Friday saw a new patch hit the Mythgard servers bringing bug fixes, a combat UI upgrade, and a slew of balance changes (probably more than most people were expecting). For me, it was a relief, as I was finally able to start discussing the changes with the community. For those that are unaware, I acted as an advisor on the purple balance patch, and then again on the most recent one.
What did Rhino want?
Nerf Red/Orange (overplayed and has a very good winrate)
Nerf Red(high win rate)
Buff blue
Remove some rush and replace with other aggro tools
The first two points were the starters for the conversation and the second two points came out after some discussion with the advisors. The above points then became the mandate for the patch.
How do the card changes come about?
The ideas come from everywhere: Feedback channel, partner meetings, random Discord comments, advisor suggestions, and of course from the Rhinos themselves.
The advisors role is to bring the game-level experience to the balance discussion. Statistics may tell you that a card/deck is winning at too high of rate, but it doesn't tell you why, or what could be done to change it.
Advisors also act as a sanity check; another chance to catch an unintended interaction or consequences of a change. Considering how many changes have been made since Alpha, the Rhinos have a very good track record. Some games it seems that every balance patch is followed by an immediate hotfix nerf.
After all the discussions the Rhinos sequester themselves and deliberate. The final decision on any changes is made by the Rhino team, and the advisors have no voice in that conversation.
Things you may not consider
Art & Lore - Changing card text is easy, but it still has to fit the mould, or you have a flavour fail
Translations - Any major changes to a card have to be translated
Programming & Testing - Adding even a small ability to a card could require a programming change, or at the very least require testing the interaction
Future sets - Changes could make cards too similar or cause undesirable interactions with newer cards
Alternate game modes - Does a change break a different game mode?
Players like different things - One man's trash is another man's treasure.
There are a lot of factors that affect how and what you can change. A lot of great ideas never get implemented because they just aren't feasible.
The gory details
Below I'll touch on some of the balance changes and try to link them to some of the goals of the patch. It really isn't this simple because changes don't happen in a vacuum. Card balance is a tangled mess and all you can do is pull strings and hope to change the mass in the right way.
Improving Aggro
Aggressive decks tend to win either by overwhelming their opponent with early pressure or by sacrificing the remainder of their resources to push through the final points of damage. Players have different preferences when it comes to the version of aggro they are playing with or against, but ideally both versions are viable. When only one type of aggro exists control decks can hedge for it and push aggro out of the meta.
Several changes were made to either give aggro some more early game punch, or to give them the reach to finish off their opponent.
Alacrity
4[R]R → 3[R]R
Godsblud Transfusion
Give a minion +2/+2 → +3/+3 and Regen 2
Hacker’s Intuition
2[G] → 1[G]
Honed Edge
Give a minion +2/+1 → +2/+2
Hysterical Strength
Give a minion +2/+2 → +3/+3 until end of turn
Pack Mentality
2[Y]Y → 2[Y]
Reckless Vulcanist
2/1 → 3/2
Demise: Deals 1 damage to all minions and players → 2 damage to you and your opponent
Vulcan Brand
Give a minion Piercing and 'Demise: Deal 3 damage to → you, your opponent, and minions in the opposing three lanes'
The biggest winners from the list are Honed Edge and Reckless Vulcanist. Honed Edge both applies early pressure and makes blocking decisions difficult for the opponent while Vulcanist provides a threatening early minion with some late game reach. Vulcan Brand and Alacrity should not be underestimated though, they could be very powerful in the right deck.
Red, Red-Orange, and Rush
The power of the Red/Orange decks comes from having numerous minions with powerful effects AND good stats. On top of this the flexibility(removal or damage) of numerous rush minions allowed the deck to adapt to any matchup, leaving it with few bad matchups. It wasn't unbeatable, but it needed to be toned done. The difficulty is that there wasn't just one change to fix everything.
Shopworn Bull
3[R]R → 4[R]R
The stats were too good for the cost and ability. Red also had an abundance of 3-drops so changing the cost was a better choice than reducing the stats.
Xerxian Recruiter
2/3 → 2/2
Recruiter almost always draws a card, so why did it also have one of the better 2-drop stat lines? Changing it to a 2/2 makes it more in line with Firesong Prodigy.
Lavish Proxy
4/9 → 2/9
This change provoked a lot of questions. Cards like this should be added to the deck for the ability. You shouldn't get to play a minion with powerful stats that sometimes also happens to have an incredibly powerful effect.
Ironbelly Wyvern
3/2 → 3/3
Rush → Swift
It was this or Daring Trapezists. I think Wyvern was a better removal option, so hitting it made more sense. This still leaves Red rush minions at 2-3-4.
