MArcomage

Summer balance changes preview.

I'll be the first one.
I'm glad that this change to Atlantis will be implemented - it's exactly what this cards needs.
Basilisk... Old one was a funny way to get Saboteur award. New one is weak version of Forest spirit in mode 1 and something similar to Roc (but weaker again) in mode 2.
Crypt sentry nerf - thanks for it :)
Death wave - well, it's less effective, but only against Undead decks. Not the best decision, in my opinion.
Holy/Soldier cards - Guardian angel is OK now - with N=8 it was (and will remain) still decent. But Zealot should have max N=6 or 7, with 5 it's too weak, even with Soldier keyword effect.
Harvest fairy - well, this change will nerf Wheat farms a bit. I don't expect that it will be possible to collect more than 3 Wheat farms in hand.
Doppleganger is Ambush-like now... and it's a finisher to Illusion combo that always will be in hand.
Mana burn still isn't useful I guess. It's really good only against Mage/Legend that is horribly underused now.

I like the current Basilisk. There's no other card quite like it. Making it more like other cards isn't an improvement.

Making Death wave more like its original version, I see. As it's worded, it's still possible to get the full 20 damage even when your opponent has as many as 2 Undead on hand. To match the previous version, it would have to cap it at 5 BEFORE subtracting the #Undead in opponent's hand. Something to consider.

The above comment about Doppelganger giving you a Common Illusion that effectively stays on hand (making keyword triggering easy) is a consideration. However, given that they mostly cost gems, it's been my experience that you're likely to have more than one common Illusion on hand without really trying by the time you're ready to play the non-common with enough gems left over to trigger on the next play. It probably won't be an issue.

Mana burn won't deal damage? It's not really the mana burn spell then, is it? Not that it's a bad change, but it's straying from its namesake.
Edit: Oh, hey, it already doesn't deal damage. Shows how often I see it in play, I guess.

Plague thrower is Under siege with no other changes. Good call, since the current name suggests it should have the Siege keyword which would terribly unbalance the card.

I'm very interested in this change to Rogue. I'll have to test it in my Aqua/Brigand deck. Currently, I only want to play non-Common Brigands when triggering the keyword, but at only 10 token gain per, it takes a lot of planning and several plays earning only 20 or 30 tokens to get it there. This being a persistent card will make token generation a lot easier to manage, and for only one recruit and with Far sight. It will still require some stalling, but better than before.

Basilisk does the following:

1 - has a decent attack damage when finishing opponent
2 - builds your wall
3 - practically shuts down defense of most decks
4 - has no negative effect for player, because you don't really need Quarry in a rush deck
5 - it's cheap (can be played right at the start)

My first change version was to just remove the Quarry modification part. I'll be working on balancing him some more, but he can't stay in current state.

Mojko wrote:
I'll be working on balancing him some more, but he can't stay in current state.

How about this change:
Cost: 13r
Attack: 20
Mode 1: Wall: +15, recruits: -10
Mode 2: Enemy wall: +15, Enemy recruits: -10

I like Basilisk as it is now. I'd suggest damaging own tower as a balancing effect or damaging own recruits (which are usually necessary in a rush deck).

Zealot will be way underpowered now. it's 25 damage max, for 27 resources. Not a very good damage to cost ratio. It'd be better if it had no N limit, or just reduce its cost (11g/11r would be much better improvement I think.

The other cards are quite good nerfs.

I concur with DPsycho and Lord Ornlu about basilisk. Its current effect is really cool and totally unique. I'd be very sad to see it go. If it is overpowered, the statistics don't reflect that (ranked 123rd among uncommons). But if it did need to be nerfed, I'd rather the nerf not completely change the card's effect.

The only other change that jumped out at me was Rogue. Seems like a very big improvement, perhaps enough for people to play Brigand decks again. One of the biggest challenges of a Brigand deck is trying to get +50 tokens each turn, and this card would definitely help with that.

For Basilisk, maybe it could lower dungeon instead of quary?

I wonder why there's no nerf for Call of the Wilds. :P

Hm... What about new cards? And when it will be implemented?

I suggest to rise the cost of plague, maybe 12 gems.
About new cards I hope for a huge update, something like 35 cards, but it probably should be in fall

It's don't really know yet. Depends on my free time. Update could be in August.

Hey, please don't touch Plague, it's fine now,there is many cards to increase facilities if someone fear it, this is most important card in my zero cost destruction deck, I don't think it's overpovered.

I personally think that the modification to Zealot is a little bit to extreme, it cost a total of 26 resources (11G, 15R), and has a máximum of 25 damage? Even with the soldier effect it will still cost 11G and 7R, for a total of 18, making it way weaker...

As of now I don´t like using it very much, with that balance it would become right useless, you could also somewhat nerf the base attack, but keep the effect the same, that´s the idea behind it, use it with heavy keyword speciffic decks, maybe attack: 4N (N= holy + soldier)??? Just wondering

New idea of Basilisk:

Zero cost, no keywords,

Bricks: +10
Recruits: -10
Enemy bricks: +10
Enemy recruits: -10

Mojko wrote:
New idea of Basilisk:

Zero cost, no keywords,

Bricks: +10
Recruits: -10
Enemy bricks: +10
Enemy recruits: -10

Nice idea, let's call it Medusa and think something else for basilisk (maybe just rise the cost or lower the attack)

What about breaking up Basilisk's abilities.

15R
Mode 1:
Attack 20
Quarry -1
Enemy Wall +10

Mode 2:
Attack 10
Enemy Quarry -1
Wall +10

First mode will be used only for getting Saboteur award.
What's wrong with my idea, btw?

Instead of to weaken undeads you want rob of Harvest fairy -- one of the few +stock in nonkeywords deck. It's sad.

I'd simply make harvest fairy uncommon so it does not drop in twos at start

fairy´s good as of it´s now, no keyword common that doesnt directly add stock, but summons a cheap way to get, and in the end you just get +4 stock after 3 succesive turns... Leave it be