MArcomage

Here are balance changes preview for the upcoming Halloween update. I will be posting new cards preview later.

http://helppage.3dfx.sk/fendek/aut_balance.png

Please note that cards that have new picture have no other changes.

The new sage will be WAY too good.. He's really easy to get thanks to the Nature keyword and with the added alliance bonus, he would drastically ramp up production. How about this instead:

Production xN where N = # Nature.
Wall +4M where M = # Alliance.

Or:

Production xN
Wall +3N
Where N = # Nature

The new Relic Hunter seems like it would function in a non titan deck exactly like Second Chance but with 1/3 the cost.

I like Prosperty the way it is right now.
Generals Army mentions Light Cavalery twice.

to jbryant3: Maybe a maximum limit for N would suffice, for example 4.

to Xenogeist: I think adding "If there is a Titan card in hand" at the beginning of the card effect, should prevent players to use it as the Second chance card.

to Sundancer: I don't see duplicate entry for Light cavalry in the card text. Note that first mention of "Light" is for the Light infantry.

4 seems like a very low ceiling for Ancient Sage... I can get that easily enough with Nature cards alone, and given the changed rules, the floor is actually 2 (as Ancient Sage is itself an Alliance and Nature card). Given, there is the possibility of notably higher results in combination with the Alliance keyword, but that was already a possibility with Ancient Sage.

If there must be a ceiling, it should certainly be higher then 4. This is a rare card, after all, and it does cost 10 of each resource to pull off. A ceiling of 4 means that (barring previously increased facilities), you only get a net profit of Stock +2... and seriously, that's a common-level effect that you're getting through a rare card's combination effect.

Adding the Alliance keyword and a ceiling of 4 would actually amount to nerfing the card, ironically enough... when I'm really using the card, I'll usually shoot for 5 or 6, which isn't at all unattainable using cards like Druid and School of Nature.

I agree that a cap of 4 is too low. Personally, I think it should remain how it is.

I suggest also some changes to the legends because are too overpowered. Facilities +1? come on! using a legend counter would be better: basic 5 +5 for every other legend in hand, if legend counter = 100 facilities +1.

How bout N = 1+Nature?

BTW,
The new Relic hunter makes Second chance obsolete. They are not in balance with each other. In non-unliving decks, it does the same at a 2/2/2 discount.

A suggestion for relic hunter: leave the cost 4/4/4 and add: stock+1 for every titan in hand.

There aren't enough Legend cards to rework Legend in the way you describe, and the main trick to Legends remains getting all the conditions to match. Legends are always really nice when you can get everything lined up... but really, the deck types that work best with Legend are NOT rainbow decks. They're very blue-centric decks that might splash a bit through the other colors, usually more to help with resource victory then anything else. As such, the benefit of Facilities +1 is mitigated heavily by the fact that properly employing and using this benefit is quite the effort.

Not that it's not an awesome benefit, but it's more circumstantial then it appears.

Here is the promised newcards preview:

http://helppage.3dfx.sk/fendek/halloween_update_newcards.png

Yay two of my cards made it into the game :D
great update ( still I'd like to have twice as much new cards ;) )

I'm not really a fan of those cards, like trap, that do things just to the card across from it. But otherwise, I like the update. It should shake things up a little bit. Are there more cards that will make the cut or is this it?

However, I think Pirate Bay should be a bricks card instead of a 0-cost one. It's useless in most 0-cost decks and you don't want to get it with volunteer otherwise. I stick with my original concept of the +wall. It's basically a brigand version of Troll bridge (which I think is really good).

Oh, and to Endovior:
FYI: Nature-based decks tend to be rainbow decks and legend work really well in those because of the rare nature pulls.

I like Pirate Bay as zero cost, especially since its effect may randomly favor either player. Also, it's another chaotic possibility for Danai Present.

DP: It doesn't randomly favor either player as it only puts brigands in your hand.

Oh? Huh. I thought it had said each hand.

My thoughts on the new cards:

The Good:
- Strive for height: I can see this being very popular, _especially_ in conjunction with magic shrine.
- Trigger trap: ouch, tower-killing decks just got a lot more dangerous
- Magic sanctuary: Since I tend to favour mage/legend decks, this makes me salivate - if you can get up to 30 gems quickly and get a unicorn down, you can easily overwhelm your opponent before they have a chance to build their defenses, and this will definitely help there. I like that it has a condition though.
- Knight Templar: I like the limitation and think it's a very cool idea. I still wonder if it might be a bit on the overly powerful side though.
- Wishing Lagoon: A lot like Last Order, which I also love. Gives you a lot more versatility, at the cost of an extra turn (and in this case, a few gems).
- Pirate Bay: I think brigand decks could have used a small buff, so this is just what the doctor ordered.
Wind Witch: It must be my birthday!

The so-so:
- Renewal: I like that this one is tricky and kinda meta-y, but right now its uses are pretty limited. Yeah, it has an okay synergy with new development and perfect shot, but nothing mind-boggling. I can see it getting better when new cards come around that depend on the new keyword though.
- Wicked Ritual: Good to see titan decks getting a buff. They need this, since, despite the changes that have happened, titan victory is still a very, very rare thing.
- Market Week: I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers.

The Ugly:
- Doppelganger: Powerful potential, but too expensive and limited for a common. Would clutter up a hand pretty quickly.
- Ambush: Same problem
- Mirror Golem: People will probably take it as unliving filler. Interesting idea, but not worth it except for the keyword.
- Ghost Rider: Has conditions that make it almost useless for a tower destruction deck, and its regular attack is weak for its cost. People might take it for keyword ballast and that's about it.
- Moon Shrine: I can't imagine who would actually use this. Zero-cost focused decks? I actually tried making one of those once, using as many zero-cost commons combined with that burning card that discards all zero-cost commons. Didn't work out terribly well.

Feel free to disagree with me.

(Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, my scale of "good" is based on how powerful the cards are, not how interesting or well-designed they are)

The new front page news post, showcasing some changes to the cards as presented earlier in this thread, leaves me with a few questions.


Magic sanctuary, 1 gem
Player which has gems less by two compared to enemy gems gains 8 gems

This wording is very unclear. Does the effect only occur if there is exactly a 2-gem difference? If so, I assume it is after the cost of the card is taken into account but before production? Or does it take effect if there is a difference of two or more? If the latter, it could be reworded as "If the difference in players' gems is two or greater, the one with fewer gems gains 8 gems." If the former, the same wording but "two or greater" becomes "exactly two"


Magic portal, 1 gem
Quick.
Swap selected card from hand with incoming card (cannot target self)

This wording is also unclear. Does this mean that you choose a card to discard and Magic portal, effectively, Stays On Hand? Or does it mean that the selected card changes places with Magic portal and the drawn card goes to that selected position? If the latter, it could read "Select a card from hand to take the position of Magic portal (cannot target self)" Assuming that is the case, shall it also be assumed that that card will receive the New flag? This could be very tactical.