4/7 Live Balance Update

Following the release of Stormbreak, we’ve been monitoring our constructed formats as they adopt and adapt to these new cards. In the Stormbreak $5k Throne Open we saw a number of new Stormbreak cards make their tournament debut. Ultimately, TheBoxer won the event piloting their take on Even Feln, the standout deck of the event. It continued a trend of aggressive decks in particular lagging behind in a Throne format with so many powerful Shadow-based decks capable of stymying them. In Expedition, with the upcoming $5K Open on the 16th-18th Open, we wanted to take a step to address how strong Primal-based Soldier decks have been. Thus, we have a couple of changes to announce, going into effect today Wednesday, April 7th.

Nerfs

Icaria, First Reaper – Now 7SSSSSS (was 6)

Icaria’s latest Nightmare incarnation has been a fantastic tool giving players a way to both kill units, sites and add a great Flying unit to their board. When players find themselves playing against lots of value units like Grodov’s Stranger or Jekk, Mercenary Hunter, a straight 1-for 1 removal like Annihilate kills the unit and is cheaper but leaves the player behind to those summon effects. Icaria helps players catch up by interacting with the enemy unit and leaving the player a great Flying body afterward.

The risk with a card like Icaria is how strongly she dominates units without any summon effect or Aegis. It’s great to have units resilient to removal, but we want all kinds viable in Throne. With a very high representation in Throne, Icaria threatens the diversity of units and the broader format. To that end, we’re increasing the cost of Icaria to 7.

(Note: As Icaria, First Reaper is from a campaign, players who purchased the base version of the campaign will receive 1,250 gold and owners of the premium campaign will receive 2,500 gold.)

Maveloft Huntress – Now 3PP and 3/1 (was 2PP and 2/1)

One of the most popular forms of interaction in Primal in both Throne and Expedition, Maveloft Huntress can deal with both cheap early units and even larger Aegis units with her Killer+ Imbue. While we like how much play the card has as far as interaction goes, we want to make it easier for players facing the Huntress. By increasing the cost to three, we’re slowing down how early players can make a huge Killer unit out of her and allow the opponent more time to set up. At the same time, we’re increasing her strength to three. We considered changes like moving her to 1/1, but when changing cards we want to preserve what makes them play well. For the Huntress, we believe the card plays best when it’s a viable option to play without always waiting around for something to Imbue.

Buffs

We also have a few buffs to announce, mostly aimed at helping to give aggressive decks some more options in the Throne metagame.

Borderlands Lookout  – Now 0/3 (was 0/2)

Rolling Spikeback – Now 3/2 (was 3/1)

Forgemark Scrivener – Now 2-cost (was 3)

Powercell – Now 2/2 (was 2/1)

Be sure to check out the Expedition format on display with the Stormbreak $5k Expedition Open, with the event running April 16-18, and official coverage on April 18th where we’ll see who earns an invite to our 2021 world championship!