Fanmade Vanar Patch (Expansion + Balance changes)

[atrestia]

Here’s the changes I would make to Vanar.

What I’m trying to do:

• Clean up RNG

• Add new interesting spells and minions

• Give them more card draw options while keeping it limited to their BBS

• Give them conditional healing

• Slightly buff previously over-nerfed spells (Such as Cryogenesis or Frostburn)

New additions:

• Keywords
  • Shattering Blow: When damaging or attacking a stunned minion, instantly destroy it.
  • Replicate: When this minion dies, it returns to your action bar. It costs 1 less.
  • Shrouded: Takes no damage.
• New Special Tile
  • Chromatic Climate (or chilling climate): Dispels ANY minion or general standing on it at the end of owner’s turn
• Tokens
  • Hollow Phantom: Vespyr. Rush. Whenever this attacks an enemy, turn the space occupied by that enemy into Chromatic Climate. 1:1 1 Mana
  • Twinkle Fay: Vespyr. Rush. Whenever this attacks it disappears, leaving a consumed mana tile behind. 1:1 1 Mana
• Minions (non-Vespyr)
  • Bloodbound Disciple: Opening Gambit: After the first time you play your BBS this turn, refresh your BBS. 1:2 1 Mana.
  • Unforgiving Wisp: If it dies on your opponent’s turn, your opponent permanently loses one mana crystal and will not draw any cards at the end of their turn. 1:1 2 Mana
  • Spirit Walker: Opening gambit: Refresh your BBS and switch positions with ANY other minion. 3:2 3 Mana
  • Frostborn Ward: Shattering Blow. When anything is stunned, deal 1 damage to everything around it. 3:4 4 Mana
  • Silver Fang: Shattering Blow. Your BBS is Frigid Corona. 4:5 4 Mana
  • Sublunar Sanctuary: Arcanyst. Whenever you cast a spell, summon a Vespyr Twinkle Fay with Rush nearby. 3:6 5 Mana
  • Radiance: Costs one less for every Mana tile on the board. 6:6 12 Mana
• Vespyrs
  • Shimmering Pixie: Blood Surge: Put a Twinkle Fay in your action bar 2/4 3 Mana
  • Frigidon: Can only move one space. 4:9 4 Mana
  • Frostfire Lynx: Infilterate: Forcefield. Opening gambit: Deal 4 damage to an enemy minion in front of this. 4:2 5 Mana
  • Ghostly Striker: Blood Surge: Summon a Vespyr Hollow Phantom with Rush nearby 3:3 5 Mana
  • Cordial Colossus: Provoke. Cannot be attacked. 0:12 8 Mana
  • Cryogenic Figure: Whenever this minion attacks, your opponent permanently loses one mana. 5/10 9 Mana
• Spells:
  • Cryogenic Wipe Out: Destroy all friendly walls. 3 Mana
  • Inevitablity: Turn all spaces around a Chromatic Climate into Chromatic Climate.
  • Soul Essence: All non-wall friendly minions gain +1 Attack and Replicate until your next turn. 4 Mana
  • Celestial Moonlight: Refresh all Mana tiles. Draw 3 cards. 5 Mana

Changes and Reworks:

