The first patch on the new year brings 14 new cards, balance changes and bug fixes. We have 1 new Legendary, 3 Epics, 7 Rares and 3 Commons.
The patch will be live on December 5th in the following interval:
- 15 PM - 16 PM CET
- 6 AM - 7 AM PST
- 9 AM - 10 AM EST
- 10 PM - 11 PM China Standard Time
New Cards
Iulius Randl is one of the strength archetype build arounds. He has 3 auras, one of which addresses the STR weakness of low playmaking. He is also a scorer, which is relatively rare for the STR archetype. Special gives +30 Rebounding and +30 Playmaking to STR players. Enforcer gives +5 Block to STR players. Determined gives +30 Rebounding to any adjacent player.
Dedrick Roze is a buff archetype card, and likely the best buff archetype enabler in the game. He places a total of 7 buffs on sub in, as well as having Bonus Pass generation for himself. He will on average get 3.5 bonus passes when he is subbed in.
Mychael Robinzon is a stats monster. He has a high native block, and blocks against all shots from speed and skill player types, and with Clutch Blocker for a huge blocking boost in the 4th quarter. Ideally you want to have him as your main pass target, sub him out on the first activation, and get him back in in the 4th quarter.
Jaylen Bronson is another strength shooter, and one of the highest playmaking STR players. Together with Iulius Randl, he is intended to be an addition that makes the STR archetype viable.
Arjay Bartett is another addition to the debuff archetype, but more focused on defense. It should help balance the archetype out, and not have it be all in on offense.
Camm Redish may look ordinary, but he is one of the few players with the Shutdown passive, which prevents opponents from generating bonus shots/passes.
Our last special player from this update is Isayah Hartandstein. Another high block player with Teamwork, but he also has Hardened, which gives rebounding and block for each other STR teammate. In a full STR lineup, he has the highest native block in the game at 27.
Balance Changes
Players
Brando Imgram
Increased Bonus Shots generated and removed by Mocking Trickshots from 5 to 6. Now also removes up to 6 Bonus Passes.
Add new passive: Aura: Wing teammates have Wing Defender. Wings are the left most and right most players on the board, and Wing Defender grants +20 Defense.
Ban Adebaio
Replaced passive: Offensive Rebound: 50% chance to get +50 Turn Meter
with Offensive Rebound: Switch position with a random teammate
Developer Comments: Ban was a problem in the rebounding deck. Our intent for him was to be a part of the movement archetype. With this change, we reduce the power of the rebounding deck significantly, as well as move Ban more towards movement.
Dejonte Murrai
New passive: Trait: Pacifist. Pacifist makes Dejonte unable to foul while at 5 fouls. He basically cannot be eliminated from the match. If you can get him to 5 fouls, he will be a defensive stats monster.
Anthonny Daviz
Passive Opportunistic: Get +5 DEFENSE, PLAYMAKING, REBOUNDING or OFFENSE permanently now grants +10 of each attribute.
Kylle Laoury
Contact III passive reduced from 30% foul chance on opponent to 20% foul chance.
Kairi Irwing
Replace passive Exploit: 50% chance to get +1 BONUS SHOT with Exploit: 50% chance to get +1 BONUS PASS.
Willi Hermangomes
Replace skill Mastered Post Shots with Pick & Option.
Nicholas Batoom
Offense increased from 39 to 44.
Naji Marshall
Salary decreased from 7 to 5.
Replace passive Team Steal: 50% chance to Shoot 1 with Trait: Direct opponent has Shutdown. Shutdown prevents opponent from generating bonus shots and passes.
Johnathan Kumingga
Replace skill Drrible Penetration with Drive & Press.
Offense increased from 45 to 58.
Playmaking decreased from 42 to 32.
Blocking increased from 0 to 3.
Jalen Johnson
Rebounding increased from 39 to 49.
Kevan Luney
Offense increased from 46 to 56.
Justin Holiday
Replace skill Distribute with Feed the Cutter. Pass count set to 4.
Replace skill Volume Shooting with Feed the Post. Pass count set to 4.
Gabe Vinccent
Volume Shooting shot count increased from 5 to 6.
Nicolas Claxton
Rebounding increased from 64 to 68.
Blocking increased from 12 to 15.
Bismack Biyombo
Salary decreased from 7 to 6.
Ceejay Maccolum
Salary decreased from 21 to 20.
Steal increased from 3 to 6.
Replace passive Miss: 50% chance to Get +1 BONUS PASS with Miss: Get +7 TURN METER.
Tray Yung
Salary decreased from 21 to 20.
Steal increased from 3 to 6.
Replace passive Miss: Get +10 TURN METER with Miss: 50% chance to Get +1 BONUS PASS.
Replace passive Aura: SPEED teammates have Active with Aura: SPEED teammates have Fast. Active granted +10 playmaking, and Fast grants +10 offense.
Make it Rain skiill cooldown decreased from 3 to 2.