Wings of Abaddon
▽ → (1): Sacrifice one of your other minions to get Immortal until end of turn
Increasing the sacrifice cost makes it tougher to use as removal and still leave a threat. This isn't a strict nerf as the ability is now usable multiple times in a turn.
To Heaven and Back
When an occupying non-Angel minion dies, return it to its owner's hand. It is now an Angel with +1/+1 Agile and its mana cost reduced by (2) permanently
Removing the +1/+1 still allows players to abuse the enchantment (which is the fun part!), but it lowers the impact of rush minions.
You can't just take
Red decks almost exclusively relied on the same set of cards, the "rush package" and a few others. Just nerfing red cards would have left it in poor spot. A few cards were boosted to open up some other deck possibilities for the colour.
Sea Lord’s Trident
(3) → (2): Create a 4/2 Fel Kraken if you don't control one already
Creating a minion was just too expensive. Fires of Creation decks might take a closer look at this card now.
Serapis, False Apostle
▽: +1🗲 and deal 1 damage to you and → drain 1 life from your opponent
Serapis is much more interesting for control decks now.
Stray Panacea
0/2 → 0/1
Demise: Gain 6 → 4 life and draw a card
A one drop for control decks. Red shouldn't be using the same 1-drop in every deck. This card also has some interesting possibilities alongside in some kind of aristocrats (self-sacrifice) deck.
Targeted Changes
Allfather’s Horn
Banish this spell → all your copies of this spell after casting
This card is now a pseudo-mythic. The change maintained the card's powerlevel while removing in infamous double-horn lethals.
Decoy
0/2 → 1/2
→ Defender
→ Deadly
When a minion attacks this, draw a card → While in Stealth, when a friendly minion is attacked, swap positions with it before combat
Finally Decoy feels like a decoy. This probably won't see widespread play, but it is definitely playable and will make for some great "gotcha!" moments.
Ingrid Stormdottir
7[B]BB → 5[B]BB
5/5 → 4/3
Ingrid is pushed, but it is perfectly fine to have some pushed cards. Story cards are an excellent place to do this as they help to hype and sell the game. You can now expect her to appear in all Valkyrie lists, which is as it should be.
The stat reduction may seem minor, but there is a huge different between 4 and 5 attack when it comes to alpha strike. The lower health also opens her up to more non-combat removal.
Gigantomachia
5[R]R → 6[R]R
This card was in a weird spot in that it was too good for aggro and too good for control, but reasonably costed for midrange decks. Aggressive decks could too reliably cast this on curve to prevent control decks from stabilizing while control decks could banish powerful boards early enough to leave them at a decent life total. This change keeps the same powerlevel but leaves behind a less frustrating card.
Grinning Kolobok
1/1 → 0/1
Kolobok was often ramp at no cost as it often managed to also trade with the opponent's one drop. The player no longer gets to have their pancake and eat it too.
The Rest
The following changes are unlikely to have a big effect on the meta, but as this is the last planned balance patch before the expansion, it is the last opportunity to give them a tweak.
Ankle Biter
1/2 → 2/2
Breach: Gets +2/+0 → +1/+1
Brainstorm
3[B]B → 3[B]
Calliope Muse
3/2 → 3/3
Cornered Wildcat
3/3 → 4/4
After defending in combat, the attacking minion takes an additional 3 → 4 damage
Foresight (power)
Once per turn, look at the top 3 cards of another player's deck or Divination 2 → 3 your own
Garden of Iriy
2[G]G → 2[G]
House Elf
1/2 → 2/1
Vodnik Informant
1/2 → 1/3
Jotun Shatterfist
Gets +2/+0 → +3/+0 after each time it takes damage
Magpyre Enforcer
2/2 → 3/3
Triassic Kraken
6/6 → 7/7
Jorthsong
Return an enchantment to its owner's hand and draw a card → OR Return an enchantment from your boneyard to your hand
Mothmara
1/2 → 2/1
Ravine Guardian
1/3 → 1/4
Gets +3/+0 → +2/+0 and [Defender] during your opponent's turn
Sablewing Zira
→ Your spells have their mana cost reduced by (1)
The ensorcelled spirit of Bald Mountain claws its way back from the abyss!
Sand Scout
→ Swift
Has Swift and Does not take retaliatory damage when attacking while occupying a Desert enchantment
Iku-Turso
10/10 → 9/9
Balance isn't easy
Writing this article really reinforced how difficult the process is. Changes can be both calculated and arbitrary. Nerfs can be buffs, and vice versa. A radical change can have no effect, while a slight tweak can make all the difference. And you never really know until it's too late. However, since I've yet to be stabbed with a pitchfork, I'll say so far, so good.
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