• Spells:
  • Polarity: Switch ANY minion’s Attack and Health. Draw a polarity from your deck. 1 Mana
  • Aspect of Ego: Transform ANY minion into a random Vespyr minion of the same cost. 1 Mana
  • Mana Deathgrip: Deal 1 damage to ANY minion. If it dies this turn, permanently gain 1 mana crystal and give your general Shattering Blow until the end of your turn. 2 Mana
  • Boundless Courage: Give a friendly minion 2 attack. It’s shrouded until your next turn. 3 Mana
  • Frigid Corona: Stun an enemy minion or general. Draw a card. 2 Mana
  • Aspect of Shim’Zar: Transform a minion into an Icy.
  • Permafrost: Stun an enemy. If it is already stunned, stun all joined enemies. 4 Mana
  • Endless Hunt – Now only costs 3 mana
  • Cryogenesis: Deal 4 damage to an enemy minion; if it dies this turn that space into Chromatic Climate. Draw a Vespyr from your deck. 4 Mana
  • Frostburn: Deal 3 damage to all enemy minions. Spaces occupied by enemy minions killed are tuned into Chromatic Climate.
• Minions:
  • Snowchaser: Infilterate: Replicate.
  • Cryoblade: Shattering Blow. 2:3
  • Glacial Elemental: Whenever you summon a Vespyr minion, deal 2 damage to the closest enemy minion.
  • Myriad: Blood Surge: Summon a Bonechill Barrier in front of itself.
  • Snow Rippler: Infilterate: Whenever this minion damages a general, put a Bur into your action bar.
  • Wolfraven: Is now a Vespyr.
  • Sleet Dasher: Is now a Vespyr.
  • Voice of the Wind: Is now a Vespyr. Stats changed to 4:5 4 Mana
  • Grandmaster Embla: Opening Gambit: Surround the enemy general with 2 of each wall. (2 Luminous charges, 2 Blazing Spines, 2 Bonechill Barriers, 2 Gravity wells)
  • Matron Elveiti: Your general is shrouded.
• Artifacts:
  • Iceshatter Gauntlet: Your general has Shattering Blow.
  • Winterblade: Your general gains +2 Attack. Enemy minions damaged or attacked by your general are stunned. If your general has Shattering Blow, enemy minions damaged or attacked by your general are instantly destroyed.

Non-Vanar related emergency changes:

• Khanuum-Ka: Flying, Rush, Ephemeral. Cannot damage generals. Dying Wish: Transform a friendly dervish into Khanuum-Ka. 3:1 5 Mana
• Rae: Cost increased to one from zero. Stats changed to 2:1
• Wanderer: All future non-token minions summoned from your action bar from here on out have +1/+1.
• Rippers: Remove celerity. Stats changed to 2/1.
• Zoetic Charm: Your general gains +1 attack. Your Eggs have +1 Health. (No longer bullied by Cassyva but not stupid OP) Cost reduced to 1.
• Abjudicator: The next spell you play costs one less. Stats changed to 3:2 2 Mana
• Golem Metallurgist: The next Golem you play costs one less. 2:3 2 Mana
• Wind Slicer: The next Structure minion you play, costs one less. 1:4 2 Mana
• Kujata: The next minion you play, costs one less and gets -1 health. 2:2 2 Mana
• Timekeeper: The next Building you play, costs one less. 2:3 2 Mana
• Progenitor: Select a non-Egg minion. It spawns an Egg of itself behind itself. 4:2 3 Mana
• Lilithe BBS: Summon two Wraithlings on two selected spaces nearby your general.
• Zirix BBS: Summon an Iron Dervish on a selected space nearby your general.
• Ragnora BBS: Summon a Ripper (The minion, not an egg) behind your general. It’s in line with Zirix’s BBS now in terms of power. One of them summons a 2:2 the other summons a 1:2 with Rebirth.
• Wild Inceptor: Opening gambit: Hatch a friendly Egg. Exhaust that minion. 1:4 2 Mana
• Shidai BBS: Put a spellsword corresponding to the turn number in your action bar. First turn Kotetsu, Second turn Kiyomori, Third turn Murasame, 4th turn, Tanahashi, Repeat.
• Decimus: Whenever your opponent draws a card, deal 1 damage to the enemy General. At the start of your opponent’s turn, their general takes 1 damage.
  (Decispikes does 8 damage now but is more consistent overall and will hopefully see more use outside of Starhorn, 1+ 1 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1)
• Lava Lance: Cost increased to 2.
• Flash Reincarnation: If the next card you play is a minion, it costs 2 less gets -2 Health. (Directly affects the max hp of the minion similar to cards like Lasting Judgement)
• Darkfire Sacrifice: Destroy a friendly minion. If the next card you play is a minion, it costs 2 less.
  Note: Flash Reincarnation and Darkfire Sacrifice can no longer affect the cost of cards with Mythron Rarity.

Non-Vanar related RNG clean up:

BattlePet AI, Jaxi, White Widow, Z0r and Lodester reworks as DeathsAdvocate suggested.

Similar change to Gor as Jaxi.

Sarlac The eternal: Dying wish Re-summon this minion on a space nearby your general.

All spells or minions that summon other minions or tokens on random spaces, now spawn them on the closest available square to the closest enemy.

