EA 0.2.19 Character Balacing Update

EA 0.2.20 Patch Highlights • Character Balancing : Redeye defences get dampened and Sora buffs to Ignite and Barrier playstyles

Character Balancing

Sora the Elemental Sorcerer This patch mainly focuses on a large revamp to Sora’s overall strength in both setup speed and survivability. Up against aggressive decks, early game Sora barely stands a chance with thin barriers and mana heavy spells that can be easily destroyed by other classes. We are increasing her overall barrier gains and survivability options by giving her access to Double Heal and the capabilities of increasing her Maximum Barrier. We have also decreased the activation cost of several of Ignite cards to push forward her damage potential to start around mid game rather than late game which is more fitting of her fiery passion.

Astral Rain and Astral Rain X We replaced the draw capability of this card with Heal to increase the survivability of Sora in the early game where she will most likely need to lose some health in order to bait out resources for a safe spell casting. Sora already has an extremely potent draw engine in the midgame with Enduring Renewal which counteracts this change and allows both cards to serve different functions.

Card text removed : Draw a card New card text : Heal(4) lives

Fire Bolt and Fire Bolt X With the redesign of Tsunami, the practicality of using Fire Bolt is further diminished due to how easy it is to block the card. A small damage buff was implemented to make the attack playstyle more viable.

Attack damage : 4 < 5

Water Caress Overall we are increasing the barrier values of most enchantments to allow more survivability against aggressive decks by making it easier to sustain a barrier for the end turn added benefits.

Increased Barrier value : 3 < 5

Water Caress X Double Heal is a new ability Sora gains access with. The previous version of this card really lacked a signature and most of the time it was really not worth an upgrade unless Cure was essential to include. With Double Heal and the new changes to Astral Rain, Sora can come back from the grave every turn and will present a tall hurdle for opponents to answer and climb to victory.

Increased Barrier Value : 4 < 5 Added card text : You are granted Double Heal

Raging Inferno and Raging Inferno X Ignite often works best when it is applied early repetitively, and the cost made it a completely dead card for most of the game, and by the time you could effectively play Raging Inferno, Internal Combustion could probably do close or more at a higher mana efficiency. We are retuning the stats of both cards to make them viable options to build around.

New Mana Cost

4/5 > 2 New Spell Damage :5/6 > 3 Raging Inferno New Card Text : Apply Ignite(3) to your opponent. If your Windy is active, apply Ignite(5) instead.

Raging Inferno X New Card Text

You are granted Windy(1) and apply Ignite(3). If your Windy is active, apply Ignite(6) instead.

Tsunami and Tsunami X To support Sora’s survivability, we have decided to allow Sora to be the first character in game to increase the maximum barrier value. This will allow Sora to gain benefits through Tsunami from the early game and present a different path to support her other effects rather than relying purely on reactions.

Mana Cost : 5 > 4 Added card text : Increase your Maximum Barrier value by 1.

Violent Tornado From the playtesting since the release of Sora, we have noticed that Windy has been the weakest part of Sora’s deck. On paper, Windy can be extremely powerful, coupled with Sora being able to increase her attack speed, she can quickly lock opponents out from attacking or blocking. But this has mainly been just a dream, as she wouldn’t have enough time to do all of those things within the multiplayer meta. We are increasing the synergised benefits from Violent Tornado to open up more strategies that can revolve around her wind magic.

Increased Barrier Value : 2X < 3X

Violent Tornado X Increased Barrier Value : 2X < 3X Card text change : Removed Ignite requirement for Ignite(X)

Favourable Wind Sora’s main control package revolves around speed and Windy. Without access to more powerful keywords such as Frozen and Stun, we wanted to expand her buff and debuffing capabilities through stat reduction from this card.

Added card text : If your Arcane Resonance is 2 or grater, the effect lasts until the end of the game.

Favorable Wind X Added card text

Your opponent’s attack speed is reduced by 1 until the end of turn.

Added card text

If your Arcane Resonance is 2 or grater, the effect lasts until the end of the game.

Howling Gale A small redesign of this card was done to give Sora one more Arcane enabler that would be mana efficient and have subsequent additional Windy effects.

Mana Cost : 2 > 1 Windy Value : 2 > 1 Added card text : Increase your Arcane Resonance by 1.

Howling Gale X In addition, we have added in an Ignite synergy for the upgraded version to allow another way of speeding up Sora’s offensive capabilities.

Mana Cost : 2 > 1 Windy Value : 2 > 1 Added card text : Increase your Arcane Resonance by 1 and double the value of Ignite on your opponent.

Enduring Renewal Increased Barrier value : 5 < 6

Sudden Squall X Sora doesn’t seem to be able to take advantage of Steroid as many of her playstyles doesn’t rely on attacks. We substituted the ability with Windy to better fit her overall playstyle.

Removed Card Text : Removed Steroid Added Card Text : You are granted Windy(1)

Redeye the Werewolf The big bad wolf right now is a very strong champion, with huge damage potential and great counters to a lot of other strategies. Monsters are designed to be aggressive and highly dependent on bloodlust which requires damage being done to the opponent through high stat attack cards. This is something we do not want to touch as it is pivotal and key to the monster playstyle. However, monsters on the other hand should not have access to multiple dominating defense cards that can completely prohibit the opposing set up. We are tuning down the defense package of Redeye and maintaining his offensive potential to give a chance to other characters in the meta.

Ignore Pain Cure was removed to give some vulnerability to Redeye from other characters that can be easily countered from Cure.

Removed Card Text : You are Cured

Ignore Pain X We are retaining Cure for Redeye in the form of this upgraded card but at the same time we are reverting the Bloodlust reduction. A 7/3 block that can be played turn 1 and without restriction or setup is too all rounded for an aggressive deck like Redeye.

Bloodlust requirement : 0 < 1

Dice and Dice X Having access to two Interrupt cards and the ability to Unleash makes playing spells against Redeye almost impossible. We are removing Interrupt from Dice to give spells a chance when Redeye has poor card flow.

Removed Card Text : This attack can Interrupt spell casting.

Leap Aside X Similar to Ignore Pain X, we are removing the reduction of Bloodlust to balance out the advantageous and weaknesses of Redeye.

Bloodlust requirement : 1 < 2 Attack speed bonus : 1 < 2