Developer Comments: Tray was one of the most overpowered cards. As the cards with the most playmaking in the game, him having direct turn meter generation was overkill, so we removed it. On top of this, him giving Speed teammates playmaking through his Active aura was in conflict with the design intent of him slowing the other players down. We took that out and replaced it with an offense aura. Without these issues fixed, we can revert the nerf to his ultimate cooldown.
Jaylen Grinn
Playmaking increased from 61 to 64.
Marccus Smarrt
Defense increased from 77 to 81.
Offense increased from 35 to 38.
Drive & Kickount skill shot/pass count increased from 2 to 3.
Sam Hauser
3 Point Chance increased from 25 to 30.
Kenba Valker
Offense increased from 57 to 59.
Playmaking increased from 71 to 73.
Lommie Walkr
Defense increased from 48 to 55.
Offense increased from 47 to 52.
Playmaking increased from 65 to 66.
Boggdan Boggdanovic
Salary increased from 16 to 17.
Bones Hylanb
Salary increased from 9 to 12.
Developer Comments: One of the potentially overpowered archetypes is debuff. It can score 200 points on a regular basis, and it's borderline out of hand. We're nerfing the cost of its cheap pieces. People will still be able to build strong debuff decks, but it will be more difficult to fit everything in. We will make further nerfs in the future to this archetype. Right now we're planning on making some of the substitution debuffs that this deck relies upon to be "once per match" effects, as well as tuning the proc chance for bonus shot/pass generation.
Passives
Contact II
Reduced foul chance from 20% to 15%. Affects the following players: Daivid Nwuaba, Denis Schredder, Nik Richardz, Onyeka Okongwoo
Overpowering Rebounder
Reduced bonus rebounding from +100 to +60. Affects the following players: Russel Westbruk, Klint Kapela, Omar Yurseven, Jakson Hays.
Developer Comments: Another small nerf to the rebounding deck, and somewhat problematic players such as Russel Westbruk.
Miss: Get +10 TURN METER
Reduce Turn Meter to +7 from +10. Affects the following players: Kelliy Oubrre, Russel Westbruk, Tijay Warden, Tray Morphy.
Make: Get +5 TURN METER
Increased Turn Meter to +7 from +5. Affects the following players: Danillo Gallinnari, Jonaz Valaciunas, Jorrdan Pool, Kevyn Dureant, Tiler Hero.
Skills
Challenge The Lane
Switch with teammate. Get +15 +20 STAMINA and COUNTER ATTACK for 2 turns.
Increased Stamina from +15 to +20.
Affects the following players: Willy Couly-Steyn, Alonzo McKinney.
Bail Out
CLEANSE all debuffs from a teammate, and give them +5 +10 {STAMINA}.
Increased Stamina from +5 to +10.
Affects the following players: Herbal Jonez, Irsh Wainride, Jay Crowdr.
Reposition
Switch with teammate, and give them +15 +20 STAMINA if they are STRENGTH. Shoot X.
Increased Stamina from +15 to +20.
Affects the following players: Ennes Kanttr, De'Andrre Huntr, Iustin Andersun, Daron Sharp, Coby Zelver, Jack Lamdale, Anthonny Daviz.
Use Flexible Screen
Switch with teammate. Get +10 +15 STAMINA and COUNTER ATTACK for 2 turns.
Increased Stamina from +10 to +15.
Affects the following players: Milez Bridgez, Erric Gordn, Dayson Danielz, Saban Li.
Developer Comments: We felt stamina skills were in need of a buff to make them more appealing.
Improvise
Changed from Give an opponent two Tier 2 Offensive Debuffs to Give an opponent two random debuffs for 2 turns.
Affects the following players: Tare Easton, Draymond Grinn, Blaik Griffith, Trrevor Arisa,
Developer Comments: This will now choose from the entire debuff pool, and all tiers. You can potentially get two tier 3 debuffs, or two tier 0 debuffs.
The following players can be disenchanted for full cost:
- Bam Adebayo
- Bogdan Bogdanovic
- Kyle Lowry
- Russell Westbrook
- Dennis Schroeder
- Jonathan Kuminga
- Nick Richards
- David Nwaba
- Onyeka Okongwu
- Trae Young
- Kelly Oubre
- TJ Warren
- Bones Hyland
- Brandon Ingram
- CJ McCollum
- Willy Hernangomez
- Trey Murphy
- Naji Marshall
- Justin Holiday
- Dejounte Murray
Bug Fixes & Other Changes
- Fixed issue where steal chance would not count the right most player. If you passed to the left, the player in front of the passer would not steal. If you passed to the right, the player in front of the pass receiver would not steal.
- Fixed the tutorial explanation for rebounding to now correctly say that rebounding is doubled while defending.
- Player names are now displayed in both upper and lower caps.
- Fixed Mocking Trickshots removing bonus passes instead of bonus shots. Now removes both.
- Fixed issue where skills that removed bonus shots/passes would set a player's shot count to a negative value.
Not in this patch, but not forgotten
Connectivity issues. We're working on it and will hotfix as soon as we can.
Thank you and good luck!