This change affects Windcliffe Alarmist, Prominence, Sky Phalanx, Obelysks, Pax, Whisper of the Sands, Nimbus, Accumulonimbus, Gloomchaser, Bloodmoon Priestess, Gate to the Undervault, Moonrider, Juggernaught, Drake Dowager, Kindred Hunter, Voice of the wind, Frostiva, Echo Deliverant, Zyx, Komodo Hunter, Sarlac The Eternal, Prismatic Illusionist, Dioltas, Black Loctus, Deceptib0t. Inquisitor Kron, Rawr, Letigress, Grimes, Spriggin, Pandora and finally Khymera.

Grimes spawns Ghoulie

Blue Conjurer: Whenever you cast a spell add a copy of the Arcanyst you most recently summoned (excluding Blue Conjurer) to your Action bar.

[phayze]

Some of this makes sense, some of this makes me feel like you want to break some general’s kneecaps in a fit of vengeance.

[atrestia]

Just Imagine the new Cryoblade, into Spirit Walker + BBS, into Mali wisp, into Silver Fang BBS with Ilena.

Also Spirit Walker is going to be really good with Faie as well.

Chromatic Climate is going to be super cool to see with Vana’s Transportation effects. Imagine putting a Freeblade on one and laughing at your opponent when you know they are going to play a big minion. Or even using Hearth Sister or the new Spirit Walker to teleport a minion to tile just to dispel it. You can even play a Moose on it.

The new Frostburn is going to laugh in the face of Ziran and Fault (and unfortunately shadow creep but it is what it is)

[watchdog001]

This to be honest … Love the RNG cleanup, but you just went berserk with the nerfs

[snowshot]

Some of these were nice.

Some of these were brorororororoooooken.

Some of it were over nerfed.

I liked the parts that were nice.

[atrestia]

It’d be amazing if you could tell me which parts you thought were broken and which parts you thought were nice.
I tried my best to keep it as balaned as possible comparing the new minions and spells to what we already have in the game. I’ll explain what was go through my mind for every change here.

Spirit Walker:
This is basically supposed to be a combination of Hearth Sister + Crypto which is a very potent combo with Faie but it can also be very well utilized by Illena who struggles with range.
Typically Hearth Sister + Crypto uses 4 mana and 2 cards and leaves a 2/2 and a 3/2 on the board. Spirit Walker does the same effect but only leaves a 3/2 on the board and as we know from Helm Of Mechazor, a 2/2 is worth one Mana. So with that in mind, this card takes one less mana.

Frostborn Ward: This is basically supposed to be a more conditional version of Sunriser. It is more difficult to proc because there are no tiles that stun similar to how Hallowed Ground heals and when proc’d it only deals one damage as opposed to Sunriser’s 2 damage. However in conjuction with Flash Freeze or Illena’s BBS given she is in range, it can destroy a minion.

Silver Fang: This minion has better stats compared to Geomancer however unlike Geomancer, it isn’t an opening gambit. Meaning that if you want to get immediate effect from it you have to play it on 7 Mana. If your opponent allows it to live, you will have a very strong draw engine and a much better BBS than what illena has to offer overall. It has similar stats to Cloudcaller (which is usually played on 6 Mana) however it only offers that tempo if your general already has Ice Shatter Gauntlet equiped of if you have a minion with Shattering Blow on the board.

Shimmering Pixie: It’s very similar to Bloodbound mentor however it puts a Snowchaser in your action bar instead of a copy of your BBS. It can be better or worse depending on what kind of deck you’re running but because it will most likely primarily be used in Vespyr decks and Snowchasers are more important in that type of deck, I consider this minion’s effect better than Bloodbound mentor. So I gave it worse stats.

Frigidon: It has similar stats to Hailstone Golem. On one side of the board it is much worse because it can only move one space. One the other side, it can move two spaces like normal but it can attack twice. Because of this I gave it similar stats to what a proper 4 Mana minion should have.

Frostfire Lynx: Pure tempo tool, synergizes very will with Cryogenesis. It is a 4 Mana minion so lets start with 4/9 stats. It has forcefield so we should half it’s health and now we have 4:4.5. Dancing Blades deals 3 damage to something in front of it and for that reason it has 3 less health so we give this minion 3 less health and we have 4:1.5. Just to be on the safe side I made it a 4:1.

