Bepoest mini balance patch

[bepoest]

Here’s what I would do if I could patch the game. I think it’s pretty good right now, but some decks hog the top of the power curve, a mini balance patch could alleviate that.

Along with a new game setting at the end, to ensure a self-healing meta and provide community-driven balance directions.

Comments welcome

Nerfs

(credits to @deathsadvocate for Sunriser)

Buffs

New cards

New game setting: “Personal nerf”

Your account has a new setting. Choose ONE card you want to nerf: In any game against a human opponent, this card will cost 1 more and its cost cannot be reduced.

• You cannot change this setting during a game.
• You can only choose a card that is Rare or above rarity (no basic, common, or General).
• The two nerfed cards are announced on the mulligan screen before the game starts.

This post and ideas released under the Creative Commons CC0 license.

[deathsadvocate]

Wanderer change might do the trick but of course I am biased and never want to see the card again so I think it is to soft, and obviously I like the Sunriser change :P. Not really on board with the rest, but I am also not picky at this point as long as the top four (Wander, Ziran, Kha/Fault, and Rag) get addressed.

Now I absolutely love your two new cards, those are super cool.

And I really like the idea of the “personal nerf.” I am not sure how practical it is, but it is a superb idea. It would likely need to be per match sort of like the ban phase in mobas, rather then just a single card period.

[alplod]

I think it’s smart what you’ve done to Kha. And new cards introduces are super cool!

[boronian]

Guiding Gnostic is very interessant. Seems so strong that it will be played in every minion based deck though?

Love the Saberspine Devil Though right now it almost seems like a better version of the original. Wonder if it needs a small adjustment.

But these ideas are amazing.

Also really like the Wanderer nerf, only affecting minions from your deck means a big power loss.

The Ripper nerf reminds me of Kara’s BBS change back in the day that it would change Ragnora completely because almost all of their decks are based on the Ripper combo. But Celerity is really powerful, Obelysks and Buildings suffer a lot because of that.

Sunriser’s nerf seems very strong. I believe it could be too much.

Not sure why you want to buff Mechaz0r I can see where you are coming from but maybe I remember too well all the complaints back in the day from before Mechaz0r was nerfed

The Flash nerf is interesting. Would hinder a lot of combo decks.

Rae is an easy one. Ka is good too, still allows a lot of damage (12 damage against a 4 attack Vaath) but not the infinite amount anymore.

“Personal Nerf”…great idea, I wonder how well it works though. I see 7 mana makantor being a thing Not sure if the can’t be reduced part is really necessary.

[paulmuaddib]

I think that “Personal Nerf” hinders a lot of cards, stopping a card’s cost from being reduced at all is a little strong don’t you think? Maybe something like “can’t be reduced below 1” or “can’t be reduced below half it’s original cost rounded up; below 1 if it costs 0.” are reasonable compromises.

[bepoest]

@deathsadvocate @alplod thanks a lot, your opinions matter a lot to me.

@boronian you too! Maybe Saberspine Devil and Guiding Gnostic are a bit too strong, but only actual playtesting would tell, I wouldn’t think -1 health to either would be too terrible.
Yes the Ragnora change is important, but right now he has the hardest hitting BBS spawn and it really shows in the power rankings. I hesitated with “Rebirth, Flying”.

A tiny Mechaz0r buff is needed IMHO because it’s OK right now but a tiny bit too slow and relying on the secondary win conditions. My buff intends to nudge it a bit in the right direction: same impact and threat, but tiny push towards the deck’s second breath after Mechaz0r inevitably gets removed.

The good thing with this bundle is “Personal nerf”, the most OP/hated cards will get a statistical nerf over hundreds of games, and smart players will route around the damage diversifying their decks.
Let’s say my new Guiding Gnostic becomes over represented, then the Personal nerf will most likely keep it in check (in that particular case in a very drastic way, going from “insured T1 play” to “guaranteed mana screw”, if you have nothing else under 3 mana in your list).
Vaath player is going to Personally nerf Kha and live happy again. And then we don’t need to nerf Kha into unplayability.

@paulmuaddib Personal nerf is indeed strong, but it’s just one card and not every opponent will have the same. If your own list is not in the top 5 most hated decks, you’re not going to suffer from it too often. If you want to play the OP cards, then your deck needs to handle a 1-mana setback every so often.

I expect the Personal nerfs will be in and out of fashion and provide meta rotation.

Also shootout to [Fanmade expansion]: Forgotten Destiny by @excogitator.

[paulmuaddib]

My point is that the stipulation “its cost cannot be reduced.” makes something like flash reincarnation and other cost reducers do nothing at all for the card chosen. It just seems very strong to make not just one card more expensive but also make a bunch of other cards, which may or may not be in your opponent’s deck, not be able to interact with the chosen card.

I do like the rest of your suggestions, they’d be a force for positive change at the very worst.

[bepoest]

Ah thank you, I didn’t understand you initially. You do have a valid point.

[unktrial1]

Wait…
Would opening gambit activate if Mechazor is summoned by a minion?

======

Guiding Gnostic is definitely a really cool card. It’ll unlock an entire set of decks that don’t need any 2 or even 3 drops.

======

Sabespine devil might be a bit too strong. Trial decks (except for wanderer) are usually late game plans, which gives the opponent many turns to find this minion.

How about changing
“Opening Gambit: Cancel the opponent’s Destiny. Your General is doomed and will die after 3 turns”
to
"If this card is in your hand, your general will take 8 damage at the end of your turn. Opening Gambit: Cancel the opponent’s Destiny. "?

[terrarius]

Khanuum seems more like a buff in most matchups: it has more killpower at first where it matters most
I do like the entire rest alot though

Additionally i would nerf fault to spawning the tiles differently
From:
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+0
0+0

To:

000
0+0
+++
0+0
000

That way lightbender would be a much more proper counter, that toxic synergy with star fury would be alot weaker and alot of AOE would become alot more effective against fault, adding actual counterplay to it

[bepoest]

Yep you caught a bug on Mechaz0r, I will change it to Bond instead of Opening Gambit. Thanks!

About Saberspine Devil: Yes throwing the Destiny away is super strong, this is why the card should be dangerous…
Your change is interesting, forcing the player to repel the Devil until the last moment… Flavorful too. But I then I find it too difficult to pull, Destinies snowball so quickly that you should have your counter ready.
Maybe the Doom counter should start at 2.

[bepoest]

Your change to Fault is very well thought. I like it a lot.

Maybe it’s the card to touch up instead of Khanuum-Ka?
Anyway this is a theoretical exercise only, I’m afraid.

[miguelosz]

Love what you’ve done with Flash, and the personal nerf (finally something to do without completely changing your own silly deck when everyone hurrdurrs the same piece of cancer against you). Gnostic would be an autoinclude in many lategame-oriented decks, but the personal nerf would indeed be pretty good counter for that too.