Patch Notes: February 3rd, 2017

Announcements
#1

Two weeks ago we discussed our gameplay landscape in this Faeria Friday and we are now ready to introduce the significant balance changes promised. While this is the final planned major balance patch before our 1.0 launch, we will of course be monitoring carefully to see what still needs tweaking after this update. Please note that while this patch sets the definitive tone for the meta we want, we’ve done a big quantity of changes and expect there might be some cards to recalibrate.

Read on for the details, or head to this post on boards to read our designer commentary about this patch.

In addition to individual card updates, we have two key changes:

  • Slam has been removed from the game, with the exception of Boulder Thrower.
  • Structures can now be activated during the same turn that you summon them in.

Neutral

Imperial Guard

  • Now 2/3, up from 2/2.
  • Now has Last Words: Gain 2 life.

Defender of the Homeland

  • Faeria cost decreased from 3 to 2.
  • Now 1/2, down from 2/4.
  • Now has Gift: If you were attacked last turn, summon another Defender of the Homeland.

Radiance, Imperial Airship

  • Slam is removed.
  • Now has Gift: Gain 1 life for each card in your hand.

Punishment

  • No change has been made to the wording of Punishment, but it now correctly deals 5 damage to Pandora treasures again.

Blue

Forbidden Library

  • Faeria cost decreased from 2 to 1.
  • Lake cost increased from 2 to 4.

Dream Reaver

  • Faeria cost increased from 6 to 7.
  • Lake cost increased from 6 to 7.
  • Now 7/10, up from 6/10.

Frogify

  • Faeria cost decreased from 5 to 4.
  • Lake cost increased from 2 to 3.

Wavecrash Colossus

  • Slam is removed.
  • Faeria cost decreased from 9 to 8.
  • Minimum cost decreased from 5 to 4.

Sunken Tower

  • Faeria cost increased from 1 to 2.
  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Green

Sagami Huntmaster renamed to Sagami Grovecaller

  • Now has Gift: Teleport another friendly creature to a forest you control.
    (Was: Teleport an adjacent friendly creature to a land you control)

Feral Kodama

  • Slam is removed.
  • Faeria cost decreased from 6 to 5.
  • Is now 5/5, down from 7/7.
  • Now: Can’t Harvest.
  • Whenever this creature attacks a god, gain 5 life.

Oak Father

  • Slam is removed.
  • Now 6/6, up from 5/5.

Ruunin, the Relentless

  • Faeria cost decreased from 8 to 6.
  • Now 4/4, down from 6/6.
  • Now has Dash 2.
  • Last Words are now: Return Ruunin to your hand. She gains +2/+2.

Overgrown Tower

  • Structure life decreased from 4 to 3.
  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Ruunin’s Presence

  • Faeria cost decreased from 5 to 4.

Red

Hate Seed

  • Faeria cost increased from 6 to 7.

Shedim Pest

  • Now 4/3, up from 4/2.
  • Gift decreased from +2/+2 to +2/0.

Firebringer

  • Now 1/1, down from 2/2.

Seifer, Blood Tyrant

  • Slam is removed.
  • Faeria cost decreased from 6 to 5.

Boulder Thrower

  • Slam keyword is removed, but still functions the same.
  • Text now reads: Ranged. When this creature attacks, it also damages each enemy adjacent to the target.

Lord of Terror

  • Faeria cost increased from 5 to 6.
  • Mountain cost decreased from 3 to 2.
  • Now 0/10, from 1/5.
  • Deathtouch removed.
  • Now has Taunt.
  • Whenever Lord of Terror is dealt damage, deal 2 damage to your opponent.

Derelict Tower

  • Faeria cost increased from 2 to 3.
  • Structure life increased from 3 to 4.
  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Hellfire

  • Faeria cost decreased from 8 to 7.

Yellow

Doomsday

  • Now ends your turn after it is played.

Annoying Gnat

  • Now 1/1, down from 2/1.

Dune Drake

  • Attack decreased from 4 to 3.

Zealous Crusader

  • Faeria cost decreased from 5 to 4.
  • Now 3/3, up from 2/2.
  • Gains +1/+1 per attack on enemy god, down from +2/+2.

Wind Gate

  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Celestial Tower

  • Now gives Charge 3, down from Charge 5.
  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Shaytan Vampire renamed to Shaytan Monstrosity

  • Previous abilities removed.
  • Desert cost increased from 2 to 4.
  • Now 0/4, from 6/6.
  • Now has Charge 2.
  • Whenever a friendly creature dies, this creature drains its attack.