Ghostly Striker: So this card is basically a 6 Mana Sandswirl reader (5 Mana for the minion + 1 Mana for BBS) with better stat line but a worse effect. It doesn’t remove a minion. It simply dispels it and turns it’s space into Chromatic Climate (which is not a value generating tool unlike Exhuming Sand) But on the plus side it’s not an opening gambit minion

Cordial Colossus: Basically a meme. It dies to Plasma Storm, Natural Selection, it’s weak against frenzy minions, and is weak to all kinds of removal.

Cryogenic Figure: 9 Mana vanar version of World Core Golem.

Cryogenic Wipe Out: It’s good against people trying to use your walls to Thunderhorn you. It’s also good when comboed with Luminous Charge. It takes one less mana than Luminous Charge + Skorn, however it doesn’t leave you with a 4:4 body afterwards.

Soul Essence: Basically an Auroraboros that costs one less mana. Instead of resummoning your minions, it returns them to your hand and makes them cost one less.

Polarity: In it’s current state it will never see play. I wanted to make it draw a card but then I realized it’d just be a better version of Burden of Knowledge. So I made it work similar to how Replicant does. After all Replicant is just a Sun wisp that has better stats in exchange for its limited effect. Same thing here.

Aspect of Ego: More synergy with Vespyrs and overall making it less random so using it on a Malicious Wisp doesn’t give you a Gate to The Undervault or something stupid like that.

Chromatic Cold: It no longer provides the 1 damage which didn’t matter against big minions like Ironcliffe Guardian that much. So in that aspect it’s almost the same. However against smaller minions like Sarlac, it allows you to keep hand size if they are in range of your minions to kill.

Mana Deathgrip: Let’s admit it. This card was overnerfed. But I understand that it was too oppressive at 1 mana so let’s give it some additional effect and Vanar could really use some healing.

Boundless Courage: 1 more mana for a better effect. At its current state it was only used in conjuction with Sleet Dasher in meme decks. Now it can be a potent spell to make sure a friendly minion survives to the next turn.

Frigid Corona: Just a revert.

Aspect of Shim’Zar: Making it consistent so it doesn’t sometimes give you a Dex with Celerity and other times a Rae.

Permafrost: Conditional, board dependent but strong. It can be played around with good positioning.

Endless Hunt: Replicant has the stats of a 1 drop, Helm of Mechazor but because of the card advantage it provides it costs one more. Endless Hunt, has the stats of a 2 drop it’s only fair that it costs one more, so 3 mana.

Cryogenesis: Overly nerfed card. At 4 Mana it’s too weak. At 3 mana it was too strong. So it’s meet in the middle and give it a conditional effect that if played on curve can be very good considering the fact that you can follow up with Moose next turn. However your opponent can position in a way that they dodge the Moose.

Spirit of the Wild: I’m sort of changing Ghost Seraphim to what it was before (However now it’s an opening gambit and its effect only lasts for the turn it was summoned on) and I didn’t want the toxic OTK combo to come back. So I’m changing the card so that it cannot attack generals. In return your minions gain damage immunity for one turn.

Frostburn: Similar to Cryogenesis. At 5 mana it was too strong. At 6 mana it’s not potent enough. So let’s give it an additional effect. Something that makes it more effective against the toxic Meta decks such as Fault and Aggro Ziran while making it act similarly against other decks. Against Fault, overwriting sand tiles can be devastating and against Ziran, if she is standing on a Hallowed ground, she will not only lose her Hallowed ground but she will also be dispelled and lose her +attack. The card will act similarly against other decks.

Winterswake and Ice Age: Stupid combo… Now it’s basically a two turn Doom unless you have EMP.

Snowchaser: Now costs one less after returning to your action bar. Nothing too broken. Vespyrs need help and are basically wheelchair decks.

Cryoblade: Conditional and can be positioned around.

Glacial elemental: Cleaning up RNG.

Myriad: Cleaning up RNG and making it consistent.

Snow rippler: Cleaning up RNG and making it consistent.

Wolfraven, Sleet Dasher, Voice of the Wind: Underpowered cards. Could use a small buffs.

