Reaction to the Balance Patch. My 1-Minute Video on Spiritspeaker Chime + Raneko Revenant CRAZY Synergy!
The whole post has been inspired by a recent talk to @shawnnft. He told me he wanted to write about the upcoming patch. And I didn't want. But the dramatic update changed my mind.
I was playing when it happened; my Shrike Moonlighters - I had fused two shadows recently 😢 - they just died after the update, right in my arms... like beloved puppies who have caught the distemper... and... below, this is what I think about the balance patch. 😡
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.”
I sold both shadow Moonlighters immediately after the update - happily, I was playing at the time - 0.0002 ETH each to a bot. I think the price of meteorite Moonligther will drop to a 3-4 cents eventually.
Damn it, they could at least make it 3-mana 2/2 hidden!! But they have chosen to kill the creature!
Choose which is better:
I choose Vault Vagabound. A 2-cent card which nobody plays.
My last stealing HRD deck:
R.I.P.
Insane... They not only nerfed Moonlighter - they did it hard and, thus, buried the whole Nether Stealing Deception archetype.
The Spore-Light Lantern is slow even for a control deck, it steals random! cards while you need to pull your own cards from the board. Ridiculous.
When there was a hidden 3-mana Moonlighter, there was some synergy with Spore-Light Lantern which gave hope to this relic. Now, when Moonlighter buried, The Spore-Light Lantern has become a lonesome tail of a once-existed crunchy fried piglet.
As the result, Deception gets nothing too good from BW except Gama, the Lord of Berries - happily, these GU freaks haven't touched it.
Vulpine Shadowshifter, Dark Deliverance can be potentially useful... Probably, in other game in another Universe.
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.”
This is how things can be nerfed - more mana cost, only Olympians but more health. A common card that is extremely powerful - much more powerful than deceased 3-mana Shrike Moonlighter.
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.”
Why?? Nerfing a key card of an archetype with winrate 50% during last months? An archetype that lost Shrike Moonlighter and a chance to get aggro stealing?
I think they intentionally bury aggro Deception to make people buy other domains' cards - GU domain cycling in action. They just stimulate sales in this way.
Happily, I have a zombie collection as well as some Amazons.
Wolf's Amazons. I Am Buying!
The BW set will end soon... Is this the time for last buys before prices rise?
Great Eye's Blessing - can't say for sure but the card might be useful for Amazons today or one day in the future... Let's say you have two or three 1-mana Amazons on the board. Copy them with Great Eye's Blessing, refresh mana for each and play them on the same turn. Amazons tend to starve in the late game. Great Eye's Blessing can help... Just 2 GODS for a card, I bought two, don't want to wait until they cost 10 times more.
(But DYOR please!)
I am not an expert on Amazons, have played not much... But I collect them little by little to have something else except aggro Deception and zombies.
I had also bought 2 Fae Thornblade and Divya when the prices for them were on the bottom. Content with this.
Bitter Endings
– Mana cost increased
– Increase mana cost from 3 to 4
It looks like a soft nerf. I have't played it but encountered decks that are built around the card. Powerful! (Or OP?)
I guess not much will change to Bitter-Endings-centered sub-archetype. I want to buy the second one.
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.”
So good I bought 2 in advance before the update! The price has surged. This relic, Raneko Revenant, Perseverance are a chance for "Both-Side-Damage" Death archetype to become Meta. Watch the video at the end of the post!
My deck, enriched with the mentioned cards and Chira ❤️, of course:
GU_1_1_BBTCAeCAeCCbCCbCCcCCcCFACFAIBcIBcBDEBDEIAIIBZIBZCDTCDTPAaPAdPAdGAJGAJPAcPAcPAePAeGAKGAKCCe
Just tried it a couple of times in Casual. And I say: it's even more fun than it was before BW! 😀
What do you think @kstreet? 🙂
Spiritspeaker Chime's CRAZY Synergy with Raneko Revenant and Perseverance
And, at last, the promised video of the promising combos of three cards:
This was a game in Solo Mode, against AI just to check the thing. So don't be surprised I didn't kill "the opponent" sooner 😀
This was my reaction to the balance patch. Probably, some thoughts were hasty but I shared what I thought and felt, and and I hope this stimulates discussion and finding answers. 🙂
Wow you posted so fast lol. I'm doing mine on Thursday cause I usually post every monday and thursday with GU stuff. I agree with you on the Shrike Moonlighter though. They nerfed it to the point where nobody is going to play it. they could've nerfed the health stats or just remove hidden but adding that extra mana is not worth playing in my opinion. Was it really that dramatic though :P. We really needed a balancing lol.
As for the assassin's aim nerf I think it's ok; giving it permanent hidden was kind of op. Like you can only counter that with nature random targeting or area damage which not much of the other gods have.
