(long post) creating value via energy advantage: creating a healthier metagame
Hi guys,
I just wanted to drop some additional thoughts on card balance within the current meta structure. There are a few specific aspects of the meta game structure with regard to energy value that need some addressing. Specifically, there are several instances in which certain cards generate an overwhelming amount of value (measured roughly by Energy advantage). These cards can be over-centralizing and cause a stagnation of the meta.
In a perfect world, every card should have clear strengths and weaknesses and counter play should be available and accessible. If this were the case, the meta would shift organically as players begin playing counters to a specific threat, and then players begin playing counters to that threat, and so on.
One longstanding trend in the meta is the tendency for players to rely heavily on high value Legendary cards, and this trend has been magnified with the Incan Craig buffs. Incan Craig, right off the bat, generates a TON of value with his warcry. It is easy to wipe out two ranged cards (say, Amazingly Randy and Bounty Hunter Kyle) and a weakened warrior or two with his warcry. Sticking with this example, Amazingly Randy and BHK are 7 energy between the two of them. If he can hit a weakened warrior, let's call that an additional 1.5 energy advantage (half of a 3 cost warrior)... that's 8.5 energy just on the warcry, generating a 3.5 energy advantage in ADDITION to leaving a strong ranged unit on the field. The fun doesn't stop there either - Incan Craig is one of a few Legendary cards that seems to have an exceptionally high HP stat. So once he destroys your push with his warcry, he face tanks whatever you bring out to kill him, generating even more value. As is, Incan Craig generates an insane amount of energy value. What is the counter play? That's where the problem arises - warcries are inherently not really a counter-able acton because they happen on summon. That might be OK, if he was relatively easily removed from the field after his warcry like most other ranged cards, except he has a ton of health so it costs quite a bit just to remove him after as well.
Medusa Bebe causes similar challenges, except instead of generating value via a warcry, she generates value primarily by being extremely difficult to remove from the field because her health pool is also quite high. This is difficult to handle in combination with her ability to transform enemies she kills into snakes, because she is generating target dummies to protect her in addition to the warrior/tank front line protecting her. Of course, Mystic is currently very strong and handling Medusa Bebe in combination with a tank (that usually gets resurrected by Timmy once killed) and Kyle boosting her is extremely limiting to the Mystic player's opponent because of the energy value she can create. How much? It's hard to say exactly - she snowballs so quickly and it is so hard to stop her early in her life that this card is basically guaranteed to generate positive value for her user. Like Incan Craig, her exceptionally high health pool severely limits counter play - even once you get to her after fighting through two tanks (Timmy!), random snakes, and her likely boosted damage (Kyle!), she will still likely face tank a unit or two... and if she is near death, boom, Hallelujah.
I realize that it is unlikely that these cards will be changed significantly aside from numbers tuning. Incan Craig will retain his warcry, and Medusa Bebe will retain her snakes ability. But there still needs to be counterplay present vs these cards. Boosting Incan Craig's damage to make it easier to generate value via killing low hp units like the ranged units or weakened fighters in the above scenario was a good change but widening the Area of Effect was a bit too much. Because of how wide the area of effect is, it's basically a much stronger version of Fireball that also leaves a strong ranged unit on the field. That's just too much. In addition, because of the high value gained from his warcry, he should be relatively easy to kill once warriors/assassins reach him. My suggestion for this card would be to reduce his Area of Effect and nerf his health. These changes combined would reduce his overall value in energy advantage while still making him a very strong card that will almost always still provide a positive value for the user if used correctly.
Similarly, Medusa Bebe's HP should also be decreased. Again, if the opponent manages to reach Bebe after fighting through two tanks (Timmy!), it should be relatively easy to remove her from the field. As is, she will kill a competitively leveled assassin and she can tank a warrior relatively easily as well. This is especially true when she is boosted by Kyle or receives heals, both of which are almost always available to her.
Making a quick departure from discussing these two high value ranged legendary cards, there is one more card that I'd like to discuss that generates wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much value: Pope Timmy. The problem with Pope Timmy is that because his ability is a warcry it is near impossible to counter. Often times even if you are expecting Pope Timmy to come out and have cancel ready for him, he will get partially through the animation, die, and still resurrect the Grand Wizard Cartman or whatever he is bringing back. That scenario is probably WORSE than simply letting him resurrect because now you're also out a 4-5 energy cancel and you didn't even stop the resurrection. This scenario is probably just an auto loss. Again, it goes back to counterplay. There is no reliable counterplay to Pope Timmy's warcry. For 6 energy Timmy will almost always be able to put a 5-6 energy tank or 4 energy legendary card back on the field and in addition, he will provide dps to back the resurrected card up. Again, going back to the strength of mystic: the tank dies, Pope Timmy resurrects it, Ninjew Kyle comes out, game over. Period.
The overall energy advantage provided by Pope Timmy's resurrection needs to be reduced, and/or there needs to be a reliable way to counter the ability. A popular suggestion is to slow the speed of his resurrection providing the opponent time to react and stop it, similar to how there is time to stop, say, Dougie when he comes out because he has a summon animation and then a travel time. I would argue this isn't enough, primarily because Mystic as a theme is packing way too many high priority cards that need cancelled, especially when paired with, Fantasy/adventure that pack their own high priority cancels. Cancel SOMM? Great, now the Mystic user knows that his tank>timmy combo can't be stopped and is a guaranteed 5-6 energy advantage. That's a crippling lose/lose scenario for the opponent.
That said, I would argue that the overall value of the resurrection needs to be reduced in additional ways. In addition to slowing Pope Timmy's animation down to create a reliable cancel window, Timmy needs to be 7 energy. This creates a risk for the Mystic user, who could end up actually losing 2 energy instead of gaining 5 or 6. That would be a good start. Potentially going further, the resurrected unit should come back with reduced HP. If, say, Timmy resurrected Grand Wizard Cartman, but Cartman was at 2/3rd of his original health the effective energy advantage created by the Mystical user would be closer to 4 (from Cartman) instead of 6 (from Cartman). Remember also, Timmy himself still generates value as a ranged unit so this is still a very powerful card. The overall effective energy advantage gained from Resurrecting a card like Cartman and having a strong ranged unit on the field in Timmy is still very difficult to deal with.
If I had to venture a guess, I think RedLynx probably regrets implementing Pope Timmy's resurrection mechanic. It's a nightmare to balance and as long as Pope Timmy's resurrection provides the value that it does, Mystic will remain as the best theme.
This is getting long, so I'll stop. Thanks for reading.
1 people found this helpful