Ghost Seraphim: I changed its effect similar to what it used to be however now it only applies once and lasts for the turn it was summoned. So no more toxic OTK combos.

Grandmaster Embela: Making it consistent and cleaning up RNG

Matron Elveiti: an 8 mana Indominous that allows your general to move and attack however your general is only shrouded and not invulnerable therefore it can still be dispelled.

Ice Shatter Gauntlet: We all know Vanar’s Artifacts suck so why not make them more consistent? I basically made it work with Coldbiter like it should. Now it also works with Winterblade no matter what order they are equipped in.

[snowshot]

Man you wrote so much I’ll need to sit on it and write just as much.

Wait a few hours.

[alplod]

Polarity: In it’s current state it will never see play.

Vanar Arcanysts say hi. Not a bad deck, btw. Also, budget friendly.

https://duelspot.com/deck/4k-spirit-kara-combo-arcanysts/

[terrarius]

Some of your suggestions would be quite dumb.
Polarity would become an auto-include in basicly every vanar deck
Same with MDG
MDG was already OP just at 1 mana-and now you also want to add healing to it?

[atrestia]

Scion’s wish is an auto include in any Vet deck with minions so I don’t see why that’s such a big deal.
And I don’t really think polarity would be an auto-include. Why do you think so?
MDG was overpowered at 1 mana, underpowered at 2 mana. So I added some conditional healing. It heals one less than sun drop elixir and only if the enemy dies.

[alplod]

The number of effects in MDG makes it look like Saurian Finality

[terrarius]

It was OP at 1mana–
So you not only returned it to 1 mana
But ontop of giving you a mana crystal it now also heals

[atrestia]

I left it at 2 mana sorry if it wasn’t clear.
Only difference is that now it can target friendly minions and it heals.

[gsvalhalla]

And I don’t really think polarity would be an auto-include. Why do you think so?

It thins the deck for free. Even if people don’t intend to use the card’s effect, playing two of them and replacing the third copy would basically allow people to play a deck with less cards with no draw backs. That would increase the chances of the deck being able to draw into other cards for/at the right time. Replicant does it as well but it costs 2 mana to do so, with a weak 2/2 body, so usually you have to build a deck with it in mind to take advantage of drawing into other Replicants. But with your new Polarity, you don’t have to build a deck around it. As soon as either player has a minion on board that doesn’t die to its effect (like obelsyks), you can cast two of them to thin the deck. Also that’s not including how it would be quite a sizeable buff to Arcanysts.

I haven’t had the chance to read all of the changes that you would make, so maybe there is other changes to Arcanysts that I haven’t read yet. But being able to thin your deck alone, can be quite a big advantage.

[atrestia]

You’re right. I think it should be a 1 Mana card. At any rate I would much rather have it be a 1 Mana can tripping card than a 0 Mana card with an odd effect that only sees use in arcanysts.

[snowshot]

You’ll have to excuse me for being the lazy that I am.

I can’t for the life of me find the power to write so much that much.
First - the new cards I don’t really care about, they are mostly nice.

The changes however.
Polarity - this is the text book definition of broken.
Polarity is not a ping or trigger spell it is a tool for utility.
Meaning you should lose something when using it.

Aspect of ego - it does not really matter what comes out of it as long as it comes out, since it is sort of pseudo removal.

Chromatic cold - this is a strict need to an already nerfed card.
Vanar does not heal in the conditional way, vanar’s heal comes in the form of health managed by position and stalling.
Meaning the way you play vanar you should either position or stall for the unavoidable lethal combo or play aggro while not being so much on your face.

This card means that you dispel a minion but also need to either kill it by yourself taking damage/kill it via minion and lose footing.
I prefer the ping more then the draw.

Mana death grip - vanar doesn’t need heal, if you give them 4 hp heal this is a major broken card.
You basically create a sloppy gameplay based on healing, no thank you.

Boundless - good, I like.

Frigid - good.

Shimzar - the same as ego, the transformation is irrelevant.

Endless hunt - now this night seems as a good change but endless hunt is not only a draw engine but a minion genarator. meaning that you get the value of a minion for whatever use you need.
Back in the day me and flygon had a long discussion about it, we came to the conclusion that 4 Mana is a fair price to pay.

