I seek to employ lighter touch, keeping in place current design philosophy behind Blue. So, just buffing cards that are criminally underused.
I’d like to hear your opinions on proposed list. I intend to print out some proxies and do some playing with a “fixed” version and report after I collect a reasonable sample. Primary tests are going to be — obviously — vs. monoblack, but other suggestions are welcome.
I also want to hear your kinky suggestions of decks built around properly utilizing Jurisdiction. So far the best I came up with was [Blood]/Law/Present to abuse Land Octopus and other Haste synergies, Jurisdiction serves as spot support for when my Drakk/Geiger are dead and I need a Haste activator.
A bit of a background.
I play exclusively IRL, but do drop here from time to time to get a perspective different to our local echo chamber meta I have about 100 and counting games behind me, and I think more than 25 of those are either me playing Mono Blue or me playing against Mono Blue. After I’ve read here about Blue vs. Black imbalance, I made a point to play Blue more and try to explore the edges of the deck explicitly, which I did to some success.
After these games I’m more or less settled in an opinion that Blue is the weakest of monocolor decks for a variety of reasons. It’s not that far behind Green (imo 2nd weakest), but it’s noticeable. The gulf between Blue and Black power level, in my experience, is real. White, Red and Purple I find in a sweet spot.
Starter — basically, change nothing.
Out of Starter cards I’ve seen some people complaining about Bluecoat Musketeer. Let me tell you, this dude wreaks some havoc. He is basically a Nullcraft / Bloodburn from Blue, a free ping every turn for the rest of the game. He is slower and easier to kill than NC, but can be used as patroller, which is a huge upside, and does not care about anti-air. I’ve seen him run rampant from P1T1 for 5 or 6 turns, it really adds up.
I’ve also seen critique directed at Lawful Search. I believe it’s misguided. LS is a self-cycling starter card, which is already good because deck-thinning, but hand-scouting is a not-insignificant upside, which has strong synergies in Blue specifically. LS is good as-is.
The only Starter complains I can possibly get behind is Reputable Newsman banning Buildings, but it’s preeeetty questionable still, so probably do not touch since not obviously broken.
Peace — buff D. Alpha
Peace feels like the strongest Blue spec. It’s a default monocolor Tech II option for a reason. I do not think any existing part of a Peace machine deserves a nerf. It’s only fault is overshadowing other options, especially Flagstone Spy and Air Hammer. I found niches for both of these (I remember one hilarious game where I Temporal Distortioned into Air Hammer to set up an evasion lethal). The one card I just couldn’t get working is Debilitator Alpha. I’m not exactly sure what to do about him, but I like changing his ability to “While SQL, ALL attackers are at -1 ATK, whomever they attack”. Keeps his anti-swarm theme and strengthens it to counter evasion, while keeping all his other weaknesses in tact.
Truth — touch nothing; at most, add Resist 1 to Spectral Tiger
Truth is a second-best Tech II option. I managed to find a good niche for all their cards, except for a really hard time with Spectral Tiger. Fortunately, @Shadow_Night_Black courteously demonstrated me a couple of convincing cases for him. Tiger might still use a slight buff, like maybe Resist 1 to solidify him as a sort-of standalone Truth big boy option.
Law — Jurisdiction to 1g, GotG to 2/6 and affects heroes, some buff to Arresting Constable
Law has a lot of overnerfed / underused cards. Number one here is Jurisdiction. I’ve made a detailed reasoning here Nudging the tiller - balance - #133 by Metalize. Jurisdiction should cost 1g.
Numbers two and three are Guardian of the Gates and Arresting Constable. @zhavier discusses them here Nudging the tiller - balance - #124 by zhavier.
I want to add that GotG being shut down by Deteriorate or Sickness or L4 Orpal is really ridiculous. None of the similar cards — Gorgon, Voidblocker, Porcupine — suffer the same way GotG does. I do not see any good reason for GotG to be special in that relation. He really should have 2 Attack, and, I believe, should affect Heroes too.
I’ve realized how much of a joke Arresting Constable is when I compared him to Porkhand Magistrate. Same stats, but Porky is 1g cheaper; Yes, Porky’s ability is much more expensive, but he can affect Heroes and Tech III units for god’s sake. It makes perfect sense for his ability to be more expensive just due to this reason alone, and I’m very happy to Porky Chop a maxband Calamandra, Rook or an Oathkeeper.
Now sit back a little and realize that I’ve just drew a comparison between a Tech 0 and Tech II unit… And Tech 0 is not merely comparable, but probably even better. That cannot fly.
Now, I’m not sure what exactly to do about AC, but I don’t agree with making him significantly bigger as some people propose. He should be kinda wimp-ish, because you want to use his ability, not his stats; If you can’t find a good target for his ability, you should be somewhat punished. You also should protect him. I like @EricF 's suggestion of making AC cost 2g. I also like going a little bit less risk / less reward route and make AC 3g 3/4, but make his ability cost 1g and an exhaust to use.