The Hearthmother was a big nerf that was much needed and it's buff is only to olympians now which is pretty harsh but I think it'll be okay. I still think it's a good card it just doesn't have as much aggro and tempo as before. It was too snowbally. I lost to one over the weekend because on turn 3/4 they already had a 6 attack 6 health creature to make trades on board :). I don't think that was fun or interactive to play against.
In addition to say, 4-mana is full of great option for aggro Deception. Pietro, Lokian, Feral Shapeshifters, Shade Walkers, Frumentarii Instigators - 8 potential slots, while 3 mana has much to offer.
I understand what you are talking about but look at facts: Aggro Deception has around 50-52% win rate in last months with old Assassin's Aim. AA wasn't a problem. @kstreet says it's because they needed to keep Eiko from being perma-hidden. It sounds logic but it means they hit a key Core card of aggro Deception to fix their brand-new OP card... I would advise them to nerf Eiko, not a whole archetype (HRD).
For sure, a good card. If you are lucky, Heartmother and Argus can kill the opponent in one move. But I don't play Light - this is too expensive to collect everything. I collect also aggro Death and a bit Amazons .... But when prices for crypto (especially $IMX ❤️) is low again, I'll make a big sale.
Hmmmm what you said mostly makes sense. I think we can see it being a nerf to future cards as well . Maybe they are planning to have more cards like eiko which if given permanent hidden would be broken. 👀. Maybe they know some cards in future and they thought nerfing it now would be the best. I didn't feel eiko is that op but it was due to AA enabling it .
I just don't see Chime being a card that can see play in gold/diamond/mythic. Tons of fun in casual of course. I've got a burn death deck that races to 0 health, but it leans heavily on Necroscepter and a few other cards to leech just enough so that they die first. Maybe I'm missing it.
Don't worry about the Assassin's Aim nerf. It doesn't affect hidden rush at all. I can't remember a time where I didn't attack with my hidden creature the very next turn. It's to keep Eiko from being perma-hidden (abilities don't break hidden).
Sounds reasonable... Necroscepter makes actually the same work - summoning creatures but gradually and its creatures are leech. And Necroscepter starts working earlier and doesn't require 4 self-damage. So... Chime doesn't look that great.
Maybe, Chime will work with Over the Line? Let's see. I have no time to research also this so let other GU guys do the work... 🙂 Yesterday, I did almost 60% win rate (9 games) in Auric with my Atlantean aggro Magic deck https://gudecks.com/decks/63315 - this is my job 😁 along with aggro Deception. In January, @cautionfun even gifted me some shiny cards after watching my fun deck's game on youtube 🙂 These:
😀
Of course, we usually don't skip turns when a creature is buffed with AA. But these situations happen from time to time. For ex, when you have a buffed creature and the opponent drops 2 frontlines which you can't clear. Or when aggro Light casts Protective Benediction and creates, thus, 3-4 frontlines. You sometimes shouldn't break your AA-buffed creature against a frontline, better to wait until you have an answer - Stoneskin Poison, Umber Arrow, etc. Sometimes, you even have the answer in your hand but have a more urgent needs to spend mana.
Or when they made your creatures sleep, perma-hidden AA was useful. Hidden Shade Walker kept self-buffing, hidden Heroic Brawler also kept buffing itself and other creatures.
AA is still fine, and Deception has many cards, many combos to use instead of AA if this is needed... But anyway AA became worse and it means Deception weakened. And while other domains get OP cards, they just totally killed Moonlighter and the whole new archetype that was supposed for Deception.
Wow nice cards!
ShriKe Moonlighter is nerfed very hard and I think Bitter Endings is still OP. I think I am also going to buy Great Eye's Blessing and Bitter Endings.
Agree.
I don't know if they nerf it again or not but I want to buy the second one... I traveled a week ago and, alas, didn't play the game so I don't have daily drops of $GODS so not enough crypto for Butter Endings, waiting... 😢
My gut feeling is that they are still going to nerf it, say, instead of setting the mana cost to 0 why not make it 1.
Let's see...
As for my guts... Alas, they told me nothing about Moonlighter's sad destiny ... I can't trust them anymore.
😁
I like the combo attack of "Raneko Revenant" and "Perseverance".
And "Great Eye's Blessing" does a lot if you have a field full of creatures.👍👍👍
I tried it at last - it could work, don't know how much it is Meta... but 4 Canopy Snipers on the board or 2 Divyas are reality with Great Eye's Blessing. 😁 One of my games:
😀
Oh, you can break the restriction of only having 1 copy of a legendary in your deck, awesome.
Spiritspeaker seems like a cool card, but it doesn't beat Necroscepter for most decks. It could make some other Aggro +Face Burn + Over The Line possible though perhaps!