MArcomage

Not sure if this is a bug, but Goblin Saboteur seems to evaluate in a different order then the similar Barbarian cards, Tarkhan and Warlord. If the condition for either of those Barbarians are met, the wall is decreased first, followed by an attack, which means that the attack is more likely to penetrate the wall. Goblin Saboteur, on the other hand, evaluates the attack first, followed by the wall reduction... which makes the attack much less useful.

This is mostly a problem as the cards themselves give no hint as to this difference; it can only be uncovered in testing. Either the order needs to be changed, or the cards should be clarified.

I always thought Tarkhan and Warlord's wall damage comes after their regular damage...
I thought that's how it's suppose to work due to the order of the wording.
But I guess I was wrong and I once lost a game for it :(

That would make more sense, yes; but since they have the order listed one way and work the other, I figured that Goblin Saboteur should too, but it doesn't.

To bring the text into accord with the mechanic, the Barbarians should have their order reversed... and to equalize the mechanic across the board, the Goblin should be made the same way.

The problem with correct order of the card text is following: if we put the attack (tarkhan for example) down, it would then seem that the attack happens only if condition is satisfied. So we have no other option then to put it on the top, even if the attack is evaluated at the end.

Goblin saboteur has the same text, but it's code differs - the attack happenes before the attack. Question is what to do now? Won't be the goblin saboteur too powerfull when it switch the order (i.e. the wall reduction first attack second)?

As Endovior has said, it's definitely a problem if the card texts aren't consistent with one another. I think the two best solutions would be:

1) Change the wording of Saboteur or the other wall-lowering + attacking cards, to make their behaviour more explicit. This is hard to do without making the wording awkward though.

Goblin saboteur could be changed to "Attack 4. If opponent raised wall by more than 8 last turn, lower enemy wall by 12 after attacking" or Tarkahn et al could be changed to something like "Attack 7. If last card played was a Barbarian, lower enemy wall by 7 first".

2) Change Goblin Saboteur so it acts the same as all the other cards that attack + lower wall, but balance the effect so it's not too powerful (enemy wall -10 maybe? I'm trying to think of how it would compare to Light Infantry whose condition is less restrictive).

Goblin saboteur now works like Tarkhan - the wall (if condition is satysfied) is lowered first attack happens second. These changes should be applied soon.

If more changes should be needed, it will be fixed in the next update.

Balance-wise, the way I see it is like this.

There are three noteworthy cards in this 'cheap and common but decent attackers' niche; Battering Ram, Light Infantry, and Goblin Saboteur.

Light Infantry is somewhat restrictive; you don't see all that much Charge out there, all told, and it's a standard attack.
Battering Ram is not restrictive; but it is weaker, as it's just Wall damage.
Goblin Saboteur is the most restrictive; it only applies in relatively rare cases, but it's both cheaper and more potent then the others.

As such, they seem balanced, now that Goblin Saboteur is fixed. Without the fix, you'd be better off with Battering Ram in most cases.