creature from another domain, draw a card."

• Cadence of the Infinite Sands - Text changed, stats changed
• Change stats from 9/9 to 8/8
• Change text from
• "Ability: Unlock a mana lock, refresh 9 mana, draw a card, and your creatures gain godblitz and twin strike."
• to ”Can’t attack. At the end of your turn, shuffle the weakest enemy creature into the opponent’s deck, and pull the weakest creature in your void to the board.”

• Blizzard Bolt - Text Changed
• Change text from "Deal 3 damage."
• to "Deal 3 damage to a creature and put it to sleep."

• Serris, Arbiter of the Trial - Text changed, mana cost changed
• Change mana cost from 5 to 6
• Change text from "After you play a card with Echo, refresh 1 mana."
• to "While this creature is in your hand, its mana cost is 6 minus each point of health your god has lost below 10.
• Roar: Set your god's health to 10."

Nerfs

• Metamorphosis - Mana cost increased
• Change mana cost from 1 to 2

• Line in the Sand - Text Changed
• Change text from "Give each enemy creature "Can't attack for 1 turn."
• to "Give each enemy creature "Can't attack gods for 1 turn.""

• Aethersnap - Mana Cost Increased
• Change mana cost from 3 to 4

• Ludian Thespian - Text ChangedChange text from
• "Echo. Tempt fate. Roar: Give +2 strength to another friendly creature."
• to "Echo. Tempt fate. Roar: Give +1 strength to another friendly creature."

Bug Fixes

• Creatures that are given Hidden for 1 Turn and destroyed at the same time by Veteran Archer’s Roar/Orfeo’s Distraction no longer keep Hidden permanently.
• Unbound Flames text has been updated for clarity to now say "Deal 4 damage. Empower 2: Then, deal 4 damage to each creature."

Final Notes:

These are the first set of changes to CSR/MJ that will be coming over the next couple of months. We expect you've gotten to the end here and are asking why this or that particular card wasn't changed - Anubians, for example, have escaped unscathed here despite being a target of community hate. Rest assured that they'll get their round of nerfs too.