Patch 0.17.2 dropped the patch Friday, and it was full of goodies!
They touched up the UI; my favourite changes are the colourization of the prestige cards and the new board design, complete with light-up turn indicators.
Gauntlet/Arena is a whole new experience. It has a ton of depth, probably enough that someone could write a series of articles on it. It feels like their is real agency now. You can even draft mono-colour decks! If you are even remotely interested in limited it's worth checking out.
Last, but certainly not least, are the balance changes. Overall Rhino did an excellent job. I'm just going to dive right in, but if you don't know the cards, you can follow along here:
Balance Changes courtesy Corey Millhouse
YELLOW
Blood Idol - The reduction in cost makes the card playable, but players are probably going to opt for other two drops first.
Riot Guard - Better than it was, but still not making the cut.
Bob "Banzai" Vaquero - His ability is still expensive, but the ability to target minions now makes this a viable control card.
Harvester - This might have been balanced for flavour reasons. Most of the time you'll want the card right away, but the maze has uses too. Overall maybe a slight nerf, but still a solid card.
Meso Libre - No longer a stall and a 2 for 1 against aggro, but still an amazing card.
Scourge of Serpents - Anywhere from playable to scary. This has the ability to actually impact the game now.
Fleeting Thunderbird - Huh. Still not playing it.
Yana Virus - This is now a potential removal option. I don't expect it to see wide play as aggro wants to spread their units. Awesome in a canine meta.
Vibrant Quetzal - It's better, but still not good enough.
Volition - All the same power, but less blowouts. If a control deck is still alive at 10 mana with a bunch of cards, it's a small blessing if they kill you fast. I have no issues with it staying like this.
Venomfang Mutant - This will be the go-to 2-drop for most yellow decks now.
Wonder Drugs - I like this better; the bonus-window was too small before.
BLUE
Stone Mother - Cheaper, but still not good enough.
Bragi Runesinger - I like this change. In theory you now have time to play a unit and attack before something gets frenzy. It should lead to less blowouts. It also adds more tension to the card itself. Do you cash in to frenzy something, or hold out one more turn to draw 3?
Demolition Speedway - Good change. Now the Valkyries can make the best use of the speedway. Previously it was too easily splashed.
Draugr - Powerful stats and abilities, but low immediate impact. It's fringe playable now at least.
Tyr Monomund - Previously a playable card that rarely made the cut. Now a better card, but still unlikely to crack many lists.
RED
Enyo, Murder's Muse - Better, but not good enough. This buff really helps here 2v2 stock though.
Howling Abyssal - This could actually punish some decks. I could see it making the cut in some metas.
Panic Raider - All the decks that wanted this card still want this card.
Serapis, False Apostle - This card is close, maybe somebody can make it work.
Wings of Abaddon - Another excellent change. This card is still great, but now it has a lot more different applications.
GREEN
Avenging Alpha - Non-canine decks that wanted this card will now play Wendish Giant. Canine decks will play it the same amount as before.
Bald Mountain - Well done. It is the same cost to return and play a spell, but you can no longer cheat on mana.
Deported - As someone that really likes symmetry, this bothers me. I can see why they don't want easily splashable bounce though.
Dora - After enough activation this will now be worth a full card. This is an enabler, but I don't think we quite have a deck for it yet. No longer auto-dust.
Wendish Giant - The new green 4-drop biggie. Good stats if that's what you want.
The Invisible City - I don't like this change as it broke the cycle. The downside wasn't what was holding this card back.
Koschei, The Deathless - It's getting closer. The card is probably fine now, it just doesn't have a deck.
Night Hag - Meso Libre wished he had these stats. The effect is powerful, but the uncertain duration of the stun scares people.
Pillage - Playable, but you probably want this to punish 80% of the meta decks before you include it.
Rewind Hex - I never played this card when it cost 1. I don't like having cards with such variable power level. It's great when it's great and the effect is still worth 2, but overall it's tougher to fit into the curve.
Sweet Spinnerette - I still don't think it does enough to warrant a deck slot. Would be interesting as a 2/1.
