A few days back Gods Unchained released what they say is the first balance patch for Band of the Wolf, the latest expansion that dropped a few weeks back. Let us take a look at the changes.
What's changed
In this patch, there were actually changes made to cards in three sets, so cards not just in Band of the Wolf have been getting some fine-tuning, Let us take a look at them one set at a time.
Etherbots
Howler Golem – Mana Cost Increased
– Change mana from 6 to 7.
Firewall – Health Decreased
– Reduce health from 9 to 7 (New stats: 1/7)
Arcane Sphere – Health Decreased
– Reduce health from 3 to 2
Band of the Wolf
Raneko Hearthmother – Mana cost changed, stats changed, design changed.
– Increase mana cost from 2 to 3
– Change stats from 2/3 to 2/4
– Change text from “Ally: Set a creature’s strength equal to its health.” to “Ally: Set a friendly Olympian’s strength equal to its health.”
Bitter Endings – Mana cost increased
– Increase mana cost from 3 to 4
Shrike Moonlighter – Mana cost increased, design changed
– Increase mana cost from 3 to 4
– Change text from “Hidden for 1 turn. Ally: Pull the top card of your opponent’s deck to your hand.” to “Ally: Pull the top card of your opponent’s deck to your hand.”
Reios, the Old Wolf – Health reduced, design changed
– Change health from 6 to 5 (new stats 4/5)
– Change text from “Blitz. After this creature destroys another creature, give that creature’s strength and health to a random Olympian in your hand.” to “Blitz. After this creature attacks and destroys another creature, give that creature’s strength and health to a random Olympian in your hand.”
Blood Oath Binder – Health reduced
– Change stats from 1/3 to 1/2
Perseverance – Design changed
– Change text from “Summon three 1/1 Zombies to attack a target. If a Zombie summoned this way is destroyed, summon another Zombie.” to “Summon three 1/1 Zombies to attack an enemy creature. If a Zombie summoned this way is destroyed, summon another Zombie.”
Aegis of the Innocent – Durability reduced
– Reduce durability from 4 to 2
Argus, the White Wall – Design changed
– Change text from “Frontline. Armor 1. After a different creatures maximum health increases, this creature gains the same amount of health.” to “Frontline. Armor 1. After a differently named friendly creature’s maximum health increases, this creature gains the same amount of health.”
Divya, the Deadly Serenade – Health increased, Text change
– Change health from 4 to 5
– Change text from “After a different friendly Amazon deals damage, deal 2 damage to the same target.” to “After a differently named friendly Amazon deals damage, deal 2 damage to the same target.
Spiritspeaker Chime – Design change
– Change text from “After your god takes damage on your turn, gain +1 durability. Ability: If this relic has at least 6 durability, summon four 3/3 Rancorous Spirits and remove 6 durability.” to “After your god takes damage on your turn, gain +1 durability. Ability: If this relic has at least 4 durability, summon four 3/3 Rancorous Spirits and remove 4 durability.”
Core Set
Assassin’s Aim – Design change
– Change text from “Give +3/-1 to a friendly creature. At the end of the turn, give it hidden.” to “Give +3/-1 to a friendly creature. At the end of the turn, give it hidden for 1 turn.”
My thoughts
I do not really see any problems with any of the choices made. I do think there are some cards that are still not up to par with others in the set. In particular, the Amazon cards that Nature got seem very lackluster in comparison. And I would have liked to see some love thrown their way. But as I think there still are some cards they are a bit, let's say, over-tuned still in the set. I think we will see at least one more balance patch before they finalize and lock in the set.
Regarding the Etherbot cards that got nerfed, I do not think that the changes to either the Firewall or the Arcane Sphere will have that much of an impact. Sure you will most likely not get a second hit off with the Arcane Sphere any longer. But as a one drop, I would argue that that is more than fair.
The card I think that really took a hit from this is the Howler Golem. With the card's mana cost increasing from 6 to 7 it now puts it on par with Ember Oni from this expansion and several other powerful 7 mana cards. And to be honest, I do not think it is close to any of those cards. And The card will probably be dropped from most decks that ran it before.
Regarding the change to Assassin´s Aim, going from perpetually hidden to only being hidden for 1 turn. I think the change is in keeping in line with the other cards that have or grant hidden. I think this is more of an update than anything else. Updating and "old" card to make it on par with most other cards.
What are your thoughts on these Balance changes? Anything you would like to see changed that they did not do this time, or perhaps you would like to see even further changes done to the cards that were changed this time? Well, I will surrender the comment section to you, so feel free and share your thoughts with me there. If you would like to support me and the content I make, please consider following me, reading my other posts, or why not do both instead.
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Picture provided by: Gods Unchained Media, https://pixabay.com/