Spirit of the wild - this is a need that basically ruin the card, this is a finisher and should close games, if it’s not for going face there’s no need for this card.
Vanar has enough tools to clean board, this should not be one of them.

Frostburn - keeping in mind the existence of ramp at vanar 6 Mana is not that much to pay.
I would just give it intensify +1 dmg.
Since the first one can’t really kill any game breakers.

Ice age and wake - this tells me you either didn’t play much walls or don’t know how bad the Nerf is.
This is a huge Nerf.
You basically threw out the wall aspect of the game.

The 8 Mana has a very specific reason for it so you will be able to drop it after a few walls at 7 in order to survive or hit for a kill at 8.
The reason 8 is important comes from the average ramp game, you’ll usually ramp twice (if you play well) this is the best bet for your hand size.
Ramping twice meaning that you hit wake at 8 when your enemy is at 6, which cuts emp from the equation.
Ice age and wake at 9 means you basically get hit with emp 100% of the time. When I don’t include the fact that removing ice age is pretty easy but you need to be ready to face it.

In other world, if the dude runs wall deck and you don’t save aoe for the final showdown - git gud.

Snowchaser - refreshing.

Crystal wisp - why? What’s the reason? This is basically an early game minion that clutter your deck in mid game to late game.
On one hand - you ruined the effect by letting him sit until it get dispelled.
In the other hand if the opponent kill it he get punished out of proportion, with 3:1, they will never get hit, they’ll just get dispelled.

Cryo - good.

Elemental - good.

Myriad - good.

Snow rippler, wolf, sleetdasher, voice of the wind - good.

Ghost sheraphim - this is broken my man.

Embla - where’s the blazing spine? She’s a end game minion, you’ll want that 7 damage potential.

I see what you did there but I must tell you that the way you play vanar is kinda different then other factions.
the normalization of a faction is not always a good things.
I like vanar as a very challenging faction with defined weaknesses and an unapproachable side. Meaning you’ll actually need skill to run it well.

Vespyr should have more back to it. but walls are great the way they are - a strong archetype with a very defined weakness which need a good knowledge of the faction and the game to use well.

The only thing (one of them haha) that keeps vanar as vanar is the no heal policy. If you give vanar heal it will become a dumb faction like the abyss mhaev trail (ohh shit I misplayed, better heal for 5).

Thank you for you hard work;)

[atrestia]

I guess you’re right about healing. I don’t want Vanar to have heal either but how else would you buff MDG? I don’t want to put it back to 1 Mana. I want it to do slightly more than it does right now and keep it at 2 Mana.

I agree with you on Embla too. I’ll change it to 2 Blazing Spines, 2 Gavity Wells, 2 Luminous Charge and 2 Bonechill Barrier.

Crystal Wisp I hate. I hate the card and the hyper ramp decks that run it. Now it can actually be used alongside walls and Vespyrs and as long as you keep it on the board the enemy has to rethink using their Tempests or Rebukes.
I guess this comes down to preference.

Ice Age and Wake, again two more archetypes I really dislike. I know they are weak and I run EMP in practically every deck and by they time they wall I usually have it. I just feel like idk it’s lazy and it doesn’t feel like you’re playing duelyst when you’re playing Ice Age + Wake. It’s just ramp ramp ramp and Ice Age then pray they don’t have an answer (which they always do)
Besides the new combination of Ghost Seraphim you should be able to still run walls the way you do now but you need one more combo piece.
To be honest I just want walls to go away so Vanar can play all the other cool things it has.

In the case of Choroma I prefer the draw and I think it makes it more flexible. But I think you’re right I will reconsider the change.

I already had a discussion about Polarity and nerfed it to use 1 Mana. I prefer it using 1 more mana for it to be a can tripping card and if you compare it to first wish it’s not broken at all; 1 mana to switch attack and health and draw a card.

[terrarius]

“not playing duelyst”?
There are many decks that are fairly uninteractive and iceage is certainly very low on that list. You can save answers for it and your opponent needs a 2nd card to turn it into a lethal.

[atrestia]

Agreed and if it were up to me I’d recklessly nerf those decks as well but I’m not a Songhai expert and wouldn’t know how to.

[terrarius]

You would be nerfing half of the stuff that is commonly played