Wake the Bones - A lot of people wanted this change. Never thought I'd see the day people would be clamoring for a Raise Dead nerf.
ORANGE
Resupply Caravan - Some assembly required. I like that big burst turns should require some setup.
Daeva of the Wastes - Better stats,but still a terrible card.
Desertification Engine - Same great stats, now with more sand! This card should probably see more play.
Ghul - I like it, hate cards should now be easily splashable. Still a very good card, just requires more of a commitment to Orange.
Notarize Reality - Still not a card I'd play. I like to always know what my card is going to do. The first mode is bad, and the second might be OK? It's a tough tempo hit to take though.
Parsa Divinity Cannon - Better in limited, still not going to see constructed play.
Quicksand Hourglass - I like this change. Having to remember effects over multiple turns sucks. I'd rather play three card monte every turn than a very long game of memory.
Radiant Vessel - Still not good enough. (Meme decks aside)
Salt the Fields - Great flavour, but this need another mode to be playable
Sariel of Enoch - This went from "meh" to "hmm". Some decks may want the effect.
Shadhavar Beast - This card did not need a buff; it was already very good. Half the decks that were playing Ifreet should have been playing this.
PURPLE
Wok Shield( Battle Chef) -Expect to see a lot more of this card now.
Compulsory Curse - More interesting, but still not likely to see much play.
Kite Glider - This card has a lot more potential now. I still wouldn't play more than 1 as it feels terrible when you draw 2.
Mind Freak - The nerf doesn't change much; i's still card disadvantage. This needs to make the card unburnable.
Misfortune - Not sure this needed a nerf. It was best used be aggro decks, but now I don't expect it to see a lot of play. Decks with repeatable, targetable damage might still want it.
Night Market - I like it! Lots of deck building potential with Rainbow's End, Disc of Circadia, and cards that shuffle cards back into the library.
Thriving Shade - Seems decent now, just needs a deck. Forces your opponents hand or you get a cheap 6/6.
Whitemoon Arena - I've tested this card more than any other. It's definitely playable now and can snowball quite quickly. However, it is currently bugged in that moving minions onto it doesn't always give the full buffs (Playing from hand works fine). To "win" your minion must survive. That isn't totally obvious (but not Duelyst "discoverable" level bad).
Sniffer - I'd rather try and buy my Divine Compasses in the Night Market.
Zen Archer - This punishes Agile, but who cares? It doesn't do enough otherwise to warrant inclusion.
Perfect Grade - This is now a lot tougher to kill, which makes it interesting in necromantic decks. I don't expect it to see much play in decks without Green.
Decoy - Don't like this change. It increases the high roll chance. I don't think Rhino is super happy with it either. I expect it to get reworked at some point.
God of Gamers - The stats still aren't good enough and the item isn't worth the bad stats.
Master of Shadows - The stat change makes for a interesting minion, but the granting Stealth ability is still useless. Expect it to see more play though as some decks will have a tough time killing it.
Familia Sprite - Maybe someday, but probably not until there are some good one-drop witches.
MULTI-COLOUR
Pseudonomicon - This used to have no activation cost in Alpha and was busted. It got over-nerfed and was too awkward to really try. It's good again!
Canine Cavalry - Right now you only get punished for playing minions together. If that changes, some decks might want this.
Fire Eater - Something needed to happen as this was making most 1-drop unplayable. This card will probably always be too good or not good enough, but some decks may still want to try this.
Dissonant Drone - A decent stall card and a pain for some decks to fight through. I still think most control decks will look elsewhere first though.
Eirsdottir - This is a lot more powerful. I like the increased focus on positioning.
Llort - Some people like to play mill, some people don't. This change isn't going to effect the opinion of either.
Plague Minions - This is a powerful card, but it was before. It wasn't the casting cost that was holding this card back, but the supporting cast, and that hasn't changed much.
Brewing Time
Those changes should really shake up the meta. Lots of things to try out! Deck techs coming soon. (Excuse any grammar, I'll try to give it a proper edit later.)
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