2/1 Live Balance Update

Since the release of Empire of Glass and the 1/8 Live Balance Update, we have been carefully monitoring both the Throne and Expedition formats, and we have some changes that are sure to have a big impact on both going forward!

Nerfs: 

Heavy Artillery  – Now creates and draws a 3/3 Raildriver (was create and play)

Valkyrie-Warp has been a somewhat polarizing mechanic, creating some pretty exciting swings when you manage to pull it off at the opportune moment. With that comes the risk of things feeling unfair and like the game is snowballing out of control when the opponent manages to warp it early in the game. To that end, we’re changing Heavy Artillery to cut out some of the more extreme high-roll opportunities, while still preserving the core functionality of the card.

The Speaking Circle  – Now 3 durability (was 4) and “Kill enemy sites at the end of each turn” (Was “The enemy player can’t have a site”)

The Speaking Circle is a very different kind of site, and provides players with interesting and different choices every time it’s played. With that being said, the mirror matches with it can be very frustrating with the player who played their Speaking Circle first completely locking out their opponent. This change will allow for a bit more back-and-forth, while also making the powerful factionless site a bit easier to kill.

Invasive Creeper  – Now 2/1 (was 2/2)

Vine Tangler  – Now 9 to Ultimate (was 7)

Mandrakes have still been incredibly powerful in the Expedition format, in particular Xenan-based mandrake decks that use ultimates to create very large and powerful boards. We’re making a pair of these mandrakes a little weaker to promote a bit more format diversity.

Cylixes – Now require three of their faction before playing undepleted or creating a Trove (was two)

• Rakano Cylix
• Skycrag Cylix
• Elysian Cylix
• Xenan Cylix
• Argenport Cylix

Since their introduction in Argent Depths, the Cylixes have collectively been some of the most well, powerful, power cards in Eternal, and we’ve seen access to them heavily dictate how popular certain faction combinations are in both Throne and Expedition. We’re pulling back a bit on their power level in 3-faction decks in particular by making them require a larger investment in their faction pairs to get the full value. 

As always, cards you crafted that are nerfed will have the option of being destroyed for a full shiftstone refund.

Buffs:

We’re also going to take this opportunity to buff some of the cards from Empire of Glass that haven’t seen as much play and give players some new avenues to explore some of the Bastion tribes.

Matriarch Zende – Now 2/3 (was 2/2)

Skimmer Wrangler – Now stuns two enemy units with flying (was 1).

Opum's Technique – Now “Deal 5 damage to a factionless or multifaction enemy” (was “Deal 5 damage to a multifaction enemy”)

Additional Fixes:

– Call on Allies, Align the Tesseract, and Clear the Way should now interact as expected with cards that count amplifications.

– The Speaking Circle should now play Display of Creation and Display of Destruction properly.

It’s been fantastic to see the community exploring the tower city of the Bastion, and we hope that these changes will open up even more of the tower city to explore when Buried Memories releases next week!