Doomgate, Door to Oblivion

  • Faeria cost increased from 2 to 3.
  • Structure life increased from 1 to 3.
  • Now gains +2 life with each sacrifice, down from +4.
  • (All structures can now be activated on the turn you play them)

Ostregoth, Hand of Oblivion

  • Slam is removed.

Multicolor

Warstorm Champion

  • Slam is removed.
  • Faeria cost reduced from 7 to 6.

Disenchant

The following cards will have their full disenchant values until February 10th, 2017:

  • Wavecrash Colossus
  • Sagami Grovecaller
  • Oak Father
  • Ruunin, the Relentless
  • Hate Seed
  • Seifer, Blood Tyrant
  • Lord of Terror
  • Shedim Pest
  • Firebringer
  • Dune Drake
  • Zealous Crusader
  • Shaytan Vampire
  • Forbidden Library
  • Dream Reaver
  • Feral Kodama
  • Doomsday
  • Annoying Gnat

Update: We’ve applied a small follow-up patch fixing some bugs, and addressing Chalice from the Palace:

  • Chalice from the Palace: Faeria cost increased from 2 to 3. - This Pandora treasure was intended to be nerfed but got lost somewhere in all our constructed patch notes.
  • Puzzles 18, 19 and 51 are now completable
  • Attacks for 0 damage no longer trigger abilities such as from Lord of Terror.
  • We’ve applied a fix related to Altar of Souls, but are still keeping an eye on its functionality. Let us know of any further problems.
1 Like
#2

Known puzzle issues with the latest patch:

  • Puzzles #18, 19, and 51 are currently unsolvable. Sorry for any confusion caused until these are fixed!
#3

You forgot to mention one very important change in the patch notes - the new Card Draw when the player sacs a creature to Doomgate. (EDIT - My mistake; as Atmaz pointed out below, this was not an omission but a change that was made in a recent patch)

I like a lot of these changes. Balance-wise, most are in the right direction. The disgustingly powerful Angry Red Deck needed these nerfs, and I like the changes to cards like Doomsday and Forbidden Library which remove some of the abuse cases or hot-and-cold problems without taking away the card’s ability to be used in healthy ways or gutting their overall power.

The change to the Structure Activation makes me really sad, though. Most structures now feel a lot like more expensive, repeatable versions of Events (or Gifts) that already exist - Sunken Tower/Shifting Tide, Derelict Tower/Flame Spitter, Overgrown Tower/Runaan’s Guidance, and Celestial Tower/Syland Horsemaster as examples. Structures used to be interesting in that you essentially had to announce your intention to do something a turn from now when you played them - it gave your opponent information to work with and decisions to make. In return for this information, you got to play something that was potentially very cost-effective for its effect.

Yes, structures were hard to play at all before this patch as they’d often be killed as soon as they were played once the board was connected - but that was just one of the many problems with the aggravating, un-strategic Creature Rush Meta that was in vogue. On first blush I think you’ve solved a lot of those Rush problems with the surgically-targeted balance changes you’ve made this patch. The new meta, I assume, will allow both players more time to set up their board. So I feel it was a mistake to try and rework how Structures activate (which was most of what made them unique and cool) at the same exact time you adjusted the pace of the game (which were the root cause behind their balance issues). It’s like taking a hospital-grade antibiotic to cure a common cold, when all you actually needed was a little nourishment and rest.

#4

This change was introduced January 10th of this year:

1 Like
#5

So, I heavily invested in green since starting Faeria. I have been playing at rank 10 for the last weeks and can make NO PROGRESS at all. All the random combo blue decks are better. Mono red is better. Mono yellow is better… in three variants. Everything is better.

Now, EVERYTHING GOOD about green has been taken away. Yeah, slam. Even Ruunin, which wasn’t that good to start with. How can one build a green deck that is remotely competitive? Green absolutely needs some advantage to make up for their complete lack of removal. Everyone has big critters and Blue can get to them faster. What does green have exactly?

Can I repeat that last question? What is the reason to play green? I don’t see one. And since all my cards are green, I guess I find another game?

