Many of you know there is an active discussion on balance going in @deathsadvocate’s thread.
Between playing the game, observing the game and arguing with DA about the game, I got annoyed by current state of Magmar more than usual. To kinda back up my own point of view, I eventually came up with the following test: count the overall amount and distribution of minions that survive Magmar’s usual removal package.
Condition is the following:
- non-token minion
- more than 3 attack (Plasma)
- more than 4 health (Makantor) and attack is less than health (Rebuke)
or - Forcefield present.
- more than 4 health (Makantor) and attack is less than health (Rebuke)
This includes only base stats (not all decks run buffs or even have them) and doesn’t include more complex interactions like growing minions or 0 attack eggs.
With Bagoum present, I wrote a simple script to do the filtering for me. You can execute it yourself in browser console on Bagoum (card database page, for example). Everything is pretty simple, if you know JavaScript.
Code
var Filter = [];
Object.values(cardData).forEach((Card)=>{
Card.attack = parseInt(Card.attack,10); // converting from strings for comparison to work
Card.health = parseInt(Card.health,10);
if (
Card.type == "Unit"
&& Card.rarity != "Token"
&& Card.attack > 3
&& (
((Card.health>4)&&(Card.attack<Card.health))
|| Card.searchableText.includes("Forcefield")
)
) {
if (!Filter.includes(Card)) { // cardData has each card doubled; checking for duplicates
Filter.push(Card);
};
};
});
Filter = Filter.map((Card)=>(`${Card.shortfaction.padEnd(9)} ${Card.manaCost} ${Card.name}`)).sort();
console.log(Filter.join("\r\n"));
Got an idea what the results are?
Results
Out of 504 non-token minion cards return by Bagoum, only 50 fall under the provided condition. That’s ~10% of all minion card pool, with majority being neutrals. List is sorted by faction, then by cost.
Abyssian 5 Black Solus
Lyonar 4 War Judicator
Lyonar 5 Oakenheart
Lyonar 6 Prominence
Lyonar 7 Alabaster Titan
Lyonar 7 Grandmaster Z'ir
Lyonar 7 Indominus
Lyonar 7 Peacekeeper
Magmar 4 Omniseer
Magmar 5 Lavaslasher
Magmar 5 Visionar
Magmar 6 Armada
Magmar 6 Dreadnought
Magmar 8 Juggernaut
Magmar 9 Grandmaster Kraigon
Neutral 3 Komodo Hunter
Neutral 3 Sellsoul
Neutral 4 Blistering Skorn
Neutral 4 Hailstone Golem
Neutral 5 Blue Conjurer
Neutral 5 Brightmoss Golem
Neutral 5 Dancing Blades
Neutral 5 Golden Justicar
Neutral 5 Inquisitor Kron
Neutral 5 Sworn Defender
Neutral 5 Theobule
Neutral 6 Diamond Golem
Neutral 6 Facestriker
Neutral 6 Lodestar
Neutral 6 Ruby Rifter
Neutral 6 Silverbeak
Neutral 7 Dark Nemesis
Neutral 7 E'Xun
Neutral 7 War Talon
Neutral 7 Zurael, the Lifegiver
Neutral 8 Khymera
Songhai 7 Second-sword Sarugi
Songhai 7 Storm Kage
Vanar 4 Denadoro
Vanar 4 Meltwater Moose
Vanar 4 Wind Sister Maia
Vanar 5 Cloudcaller
Vanar 6 Draugar Eyolith
Vanar 6 Draugar Lord
Vanar 7 Ghost Seraphim
Vetruvian 5 Fifth Canopic
Vetruvian 5 Incinera
Vetruvian 5 Starfire Scarab
Vetruvian 6 Swarmking Scarab
Vetruvian 8 Grandmaster Nosh-Rak
Here goes playing around this control faction. Abyssian mains, make sure not to get lost in options.
But, to make it something more constructive than just my nerf call, do you have any quantifiable conditions to try to measure balance issues you see? Maybe, approaching balance this way, some issues become more apparent.
