June & July Balance Changes Discussion

[ivko]

After the July release, it quickly became apparent that Book of Spirits was a card that is overpowered in a game-warping way. We are usually not making balance changes that quickly, but in this case the occasion required it.

Book of Spirits - Only works with non-Summoned creatures now. Activation cost raised to 2 mana.

There were two main ways this card was unfair - the infinite advantage it provided with Summoned creatures (e.g. Militia), and the "mana-cheating". In order for the card to be playable, we can't really make it require the full cost of the Spirit creature you are getting from your deck. It was way too cheap at 1 mana, but with a 2 mana activation cost the card is fair for what it does.

So, for some of us it was fun while it lasted, but Guards! Guards! into double Reincarnation Spirit is no more.

======= June Balance Changes =======

This round of balance changes includes only 2 cards - Dark Portal, and Ytix, Realm Guardian - which have been changed for vastly different reasons.

Dark Portal - deals damage to you instead of directly making you lose life.

This change was required because the new Mastery of the Ancients card allows you to get around losing life. After testing it was determined the combination with Dark Portal was too overpowered.

So now, Dark Portal is a combo with Force Field and Unbreakable Spirit instead

Ytix, Realm Guardian - the first power has been redesigned.

The first power of Ytix now reads "Whenever you gain a new hero skill, draw a card."

It is not a secret that Ytix is quite a powerful hero, and we certainly underestimated his mechanics. Both parts of the hero mechanic can be considered too good in certain decks, however we are opting for making gradual changes, because we want to keep the card enjoyable to play.

We added this mechanic to prevent Ytix leading to overly consistent aggro decks, and to encourage the players to use him creatively in decks that can make use of different hero skills shrines. It also has a nice vibe with the hero being colorless, and not having his own hero skill.

We hope you enjoy the changes, and the team wishes you many happy hours with the new cards from Ancients Rising!

[Pizdabol]

Now that sounds more like an actually fun and interesting and versatile hero power. Unlike the previous one, not to mention what was his name, the toddler child, does anyone even remember that guy? Finally Enoch has some competition as far as versatility goes, I think we can all agree up until this point it was pretty much a no contest.

[Jeronimo]

Ytix, Realm Guardian - the first power has been redesigned.

The first power of Ytix now reads "Whenever you gain a new hero skill, draw a card."

It is not a secret that Ytix is quite a powerful hero, and we certainly underestimated his mechanics. Both parts of the hero mechanic can be considered too good in certain decks, however we are opting for making gradual changes, because we want to keep the card enjoyable to play...

This change, while makes Ytix more interesting to play, makes him much stronger than original version.
Now the player with well built "Ytix deck" will have a total +3 cards in medium term, instead of +1 right from start.

The abuse of him only switched from Aggro to Midrange/Control/Combo decks.

I admit he is cool now, but he is totally above the average respect other heroes... Ytix will become obligatory for Masters line-ups... even daring to say he could dethrone Adv Nefaros in the use of mono-corruption control.

His penalty of -1 life when using non-ancient spells, is not discouraging at all.
My "constructive feedback" for him is to make him start with 20 life (keep life loss due non-ancient spells).

If Ytix is aggro, his life doesn't matter much because he is dealing bigger damage on rival's board or face.
If Ytix is midrange/control, he can be vampire/priests, or be a deck based on Master of the Ancients.

So in few words, please 20 life, a midrange/control Ytix will be impossible even for the swiftest of aggros.
The removal Marked by the Gods won't hurt Ytix for example...

[Cruel_TeK]

this change actualy makes ytix aggro more consistent because now they can run the necessary skill shrines without losing cards