Meanwhile, Blue is hardly touched and arguably IMPROVED. Frogify, for example. The difference between 4 and 5 cost is huge. Library will still be everywhere in mono blue, just not on turn 2. Turn 4 library in their turtling decks is still huge. So I see Blue coming out ahead with this patch.

Mirror Phantasm is OP. It always plays for 5 or less and gives two 5/5s which can target your own or the opponents critters. How is that not completely OP? Baeru should not even be in the game. At 8 Faeria it is an auto-play as soon as you get it. If opponent is green, they have no removal, will lose their resources faster than they can replenish and have now lost.

Red gets their green hoser, Seifer, reduced in cost. Oh, and Boulder Thrower still has slam? Naturally. Just lost a game to that one card. Hint: Cards that deny interaction are generally bad for games. If green doesn’t deserve slam, how does red deserve ranged + slam in one card? Otherwise the Hate Seed deck has been slightly tempered, but Hellfire is cheaper so we will still see those nasty Blue-Red “clear everything repeatedly” decks.

Change to Gnat and Drake balance the Yellow flying deck. But none of the speed deck cards have been touched. Excepting the Vampire, which was only included since it is obviously OP.

I think at this point if you’re not playing Blue you’re playing Faeria wrong. This game is going the way of Duelyst where the best decks are made up of the rarest cards, and it’s all about combo-mania.

If you are playing Green then you are DEFINITELY playing the game wrong.

#6

Woops! That’s my bad; I had never noticed in the last few weeks that my opponents were drawing a card when they sac’ed to Doomgate. Thanks Atmaz.

This then leads me to feel very surprised that Doomgate isn’t being given Full Disenchant Value for this patch (requiring one extra mana, one extra turn, and two extra creatures, not to mention removing Slam from Ostragath without compensation, all look like nerfs) - I guess you guys feel like the ability to boost Doomgate to 5 life the turn it’s played and therefore not be removed by Red immediately is enough of a buff to balance out all of that? Heh… this really makes me appreciate how complex the chain of effects is when you change a mechanic in a game that’s already built. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#7

Perhaps the interaction between the new structures can be activated on the turn they are played with the new lord of terror could be reconsidered. Suddenly the 1 damage ping structure is insane because it can do 2 instant damage then threaten another 6 damage. The lord of terror himself doesn’t exactly die at 10 hp either which makes things even worse.

Normally wouldn’t matter much but it’s a significant amount of burn damage on a build that was always close to having too much.

#8

Green got ruunin’s presence reduced to 4f, which is a big buff. Kodama was nerfed, but it had it coming.

You say “none of the speed deck cards have been touched”. I think you may have missed a really big change - zealous crusader changed to only get +1/+1 every time face is hit rather than +2/+2. This change, along with the removal of vampire, makes it so that yellow has no big minions it can use, unless it wants to splash another color or play expensive neutral cards. Along with the introduction of a crapton of anti-yrush cards such as Imperial Guard and Lord of Terror, this means that yellow rush decks are dead dead dead. In the current meta where people are playing the new cards, you can’t get above a 40% win rate with the deck.

Red Rush has also been nerfed. Green rush has a small nerf to kodama and huntmaster, but those are less rush than midrange cards anyway, and ruunin’s presence has the potential to be very powerful for green rush decks.

Seifer is not a green hoser at all - in fact, that’s probably the color he’s worst against. Seifer’s ability is completely wasted against creatures that can kill it, and green has the most of those.

Library may not be completely dead, but removing the possibility of the turn 2 library makes it much harder for blue to have these completely unbeatable openings.

Overall you’re probably right that blue is coming out ahead this patch, but that’s okay. Green was arguably the best color last patch, and now it and yrush are being nerfed some (yrush more than green)

#9

And what about W8 and see (and test !!).
I read so much stupid thing.
So much guy are already talking about “the new meta is”. What?!? a new meta after 12h release??
I saw things that seems bad or dangerous to me too in this patch, but i will w8 to see and have a global vision of what will happen!
Let 1 week pass, let test and test and test. Let the easy idea “that color is dead!” fall in a deep deep hole where they better never cames out.
And after, come back to cry about the patch, but first, let it be really test …

2 Likes
#10

Xerxes, you are right, I missed Zealous Crusader. That does make a huge difference to yellow rush. Though often they don’t need a big finisher to win, the deck is more fragile without.

