May 9th – Balance Updates

This week’s OTA update features a handful of small tweaks to Power, with more sizable buffs to a pair of baddies from the Age of Ultron.

 

• Lady Deathstrike
  • [Old] 5/7 – On Reveal: Destroy each card here with 3 or less Power.
  • [Change] 5/7 -> 5/6

 

We’re happy that the latest update to Lady Deathstrike created space for this card in the metagame. However, its performance indicates we overshot that mark by just a hair. Deathstrike has become one of the best cards in the game for the last few weeks, and even the top performer in some Annihilus shells–that’s right, over Annihilus himself! Given we’re seeing those decks overperform a little bit, we’re addressing both issues by taking away a little Power here.

 

• Darkhawk
  • [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: +2 Power for each card in your opponent’s deck.
  • [Change] 5/4 -> 5/3

 

It may sound surprising, but Darkhawk has continued to soar after moving to 5-Cost. In fact, it’s spent the majority of the time since as one of the highest winrate cards in the game–often the highest! We’ve given it a few weeks to see if the metagame would demonstrate the kind of healthy churn we like to see, but after little to no change on this count we’re taking action. We want Darkhawk to continue playing an important part in the metagame, but there’s a delicate balance to preserve around having too many Rocks.

 

• Leech
  • [Old] 5/3 – On Reveal: Remove the text from cards with On Reveal abilities in your opponent’s hand.
  • [Change] 5/3 -> 4/2

 

It’s been a while since Leech terrorized the SNAP ladder. Shifting it to only affect On Reveals solved the frustration Leech created, but at 5/3 the stats have been too weak to compete with other 5-Cost cards, even with this effect. In particular, Hela’s new access to Energy gain has meant a 5-Cost Leech can’t always stop the big resurrection plan. At 4/2, Leech can more effectively address popular threats like Hela, Annihilus, Jane Foster, and Cannonball. Besides, we can’t help but root for our favorite Morlock after seeing that brave face on X-Men ’97.

 

• Psylocke
  • [Old] 2/1 – On Reveal: Next turn, you get +1 Energy.
  • [Change] 2/1 -> 2/2

 

We previously nerfed Psylocke to 2/1 when Thanos was overperforming, as Psylocke was contributing a lot to the Mad Titan’s win percentage. Now that Thanos has settled into a healthier position, and with some future adjustments to come, it’s appropriate to revert Psylocke back to 2 Power.

 

• Sauron
  • [Old] 3/2 – On Reveal: Remove the abilities from all Ongoing cards in your hand and deck.
  • [Change] 3/2 -> 3/3

 

Similar to Psylocke, we weakened Sauron a touch during an era of specific overperformance. Given the era has passed, we’re returning that Power now.

 

• Klaw
  • [Old] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +6 Power.
  • [New] 5/4 – Ongoing: The location to the right has +8 Power.

 

It’s been exciting to see Ongoing-based decks claiming their due at the upper ranks over the last week. One card that has continued to suffer in an awkward “in-between” spot is Klaw, as a 5-Cost card that’s fairly restrictive. Because Klaw has a novel restriction and gameplay reward, we’re adding Power to the Ongoing effect to further emphasize those unique elements.

 

• Ultron
  • [Old] 6/8 – On Reveal: Deploy four 1-Power Drones to each other location.
• Drone
  • [Change] 1/1 -> 1/2

 

A metagame threat in the early days, Ultron’s gotten weaker as decks increased their focus on filling each location and more efficiently concentrating Power. The Drones already have predators in the metagame thanks to Killmonger and Lady Deathstrike, and Ultron himself is quite vulnerable to Cannonball. This is a lot of Power to add to Ultron, so we might need to come back and take some away from Ultron himself, but we decided not to do so preemptively in case it wasn’t necessary. We’d rather see Ultron make a splash once more than continue to flounder.

 

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That’s all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!