I think there is a very good discussion going on about the balance changes. But they are all in the tournament thread. So here a new one that they don’t get lost.
In my opinion the balance changes should make it more attractive to play new combinations. That’s for me the most fun of the game. But it is always frustrating if you know that you need a lot of luck against Nighmare. So I would focus on weakening the top 3 decks Nightmare, Miracle Growth and Purple Peace as a first priority. I like Bombers approach to change not too much at once it can be done step by step. I would prefer changes that punish the combination and not the card itself where possible. The MoLaC change was a good example, since it affects mono green hardly.
It would be interested in how often cards have been played in the past. I think that’s a question for the data expert @charnel_mouse. Do you have the data as well?
My suggestions:
Nighmare:
- Keep Bombers changes, but they are not enough
- For me Deteriorate is the root of all that evil. I would argue it is the most often played card within Codex. It should cost 1g
- In the beginning I was not convinced that DP should be debuffed, since it is not so strong with any other starter than black. But now I think it cannot be avoided. My suggestion is to adept it to Martial Mastery, so that you have to discard a card. Then you can only fill your hand if you go down to 0 cards.
Miracle Growth:
- Keep Bombers changes
- Birds should disappear if the nest topples
PP:
- Cadets and Brave Knight should be no soldiers any more
- Probably there should be done a bit more, but I would be very careful with weakening Garrison or Drill Sergeant. Blue is already weak and should not be punished just because you can use Garrison very well with Purple. And the Drill Sergeant is already weaker than the Blooming Ancient. And until you bring both out, is usually t7 or later, and than it must be compared with other lethal combinations especially within purple. Has there ever been another overpowered combination with Peace and no purple starter? Even with the changes above Nightmare and Miracle Growth are very strong so you need combinations that can deal with that. But I currently have no idea what else can be done besides the soldier change.
On the other hand, I would improve some, but very few cards, that are never played, and improve them just a little bit as a first step. For me it would be:
- Fruit Ninja should have anti air, like his white cousin
- Bashing: Here several improvements should be done, I don’t know why that spec was so punished. I don’t find any card I would like to play.
- Bigby: I think the hero is a bit too weak since his spec has a lot of interesting cards. Some suggestions (change only one, not all):
o Maxband ability: 0g draw a card limited to once per turn.
o Change midband ability to frenzy 1
o Improve stats (Vandy stats are maybe a bit too much, but Garth old ones could fit)