In my experience Seifer does hose green. Obviously the red player doesn’t play him next to a huge critter, but he sweeps up all the small dudes. Unless green is holding back two Embraces I often find he’s game over, in my experience when spectating and playing. Whereas if green plays a similar threat, red can deal with it using a mid-range dude and removal.

I don’t see how anyone can say green was the best in the last patch. A month ago in the monthly tournament green was strong but went down immediately after that. And now even more.

I never thought that library created unbeatable openings. In fact, some of my aggressive decks liked to see it, knowing it would take me three turns to remove it and that was more damage off my foe. But I am glad it has been tamed to a reasonable level. Was definitely OP before.

I hold out the possibility that Kodama can still find a place in a deck, but not being able to harvest kills green. No green card should have that limitation IMO. Unless, perhaps, it was cheap and goes in a rush deck. A 5 cost midrange card that doesn’t help me kill my opponent is not a rush card.

1 Like
#11

Maihem, perhaps you don’t see the irony of making a “stupid” whining post about stupid whining posts? Maybe contribute something next time? You know, you could discuss the cards or deck archetypes or something.

#12

Ruunin as an example.

Taming OP cards makes sense. But Ruunin was nowhere near that level. Other colours have amazing diamond cards. Green has none worth playing. I honestly don’t get that. Ruunin is now one of the worst cards in green, of any rarity, only competing once played four times.

Explain? OK.

For the first play, Ruunin is strictly inferior to Sagami Warrior, costing three more (double the cost!) for one more power. Oh, and needing an extra forest.

Second play, Ruunin is inferior to Wild Avenger (for example), giving you 1/1 more but losing Taunt. Even inferior to Wild Boar, given that card comes out for 4 when properly played.

Third play, Ruunin is an 8/8 with Dash for 6. But this doesn’t make up for the tempo loss of the first two plays.

Fourth play I get a 10/10 and have broken even on the earlier tempo loss. So, if I invest 24 faeria, Ruunin finally becomes superior.

Yeah, I know I can play her in green/yellow sac, but I can play lots of crap in that deck that finally pays the bills. Please don’t justify a diamond card based on one deck archetype. Especially compared to all the kick-ass diamonds other colours get.

#13

A great balance patch overall. A lot of the changes are exactly what I wanted.

Especially the yellow rush nerfs were really needed. Really nice to see Zealous Crusader finally brought down to a reasonable power level. I wasn’t expecting it to ever get nerfed since it was unchanged for so many months, but I’m glad it happened.

Doomsday ending your turn makes it less annoying to deal with, since it can’t be used to deal damage on an empty board in rush now. It doesn’t seem too useful now though, unless your opponent seriously overcommits creatures on the board. It could still work as a one off in case that happens.

The Annoying Gnat nerf is probably appropriate. It’s a hard card to balance since its power level depends so much on how early you get to play it. Using it could result in huge Firebringer buffs for little cost before, so making it a 1/1 is good to prevent that from happening. Hopefully the Gnat will still be useful in decks that take advantage of saccing it a lot.

The Dune Drake nerf is welcome. Playing it on turn 2 was one of the best early plays in the game. It’s still good, but it doesn’t kill early game creatures as easily as before.

I’m not sure if the Vampire rework was good. The previous version’s balance was fine. It was a bit annoying in rush, since it gave them an efficiently statted creature that would win races, but it wasn’t really a problem. The rework’s ability is interesting, but 4 health seems to make it too hard to take advantage of it. Either the desert cost or the health could use a buff, so it wouldn’t be so hard to keep it on the board.

The neutral taunt card buffs are nice. They were some of the weakest cards in the game before and weren’t good even as an anti-rush tool. The new versions are still weak compared to colored taunt cards, but they could be a decent choice as an anti-rush tech in yellow and blue decks.

Radiance should be a bit better than before. It healing you afterwards makes it safer to lower your health in order to play it. It’s still situational, so I don’t think it’ll be played much. But it could work nicely as a comeback card now.

The Forbidden Library change was much needed. The 4 lake cost removes those annoying situations where it could be played long before it could be destroyed by many decks. The lake cost is more appropriate to its power level now.

Dream Reaver’s a bit slower to play now, which makes it less annoying. I’m still not a fan of such a huge creature being in blue, especially since it can easily be enchanted for a TTK. It’ll at least be less oppressive now, since it takes longer before it can be played. It’s still faster than Three Wishes though, which could make it hard to play wish decks.

