Balance Update and Patch Notes 11.8.2023

Welcome to the first post-Battle Lines live balance patch!

The primary focus of this patch is Draft, but we’re making some small Expedition-targeted changes as well.

Expedition

• Lipa, Witch of the Woods to 1/1 (was 2/1)
• Karrina, Embercaster to 3/3 (was 4/3
• Kid, Grove's Heart to 3/2 (was 3/3)
• Turnabout now deals 2 damage even if the unit wasn’t played this turn. (Still 6 damage if the unit was played this turn, was no damage otherwise.)

Lipa’s base rate has been high enough to see play in almost every Primal Expedition deck, from the most aggressive to the most controlling. And that’s before you start taking advantage of her synergies with Mirror Image, General Fiera, or the new Devour mechanic. Losing a point of power should reduce her ubiquity and speed at closing out games while leaving her a viable option for decks that take particular advantage of her.

Charge-heavy strategies with Kid, Grove’s Heart have also proven to be a bit too fast and resilient, capable of racing down opponents who stumble even slightly. We don’t want to be too heavy-handed while the new metagame is developing, but minor nerfs to Kid and Karrina should allow a little more room for new strategies to emerge.

Turnabout was designed to be a strong answer to these Charge-heavy strategies, but the weakness of the base use has been too limiting to succeed in that role. We’re raising the floor while making sure it’s still at its best when used tactically against Charge, Killer, and Ambush.

Draft

• Aerial Suppression to 2-cost (was 1-cost)
• Fireguide to 2/4 (was 4/4)
• Contraption Crafter to 1/3 (was 0/4)
• Forked Lightning to 2-cost (was 3-cost)
• Cunning Plan to 5SS non-fast (was 7SS Fast)
• Putrefying Presence gains “Draw a card.”
• Sonic Blast to 2-cost (was 3-cost)
• Glory Seeker Renown bonus now grants +1/+1 and Lifesteal (was just Lifesteal)

Please note these images will be updated to reflect changes later today.

Fire has been overperforming in draft while Shadow has been lagging in last place. We’re taking two fire commons down a notch, giving Primal some better options for fighting against Nomad, and buffing several shadow commons and uncommons.

Shadow’s Renown archetype was struggling in particular, so most of our buffs are focused there. We had intentionally aimed low with Putrefying Presence, with the goal of being a low-power Renown enabler that wouldn’t get scooped up by other decks. In practice, Renown has had plenty of enablers but hasn’t paid off enough when its game plan comes together.

Along with these balance update, we’re also fixing a lot of bugs that were found:

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where Fiera, On the Frontlines didn’t apply to Ziat, Whatever It Takes and Veli, Always Watching.
• Fixed an issue where Insatiable Gorger could be triggered by enemy Devour effects
• Fixed an issue where Quinn, Skullhaven Warden’s buff didn’t persist through zone changes or unit copying
• Fixed an issue where Theran Sniper’s debuff didn’t persist through zone changes or unit copying
• Fixed an issue where Telia, Perfect Timing’s Ultimate did not trigger if she died while hitting the enemy player
• Fixed an issue where Skullhaven Tinker and Eris, Apex Slayer didn’t trigger by weapons created into play
• Fixed an issue where Devoted Ranger didn’t draw a card when triggered by weapons created into play
• Fixed an issue where Theran Sniper could apply -0/-0 when triggered by Inscribe spells
• Fixed an issue where Veli, Always Watching didn’t increase its ability if the target left play in response
• Fixed an issue where Shockwave Elemental could attempt to stun units with Endurance
• Fixed an issue where Strange Blacksmith and Strange Gladiator did not display VFX to their targets
• Fixed an issue where Vara, Decisive Action shared its import/export number with Scared Beetender

These updates will be live sometime today!

-Happy Playing