The reduced cost of Frogify is really nice. It was too much of a faeria investment before. You usually only want to Frogify late in the match anyway, so 1 extra lake shouldn’t change much.

Structures activating on the same turn makes them much better. Having to wait a turn was too slow compared to events. Really nice change.

Huntmaster seems ideally balanced now. Green does need some mobility like it to be viable. This version should be strong enough to give green enough options while not giving them annoyingly much reach, like the first version did.

I’m surprised slam was removed completely. Nerfing it significantly or only giving it to low attack creatures would’ve been enough. I didn’t really like slam, so I don’t mind it being removed though.

I’m a bit worried whether green can be viable now, since it relied on slam so much before. Mid green was basically carried by Kodama and Huntmaster and Oak Father’s power level before, which wasn’t really good design. I’m glad those were nerfed, but I hope green will still be a viable option without them.

The new Kodama is a lot worse than the old one. It’s odd that it has a large forest cost when it seems like a rush card. The healing can be nice in race situations. The card seems too situational now overall, especially since it can’t collect. It’s much less annoying than the old Kodama, though.

Ruunin getting dash 2 is a good idea. It’s interesting to have a recurring dash creature. Otherwise, it seems about as powerful as before, only different. Getting buffs instead of cost reductions fits green better.

Ruunin’s Presence was too risky at the previous cost. It costing 4 is definitely better.

The Hate Seed and Firebringer nerfs are appropriate. They should be at a decent power level now.

Seifer is weaker without slam, but he does have really nice stats for his cost now. Removing slam makes him less annoying to deal with. He should remain a useful card, even if he isn’t as intimidating without slam.

The Lord of Terror rework is really unexpected. It was a well balanced red control card before. The new version seems strong, since 10 health works really well with its ability. There are events that easily counter it because of the 0 attack though, so that could even out its power level.

Hellfire costing 7 better fits the benefit you get out of it. The lowered faeria investment makes it a less risky card to play, making it a better inclusion to decks now.

The slam on Warstorm Champion usually wasn’t that useful. The card was mostly useful for its gift, so it seems to be as useful as it was before overall.

#14

today i actually played the following mid green list:
x2 falcon dive
x2 horsmaster
x3 feed the forest
x3 embrace
x3 living willow
x3 sagami
x3 wood elemental
x3 tharian golem
x2 Grove guardian
x3 verdurian force
x3 oak father

and i did pretty well! did not play too many games but i still did pretty good, 5 mobility cards are good enough to clear everything your opponent put down.

#15

Update: We’ve applied a small follow-up patch fixing some bugs, and addressing Chalice from the Palace:

  • Chalice from the Palace: Faeria cost increased from 2 to 3. - This Pandora treasure was intended to be nerfed but got lost somewhere in all our constructed patch notes.
  • Puzzles 18, 19 and 51 are now completable
  • Attacks for 0 damage no longer trigger abilities such as from Lord of Terror.
  • We’ve applied a fix related to Altar of Souls, but are still keeping an eye on its functionality. Let us know of any further problems.
#16

Someone explain the annoying gnat nerf to me? Was it actually that oppressive in the yellow fliers or sac decks? Or did it have to do with anticipating the other changes in the patch that would’ve made it over the top as it was?

#17

Sulphur: Yes, gnat was too much in a flier deck.

BeeTwo: Unviable deck at higher levels, unfortunately. Other colours simply have more efficient critters and removal. I would remove Oak Father completely after the nerf. Also Falcon Dive, though it’s a great card. Replace with 5 more critters that can come out quicker, speeding up the deck. Boost creatures are a good option, since 3 Embraces is not enough.

#18

Just nerfs the already weak three wishes decks further.
The primordial colossus nerfs were already nails in that coffin, combined with nerfs to virtually every ramp card the deck could run, it’s removal, it’s late game and even 3 wishes itself it’s no wonder nobodies playing it right now.

#19

@Atmaz

regarding doomgate changes, why it has not full disenchant value ?
=> faeria cost increase
=> need more creatures to be sac
=> slam remove from ostregoth

#20

Doomgate is considered to remain at much the same power level as it was before, with the ability to activate the turn it is placed. The purpose of providing full disenchant values is to allow players to swap out cards that now may make their decks much less playable, and not be ‘locked out’ from playing the game by having inferior decks.

The only structure that was considered to be strictly nerfed after this patch was Forbidden Library.

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